back to indexWed Bible Study Ephesians Lesson 1
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All right, why don't we pray and then we'll get the teaching portion of our study time 00:00:10.720 |
Lord, we are so thankful that in your precious word, you've provided so much insight that 00:00:22.280 |
even a child can understand it, and yet just the mysteries are often so profound that we 00:00:31.760 |
can study this over and over and over again and constantly be learning new things about 00:00:40.400 |
Would you help us tonight as we just launch our Ephesian study, that you would really 00:00:46.200 |
cause us to want more, help us to be hungry and excited students of the word? 00:00:56.640 |
Well, we're going to be doing this for about a year. 00:00:59.840 |
So some people have complained that Philippians, we went so fast and that it was hard to do 00:01:06.120 |
like inductive questions for like 14 verses at a time. 00:01:09.680 |
So the people have spoken, the leaders have listened. 00:01:14.000 |
So we are going to slow it down, especially since Ephesians is so rich in theology. 00:01:19.640 |
What I'm going to do is rather than just, because we've done this for Colossians, we've 00:01:24.040 |
done this for Philippians to like go through each section. 00:01:27.920 |
And for the most part, I believe you guys are probably now proficient in those skills. 00:01:34.920 |
But what I do want to do is just walk through just the first two verses. 00:01:40.280 |
And in these two verses, there's going to be a lot that you will see that will help 00:01:50.720 |
It says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are at 00:02:06.500 |
And it's important to start with his pre-Christian days. 00:02:12.040 |
So Saul is likely born between the years of 5 BC and 5 AD. 00:02:16.880 |
So he is pretty much at the same age-ish of Jesus. 00:02:23.400 |
He's a Roman citizen by birth from a devout Jewish family. 00:02:31.440 |
And you guys have learned this from the book of Philippians. 00:02:34.280 |
And he is possibly even a descendant of the Herodian family. 00:02:38.440 |
So in Romans 16, 11, you actually see him say, "Greet Herodias, my kinsman." 00:02:44.200 |
So it's difficult to really prove that, but perhaps that helped him to get his citizenship 00:02:55.820 |
He was trained under a great Pharisee named Gamaliel. 00:03:00.580 |
He persecuted the church and was responsible for the death of many saints. 00:03:04.480 |
Who was the most famous of the saints that he was responsible for the death of? 00:03:10.440 |
And so he was a very young man with a lot of power, right? 00:03:30.080 |
For the record, he doesn't have a smartphone. 00:03:38.140 |
For those of you who are watching at home, I'm talking about Yong Lee. 00:03:44.320 |
And then Paul, interesting, compared to the other apostles, he's directly appointed by 00:03:50.960 |
So these are things that you guys are familiar with, but they're important to remember because 00:03:55.620 |
this is a man who wrote one of the most theologically rich books in all of the scriptures. 00:04:15.060 |
If you look at the dates, you don't really know what happened the first 12, 13 years. 00:04:19.940 |
But in 46 to 47, he's actually spearheading this Judean famine, helping the poor effort. 00:04:30.140 |
One thing you'll know about Paul, if you study through his letters, he's obsessed with three 00:04:36.760 |
Just preaching the gospel and building up the church. 00:04:40.020 |
Two, making Christ known in unreached places. 00:04:46.060 |
That's my ambition to make the gospel known to where Jesus hasn't been preached. 00:04:54.500 |
He goes, "I was obsessed with helping the poor." 00:05:03.420 |
And then you have his three missionary journeys over the course of 10 years. 00:05:12.660 |
And you guys know what the prison epistles are? 00:05:18.500 |
So we've just been in his prison time, right? 00:05:26.940 |
So if you look at this, he's been ministering for 30 years, but half the time it was to 00:05:33.940 |
Most people know Apostle Paul as an apostle to the Gentiles, missionary to the Gentiles. 00:05:38.860 |
But most of his ministry time actually was to the Jews. 00:05:41.740 |
So he was a minister to the Jews for about 15 years, and then a missionary to the Gentiles 00:05:51.380 |
Why was he, all the other 12 original apostles, their ministry was mostly to the Jewish people. 00:05:58.700 |
But Paul is uniquely appointed to the ministry, missionary work to the Gentiles. 00:06:04.380 |
Because one, what kind of talents and skills did he have? 00:06:12.360 |
He was trained not only in all the best Jewish training, but also he was trained under like 00:06:27.680 |
And so I share this to say, the first sphere of ministry that God's going to call you to 00:06:37.420 |
But he's usually going to use you in a way that he's been equipping you from the beginning 00:06:44.940 |
So one way to really discern a mission's call, who are those in your harvest field? 00:06:52.580 |
Think of all that God has given you already, and that'll be a kind of a sign. 00:06:58.500 |
So just on a side note, I think it's very funny when you have, when we were doing ministry 00:07:03.020 |
in China, like some of these Chinese underground church students were like, "I'm going to go 00:07:12.060 |
Because they're like thinking we have to go to the ends of the earth. 00:07:16.160 |
First of all, that country is not going to take you. 00:07:24.660 |
So the farther away you go, the harder it is to minister. 00:07:32.320 |
And the ministry that you're going to be doing is going to just start from your Judea and 00:07:37.260 |
then go to your Samaria and then Lord willing to the ends of the earth. 00:07:43.980 |
So just to, I mean, the reason I share this is Paul's, most of his ministry was to his 00:07:48.660 |
And then he was a minister to the Gentiles for 10. 00:08:00.000 |
And then the third one, he actually spends three years in Ephesus between 55 to 57. 00:08:14.380 |
And that's actually a very interesting question or an interesting thing that we're going to 00:08:19.620 |
So Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, by the will of God is actually 00:08:25.380 |
a very important theme in the book of Ephesians because you're going to be hit again and again 00:08:38.660 |
And it does not change from the beginning of time. 00:08:41.460 |
So if that were to be the case, if God's will is perfect, what are some of the things that 00:08:45.260 |
have taken place by God's will and what are some of the things that Paul's prescribing 00:08:50.020 |
to the churches for all eternity's sake by the will of God? 00:08:55.260 |
The first one is there is divine sovereignty versus free will. 00:09:00.860 |
So we don't fully understand the balance between God giving us free will and him preordaining 00:09:11.940 |
Predestination and election before the creation of the world are real things. 00:09:16.660 |
Well, how do I know if I'm, what if I'm not chosen? 00:09:22.780 |
Well, God doesn't reveal that to you right away. 00:09:27.820 |
But in scripture, predestination is actually, like you can't miss it if you're saying the 00:09:34.940 |
There is spiritual warfare and God allows it. 00:09:40.220 |
Wouldn't it be nice if God didn't allow spiritual warfare? 00:09:43.060 |
It'd be awesome if whenever you preach the gospel, there was zero opposition. 00:09:54.960 |
But he allows spiritual warfare by the will of God. 00:09:59.120 |
Worship in the church, including the diversity in forms. 00:10:05.480 |
The way our brothers in Tanzania worship is very different from the way you guys worship. 00:10:11.960 |
The way the worship is done in Ecuador is very different than the way people worship 00:10:18.600 |
So there's a diversity in forms that Ephesians touches upon. 00:10:23.040 |
Now more and more, the society is pushing against this. 00:10:28.680 |
And most likely, you have been impacted by this to some degree. 00:10:37.520 |
I mean, I don't use the words to my wife, hey, submit. 00:10:49.760 |
And so, but gender roles are clearly defined in scripture by the will of God. 00:10:57.640 |
Ministry through the church, unity of the church. 00:11:24.720 |
So, these are things that you're going to wrestle with today. 00:11:33.440 |
These are things that are very pertinent to today's culture. 00:11:37.040 |
So, by the will of God, all of these things have been prescribed. 00:11:45.760 |
We've covered this in Philippians, so I'm not going to spend too much time. 00:11:49.480 |
If I were to say, oh man, yeah, I love Elise. 00:11:56.880 |
Then you're thinking, oh, she's like a holy moly person. 00:12:00.000 |
No, but the biblical definition of a saint just means someone who's been called out. 00:12:05.520 |
So, if you've done a cursory reading of Ephesians, how does one become a saint? 00:12:12.400 |
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to 00:12:20.040 |
We were by nature children of wrath, but God being rich in mercy saved us. 00:12:28.320 |
You have it twice in that section in chapter two. 00:12:38.360 |
For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what? 00:12:43.640 |
To do good works which he prepared before Adam and Eve. 00:12:57.040 |
Now, I want to do a quick little study on saints. 00:13:08.720 |
Are saints people to be worshipped or people who worship? 00:13:11.640 |
So, the Roman Catholic Church, this is who a saint is. 00:13:15.360 |
Someone who's exalted in heaven because of his or her exemplary virtue or merit. 00:13:21.720 |
Saints actually skip purgatory according to the Catholic tradition. 00:13:25.920 |
Canonized saints by the decree of the Pope are venerated. 00:13:30.040 |
They're a model whose life is to be emulated. 00:13:33.920 |
If you're a really good saint, you get celebrated by festivals and holidays. 00:13:38.400 |
And church members are encouraged to appeal to the saints to intercede with God on their 00:13:49.720 |
Paul's favorite term for addressing Christians. 00:14:06.880 |
Raise your hand if you're a saint because of your merit. 00:14:09.040 |
Raise your hand if you're a saint because of God's grace. 00:14:14.240 |
Anyone who comes to faith in Christ is a saint. 00:14:18.920 |
The one who has made us saints alone is to be venerated. 00:14:24.000 |
And those saints are called to be separated from sin. 00:14:34.240 |
So Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus. 00:14:39.400 |
Ephesus is actually a very, very important city. 00:14:45.360 |
So I'm going to, we're going to talk about the city of Ephesus. 00:14:51.560 |
Strong influence over politics, commerce, and religion. 00:14:59.160 |
It's very ethnic, multi-ethnic, cosmopolitan. 00:15:02.440 |
It was probably the third or fourth largest city in the Roman Empire. 00:15:08.880 |
And the Jewish population, percentage wise is not large. 00:15:12.480 |
But when you have 250,000 people, 5 to 10% is a lot of people. 00:15:21.880 |
Ephesus was famous for its great temple, a shrine to the goddess Diana. 00:15:32.340 |
Anytime you are a goddess of fertility, you represent wealth. 00:15:37.460 |
Because back in, today, if I had seven kids, some of us are close actually in this room, 00:15:42.860 |
but if I had seven kids, that would be a burden. 00:15:47.380 |
But for most of human history, if I have seven kids, I have a little army of free labor. 00:15:57.200 |
And one of the seven wonders of the world was this temple of Diana. 00:16:03.160 |
It's still standing because they made it in marble. 00:16:09.440 |
And so this was a religious center of all of Asia. 00:16:17.120 |
So all of the spiritual warfare talk is very important in context of where Ephesus is. 00:16:21.840 |
There's a large stadium there seating 24,000 people. 00:16:24.720 |
Paul actually goes in there in Acts chapter 18 and 19. 00:16:31.360 |
Go to Dodger Stadium and say something silly and everyone's mad at you. 00:16:39.560 |
In Ephesus, there were demon castings, failed demon castings. 00:16:46.740 |
But because people are turning to Christ and they're giving up their idolatry, the economy 00:17:28.360 |
Tychicus, the pastor, has to go farther than Epaphroditus did. 00:17:33.960 |
So he's going from Rome, carrying these letters all the way to Ephesus. 00:17:37.400 |
He actually has to cross how many bodies of water is that? 00:17:43.920 |
So Paul, taking two years to get somewhere, it makes sense. 00:17:53.400 |
So just think in Rome is where Paul is at, and from there he's writing a letter that's 00:17:58.680 |
supposed to be circulated to these major cities. 00:18:14.840 |
So when I go, when I'm thinking, I'm going to go to Egypt. 00:18:27.400 |
If I'm going to Paris, what do I have to see if this is my only time? 00:18:31.720 |
Eiffel Tower, Italy, Leaning Tower of Pisa, right? 00:18:35.720 |
But if I'm going to Great Wall, I mean, that's a really long wall, so you can go anywhere 00:18:46.920 |
So there's a lot of religious stuff going on in here. 00:19:01.040 |
Was this really written to the church in Ephesus? 00:19:02.960 |
Some of you guys who may have done some commentary work are like, because even if you're a familiar, 00:19:08.440 |
like if you're just a Bible student, familiar with stuff, Philippians, is there a lot of 00:19:14.840 |
I urge you, I urge Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord and help you loyal 00:19:24.160 |
Along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers. 00:19:26.880 |
So there's all of these personal people, Epaphroditus, okay? 00:19:34.200 |
But Ephesus is where Paul spent more time than any other city. 00:19:40.160 |
But Ephesians is the most general letter that Paul has ever written. 00:19:48.160 |
He mentions nothing except Tychicus, the pastor who carried these things, right? 00:19:52.760 |
So that's why there's a little bit of a question, did Paul really write this to the Ephesian 00:20:00.960 |
From the second century all the way to about the 19th century, everyone thought this was 00:20:25.840 |
But the oldest and most reliable records that they found, the manuscripts that they found 00:20:32.040 |
that are trustworthy, actually don't have the words Ephesus in there. 00:20:45.760 |
The NIV actually interprets this as to the Ephesian church. 00:20:51.040 |
The God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. 00:20:57.360 |
All the other translations are like those who are at Ephesus and everyone else who's 00:21:05.080 |
So if you guys, I mean, you might not pick up on that if you're just doing one translation. 00:21:14.160 |
For the video people, they're like, why is he freaking out, right? 00:21:17.200 |
There's a lot of technical difficulty, all right? 00:21:19.720 |
So in 115, he says, I have heard of your faith. 00:21:22.600 |
Can you imagine if during my time in China and Korea, I wrote emails to some of you, 00:21:29.880 |
it's like, hey, I've heard of you guys at Berean. 00:21:34.320 |
'Cause I spent most of my ministry at Berean. 00:21:37.220 |
So Paul, this is a very strange way to write a letter, okay? 00:21:44.840 |
Frank Fehlman, a very well-known scholar says, this is one of the most difficult textual 00:21:57.480 |
If I had to retitle this book of the Bible, I would actually call it the Epistle to Ephesus 00:22:13.200 |
So the consensus among all the scholars is this, Paul did write it from prison. 00:22:19.360 |
And Tychicus came holding these things as proof, okay? 00:22:23.680 |
Paul wrote it, but Ephesians was actually a circular letter intended for multiple cities. 00:22:30.600 |
And I've listed a bunch of cities that you can get to within a day and a half of walking, 00:22:39.040 |
Now if I'm going to spend three years in China, logically, where would I first go? 00:22:59.920 |
So my first destination will be Beijing and then maybe all the other big cities. 00:23:05.080 |
So because perhaps this was actually first taken to Ephesus because that's the hub, it 00:23:12.480 |
was probably very closely associated with the Ephesian church, okay? 00:23:19.920 |
Sproul, someone you guys are familiar with, I only put up people you're familiar with. 00:23:25.200 |
It seems likely that Paul, toward the end of his life, had a burden to write to the 00:23:28.600 |
church in general, a synopsis of the revelation that was given him as the apostle of Jesus 00:23:32.680 |
Christ, a summary of the great truth of Christianity. 00:23:34.520 |
John MacArthur, many scholars think that this letter was an encyclical, intended to be circulated 00:23:42.240 |
It may be that the letter was sent first to Ephesus and therefore became especially associated 00:23:51.380 |
So it's okay that it might not be only to Ephesus, okay? 00:23:57.040 |
But we call it Ephesians because I'd rather call it that than Paul's letter to the Ephesian 00:24:02.280 |
church and the other churches in Asia Minor, okay? 00:24:06.440 |
So early texts, actually some of them, had the church name missing. 00:24:11.000 |
So it's like a copied letter with Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the saints who 00:24:16.460 |
are at blank, who are faithful in Christ Jesus. 00:24:22.560 |
So Ephesus definitely is on his mind, but this is not the only audience that this letter 00:24:30.600 |
Verse two is 100% exactly the same as Philippians. 00:24:33.660 |
If you guys have memorized Philippians, this should be very familiar, "Grace to you and 00:24:37.760 |
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." 00:24:39.360 |
100%, so I'm not going to talk about grace or peace, okay? 00:24:44.120 |
Other Ephesian similarities, Colossians and Ephesians are very similar. 00:24:49.400 |
155 of the Ephesian verses, 75 of Colossians, it's very similar to the book of Ephesians. 00:25:00.280 |
Ephesians 6, 21 to 22, Colossians 4, 7 to 8, almost 32 words are like almost word for 00:25:10.280 |
So Paul probably wrote these at the same time, okay? 00:25:14.700 |
So he had a lot on his mind, and then he distributed it to their intended churches. 00:25:19.920 |
So the book of Ephesians is extremely important. 00:25:23.540 |
It's some people's favorite books throughout the history of Christendom. 00:25:28.480 |
So Paul wrote it for a general audience to start with at Ephesus. 00:25:35.320 |
Clinton Arnold, who was actually one of my favorite profs at seminary, this is what he 00:25:39.400 |
says, "This letter summarizes what it means to be a Christian better than any other book 00:25:46.280 |
William Barclay, by common consent, the letter to the Ephesians ranks very high in the devotional 00:25:51.120 |
theological literature of the Christian church. 00:25:53.400 |
When the Scottish Protestant reformer John Knox was very near to death, the book that 00:25:57.160 |
was most often read to him was John Calvin's sermon on the letter to the Ephesians. 00:26:01.480 |
John MacArthur says, "Ephesians has been given such titles as the believer's bank, the Christian's 00:26:05.600 |
checkbook, the treasurer of the house of the Bible," because you see like inheritance, 00:26:09.200 |
riches, fullness, fill to fill to fill, you see that a lot, okay? 00:26:14.920 |
This beautiful letter tells Christians of their great riches, inheritance, and fullnesses 00:26:20.360 |
Ephesians focuses on the basic doctrine of the church, what it is, and how believers 00:26:29.480 |
So we can do church God's way, not Orange County's way, not America's way, but God's 00:26:40.880 |
It's not helpful to go like verses three to eight, verses nine to 14. 00:26:45.280 |
That's helpful when you're doing a personal study, but here's one easy way to just remember 00:27:00.360 |
The because, and then you have the therefore. 00:27:05.240 |
So chapters one through three is very theological. 00:27:10.660 |
So from here till June, we're going to be very theological. 00:27:16.440 |
We're going to do a lot of it, like predestination, spiritual gifts. 00:27:23.200 |
But then toward the end of the year, we're going to be like, then what does that mean 00:27:27.880 |
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful in building 00:27:43.080 |
So chapter four, you have that hinge, therefore, and therefores are very important words because 00:27:49.440 |
you have to say, what is that therefore, therefore? 00:27:57.160 |
So chapter four starts with, therefore, I, prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk 00:28:01.200 |
in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. 00:28:04.360 |
The word in a manner worthy, it's literally suitable, fitting, snug. 00:28:16.080 |
So he's going to give you three chapters of what God's done. 00:28:22.240 |
And then we're going to look at three chapters practically of what we ought to do because 00:28:37.840 |
Super general letter to generally the churches in Asia Minor, starting with Ephesus. 00:28:50.840 |
How do we live this out in the context of our people? 00:28:59.960 |
What are some things that Ephesians says about the will of God that you have a hard time 00:29:04.080 |
Because we're going to cover them in the first few months. 00:29:06.160 |
I have a hard time trusting if God really is good, then why does this happen? 00:29:15.220 |
That's actually part of that heart is in all of us. 00:29:26.080 |
But as Christ loved the church, but sometimes she's mean. 00:29:32.800 |
What are the things of the will of God that you have a hard time wrestling with? 00:29:38.320 |
Two, in what tangible areas of your life are you praying that the letter to the Ephesians 00:29:45.560 |
In your marriage, in your spiritual warfare, in your understanding of theology, in your 00:29:52.720 |
being filled with the spirit rather than being filled with drunkenness. 00:29:59.280 |
Because we're going to spend 2020 not only doing evangelism, but we're going to study 00:30:06.920 |
And the third question, Ephesians 6 describes our struggles not being against flesh and 00:30:18.240 |
If the person sitting next to you, you don't like him, you don't like her, he or she is 00:30:25.560 |
There are spiritual forces at work that's causing division and strife. 00:30:29.840 |
So in your life, there are probably people that you want to hug very, very tightly to 00:30:44.560 |
But our spiritual struggle is against the spiritual world and not people. 00:31:00.840 |
Obama, Clinton, the thief on the cross is not people. 00:31:10.800 |
What are some of the battles you feel you are currently engaging in that you need prayer 00:31:19.160 |
And that's how I want you guys to kind of share practically. 00:31:24.840 |
Let me pray for us and then we'll dismiss you to discussion. 00:31:30.600 |
Lord, we're embarking on an interesting year. 00:31:36.680 |
And Lord, in the pit of all of our hearts, we want to do church your way. 00:31:41.600 |
So would you teach your people how to properly be your people? 00:31:46.640 |
And would you help us to live out what we say we believe? 00:31:50.520 |
For your name's sake, in Jesus' name we pray.