Ephesians Lesson 1 and 2

#1 Ephesians 1:1-2Paul, the Apostle for This Age
“YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN,”and now that you are, “GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOOD NEWS TO ALL NATIONS.” Wait – before you go, read the book of Acts and be inspired by the rush of activity and the way they ‘did church.’ This was my first impression of Christianity as a new believer – get saved and go tell everyone else how to get saved, but don’t forget to be ‘Spirit-filled’ in the process.

These days Christianity is about caring for others and being a part of a community. We read our Bibles looking for information about what we are supposed to do. We seek guidelines regarding how much, and to whom, we should be giving. We try to balance the requirements of daily living with what we perceive to be the requirements of God. Isn’t that exactly what the Jews tried to do in the Old Testament?

God gave them specific direction about what He wanted them to do, and they gave it their best try. He came down to be in their midst – the Shekinah glory dwelling in the Tabernacle and then later in the Temple. God rewarded them with blessings, and then took them away when His people gave up on their ‘best try.’ They never understood that a sinful heart was at the root of their very being. No amount of commitment to rule following or a to-do list was going to change the fact that, down deep, they really just wanted to be on their own – independent of God.

Finally, God left the Jews to themselves and they didn’t hear a word from Him for 400 years. Then ever so quietly and gently, He came back to the earth. This time, He took the form of a human child born into humble circumstances. This child lived in complete obedience to, and dependence upon, His true Father: God Himself. This was God’s ‘second man.’ The first man, Adam, failed to live as he was designed to live; then the chosen nation failed to depend upon and trust God as well. Christ came to satisfy God by living the perfect life and then to pay for the sin of man. But that is not all: He came to reveal the heart of God toward sinners. His life reveals the heart of God toward the sinner and His death reveals the wrath of God toward sin.

Some believe that now that sin is paid for God wants saved-sinners to go out and round up more people so they can become saved sinners. While we’re at it, we’re supposed to be a part of a church where we all put up with each other’s idiosyncrasies because we love one another. This falls far short of what God is really after. Our Father desires to have many ‘sons.’ Sons are mature children who know Him well, love Him deeply and respond to Him out of sincere trust. In a word, He desires intimacy with His children. The apostle Paul was called to teach, and model, intimacy with Christ. He did just that; it’s all recorded in his passionate letters to the Churches. The letter to the Ephesians is golden; Paul received personal revelation from the glorified Lord and delights to share it.

Ephesians 1:1-2
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Paul begins to unfold the great secrets of the will of God, and to explain the purpose of God for all who believe, he is careful to identify himself as an apostle: one who carries the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here Paul includes the fact that his apostleship is by the will of God. In Galatians, he gives definition to this phrase when he adds these words: sent not from men or by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead. He was not sent to explain the thoughts or ideas of any human person; his purpose was to reveal the glorified Man in heaven who would now glorify Himself on the earth through those who are His.

Paul begins each letter with grace and peace, always connecting the two. Grace is a word that expresses the active love of God toward us; it speaks of His initiative as He takes action in loving and choosing us to be His own. Notice, it is God our Father and not God our creator who is the source. The Father sent His Son to serve us, not to claim His rights over us as created beings who owe Him. Grace does not demand that I submit to God as a slave who is required to acknowledge His lordship; He is a Father who continually takes steps to bring us to maturity.

Peace is ours when we grasp the fact that we are members of God’s family: beloved children born of God (Jn 1:13). Just as we are assured of our salvation (we are in the Father’s hand and no one can pluck us out - Jn 10:27), He has made provision for the infirmities, weakness and trials that still plague us while we live on earth. Paul is perfectly equipped to explain these provisions to us, for he experienced grace and peace in the midst of his own suffering and trials. We will begin to see how the Father provides ‘every spiritual blessing’ in our next study.


Lesson 2

Spiritual Blessings Begin with the Father

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Saul of Tarsus, a faithful Hebrew of the Hebrews – a Pharisee, and son of a Pharisee – could never have been filled with such praise. Perhaps he would have said these words, “Praise be to God who has promised us a land of our own, with a king of our own, if only we would obey the 600-plus laws He has given.”

Year after year, as a child, Saul went with his family as they brought young animals to the priest for sacrificial slaughter. As an adult, he diligently continued the practice, eager that God would be satisfied with his obedience and his offerings. What did the constant spilling of sacrificial blood communicate to the one who brought the offering? Saul understood what it meant: YOU CANNOT KEEP THE LAW; THEREFORE YOU ARE NEVER REALLY FREE FROM SIN. The death of an innocent animal made a person acutely aware of his sin; the animal’s death covered sin, but it did not remove sin from the sinner. Saul’s religion was really a relentless reminder that he was in bondage to sin.

Now fast-forward to Paul, the man who was dazzled by the brightness of the resurrected, risen Savior. Suddenly, his attention was directed away from earthly blessings and the work he was obligated to do in order to acquire those blessings. The Spirit of God gripped his heart and transformed his mind – Paul became focused on the heavenly riches that come from the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. He exchanged the tyranny of sin and law for the treasures of heaven. What freedom! You made this very same transaction when you believed in Christ.

As Paul begins to explain the riches of Christ to us, he trips all over himself trying to find the right words. We can only imagine what it must have meant to him as he began to comprehend the significance of Christ’s sacrifice. He could hardly find words to express what the human mind is really not equipped to fully grasp: the fullness of Christ and His relationship with the Father. Saul was tenaciously dedicated to his religion and his God; but that was nothing compared to the passion he gained for the risen Lord. This passion changed him into Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ.

As I study Ephesians, I can’t help but feel Paul’s deep passion: first for his own possession of the riches of Christ, and then for explaining it to others. As we go through this letter, we do well to pay careful attention to the words and phrases he chooses. It is no small thing that Paul refers to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When I first read Paul’s references to ‘the Father,’ I recalled how Christ taught His Jewish disciples to pray to the Father in the so-called Lord’s Prayer in Matthew. This was new to them, they had not been trained to think of God as a father – for the Jew He was creator and judge. During His life on earth, Jesus revealed God’s mercy and compassion for sinners as He taught, healed and rescued people from life-threatening danger. My favorite story in all the gospels is found in Luke 15; commonly called the story of the Prodigal Son, it is really a portrayal of God’s heart for mankind.

Who can read this wonderful story without picturing the father, straining his eyes to see his ragged son returning from the pigsty? I can sense his elation as he gathered his neighbors together to welcome the wayward boy back into the fellowship of his home. He expressed love to his older son as well. This son represented the Pharisees, to whom the parable was directed. He worked the farm and resented the fact that his all his effort seemed to have no value to his father. Convinced that he had to earn his father’s affection, he was unable to take pleasure in it.

The apostle Paul opens his letter to the Ephesians with a heart firmly rooted in the love of the Father. Notice how he characterizes Him, He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When did God become the Father of the Lord Jesus? Never! He has always been His Father. Paul is not referring to a love that is filled with grace for the sinner, he is drawing us back into eternity past. He is speaking about the love of God the Father for His Son – a relationship that is not tainted by sin! This is where Paul begins for our riches in Christ begin with this love of the Father for the Son. Listen to Jesus right before He went to the cross: Father…I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them. (John 17)
Read and re-read Ephesians chapter 1 – more on this next time . . . . .