Rose Kennedy, like many very wealthy people perhaps,
is a little bit eccentric. Her former secretary
says that Rose insists on using the back of envelopes
for notes rather than buy a notepad. And then
when she wants to put together pieces of paper,
she uses straight pens so she doesn't have to
buy paperclips. She's afraid she's going to run
out of money. She does not live according to
her wealth, does she? And in doing that, she
is like many Christians who do not live according
to their spiritual wealth. The book of Ephesians
is written to such people. I invite you to turn
there with me. We're going to begin studying
today through the book of Ephesians. The book
of Ephesians is the best -worn book in my Bible.
I dropped in a street one day and a car ran over
it right through the middle of Ephesians. A tire
trend, looks like Goodyear perhaps, goes through
several chapters, and there are other reminders
of not leaving my Bible on the top of my car
again. But it's not for that reason that we're
studying through the book, because it happens
to be the best -worn book in my Bible. It is
because it is a book that talks about the wealth
of believers. I want to study the book so that
all of us who are God's children might know the
riches that are ours in Jesus Christ and then
might live accordingly. I suppose if a survey
were taken, the book of Ephesians would be one
of the top favorites in the New Testament, perhaps
along with Philippians and Romans. It is an epistle
of the church. Not the Baptist Church or the
Lutheran Church or the Methodist Church, but
the Church, capital C. It is an epistle that
tells us about the origin of the Church, its
nature, and its glorious destiny. Even the first
two verses of the epistle are significant, for
they set the stage for what is to come later.
When I was in high school, I enjoyed being in
some dramatic productions. One thing I learned
as an amateur, very amateur actor, was the importance
of the props on a stage. Because the props give
you the context in which to work, so that you
yourself can be an effective communicator, and
so that the people who are watching you are able
to put your comments into some kind of a meaningful
setting. Well, it seems to me that in verses
1 and 2, the Apostle Paul sets the stage for
us. And in setting the stage for the book of
Ephesians, he answers several vital questions.
The first one is, who wrote this book? Who is
the author? Now, that is disputed by some, usually
by those who are of a more liberal persuasion.
Yet there is no reason to seriously doubt the
author. which has been widely and traditionally
accepted. That is, the author who states he wrote
the book, the Apostle Paul. The Apostle calls
himself, in verse 1, by that phrase, an apostle
of Jesus Christ. You see, he was not just anybody.
He was not just a kid from down the block. He
was an apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle is
one who was sent out from a person or an organization
with a mission to accomplish. It is a person
who was commissioned to do something in particular.
It is a word that is used, the capital A, of
the Lord Jesus himself, in Hebrews 3 .1, where
we are exhorted to consider the apostle. and
high priest of our confession, Jesus Christ.
For he is an apostle in the sense that he was
sent from the Father. As we read this morning,
as the Father has sent me, even so I have sent
you. So he was an apostle. He was sent from the
Father with a mission to fulfill in the world.
That is the redemption of man. It is a word also
used in the New Testament more broadly and in
a general sense of those who were sent out from
churches on various missions. They were commissioned
to do this or to do that. They were apostles
in that broad and general sense, and there were
many of those. But it is used most notably in
its narrow sense, its specific and technical
meaning, that it was used only of 14 people.
It was used of the 12. One of those was a betrayer
and committed apostasy. It was no longer counted
among them. There was one added, which makes
13 people. And then it was used of the Apostle
Paul himself, and he is the 14th. Only 14 people.
can be called apostles in this technical and
rather narrow sense of its usage, the official
sense in which it was used. There were certain
qualifications for apostles laid down in Acts
chapter 1 when Messiah was chosen by the will
of God, we believe, to replace the departing
Judas. In the first place, there was a qualification
of gender. They would choose a man. Women were
not apostles. And then they were to choose one
who associated with the Lord Jesus from the time
of his baptism until his ascension. And so there
was a qualification of association. Not just
any disciple was qualified. It had to be someone
who was with Jesus and the twelve he originally
chose for the most of that period. the three
-year period from his baptism until he ascended
back to heaven. And then there was a third qualification,
a qualification of circumstance. The one chosen
had to have seen face -to -face the resurrected
Christ. As I said, Matthias was chosen in answer
to those qualifications to replace Judas. The
Expositors Bible Commentary has a helpful note
regarding apostles. It reminds us, an apostle
then was not an ecclesiastical functionary, not
just any recipient of the apostolic faith, nor
even a bearer of the apostolic message. He was
a guarantor of the gospel tradition because he
had been a companion of the earthly Jesus. and
a witness to the reality of his resurrection
because the risen Lord had encountered him. And
so an apostle was one who guaranteed the message
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul received
his commission, as he himself said it, as one
born out of due season. 1 Corinthians 15, verses
8 through 10. He looked upon himself as it were
prematurely born. He did not have the advantage
of the other men who were with Jesus for a period
of time and were nurtured before they became
apostles. He was converted and appointed an apostle
all at one time. And so he says, I'm like one
who was born out of due season. In Acts chapter
9, we have the record of his journey toward Damascus
when the risen Christ confronted him and gave
him his commission, more fully announced a little
bit later in the city of Damascus through Ananias.
Paul, an apostle, he had to argue for that office.
There were some who tried to steal it from him
by saying that he was not a genuine apostle.
In fact, that was prominent in the city of Corinth,
and one of the reasons that he wrote the second
book through the Corinthians. The office of apostle
connotes both authority and accountability. An
apostle of Jesus Christ, he says, or actually,
more technically, an apostle of Christ Jesus.
Now, I point that out because there are some
people who are a little confused about the name.
Jesus Christ is not his first and last name.
If you had a telephone book from Nazareth in
that day, you wouldn't look up Christ and try
to find Jesus then. Christ is not his last name.
Christ is a title for him, for the office that
he holds as the anointed one of God, a fulfillment
of Old Testament prophecy. And so more technically,
the Greek text reflects what the... The New American
Standard Version says an apostle of Christ, Jesus.
Christ, the office bearer, named Jesus. He says
he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God. This was not Paul's doing, nor was it
any other's. He did not seek this office. He
did not usurp it from another. There was no one
who nominated Paul so that they all voted and
said Paul should be an apostle. He wouldn't have
accepted the nomination anyway. Rather, he was
collectively, sovereignly chosen by the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Paul reflects this when
writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1 .12. He says
that he put me into service. I'd like you to
turn back a few pages to Galatians chapter 1
and notice how Paul emphasizes this. in the epistles
to the Galatian churches. Right in verse 1, he
says, Paul, an apostle, not sent from men. In
other words, it was not men who sent him on his
mission, nor through the agency of men. It wasn't
even a man who announced to Paul that he was
going to be an apostle. But rather, he says,
through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised
him from the dead. In other words, he does claim
that he was appointed an apostle directly by
Jesus Christ with no mediation on the part of
anyone else. He is fully an apostle, one sent
by Jesus Christ on a mission. In verse 15 he
says that when he who had set me apart even from
my mother's womb called me. Notice that the Apostle
Paul says that even from the time of his conception,
God had set him apart as an apostle, even in
those years when he was an enemy of Jesus Christ.
when he blasphemed, when he sent saints to prison,
when he injured others. Even then, though he
was not yet converted, God in his sovereign purpose
had already called Paul to be an apostle. And
when the day came for the announcement, Jesus
met him on the road to Damascus and said, Paul,
here is your assignment. Remember, Paul had said,
Lord, what will you have me to do? In a moment,
he was born not only of the Spirit of God and
of the family of God, but he was given his assignment
as an apostle. This is an example of God's sovereign
will, which acts apart from human desire and
effort, and which will be exposed even further
in this book of the Ephesians. The apostle, as
he writes this, was imprisoned in Rome. one sent
on a mission, but who at the time of this writing
in about 62 A .D. was under house arrest in Rome,
and he calls himself in this book a prisoner
of Jesus Christ. Are there any apostles today?
Are there those who have the same authority as
did Paul? Well, the answer to that is emphatically
no. There are not apostles today. Now, we may
use the term in its broad sense, as did the early
church, referring to missionaries, for example,
that are sent out on a mission to establish the
local church, to preach the gospel in foreign
lands. They are apostles of a sort. But in this
official and technical capacity, no, there are
no apostles today. The apostles passed from the
scene by the end of the first century. They laid
the foundation, and when they had done their
work, they were gone. There were certain signs
that accompanied the apostles. In writing to
the Corinthians, Paul says, the signs of a true
apostle are done among you. Signs, wonders, and
miracles. He claimed that he was proved. to be
an apostle by the signs of his ministry. And
therefore they should receive him as an apostle.
It's interesting that by the time the book of
Hebrews is written, not too many years after
this, that the writer suggests that those who
had received those signs from the Lord had already
passed. The signs were waning. Now why would
that be? Why would the signs and wonders and
miraculous gifts be on the decline? For two reasons.
First, because the foundation was laid and the
apostles were being phased out and those signed
gifts were especially for them. And secondly,
the signed gifts were being phased out because
they were a part of the early first century church.
Now, it doesn't mean that God doesn't do miracles
today. He does. But they are not signs of an
apostle. There is not a man who does them, and
by doing them proves that he is an apostle. There
are no apostles today. You say, how does one
prove that he is a preacher today? By what he
teaches. In 2 John 10, we are instructed... to
receive a person according to his doctrine, according
to his teaching. It is the doctrine, the teaching
that he communicates which authenticates him
as being a genuine representative of Jesus Christ.
So I again say, no, today there are no apostles.
And the signs of an apostle are no longer with
us. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God. This brings us face to face with the
doctrine of inspiration. You'll recall that in
2 Timothy 3 .16 it says all scripture is given
by inspiration of God. That is, it is God breathed.
The idea is that the Lord superintended those
who wrote. So the heart they wrote were the very
words of God. William Hendrickson. the commentator
I especially appreciate, has a helpful note regarding
this. He says what he writes is in very fact
the product of his own meditation and reflection.
It is both a spontaneous utterance of his heart
and a careful composition of his mind. The gold
that pours forth from his heart has been molded
into definite, and one may say artistic shape
by his mind. But this heart and this mind are
so thoroughly Spirit -controlled that the ideas
expressed and the very words by means which they
are conveyed are also, and in a sense were first
of all, the ideas and the words of the Holy Spirit.
Hence the word of Paul, is the Word of God. That
is the miracle of inspiration. The Apostle Paul
claims to write the very words of God, and he
does, as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God. But to whom did he write? That's the
second major question that he answers. Now there
are those who differ on this as well. And so
I think theologians only argue, well, you may
be right. You may be right. But you see, there
are some ancient manuscripts which do not contain
the words at Ephesus in the first verse. They
simply say Paul an apostle. I better get to Ephesians
here before we start the series on Galatians.
Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God to the saints and the faithful in Christ
Jesus. Yet there are other manuscripts that contain
the word at Ephesus. And so scholars have tried
to understand why some manuscripts don't have
the word, some do. The best explanation seems
to be that this letter was intended by Paul to
be a circular letter. It was an encyclical written
to several congregations. In other words, he
would write it to the Ephesians. But the instructions
were to pass the book around to the churches
in that area, to Colossae, for example, to Laodicea,
to Hierapolis, and to the other cities where
there were churches founded where Paul had never
been. And so some of the copies say at Ephesus,
and some have no name in them because they were
passed on to other congregations to be read there.
In Colossians chapter 4, verse 16, we have something
of an example of this, if you want to look at
it. It says, and when this letter, this is a
Colossian letter now, when this letter is read
among you, have it also read in the church of
the Laodiceans. You see, Paul tells them to pass
the letter on, the Laodicea. And then he says,
and you, for your part, read my letter that is
coming from Laodicea. Now, there is no epistle
of Paul to the Laodiceans. So either we don't
have that book today, it was not one of the inspired
writings of Paul, or it was, and I think this
is accurate, it was the book that we call the
letter to the Ephesians. Paul was telling the
people in Colossae to expect this letter eventually
to come from Laodicea to them to read it. Please
see, it was a circular letter. Now, it was not
written, therefore, we think, to a particular
congregation, as were most of Paul's other letters.
However, we are told to whom it was written.
He says, to the saints. Who are saints, anyway?
This is a word used nine times in Ephesians.
We better understand who they are. Well, there
are those, of course, who believe that the saints
are a particular group of ancient people. This
is usually the understanding of those who come
from the Roman Catholic tradition. According
to their teaching, there are certain people who
are canonized, who are declared by a council
to be saints, to be elevated to a higher position
than other believers. What has happened is that
the council has examined their lives, and they
have been found above reproach. And in addition
to that, there are at least two miracles, proven
miracles, so -called, that could be accounted
for by this particular ancient person who has
been long dead. And as a result of that, they
are said to be canonized to become saints. Is
that what a saint is, according to the Bible?
Well, the answer is no. The word saint is used
differently in the Bible. Indeed, the word saint
simply means those set apart. A saint is one
who is set apart by God for his use. He is separated
out from the rest. It does not refer to a select
group. of Christians, but rather it refers to
all Christians. All genuine believers are called
saints in the Bible. Vernon McGee, in his own
unique way, presents this. How many of you ever
listen to Vernon McGee? I'm glad that you do.
He is a Bible teacher worth listening to, and
I've lost his quote here. Ah, here it is. It's
in my file in the back of my Bible. This is what
Vernon McGee has to say. He says, there are only
two kinds of people today, the saints and the
ain'ts. If you're a saint, then you're not an
ain't. If you ain't an ain't, then you're a saint.
Well, in his colloquial way of saying it, that's
right. You see, either one is a saint or one
is not. This is a Godward description of a Christian.
As God sees you, you are a saint, one set apart
by him for his holy use. There is a corresponding
phrase, though, that says to those who are faithful
in Christ Jesus. Now, is Paul referring to just
a few saints who are faithful? No. This latter
phrase really is a fuller description of the
word saint. He is saying to the saints, that
is, those who are full of faith in Christ Jesus,
the believers in Christ Jesus. Not a class of
Christians in mind here, but all of the saints,
the believers. And notice that he describes Christians
in this manward aspect as those who are believers
in Christ Jesus. Now that phrase is used 27 times
in the book of Ephesians. It is the most significant
phrase in the whole book. In Christ or in Christ
Jesus or in him can be found at least 14 or 15
times right here in the first chapter alone.
I believe that the theme of the book of Ephesians
might be this. What it means to be in Christ.
I think that's what the book is all about. What
it means to be in Christ. That phrase, in Christ
Jesus, expresses location or position. Or it
might be said it expresses identity. It means
that one is no longer in sin and in Adam as he
was born, but now through a change. He is identified
with his position in Christ. It is a significant
phrase. That work, changing us from in Adam to
in Christ, comes about by what is called the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians
12, 13, it says, For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body. It's interesting that
the phrase baptism of the Holy Spirit is never
used in the sense of a command. We are never
commanded to be baptized with the Holy Spirit,
not once in the New Testament. Nor should we
expect that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
something that happens after one is saved. We
were all baptized by one Spirit into one body,
says Paul. All of us. Not a few of us. All of
us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ at
that same moment we were saved were placed into
Christ Jesus. That is the work of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, placing us into, identifying
us with Jesus Christ. It seems to me that this
praise in Christ is developed through the book
in two directions. In fact, in your worship folder
on the back of it, I believe, you have a suggested
outline for the book, and you see the three directions
that I have in mind. What does it mean to be
in Christ? Well, he tells us. First, in chapters
1 through 3, he talks about our calling in Christ.
He tells us about our riches in Christ Jesus.
And then chapters 4 through 6, our conduct in
Christ. how we are to live in light of who we
are. In chapter 1, verse 18, he talks about the
hope of his calling. And beginning next week,
we'll begin to see what the hope of his calling
is in your life and in mine. And then in chapter
4, verse 1, he says, walk in a manner worthy
of the calling with which you have been called.
And so he's going to talk about our calling and
then our conduct in the light of it, as those
who are in Christ. Now there's a third question
that he answers, and that is, how does he write?
Well, he writes in the context of two words,
grace and peace. Grace is a word that is related
to the common Greek greeting of that day. If
you were to pass someone on the street, they
wouldn't say hi. Hello? That doesn't really mean
a whole lot anyway, does it? What even means
less is, how are you? Today we greet each other
with those words. But in those days, they would
say, grace to you. If you were Hebrew, you might
say, shalom, peace to you. And so Paul takes
those two words in greeting them, and he says,
this is the context of my writing. Grace, peace.
And he gives fuller meaning to them. Not just
the common greeting of that day, but he says
grace is God's favor demonstrated toward undeserving
sinners. Grace is spontaneous, unmerited kindness
from God bestowed upon the guilty sinner. Grace
is the means by which alone God saves us. For
by grace are you saved, through faith. You see,
it is faith that secures it to us, but it is
grace that provides it. Salvation is by grace
and by grace alone. The adding of any works to
grace nullifies the whole concept. Grace to be
great must be given freely. There is a concept
of grace, but it is unbiblical. The concept goes
something like this, that God gives grace to
you when you do certain things. You do certain
rituals or keep certain sacraments, and as you
do that, God gives you a little bit of grace,
and you can sort of store that away in your sack.
And the hope is, the hope is that someday when
you get to heaven, you will have accumulated
enough grace for the things you've done in your
life. So that when you are standing before God,
you can put grace on one side of the scale and
your life on the other. And the grace is going
to outweigh the works of your life and you're
going to get into heaven. You hope. But that
whole concept ruins grace. You see, God doesn't
give us little pieces of grace. And he certainly
doesn't give grace in response to our work. That
nullifies it. God saves by grace and he gives
it freely and he gives all that we shall ever
need to us. It speaks here about the riches of
his grace. And then peace. Not merely the absence
of guilt or the absence of turmoil in one's life,
but peace in the biblical sense is fullness.
The Hebrew word shalom means prosperity. It connotes
the smile of God upon a person. It means spiritual
wholeness. That's what peace is. And we can never
know peace apart from grace. And notice that
grace precedes the peace. For grace has not done
a work, there can be no peace in a life, my friend.
It is grace first and then peace that follows.
Grace is the fountain. Peace is the stream that
flows from it. It seems that we are working ourselves
back into a day like the later 60s or early 70s
with a lot of demonstrations around for this
cause or that. In these demonstrations, there
are commonly banners. A few words that you almost
always find in a demonstration are love and peace,
right? Love and peace. When was the last time
you saw a banner that said grace? Now, love and
peace, as it's used in most of those markers,
has nothing to do with the Bible's concept of
love and peace. But my point is that people don't
like to talk about grace. That's not a common
expression, because you see, grace means man
is helpless. And yet where grace has not done
a work, there can be neither love nor peace.
Both of these are rooted in God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the provision
of grace and peace has been made on our behalf.
God becomes our Father through regeneration.
He imparts to us new life and his family likeness
so that we can honestly look into the face of
God and say, Our Father. We can say as Paul did
in Galatians, Abba, Daddy. We have that intimate,
personal, familial relationship with God because
of regeneration. Those who are God's children
know grace. and peace through the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want you to consider with me the difference
that an encounter with the Son of God makes.
It changes a man like Saul of Tarsus, ruthless,
sincere, and zealous, but a murderer to become
Paul the Apostle. By the will of God. Consider
the calling of God and what a difference it makes
in your own life. Called from being a sinner
and under condemnation to being a saint of God
with eternal life. Called from your destiny of
hell to a destiny of heaven. Think of the difference
that the calling of God has made. He has rescued
you from your poverty and calls you to be a prince
in his family. Oh, the grace of God. We have
set the stage. And I trust it in the weeks to
come as we begin to look at the riches that are
ours in Christ Jesus. And we'll begin to live
in light of those wishes. Are you today a recipient
of grace? Do you know the meaning of peace in
your life? Have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ
so that you are a saint? You are a believer,
one who is in Christ Jesus, identified with him?
If not, will you make that decision today, soon?
Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you
will show each one of us what it means to be
a saint and a believer who is in Christ Jesus.
Help us to understand the calling in our lives
and then what the conduct of our lives should
be in light of it. Deliver us from taking for
granted words like grace and peace. Father, I
pray if some friend be here today who is not
a child of God, you would work in the heart of
that one and draw him to yourself. May there
be faith that would be issued from the heart,
receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, believing on
him. and the salvation of the soul. These things
we pray in Jesus' name.