SERMON OUTLINE:
The Background of the Letter:
(a). The City
(b). The Church
(c). The Correspondence
The Structure of the Letter
(a). The Sections
(b). The Purpose
(c). The Ideas
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Sports brand logos quiz.
• Diadora
• Umbro
• Under Amour
• New Era
• Lotto
• Converse
• Lotto
• Greatest boxer ever, Mohammed Ali wore… Adidas boots or Everlast.
• Our own champions e.g. Anthony Joshua wore…Under Amour,
• e.g. Tyson Fury…Nike
• TRANSITION:
• In many ways the Apostle Paul was a boxer,
• He wasn’t sponsored by Nike or Addidas because he fought a different type of fight.
• His were metaphorical not literal!
• A quick glance of his New Testament letters soon reveals this,
• He spent a lot of his time fighting one problem after another,
• e.g. in his Corinthian letters,
• He fights was against division within the Church.
• As he battled with quarrels that were tearing apart the church.
• In Galatians, he battled legalists,
• People who were trying to imprison the believers with the old rules & regulations.
• That the New Covenant had free them from.
• In 2 Thessalonians he fought against confusion and fear,
• In 1 and 2 Timothy, he fought against a lack of confidence.
• In Colossians it was a full-on battle against false doctrine.
• So, it appears again and again,
• That the apostle Paul was always fighting something or someone in his letters.
Question:
• What would the apostle have written in his letters,
• If he hadn’t had any heresies to correct, any fights to referee,
• Or any false teachers to expose?
Answer:
• I suggest it would be the book of Ephesians.
• In this letter:
• Paul exchanged his boxing gloves for a paintbrush!
• I say paintbrush because in this letter, the apostle Paul,
• Paints a magnificent portrait of Christ and his people.
• It really is a magnificent sight to behold!
The Background of the Letter:
(a). The City
(a) Ephesus was one the great cities of Asia Minor:
• Whenever you come across the word Asia in the New Testament,
• It is not referring to the continent but to this region i.e. Asia Minor.
• Today Ephesus’ well-preserved ruins are in modern-day Turkey
• Modern day Selçuk in Turkey.
(b). Ephesus was a Roman capital of about 250,000 people,
• It was a city that knew all about Roman pomp and ceremony,
• Important events took place there.
• Such as the Panionian games (similar to our Olympics)
(c). It was a safe-city or a city of refuge.
• Guilty criminals could run to the temple in Ephesus and find refuge,
• So, you can imagine the kind of residents that attracted to the region.
(d). It was a seaport,
• The city was once considered the most important Greek city
• And the most important trading centre in the Mediterranean region
• It was called, “The market for Asia-Minor.”
• With world trade come people from all over the world,
• And with them their gods and religions.
• It was a diverse city in people and in religion.
On a hill overlooking and dominating the city was a temple:
• The temple of the Greek goddess Artemis/Diana.
• (In Roman mythology, Artemis was also known as Diana).
• This was the cities jewel in the crown.
Ill:
• In the ancient world, the temple was one of the seven wonders of the world.
• It was 420 feet square.
• One of its features was its pillars, it contained one hundred and twenty-seven pillars,
• Every one of them the gift of a king.
• All were made of marble, and some were studded with jewels and overlaid with gold.
• This temple cast a long shadow over the city:
• And was a key focal point, that highly influenced the people.
• And worship of this goddess was jealously guarded,
• The apostle Paul found this out on his third missionary journeys,
• (Acts chapter 19 verse 23-24).
• Where the local tradesmen got very upset,
• Because people were coming to faith and were no longer buying their religious idols.
• To summarize:
• Do the city was big, important and cosmopolitan in its people and religions.
(b). The Church
• NIV: “To God’s holy people”
• KJB: “To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:”
Ill:
• On the first day at a missionary training school,
• The teacher entered the room and without saying a word,
• Walked down between every row of students.
• Finally, without saying a word, she walked out of the room again.
• A few minutes later she came back into the classroom and asked the class.
• "Did you notice anything special about me?"
• There was a deadly silence,
• As each student hoped that one of the other students would come up with an answer.
• They all looked stumped!
• Then one student nervously raised her hand and said,
• "I noticed that you smelled nice, you are wearing a very lovely perfume,"
• The rest of class laughed.
• But the teacher said, "Well done, that was exactly the point!”
• She then went on to explain…
“It will be a long time before any of you will be able to speak Chinese well enough to share the gospel with anyone in China. But even before you are able to do that, you can minister the sweet fragrance of Christ to these people by the quality of your lives. It is your lifestyle, lived among the Chinese people, that will minister Christ to them long before you are able to say one word to them about personal faith in Jesus."
• TRANSITION:
• You might not feel like a saint or even feel very holy,
• But you and I are being watched (dare I say, smelled!) by the world in which we live.
• We need to be, walking the walk, if we are going to talk the talk?
• People need to know our message is true.
• We care a “holy people” (saints) so let’s be holy (saintly in our daily living.
Note:
• The apostle Paul’s fist contact with Ephesus:
• Was around A.D. 52.
• When he was on his second missionary journey
• He made a brief visit to a Jewish synagogue (Acts chapter 18 verse 19),
• Then a few years later he returned on his third missionary journey:
• He returned to Ephesus and found a group of Christians,
• The Church was probably founded by a couple called, Priscilla and Aquila
• (Acts chapters 18-19)
• Paul baptized some of the new believers,
• Then he spent three years teaching the people of that area.
• (Acts chapter 19),
(c). The Correspondence (Letter).
Ill:
• Old joke of the man who wrote to his sweetheart every day for a year,
• After 12 months he found out that she had married the postman!
• TRANSITION: Paul the apostle was a great letter writer!
(a). Paul the Prisoner.
• Shortly after Paul left Ephesus and returned to Jerusalem, he was arrested,
• And to cut a long story short he was sent to Rome:
• Imprisoned in Rome, under house arrest.
• From there he wrote this letter,
• He refers to this confinement twice in chapter 3 verse 1, chapter 4 verse 1.
“For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.”
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling
you have received.”
(b). Paul the Author.
• Incise there is any question as to who wrote the letter,
• Twice the apostle Paul attaches his name to it.
• (chapter 1 verse 1 & chapter 3 verse 1).
• “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,”
• “For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.”
While the apostle Paul was under house arrest:
• He also penned Colossians and Philemon as well as Ephesians.
• And all three letters were hand carried and delivered to the Churches,
• By Tychicus, accompanied by Onesimus
• (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7–9; Philemon 1:10–12).
The Structure of the Letter
(a). The Sections.
• The book of Ephesians divides into two parts:
• Which show the balance in the Christian life.
• Balance between doctrine (what we believe) chapters 1-3.
• And duty (how we behave) chapters 4-6.
• Chapters 1-3. tell us what we are saved by.
• Chapters 4-6 us what we are saved for.
• So, chapters 1-3.
• We are not saved by good deeds (chapter 2 verse 8-9)
• That is what the world thinks and believes,
• Good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell.
• The two divisions in this book are not good and bad.
• Not Jew and Gentile, not men or women,
• But dead or alive! Dead in sin or alive in Christ! (chapter 2)
• But this book makes it very clear that is not the case.
• Chapter 2 verse 8-9
• Chapters 4-6.
• We are not saved by good works but saved to good works,
• Which is totally different (Chapter 2 verse 8-10).
Quote: old hymn by William Henry Griffith Thomas
“I will not work my soul to save, for that my Lord alone has done; but I will work like any slave, because I’m loved by God’s dear Son!”
Notice: There is a great balance in this letter:
• The first part of the book concentrates on the blessings of forgiveness
• The last part of the book concentrates on the need for holiness.
• The first part of the book concentrates on justification (getting right with God)
• The last part of the book concentrates sanctification (getting right in our lives.
• The first part of the book concentrates on our release, our rescue, our redemption.
• The last part of the book concentrates on our response.
• The first part of the book emphasizes God’s divine sovereignty.
• The last part of the book emphasizes human responsibility.
• The first part of the book concentrates on God’s purpose & his power.
• The last part of the book concentrates on our walk and our warfare.
• The first part of the book deals with the vertical part of the gospel,
• The last part of the book concentrates on the horizontal part of the gospel.
(b). The Purpose – the apostle Paul had two main purposes in writing:
(1st). Chapters 1-3: Paul wants the Ephesians to know their resources in Christ.
Ill:
• Video clip of a squirrel burying some nuts.
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/YcdSmFXdbMo?si=YM0_1yAeni1ljCt7
• TRANSITION: The squirrel is making sure it has resources for the winter!
• And that is exactly what Paul is trying to tell these Ephesian Christians:
• That in Jesus Christ we have more than enough resources to cope.
(2nd). Chapters 4-6: Paul wants the Ephesians to live consistent with their beliefs.
Ill:
• Billy Graham was flying on a plane,
• Just ahead of him a drunken passenger was causing a big disturbance.
• He was swearing and being rude to the staff and passengers.
• Trying to calm the man down, the stewardess said,
• “Sir, please be quiet, we have Mr. Billy Graham sitting just a few rows behind you”.
• When he heard this, the drunk said.
• “Billy Graham, let me speak to him, I wanna tell him something”.
• The drunk got up and pushed and staggered his way down the aisle,
• He looked at Billy Graham and spoke.
• “Shake my hand, your ministry has had such an effect upon my life!”
• TRANSITION:
• Now Paul is telling these Christians not to be like that!
• He is instructing them to ‘walk the talk’,
• To live out what they claim to believe.
(c). The Ideas.
FIRST: The Christians position
ill:
• A novice pilot was flying over London,
• When flight control asked for his height and position.
• He answered, “I’m 5’8” and I’m sitting in the cockpit”.
• TRANSITION: We may live on planet earth:
• But the Bible teaches that every Christian is “In Christ”.
• Every Christian “Is seated in the heavens”.
• Note: One of the key phrases that crops up again and again in this letter,
• Is the expression, “In Christ” or “in Him”.
• Scan through the chapter,
• 10 times in the first 14 verses,
• Chapter 1 verse 1b: “the faithful in Christ Jesus.”
• Chapter 1 verse 3b: “who has blessed us…with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
• Chapter 1 verse 4a: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world.”
• Chapter 1 verse 7: “In him we have redemption through his blood.”
• Chapter 1 verse 9b: “which he purposed in Christ,”
• Chapter 1 verse 11a: “In him we were also chosen,”
• Chapter 1 verse 12a: “in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ.”
• Chapter 1 verse 13 (twice),
• “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth,
• “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,”
Ill:
• Often, we talk and preach in an opposite way:
• Subconsciously we make Jesus Christ into something small,
• We talk about having him in our small lives, in our small hearts.
• The apostle Paul does the opposite,
• He takes a small insignificant person and puts them in a great big God.
SECOND: The prayers of Paul
• In chapter 1 verses 15-23:
• Paul prayed for the Ephesians enlightenment.
• In chapter 3 verses 14-21:
• He prayed for their ability to grasp Christ’s love.
• In chapter 6 verses 19-20:
• He asks for their prayers for him.
Quote:
• The nineteenth-century Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon,
• Was once asked by a man this question,
• “When should I pray? Should I only pray when I feel like it?”
• Spurgeon replied.
“Pray when you feel like it, because God will bless you.
pray when you don’t feel like it, because that is when you need it most”.
• Paul’s prayers give is some great insights regarding prayer,
• And how to pray.
• And the content of his prayers is often very different form our prayer content!
THIRD: The Christians Home – both Church & Family.
• We are instructed how to live and behave in the Church family.
• (Chapter 4)
• We are instructed how to live and behave in our individual families.
• Chapter 5 verse 21 to chapter 6 verse 9.
Ill:
• A young minister, with very small children,
• Preached to his congregation on the theme
• “10 ways to raise good and godly children”.
• Some years later, with his children entering their teens,
• He returned to this theme, but the same sermon was now entitled:
• “10 suggestions for raising good and godly children”.
• Several years later with his children now in their late teens,
• The sermon got another airing, this time presented as
• “Feeble hints for fellow strugglers”.
• TRANSITION:
• Ephesians gives us some very good practical advice concerning the home!
FOURTH: The Armor of God
• This theme is only found in the book of Ephesians.
• In chapter 6 verses 10-18.
• The apostle Paul deals with the spiritual forces we fight against:
• This was especially relevant for the Ephesians.
• Their culture was dominated by idolatry and false religion,
• Remember the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis dominated the city.
This spiritual battle was not just one the Ephesian’s faced:
• It is a battle for us today!
• Every Christian is in a warfare situation,
• But we are not defenceless.
• We have Armor,
• We have weapons (the Word of God).
• We have the Holy Spirit!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=oWmkLWudP1fFqLqY0hnZttB3DWJ5134z
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