This morning, we’re going to embark on some basic training. For many of you who have served in our military, the concept is not a new one. Every branch of our military has some form of basic training that new recruits must complete before they are ready for duty. The todaysmilitary.com website describes the process like this:
Basic Training—officially called Initial-entry Training—prepares recruits for all elements of service: physical, mental, and emotional. It gives service people the basic tools necessary to perform the roles that will be asked of them for the duration of their tour.
Well, today, we’re going to begin our spiritual boot camp. And our purpose is much the same as military training. It will give us the basic tools necessary to perform the roles that will be asked of us for the duration of our tour. Because just like our men and women of our Armed Forces must be prepared for battle, we, too, must be prepared for a spiritual battle.
Our training manual for this process is going to be Paul’s letter that he wrote to the church in Ephesus nearly 2,000 years ago. But it’s a great training manual because it still is as useful to us today as it was when it was first written.
Paul probably wrote this letter from his prison cell in Rome in about AD 62. As we’ll see, he writes primarily to the believers there, many of whom had become followers of Jesus Christ as the result of one or more of Paul’s previous trips there.
His first trip to Ephesus was a brief stop on his way to Antioch in Syria:
They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God’s will." Then he set sail from Ephesus.
Acts 18:19-21 (NIV)
After traveling to Antioch, Paul visited some of the churches that he had earlier established in Galatia and Phrygia on his way back to Ephesus. Upon his return, Paul made Ephesus the home base for his missionary activities for 2-1/2 to 3 years. Several events from Paul’s stay there are recorded in Acts 19.
Paul’s’ preaching there in Ephesus led to a riot when it threatened the local silversmith business, which was dependent on the production of miniature silver replicas of the Temple of the Greek goddess Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. So Paul fled the city.
Since Paul had stayed in Ephesus longer than any other place during his missionary journeys, it’s not surprising that once he is imprisoned in Rome that he is concerned about the believers there. So he sits down and writes a letter that can serve as a basic training manual for the followers of Jesus Christ, not just in Ephesus, but in that entire region. And his letter continues to serve that purpose for believers all over the world nearly 2,000 years later.
The letter itself contains two clearly distinct sections:
• Chapters 1-3 primarily contain doctrine. In these chapters Paul recounts all the spiritual blessings that we have as a result of God’s work in our lives. The focus in these chapters is on what God has done for us.
• Chapters 4-6 primarily contain practical principles about how to live out our faith hereon this earth. The focus in these chapters is on how we are to serve God in our daily lives.
One commentary that I read this week [Divide the Word Ministries], described Paul’s letter in terms of a spiritual checkbook:
• Chapters 1-3 describe the great riches that God has deposited into our account. Those deposits made by God are too infinitely large to be counted but they are simple enough to understand and use.
• Chapters 4-6 describe how we can withdraw those riches from our account.
As part of our basic training, I’m encouraging all of us to work at memorizing the entire Book of Ephesians as we work through this training manual together. I know that many of us, me included, don’t really like to memorize. So we come up with all kinds of excuses about why we can’t memorize. For many of us our excuse is that we’re getting older and it’s just harder to remember things.
I was reading just this week about three elderly men who went to the doctor’s office for a memory test. The doctor asked the first man, "What is three times three?" "274," was his reply. The doctor rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, and said to the second man, "It’s your turn. What is three times three?" "Tuesday," replied the second man. The doctor shook his head sadly, then asked the third man, "Okay, your turn. What’s three times three?" "Nine," said the third man. "That’s great!" said the doctor. "How did you get that?" "Simple," he said, "just subtract 274 from Tuesday."
But in spite of our excuses, I’m convinced that memorizing Scripture is one of the most important and, at the same time, most ignored, spiritual disciplines. I know that for some of us who haven’t even memorized a few verses, an entire book of the Bible seems to be biting off more than we can chew. But I was looking at the U.S. Marine Corps site this week and I was amazed at all a Marine recruit is required to memorize:
In Marine boot camp, you’ll start drill almost immediately. A few hours studying basic drill and ceremony will help immensely. As with the other services, you should memorize U.S. Marine Corps Rank.
Additionally, your recruiter should have told you to memorize the 11 General Orders for a Sentry. While not mandatory, the Marine Rifle Creed is nice to know. You should also memorize the Marine’s Hymn, all of it, if possible, but at least the first verse.
Wait -- that’s not all (I told you it was tough). You’ll need to memorize the USMC Core Values, study Marine Corps history, and commit the characteristics of the M16A4 Rifle to memory. Round all of this out by memorizing the Code of Conduct.
Seems to be a bit overwhelming, doesn’t it? So how do we memorize a whole book of the Bible? We find that answer in the answer to the well known joke: How do you eat an elephant? [Wait for answer: One bite at a time.] That’s how we’ll tackle the Book of Ephesians – one bite at a time. Each week we’ll take 2-4 verses and memorize them while we keep reviewing the verses we’ve already learned. Let’s see how well we did this week. Let’s recite Ephesians 1:1-3 together:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Wow! There’s so much in just those first three verses that we’re going to look at this morning. When I first began to look at those verses this week, it seemed that I got so caught up in the details that I missed out on the overall message of these three verses. But as I looked at this passage over and over again and as I meditated on those verses as I worked on memorizing them, the overall theme became really clear.
The clear message of these verses is that as believers in Jesus Christ, we have been set apart for the purpose of knowing and serving God. And just as not everyone in our country chooses to be set apart to join the military and go through basic training, not everyone heeds the call to join God’s kingdom and go through spiritual basic training.
In these three verses, there are three aspects of being set apart for God:
1. I am set apart for salvation
Today, if we were going to write a letter, we would begin it with greeting something like “Dear so and so” or “To whom it may concern”. And then at the end of the letter, we would identify ourselves as the writer with a salutation like “Sincerely yours” or “Love”. The nature of the greeting and salutation would both reflect the nature and purpose of our letter. If I’m writing a personal letter to a friend or family manner, I’ll probably begin it with “Dear” and end it with “Love”. But if I’m writing a business letter, I’m more likely to address it to “Whom it may concern” and close it with “Sincerely”.
During Paul’s time letter were written a little differently. The writer would identify him or herself as the writer as well as the audience in the opening of the letter. That’s what Paul does here. First, he identifies himself as the writer of the letter. We’re going to come back to that in just a moment. And then he identifies the intended audience of his letter in the last part of verse 1 and in verse 2:
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A few of the earliest manuscripts don’t have the words “in Ephesus” which has led some Bible scholars to suggest that perhaps this was actually a circular letter that was intended to be read in a number of the churches in the area around Ephesus. That position is also supported by the fact that this letter is much less personal than many of Paul’s other letters. He doesn’t include personal notes to many of the people he would certainly know in Ephesus. As we’ve already seen, this letter is a careful blend of both doctrine and practical instruction and it seems that it would be appropriate to have been circulated among many of the early local churches.
But whether the letter was intended strictly for the church in Ephesus or for several churches, it is quite clear here that Paul is writing to followers of Jesus Christ. He begins “to the saints.” In our culture today, particularly here in this part of the country with all of the Roman Catholic influence, we see the word “saints” and get a wrong picture of what it means.
Currently the Roman Catholic Church, as well as several Orthodox churches, practice canonization, a process in which martyrs and particularly holy and pious humans are recognized by the church as saints. However, in the New Testament, the word “saints’ is used 44 times and in every single instance the word is used to designate those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
“Saints” = “Christians”
Several months ago, we recited the Apostles’ Creed together as part of our worship service. Afterwards several of you asked me about a couple of phrases in that creed:
• “the holy catholic church” – This phrase does not to the Roman Catholic Church. First, if you read the creed, you’ll notice that the words are not capitalized. And the word “catholic” as it’s used here, just means universal. So when we recite the Apostles’ Creed, we’re just saying we believe in the universal body of believers that the Bible calls the church.
• “the communion of saints” – Once again the word “saints” as it’s used here refers to all followers of Jesus Christ, not people who have been through some process of canonization. So the phrase just deals with the fellowship that all believers have with each other based on their common bond of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So what exactly does it mean when the Bible calls us saints? Let’s take a moment to look at the word itself.
The Greek word here is the plural form of hagios, which can also be translated “holy”. Last week, we talked a lot about what it means when we say that God is holy. We learned that holiness describes the fact that God is completely different that all of his Creation. It describes the fact that he is “set apart”. When used to describe His followers, the word has essentially that same meaning. It means that we are set apart to or by God.
“hagios” = “holy”
“set apart”
Paul is going to use that concept throughout his letter. He’s going to write about the fact that we are just strangers and aliens here in this earth. And he’s going to make it clear that the way we live our lives is to set us apart from those who are not saints.
But the key here is not the fact that we have been set apart. The crucial aspect of Paul’s greeting is the means by which we have been set apart. Paul first describes the saints as those who are “faithful in Christ Jesus”. This is the first of about 10 times that Paul is going to use the phrase “in Christ” or “in him” here in the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul wants there to be no doubt that the source of our being set apart for God is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. The means by which God sets us apart, the way that we become saints, is not by being canonized based on our own good works. It is totally and completely dependent on what Jesus Christ has already done for us and we become saints by placing our faith totally and completely in His finished work on the cross.
That is further emphasized by Paul’s greeting in verse 2:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We’re going to look at the whole concept of grace and peace in much more depth in coming weeks, but for right now it is sufficient for us to see that grace and peace are from God the Father and from His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is God’s grace, His unmerited favor that enables us to be at peace with God.
So first of all, I’ve been set apart for salvation by the grace of God made available to me through Jesus Christ.
2. I am set apart for service
Let’s go back to the beginning of verse 1 now:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God…
“apostle” = “one who is sent or commissioned; an ambassador, witness, or messenger.”
For Paul and for the 12 that had been with Jesus, the term described an office in the early church. There are many that believe the office of apostle ceased to exist with the death of those specific men and that may very well be true. But the function of an apostle certainly continues to exist in the church today. All of Jesus’ followers are commanded to be His ambassadors, witnesses and messengers in this world.
Most of us are familiar with the account of Paul’s Damascus Road conversion. When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road that day, Paul was certainly set apart for salvation through his faith in Jesus. But God also had some other plans for Paul, as Paul himself describes in one of his other letters:
But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…
Galatians 1:15, 16 (NIV)
So, it’s not surprising that Paul would write that he had been set apart to serve God as an apostle “by the will of God”. But it is not just Paul who has been set apart for the purpose of serving God. God has set apart every believer to serve Him. That’s really the message of the entire second half of Paul’s letter. We’ll se that in much more detail when we come to chapter 4. But for right now, let’s just read the first verse of that chapter, which introduces everything that is to follow:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Ephesians 4:1 (NIV)
What Paul is saying is that it’s not enough to be set apart just for salvation. The very moment that we accept Jesus as our Forgiver and our Master, we also have a responsibility to serve God not for the purpose of earning favor with God, but out of gratitude for what He has already done for us.
Unfortunately, there seems to be this misconception within the church that only certain people are called to serve God. We’ve gotten this idea that it’s only people like Paul who have received some special kind of call who have an obligation to serve God. And so we figure it’s up to the pastors and maybe the elders to do all the ministry in the church. But Paul would certainly not try to make that case. Listen to what he writes to the church in Rome:
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.
Romans 12:4, 5 (NLT)
Paul is going to make that point over and over again in Ephesians. Every believer is set apart to serve God. It’s our goal here at Thornydale Family Church that every one of our members is involved in ministry in some way. Some of those ministry opportunities, like teaching and preaching may be more visible than others, but they are no more important or valuable than those who work in the nursery, or make coffee on Sunday mornings, or serve as greeters, or those who otherwise serve behind the scenes. The key thing is for each of you to find someplace that God can use your talents, gifts, abilities and passions to serve him here. And if you need some help finding a place to get plugged in talk to me or to Denny and we’ll be happy to help you find a place to serve.
But serving God goes far beyond what we do within the church. God also wants us to serve Him as we live out our lives every day. That’s why I’ve always enjoyed Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 12:1 in the Message:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering.
Whether you’re a school teacher or a stay-at-home mom, an engineer or a secretary, a missionary or a tax preparer, a pastor or a retiree, you can serve God right where you are each day.
So I’ve been set apart for salvation through the grace of God and I’ve been set apart for service out of gratitude for His grace.
3. I am set apart for spiritual blessings
In verse 3 God makes and unbelievable promise to the followers of Jesus Christ:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Verse 3 is actually the beginning of one long sentence that continues all the way through verse 14. And for the next several weeks we’re going to examine those verses in detail as we explore the spiritual blessings that God has given to us. But this morning, let’s take just a few minutes to explore this verse, which sets the stage for what is to follow.
• The source of the blessings – Jesus Christ
Notice that it is God who sets us apart for His blessings and that those blessings flow to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in a culture today that tries to tell us that we just need to be “spiritual” and that it doesn’t really matter how we express that spirituality. That was certainly true in Ephesus, too. The main object of worship was the Greek goddess Artemis, but the Greek culture of that time was characterized by syncretism, in which there was an attempt to weave together all the various different gods and religions into one.
But Paul makes it really clear that we don’t get to pick and choose our gods or our path to God. It is only through Jesus Christ that we receive these spiritual blessings that Paul will be writing about in the following verses.
Unfortunately, the NIV translation “in the heavenly realms” tends to give the impression that these blessings are only for the future when we get to spend eternity with God in the heavenly realms. But the Greek construction here seems to associate the “heavenly realms” with Jesus Christ being the source of the blessings. In other words, these blessings come not from any earthly source, but from Jesus, who is now risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms.
• The nature of the blessings - spiritual
These are spiritual blessings. While it is certainly true that God often bestows material blessings on His children, Paul is much more focused here on the spiritual blessings that result from being set apart by God.
• The number of the blessings – every one
How many spiritual blessings do we get? Every single one of them. As Paul goes on to describe these blessings, we’re going to see that every believer gets every single one of these blessings. That’s amazing!
So we have been set apart for salvation, for service and for spiritual blessings.
Most of you are probably familiar with the motto of the United States Marine Corps:
The Few, the Proud, the Marines
That motto reflects the fact that not everyone has been set apart to be a Marine. Not everyone is willing to make the sacrifice that it takes to complete basic training and become a Marine.
The same thing is true for each one of us spiritually. Although God has made it possible for everyone to be set apart and go through basic training in order to be ready to serve God, not everyone chooses to even accept the call, alone complete the training.
My prayer for you this morning is that you’ll join that process today. If you’ve never invited Jesus to be your Forgiver and Master, that’s the first step that you need to take this morning. And if you’ve already done that, I hope you’re ready to report for duty and join me as we complete our basic training.
