Kaleo San Diego Church > Sermons > Introduction to Ephesians

Introduction to Ephesians

David Fairchild
Jan 17, 2010
Series: Ephesians

This morning we begin a journey together through the great epistle of Ephesians. We begin our journey with the first step of explaining a bit of what this great book is about and why it is so important for us to listen to and digest what God is saying to us through Paul. This isn’t a normal message because it isn’t necessarily preaching but more of an orientation for the journey. I want to get you ready for the trip and so I thought we’d take a week to do so and then afterwards we will pray together as a community and take communion.

Practical and Doctrinal

First off, this book is intensely practical. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 give some of the most condensed, practical instruction on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus as His new creation. It instructs us about:

Our words and speech
How to treat one another
How to deal with conflict and reconcile differences
What habits we should stop and begin
How to spend our time
How to be godly husbands and wives
How to treat our children and how children are to treat their parents
Our work ethic as an employee and how we’re to act as employers

Those chapters are clear, concise, to the point, and are some of the easiest passages to understand in the Bible. They are amazingly practical. In fact, many people dive into those chapters regularly as a way of reminding each other how to swim in the stream of the Christian life. I’m really thankful we get to spend three chapters and about four months working through those passages.

However, chapters 1, 2, and 3 are not the same. In fact, if chapters 4, 5, and 6 deeply immerse you into the waters of the Christian life, then 1, 2, and 3 might feel so lofty, so high, and so expansive that you can almost sense the nitrogen bubbles forming in your bloodstream when you read them. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 have given some headaches and nosebleeds because of their vantage point. Instead of diving deep into the Christian life in the last three chapters, the first three are like flying at 35,000 feet. The atmosphere changes because God is showing us His view.

Let me just give you a sneak preview of what is going to take us 11 weeks to unpack in chapter one:

Ephesians 1:3-14: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Did you feel the change in cabin pressure? The atmosphere has changed because God is showing us His vantage point. Even though our English translations have periods in these sentences, in the Greek it is actually one long sentence. And you think my sentences can be complicated! Mine seem like finger-painting in preschool compared to what Paul packs into these first 14 verses.

If chapters 4, 5, and 6 are meat and potatoes, 1, 2, and 3 are like hard candy. It looks at first as if it’s going to bust your jaw, but as you savor it and work it out, you begin to taste the sweetness.

To show you what I’m talking about, look quickly at chapter 4 where the feel of the book shifts to practical life. Depending on your translation, chapter 4 should begin with the word “therefore.” This is significant because the word “therefore” indicates that something precedes it. The word “therefore” points backwards so that you keep it in mind before you move on.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 are completely dependent upon 1, 2, and 3. Why is this so important? Because what Paul is teaching us is that you can not live practically in the Christian life unless you know what you believe.

Doctrine Matters

Doctrine matters to Paul which is why he always begins his letters with it. Just look at the first 11 chapters of Romans. It’s a theological masterpiece that Paul lays out so that when he gets to chapter 12 he can begin to instruct them on living out of this truth. It’s the same with the first three chapters of Philippians, the first four chapters of Galatians, and the first two chapters of Colossians. These chapters get our minds and hearts straight before he talks with us about our hands.

The reason is simple; our behavior follows what we believe. How we act and react is always directly connected to what we believe. No one can be expected to live free unless they understand what it means to be free. No one can really have lasting change until what they believe changes.

There is nothing more dangerous than the notion that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you act like a loving and kind person. In other words, we shouldn’t talk about doctrine and beliefs because it’s your life that matters. Or, as some say, it’s not your creed but your deeds that are important.

I know that on the streets and in the neighborhoods of San Diego that idea is more popular than Paul’s. We’ve become almost enamored with the idea of accepting everyone’s viewpoints as valid and true for them that we’re afraid we’re being unkind or unloving by disagreeing with someone. But Ephesians is a book that totally undermines that belief.

In fact, the very idea that doctrine doesn’t matter is a doctrine itself. The very idea that it’s not our creeds but deeds that matter is itself a creed. That creed can’t be proven, it’s accepted as true and then others are asked to believe it. And, it’s a creed that actually teaches salvation by works. To say our belief doesn’t matter but just how we live is saying that God saves by your performance and not by His grace given by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Yet we all know reality has a way of waking us up from our slumber. We might want to get along and be kind and loving, but the truth is that we don’t get along, we’re not always kind, we’re not always loving, and no matter how much we say that what we believe doesn’t matter as long as we’re kind and loving, the fact that we’re still unkind and unloving should help us to see that something much deeper is at work. Some underlying, foundational belief is the cause of our actions.

Let me give you an example: If you’re an employer and you take advantage of your employees by not paying them what their labor is worth, not treating them with dignity and respect, and simply using them as pawns to move around for your own benefit, what won’t change you is someone telling you that you should simply be nice. You would say, “Why should I be more generous? Why should I be kinder?” In other words, “says who?” If our doctrine and beliefs don’t matter, then I can believe whatever I want about other human beings. I can treat anyone how I want because my belief about human flourishing doesn’t matter. Plus, when you say I’m supposed to be more kind and loving, how do you define that? How can you tell me what is good or bad without calling me to commit to a belief or doctrine?

This is Paul’s point in 1 Cor. 15 when he says basically, “look…if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, and it’s not true, then eat drink and act like a wild man because tomorrow we’re going to die anyway so it doesn’t matter.” Paul teaches us that what you do, for good or bad, will always be dependent on what you believe to be true. Just as 4, 5, and 6 are dependent on the doctrines in 1, 2, and 3, so your practical life will be utterly dependent on what you believe and know to be true.

We can’t just jump to practical principles for living or we’ll lose all the fuel, all the heart and power for how we’re ever going to really change. You simply can not live a life that honors God and is loving and kind towards others, without first being inwardly transformed by these truths.

Let’s just take a peek at what these doctrines teach us about ourselves:

God chose us before the world ever existed.

God considers us holy and blameless and is changing our lives to prove it.

God loved us before the world and planned to adopt us before we were born.

God has redeemed us and paid our debt through His own blood.

God has given us an inheritance that can never be taken away.

God has secured us by His Spirit so that we’ll always be His.

God has given us Jesus’ victory so that we don’t have to be afraid.

God takes pleasure in not only saving us but being with us.

God is more gracious than any sin we’ll ever commit.

God is more powerful than anything that is hurting you.

God is now living in you and through you.

We’re no longer orphans but children of God.

We’re His family.

We’re Jesus’ body.

We’re Christ’s bride.

We’re His temple.

We’re no longer strangers but friends.

We’re no longer foreigners but true citizens of His Kingdom.

You’re no longer alone.

You’re no longer hopeless.

We are the location God has chosen to dwell in by His Spirit.

Cosmic Reconciliation

But that isn’t all He’s doing. We’re also told that the His saving and restoring work culminates in the cosmic restoration of all things. His reconciliation isn’t only reserved for us, but for the whole cosmos.

Ephesians declares that He is the One in whom every problem will be solved, every knot will be untied, every door will be opened, and everything that has kept creation from being what is was meant to be will one day find their redemption in Him. All evil, all disease, all pollution, all abuse towards humans and animals, all wars, all famine and every form of death and wickedness will be finally put down. His foot will be placed on the neck of all the enemies of God, all the enemies of His world, and all the enemies of His people.

Because of this good news, Ephesians teaches us that we no longer have to be afraid. We don’t have to fear death, we don’t have to fear each other, we don’t have to fear ourselves, and we don’t have to fear the spiritual powers that once enslaved us.

His glorious reconciliation becomes the foundation for our new life. His victory won for us and the promises He’s made with His blood now forms our identity. And all of these glorious truths shape us into the people we were created to be.

In an increasingly postmodern, relativistic world, Ephesians refreshes us in the strongest terms that the truth about God and His Gospel is not only true, but powerful and able to change. This letter doesn’t simply tell you what’s true at the expense of love. Quite the opposite. The love of Christ is foundational in this letter. All of these great doctrines and practical instruction on living are set in the context of God’s love for us that existed before the world began. Every doctrine flows from and to the gospel. To ignore or minimize these doctrines will result in confusion and inconsistency in your life and community.

So be patient, be willing to chip a tooth or two, but let’s stick with this over the next few months and I promise that if you come to believe what God is teaching us through Paul, your life will follow and you will be changed. Instead of allowing yourself to throw up intellectual objects, let these truths be the grounds of worship like they were for Paul.

Ok, enough about why our study of Gospel doctrine is so important. Let’s quickly look at the city of Ephesus.

The Setting of Ephesus

We don’t have to go very far to understand the challenges that God’s people faced as followers of Jesus in the city of Ephesus.

Ephesus had around 250,000 people. It was a cultural, political and financial hot spot. It was a beautiful port city on the west coast of Asia, which is now modern day Turkey. It had one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world which was the temple of Artemis. It had a large theater that could seat around 24,000 and beautiful terrace houses with views of the harbor just off its main street. It was a place of great wealth because of the silversmith trade mingled in with foreign slaves who worked for the wealthy to survive.

The reason the silversmith guild thrived was due to the temple of Artemis and the worship of the goddess Artemis. Ephesus was the center of the Artemis cult and many would come from all over to worship, feast, and engage is cultic sexual activity. This city was known for its magic and demonic activity. It was visually beautiful to the eye, but all the sunshine couldn’t hide the dark spiritual oppression that gripped the city.

When you have time this week, I’d like you to read Acts 19 to get a feel for what was happening in this city. Possession was occurring. Magic books were being burned by those who came to trust Christ, and a certain silversmith named Demetrius was angry at the followers of Jesus because he realized he would lose money as less and less people were buying silver shrines of Artemis because they met the real and living God. He incited a riot that dragged some of Paul’s companions into the arena where they shouted in one voice for two hours “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

The reason I mention the background of Ephesus is to orient you to the setting of this book so that you know what kind of powers they are battling and why Jesus, being more powerful than any other spiritual power, was like water to their souls.

I also mention the setting of Ephesus because it’s not much different than San Diego. Ephesus was beautiful, sunny, outwardly friendly, and many moved there to enjoy their life. But like San Diego, Ephesus was filled with idols if you only dug a little deeper. Beyond the outward beauty, you would see a world of spiritual poverty and decay; flourishing prostitution, spiritual darkness, sexual and gender confusion, hopelessness, and the inability to maintain the comfortable life. And, oddly enough, Ephesus lived with the awareness that they were one earthquake away from their house of cards tumbling down.

The Gospel came to Ephesus and confronted its idols and false messiahs. And all the misplaced hopes of:

A political redemption
A financial salvation and security
Comfort
Beauty
Material gods
Sensuality and pleasure
A spiritual experience

This letter was written to encourage followers of Christ to fight together and never forget who Jesus is and who they are in Him.

So, by working through this book slowly and carefully, we’re going to ask God together that he would make these truths ignite in our hearts and in our church. We’re going to pray together and ask God, by His Spirit, to apply these truths deep into our community and radically transform us into the people that this letter describes.

Here’s what I’m praying for and asking you to do with me over these next several months:

1) Join us in praying for these glorious truths to grip our hearts by the power of the Spirit of Christ. Pray in your MCs each week that God would show us more of himself through this great book.

2) Join us in reading through this book every week starting tomorrow: Monday read chapter 1, then Tuesday read chapter 2, Wed-Sat read 3-6 and then on Sunday we’ll come together every week and worship the God that this book describes to us.

3) Memorize some key passages in this book: 1) 1:7-10, 2) 2:4-9, and 3) 2:14-15. By doing this we are committing to memory that 1) Jesus is reconciling everything to Himself, 2) That God has saved us purely by His grace and not our works, and 3) The walls that divide us have been decisively broken.

4) Look for opportunities to invite others to join us in learning about these beautiful truths.

Let’s take some time to pray together as a body and ask God for these things.