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Common Sense Commentary
One:one one:one one:one two:one ANNOUNCER ANNOUNCER ANNOUNCER And we're starting a new book tonight. We're just going to march right on through. We just did Galatians. So Ephesians is right after Galatians. So this book of Ephesians and Donna was saying at the beginning that the first chapter is one big long sentence.
Speaker 1:And there's some truth to that. Although there's not really any punctuation in the original languages, but it is a bunch of clauses. And that can make people a little overwhelmed. I think not because it's so complicated. A lot of people say, Oh, I can't understand Ephesians chapter one.
Speaker 1:That's not true. It's really basic simple stuff. It's just really rich. It's like eating, you know, five chocolate eclairs or something. You'll see when we get there, you just break it down, take one step at a time, about the time you get through five or six bites of this thing, go, Hey, I gotta take a break.
Speaker 1:So we'll march through it. And you can, I'm serious, you could read Ephesians one every day for a month and you'd still see something new in there or you'd relate something new. So that's always worth considering is reading the same thing over and over and just seeing how rich it is. But Paul starts out this letter to the folks, the people in Ephesus. And you know, all of the letters in the New Testament, almost all of them, even the seven letters in the book of Revelation are all written.
Speaker 1:Most of them are written in Galatia and what's now modern day Turkey, and that whole region, and Greece, the Greece Peninsula, and Thessalonica, and all that stuff. And Ephesus is in there somewhere. Only Rome was over on the Italian Peninsula. So this is in that same region and he says this letter is from Paul chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. He usually starts his letters out as he did in Galatians saying who he is, who he is by name, and then who he is by title.
Speaker 1:And a lot of New Testament, not a lot, I'd say a number of New Testament books are anonymous, like Hebrews, we don't know who wrote it. And actually all the Gospels are anonymous. None of them have the name of the author. John is probably the most obvious that it was John, but the others tradition has it that Matthew wrote Matthew and Luke wrote Luke. And course, Luke, you have him saying when he wrote Acts, he says, I already wrote something and now I'm writing another one.
Speaker 1:So those are kind of some clues. But all of Paul's letters says who he is. And he always mentions that he's an apostle, which is just, it just means sent one. You know, we make too big a deal out of it. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:I guess it's an apostle with a capital A because he's one of the apostles of Christ, although not one of the originals, not one of the original disciples. He came lately, you know, he came along later. And he was, he said, I'm, you know, I'm the one that came at a different time. And but he still, he identifies himself as a sent one of Christ Jesus. And so he sent out goes on his mission trips and starts churches like crazy.
Speaker 1:And I don't know if you know this, but Paul, the writings of Paul are the earliest writings in the New Testament. It's not the Gospels. The setting of the the content of the Gospels is the earliest, but they weren't written until thirty-forty years after the events of Christ. And Paul wrote his stuff maybe twenty years after Christ raised from the dead. So it's interesting.
Speaker 1:It's an interesting perspective because in some ways Christianity gets its start, its public start with Paul and his writings. And then not that the events of Christ and everything weren't being circulated, maybe there were some writings, but the gospels as a set of writings didn't come about till quite a number of years after Paul. In some ways, Paul kind of kicked off Christianity, did his mission trips and wrote his letters and kind of got it started. And then the gospels came along later, even though the content of them is earlier. Okay.
Speaker 1:Let me continue on. I'm writing to God's holy people in Ephesus who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. Now that doesn't mean that's who he's writing to. That's the target. That's the people he knows that will be listening and paying attention.
Speaker 1:But what he's writing is for everybody. It's for anybody who reads it. And we'll see this when we get there. It's more personally for the folks who are in Ephesus and who are faithful followers of Christ. Now, guess there's some unfaithful followers of Christ.
Speaker 1:I suppose there always are. There are people hanging out at church and they kind of say they believe in God and everything. And they're just kind of not with the program. However, let me tell you, some people who aren't with the program at church are the more faithful followers of Christ than some that go to church. So don't be fooled by that institutionalized thing.
Speaker 1:Not that there's anything wrong with it, mean it's normal for people to have a church and have like minded people gather together and say we believe this and that and the other thing and that's all good, nothing wrong with that. Of course all the churches kind of have a different flavor, but you have a lot of choices. But anyway, he's writing to these folks in Ephesus, they're faithful followers of Christ Jesus. And he says, May our God, father, the Lord Jesus Christ, give you grace and peace. And there's that word may, may it happen, maybe God will do this.
Speaker 1:I don't think he means maybe. He means this is what I expect. May this happen. This is what God does. And really, it's may you be open and willing to accept the grace and the love of God that's always there.
Speaker 1:It's always there. It's not a maybe. Okay. So in verse three, buckle your seat belt because it gets really not wild and crazy, but it gets it gets and and not so much heavy as much rich and just wonderful stuff. Like I said, after about five verses of this, you got to take a breath and kind of absorb it.
Speaker 1:So we're going to move through it pretty quickly. Although we can take as long as you want, but I encourage you to go back and read it again a few times this week or next month or whatever. But he starts out really interesting. He starts out all praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has, get this, blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we're united with Christ. So the blessings we get, it's complete.
Speaker 1:It's everything that you can imagine and then some beyond what every it's not every it didn't even say every spiritual blessing you can imagine or every spiritual blessing you're experiencing. It's every spiritual possible spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So God is blessing us with with a ton of stuff way beyond what we even know or imagine. And that's a great just think of what that means. Well, and you're thinking, well, what does it mean?
Speaker 1:Well, Paul's gonna go on and start talking about what they are, but I want you to get the idea that he is that God has blessed us with everything possible. It's already ours. It's already there. And now he's gonna say what it is. So here's his list.
Speaker 1:Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Now a couple of things here. Before is all before he even made the world, he loved us. Isn't that great? He didn't have to create the world and go, let me see whether I'm gonna love these people or not.
Speaker 1:Oh, well, they're not acting right. I don't know if I want I don't really love them. I love some of them. No. He loved his world before he even created it because that's who he is.
Speaker 1:He's love. He has to. He doesn't have any choice, but he doesn't wanna have any choice. He wants to love and he does love because that's who he is. So he'll and notice, you're gonna see this phrase throughout this whole section, in Christ.
Speaker 1:This is really important because what what is done here in the blessings is in Christ. It's not in our faith. It's not in being an elect person. It's not in being a Jew or a Gentile or a person that goes to church. The blessings come in Christ.
Speaker 1:Okay? Not in our goodness, not in our works, not in in a place where we gather with people, although that might be a blessing to experience. But before the foundation of the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. Look what he brings us to.
Speaker 1:He doesn't bring us to church. He doesn't bring us to an institution. He doesn't bring us to a doctrinal statement. He doesn't bring us to the Bible. He doesn't bring us to a a nation.
Speaker 1:He brings us to himself. And that's really key. That your relationship is with God right now, real time. It's not with a book. Good as look, we're studying it.
Speaker 1:We're looking at it. We're reading the New Testament. It's wonderful stuff, but you can't have a relationship with a book. And God didn't bring us to a book or an institution or a gathering. He brought us to himself.
Speaker 1:Isn't that great? I mean, that is really good to know that adopts us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do. Okay, this is what he wanted to do. He wanted to do this.
Speaker 1:He wanted to do something else. He didn't wanna just watch and see what happens. His whole goal in creating the world and working in people's lives is to bring us all to himself, everyone. How could he not want that? How could he ever quit wanting that?
Speaker 1:How could he ever give up and go, you know, I'm tired of doing this. Used to want to save everybody and bring people, but I'm tired of waiting. I've lost my patience. You know, love is patient and kind and doesn't seek its own will and consider a wrong suffered and on and on in first Corinthians 13 that's who God is. So he wanted to do this and it gave him great pleasure.
Speaker 1:He wanted to bring us to himself. He wants to bring everybody to himself and I believe he will. I don't think he's gonna fail. He's not gonna try and go, oh, well, you know, I tried as hard as I could, but these darn stubborn people, they're just more powerful than I am, so I just give up. That's not God at all.
Speaker 1:I mean, he he wants to do this, and it gives him great pleasure to do this. God is not just a intellectual giant, and he's not just a bundle of emotions, and he's not just somebody who makes decisions. He's he's got all that going on in perfection. He's got thinking ability. He's got emotions that are perfect but real and he's got decision making.
Speaker 1:And that's what we got because we're made in his image but he has it in perfection and he has it greater. He has greater intellectual abilities and thinking infinitely good and his emotions are perfect, but they're really strong. When he loves, he really, really, really loves. And it's more than just a feeling because love takes action and does something. And so these are combined.
Speaker 1:He thinks, he understands, he has knowledge, of course it's infinite, he feels things very deeply and it's all in harmony with his knowledge and then he makes decisions, he acts, he exercises his will. And so this is what he wanted to do and it gives him great pleasure. As a result we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear son. Okay, We praise him. Hey, look at he's given us all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places and he's already listed some and he's going go on and give more.
Speaker 1:And so we praise him because he poured this out on us because we belong to his son. We belong to him. He owns us. He possesses us. He's got us wrapped up in who he is.
Speaker 1:He's got us in his hands. He's not gonna let go. That's just so good to know. Good stuff, See, I told you you'd need a break. Isn't it like eating a chocolate eclair?
Speaker 1:It's like, Oh man, can I take any more of this? Yeah, you can. Okay, so verse seven. He is so rich in kindness and grace. Rich, he's just so overflowing rich and full in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.
Speaker 1:Okay, and that all happened on the cross. That's when He died, that's when He purchased who we are and He paid the penalty for sin and took it all took away the sin of the and all that. So that's all been taken care of by grace. And I get this all the time from people. Well, if you believe that it means you can go sin and do whatever you want.
Speaker 1:And actually, it's true. You can go sin and there will be consequences. It's not that there's no consequences, but God's not gonna beat you over the head. Look at how much sin he allows today, all over the place, in the church, outside the church. He doesn't stop it because he knows what he's gonna do in the long run.
Speaker 1:He knows sometimes the path people have to take to understand grace and get to know God in a way that's even better than anything else is that they have to go through this path of really stupidity and foolishness and sinning and all that stuff till they get so sick of it. They go, why am I doing this? And if you bring down law and remember from Galatians, Paul said, the law is a guardian and it does keep you from sinning. It can, as you look at it and you operate in fear and peer pressure and all that stuff, it can keep you from sinning, but it's not the right reason. It's not the right you're just doing it because it's the 10 commandments and God's gonna get mad at me if I don't.
Speaker 1:Grace is such a good reason to obey God and do things because you want to, you know, like sin has run its course in your life and God let it, God lets it, he doesn't stop it. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I'm saying he's wise enough to say, I want you to walk in grace and know what love is. And sometimes you gotta go be your stupid, sinful, selfish self long enough. Some people it takes most of their life. I guess all of us, it takes most of our life, but some people it seems to take forever for them to go, Hey, God, I wanna abide with you.
Speaker 1:I wanna enjoy the spiritual life that you've given me. And so some people, they just have to go that path. And God is so gracious and patient. He waits. He doesn't step in and try to control and hit you over the head with his two bar.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm not saying he doesn't correct, because sometimes he can step in and say, this has gone far enough. And I know where you are in your mind. And it's time for me to step in and bring some discipline because you're ready. You're right on the edge and ready to understand this. Now I allowed you to traffic around in sin as much as he hates it.
Speaker 1:And he says, I hate to see this, but I know the end from the beginning and I know where we're headed with this and I know what I'm going do in your life and I know that ultimately this is going to be the best for you. He allows a lot, but he's rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his son and forgave our sins. He showed his kindness, he showed his kindness on us along with all wisdom and understanding. Has now (verse nine) God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. This isn't a bad thing.
Speaker 1:This isn't a selfish God who goes, it's all about me. It's all about how I feel. See, that's what we would do. When fulfills his own pleasure, it's the pleasure of seeing us do well and be freed from sin and have a relationship with himself. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:Love is all about the other person. It's not about yourself. Okay, and God always acts in our best interest. So this mysterious plan is really interesting. When we get into chapter three, we're going to see this, it's kind of a chapter that gets bypassed and there's some really interesting stuff in there about this mysterious plan God had in Christ forever through the Old Testament, all those years of people living and dying and there was this mysterious plan coming and it finally came and it has to do with Christ.
Speaker 1:He's revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan. Here it is. You wanna know God's plan? Okay.
Speaker 1:Here it is. Plain and simple. At the right time. Now, like what Donna said last week or two weeks ago, she said, you know, I was complaining about all the evil in the world and I know it'll get taken care of. She says, hey, Carl, it's about God's timing.
Speaker 1:You know? And that's what I'm saying tonight. Sometimes he lets people wallow in sin, not because he wants them to, not because he thinks that's cool, but because he knows what it's gonna take for us to fully embrace him. And sometimes people have to live in that for a while before they go, Oh, I get it, God.
Speaker 2:I like using the word discipline, which is fine. But I like to remind people, because I use this a lot in therapy, to remind people discipline the disciples, it comes from, it means to teach. So
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, the word discipline comes from disciple, didn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it does. But it also means to teach, not to punish.
Speaker 1:So our
Speaker 2:mess ups are a way that we learn. That's how we learn, you know? And if we keep repeating those same things, I guess we're just a slow learner.
Speaker 1:That's
Speaker 2:right. You know, I to focus on that part, because a lot of people think discipline and punishment are the same things and they simply don't.
Speaker 1:No, no, no. That's a really good distinction, because God wants us to do well. And so he brings discipline to bring that about. There's not an ounce of retaliation in discipline, not any. Now there is stern, whatever you wanna call it, stern or heavy action for our good that catches our attention and likewise Well,
Speaker 2:it depends on what lens you're looking through.
Speaker 1:That's right. Is. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:A lot of people, they go, man, I really messed up, you know. And they usually learn, they don't go say, Oh, God did that to me. But people are, I think are more self aware than we think, as far as knowing, Shoot, I did it to myself, you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2:Or like kids will even say when they've had some discipline, Well, I had that coming because I did it to myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, most of the negative stuff that happens is a result of our own doing, God piling on.
Speaker 2:He just They're natural consequences.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he doesn't stop them. He just says, okay, I'm going to allow these natural consequences to happen, even though it's hard for me and I hate to see it. I know that good will come from this. That's It's
Speaker 2:like a good parent would do.
Speaker 1:That's right. Like a good parent would do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I might even take some action and spank their bottom if they're running out in front of the car so that they go, ouch. Oh, and they associate a little bit of pain with running out in front of a car so that they won't do it. So I don't know how that works with God, but it's always in love. It's never retaliation and it always has a purpose of correcting and discipline. Glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1:So he reveals this mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure, and this is the plan. Here it is. You ready for God's plan? At the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and on earth. Period.
Speaker 1:Okay. That's the plan. How do people miss this? There's a parallel verse in Colossians we went through, Colossians one twenty. I always tell people, Ephesians one ten and Colossians one twenty are God's goal.
Speaker 1:There he says almost the same thing in Colossians he's going to bring everything he's going to reckon in Colossians, he says he's going to reconcile everything to himself, everything. Why wouldn't he? Why would he do anything less? Why would God's the results of what God does? Why wouldn't they be absolute and unlimited and infinite in every way and universal, a universal result of what he's doing?
Speaker 1:So here's his plan at the right time, right at the right, it's a timing thing. Some of it's the timing in our life. And sometimes it's different than timing other people's life. And then there's the timing of the whole world that at the right time, and how he does it, when he does it, he'll bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven and earth. And this is really interesting because there's another passage, I forget where it is, where it says that ultimately Christ is going to have everything submitted to himself.
Speaker 1:And then he's going to go to the father and he's going to submit himself and all the stuff that was submitted to him to the father. So that everything is understood. And then it says he'll fill all in all. He'll completely fill everybody. Nobody's going to be in hell going through torment because God's going to fill everyone in every way to the nth degree and we'll all be one with him.
Speaker 1:It's that good. It's that good folks. It is not anything less, but this is just, I love this verse. This is just terrific and people read right over it. At the right time, he'll bring everything together under the authority of Christ, everything in heaven on earth.
Speaker 1:So that doesn't leave anything or anyone out. Furthermore hey. You want more? Says Paul. Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God for he chose us in advance and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
Speaker 1:See, he doesn't fail. He's got a plan. What does it say in John three seventeen that nobody quotes? He came into the world to save it, not condemn it. So we know what his plan is.
Speaker 1:We know what his goal is. He's not gonna fail. He's gonna pull it off eventually in his time. But it's hard for us to see it and believe it because we see all this crap going on and everything and we just think, hey, it can't be that big. But yeah, he is.
Speaker 1:God's purpose was that we Jews, and Paul was a Jew and he's talking to a bunch of Jews, although in Ephesus there was plenty of Gentiles, probably more, but we Jews, even though I'm writing to a bunch of Gentiles, who were the first to trust in Christ, and it was, it started out Jewish with just a few Jewish followers under Christ, Christ was a Jew. We were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise to the glory of God. So God's purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise to and glory to God. And now, okay, now he's adding on, you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the good news that saves you, Galatians. Clearly defined what the good news is, you can't miss it.
Speaker 1:He's brought it also to the Gentiles and when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom He promised long ago. Thank you for watching this presentation of the Common Sense Commentary Series. Remember, God loves you more than you will ever know, and He will never leave or forsake you. Just put your trust in Him. If you have a question or a comment, you can contact me at cclifftonjones dot com.
Speaker 1:That's cclifftonjones dot com. Now, go and enjoy your daily walk with God.