Rose Kennedy, like many very wealthy people perhaps, is a little bit eccentric. Her former secretary says that Rose insists on using the back of envelopes for notes rather than buy a notepad. And then when she wants to put together pieces of paper, she uses straight pens so she doesn't have to buy paperclips. She's afraid she's going to run out of money. She does not live according to her wealth, does she? And in doing that, she is like many Christians who do not live according
to their spiritual wealth. The book of Ephesians is written to such people. I invite you to turn there with me. We're going to begin studying today through the book of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians is the best -worn book in my Bible. I dropped in a street one day and a car ran over it right through the middle of Ephesians. A tire trend, looks like Goodyear perhaps, goes through several chapters, and there are other reminders of not leaving my Bible on the top of my car
again. But it's not for that reason that we're studying through the book, because it happens to be the best -worn book in my Bible. It is because it is a book that talks about the wealth of believers. I want to study the book so that all of us who are God's children might know the riches that are ours in Jesus Christ and then might live accordingly. I suppose if a survey were taken, the book of Ephesians would be one of the top favorites in the New Testament, perhaps
along with Philippians and Romans. It is an epistle of the church. Not the Baptist Church or the Lutheran Church or the Methodist Church, but the Church, capital C. It is an epistle that tells us about the origin of the Church, its nature, and its glorious destiny. Even the first two verses of the epistle are significant, for they set the stage for what is to come later. When I was in high school, I enjoyed being in
some dramatic productions. One thing I learned as an amateur, very amateur actor, was the importance of the props on a stage. Because the props give you the context in which to work, so that you yourself can be an effective communicator, and so that the people who are watching you are able to put your comments into some kind of a meaningful setting. Well, it seems to me that in verses 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul sets the stage for
us. And in setting the stage for the book of Ephesians, he answers several vital questions. The first one is, who wrote this book? Who is the author? Now, that is disputed by some, usually by those who are of a more liberal persuasion. Yet there is no reason to seriously doubt the author. which has been widely and traditionally accepted. That is, the author who states he wrote the book, the Apostle Paul. The Apostle calls himself, in verse 1, by that phrase, an apostle
of Jesus Christ. You see, he was not just anybody. He was not just a kid from down the block. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle is one who was sent out from a person or an organization with a mission to accomplish. It is a person who was commissioned to do something in particular. It is a word that is used, the capital A, of the Lord Jesus himself, in Hebrews 3 .1, where we are exhorted to consider the apostle. and high priest of our confession, Jesus Christ.
For he is an apostle in the sense that he was sent from the Father. As we read this morning, as the Father has sent me, even so I have sent you. So he was an apostle. He was sent from the Father with a mission to fulfill in the world. That is the redemption of man. It is a word also used in the New Testament more broadly and in a general sense of those who were sent out from churches on various missions. They were commissioned
to do this or to do that. They were apostles in that broad and general sense, and there were many of those. But it is used most notably in its narrow sense, its specific and technical meaning, that it was used only of 14 people. It was used of the 12. One of those was a betrayer and committed apostasy. It was no longer counted among them. There was one added, which makes 13 people. And then it was used of the Apostle Paul himself, and he is the 14th. Only 14 people.
can be called apostles in this technical and rather narrow sense of its usage, the official sense in which it was used. There were certain qualifications for apostles laid down in Acts chapter 1 when Messiah was chosen by the will of God, we believe, to replace the departing Judas. In the first place, there was a qualification of gender. They would choose a man. Women were not apostles. And then they were to choose one who associated with the Lord Jesus from the time
of his baptism until his ascension. And so there was a qualification of association. Not just any disciple was qualified. It had to be someone who was with Jesus and the twelve he originally chose for the most of that period. the three -year period from his baptism until he ascended back to heaven. And then there was a third qualification, a qualification of circumstance. The one chosen had to have seen face -to -face the resurrected Christ. As I said, Matthias was chosen in answer
to those qualifications to replace Judas. The Expositors Bible Commentary has a helpful note regarding apostles. It reminds us, an apostle then was not an ecclesiastical functionary, not just any recipient of the apostolic faith, nor even a bearer of the apostolic message. He was a guarantor of the gospel tradition because he had been a companion of the earthly Jesus. and a witness to the reality of his resurrection
because the risen Lord had encountered him. And so an apostle was one who guaranteed the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul received his commission, as he himself said it, as one born out of due season. 1 Corinthians 15, verses 8 through 10. He looked upon himself as it were prematurely born. He did not have the advantage of the other men who were with Jesus for a period of time and were nurtured before they became apostles. He was converted and appointed an apostle
all at one time. And so he says, I'm like one who was born out of due season. In Acts chapter 9, we have the record of his journey toward Damascus when the risen Christ confronted him and gave him his commission, more fully announced a little bit later in the city of Damascus through Ananias. Paul, an apostle, he had to argue for that office. There were some who tried to steal it from him by saying that he was not a genuine apostle.
In fact, that was prominent in the city of Corinth, and one of the reasons that he wrote the second book through the Corinthians. The office of apostle connotes both authority and accountability. An apostle of Jesus Christ, he says, or actually, more technically, an apostle of Christ Jesus. Now, I point that out because there are some people who are a little confused about the name. Jesus Christ is not his first and last name.
If you had a telephone book from Nazareth in that day, you wouldn't look up Christ and try to find Jesus then. Christ is not his last name. Christ is a title for him, for the office that he holds as the anointed one of God, a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. And so more technically, the Greek text reflects what the... The New American Standard Version says an apostle of Christ, Jesus. Christ, the office bearer, named Jesus. He says he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God. This was not Paul's doing, nor was it any other's. He did not seek this office. He did not usurp it from another. There was no one who nominated Paul so that they all voted and said Paul should be an apostle. He wouldn't have accepted the nomination anyway. Rather, he was collectively, sovereignly chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Paul reflects this when writing to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1 .12. He says
that he put me into service. I'd like you to turn back a few pages to Galatians chapter 1 and notice how Paul emphasizes this. in the epistles to the Galatian churches. Right in verse 1, he says, Paul, an apostle, not sent from men. In other words, it was not men who sent him on his mission, nor through the agency of men. It wasn't even a man who announced to Paul that he was going to be an apostle. But rather, he says, through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised
him from the dead. In other words, he does claim that he was appointed an apostle directly by Jesus Christ with no mediation on the part of anyone else. He is fully an apostle, one sent by Jesus Christ on a mission. In verse 15 he says that when he who had set me apart even from my mother's womb called me. Notice that the Apostle Paul says that even from the time of his conception, God had set him apart as an apostle, even in those years when he was an enemy of Jesus Christ.
when he blasphemed, when he sent saints to prison, when he injured others. Even then, though he was not yet converted, God in his sovereign purpose had already called Paul to be an apostle. And when the day came for the announcement, Jesus met him on the road to Damascus and said, Paul, here is your assignment. Remember, Paul had said, Lord, what will you have me to do? In a moment, he was born not only of the Spirit of God and of the family of God, but he was given his assignment
as an apostle. This is an example of God's sovereign will, which acts apart from human desire and effort, and which will be exposed even further in this book of the Ephesians. The apostle, as he writes this, was imprisoned in Rome. one sent on a mission, but who at the time of this writing in about 62 A .D. was under house arrest in Rome, and he calls himself in this book a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Are there any apostles today? Are there those who have the same authority as
did Paul? Well, the answer to that is emphatically no. There are not apostles today. Now, we may use the term in its broad sense, as did the early church, referring to missionaries, for example, that are sent out on a mission to establish the local church, to preach the gospel in foreign lands. They are apostles of a sort. But in this official and technical capacity, no, there are no apostles today. The apostles passed from the
scene by the end of the first century. They laid the foundation, and when they had done their work, they were gone. There were certain signs that accompanied the apostles. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul says, the signs of a true apostle are done among you. Signs, wonders, and miracles. He claimed that he was proved. to be an apostle by the signs of his ministry. And therefore they should receive him as an apostle.
It's interesting that by the time the book of Hebrews is written, not too many years after this, that the writer suggests that those who had received those signs from the Lord had already passed. The signs were waning. Now why would that be? Why would the signs and wonders and miraculous gifts be on the decline? For two reasons. First, because the foundation was laid and the apostles were being phased out and those signed
gifts were especially for them. And secondly, the signed gifts were being phased out because they were a part of the early first century church. Now, it doesn't mean that God doesn't do miracles today. He does. But they are not signs of an apostle. There is not a man who does them, and by doing them proves that he is an apostle. There are no apostles today. You say, how does one prove that he is a preacher today? By what he
teaches. In 2 John 10, we are instructed... to receive a person according to his doctrine, according to his teaching. It is the doctrine, the teaching that he communicates which authenticates him as being a genuine representative of Jesus Christ. So I again say, no, today there are no apostles. And the signs of an apostle are no longer with us. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. This brings us face to face with the
doctrine of inspiration. You'll recall that in 2 Timothy 3 .16 it says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That is, it is God breathed. The idea is that the Lord superintended those who wrote. So the heart they wrote were the very words of God. William Hendrickson. the commentator I especially appreciate, has a helpful note regarding this. He says what he writes is in very fact the product of his own meditation and reflection. It is both a spontaneous utterance of his heart
and a careful composition of his mind. The gold that pours forth from his heart has been molded into definite, and one may say artistic shape by his mind. But this heart and this mind are so thoroughly Spirit -controlled that the ideas expressed and the very words by means which they are conveyed are also, and in a sense were first of all, the ideas and the words of the Holy Spirit. Hence the word of Paul, is the Word of God. That
is the miracle of inspiration. The Apostle Paul claims to write the very words of God, and he does, as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. But to whom did he write? That's the second major question that he answers. Now there are those who differ on this as well. And so I think theologians only argue, well, you may be right. You may be right. But you see, there are some ancient manuscripts which do not contain the words at Ephesus in the first verse. They
simply say Paul an apostle. I better get to Ephesians here before we start the series on Galatians. Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus. Yet there are other manuscripts that contain the word at Ephesus. And so scholars have tried to understand why some manuscripts don't have the word, some do. The best explanation seems to be that this letter was intended by Paul to be a circular letter. It was an encyclical written
to several congregations. In other words, he would write it to the Ephesians. But the instructions were to pass the book around to the churches in that area, to Colossae, for example, to Laodicea, to Hierapolis, and to the other cities where there were churches founded where Paul had never been. And so some of the copies say at Ephesus, and some have no name in them because they were passed on to other congregations to be read there.
In Colossians chapter 4, verse 16, we have something of an example of this, if you want to look at it. It says, and when this letter, this is a Colossian letter now, when this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans. You see, Paul tells them to pass the letter on, the Laodicea. And then he says, and you, for your part, read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. Now, there is no epistle
of Paul to the Laodiceans. So either we don't have that book today, it was not one of the inspired writings of Paul, or it was, and I think this is accurate, it was the book that we call the letter to the Ephesians. Paul was telling the people in Colossae to expect this letter eventually to come from Laodicea to them to read it. Please see, it was a circular letter. Now, it was not written, therefore, we think, to a particular congregation, as were most of Paul's other letters.
However, we are told to whom it was written. He says, to the saints. Who are saints, anyway? This is a word used nine times in Ephesians. We better understand who they are. Well, there are those, of course, who believe that the saints are a particular group of ancient people. This is usually the understanding of those who come
from the Roman Catholic tradition. According to their teaching, there are certain people who are canonized, who are declared by a council to be saints, to be elevated to a higher position than other believers. What has happened is that the council has examined their lives, and they have been found above reproach. And in addition to that, there are at least two miracles, proven miracles, so -called, that could be accounted for by this particular ancient person who has
been long dead. And as a result of that, they are said to be canonized to become saints. Is that what a saint is, according to the Bible? Well, the answer is no. The word saint is used differently in the Bible. Indeed, the word saint simply means those set apart. A saint is one who is set apart by God for his use. He is separated out from the rest. It does not refer to a select group. of Christians, but rather it refers to all Christians. All genuine believers are called
saints in the Bible. Vernon McGee, in his own unique way, presents this. How many of you ever listen to Vernon McGee? I'm glad that you do. He is a Bible teacher worth listening to, and I've lost his quote here. Ah, here it is. It's in my file in the back of my Bible. This is what Vernon McGee has to say. He says, there are only two kinds of people today, the saints and the ain'ts. If you're a saint, then you're not an ain't. If you ain't an ain't, then you're a saint.
Well, in his colloquial way of saying it, that's right. You see, either one is a saint or one is not. This is a Godward description of a Christian. As God sees you, you are a saint, one set apart by him for his holy use. There is a corresponding phrase, though, that says to those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Now, is Paul referring to just a few saints who are faithful? No. This latter phrase really is a fuller description of the
word saint. He is saying to the saints, that is, those who are full of faith in Christ Jesus, the believers in Christ Jesus. Not a class of Christians in mind here, but all of the saints, the believers. And notice that he describes Christians in this manward aspect as those who are believers in Christ Jesus. Now that phrase is used 27 times in the book of Ephesians. It is the most significant
phrase in the whole book. In Christ or in Christ Jesus or in him can be found at least 14 or 15 times right here in the first chapter alone. I believe that the theme of the book of Ephesians might be this. What it means to be in Christ. I think that's what the book is all about. What it means to be in Christ. That phrase, in Christ Jesus, expresses location or position. Or it might be said it expresses identity. It means that one is no longer in sin and in Adam as he
was born, but now through a change. He is identified with his position in Christ. It is a significant phrase. That work, changing us from in Adam to in Christ, comes about by what is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, it says, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. It's interesting that the phrase baptism of the Holy Spirit is never used in the sense of a command. We are never commanded to be baptized with the Holy Spirit,
not once in the New Testament. Nor should we expect that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that happens after one is saved. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, says Paul. All of us. Not a few of us. All of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ at that same moment we were saved were placed into Christ Jesus. That is the work of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, placing us into, identifying
us with Jesus Christ. It seems to me that this praise in Christ is developed through the book in two directions. In fact, in your worship folder on the back of it, I believe, you have a suggested outline for the book, and you see the three directions that I have in mind. What does it mean to be in Christ? Well, he tells us. First, in chapters 1 through 3, he talks about our calling in Christ. He tells us about our riches in Christ Jesus. And then chapters 4 through 6, our conduct in
Christ. how we are to live in light of who we are. In chapter 1, verse 18, he talks about the hope of his calling. And beginning next week, we'll begin to see what the hope of his calling is in your life and in mine. And then in chapter 4, verse 1, he says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. And so he's going to talk about our calling and then our conduct in the light of it, as those
who are in Christ. Now there's a third question that he answers, and that is, how does he write? Well, he writes in the context of two words, grace and peace. Grace is a word that is related to the common Greek greeting of that day. If you were to pass someone on the street, they wouldn't say hi. Hello? That doesn't really mean a whole lot anyway, does it? What even means less is, how are you? Today we greet each other with those words. But in those days, they would
say, grace to you. If you were Hebrew, you might say, shalom, peace to you. And so Paul takes those two words in greeting them, and he says, this is the context of my writing. Grace, peace. And he gives fuller meaning to them. Not just the common greeting of that day, but he says grace is God's favor demonstrated toward undeserving sinners. Grace is spontaneous, unmerited kindness from God bestowed upon the guilty sinner. Grace is the means by which alone God saves us. For
by grace are you saved, through faith. You see, it is faith that secures it to us, but it is grace that provides it. Salvation is by grace and by grace alone. The adding of any works to grace nullifies the whole concept. Grace to be great must be given freely. There is a concept of grace, but it is unbiblical. The concept goes something like this, that God gives grace to
you when you do certain things. You do certain rituals or keep certain sacraments, and as you do that, God gives you a little bit of grace, and you can sort of store that away in your sack. And the hope is, the hope is that someday when you get to heaven, you will have accumulated enough grace for the things you've done in your life. So that when you are standing before God, you can put grace on one side of the scale and
your life on the other. And the grace is going to outweigh the works of your life and you're going to get into heaven. You hope. But that whole concept ruins grace. You see, God doesn't give us little pieces of grace. And he certainly doesn't give grace in response to our work. That nullifies it. God saves by grace and he gives it freely and he gives all that we shall ever need to us. It speaks here about the riches of
his grace. And then peace. Not merely the absence of guilt or the absence of turmoil in one's life, but peace in the biblical sense is fullness. The Hebrew word shalom means prosperity. It connotes the smile of God upon a person. It means spiritual wholeness. That's what peace is. And we can never know peace apart from grace. And notice that grace precedes the peace. For grace has not done a work, there can be no peace in a life, my friend. It is grace first and then peace that follows.
Grace is the fountain. Peace is the stream that flows from it. It seems that we are working ourselves back into a day like the later 60s or early 70s with a lot of demonstrations around for this cause or that. In these demonstrations, there are commonly banners. A few words that you almost always find in a demonstration are love and peace, right? Love and peace. When was the last time
you saw a banner that said grace? Now, love and peace, as it's used in most of those markers, has nothing to do with the Bible's concept of love and peace. But my point is that people don't like to talk about grace. That's not a common expression, because you see, grace means man is helpless. And yet where grace has not done a work, there can be neither love nor peace.
Both of these are rooted in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the provision of grace and peace has been made on our behalf. God becomes our Father through regeneration. He imparts to us new life and his family likeness so that we can honestly look into the face of God and say, Our Father. We can say as Paul did in Galatians, Abba, Daddy. We have that intimate, personal, familial relationship with God because of regeneration. Those who are God's children
know grace. and peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to consider with me the difference that an encounter with the Son of God makes. It changes a man like Saul of Tarsus, ruthless, sincere, and zealous, but a murderer to become Paul the Apostle. By the will of God. Consider the calling of God and what a difference it makes in your own life. Called from being a sinner and under condemnation to being a saint of God with eternal life. Called from your destiny of
hell to a destiny of heaven. Think of the difference that the calling of God has made. He has rescued you from your poverty and calls you to be a prince in his family. Oh, the grace of God. We have set the stage. And I trust it in the weeks to come as we begin to look at the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. And we'll begin to live in light of those wishes. Are you today a recipient of grace? Do you know the meaning of peace in your life? Have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ
so that you are a saint? You are a believer, one who is in Christ Jesus, identified with him? If not, will you make that decision today, soon? Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you will show each one of us what it means to be a saint and a believer who is in Christ Jesus. Help us to understand the calling in our lives and then what the conduct of our lives should be in light of it. Deliver us from taking for
granted words like grace and peace. Father, I pray if some friend be here today who is not a child of God, you would work in the heart of that one and draw him to yourself. May there be faith that would be issued from the heart, receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, believing on him. and the salvation of the soul. These things we pray in Jesus' name.