Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesian Church. Chapter 1 v 1-13

There are six Chapters in this Letter, each one containing profound Christian teaching.

He is in a Roman prison, awaiting trial by the Emperor Nero, and is writing to the Ephesian Church describing himself as a servant of Christ, and sees himself as a prisoner for Christ. He is in prison, because he preached to the Gentiles so upsetting the Jews, who had forced the Roman authorities to act against him.

God had originally chosen the Jews to be the people to whom He sent Jesus to offer salvation, but when they rejected Jesus, God chose Paul to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. The love, mercy and grace of God was now being extended to all mankind. The gospel is for all people, regardless of color, race or gender.

Paul was proud of the fact, that when Christ called him on the Damascus Road he had the revelation that God was going to send him to the Gentiles, giving him the special task of taking the gospel to the non -Jews, and it had been revealed to him by God, of the secret plan to reconcile the Jews and non -Jews who had hatred between them. Now both would receive all the blessings meant for the Jews alone, and Paul saw himself, having been given the special privilege of discovering the secret of God’s grace.

He points out that previously, God never disclosed His intentions, but on this occasion God had told him of the plan to bring the non- Jews to share with the Jews, all the rich blessings inherited by those who follow Jesus, and which would be given to all who accepted what Christ had done for them on the Cross. In addition, God had given to Paul the privilege of telling everyone, and endowed him with special ability to do so.

He admits he had done nothing to deserve this, and had been totally unworthy as he did not claim to be much of a Christian, knowing personally of the way he had persecuted non -Jews previously before his Damascus Road conversion. He was now able to tell all people of the endless treasures they could have, if they turned to see Jesus as their Saviour, which God had planned from the very beginning through Jesus Christ as Lord. Now all the angels in heaven, could rejoice that Jews and non- Jews alike could share the inheritance. We now have to consider how it relates to us and the Church in the present times.

This passage ought to be a lesson to those Church leaders in the West, who adopt anti-Israel views and express criticism unjustly in any situation, and have unwisely endorsed a boycott of Israel made goods, when in fact they provided employment for non -Jewish citizens. The United States Churches have on the other hand, have recognised we Christians and Jews worship the same God, and are part of an ancient Judea-Christian tradition.

Paul was an example, to all who are allowed to preach for Christ, he always remembered and acknowledged he had been favored and never claimed credit or showed pride. He never expected others to look at him or seek praise, and was someone quite a few people I have met could learn from. He was never ashamed of the gospel, and suffered mightily for preaching it without spirit of timidity, and never ever failed to acknowledge the gospel’s authority as the Word of God, or support any behavior or action contrary to God’s commands.

Paul understood the grace of God meant, it would enable us to face up to any situation in life. He constantly told that in Jesus, we have free approach to God as a child to a father; we can turn to God as our heavenly Father, this only through Jesus Christ, who had been deemed the only one to give us way to God. He now had the authority to be known as an Apostle along with those previously chosen.

The times of Paul were as decadent and immoral as those we now face, bible literacy at an all -time low, whilst immorality has reached new heights; it may reasonably be said that one is consequent on the other.

Despite the evil they faced, Paul and the Apostles were following the command of Jesus to make disciples, and teach all that He had commanded, and they had much success. They taught that the Bible had the authority and completeness for all things in life; they told of the need for us to be in a proper relationship with God, which was only possible because of the death of Jesus on the Cross, so that all who put their faith and trust in Jesus and accepted Him as Savior, would be seen as righteous by God, and the gospel spread quickly without any of the wonderful technological aids we enjoy. Over the years men added unnecessary and false doctrines, which changed the message.

,There are various ways we come to know Jesus; through a friend telling us; through a poster carrying a message; but primarily through hearing a preacher. Paul was intent that people could only hear and believe if someone told them, and this was the appointed task and duty of the preacher.

We have celebrated the Protestant Reformation, perhaps more in the United States than in this country, which motivated Luther to write his theses, one of which states, ‘the true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.’ This is the message the Church should now be preaching, but instead too many are more concerned with following an equality agenda, which is obsessing the country. Luther’s stance was that any issue which tended to overshadow the gospel must be ignored and abandoned. He recalled the Church to follow the gospel.

Figures have just been released for Church attendance and are frightening; it looks as is the Church is falling apart. We desperately need to recall the Church back to the gospel, as we see it flagrantly abandoning the teaching our Lord gave. Until we get back to the teaching of the Apostles, there will be little improvement.

We have services of baptism, in which we encourage people to make false promises; we tell that ways of living which are expressly deemed wrong in Scripture are perfectly acceptable; we hold funeral services which we infer heaven is open to all, irrespective of their lack of belief in Jesus as the only way to God.

We have largely replaced God’s law, to placate and win favor from the State and its people. Consequently. fidelity to Scripture is avoided because preachers are ashamed to preach the Bible.

We live in a very aggressive secular society, one in which there are numerous minority groups who expect and demand consideration above their proportion. If we are to face the challenges of the day, we have to be people of the Bible, which is why sound doctrine has to be given.

Jesus in His preaching had two effects; He either saved people or upset them. If we study the preaching of Jesus the people did not always go away smiling, even His own disciples walked away from Him at one time. We like to read and hear the stories of Jesus, as long as they do not place too much of an obligation on us. But many did believe in Him, and went away with a different reaction.

The Bible should be the basis for ALL our preaching, it is the foundation of all truth. We cannot just pick and choose which parts we want, and cast out those which are not popular with society. We should all be preaching on the same lines. We have to also accept that the Church exists primarily for one purpose, to proclaim the Christian gospel. All other activities are subsidiary.

People have a right to expect a positive message when they attend Church, a biblical message. This is why Billy Graham became the most successful preacher of all time. His preaching was uncompromisingly based on the Bible, and people flocked in their tens of thousands to hear him, and they respected him for his directness

It is good and helpful to have involvement in social activities, but the primary means of bringing people to Christ is through the preaching of the gospel. If we restrict that then we have no claim to be here; people can get social amenities from many sources, they can only get the gospel from the Church.

The Bible states the gospel is the power of God leading to salvation for all who believe. This means more than just believing there is a God, the devil accepts that. It is not enough to just hear and say you believe, it demands a response. God wants all people to turn to Him.

Remember the words of Jesus, ‘for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and adulterous generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when He comes in the glory of the Father’.

We tell how God took a young Jewish girl, and caused her to conceive by the power of the Hoy Spirit; that when this child became man, He performed miraculous deeds and eventually gave His life by a cruel death on a Cross, in order that God would forgive people of their sins: that three days late would rise from the dead, as a sign that one day all who believe in Him and accept Him as Savior, would live eventually with Him in heaven.

Why should anyone be ashamed to tell that story? We all no doubt are ashamed of things we have done in our lives, and the things we have said but wished we hadn’t, and that is understandable. But we allow ourselves to become ashamed of something for which there is no need to be ashamed of.

The sceptic will say, I can’t believe all that could happen; some young woman told me recently the Bible was telling things impossible to understand. Such reasoning is amazing. If I take this mobile phone and press 13 numbers, people in the other side of the world can answer in seconds. Thousands of miles away between us, with millions of others sending messages, yet he will hear uninterrupted. Ask any bible sceptic to explain this and they will waffle. How can a brown cow eat green grass and produce white milk and yellow cheese. Yet we eat.

In conclusion, never be ashamed of the gospel. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he told him not to have a spirit of timidity, but be ready to preach the word that God saved us by His grace which He has given us through Christ Jesus.

Let us Christians be as proud of our faith as other faiths are of theirs, remembering there is salvation in no one else than Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we can be saved.

Praise God for His Holy Gospel; we pray He be Glorified