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This letter
was written by Paul toward the end of his glorious
life. He had faithfully been serving the Lord
for many years. He had declared the truth about
Messiah far and wide. He had seen great results.
The Lord used him to start and establish many
congregations in a wide area. The Lord had done
extraordinary miracles through him. He had suffered
much for the Lord, but remained undeterred.
Ephesians,
along with Philippians, Colossians and Philemon
are called the “Prison Letters” because they were
written by Paul while he was incarcerated. He
had been arrested in Jerusalem and taken to Rome,
where he wrote this from prison. Even while the
Rabbi from Tarsus was in jail he was doing something
for the Lord. That tells us that there is almost
always something that we can do to serve the Lord,
no matter where we are, no matter what our circumstances
are. You have more freedom than Paul. What are
you doing to serve the Lord and advance the truth?
Paul is
writing to the believers in Ephesus. Ephesus was
a big city in ancient Asia, which is now present
day Turkey. The city was a commercial, political
and religious center, the great temple of Artemis
(Diana) being there (Ryrie). The population of
the city was primarily made up of non-Jews, but
there was a Jewish community there. When Paul
first came to Ephesus he went to the synagogue
and reasoned with the Jewish people there, and
they listened to this great teacher and wanted
him to stay longer. But, he didn’t spend much
time there on his first visit. He left, returned
later, and went back to the synagogue, and some
Jewish people became believers. Paul remained
at Ephesus for two years, and kept preaching and
teaching and God was doing extraordinary miracles
by the hands of Paul, and many Gentiles also became
Believers. So, the congregation in Ephesus was
a community made up of Jewish and Gentile Believers
- much like ours.
This may
have been a letter that was meant to be sent not
just to Messiah’s holy community of believers
in Ephesus, but from there to other congregations
in other cities. This letter doesn’t deal with
specific problems, but it lays out Paul’s theology
in an organized way. The first part deals with
theology, and the last part deals with applying
these theological truths to our lives.
Paul starts
off with a very short but powerful introduction.
Paul, an apostle of Messiah Yeshua by the will
of God. Other than giving us his name, he
only says of himself that he is an apostle of
Messiah Yeshua, and he is an apostle due to the
will of God. He didn’t give a long biography about
himself, and detail all his amazing accomplishments.
For Paul, what was important wasn’t what he had
done, but who he was connected to and who he represented.
The word
“apostle” means an emissary - someone who is sent
by someone else to accomplish the desires of the
one who sent him. Paul was sent by Yeshua the
resurrected Messiah. The sending of Paul by Messiah
Yeshua was the will of God. It was the desire
of God that His Son would send Paul. Paul was
primarily sent by Messiah Yeshua to the Gentiles,
and to the Jewish communities living among the
Gentiles outside of Israel. He was sent to preach
the Good News about salvation made possible by
the coming, death and resurrection of the Messiah.
He was sent to use his great mind and education
to teach us, and help us understand what the coming
of the Messiah meant for all of us, particularly
relating to the Gentiles. Paul was sent to write
large portions of the New Testament. Paul was
sent to do miracles which validated his authority
and apostleship.
Since
this great Rabbi from Tarsus, who was exceedingly
learned in Judaism was sent to us by Messiah Yeshua,
the Living Savior, the Son of God, our king and
savior, and this was the will of God the Father,
do you think that we should pay attention to,
and take to heart, and try to apply these inspired
words that we are about to read?
This Hebrew
of the Hebrews is writing to the saints who
are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Messiah
Yeshua: a saint is a human being who is set
apart by God to accomplish special purposes. He
is set apart from the grasping and destructive
power of sin. He is set apart from the forces
of sin and death. He is separated from a lost
and dying world. He is set apart for salvation,
set apart to be close to God, set apart to serve
the Lord, set apart to live forever. Every born
again child of God is a saint. A saint may not
always and every moment act saintly, but he is
still a saint. The Lord calls us saints - holy
ones, set apart to accomplish special purposes.
Our duty is to live up to that high calling, to
live in a way that reflects our sainthood, to
conduct ourselves with holiness, to act in a way
that shows forth purity. Are you?
“In Messiah”
is a phrase that Paul uses often in his letter.
When you read “in Messiah” think of “joined to
Messiah” or “part of Messiah.” Because we have
come to know that Yeshua is the Messiah, that
He is the One sent by God as the ultimate prophet,
priest and king, combing the three offices of
leadership into one Person; because we have come
to believe in Yeshua, that He is the Messiah,
and the Son of God, and that He died and rose
again, and is alive now, and we place our faith
and trust in Him, we are “in Messiah.” We become
joined to Him. We become part of Him. There is
a real connection that takes place between us
and the living Son of God. Are you in Messiah?
Do you have that connection? Do you sense it?
Do you know it?
The saints
who were at Ephesus and were in Messiah were faithful.
This was a community of Believers that had faith
and were acting on that faith. They had faith
in Yeshua, and they were faithful to Him. They
were committed to Him. They were obeying His teachings.
They were embracing His values, goals and priorities.
They were doing what He wanted.
There
are those who have faith in God, who believe,
but are not faithful. We must have faith, but
it must be more than mere intellectual assent
to truth. Our faith encompasses more than knowledge.
The demons have a kind of faith. They are quite
sure about the reality of God the Father and Yeshua
the Son, but they oppose God. Genuine faith, saving
faith, means that our faith, our belief, our knowledge
is being properly applied. Is yours? Are you faithful?
After
introducing himself, and making it clear that
he was addressing the children of God, this greatest
of evangelists prays for them: Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua
the Messiah. Paul prays that grace - unmerited
favor, undeserved goodness, unearned blessings;
and peace - a life that is lived the way God wants
so that wholeness results; a life that is full
of integrity so that well-being is experienced,
comes to them from the Three-In-One God - from
God the Father, who is our good Father who made
us in His image, who in redemption imparts His
nature to us and gives us His Spirit; our Father
who cares for us and meets our needs, our Father
who watches over us and protects us; our Father
who teaches us, our Father who, when we fall down,
picks us up; our Father who when we make mistakes,
lovingly corrects us.
Grace
and peace also come to us from the Lord Yeshua
the Messiah. He is the Lord - the Lord of Heaven
and Earth, the Lord of man, the Lord of the angels,
the Lord of the elements and the forces of nature.
He is the Lord, but the Son is distinct from God
the Father as to His person, but one with the
Father as to His nature.
Grace
and peace can’t come from a false god - only from
the true God, the God of Israel, the God of the
Scriptures. Grace and peace can only come when
we have faith that Messiah Yeshua is the Lord
and that God the Father is our Father. The fullness
of grace and peace can only come to those who
are in Messiah, not to those who are outside of
Messiah. The fullness of grace and peace can only
come to those who are faithful, not faithless.
Are you in Messiah? Are you faithful? Are you
experiencing grace and peace?
As we
get into the body of this inspired letter, Paul
begins with a blessing of praise to God for who
He is and what He has done. Good thinking and
sound theology must begin with God - knowing that
God really exists, and who He is and what He has
done, is doing and will do.
When we
have knowledge about God, and when it is mixed
with faith, it causes a reaction in us. The more
we know about the Lord, the more heartfelt desire
we have to praise Him and bless His holy name!
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah,
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Messiah. The object
of this great blessing is God the Father. As you
read the Scriptures, you will find that almost
all of the prayers in the Bible are directed to
God the Father. The Son of God is fully divine,
and is worthy to be worshiped equally with the
Father, but nevertheless most of the prayers in
the Scriptures are directed to the Father. I think
the reason is that God the Father is superior
to God the Son as to His authority and position.
Paul teaches us that God the Father is the God
and Father of the Son. As far as His position
to His Son, He is the Son’s Father and the Son’s
God - superior in authority and position, and
first in worship.
The Father
of our Lord Yeshua is also our Father. Just as
a good father on Earth blesses his children with
good things, so our Heavenly Father is very generous
with us. He has blessed us - not with a few, not
with some, but with every spiritual blessing that
is in Heaven! Out of His vast treasury of spiritual
resources, He has given them all to us! Wow!
And, those
spiritual and heavenly resources are available
to every believer. We don’t need to go here or
there, to this ministry or that ministry and have
people lay hands on us, or pray for us to receive
Heaven’s spiritual blessings. We can go directly
to God and receive them for ourselves.
When we
trust Messiah, and understand who He is, and what
He has done for us - coming to Earth, becoming
a human being, dying on the cross, rising from
the dead, ascending back to Heaven, He becomes
our High Priest, our mediator between God and
man, and He brings us close to God the Father,
and brings the blessings of God to us.
The blessings
that Paul is thanking God for are spiritual blessings.
They are good things that come from Heaven that
benefit us in the realm of the spirit - not in
the realm of the physical.
The first
blessing is the blessing of being chosen, and
this is a very special chosenness. Just as
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we would be holy and blameless before
Him. God the Father is the Supreme Being.
He makes choices. His will is supreme. One of
the choices He made, and He made this choice before
He created the first atom in the universe - was
to choose certain human beings. These chosen ones
would be created. These chosen ones would come
into existence by being born to human parents.
These chosen ones would at some point in their
earthly lives be presented with the Good News
about Yeshua, and because of the grace of God
at work they would come to know that Yeshua is
the Messiah, and they would place their faith
in Him. They would be able to rely on Him, trusting
Him to save them from sin and death and Hell.
They would trust Messiah to give them eternal
life. They would depend of the Son of God to raise
them from the dead.
These
chosen ones - not just from Israel, but from many
nations were chosen to be holy and blameless.
I am sick of being unholy. I am tired of making
mistakes, sinning and doing the wrong things.
But, because of the choice of God, one glorious
day when the Lord has finished his work with me,
all that will change. I will be holy - separate
from ignorance and sin and evil and error and
corruption. I will be deliciously pure and clean
and fresh and new. I will be blameless - all of
my sins will be perfectly atoned for, all of my
guilt gone, all of my shame ended.
One day,
after the resurrection and judgment, all of us
will be holy and blameless - all of our moral
and spiritual pollution gone. And, knowing that
this is our destiny, this is what the Holy One
has chosen us to be like before the universe began,
motivates us to try and be holy and blameless
now, to be men and women of integrity and godly
character, living the right way. From eternity
past, to eternity future, that is God’s plan for
us!
The inspired
Rabbi continues: In love He predestined us
to adoption as sons through Messiah Yeshua to
Himself, according to the kind intention of His
will. Before the beginning of the universe,
the Supreme Being, who is perfect and complete
in Himself, and doesn’t need anything else to
be complete, or add to His perfection, but motivated
by love and kindness, wanting to do good things
to creatures of His making, decided to create
certain human beings, and form these human into
His eternal sons and daughters. And so, He determined
ahead of time, before they were created, to create
them in His image, and bless them with mind, emotion
and will, and the ability to be aware of themselves,
and the ability to think, reason, and make choices,
and by means of creation and then redemption make
them partakers of the Divine Nature, and recipients
of His Spirit. This receiving of divine sonship
is only possible through Messiah Yeshua - through
His divine activity of salvation and redemption.
To be
a son or daughter of God is the highest possible
honor. It elevates us to the highest status, even
greater than the mighty and glorious angels. So,
when you are feeling bad about yourself, feeling
like a failure, feeling unimportant, or that life
isn’t living, you remind yourself: I am a child
of God. The eternal Lord had a plan for my life,
and chose me before He created the universe. I
am the object of His love and affection and the
recipient of the kindness and the good-will of
my loving Father. One day I will be perfectly
holy and blameless in the sight of the holy God.
Until then, I will hang in there and do my best!
One other
concluding thought: To live a meaningful live
it is important to know who we are, where we came
from, why we are here, and where we are going,
and how to get there. In just a few words this
great man that Messiah sent to us answers these
questions.
Shalom,
Rabbi Loren
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