Ephesians - Lesson 19

You know, it's interesting here in verse 8 that he says He considers himself the least of all the Saints. He doesn't say least of the Apostles here He says least of the Apostles in 1st Corinthians 15 if I remember correctly Here he says least of all of all the Saints now remember in the chapter 1 he says he's writing to the holy ones the Saints same word and the faithful ones in Ephesus and Here he uses the word Saints to describe I think himself amongst other believers And he talks about the inheritance that we have amongst the Saints and other verses as well in Ephesians So it seems to me that he is offering what he thinks to be a fair assessment of his Christian experience that he views himself unworthy Because of the life he lived prior to Christ now again from the outside looking in it was a pretty good life As to the law he was blameless But from his Christian perspective now, he recognizes perhaps something was Missing and That something pertained to the fact that he was resisting the gospel prior to Christ and he was destroying the Church of God Perhaps this is what he's reflecting upon and he views himself as the least of all the Saints But this grace look at it again this gift this gift of the gospel was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable Riches of Christ that word you don't see it in English to preach It's the same word that could be translated to announce as good news. It's the verb the noun gospel is uangelion the verb uangelidzo in Ephesians and sometimes you'll have a Construction in Greek that says to preach the good news with the verb Keruso to preach and the noun tau uangelion good news but then sometimes the word that's used to talk about preaching the gospel is the verb uangelidzo that has good news within the Actual verb and every time the the noun or the verb is used.

The the gospel is an announcement that's being made It's a it's a declaration that's being made. It's not a defense We defend the gospel, but the gospel is declaring what is true And Paul says God gave him this gift and notice what the gift does it creates a Response from Paul and the response is to preach the good news To the Gentiles. Wait a second Paul.

The good news was given to Isaiah to preach to Jews That exile delivers from exile is coming. Just read Isaiah 40 to 66 That new creation is coming that restoration is coming and Paul is saying yep That's true. But the promise that was given to Isaiah about the announcement of good news included Gentiles From the very beginning and Isaiah himself even though knew that and it's a promise that's realized in Christ to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable Riches of Christ again, he talks about The wealth of God this time the wealth of Christ God is wealthy with grace and Christ is wealthy with grace practically speaking This is good news for us again in terms of the practical Christian life That God's grace is big enough to enable us and transform us To conquer the power of sin in our lives practically It might take time just think about sanctification for a moment it might take time to see clear Persistent victory over sin But the gospel of grace gives us the ability to see progress in the Christian faith that progress for some might be slow and difficult But we have the resources By the Spirit in Christ to see progress.

This is also good news for those who don't know Jesus because the gospel that took a persecutor of the church an Insulter a blasphemer Someone seeking to destroy the Church of God that that transformed him took him from darkness and brought him into light to make him a Servant of the gospel to announce the good news to the Gentiles that same God can use the gospel to transform anyone in any form of darkness Paul says The riches of Christ were given to him to preach the gospel To the Gentiles verse 9 and notice this to bring to light for everyone What is the mystery of the plan of the mystery hidden for ages and God who created all things that is another line I think at least an allusion to Isaiah Why is a it talks about a light of Isaiah 49 a revelation to the Gentiles In one sense if you think about it There's a book that was written That makes this point that the vocation of Israel to the nations is Being fulfilled by means of the Jewish Paul's Apostolic mission to the Gentiles so in the Old Testament Israel was to be a light to the nations and The way in which God is working out that redemptive plan is through this Jewish Messiah who comes into the world the second person of the Trinity comes to the world as a Jewish Messiah and His message is being heralded by a Jew to Gentiles so by means of The Apostle Paul the Jewish Apostle Paul the Christ following Jewish Apostle Paul Israel's vocation to be a light to the nations is being realized by means of Paul preaching the gospel To the Gentiles which is in fact what Isaiah Had promised this happened verse 12. So that still talking about really this this mystery, isn't he? That through the church there it is again The manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the look at this rulers and authorities in the heavenly places how what is a An important means by which God displays to the anti God powers his manifold wisdom It is through Jews and Gentiles sharing in the redemptive promises of God in Christ the Jewish Messiah and the way in which that is manifested is when these Jews and Gentiles are Are included within The assembly of God the people of God as they are now worshiping as one family again doesn't mean we all go to the same churches, but we are created as a new people and we manifest that in local assemblies, absolutely But the point that he seems to be making here is is that That this new humanity this new people known as the church known as the assembly Whose Lord is Christ and whose seal is the Spirit and whose message is the gospel We display God's manifold wisdom in the heavenly places to those rulers and authorities who reign over the darkness as God's reigning over them and over all things and his sovereign heavenly realm With Christ and Paul says verse 11 this was according to the eternal purpose. See this is not plan B The God created Adam and he sinned so he's got a he's got to come up with a second plan Oh, this was the plan from the foundation of the world.

God had designed to do it exactly this way according to his eternal purpose Going back to what he said in chapter 1 about predestination it was God's Sovereign desire to choose to save some Before the foundation of the world. It was God's sovereign desire to predestine some for adoption It was God's sovereign desire to to hand-picked pick some from every tongue tribes and tribe and people and nation That was his eternal plan That he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord Verse 12 in whom we both Jews and Gentiles have boldness and Access. I love this with confidence through our faith in him.

We have confident access to God We don't need we don't need a priest Because Jesus is our high priest God is our father And we can pray to God our father Ourselves we have confident access to God. We we have no condemnation before him. We can enter into his presence as The pathway to God has been open wide for us and we have boldness through Christ Confidence through Christ through our faith in him So then he gives us in verse 13 an exhortation Remember, he's a prisoner Here as he's writing this letter.

So he says look I asked you verse 13. Don't lose heart Over what I'm suffering for you. I love that last phrase there one reason.

Well, I'll restate this The reason he's incarcerated is because he preaches the gospel To the Gentiles Of course, he preaches it to Jews as well So the suffering of which he seems to speak could be the suffering that comes because he preaches The gospel and his mission to the Gentiles caused him so much so much social shame but he says I'm suffering this for you and This suffering he says his afflictions Is their Glory, so practically a couple practical thoughts here as we conclude this section number one Just reach I'll restate what I already said about the mystery, you know, Paul restates it So I'm going to restate it as well repetition can sometimes mean your teacher or your preacher is not a good communicator Or sometimes it can mean that you really need to pay attention to what's being said and in this case I'd like to think I'm repeating as Paul because we really need to pay attention to what's being said that the mystery has been revealed that Jews and Gentiles have a have an equal share in the redemptive promises of God in Christ as Jews and as Gentiles it doesn't mean they Experience the same things or have the same things in their life or have the same experiences in our lives But it means that in Christ Jesus as I've already stated doesn't matter the ethnicity or the economic status That my brother in Christ has equal access to God or my sister in Christ equal access to God as I because of Christ And because of the gospel There are no second-class citizens Second-class Christians amongst the people of God There's not a level of Christian that is based upon one's Knowledge of the Bible that I'm a better I have more access to the promises of God than a Christian who can't read Greek or Hebrew for example That's not the case or have more access to God's promises than a Christian who doesn't have a Pastor or or teachers who teach verse by verse to the Bible verse by verse Bible Teaching is the way to do it in my view like biblical exposition But the point that I'm making here is is that is that in Christ Jesus? we are sharing as Jews and Gentiles fellow heirs fellow citizens fellow fellow participants in all the promises of God in Jesus Because of what God has done for us in Christ questions Isn't it remarkable that this was God's plan from the beginning it even talks about Moses talking about the nation of Israel being chosen not because they were the most popular not because they were the biggest or Anything like that. There's nothing remarkable about them and then God's plan for the world was through the nation of Israel and then through Christ who was just in a place where there wasn't a whole lot of publicity or a lot of Things that the world would think are important and then through the Apostles You know 12 guys and then through the church. Yes now and to think that we Still are a part of that process that we are God's plan a yes for Communicating the message.

Amen. Yes, that's good. Yeah the the the the promises of God that are worked out in progressively and in salvation history with some bumps and and some disruption along the way for various reasons those those promises though are being realized and fulfilled progressively and they come to their fulfillment ultimately in Jesus and And Israel was God's chosen people through whom? the mess sought Messiah would come and through whom these Messianic promises would be revealed and It's not as though I just do not like this language It's not it's not the idea that well Israel was God's failed plan and now he's working with the church No, no, no It the idea is it was God's redemptive plan for this period of time to choose this people.

He chose this people to be the ones through whom the Jewish Messiah would come to bless the nations and And there was this there is this redemptive anticipation starting with Genesis continuing through Exodus and on throughout the rest of the Old Testament into the birth of Jesus Where God was working this plan out and Paul is saying it's been revealed is here So that once again The issue is not Devaluing the Jews It's recognizing that That the Jews are God's special chosen unique people through whom he's given this This privilege to be the the ones through whom the Messiah would come and now that the Messiah has come the expectation has always been to include Gentiles through this Jewish Messiah and to Fulfill these promises to these Jews through the Messiah. So Jews turn from your sin toward Christ Gentiles Turn from your sin and be included in these promises through Christ and this has always been God's redemptive plan I'm trying as a New Testament scholar not as a not as a systematic theologian So maybe I'm entering into dangerous territory here when I say this and the theologians might want to correct me who watched this But my my I'm thoroughly Calvinistic in my understanding of God's redemptive plan So that even though it was God's revealed will in my view that Adam should not eat the fruit That was always God's predetermined plan to save the elect. So in some mysterious sovereign way God before the foundation of the world had chosen to use Adams fall in order to bring about the salvation of the elect from every tongue tribe people and Nation has always been God's design to save elect Jews and elect Gentiles and the fall fit within that plan But God is good and not evil even though evil entered creation and required that a Savior would come but it was always God's plan for that Savior to come and he's using these means by which to work it out In history, it's a sovereign plan.

So so practically I mean I forget this so often That our God can be trusted. He is sovereign He can be trusted with our salvation the salvation of our family members the salvation of our neighbors our co-workers our friends He can be trusted with their finances. He can be trusted with everything in our lives.

Life is hard there's so many uncertainties, but the the God who predestined and determined to save a people in this magnificent way and to disrupt the principles and powers of the air to destroy them and dethrone them and To break in this world through Christ that same God can help me Trust him and I can entrust all things in my life to him That's the kind of God that does this a sovereign king who's more superior than the Emperor Nero And he's chosen to use us as part of his plan Yeah, so I you know, I appreciate Paul's comments here Because honestly, I I often ask myself like what am I doing being a preacher? Who am I? I know my story. I know from where God has brought me There there was no category when I was in high school called most likely to be a preacher You know those categories most likely to succeed most likely to do this There was no category for for most likely to be a preacher But if there were a category for least likely to be a preacher, I would have been least likely to be a preacher And God I feel so unworthy. This is not false humility I feel unworthy to be a witness of the gospel But Jesus came to save sick people like Paul persecutor of the church blasphemer Insulter and he chooses to use us in order to manifest and display his glory.

So even though we may feel unworthy The good news is he chooses to use unworthy people and he makes us worthy to be servants of the gospel so now we turn to The fifth section in Ephesians based on my outline that is chapter 3 verse 1 to chapter 3 verses 14 through 21 and This outline is my outline for teaching purposes. There are many different outlines in in Commentaries that that present the letter in different ways in terms of how you break down the argument But for my purposes here I understand this to be the fifth section of the letter in which Paul Says because of the spiritual blessings God has given to Jews and Gentiles in Christ. He again prays for the Gentiles Chapter 3 verse 1. He begins the prayer.

He breaks it off and continues it in verse 14 and he says for this reason I bow my knees before the Father From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named now verse 16. He's basically going to tell us What for what does he pray for these Ephesians verse 16 that according to the riches of his glory. There it is again talking about how how rich and wealthy and and Plentiful God is because of the riches of his glory He may grant to you to be strengthened with power Through his spirit in your inner man this phrase inner man can also be translated as Or inner being can also be translated as inner human kind or inner human The idea here is I think similar to what you find in chapter 1 verse 18 when Paul prays for the Ephesians that they would be enlightened in The eyes of their heart the eyes of their heart would be enlightened.

So basically what Paul is praying here is The same thing for which he prayed in chapter 1 he's praying that they would have spiritual understanding that they would have Spiritual power he wants them to be strengthened with power through the spirit Strengthen with power to do what? Well, I think to live in accordance with the mystery of the gospel That's where he goes in chapters 4 and 5 and 6 which we'll see in subsequent letters But he's praying that they would live the Christian life filled with the Holy Spirit This is something that we need to remember as believers. Is that the spirit field life is necessary for us to live in obedience to the gospel We need the supernatural work of the Spirit to enable us to transform us to empower us to strengthen us So that we would walk in a manner worthy of our calling Because as Paul has said in chapter 1 that God predestined us so that we would be holy and blameless in Christ living as godly People in a dark world living as bright lights in a dark world. So Paul prays for them To be strengthened with spiritual power power through the spirit in their enter inner being in there in their mind in their hearts in their in their body He wants them heart mind soul and strength to have supernatural strength And wants them to have supernatural strength verse 17 so that that Christ may dwell in your hearts Wait a second.

I thought Christ dwelt in my heart already Paul says earlier that we are filled with the Spirit and we have Become the place in which God himself dwells And here Paul says he's praying that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith And what Paul simply means I think is he's asking God to Manifest his power in us through Christ. I think that fits with what he says in verse 16 In other words in verse 17, he's simply restating verse 16 What does it mean for Christ to dwell in our hearts? It means that we would be strengthened with power So one thing we should pray for in our lives is is that God would do in us what he has already done He has strengthened us with power and we should pray that he would continue to strengthen us with power That we have the power of the Spirit in us that's been established in chapter 1. We're raised with God in Christ We are ruling with God in Christ over all the principalities and powers of the air And we should pray that God would continue to strengthen us to empower us That Christ would dwell in us through faith by the power of the Spirit and That we verse 17. He's praying that we being rooted and grounded in love May have strength you see why I'm saying that he's repeating himself multiple times here He's praying that we would be strengthened with power verse 16 He's praying that Christ would dwell in our hearts verse 17, and he's praying that we would have strength to comprehend what God has done in us to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breath and the length and the Height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that we may be filled with all the fullness of God in other words, he's praying that we would understand what we would understand.

I would argue that The prayer he prayed in chapter 1 He's repeating that same prayer here in chapter 3 and you notice how Paul prays he prays for God To continue to help these Ephesians to understand what they've already begun to understand by believing The gospel I think about my prayer life. I Often ask myself. How can I pray for someone in my church? with whom I might not have a Relationship And about him I might know very little as a pastor.

I feel a particular burden because it is hard to know every member of your Impossible to know every member of your congregation unless you're a pastor of a very small congregation So how in the world do I pray for? members of our church Most of whom I do not even know Well one thing I can pray for everyone is this That God would strengthen the members of our church with power they would help them to understand The height and the breadth and the length and the depth of Christ and to know that the love of Christ that surpasses Knowledge that they may be filled with all the fullness of God I can pray that for them for me for my family I pray for my neighbors pray for my neighbors that they would be filled with all the fullness of God in Christ there are many ways and many things For which we can pray many ways to pray many things for which to pray Jesus teaches us how to pray in Matthew chapter 6 He tells us how to pray acknowledging God as our Heavenly Father asking God to meet our needs Praying that our sins would be forgiven But there are also other ways in which the scripture in God's a guides us to pray and Paul guides guides us to pray here in ways that are highlighting the real spiritual needs that every believer has and A constant rhythm of our prayer lives should be praying for God to do in us The work that he's already begun in us to help us understand that work to strengthen us help us to know the love of God In Christ help us to be filled with all the fullness of God we are being filled up with all the fullness of God as Paul said back in chapter 1 because Christ is our Lord and we are the body of Christ and Christ is filling up the body of Christ Continually with all things and his sovereign power giving us power and we should pray that God would do that God will answer his prayers on behalf of his people in accordance with his will if we want our prayers to be answered we should pray for God to do what He's already promised to do To strengthen his people with power. So God help us to be strengthened with power and Then as he comes to the end of chapter 3 he gives the Ephesians a prayer He offers another prayer Or should I say a praise? Mixed with the prayer Now to him 320 Who is able to do far more abundantly? than all that we ask or think according to the power at work notice verse 20 At work within us is that word power and working in us again The power that's at work and that's working in us is the resurrection power that God displayed when he raised Jesus from the dead and It's the power that he displayed when he made us alive together with Christ It is a power that triumphs over triumphs over and conquers all the anti God powers that power is in us by the Spirit as The Spirit is enabling us and notice this important point. The Spirit is working in us.

I take that to be divine enablement That we are an able and empowered God saves us and gives us the Spirit and enables us empowers us Telling Paul or Paul is telling them may this God do more than we think he can do God can do more in us and Through us and for us and for our churches and for our families Abundantly above and beyond we could ever imagine ask or think sometimes I talk about how great and how big God is But too often I live like he's a small God Worried about the future as opposed to trusting God for the future worried about whether or not God Can do this Rather than trusting that God will do this or that if it is his will So Paul reminds us here He reminds them that God can do far more above than what we could ever ask or think because of his great power and this power is working in Us, so if we find ourselves practically Doubting the promises of God doubting God's faithfulness. We should pray God Work in us by the power of the Spirit to trust To trust that you will do what you say you will do in my own Experience. I've realized that I need to remind myself that God cares more About my well-being than I care about my well-being So I can entrust myself to him God cares more about my family than I care about my family So I can entrust my family to him Of course make responsible decisions choose to be wise and how we live our lives but know that God can do far more than we ever imagine ask or Think we ought not to limit God or his power And then he offers a praise for God verse 22 God verse 21 not to him Be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever Amen, that prayer is in the process of being answered and It will be answered perfectly in the new heavens in the new earth When the church the people of God collectively from all over the world from every tongue tribe people and nation are Glorifying perfectly and honoring perfectly God in Christ without sin without boundaries when Jesus returns and restores everything Adam and Eve lost in the garden, but even now Individual local churches manifest this glory as they are living in the power of the Spirit pursuing unity in a manner that Manifests they are walking worthy of his calling.

This is where he goes in chapter in chapter 4