The Sufficiency of Christ -

We have recently looked at the Book of Colossians and the Supremacy of Christ. Today we will start a journey into the Book of Ephesians and see the Sufficiency of Christ.

As we start this journey today may we enjoy the journey as we ascend into the heavenlies on a personal level (Chapters 1-3) and then see when we understand who we, personally, are in Christ who we are called to be as a church in Christ. For the sum of all things is found in Christ (Eph1:10).

Ephesians 1:10 NASB95

10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him

Think of these things: What has Christ done for us?

Why did Christ do it?

Who am I in Christ?

When we reflect on these things we can then start to apply what we are to do together as the church, personally and corporately. If we rush too fast in the ascension (Chapter 1-3) we cannot handle the application (chapters 4-6)

Doctrine is not to be dogma, or a demand or duty, doctrine like chapters 1-3 are to be a display of what God has done for us through Christ Jesus so worship is not a demand but a delight.

I. Some History

All good stories have a setting, our story needs to start with some history so then we can understand the setting (Act18:19-21; Act19:1-7)

Paul’s second missionary trip brings him Ephesus for a short time (Act18:19-21)

Acts 18:19–20 NASB95

19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent,

Acts 18:21 NASB95

21 but taking leave of them and saying, “I will return to you again if God wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.

Paul’s journey takes him from Corinth where he had been or a year and a half (Act18:11) where he had been teaching, bringing Priscilla and Aquila with him now comes to Ephesus.

He did not stay long, but two years later he returns and spends two years there, you can read all the history in Act19:1-20 (we will cover part today) and some of the opposition he faced (Act19:21-41) and even more on his ministry work there in Act20.

Paul’s third missionary trip brings him back to Ephesus, an area where Apollos had previously been preaching (see Act18:24-26)

Acts 19:1 NASB95

1 It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.

So Apollos and Paul switched places. Paul finds disciples there, but they were missing something.

Acts 19:2–3 NASB95

2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

They were missing the Holy Spirit, for they had only known the baptism of John or that is all they were taught. Yes, John’s baptism was for the remission of sins but not into the possession of Jesus since He had not be crucified or glorified yet at the time of John.

Acts 19:4–5 NASB95

4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When they heard about being baptized into the possession of Jesus Christ look at what they did? - no delay, no hesitation, no long questioning, they heard they believed they obeyed and they received.

Paul did not stop there, he went on and did something else.

Acts 19:6–7 NASB95

6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 There were in all about twelve men.

Gave them proof of what he told them, what they obeyed was truly from God or they then were gifted to speak in tongues and prophesying. - - - be careful it was only 12 men, not all Ephesus. And it happened only by the laying on of apostolic hands.

Here in Act19:1-7 you see the empowering and the indwelling is separate. Why? For the indwelling is the Holy Spirit in you, the empowering was the Holy Spirit working through to prove what Paul was saying was true. That only happened because of the laying on of apostolic hands and is no longer possible nor needed today since we have the complete revelation of God in the Bible.

II. Setting and Atmosphere

In trying to paint a good picture of the history and understand the setting of the book, we need to delve into the setting and atmosphere some (Act19:18-20, 24, 28-29, and 32)

(insert slide picture Ephesus-1)

Ephesus was a Roman Province in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) - a population of 250-300,000 people. This place was known as the place where the East meets the West and was also known for many philosophers and philosophies. Only Rome and Alexandra were bigger than Ephesus.

(insert slide picture Ephesus-2)

This was leading commercial center because of it’s location and was a major trade route. It was home to an enormous theater that seated 25,000-30,000 people

(insert slide picture Ephesus -3)

This was the home of one of the seven wonders of the world, the temple of Artemis (aka: Diana). Interesting fact, this temple also served as the bank of Asia Minor, one of the few places money could be safely deposited and secured.

This is still a part of the time of the Pax Romana- Pax Romana is a Latin term meaning a time of peacefulness. It stretched from 300BC-180AD. This is the time in which Rome made major improvements for travel and for trade. In a time God was not talking for a part of it, but was still working, paving a way for the Lord to come!

Ephesus was a religiously pluralistic environment - From Artemis (Diana) the goddess of the hunt, to Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollos as well as many more. This did not exclude Jehovah God of the Jews. The practice o spiritual magic and the occult were very common there too.

Look at the result when the Good News was preached

Acts 19:18–19 NASB95

18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. 19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

See God had a plan, and God’s plan will always prevail

Acts 19:20 NASB95

20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

But the plan was not without opposition

Acts 19:24 NASB95

24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;

Demetrius bottom line, his money, his profit was being impacted and tried to rise up people against Paul and those who came from Macedonia. It seemed to be working too

Acts 19:28–29 NASB95

28 When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

People were confused, even like today people are confused about the Turth and is there such things as truth.

Acts 19:32 NASB95

32 So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.

(expand on this; people today are confused; people today rise up on things they don’t even know why they are doing it except others are)

Something to consider: Did not the first church ever, born on Pentecost have one purpose?

This leads us to the purpose of the letter

III. Purpose of the Letter

Jump ahead now, it is about five years later after the church was established. Paul had been run out of town for his own safety, he is now in prison and he pens this letter as well as the letter to the Colossians and Philemon.

It is commonly believed written about 61-62 AD

Written from prison (Eph3:1, 4:1, 6:20)

Ephesians 3:1 NASB95

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

Ephesians 4:1 NASB95

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

Ephesians 6:20 NASB95

20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Reason/Reason’s for the letter

To remind the church who they are in Christ

You will see in chapters 1-3 clearly the writing is to Christians, people who individually know who the are in Christ, and of the sufficiency being in Christ.

To bring unity between the previous Jew’s and Gentiles

In Chapter 2 you see Paul will address some division that is happening between the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians. And they need to come together because Christ is all sufficient. There should be no tension, no division between any Christians.

To remind and to encourage the church to be all they can be

In Chapters 4-6 are some o the most unifying, encouraging, edifying chapters you will read in the Bible. These are here to help us, to grow us, to challenge us to be all that God created us to be “the church”

IV. Authorship and some challenges

Since the 19th Century there has been some challenges regarding the authorship of the Book of Ephesians and may we take just a few minutes too look at some of things.

Paul tells you he is the author (Eph1:1)

Ephesians 1:1 NASB95

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:

It was challenged by some because of the following reasons

Style and vocabulary

The claim is that the style is different and uses some 70 different words not used in the other letters. Though you can find 73 parallel verses in Colossians from Ephesians.

Letter is impersonal

Paul had spent 3 years in Ephesus, and if that is true, why no references to people he knew, friends he made there? - this is overcome by the fact that this letter could be a circular letter that was to be read in other places too, just like the Colossian letter, and the reference to the letter from the Laodicieans (see Col4:16)

Historical consideration

I mentioned there was tension between the previous Jews and previous Gentiles. and it was causing disunity which Paul deals with in Eph2: 11-22.

There is also historical questions about the words “in Ephesus” found in (v.1). That term does not appear in some of the earliest manuscripts. This can be overcome by the fact how the letters were delivered at the time. In our case here the letter is delivered by Tychicus (6:21) who also delivered the letter to the church at Colossi. He would know who it was to be delivered to. It is believed that in about AD90 when the letter where gathered together that someone added “in Ephesus.”

Another thought: Ephesians is the gathering together of all things in Jesus Christ. For there are some issues.

Man is divided against man

Class divided class

Nation from nation

Ideology from ideology and

Gentile from Jew

All of these things we can see today in our world today. The book of Ephesians is about bringing the unity (gathering) of all things, for the sum of all things is found only in Christ Jesus. When we realize that, when we understand that then we are able to be all that we were created to be, the church. For we are to be His hands, His feet, His mouthpiece to accomplish His mission, and it starts in chapters 1-3 to remind us with who we are in christ so we can be all He wants to be as the church (chapters 4-6)

And we have not even gotten to the introduction of the letter for I still need to give a little more

(insert duck that thought it was a dog illustration - from Wiersbe commentary)

Ephesians chapter 1 as we get there helps us to see who we truly are as Christians. We are in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation with many influences out there including sin (see Php2; Rom7) that want to get us to follow like a duck that thought it was a dog. So we need to see ourselves more clearly, as God see’s us and who God says we are in Christ. Paul’s prayer in chapter 1 is one of the most beautiful prayers for spiritual enlightenment you can find. The book of Ephesians will help remind us and grow us and to be able to live and enjoy our Christianity and to live more like Christ!

V. Introduction and Greeting

In just these two verses you can see the identity, the authority, the recipients, the gift and the giver.

Ephesians 1:1–2 NASB95

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

The identity: Paul

The authority: An Apostle

Paul did not chose to be an apostle, he was chosen. God chose Him, gifted Him and sent Him with a message and with authority.

The recipients: The saints who are faithful

Saints, such a misunderstood word. A saint is one who is set apart, set apart because of their faith in Christ Jesus, not because of their works of righteousness, but by His on the cross.

For many the word saint is for someone who is dead. Someone who has achieved some spiritual eminence that they have been given the title of saint.

Some religious body would inspect the life of a dead person to see if the person lived up to sainthood. One religious group requires the working of two miracles to be considered for sainthood.

Paul in addressing the saints, the faithful (which he uses that term other places too 8 other times in Ephesians) are alive, not dead, being perfected but not perfect. The miracles performed, well none accept in believing in Jesus Christ. Trusting Jesus whom you have not seen is a miracle isn’t it? One who trusts in Jesus is a saint, Paul says so!

To become a saint did not mean living a faithful life to become a saint. TO become a saint you have to have faith and then you become a saint and then learn to live a faithful life.

So by faith you become a saint, by faith you are a recipient of God’s grace and God’s peace.

The gift: grace and peace

Faith and grace go hand in hand, for it is by grace through faith that you are saved (Eph2:8).

Grace is the kindness of God toward undeserving people. We cannot do anything to earn it, we have to receive it by faith.

The other part of the gift noted is peace.

Peace with God (Rom5:1)

peace of God Php4:7)

The promised peace of Jesus (Jn14:27)

The giver: God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

The giver, God our Father, Paul will draw at least once per chapter on God the father who gave us Christ the Son so we can have the peace, have the grace that is available to all.