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Sermon Series
Introduction to Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians ///The Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians during his imprisonment in Caesarea sometime between AD 60 and 62. He addresses his letter to the “saints who are in Ephesus” (Eph 1:1 ESV). Ephesus was one of the largest ancient cities in Asia Minor and was located on what would be the west coast of modern-day Turkey. It served as a major economic and religious hub in the ancient world (think modern-day New York city). Among the city’s many buildings and structures, the theater and the temple of Artemis stood above the rest. The theater held roughly 24,000 people while the temple of Artemis was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world and the largest building known in antiquity. Artemis was the goddess of the life of nature and served as protectress of Ephesus. City life, both economic and religious, revolved around the great temple. Because of her religious and economic activity, Ephesus served as a strategic city for Paul during his missionary journeys. The letter to the Ephesians can be divided into two halves of nearly equal length. Doctrine occupies the first half (chapters 1-3) and application the second (4-6). Many scholars consider Ephesians to be a summary of Paul’s theology. Nearly every major theological doctrine is reviewed and applied to the church at Ephesus. While Paul does not explicitly state his purpose for writing Ephesians, unity as the product of love dominates his letter. Love, both in the verb and noun form, is used twenty times. Of those twenty occurrences, nineteen refer either to God’s/Christ’s love for man or the believers’ love for one another. Paul indicates that God’s love for believers should result in the believers’ love for one another. God’s love as revealed in Christ should unite the Ephesians. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reveals that what the church believes about God, both who he is and what he has done, is foundational. The nature and shape of the church are informed by her theology. In short, theology is the DNA of the church. Paul’s letter reminds us that the church rises and falls on the wings of her theology.
Walk worthy: Ephesians 4 ///
The last three chapters of Ephesians describe this new humanity. They are a people reborn and knit together with new hopes, joys, and dreams that unite them in anticipation of God’s coming kingdom (Eph 4:1-16). They walk in holiness (4:17-32), love (5:1-6), purity (5:7-14), and wisdom (5:15-6:9) like seasoned soldiers in God’s army (6:10-20). How do they do it? The transformative power of the gospel—it changes what they love. As Paul colors in the theological lines he drew in chapters 1-3, we see him constantly refer to Christ’s work as the church’s power because it makes her a new creation: Christ is her newfound love, and she loves no other. God teaches us in Ephesians that Christ is the center of the universe…not us. Christ is the hero of the story…not us. The depth of Christ’s sacrifice confronts and embarrasses the knowing sinner because within Christ’s sacrifice there is grace extravagant. When such beauty is truly encountered it renders any man helpless to deny it entrance. In this way God makes us new so that he can usher us back into his family, a new humanity, the bride of Christ, who anticipates the promised wedding feast. Prepare for Sunday and read Ephesians 4.
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In the first three chapters of Ephesians, we learned that God’s purpose in history is to unite all things in Christ (Eph 1:9-10). Man’s sin left the world in a heap of broken relationships: he hides from God; he is ashamed of himself; he hates his brother; creation fights against him. However, Christ has come to bring cosmic reconciliation by fulfilling man’s original commission to worship God and spread his kingdom. Christ represents a new kind of man and those who trust him as their Lord become a new kind of humanity.
