Title: Ephesians 3 Bible Study
Text: Ephesians 3
Introduction:
1. We are doing a bible study on the book of Ephesians. Ephesians is known as the prison epistles, written by the Apostle Paul during one of his known impressments. It is divided into two sections. Chapters 1-3 describe the believer’s position: who we are in Christ, how much God loves us, and our relationship with Him. Chapters 4-6 is about our behavior and how we can apply the truths learned from chapters 1-3 to our lives. When we know how much God loves us, our behavior can change if we work with Him.
2. The first chapter is about who God is and all that He has done for us. Chapter 2 focuses on us: who we are as a result of His goodness, mercy, and grace. In chapter 3, God reveals the mystery that Gentiles are now included in the gift of salvation.
Proposition: Gentiles share in God’s blessings, coming boldly to the cross, power of prayer.
Interrogative Sentence: What are these blessings, and how can we now come boldly to the cross, and what are the prayers of Paul?
Transitional Sentence: I’ll try and answer all of that in the few minutes that we have with each other. First, we will discuss Paul’s revelation into God’s mysterious plan and his credibility. So, let’s dive in.
I. Reading from the NIV, Ephesians 3 verses 1-5 says:
When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.
a. PRISONER OF CHRIST
In verse 1, Paul called himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of the Gentiles. He was a prisoner of Rome, but that is not how he viewed himself. He saw himself as a prisoner of Christ. When we know that we are working for Christ and refuse to let a bad circumstance affect our good works for Christ, our whole way of looking at things can change. He knew that it wasn’t any fault of his own that he was in prison, that it was all for Christ who was strengthening him. We have to stop letting a bad moment in a day or what someone may have said to you affect our joy. We have our joy in Christ, not our circumstances. God has adopted us into His family, saved us, and has a great plan for your life. Paul knew this, and he wasn’t going to let his imprisonment steal his destiny and keep him from doing what God called him to do.
b. REVELATION OF MYSTERIOUS PLAN
Verse 3 says, “As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me.” Paul wrote that the information given to him was from God that God had revealed it to him. Here he is establishing his credibility. He said God had revealed the plan to him. He didn’t make it up, nor was it given to him by someone else. It came from God through the Spirit.
Transitional sentence: Paul begins Ephesians by stating that he is a prisoner of Christ for the Gentiles benefit. He hints that God has revealed a mysterious plan to him. We’ll now learn what the plan is and the details involved.
II. Verses 6-7, “And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.”
a. GOD’S PLAN
Paul explains what God is
doing with the Gentile believers. He lists three things: They are heirs with
Israel, members of the same body, and they share in the promise of God’s
blessings.
1. HEIRS WITH ISRAEL AND MEMBERS OF THE SAME BODY
First, the Gentiles are heirs with Israel and members of the same body. In Genesis 12:3, it says, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” What does this mean? It means that Gentiles now share in all of God’s promises as the Jews do. We are all one in Christ. The Gentiles share in the same blessings that God promised to the Jews. As God’s adopted children, we share in Christ’s inheritance. What is Christ’s inheritance? Reading from Hebrews 1:2, “And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son, he created the universe.” All that Jesus has we have. We are co-seated with him in the heavenly places, and we are co-heirs with Him. Because of Christ, everything God has given to Jesus, He has given to us: because of His grace. We were once completely far away from God, strangers. But because of the blood of Christ, we have been brought near.
2. THE GENTILES SHARE IN
THE PROMISES OF GOD’S BLESSINGS
What do these blessings include?
1. SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
Eph 1:3, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” We are God’s adopted children, members of His family; we have been forgiven because of Christ’s shed blood on the cross; sealed with the Holy Spirit who is our helper: The Spirit resides in our hearts and gives us power and strength.
2. GRACE
Eph 1:7, “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” Because God is so good, He wanted a family. He chose and adopted us into His family. He knew everything wrong that you would ever do, but He still chose you. He loves you that much. Because sin had entered the earth by one man’s decision, another man Jesus brought us redemption. Redemption means to buy back. Christ bought us back from our slavery to sin. We have forgiveness of sin and eternal life for all because of Christ’s shed blood on the cross. We have our redemption because God is so rich in His grace. We can do nothing to earn our forgiveness and salvation; Christ’s blood has already paid it. It is a gift. A gift that we didn’t deserve, but God so graciously gave it to us.
3.WISDOM
Eph 1:8, “He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.” God has not left us in the dark. He gives us wisdom and understanding into the good plan that He has for our lives. It says in James 1:5 that if anyone of us lacks wisdom, ask, and it will generously be given to us. The Holy Spirit is our helper, teacher, and our interceder. The Spirit teaches us all things related to God and His ways and keeps us out of trouble. How do we know if the Spirit is speaking to us? It will line up with scripture. God will never lead us down a path of confusion or sin. If you’re on the fence about making an important decision, how’s your peace? If you don’t have peace about something, that’s God speaking to you. Perhaps it isn’t the right timing, or something better is coming your way soon. Learn to listen to God’s voice.
4. ETERNAL LIFE
In the book of Mathew, starting in verse 27,
Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you, What will we get?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.
Whatever we give up or lose to follow Christ, He will return to us a hundred times, and we will inherit eternal life. Some people have had bad childhoods but still decided to follow Christ, and He has more than blessed and provided for them in their later years. I had a good childhood, came from a Christian family, and was well cared for: This doesn’t mean that I didn’t make bad decisions. I did. But God was always waiting for me to come back to Him in repentance. He never left me; He never distanced Himself from me because I sinned; God was right by my side where He always has been because He is a good and gracious God. And because I chose to repent and come back to Him, He has more than provided for me. We don’t lose our inheritance because we sin. He doesn’t change His mind and give the plan that He has for our life to someone else. That plan is ours, and only ours.
Transitional Sentence: As Gentiles, we are heirs with God and share in all of His blessings, including eternal life. God is very gracious, and He isn’t going to withhold from us the good plan that He has for us. Because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can come boldly to the throne before God.
III. Verses 8-13 read:
a. GRACIOUSLY DESERVING
In verse 8, Paul says that he is the least deserving of all God’s people, but God gave him the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the treasures available to them in Christ. God is a good and gracious God, and He will not ever hold his plan back from you from being achieved. He never withheld from Paul, and He won’t withhold from you. His word always comes to pass. It doesn’t matter how you see yourself; what matters is how God sees you. He knows the beginning from the end. He sees how you will be in the future when you accept Him and begin working with Him to change for His good purposes. Don’t compare yourself to other people: This will never get you anywhere but discouraged or full of pride. Look to God and work with the Holy Spirit. Ask God to reveal to you anything that isn’t pleasing to Him about you; He will. But know this: He loves you exactly the way you are now. He will never love you more than He does at this exact moment.
b. BOLDLY COME TO THE CROSS
Verse 11 and 12 states that the Gentiles were brought into God’s kingdom because of the sacrifice of Christ, and we are able to come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. Because of what Christ has done on the cross, we can all come boldly into God’s presence. Our salvation is a gift, and there is nothing we can do to earn it. To come into God’s presence means we can pray to Him with confidence. The bible tells us to pray big prayers: to pray with boldness and with faith that you will receive what you ask for if it is in accordance with God’s will.
Transitional sentence: God sees the beginning from the end. He has a unique plan for each of us, and He will not withhold it from us. We are God’s adopted children, and because of Christ and our faith in Him, we can come boldly to the throne. Paul ends Ephesians 3 with prayer and encouragement.
IV. Verses 14-21:
a. IN PAUL’S PRAYER, HE PRAYS THAT GOD WOULD:
1. GIVE THEM STRENGTH THROUGH HIS SPIRIT
The Spirit gives us the strength to do the things that God has asked us to do. He isn’t just going to ask us to do something for Him and then leave us alone. God is right there with us giving us the strength that we need. He gave David the strength to fight Goliath. He gave strength to Gideon to fight his oppressors. Gideon needed to trust the Lord, and he did. Therefore the enemy was defeated. His strength came from trusting God. Your strength also needs to come from trusting in the power of God’s word.
2. GOD WILL MAKE HIS HOME IN IN OUR HEARTS
Because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, God dwells in our hearts at salvation. His gift is His Spirit, which makes His home within us. You can’t get any closer than that. We need to have faith that His Spirit resides in us. We are His precious children, and there isn’t anything that He wouldn’t do for you. There are many titles for His Spirit: He is our Helper, Teacher, Interceder, and Guide. Just think about it for a minute: You have God’s Spirit living within you! There is nothing that you can’t do with God giving you the strength, protection, and love to guide you through all things. His Spirit will never leave us.
3. ROOTED AND ESTABLISHED IN GOD’S LOVE
I think that we can all say that we know God loves us, but Paul wants us to have an intimate knowledge of His love. This can happen when we spend time with Him: by reading His word, prayer, and worship. I have been spending time reading God’s word every morning with a cup of coffee. Throughout the day, I pray. I don’t usually pray for an extended period, but moments of prayer: either a request or just simply saying, “Hey God, thank you so much for your goodness, provision, and your protection.” I can honestly say that I feel like I have a close relationship with God, but it could always be better.
4. HAVE THE POWER TO UNDERSTAND HIS LOVE
When we are rooted and grounded in God’s love, as mentioned in verse 17, we can begin to understand His love. Everything God is is love. That is who He is. 1 John 4:8 says, “but anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” He displayed love when He sent His only Son to die for all of us. He certainly didn’t need to. But He did. He made the great sacrifice while we were still His enemies. If you can begin to understand the width, length, height, and depth of His love, we can feel confident in doing what He’s called us to do. He’s going to be with us: He’s going to strengthen us: And He’ll be displaying His love, always.
b. PAUL ENDS HIS PRAYER WITH AN ENCOURAGEMENT
His final prayer is that we’d pray big prayers.
Ephesians 3:20 says to pray with boldness. “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” But you need to have faith that He is going to answer your prayer. The way that I look at things, I’ll pray about anything, and quite frankly enjoy asking for big things. I know that if He doesn’t want me to have something, I won’t get it. I know He’s looking after me. It may be that it may not be the right timing or not suitable for me. Or He’ll say yes! I’m raising two teenage daughters. What I’ve learned is that God loves them more than I do. When one of them does something I disagree with, I give it to God. God isn’t going to leave them; He doesn’t want them to go down the wrong path either. He’s going to pull them back in. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly He can deal with a situation than I can, and He does a way better job. So pray about it. Even if they seem a long way off, and it may look as if there is no way in the natural, they can’t be brought back, pray, and give Him praise and thanks.
Conclusion:
We have been rooted and
grounded in God’s love. The mystery of God is that we all are included in the
gift of eternal life, salvation. We all can come boldly to the throne of God
because God sent His only Son to die on the cross for us. Christ willingly gave
of Himself so that we can know the Father as He does. We are united as members
of the same body, and we share in the blessings of God. We can do all things
through Christ, who is our strength. With the Spirit of God residing within us,
there is nothing that we can’t do for God without Him right by our side. Be
encouraged. Pray with boldness and faith. Come to the cross and stay there.
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