Series: Ephesians

“Paul ends all his talk about the armor of God by focusing us on prayer. He ends with “finally” as he winds up his letter and reminds us of how to walk in God’s strength. This is a reminder that our strength comes from God, as He is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine. The armor we wear is God’s armor and not our own.”

“Last week in Ephesians, we explored spiritual warfare and what it means to be strong “in the Lord.” Some people think that it takes a lot of faith to believe in the spiritual realm, but not believing in it requires just as much faith. Christianity is not superstitious in that there are demons behind every problem; many of our issues are self-caused (due to our sinfulness).”

“As Paul rounds out the book of Ephesians, he ends with the word “finally.” He has one more thing of vital importance he wants to tell the Ephesians (and by extension, us): Eph 6:10-11 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.””

In the later parts of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul shows us what trusting and following Jesus practically looks like in various relational scenarios. Paul takes most of his words from the previous weeks and moves them into the real world. As we explore these things and gain more clarity, our lives begin to change as a deeper understanding of God dawns on us.

Today in Ephesians we walk through some verses that people often read out of context. When we do not read the Scriptures in context, it leads to many misunderstandings of the text. Looking more closely, we can find great encouragement and wisdom in Paul’s words. Today we will talk about husbands, wives, and the word submission.

One of the main ideas throughout Paul’s words is that we want to honor God before a world of people who dishonor Him. This goes with Paul’s words today in Ephesians 5:16: making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. We know we live in a world where the majority of people live in darkness; one of the reasons we live for God in outward expressions of faith is that we want to live in a way others can see the light of God in the midst of the darkness.

Today in Ephesians, Paul reminds us that as great as our salvation is, it doesn’t stop at the moment of our conversion. We are told to put off the old self and put on the new, to continually be renewed and transformed through the work of the Holy Spirit. Throughout chapters 4-6, Paul will show us what it looks like to live this way.

As the book of Ephesians progresses, Paul speaks more and more about the practical ramifications of following Jesus in our lives. Paul starts to speak about the things that directly pull us away from a deep relationship with Jesus—namely, our sin. We often surrender to things other than Christ, which leads to hardened hearts and forgetfulness about the saving grace of Jesus.

Paul will teach us in Ephesians how to work, communicate, speak honestly, and labor well. He talks about relationships, bitterness, and forgiveness. What makes Christianity different from other religions is our motivation. Christian life flows out of a new understanding of who we are in Christ. We can’t live the Christian lifestyle externally unless we have put on the new self. This “new self”” is given to us as a new identity once we are adopted into the family of God through salvation. The Holy Spirit changes us by changing our heart so that it begins to want what God wants.”

“Everything at the end of Ephesians 4 is related to our family identity in Christ. Because we are family, we tell the truth, use our anger correctly, don’t steal from one another, don’t put one another down, and don’t live in bitterness. These actions are borne out of our new identity in Christ. When Paul says to “put on the new self,” it means to remember and live in alignment with this new identity.”

“In the last three chapters of the book of Ephesians, Paul centers on the practical—how all that we understand about God shapes our interactions with one another. Last week, Paul talked about “taking off and putting on” the “old versus the new.” Take off sin, put on righteousness; take off lying, put on truth. Paul continues these thoughts by discussing the importance of conveying truth without sinning.”

Today in Ephesians we explore what it means to put off the old and put on the new. We put off our sin and put on Christ’s righteousness.

“In Ephesians 4 Paul will talk about the spiritual “people” gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors/Shepherds, and Teachers (APEST). Paul picks these gifts here (because there are more gifts in other books of the Bible) for a purpose, that purpose is to help us see Jesus better.”

As Paul starts this section of his letter, he moves his focus to our lives and the unity that Christians are supposed to have inside the church. We are to love one another as Christ has first loved us. Within the Church, we will have people of different political views, different tastes in music, differing parenting styles, different food choices, and different ways we enjoy connecting. In every local church there will be different personalities and people from different social statuses; the only way we will ever come together and have our differences be secondary is if (and when) we worship Jesus first.

In the second half of Ephesians Chapter 3 Paul prays (again) for us to walk in power and love. Most of the first 3 chapters of Ephesians is about doctrine, but that doctrine is shown to us through Paul’s prayers. Paul continues to praise God and pray for this church. For Paul, prayer and action are not opposite ends of the scale of Christian activity, he saw much of his actions come directly out of his time in prayer.

As Paul starts Ephesians 3, he stops his thoughts at verse 2 and explores a tangent until verse 14. This tangent reveals his own heart in the midst of hardship. Hardship is one of the ways that we experience the fullness of salvation coming together in the wonder of how He works amidst suffering.

In today’s passage, Paul reminds us how salvation entails being brought into God’s family. We are to be unified in our love and worship of Him; only by getting our eyes off ourselves and on Jesus will we ever see true and lasting unity. It’s important to remember that our very security in God’s family is a result of the work of Jesus Himself.

Today we are going to walk through one of the most profound things in the Bible, being saved by grace through faith…and then being sent out to be God’s workmanship in the world. Ephesians 2:1-3 shows us what we are saved from: our trespasses and sin. Ephesians 2:4-7 shows us what are saved through: God’s mercy and kindness (we go from spiritual death to life). Ephesians 2:8-10 shows us what we are saved for: a life of faith and good works.

While Ephesians 1 sees salvation from God’s point of view, Chapter 2 examines salvation more from a human point of view. Chapter 3 will combine both perspectives so that the following chapters (4-6) are very practical in their theology. The truth is we cannot live practically unless we know what we believe; doctrine is important.

We have spent the last 4 weeks looking at Paul’s prayer about who God is and what He does in the world. While Paul normally starts his letter with a greeting before launching directly into how he is praying for a particular church or people, in Ephesians, He focuses on who God is first.

“Ephesians 1:3-14, in the Greek text, is one sentence and one prayer. Paul seems so excited about God that he doesn’t have time for punctuation! He starts and ends with “praise God,” and in the middle, he proclaims who God is and what He has done. Paul is trying to get us to see the magnificence of Jesus as the King over all things.”