Learning from the Church at Ephesus (Pt. I) I. Introduction. a. Reference to series of lessons. i. Two weeks ago I started a series of lessons which began looking at individual local congregations that we are told about in the New Testament. ii. We spent two lessons looking at lessons that we can learn from the church at Corinth. iii. And we are going to continue to look at other congregations. 1. Philippi, Colossee, Thessalonica, and others. iv. The point is to examine the pattern that they have left for us. b. The pattern of the New Testament Church is important. i. How do we know what the church is and what it should be today? ii. The answer is by looking at the Bible and particularly the New Testament. iii. However, there is no place in the New Testament which gives us a list of dos and don ts for the church. iv. So, how do we answer the question? 1. we look at the examples that we have of the church in the New Testament. v. These examples form a pattern. vi. And this pattern is the only way that we can know how we ought to operate. vii. Thus, we should hold firm to this pattern. 1. and not deviate from it. c. This morning, we will be examining the church at Ephesus. i. We first learn about the church at Ephesus in Acts 18-19. ii. Acts 18:19, we read how Paul entered the synagogue and taught many Jews. 1. he had much success but could not stay. iii. We read how Apollos came to Ephesus and was taught by Aquila & Priscilla. iv. And then in chapter 19, we read of Paul returning to Ephesus and staying there for two years. 1. until Paul was run out of town by a mob. v. The bulk of what we know about this church comes from the letter that Paul wrote to them, so that is where we will spend the majority of our time this morning and next week as well. II. Leadership in the church.
a. The first thing we must learn when we talk about leadership in the church is that Jesus is the head. i. Ephesians 1:22-23, "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." ii. Christ is the "head over all things to the church." 1. In other words, He is the boss. 2. He is the authority. 3. The church must do all things "in the name of Jesus Christ. iii. The church is subject to Christ. 1. Paul mentions this over in Ephesians 5:23-24 in comparing the relationship of a husband and wife to the relationship of Christ with the church. iv. Are we following this part of the pattern? 1. Are we fulfilling the commandments of Christ? 2. Do we have His authorization for everything that we do? b. Another aspect of leadership in the church that we see in the example of the church at Ephesus is regarding the rulers in a local congregation. i. There are grave misunderstandings in the religious world about leadership in the church. 1. misunderstandings about leadership in the church beyond the local congregation. 2. misunderstandings about the terms elder, bishops, and pastors. ii. Turn to Acts 20. 1. note that Paul calls the Ephesian elders to him in verse 17. 2. read verse 28. 3. Three terms are used in this passage to refer to these men. a. Vs. 17, presbuteros, which is normally translated elder. b. Vs. 28, episkopos, which is here translated overseers but is also translated bishop. c. Vs. 28, poimen, which is here translated to shepherd, and is also translated to pastor in passages such as Ephesians 4:11. 4. Elders, Bishops, and Pastors refer to the same men. a. Preachers are not pastors. b. Bishops are not a level above local elders. c. All three terms refer to the same men. iii. One other point that we need to make is that there is no indication than these men had any responsibilities outside of the local congregation of Ephesus. 1. Paul charges them here to "take heed to yourselves and to all the flock." a. What flock? The flock that was among them.
2. Like Peter charged elders in 1 Peter 5:2, "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you. c. We need to make sure we are following the pattern of leadership from the example of the church at Ephesus. III. Growth in the church. a. Ephesians 2:19-22. i. Notice that the building that Paul is talking about is the church, the Ephesians in particular. ii. Paul explains how they could grow into "a holy temple in the Lord." iii. Three keys here in these verses. 1. "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets." a. this is essentially a foundation upon the word of God. b. the apostles and prophets were spokesmen for God. c. thus, a church must be founded in God s truth. 2. - "Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone." a. Jesus must be the cornerstone of the church. b. He must be the core ingredient. c. Without Jesus, we have nothing and will not succeed. 3. "in whom the whole building, being fitted together." a. There must be unity for solid growth to occur. b. a house will not last long if the bricks are loosely held together. c. they must be fitted close together and bonded for it to hold. b. Ephesians 4:11-16. i. This passage also details how the church is supposed to grow. ii. Verse 16 is the key in my mind. iii. "Joined and knit together" 1. - again the idea of unity. iv. "by what every joint supplies." 1. - every part of the body is necessary and useful. v. "According to the effective working by which every part does it share." 1. everyone must do their share. 2. it must be "effective working." c. Turn back to the book of Acts and look at chapter 19:20. 1. "So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed."
2. My question is, how did this happen? 3. I want you to focus on two passages as keys to the growth of the church in Ephesus. a. Acts 19:8-10, hard work by the apostle Paul. i. - but his hard work alone did not make difference. b. Acts 19:17-18, by the actions of others as well. 4. For growth to occur, everyone must put for effort. d. In order for us to follow the pattern, we must all be a part of the work. i. What are you doing for the work of the church? ii. What can you do for the work of the church? iii. Reference to sheets handed out for duties. IV. Unity in the church. a. In the last point regarding the growth of the church, we pointed out the connection to the unity of the church. i. Ephesians 2:21, "being fitted together." ii. Ephesians 4:16, "joined and knit together." iii. The point is that unity is key to the success of the church. iv. Without unity, we can t expect to grow: numerically or spiritually. b. Unity is also part of the pattern of the New Testament Church. i. To just about every church that Paul writes to, he urges them to be united. ii. It is no different with the church at Ephesus. iii. Read Ephesians 4:1-6. c. Paul defines some facts about the unity that we ought to have. i. One body. 1. The body of which Paul is speaking is identified earlier in the letter. a. 1:22-23, "the church, which is His body." 2. There is only one church: the one that Christ built (Mt. 16:18). ii. One Spirit. 1. Reference to the Holy Spirit. 2. We must be united on who the Spirit is and what He does. 3. You might notice that each of the three parts of the Godhead are listed. iii. One hope of your calling. 1. We unite around our hope, our aim, our dream. 2. The thought of going to Heaven when we die. iv. One Lord.
1. The central figure of the church should be our Lord Jesus Christ. 2. The central focus of our teaching should be about His life and death. 3. We must be united around Him. v. One faith. 1. There is only one faith that saves. 2. We must believe in God, believe in Jesus, and believe in what He has told us to do. 3. There is only one way to go to Heaven, and it is through this faith. vi. One baptism. 1. There is only one means of entrance into the kingdom. 2. There is only one way to come in contact with the blood of Christ to have remission of our sins. vii. One God and Father of all. 1. And to sum up the basics of our unity. 2. It begins & ends with the recognition of God as the Creator/Father of all. d. Paul also tells us how we can achieve unity. i. * Notice that Paul is giving the Ephesians and us a pattern for how to achieve unity, which is not an easy thing to accomplish. ii. Lowliness. 1. Each member must be humble. 2. Pride cannot be present, and unity still achieved. 3. We must not look down upon each other. 4. We must not view ourselves as better than another. iii. Gentleness. 1. For unity to be achieved, we must also learn to be gentle to each other. 2. Suppose that you worked for UPS or the post office and you had to handle a box that was marked very fragile. How would you handle it? 3. We need to handle each other gently, with care. 4. Be careful how we affect each other. iv. Longsuffering. 1. We also need to be patient to have unity. 2. We don t need to be quick to jump on each other. 3. We need to extend each other the benefit the doubt. 4. There are going to be times when changing might be slow. 5. We should be patient and give each other the time to grow. v. Bearing with one another in love. 1. The best way I can summarize this part is: we have to put up with each other.
2. You know how in a marriage, you have to learn to put with a few things. a. your spouse s idiosyncracies. 3. That s what we must learn to do in the church as well. 4. The church is made up of many different personalities and we must learn to bear with one another in love. vi. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 1. This phrase holds the greatest key to unity. 2. Unity takes work. 3. To maintain our unity and to increase it, each of us must endeavor to keep it. 4. We must all work hard at it. 5. working hard particularly at these afore-mentioned attributes. V. Conclusion: Following the Pattern. a. Review. i. Leadership. 1. Christ, elders in local churches. ii. Growth. 1. Hard work by everyone. iii. Unity. 1. Definition and keys to achieving. b. Notice the repetition. i. Church at Corinth. ii. Two of our three points were also made to them. 1. Unity. 2. Need everyone. iii. To me, that reinforces the idea of a pattern. 1. It also tells me that we need to pay attention to these points. c. Are we following the pattern?