Ending Well Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

Watch this message at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/episodes/159060

This is it. We have reached the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus. We’ve spent 36 weeks covering a letter containing some of the grandest mysteries of the Almighty and His love for us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Truth be told, we could start again and discover even more truths. This is the joy of studying Scripture.

Before we read this conclusion, would you revisit some of the things we learned from Paul’s letter?

On February 13 we opened this letter and right at the start, Paul is delivering unprecedented truth to us. God our Father, through our Lord, Jesus Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Ephesians 1:3). I called this the thesis statement of Paul’s letter. These aren’t just the temporal blessings of the world. These are the eternal blessings of the Almighty given to you and every believer and the treasure trove of these blessings follows us the rest of the letter.

Then we unpacked a multitude of blessings found in Paul’s massive sentence found in Ephesians 1:3-11. I went through and identified 32. In other words, we don’t need to live in defeat or as spiritual paupers. Paul tells us we have all we need to live victoriously over the curse, stain, and penalty of sin. Paul uses Ephesians 2-3 to explain the nature of the gospel and our relationship to God through Jesus alone.

That victory is found in one source and one source only, our relationship with Jesus. In Jesus and only Jesus, we have our redemption, our inheritance as God’s adopted children, and our salvation. In Jesus, we find our power and strength to live in godliness. Because of that, our lives are no long futile, but with a divine purpose, and because of that we are no longer to live in the same manner in the world. Our Walk is different (Ephesians 4:1).

Our minds, our knowledge, our understanding, and our hearts are no longer darkened by the power of sin and the lord of sin (Ephesians 4:17-24). We are new, transformed, and bear the righteousness of Christ (Ephesians 4:23). And as a result of that transformation of the inner life, the outer life is also transformed (Ephesians 4:23-32). Our motivations are different and who we live to please is different (Ephesians 5:1-2). With that, Paul tells us that sin and especially sexual sin and idolatry should not even be named among us (Ephesians 5:3-15).

Not only that. but the transformation of Christ in our life affects the very core relationship of our life. Wives submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22), husbands love their wives (Ephesians 5:25), children obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1), and parents lead godly households (Ephesians 6:3). Even the relationship between bondservants and masters is utterly transformed (Ephesians 6:9).

By understanding all of this we can and will be strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10). We realize that we are engaged in a powerful battle that requires our strength. But our battle is spiritual, not carnal (Ephesians 6:12). Our victory is guaranteed because our foe is already vanquished and we are given armor to win every battle (Ephesians 6:13). That armor is comprised of the Belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit (Ephesians 6:14-17).

Lastly, Paul tells us that everything is held together through prayer. (Ephesians 6:18) Prayer is to permeate our lives as a universal practice that is as natural to us as breathing. We need to be in constant communication with God because the enemy is at constant war with us. Last week we saw that our prayers are to be in concert with Christ and interceding for the saints. This week Paul closes with a personal appeal.

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak." (Ephesians 6:18–20.

In 2005 Barna Reports said, "Prayer is one of three critical spiritual dimensions which most local churches essentially ignore. Prayer is said to be one of the top priorities in less than four percent of the churches surveyed." Indeed Paul knew this when he told the church in Ephesus to pray for him specifically. Prayer is the only force from the church that will emit change. “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” - Karl Barth