Introduction to Ephesians.

Ephesians  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction to the Epistle of Ephesians.

Notes
Transcript
Premise:
To introduce and give overview and cultural context of the letter to the Ephesians.
Opening:
Good morning Connection Church Lead. I am so glad you have come out to worship God with us this morning. It is a beautiful thing to gather together on the Lord’s Day. This morning we have the honor to hear from God through His Word.
Introduction of Text:
We are starting into our next book of the Bible. A few weeks ago, we finished our two year study through the gospel of Matthew. This morning we are beginning our study through the Epistle of Paul written to the Ephesians. Perhaps this would be a good time to give a refresher on why we go verse by verse through books of the Bible. We do this for several reasons. We do not want to skip over anything. If I just pick out topics, inevitably, there are going to be things I won’t cover. This may not be on purpose, but I just won’t hit those topics and passages. I want to echo what Paul said, that I have preached the whole council of God to you. I do not want to skip any doctrine or topic. So if we preach each verse, we will cover it all. And this is important because every word of Scripture is important. We ought to value each verse and each word.
Behold the Word of God. by verse keeps us in the context of what we are covering. As we walk through each verse of Ephesians, we can keep the context of Paul’s argument in mind. This protects us from taking verses out of context. It keeps us from manipulating and twisting Scripture to fit our wants.
Because we are covering each verse, this morning, we will be examining the introduction and the greeting to the Ephesians. This is contained in the first two verses. We will be examining these often passed over verses. This morning, we are going to be examining the context of the Letter to the Ephesians. Sort of setting the stage. With this in mind, I would ask the congregation to stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.
Reading of the Text:
Ephesians 1:1-2.
“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.”
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Behold the Word of God.
Transition:
As we open this Passage we see it begins by saying who it was written by and to whom it was written. So who is Paul?

Who is Paul?

This may seem redundant, but it is still important. Paul is, as stated, is an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul however, has an interesting past. He was formerly known as Saul. Saul was an avid persecutor of the church. He was present at the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr for Christ. He was tasked by the Jewish leadership with hunting and arresting Christians. He was a devout Pharisee. As Saul was on his way to hunt some Christians in Damascus, he was blinded by a great light. This light was Christ. Christ spoke to Saul and asked him why he was persecuting him. Saul was blind, but that day he gained Spiritual life. He was born again and became a great force for good in the church. Saul became Paul and was commission that day by Christ to be an Apostle. Paul also claims to be the final Apostle. Paul was the Apostle to the gentiles. Christ gave Paul a very special assignment. As the gospel went out, it was to be spread to the gentiles. Paul was the one given this great task. There is a little background on the Apostle Paul. But what is an Apostle?

What is an Apostle?

This is fairly central to understanding much of the New Testament. What exactly is an Apostle? The word apostle means “Sent one.” It was a term used for a special emissary. So how does this apply to THE apostles? In one sense, all Christians are sent out by God to build the kingdom by sharing the hope of the gospel. So are all Christians “apostles?” No. The term apostle is used in Scripture to refer to a select few people who were appointed by Christ specifically to guide the church. We know from this very letter that not all Christians are apostles. Ephesians 4:11 says “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,” Some were Apostles.
Matthew Henry puts it well in his commentary, saying, “The apostles were prime officers in the Christian church, being extraordinary ministers appointed for a time only. They were furnished by their great Lord with extraordinary gifts and the immediate assistance of the Spirit, that they might be fitted for publishing and spreading the gospel and for governing the church in its infant state.” That is a good definition, but suffice it to say that Apostles were those called directly and personally by Christ to build the foundation of the church. As Ephesians 2:20 says, “20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,” There are no modern day Apostles for the foundation has already been built. John was the final living apostle, and according to history, he died in Ephesus after being released from his imprisonment on Patmos. So Paul was an Apostle, by the will of God.

By the Will of God.

What does that phrase mean? “By the will of God?” It means first that Paul was not an Apostle of his own making. Paul did not claim this office of his own power. This should be obvious to anyone who is familiar with Paul’s life and ministry. He was not saved of his own power. This is a theme Paul will go into great detail in within this letter. Salvation is not of works. It is fully and completely the work of God. So, it clearly follows that if Paul is a Christian not of his will but of the will of God, then obviously he is an apostle of the will of God. The reason I bring this up is because Paul’s call to Apostleship is directly connected with his conversion. So when Paul says he is an apostle by the will of God, it is directly implied he is saved and called by the will of God. This is proved out in the remainder of chapter one.
It was God’s will to save Paul. It was God’s will to make Paul an Apostle. Now here, some will argue that the word will simply means the desire of God. And it is true that the word for will used here can mean “the strong desire.” But it can also mean “the active will.” That means God making it happen. I don’t think there is any way that one can read the conversion and appointment to Apostleship of Paul and think the “will” of God is merely the desire. God merely desired to convert Paul and make him an apostle, that why He struck Paul blind and literally knocked him to the ground and yelled at him. No, obviously it is referring to the active will of God. Paul was converted by the active will of God. He was commissioned by the Lord Jesus Himself to be an Apostle by the active will of God. This is who Paul is. Once he was lost and enslaved to sin; dead in his trespasses under the name Saul. At the point of this letter, he is alive in Christ, slave to Christ under the new name of Paul.
Transition:
Well, this letter is addressed as written by Paul to the saints at Ephesus. So who are the Ephesians?

Who Are the Ephesians?

The Ephesians are the Christians at the church that Paul planted in the very influential church in the city of Ephesus. And this really brings up a fascinating fact about this letter. It is very debatable weather Paul actually wrote this letter just to the church in Ephesus. We know the letter went to Ephesus, but it is likely it was not intended just for them. Many of you have heard me talk about the study known as textual criticism. This is the study of the ancient Greek manuscripts. See, faithful Christians recieved these letters, and then set out to scribe copies in order to send them to other churches. Well, in studying these manuscripts we come across some variations between the different manuscripts. Most differences are simply punctuation. It doesn’t change anything. The letter to the Ephesians is different. It is very split on weather the manuscripts include the phrase “in Ephesus.” What does this mean?
Well, the most plausible explanation is that this was what is known as a circulatory letter. That means it was a letter that was meant to be shared. We know from history that it went to Ephesus, but likely it was sent there to be copied and then sent to all the churches in that area. This is the most likely scenario because of how it is written. In this letter, Paul seems to be writing to the church as a whole. He doesn’t give personal greetings to any specific people. He appears to be speaking to Christians as a whole. Often in specific letters, Paul would address the specific people he knew there. In Ephesians, he is addressing the church as a whole. So here is the beautiful story of how this letter likely worked. Paul wrote this letter to the church as a whole to tell all Christians of the awesome mystery of the gospel and give them practical application. He sent this letter to Ephesus first to be sent to all the surrounding churches.
I think this is incredible. And it is probably why this letter was found in many of the early churches. Paul is laying out this letter to all true Christians. And he sent it to his dear friends in Ephesus who he spent three years with so they could send it to others. So, as we approach this letter, we can view it as written to the Ephesians, yes, but also to all Christians. That means we can directly apply this to our lives. Paul is writing to all Christians everywhere. That includes us. That excites me. But we should still understand the cultural context. This was the Roman world two thousand years ago, and it was directly sent to Ephesus. So where was the city of Ephesus?

Where was Ephesus?

Ephesus was an ancient city in modern day Turkey. It was a port city. It was very influential. Because it was a coastal city, it was an important trade route. But what was it like?

What was Ephesus Like?

Ephesus was pretty much a massive tourist city. It was the home of the goddess Diana, the goddess of fertility. It was home to much idol worship, but mainly Diana held the crown there. Because of this, there was a massive and beautiful temple. It was considered one of the wonders of the ancient world. This is partially because the statue of Diana in the temple was considered to be the most beautiful idol in the world. It was so beautiful, the superstition was that the idol fell from the sky, directly from the gods themselves. It also had a massive arena that held over 20,000 people. It was a highly religious and “advanced” community. It was the city of cities in that part of the world. It was capital of Asia in the Roman empire. So one can imagine how grand this place was.
Transition:
So how did a church start there?

The History of the Church at Ephesus.

Acts 19.
That is a fascinating story found in Acts 19. The account in Acts 19 is divided into three movements. The first movement is found in verses 1-10. It details the massive move of God there.

Movement one: A massive move of God. V. 1-10

Now it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus and found some disciples.2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.”3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”4 Then 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 And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.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 Now there were in all about twelve men.8 And after he entered the synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.9 But when some were becoming hardened and were not believing, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he left them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Paul goes to Ephesus and finds disciples of John.

Paul travels from Corinth, and moves to Ephesus. The disciples he encounters were disciples of John the Baptist who likely had not heard all that had happened. Perhaps they were some that fled after John was Martyred. Paul explains the fulness of the gospel and then baptizes them.

Paul baptizes them in the name of Jesus, lays hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit, and sign gifts.

After baptizing them in the name of Jesus, he lays hands on them and they are filled with the Spirit. They then receive the sign gifts. They began prophesying and speaking in tongues. This is such an amazing account. There is virtually a second Pentecost here and it is to prove the authenticity of what Paul was teaching. From here, these twelve men and Paul begin boldly sharing the good news.

They begin to boldly share the good news.

Paul goes into the synagogue first and begins to teach about Jesus. He was there teaching for about three months. But some were being angered by this and they began to spread bad report. They were slandering Paul and the Christians. So Paul leaves the Synagogue, and goes to a secular lecture hall owned by a man named Tyrannus. He continues to preach and teach every day. This happened for two years. Two years of daily church. Sounds amazing to me! But the result is amazing. Because of the ministry in Ephesus, all Asia hears the Word of the Lord.

All Asia hears the Word of the Lord.

Think of the power in those words. All of Asia hears the good news of the Kingdom of God. How powerful is the faithful witness of God? It spreads everywhere. The impact does not stay in Ephesus. It spreads throughout the entire continent. It is so encouraging to hear of the works of God. This is also probably why Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians the way he did. The witness there spread all over the country. So when he wrote to them, he wrote a circular letter to be spread everywhere the gospel went because of the ministry there.
Transition:
But this brings us to the second movement of Acts 19. This is found in verses 11-20. This details the miracles ad cultural revival that happened.

Movement two: Unrepeatable Miracles and cultural revival. v. 11-20

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,12 so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I implore you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.17 And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified.18 Also, many 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 were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.
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God was performing great miracles through Paul.

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Even pieces of his clothing would heal the sick.
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Non Christians attempt to replicate these miracles, even naming the name of Jesus.

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This does not work. Detailed in the failure of the seven sons of Sceva.

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This proves the authenticity of the Gospel. It is not mere magic, but the true unrepeatable power of God.
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Massive cultural revival breaks out, resulting in people abandoning witchcraft and burning their evil books.

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50,000 pieces of silver, or “drachmas” would be worth roughly $2,325,000 today.
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Movement three: Backlash over the gospel. v. 23-41

Now about that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen;25 these he gathered together with the workers of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is from this business.26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that things made with hands are not gods.27 And not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be considered as worthless and that she, whom all of Asia and the world worship, is even about to be brought down from her majesty.”28 When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”29 And 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.30 And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him.31 Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater.32 So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.33 And some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly.34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single cry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”35 Now after calming the crowd, the city clerk said, “Men of Ephesus, what man is there after all who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven?36 So, since these are undeniable facts, you ought to keep calm and to do nothing rash.37 For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.38 So then, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are in session and proconsuls are available; let them bring charges against one another.39 But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful meeting.40 For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today’s events, since there is no cause for which we can give as an account for this disorderly gathering.”41 After saying this he dismissed the meeting.
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The idol business is clearly hurt.

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The spread of the gospel financially hurts the business of idolaters.
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These idol craftsmen start a riot, seizing Paul’s traveling companions.

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Paul attempts to go surrender himself, but the Christians prevent him.

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The riot is stopped by the town clerk.

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The town clerk basically says, “Our goddess is great, her image fell from heaven, so we have need to fear. These men aren’t worth starting a riot over.”
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Application:

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The Gospel has a Cultural Impact.

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Businesses Who Sell Idols, Ought to go out of business because of our ministry.

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Are we affecting the sale of idolatry?
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God won, the false goddess, Artemis, lost.

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The Letter to the Ephesians.

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A Circulatory Letter to All the Churches in Asia Written While Paul Was in Prison.

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3 Chapters of Theology Marveling at the Beautiful Mystery of the Gospel.

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Chapter 4:1 Therefore...

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3 Chapters of Direct Application in Light of the Gospel.

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Summary:

“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.”
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Paul

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An Apostle of Christ Jesus.

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By the Will of God.

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To the Saints

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Who are at Ephesus.

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And who are faithful in Christ Jesus.

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Grace to you and peace

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From God our Father

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And the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Application:

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Are you a Saint?

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Are you faithful in Christ Jesus?

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Grace:

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First Grace in Salvation in Christ.

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Eternal Grace in Christ.

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Peace With God.

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May we destroy the sale of idols in Lead, SD.

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Closing:
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Communion:
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Closing Hymn:
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Benediction:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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