Introduction to Ephesians

Transcript

GR 136
05/25/1975
Introduction to Ephesians
Acts 19-20; Ephesians 1-2

We are going to be starting the study of the Book of Ephesians on Sunday mornings. And I thought this morning along with looking at the opening verses, would also look at some of the background of the Ephesian church as found in the Book of Acts and so we will start our study in Act Chapter 19. As we will note when we look into the opening verses of the Ephesians, there is a good possibility that the letter to the Ephesian was a circular letter, not intended just for the Ephesian church, but was sent to the churches of this region and would have included other churches as well, in particular - probably the seven churches of Asia that are named in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation, Ephesus and the Church of the Ephesians was the key church and Ephesus was the capital of the region and so it is the dominant church in view here.

The other churches were probably established as outgrowth of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. Paul spent three years on his third missionary journey in the city of Ephesus. So he had much time here to found the work and see that it was established and the ground work was laid. Acts Chapter 19 around the third missionary journey and Paul comes to Ephesus. It came about that while Paul was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus and found some disciples. So here we have Paul arriving at Ephesus and he confronts some disciples, now as the first 7 verses make clear. These are not disciples in the sense of followers of Jesus Christ but these are disciples of John the Baptist. And so the first dozen converts at Ephesus are from among those who had been followers of John the Baptist.

We are told in verse 7 of Acts Chapter 19, in all there were about 12 men and the account here sometimes confused today with the matter of receiving the Holy Spirit at faith when you believe because of Paul’s question in verse 2 “did you receive the holy spirit when you believed”. That is an unusual question for us today, it would not be theologically correct to ask a person that question today. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? But this is Paul’s way of finding out where they are in relation to Jesus Christ, he knows they are disciples of John, but do they understand about Jesus Christ? The key will be did they receive the Holy Spirit upon their faith. Now their response, “no we haven’t heard whether there is a Holy Spirit” does not mean that they didn’t know whether the Holy Spirit existed.

They are disciples of John and if you read the Gospels, John’s message was that there is one coming after me who would baptize you with the spirit, he didn’t know anything about the Old Testament because he has got to know something of the spirit. They don’t know whether the spirit has been given. In other words these men had attached themselves to John the Baptist, came ready for messiah. But having been back in Ephesus evidently they were not aware that the messiah had come and the events surrounding Christ. So they are Old Testament believers and then Paul asked them about their baptism in verse 3 and they tell him that we are baptized into John baptism. In other words identifying with John his message and getting ready for the coming messiah.

One of # you’re ready for the messiah and his kingdom, and so Paul goes on to explain to them that Jesus is the fulfillment in verse 4 and so they are baptized in the name of Jesus and in verse 6 Paul laid his hands on them. The Holy Spirit came on them that he had to speak with tongues and prophecy. The coming of the spirit manifests itself by their speaking with tongues. A clear evidence that they have believed in Christ, a clear evidence that these men that the message of Paul is true. And what he has told us about Christ is real, that the messiah has come and so these 12 form the nucleus of the Ephesian Church, the first converts that Paul has in the city of Ephesus.

Now beginning with verse 8, Paul follows his practice of going into the synagogue. Keeping in mind Paul has a Jewish background, was raised as Jew and teachers were allowed to come and sit down in the synagogue and teach from the Old Testament scriptures. So Paul followed the practice of going to a city, if there was a synagogue he went to the synagogue and then he began to open up the Old Testament scriptures to the Jews to demonstrate that Jesus was the Christ, persuading them about the kingdom of God as the end of verse 8 says.

But some were hardened, in verse 9, disobedient, speaking evil of the way before the multitude. He withdrew from them, took away the disciples, reasoning daily in The School of Tyrannus. Paul moves out of the synagogue after a short stay and now he goes to a school of Tyrannus, evidently this man Tyrannus was a lecturer and he opened his school -- his lecture hall to Paul, maybe on his off hours, and here Paul set up his teaching ministry and he begins to teach, miracles are done, verse 11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul and this goes hand in hand with all who lived in Asia. We are hearing the word of the Lord both Jews and Greek in verse 10. So the word is going forward and the message of Paul is being validated now by mighty miracles.

To give you some example verse 12, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the spirits went out. This is just an indication of the power of God being displayed or would send out these rags and those who got in touch with them would be healed. That would be a demonstration that the man who sent this handkerchief was son of God because of the power that is being manifested through him. We used to have our beloved radio preachers, one of them would invite you to send in through a prayed over handkerchief and if you send enough money and got your handkerchief that had been prayed over, it would heal you of all your diseases, I think that is not got anything to do with Acts Chapter 19 although that is where he turns you to show where he got his validation.

These ties what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in second Corinthians 12:12 and said the validating signs of an Apostle were demonstrated through my ministry. And that is what is going on at Ephesus. The miraculous evidences of a true Apostle were being displayed through the Apostle Paul. You can read the account here rather than using – we have some Jews attempted to imitate the gift and tried to cast out evil spirit and the evil spirit responded “I know Jesus, I know Paul but who are you” and then jumps up and beats up these seven men and they run out of the house naked. And in verse 17 we are told this became known to all both Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus and fear fell upon them. And the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. Again simply an evidence that Paul ministry was unique and sifting out all these Paul’s teachers who tried to jump on the bandwagon. Again Paul comes to Ephesus; he can’t turn to the Book of Ephesians as we are going through and say, this is what God says.

He has to give them new information and new material. Claim that the Old Testament has been fulfilled in Christ and the proof is there. God gives the proof of miracles and supernatural signs. Many of those who practiced magic in verse 19 brought their books together and began burning them in the side of all. They counted up the price of them and found 50,000 pieces of silver. That is a lot of money, in the margin of your bible you have a note that this may have reference to a day’s wage and even if that is what the reference is that is quite a sum, 50,000 day’s wages would be a lot of money. But the word of the lord was growing mightily and prevailing. So Paul’s ministry at Ephesus is a very powerful ministry and a very fruitful ministry, maybe why Paul stays for three years that is not only at Ephesus but in all of Asia, now the word of God has been magnified, and Jesus Christ is being made known.

Now there comes a problem, verse 23, it comes as Paul is making arrangements to leave there grows a no small disturbance concerning the way. The way talking about Jesus Christ, and the way to God as preached by Paul. The problem is that Demetrius, the man who made shrines was getting disturbed because their practice was suffering. People were burning their works of magic; they weren’t buying any new shrines and books and so on to display in their homes, so business is on the decline. This becomes a real concern now. One thing if Paul wanted to come and preach, it is another thing if it begins to touch our profit book. Verse 24 a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis was bringing no little business to the craftsmen. Artemis and the King James who have Diana, Diana is the Latin for Artemis, Artemis is the Greek or will be a Syrian Astarte. We have talked about mystery Babylon. We are more familiar with Diana that is about King James background I think.

Artemis is the name here but it is the same person. So he gathers everybody together and says we have a problem. Our business is suffering, verse 26 and you see in here that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people saying that Gods made with hands are no Gods at all. That really upset, Paul is saying that the God that you can make with your hand isn’t a God at all. That is simply a carryover from the Old Testament prophets who ridiculed, you know, you cut down a tree and you use half the tree to burn in your fireplace, use the other half to make a God, you bow down as your creator. Verse 27 and not only is there danger that this trade of ours has fallen to disrepute, but also that the temple of the great Goddess Artemis being regarded as worthless, and she whom all of Asia and the word worship should be dethroned from her magnificence.

This is a serious matter, Ephesus one of the key cities in the world at the time, had one of the seven wonders of the world, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was the Temple of Artemis or Diana at Ephesus. A magnificent structure built to honor the Goddess Artemis, Diana and supposedly this statue enshrined in this temple had fallen down from heaven and they well have been a meteorite. Meteorites and objects such this were often objects of worship, and the goddess was enshrined as a multi breasted Goddess source of life, the mother of nature and so on, and they are concerned. This is the capital of this worship and from Ephesus throughout all Asia and all the world the worship of this goddess Artemis was propagated and naturally those who made the shrines and so on were making money on the deal. Now the people are told that there is a danger here. This would be brought into disrepute, and as a result nobody will want to buy our statues, nobody will worship, our temple will begin to decay and on behold we will back to zero.

While this touches on the emotions of the people, pretty soon there is a great outcry. In verse 28 when they heard this they were filled with rage and began to cry out saying greatest Artemis of the Ephesians. So this cry comes out defending our Goddess, she is supreme, greatest Artemis of the Ephesians. Interesting to know here that the conflict that already those who have turned to Christ, their practices change noticeably and as an impact upon their formal way of life because they are not doing what they were doing before, they are not buying what they are buying before, they are not worshiping what they were worshipping before and the life of a whole city is affected to give you some idea of the impact of Paul’s ministry here. What happens is then they rush into the theater in verse 29 and they drag in Gaius and Aristarchus who were traveling with Paul and Peter at Ephesus has been discovered or sort of semi restored at least you can see it now and the magnificent theaters seating some 25,000 people.

So this is not just a little gathering 700 or so people that we have in this auditorium would hardly make a dent in the 25,000 that will be packing into the stadium. So you can see what a great chaos has been caused here and the word spreads and as it does this multitude begins to assemble and as Luke tells us here after Luke didn’t even know why they were getting together in the theater but everybody is going to the theater and hollering I’m going to holler and go to the theater too. They had no idea what the problem was, but anyway we are going to get into the theater, so here you got 25,000 people in an uproar. Paul, brave little Jew that he was, he is on the outside thinking I better go in. Some of the disciples wouldn’t let him go, and so they started to shout. Alexander verse 34 goes to speak for two hours they shout, great is Artemis of the Ephesians, Megale he Artemis Ephesian, Megale he Artemis Ephesian, Megale he Artemis Ephesian; Great is Artemis of the Ephesians, can you imagine that for two hours, two hours that you shout, that’s on and on, you know repetition will make believers of these men

So when you get 25,000 people screaming this for a two hour time, but pretty soon this could get out of hand if it is not already. The town cleric comes and he quiets things down, what he does is tell them that Ephesus occupies a special position as a Roman city and they are in danger of being disciplined. So you can see this is not just a little group of people, but the whole city going berserk while the Romans are all going to feel they haven’t put the clamp on things. So he tells them we have proper channels, if you have a real complaint then file a complaint, otherwise be quiet and go home, and so the multitude dissipates and then in Chapter 20 Paul goes on his way.

Paul’s ministry at Ephesus going over a three year period climaxes on a rather powerful note as the whole city is made aware at least of something of the issue here. Paul’s ministry and its impact on Ephesus in Asia is very great. Now Paul begins to travel to some other cities and then as he comes back down past Ephesus in chapter 20 he has some words to say to the leaders of the church and that is the portion we read for our scripture reading and known as Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders, because during his three years ministry he has become attached to these people.

He was concerned for their welfare; he doesn’t stop at Ephesus because he doesn’t want to get bogged down. Verse 16 tells that he was to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, so he can’t spend time, so it was on to Mellitus and from Mellitus he sends for the elders of the Church. So you see something of the structure of the Ephesian church already. In the three years that Paul had been there evidently he had appointed elders to oversee the work and they were responsible for the spiritual care. We found out what Paul did while he was at Ephesus, verse 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the ministry; change your mind repentance towards God, faith in Christ. Repentance and faith and I think there is no conflict. I think people must repent today to be saved and it does not mean that they have to come down to the mourner’s bench and weep. The more you place your faith in Christ you have changed your mind because now you see yourself as God sends you Christ as the savior that he is and trusted him.

So repentance always goes hand in hand with faith and until a person is willing to change his mind while he will now place his faith in Christ. So that was Paul’s ministry. At the end of verse 24 he says that he testified solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of the grace of God and that is what the gospel is. It is the message of God’s grace that God in grace has provided salvation for sinful men, and our faith in Christ man can experience forgiveness of sins. Then a word of warning verses 17 to 27 really center on Paul’s ministry to them and how honest and open he was with them and he says that my hands are clean. I conducted myself above reproach but a warning to be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. You know Paul doesn’t say among whom I appointed the overseer. But the leaders were men that the Holy Spirit had placed in the position of leadership.

This is the consistent New Testament emphasis that the leaders will be those that God has appointed. That they are God’s appointed leaders then the believers in the congregation are to submit themselves to their leadership because they are the men that God is leading through, the elders of the church, I think that has not changed. Paul makes reference to this in his letter to Timothy as well as it is mentioned by other New Testament writers as well. You know the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. And you know these are shepherds appointed by God to oversee a flock that belongs to God. So it is not a position of power and prestige necessarily, because they have nothing more as elders than they have as not being elders because the flock doesn’t belong to the elders because it was purchased by God with the blood of his son, and so the church is composed of everyone who has been cleansed with the blood of Christ has nothing to do with taking up a seat in this auditorium.

Members of the church are those who have been purchased by the blood of Christ. If you have not been cleansed by his blood you are not a member of the church it is that simple. It doesn’t matter whether you are attending in the hills, whether you attend any other group of people. God’s church is those who have been purchased by his blood, so a word of warning to the elders is not shepherd that they may fit -- fits you, if you are in the mood, do it, but they are responsible, and this is the valuable flock because God purchased them with his blood. There couldn’t be any more pressure and therefore this means that the shepherds must be very careful in their oversight. Sloppy shepherding will not be tolerated, so a word of warning as well as a word of encouraging. The reason is necessary in verse 29; I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock.

Again the pattern follows, we’ve mentioned in a number of New Testament writers, Peter especially, comparing Paul’s teachers with animals, because it relates the spiritual things they are just like animals and here is a savage wolf will come in, not sparing the flock. So the shepherds must be watching out for the flock because there are going to be false teachers that are going to come in, and try to ravage the flock, but that is not the only problem. Verse 30 and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. So not only will the elders have to be careful in their shepherding to protect the flock from those coming in from without, but from within the very flock itself there would arise false shepherds to try to lead away some of the flock after themselves. So the elders have to be careful of dangers from without and within.

They were to guard the purity of the flock; they were to care for the flock in light of the word of God, same problems that face the church today. I think the responsibility of the elders at Indian Hills Community Church is to guard the flock from those who would come in from without with false doctrine to harm the flock and those that might arise from within this group with false doctrine that would harm the flock. Their responsibility is to discipline and to see that that does not spread and get a hold.

Verse 31, Paul reminds them that he was with them for three years, then a concluding word of encouragement that is how we will look at in this passage. Now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Paul says, now as I’m leaving, it is not like you are left alone. The Apostle Paul is gone, but I commend you to God and do his word and those two things remain with you, it doesn’t matter that Paul is leaving. Paul is encouraging them that I commend you to God and to the word of his grace I think in his word given in grace and again here a clear indication of how the elders are to guard and shepherd the flock using the word of his grace and it’s this word which will build up and which will give the inheritance among those who are sanctified, the same inheritance. Paul talks about when he wrote to the Colossians in Colossians Chapter 1 of verse 12 and said he had been giving thanks to God who has qualified us to be inheritors with the saints in life.

Turn over to Ephesians Chapter 1, we are just going to say a couple of things about the opening verses, I have spend much time in the first chapter this morning. Paul begins, Paul an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, again identifying himself as an apostle and they were aware that this was so they had seen the validating signs and miracles in his ministry when he was at Ephesus. Again you will note that he is an apostle by the will of god just as the elders were appointed by God.

The leadership in the church is to be divinely appointed. The apostle was a special gift of the church, first in order of priority and pre-eminence was given for the foundation of the church. We do not have apostles present today, but the leaders that are present are those who are appointed by the spirit to provide the leadership, so the issue is the same. It’s God’s church, it’s his flock and he will determine the leadership. And if we are unsatisfied with the leaders we have, we need to give up to God and pray and give him the word and give and find out what is the problem.

An Apostle by the will of God, Paul had no doubts about his position. In his writing to the saints who are at Ephesus, and this word saints is going to be a familiar word to us, sometimes translated holy ones as you have it in the margin consistently in the new American standard, idea being set apart and basic word as to sanctify, to be set apart and saints are to be holy because they are set apart from sin to God. So he is writing to the saints at Ephesus and again sainthood has nothing to do with something conferred upon you 200 years after you die because you did a miracle. You are a saint if you have believed in Jesus Christ, you are not a saint if you have not and it won’t change your position if 200 years after your death and you have not believed in Christ before you die, they say you are a saint it won’t change the relationship before god.

Saints at Ephesus and they are identified as the ones who are faithful in Christ Jesus, this would give the idea of believing in or being faithful and saints are those who are believing in Jesus Christ and are faithful in him, both go hand in hand. A saint is one who has believed, these are the believers in Jesus Christ also the faithful in Christ Jesus and this expression in Christ is going to become a key, and it has to do with the sphere in which we live and dwell now as believers. We are in Christ, comes up at the end of verse 3 where we are in Christ and holding the position now that we occupy. The sphere in which we now live, I’m in Jesus Christ that is the sphere that I now occupy. We will be talking more about that. Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ, combination of the Greek and Hebrew readings that Paul uses consistently, grace and peace and reading the two together, grace speaking of God’s replying your every need, meeting your every need, things sufficient for you and so on, the God’s grace be shown to you, you will be experiencing and living in light of this continual care and peace.

I think it has to do primarily with the inner peace and tranquility that is the provision for every believer and why we do not have inner peace as a believer, it is because I’m not availing myself of the provision that God has made for me. It is just that simple, the peace is there it is simply a question of am I enjoying it or not. Grace and peace is from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ, again the equality of the father and the son are emphasized here and is consistent with reading as well. I was going to pick up a couple of thoughts in verse 3 as we go in this chapter. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Beginning with verse 3 down to verse 14 is one complete sentence, I have broken it up in the new American standard although you can see in the margin where they have broken the sentence up and you want some fun, sit down and try to diagram this one sentence and see where all your papers take you and the different ways if you try to tie every thought back to the next thought back to the next thought and so on.

That would be one of the longest sentences ever written, as Paul gets going and what he does in this sentence is he will talk about the father, he will talk about the son and he will talk about the holy spirit and he will have a constant emphasis on the glory and exultation of God in all that he is doing, to the praise of his glory is an expression that he repeats three times through this section. And what God is doing in our lives as believers is to the praise of his glory as God has operated in providing salvation into the praise of his glory and that is God’s purpose always for his own glory with his own praise.
Paul starts up blessed would be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. And I just want to pick up that expression in the heavenlies and we will pick up this verse with the succeeding verses next week in the heavenlies, what an expression of phrase used 5 times in the book of Ephesians. We will talk about Ephesians being a book dealing with our position in Jesus Christ, Book of Ephesians with the Book of Romans probably the greatest doctrine of books in the entire scripture and a strong emphasis on the Book of Ephesians on the position that we occupy and enjoy in Jesus Christ and Paul will follow the pattern for the first three chapters stressing our position and then for the last three chapters had talked about the practice. My position determines my practice, if you do not understand your position, if you are not living in light of your position there is no hope that your practice and conduct in life as a Christian will have any satisfaction, any continuity or any success in the biblical sense of the word.

Position is crucial and if you understand your position, the rest falls into place and many people are trying to practice today without any grasp of their position. In the heavenlies literally we have in heavenly places and that gives the idea in the heavenlies. H. A. Ironside has entitled his commentary on Ephesian in the heavenlies taking it from this expression has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Then to verse 20, the heavenlies are the sphere here and in verse 20 Jesus Christ has been raised and is now seated, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at this right hand in the heavenlies. So the heavenlies is the place where Christ is now seated at the right hand of the father as the place where I have received every spiritual blessing.

In verse 6 of Chapter 2 he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. And you note verse 20 of Chapter 1 quote as that Christ was exalted to sit at the right hand of the father in the heavenlies. Now Chapter 2 verse 6, I find out that this is the sphere that I have been exalted to as well. Look at verse 10 of chapter 3 we read in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies and the heavenlies is the sphere that this manifold wisdom of God is displayed through the church to rulers and authorities. Well I’m in the heavenlies, God is displaying to rulers and authorities his manifold wisdom as demonstrated through the church and that is you and I as the body of Christ. The last use of this is the last chapter, Chapter of Ephesians, familiar portion that were told that heavenlies and the heavenlies is also where the spiritual battle is being fought and where we obtain the victory by using the whole armor of God.

Verse 12 where our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. So this is the sphere in which the battle takes place as well with the forces of evil and wickedness. So you see that I have been totally transported out of this realm into a totally new realm in Christ, in the heavenlies and that is where my life is now centered, where my attention is now to be occupied where my whole life is now to be lived.

In light of my position in Christ in the heavenlies, that is where all my battles are to be fought in the heavenlies drawing upon the armor that God has made available for me as a believer. You are at the end of the Ephesians in Colossians Chapter 3, tell you about the same thing. If then you have been raised up with Christ, Colossians 3:1, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. So by being exalted in the heavenlies in Christ seated with him in the heavenlies is not your sum truth, the pin on my walls are worse to look at. But now I’m to be seeking the things above where I’m seated with Christ, I’m going to have my mind set upon the things that are above because that is where I’m in Christ. So my attention is focused on that, my goal center in that, my whole life revolves around now what I’m in Christ. If I’m functioning in light of my position in Christ in the heavenlies there is no problem with my conduct.

If I have got my mind focused upon things above, if I’m seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the father, then there is no problem. The breakdown comes when I lose sight of that. It is fair to say the breakdown came to the Ephesian church, we know something of course of the church at Ephesus and related churches in Asia from letters sent to the seven churches in Revelation Chapter 2 and 3.

Why don’t you just turn over there as we close this morning. Ephesians was written about 61 A.D, now Revelation had written about 30 or 35 years later and we find that the Ephesian church has missed the thrust of their position in Christ and that ceased the function as they should. Interesting enough they had maintained their doctrine of purity but they have still ceased to function as God intended them and so Revelation 2 the first church addresses the church in Ephesus, the risen Christ giving letters to the angels of each of the churches. In verse 2, he says I know your deeds, your toils, your perseverance, you cannot endure evil men, you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not. You found them to be false, your perseverance and have endured from my name sake and have not grown weary.

Here is a church that is doctrinally sound, that is doctrinally pure, my Christ must be proud of this church he must be satisfied with it. But in spite of the doctrine of correctness, in spite of their good theology and the elders evidently did their job, they sifted out false teachers, false apostles, they rooted them out, but they lost sight of something. In verse 4 but I have this against you, you have left your first love, in spite of your doctrine of purity, you have left your first love. I think this refers to their love of Christ, the love of their things in the heavenlies, their affections, their attention, their mind is no longer focused upon Christ on things above, their love no longer centers in the heavenlies and in him. So, you know you can be doctrinally correct, theologically sound and still be cold in your love towards him. It’s a serious matter, because Christ says very simply, remember in verse 5 from where you have fallen and repent.

Change your mind, do the deeds you did it first or not or else I’m coming and I will remove your lambs, stand out of its place unless you repent and the lambs stands for the church. That is picked up in the end of Chapter 1. The lamb stands giving off light, it’s good for the church. Christ says very simply if you don’t get back to your first love, in spite of your doctrinal purity, I’m going to close you down. Church at Ephesus never made it back, where is the Church of Ephesus today, it is nonexistent, it doesn’t exist, why? They left their first love; they lost sight of their position in Christ in the heavenlies. They no longer continued to think about those things, they no longer sought the things which were above. They were satisfied to try to maintain a doctrine of purity, without the love of the one the doctrine is all about. We gave this complaint today, church can be doctrinally sound and cold, could be true of Indian Hills. We pride ourselves in our good theology, wouldn’t tolerate false doctrine. It is easy to grow cold in our love, the solution is very simple so simple that we don’t bother about it. Remember from where you have fallen and go back, you say I don’t have the same feeling, who cares, go back to where you were, that first love you had when you first came to know him. You say, oh there is no way to rekindle it, you better rekindle it. How do you do it?

Well, I hope the book of Ephesians will help you focus your attention upon him, which you have in him, your position in him in the heavenlies let that occupy your mind. Let that be the goal of your life and you will finally begin to love him more, and the intensity of your love deepens. Love -- that emotion that we call love follows upon our action, and you put your mind on thinking about it, occupying yourself with it. Setting it as your goal and you will find your emotions follow along with it and the devotion of your heart will become attached to it and that is the same with every other area of our life as well. So remember your first love and then get back to it. If you look at the Church of Laodicea we all know that is the last church had the same problem. They were lukewarm, Ephesus had some mineral springs and the mineral water at Ephesus could only be drunk if it was very hot. If you drank this water lukewarm, this mineral water it makes you nauseated and sick, and that seems to be the analogy that Christ is growing, we raised # he says “I’m nauseated, you lukewarm, I can’t stomach you, so that I’m going to spit you out, a word of warning, warm up, get hot, I can’t stomach you the way you are” and it is sad to see that these churches that Paul had labored among were zealous at the beginning.

In this letter of the Ephesians he has written, so severely and a word of warning to us as we study the letter to the Ephesians and these related churches to be sure where are we as a church, where are we individually. You as a believer where are you in your love for him, how much of your life, how much of the attention through the week is occupied with him and your position in him in the heavenlies, now think about it. Pass time if you spend just thinking about that this week, how much of your life is ordered and arranged for that ultimate goal. You have given your attention towards this life, towards your business, towards your home, towards all these things, how much of your attention has been focused upon him. The danger comes where you put your attention, what you think about, what you do will determine what you love.

Let us pray together. Father we thank you for your word, also thanks whether it is the world of grace, also thanks for what you have provided for us in Jesus Christ or for his sufficiency for everything. As we begin the study of this book we pray that you open it to us that each of us might be rejoicing and cause to rejoice even more. We consider something of the position that we occupy in Jesus Christ will guard us against the cooling of our ardor and love for you. We pray that you will be the center of our attention the goal of our life. I’ll pray for those who may be here this morning who have not yet trusted you or who refuse to see themselves as you see them, refuse the salvation that you offer in love, whether that will leave in and draw them to yourself that they might know the joy of being exalted to the heavenlies in Jesus Christ, we pray in his name, amen.