Ephesians 2: Your Heavenly Citizenship

Ephesians 2:     Your Heavenly Citizenship

• Overview of this lesson.

·         This chapter describes where we are now, where we once were, and where we will really be going.  This chapter looks at the wealth and walk of the Christian believer.  We have been made alive in Christ by our Christian faith.

·         We begin our life in death when we are born and we are going to the glory of God the Father.

·         Genesis - The creation of man and his fall in the Garden of Eden.

·         The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ to wash us of our sins.   God’s only begotten son, sacrificing his life for our sin, so that we can be made righteous and holy in the eyes of God.

·         Paul states that in his previous life, he was spiritually dead, he was dead in his trespasses to his sin.

·         King David acknowledged that he was born in sin.

·         We all need a new life, a spiritual birth.

·         It all started with Adam and what Adam did in the Garden of Eden.  (Romans 5:12-14)

·         4 Stages: Sin entered the world, Sin spread through the world, Death entered the world, Death reigned.

·         We are born dead in our sin, we need to be born again (spiritually).

·         Sin is mentioned 173 times in the bible.

·         All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

·         The wages of sin is death.

·         Definitions:

·         Transgressions - Willful sins against God.  

·         Not following the allowed Speed limit.

·         Mercy - Not getting what we deserve.            

·         Not receiving a speeding ticket.

·         Grace - Getting something you do not deserve.

·         Officer giving you a $50 dollar bill.    

·         Transformation - God changes us from what we were to what we are.

·         Wall of Separation - The temple was divided into different courts/rooms: the Gentiles, woman, men, Priest, and Holy of Holies.  Each area was separated by a wall to prevent those who did not belong in that room to enter it.  With Jesus’s death on the cross, the separation walls have been removed and we all have access to God.

·         We are God’s workmanship and created for God’s work.

·         We are God’s greatest work as we are his masterpiece, created in his image.

·         We may only see our flaws in our life, not God’s work in us.

·         God sees the end and he is all knowing and all seeing.  God does finish his work.   (Philippians 1:3)          

• Main Theme

·         Paul was speaking mostly to the Gentiles, but there were also Jews in Ephesus as well because of the trade routes.

·         The Ephesians had no hope, no God, and no Messiah.  Paul’s letter was written to give the Ephesians hope through salvation.

·         We are made alive in Christ and we are made one in Christ.

·         Dead in our transgressions but now made alive in Christ.

·         We were objects of God’s wrath and now we are shown God’s mercy and given salvation.

·         We once followed the ways of the world but we now stand for Christ and the truth.

·         We were God’s enemies and we are now God’s children.

·         We were enslaved to Satan  but we are now free in Christ to love, serve, and sit with him in heaven.

·         We once followed our evil thoughts and desires but now we are raised up with Christ to glory.

• The Free Gift of Resurrection Power.      (v2:1-3)

·         The Jews were near to Christ because they were God’s chosen people in the Old Testament.   The Gentiles were separated from Christ as they did not know him.

·         Neither can hold a heavenly relationship apart from Jesus.   Jesus Christ needs to be our savior regardless of the fact if we are Jewish or Gentile.

·         The Parable of the Prodigal Son.

·         Blind to God’s glory, deaf to God’s voice, unfeeling towards God’s love, and unresponsive to God’s leading.

·         We may have felt that we have worked hard for everything we earned, but Salvation can not be earned, it comes from the God’s grace through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection.

• God’s purpose for your Life.   (v2:4-10)

·         God needs to offer us his grace and mercy to us.  God not only forgave our sinful nature but he sent his one and only begotten Son to die on the Cross for us.  By confessing and repenting of our sin, inviting Jesus into our life, Jesus has now breathed life into our dead spirit.   Our purpose now is to live a life with heaven in mind.  We have been sealed in heaven.

·         God has given us good works to do.   If we are heavenly minded we will be obedient and joyfully fulfill the roles God has placed us in.   We are not saved by our good works but created for good works.   We obey God out of gratitude.

·         Salvation is by grace through faith, it is a gift to us.   God does not owe us anything, so it is not something that can be earned by us.   We know we owe God everything because of his amazing gift.

• A Heavenly Citizenship.      (v2:11-17)

·         We are born separated from God because of our sin.   The Old Testament is filled with promises and the anticipation of the Messiah, which the Jews were familiar with.

·         We can not become a citizen of heaven by our own strength.   Only Jesus can enable the hearts of those who are near to him.

·         Sin can cause strife, hatred, bitterness, and conflict.   Only the shedding of Christ’s blood can remove the disharmony of sin.   If Jesus can not remain supreme in our relationship with him, it can add strife in our life.  It can affect family members, friends, and our marriage.   Only Jesus can break those barriers that divide us.   Jesus becomes our peace and unity.

• A New Kind of Family.      (V2:18-22).

·         Jesus not only abolished the hostility between us and God, he also removed the separation between all men (Jews/Gentiles, Skin Colors, Old/Young, Rich/Poor).   We belong to a new heavenly family with God as our new Father.  We are united with our fellow brothers and sisters through Jesus.   (Matthew 18:15).

·         Jesus has now become the new foundation of our new home.   A foundation must be firm for the house to stand upon it.   Jesus is also the cornerstone as well, which helps support the whole structure as well, so the house can never fall.   The walls and roof are made up of God’s word where truth dwells and reigns.

·         The word of God should reign over our thoughts and emotions.   It reigns over our family and friends, it reigns over our lives.

• Conclusion.

·         The power of God is available to us to gain victory over sin.

·         If we are saved, we will be going to heaven.   It will take God’s eternity to show us the fullness of his grace.

·         We should take an inventory of our life.   (Deuteronomy 8:1-5)

·         What has sin done to our lives?

·         To not lean back on what we used to be, as we were dead in our sin and we have now been resurrected.

·         That was then and this is now.

·         When we deliberately go back to sin and rebellion, we remove ourselves from the protective covering of our heavenly citizenship.  We still remains citizens of heaven, we are still sound eternally, our names are still written in the Book of Life, and we are still satisfied by God.   However, we bring pain upon ourselves and surrender blessings of our citizenship, which requires us to turn from our ways and repent of our sin.

Ephesians 1:15-23 You Have All You Need

Ephesians 1: 15 - 23   You Have all you Need

• Overview of this lesson.

• We are wealthy in Christ and we need to be reminded through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit since we have everything we need through Jesus Christ.
• Do we know God?  Do we have a personal relationship with God?  God has given us his revelation through his word.   Paul prayed that the Ephesians know spiritual wisdom to know God better.
• We have a spiritual enlightenment to know the plan of God.

• The heart is the mind center of your personality.  Do we understand the plan of God for our life, or do we live on emotions and feelings?  Getting the full scope of God’s plan comes through spiritual enlightenment, not our feelings and emotions.

• We also have a spiritual enlightenment to know God’s pleasure for us.

• The Princess who kissed a frog.  The princess showed humility by kissing a frog, something she would not normally do, but on faith that the frog would actually turn into a prince (her treasure) as he promised.  The Kingdom of God is our treasure, and Jesus Christ has buried that treasure that we all seek.

• We can know God’s power through spiritual understanding.

• Main Theme.

• We do not need to go looking to outside sources for more power and resources.  God has already given them to us.

• If we feel we are lacking in these areas, it is because we fail to see what God has clearly given us already.

• We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

• We need to have those blessings brought back into focus so we can clearly see what God has given us.

• Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians.      (v 1:15-17)

• Paul not only gives thanks for the believers in Ephesus but he also prays on their behalf.
• Paul prayed the Ephesians would know what they already had in God.  Paul prays that God would give them the spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and revelation in the knowledge of God.  Paul also prayed they would have the wisdom and comprehension to know what they already possess in Christ.   It takes divine intervention and divine wisdom for us to comprehend our spiritual blessing.    This could easily become our prayer every day.

• 3 blessings from God we already know.

• I am lost and now I am found.   I was blind but now I see.   I was a nobody but now I am a child of God.
• We have not scratched the surface of all the blessings we know we have from and through God.
• God has prepared wonders and blessings for us to enjoy here and now.   (I Corinthians 2:9)   Heaven will be a blessing for eternal life.

• Our culture tries to teach us how to beautify, nourish, exercise, glorify, trim, tone, and gratify ourselves.   We need to remind ourselves that we are to satisfy God, not this culture with our lifestyle.  I should live my life in accordance with what I know about myself through God’s word.
• We should be cautious and question every new idea that may come from the evangelical landscape.

• Example:   God takes risks and so should we.
• Paul warns of chasing the latest spiritual fads.

• To live a life truly in obedience to God, we need to understand who we are in Jesus Christ.

• When growing as a child, I would hear the words ‘Remember who you are, remember your family’s reputation and family name.  I would be less likely to get in trouble when I would reflect on this before doing something.   In the same thought we should think of the name of Jesus Christ during our day’s actions and thoughts.

• Our Emotions - The Eyes of Our Heart.      (v 1:18)

• The greatest barrier preventing us from understanding how God has blessed us is our feelings and emotions.  Both can be variable and unreliable.  They can also be up and down.   Our emotions have a strong effect on the way we perceive things.   Paul calls our emotions the eyes to our hearts.   When we are in a negative emotional state, it is hard for us to sense God’s blessings.   We fall into the trap that God has not blessed us at all.
• We need the eyes of our heart enlightened with God’s truth.   Our emotional life needs to be balanced with God’s truth.   We need to meditate on God’s word.
• We need to be careful that feelings do not replace our thinking.   We need to see life as it really is through the truth of God’s Word.   We need to understand that God has created us, called us, blessed us, reached down to us, lifted us out of our sins, and that God will carry us through the bad times as well.

• The Dynamite of God.      (v 1:19-20)

• The original Greek word for power is ‘dunamis’, which gives us the word dynamite.   Notice how Paul says ‘all the power’, instead of some of the power.   We do not get some power from God when we become his children, he has given us all of his power.   We need to claim that power and put it to good use.   (Acts 1:8).
• God used this same power to resurrect and raise Jesus from the dead and then to seat Jesus at his right hand in Heaven.   We have been given this same power as we too sit with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies.
• (1 Corinthians 6:3)   If God has given us the power to judge the angels, we should live our life for Jesus, not the world.   We should use the power God has given us to influence this society about God.   We also need to be mindful that God is in the ‘Soul Saving Business’.  God uses his Holy Spirit through us to lead someone to Christ.   It is not our works, but God using us through his Holy Spirit, to let the Holy Spirit work in the heart.   (Bill Fay).

• Christ Over All.      (v 1:21-23)

• (Psalm 110:1)   God’s power has placed Jesus above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and above every name.   The natural mind cannot completely comprehend this, but the Holy Spirit can through his enlightening.
• To most of the world Jesus was just a good man, a good moral teacher, and a role model of love and sacrifice.   Through the Holy Spirit we can see the authority and power of Jesus.   We can not picture Jesus with our physical eyes as being crowned in Heaven as the one true God, but through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit we know his position in Heaven,    We are enlightened to Jesus as being the head and ruler of the Church.  We aslo are able to see Jesus as the ruler of this world.

• Conclusion.

• Phillipians 2:10-11.   May our lives be manifested daily in everything we say and do.  May the Holy Spirit reveal the power of Jesus Christ in us.

Ephesians 1:3-14 The Riches of Gods Treasure House

Ephesians 1: 3 - 14   The Riches of God’s Treasure House

Our Spiritual Bank Account

• Overview of this lesson
• God’s great love for us.   (Psalm 103:1-13)
• We have many spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ.
• God has the right to chose who he will save.  Jesus also states ‘Who shall ever come to me will be saved”..  God’s makes a sovereign choice to chose us, we do not choose God.  We receive God and God accepts and redeems us through his grace.
• God sees our flawed personality, but he also sees our potential.  People will look at themselves as flawed.   We must realize we are a work of God’s art, that we are work in progress, and we can only be perfected through God.
• Forgiveness of sins.
• The Old Testament used a Scape Goat for atonement of sins..   (Leviticus 16:5, 7-10).
• The New Testament has Jesus dying on the cross to wash us of our sins.
• A great mystery.
• God is letting us in on a secret.  We have a new life through Jesus Christ.  We now have a new family, a new culture, and we have gained an inheritance to Eternal Life in Heaven with our LORD and Savior.
• All 3 members of the Trinity are involved in our salvation.
• God chooses us.
• Jesus Christ saved us and bought us.
• The Holy Spirit seals us and convicts us.
• Predestination.
• Why would God choose you?  What merit does God see in our human nature?
• The answer is God’s Character (Deuteronomy 7:6-15)
• God choose us because he loved us.
• Creates 2 questions and problems.
• Did we make the choice to follow Jesus Christ?
• Who has God ordained for salvation and ordained for damnation?  
• God’s wish is that none should perish.
• Irresistible Predestination through Grace (Calvinism)
• You can not do anything about your salvation.
• God’s choice vs. People’s choice.
• Even if you want to be saved, you can not be saved unless you are predestined.
• Jesus says ‘Come to me, you who are burdened and I will give you rest’.
• Limited atonement (Repent and Return).
• Jesus Christ only died for those saved.
• 1 John 2:2 (Jesus died for the sins of the whole world).
• Ephesians 1:4
• We have 2 conclusions that seem to contradict each other.  Which one is correct?
• Verse 4: Guaranteed Inheritance.
• Our downpayment is the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, and guarantees our eternal life in heaven.
• We receive all the Spiritual Blessings when we come to Jesus Christ.
• It is not part or some, it is not a promise, it is not conditional, and it does not come in stages.
• We stand blameless and holy before God.
• We are adopted Children of God
• We instantly have redemption.
• We are received through the riches of God’s grace.
• If we live in spiritual poverty it is because we don’t realize what is already ours through Jesus Christ.
• The main purpose of Paul’s letter to the Church of Ephesus was to enable others to discover the spiritual blessings available.
• Once we understand our blessings our life will never be the same.
• Verses 4 - 6: Adopted Children.
• Leads to the phrase in our culture, ‘Not the real child’.   To the parents of an adopted child, they are loved just as much as biological children.
• God’s adoption of us as his children is a picture of God’s sovereign grace.   The child does not chose his parents, but the parents choose the child.
• When God adopts us, he gives us his very nature.   We take on the very nature of Jesus Christ, we become like him, we become what Christ is, and we become new creations.   (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:29)
• Verses 7 - 10: According to his Riches.
• Before we were adopted, Jesus died on the cross for us, Jesus paid the price for our sins.
• We were slaves to sin before our adoption.
• Everything belongs to God.   God held nothing back by allowing his Son to die for our sins, he gave according to his richness.   It was something that would be missed by God instead of something that was insignificant or just a ‘donation’.   It was the ultimate sacrifice.
• God lavished his grace upon us.
• Lavished - God poured out all his grace upon us freely and extravagantly.  His grace is endless as an ocean, vast as the universe.  God’s grace knows no limit, no end, or no boundary.
• A believer who continues to sin does not understand the lavish grace of God and they take advantage of his grace.
• A sanctified sinner understands the lavish grace of God which deters him from sinning.
• God’s Mystery - God’s plan for our life.  We may not understand it completely but we all have a role to play.
• Verses 11 - 14: Guarantee of our Inheritance.
• When we accept Jesus, we receive full inheritance and it is not by chance but by grace.
• These verses offer us another great mystery that we do not fully understand - Predestined.   (Psalm 139:13-16).
• Before the earth was formed, God said ‘You are the object of my love, grace, mercy, redemption, blessing, and choice.   God has formed us at our mother’s womb.  God has willed it that we be his children.  God has opened our spiritual eyes so that we can see that we desperately need him.
• God has blessed us through Jesus with spiritual blessings.
• Peace                           (John 14:27)
• Joy                              (John 15:11)
• Strength in our lives     (Philippians 4:131)
• In times of trouble we need to praise God for our spiritual blessing.
• How should our prayer sound and do we bargain with God.   (page 26).
• Verses 12 - 14:  To the Praise of His Glory.
• This means that God has blessed us, saved us, redeemed us, lavished us with his grace, and he has made known his mysteries to us.
• Everywhere we go we should praise others regardless of the difficulties faced, problem situations, and problem people.   (Romans 8:17)
• Conclusion.
• God’s treasure house is filled with blessing, strength, and power for our lives.   Let us be aware of these riches and claim them every day.  Let us claim all of God’s blessings every day and not miss out on them.

Ephesians 1:1-2 The Introduction

Ephesians 1: 1 - 2   The Introduction

• Resources for this study
• Book - Leading the way Through Ephesians by Michael Youssef.
• Radio Broadcast series - Skip Heitzig
• History
• Apostle Paul
• Paul had been a Christian for 30 years and wrote this letter from prison in Rome while awaiting his trial.  Paul was under house arrest and allowed to travel freely while in prison.  He was chained to a Roman Praetorian while under house arrest.   Many of the guards chained to Paul became Christians.  Tychicus was one of the guards who eventually delivered Paul’s letter to Ephesus.   (Eph 6:21)
• Paul had visited Ephesus on his 2nd missionary trip (Acts 18), at which time he established the church there.   Paul also stayed in Ephesus for 3 years teaching during his 3rd missionary trip (Acts 19).
• The original transcripts do not include ‘Who are in Ephesus” which indicates this was added after Paul wrote this letter.
• Ephesus
• Ephesus was a commercial, political, and religious center for all of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).  It was also the capital of Asia Minor as well.    Ephesus was located on the main trading route.
• The city became famous for its worship to the Roman Goddess Diana (Greek - Artemis).  It took 220 years to build the temple for Diana.  It was considered one of the 7 Wonders of the World and the temple was 4 times the size of the Parthenon in Acropolis.   (Acts 19)
• Ephesus was first influenced by the Greeks and then later became a Port of the Roman Empire.   Approximately 500,000 people lived in Ephesus.   Many Jews had settled in Ephesus because of the trade routes.   There were Ephesians located in the upper room at Pentecost.
• Timothy was the first Bishop of the church of Ephesus.   The Apostle John and Mary the Mother of Jesus had moved there to live.
• Paul had revealed all about God’s glory to the Ephesians (Acts 20).
• The apostle John had warned the church of Ephesus that they had strayed from what they were taught and Jesus had asked them to return and repent to do the things the first did from Paul’s teachings.   (Revelation 2:1-7)
• In the 10th century, Ephesus no longer existed and was buried and in ruins.
• Main Themes
• The fullness of our inheritance in Christ.
• The infinite power that is in us through Jesus.
• The inexhaustible grace that we have in Jesus.
• The glorious position that is ours in Jesus.
• Important things to notice in the letter to the Ephesian church.
• The riches of God’s grace.                (Eph 1:7).
• The unsearchable riches of Jesus.    (Eph 3:8)
• The riches of God’s glory.                 (Eph 3:16)
• The word “riches” is repeated 5 times.
• The word “grace” is repeated 12 times.
• The word “glory” is repeated 6 times.
• The word “fullness” is repeated 4 times.
• the words “in Christ” is repeated 13 times.
• God is building a new culture which can change this existing culture.  God gives us new standards of living, a new life in Jesus Christ, and warfare for the spiritual battle which surrounds us.   
• 3 word summary of what we have with Jesus Christ in our lives: Wealth, Walk, and warfare.
• Paul would make his writings first doctrinal then application.   Ephesians chapters 1 through 3 are considered doctrinal where chapters 4 through 6 are application.
• Ephesus was considered ‘the Bank of Asia Minor’ where the letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians is considered ‘the Spiritual Bank Account’.