Well, writing letters is not really such a common practice anymore in our society. I mean, you might write a Christmas card and maybe a letter with it, and maybe some of you write letters and You know, that's great if you do, but generally, our society does not write letters in the same way as ages in the past have done. You know, we might send text messages and WhatsApp messages, and if you all put that together, it might be a long letter. But letters, as such, have in many ways kind of lost their place as they have been in the past. And if you look throughout history, you know, there might be books that have been, or there are books that have been published, you know, the letters of such and such person, you know, Winston Churchill or someone else, some of these well-known political leaders or religious leaders and people, and some of their letters that they wrote to other people, maybe other influential people, have been later on being even published in books. And some of these letters obviously have had a great influence. You know, if one great political leader writes to another political leader, that might change the course of how certain countries operate and start wars or end wars or everything else in between. So there's a lot of very influential letters that have been written throughout history. But if you would want to say the collection of the most influential letters in all of history, I would say that it has to be the New Testament, the letters in the New Testament. And we usually kind of don't think about it that they are letters, but most of them are. Obviously, the Gospels are not letters in the same way. They were Gospels. They were longer accounts. But pretty much the rest of the New Testament are letters. Epistles is another word for letter. So, you know, there would be Paul's letter to the Philippians and Paul's letter to the Galatians. And then there was also Paul's letter to the Ephesians, which we will be looking at today, starting our new series in Ephesians. But these letters, they were not influential in the same way as, you know, a great political leader writing to another great political leader and the results of that. But these letters, have been influential throughout history and are influential still here today. And the reason is because this is how God chose to give his word to his people and reveal himself through humanity. Not by some great way of, you know, throwing golden tablets from the sky and there read it. No, he used weak humans to write to other weak humans, and Him, God, by His Holy Spirit, superintending over the whole process, and that every word that was written, and how it was written, and everything that it communicates, in the end is the Word of God. And that's why we have these letters in our Bible. Obviously, the Old Testament, you know, is not letters in the same way. It is longer texts and history and prophets and all the rest. But in the New Testament, that is how God has chosen to give his word to us. And in some ways we might think like it's a little strange. They're like, why, you know, why do we, well, you know, what's the purpose of these letters anyway? And, and why did God give them to us? And why do we still today, 2000 years later, place such a heavy emphasis on these letters? And why did we have them in the Bible? Well, before we look at Ephesians, I want to just kind of look at Think about all of the letters as such. What is the reason we read them? What is the reason we have them? And the first reason is that this is the apostles teaching. So Jesus, when he was on the earth, he taught. People heard him teach and he spoke things. And what he taught and what he did was recorded in the gospels. But then there was a lot of other things which Jesus himself said at the time when he was on earth that the disciples were not ready to hear all of that. And he promised that when the Holy Spirit comes, as he did on Pentecost, that he, the Holy Spirit, will reveal all other things to you. So this promise of Christ that he will reveal all these other things through his people, through the apostles, the letters or the epistles of the New Testament so it is because of Christ's promise that he will give more teaching which he did and which was then recorded in these letters and these letters as I say they contain the Apostles teaching so in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 it speaks about the early church And it says this, and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So after these people, you know, in Acts chapter two, it talks about how Peter said, repent and be baptized and believe in Christ. Then these people who believed. Their response after they believed was that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. And of course, when they were there, the apostles were there. So when they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, they would just, you know, sit down and listen to Apostle Peter. teach and that was their way of devoting themselves to that teaching or or they would listen to some of the other apostles and then later Paul that people would hear Paul speak but then we are two thousand years later and Paul gave the apostles for the foundation of the church the beginning of the church so for us to benefit from the apostles teaching it had to be written Which is what the letters then are. God, in his wisdom, had the apostles write. And Paul, of course, wrote most of them, in some ways, 13 letters of the New Testament. Then John wrote, and Peter, and all the rest. But the letters contain the apostles' teaching, which is what we are called to devote ourselves to, because that is what Christ has... gave the apostles the authority to teach and to speak on his behalf and their teaching is inscripturated for us in these letters that have been given to us so it is the apostles teaching which we have in the new testament which we are called to devote ourselves to that's why we read these still every sunday of the word of god in some ways we read and also second Peter so it's not just you know we might say oh the apostles were great men and yeah maybe jesus promised something but is it is it really the word of god well second peter chapter 3 verse 16 says so peter who was you know one of the apostles kind of the lead apostle Or actually, let me read from verse 15. 2 Peter 3, verse 15 says, so this is at the end of 2 Peter, he says, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation. Notice this, just as our beloved brother Paul, also wrote to you." So this is Peter, the great apostle, saying to the people who he is writing to, that just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you. So Peter is recognizing that Paul has written to these same believers. And then notice what he says later about what Paul has written. Wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him. as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. And notice this. There are some things in them, so in Paul's letters, that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. Well, first of all, it's encouraging there. Even the great apostle Peter thought that there are some things, sometimes Paul was like, what exactly does Paul mean here? Some things are harder to understand. And it's a great encouragement that not everything in the Bible is equal level, easy to understand. Some of it you have to dig more, you know, you have to dig a little bit deeper to find the gold. Some of it is a little easier to understand. So even Peter knew that. So that's an important thing. But notice especially here, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do. Scriptures is the word that they would use to describe the Word of God, the Old Testament, the authoritative Word of God. So Peter is saying, these guys twist Paul's words, which is also encouraging to know that even still people today like the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons or some other Christian cults twist the Word of God. to their own destruction but they twist Paul's words just like they do the other scriptures and when he says other scriptures he includes Paul's writings as scripture he puts them side by side like that Paul's writing just like the other scriptures so meaning Paul's writing is part of the scriptures so And it's an encouragement. Even before the New Testament was completed, you know, Peter recognized that what Paul had written is the Word of God, given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so, also, another thing why we, you know, focus even on these letters still today is, and the reading of Scripture today, is in 1 Timothy chapter 4, This is what Paul commands to Timothy. So Timothy is basically a young pastor, church leader, and Paul, the apostle, gives this command in 1 Timothy 4, verse 13. He says, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and to teaching. So this is what the gathering of the church should be, part of the public reading of scripture, and because of that reading, because of that scripture that's being read, then to apply or exhort from that and to teach based on that. And that's what preaching should be, reading the word of God, exhorting with the word of God, and teaching the word of God. That's what biblical preaching is. And that's why we did, you know, for about a year, we went through the letter of Philippians. And now, as I said, we're starting Ephesians. And one more passage I want to read from Colossians, kind of relating to all this, why we focus on the apostolic letters in the New Testament. in Colossians chapter 4 verse 16 says this and when this letter has been read among you have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea So that's Paul writing to the Colossians, you know, and he wrote them the Colossian letter, but notice this thing, you know, so, okay, because that's what they would do. He would send the letter, and then someone would bring it to the church, and someone would publicly read, of course, the whole letter, because, you know, it's not like they put in the copy machine and just gave everyone a copy. They would read the letter out loud in the gathering of the church. And he says, when you have read this letter, when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans. So not just in, even though Colossians was written to the Colossians, Paul says, you know, this should be read in the other church. You know, make a copy of it. You know, they could make a copy by hand and take time. Or, you know, make sure that the other church also gets it. And also that you read the letter that was sent to Laodicea. And it could even be that this other letter is, in fact, Ephesians. We don't know for sure, but it could very well be what he means by the Laodiceans. So, and we, you know, think about the Colossians, they might have had Colossians, and then maybe they had Ephesians also, and maybe they had some other letters, and God gave them that. And they would have been, you know, over the moon, so to say, about the fact that here we have, you know, we have the apostles teaching, the word of God given to us through the apostles, and they would devour every word and everything that was written in that letter, they would, you know, seek to implement in their lives, We have all of it, and that's the great blessing. Sometimes we think, oh yeah, things were so much better then. Well, we have the whole of scripture. We have not just Colossians, Ephesians, but Thessalonians, Romans, Corinthians, all of these letters, and we can learn from all of this that were originally given to specific churches. So it is a great blessing from God that we have all of this truth revealed by him, that even the early church did not. And in some ways, the early church was in infancy because they did not have the whole of the word of God revealed to them. And we have, and we have 2,000 years of church history, things becoming more clear and Christians understanding the word of God more and more. So that's kind of an overview of the New Testament letters and why we have them, why they're important, and that they are the most influential letters in the entire history of the human race. Not just because they've been written to some great politician or political leader, no. but they've been written to believers who put them into practice, and these letters have been copied ever since. And God has faithfully preserved his word for over 2,000 years. And here we are today in Finland, in Tampere, and we have our own even Finnish, multiple Finnish translations of the whole of scripture. And we have it in English and different translations. And we can benefit from it. And not only do we have it, but we have the freedom. It is legal for me to carry this around, which has not always been the case. And it's still not the case in some countries. In some countries, this is illegal and could have you killed. And our little baby boy was born, Zacharias Tindale. His middle name, Tindale, comes from William Tindale. great reformer in England, William Tyndale basically gave his life to translate the Bible into English. So the reason we basically, to a large degree, that we have the whole Bible, especially the New Testament, in English is because of this one man that God used, William Tyndale, who gave his life, literally in the end, for his belief that he wanted people to have the Word of God in English. Because it was illegal. And William Tyndale said, you know, it was only in Latin and no one understood Latin and normal people didn't have access to it, only the Roman Catholic priests. And William Tyndale said, no, this is wrong. The word of God needs to be in the language of the people. And he, Tyndale, then started translating it from Hebrew and Greek. And he fled from England. He was 12 years outside of England. because he knew that if he would go back, he would be killed, and then he could not translate. And the king even sent a request, you know, William Tyndale, because he was a great learned man, he spoke over seven languages, you know, come back, you know, and he would say, I'll come with one condition, that the king gives permission, that the Word of God needs to be translated into the English language. And he said, I don't even need to be the translator. As long as someone faithfully translates it, without some Roman Catholic notes there, just the text translated. And if that happens, then I'll come and I'll promise I will never write any book. I'll just be quiet for the rest of my life. Like I will have achieved my one goal in life. That the people of England will have the Word of God in their language. And the king said, no. And Tyndale's king says, OK, no, I stay. And he stayed in Germany and all that. And he translated the whole New Testament. And then he was, you know, pirate versions were sent to England. And people were reading it and all the rest. And eventually, William Tyndale was, someone tricked him when he was, I think, in Germany. And eventually, he was burned at the stake. because of his beliefs and because he proclaimed that Roman Catholic Church is a false false church that preaches a false gospel and because of his belief that the Word of God should be in the common language of the people. This is kind of a side note from church history but you know we easily just take it for granted. Here we have 20 Bibles, I have multiple languages at home, translations and Believers in history would have you know literally died for having the Word of God and still today there are countries where the Word of God is illegal and even having a little piece of a little you know having a few versions of Colossians a Believer somewhere would you know treasure that was their greatest treasure because having the Word of God So it's a reminder for us to treasure the Word of God more so Out of all these letters that God has given us in the New Testament, you know, all of it is the Word of God fully, every verse, every word in the original writings. But Ephesians in some ways stands out as, especially of Paul's letter, as kind of the chief crown jewel, so to say, of Paul's writings throughout church history and just generally has had probably the most influence on Christians, Ephesians, and it has been called kind of the crown jewel of Paul's teaching. And the reason for that is partly that Ephesians is a little bit different than some of the other letters. Almost all the letters that Paul wrote, there was some problem. The church had some problem and Paul knew about it and therefore he wrote a letter to address that problem. And so they were kind of negative letters, so to say. They were not, you know, he wasn't writing in a negative way, but there was a negative problem that Paul was seeking to address. Efficience is different in that sense that there is no clear, you know, problem. There is no, you know, issue that the efficients have. So when Paul writes to them, he's kind of just writing a kind of a positive presentation of the important things of Christianity that he wants to remind the Ephesians about. And so it's kind of Paul's opportunity, so in all these other letters he had to focus on some specific problem, but in this letter in some ways he has a little bit of time of, so to say, rest from problems that he can now like focus and, okay, let me sit down and write the important things about the christian faith and how we should live in light of those things not just to seek to put out a fire but to build you know show something uh important to the ephesians and so paul is the writer he's the author as verse one says in chapter one reads paul an apostle of christ jesus by the will of god And you might say, well, obviously Paul is the writer because it says Paul an apostle. Well, you might be surprised to know that there's a lot of people, most of them, of course, liberal theologians, but different kind of Christians who say, oh, Paul didn't really write Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, and that it was someone pretending to be Paul. And it's still a good message, you know, the rest. And they would say that the reason they believe Paul did not write it, even though it says Paul, an apostle, is that the language seems quite different from some of the other letters he wrote. and that so that the language style seems a little bit different and also that Paul usually mentions specific people by name in his letter when he writes to a certain church he would and here he doesn't do that and so that also seems different and then also he seems a little bit more distant some ways he doesn't talk about some specific details of the church and therefore he's a little bit distant so some of these reasons people especially you know in the last hundred years or so and as I said mainly by liberal scholarship they deny they say this is not the real epistle of Paul and if you go to Helsinki University you know and and you write your doctoral dissertation in the New Testament department, you can't, as far as I know, you can't refer to Ephesians as the letter of Paul because blah blah blah, they're liberal theologians and all that. But there is no reason to not believe that this is a letter of Paul. First of all, it says it's Paul. The early church never questioned it was from Paul. It has been clear from the beginning. And all these reasons that it seems a little bit different is, you know, just like you as a person, if you might write a letter last year, then you write another letter to a different person. based on the context you're writing to who you're writing and what situation you are you might use a little bit different vocabulary and stuff you know Paul was a very intelligent man he had more more words in his vocabulary than just those that he expressed in one letter and the fact that it seems a little bit maybe distant or he doesn't mention specific names is most likely because of that that the letter of Ephesians was written to Ephesus, but it seems it's more clearly it was meant to be a circulatory letter from the beginning. You know, like Corinthians, for example, was very specific to Corinthians, and other churches would read that later, but it was meant very specifically to the Corinthians. The letter of Ephesus was meant not just, you know, to the Ephesians, but it was right away meant to go to other churches like Colossians and others. So because of that, he probably refrained from mentioning too many specific names in Ephesus so that it would be more applicable toward the other churches also. And another reason that Paul knew the Ephesian church very, very well. And so if he started naming names, he would start, you know, why didn't you mention me? Why didn't you mention me? You know, like it's better just not to mention names at all. Um, but, uh, and I hope you all understand. Yeah, it was written by Paul, but just to kind of as a side note, if you ever talk with a, liberal or someone who goes to some bible school that doesn't really believe, a kind of a non-conservative bible school, then you go, this is not really written by Paul. And you know, there's a lot more that could be said, but no, it certainly was written by Paul. And Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison. So, you know, we spent one year looking at Philippians, and it seems that Paul wrote this letter during that same time, when he was imprisoned in Rome. Probably sometime 60 or 62 AD, that's when he wrote it, and that's why it's called one of the prison letters. So Paul was under house arrest and prison in Rome, and that's when he wrote this letter. And I usually like to, when we begin a new book, or especially the letters in the New Testament, if you were here when we began Philippians, you remember that I read the whole of Philippians in the first sermon. And you might be like, oh man, why you spend all that time? Well, it might take a little time, but I think it is important. And I think especially as we begin to look at the whole, the reason I want to now read Ephesians in its whole is partly because Paul gave that command to Timothy to devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. Public reading of scripture should be very important in our churches. And certainly we don't read the whole letter every time. But it's good at the beginning of a new series to get the whole overview. And also it reminds us of the fact that this is how the church would have received this letter in the first place. This is how, you know, Paul would like say whatever, you know, whatever the person's name was who brought the letter of Ephesians, you know, he would not have been like, okay, we got a letter from Paul. And today we will cover verses 1 and 2. You know, come next time and I'll read the rest. You know, it's good and it's right and that's what we'll do for the rest of our series. You know, I'll go verse by verse. We'll preach it through. But then he would have read the whole letter and the letter needs to be understood in its whole context. Then, when you understand the whole context, then you, of course, you can look at the little things, but if you just pick and choose, which a lot of churches, for example, do, and you know, just the pastor, just decide, whatever, you know, I'll preach on this verse, I'll preach on that verse, you know, then easily the meaning of the sermon and the meaning of the preaching is based on, you know, it does not take into account the whole context. And especially in Ephesians, for example, It's a very important thing because Ephesians, the whole book could be divided into chapters one to three, could be called the theological foundation. The theological foundation, so the theology, the things we learn about God and ourselves, the teaching, so to say. The theological foundation. And then chapters four to six is then practical application based on those chapters. And you might say, why is that such an important thing to emphasize? Well, just recently, a very good friend of mine, a very dear friend, who has been a Christian for many years, one of the most faithful Christian men I know, he told me, he was like, you know, Miska, you know, I've read Ephesians, of course, of course, he's read the whole Bible, you know, probably multiple times, but he was like, For all this time in my Christian life, in some ways, in practice, I've been thinking about Ephesians 4 to 6, and I forgot that there's Ephesians 1 to 3. And what he meant with that is in Ephesians 4 to 6, it speaks about everything, how we should live, what we should do, how we should treat others, and all the practical things, how it should affect our lives. And this brother of mine, he said, you know, he said, you know, those are good things and right things to focus on. But he says, I've been focusing too much just on how I should live, what I should do and all this. And I forgot, I forgot that those things are based on something that comes before. that Paul does not begin his letter in chapter four and just says, therefore you should act this and this and this and this and this way. He says that, but before he gets to that point, before he gets to chapter four, he spends three chapters speaking about theological truths about the greatness of God and Christ and what we are in Christ. And if you skip the first three chapters and kind of just focus on what I need to do, do, do, do, or what I need to be, be, be, be, you can easily drift into some kind of legalism, hypocritical self-performance. And this dear brother of mine who was explaining to me this, he says, you know, it's like, Miska it's almost like I've kind of like really understood what grace is and he really said that I've understood what grace is the grace of God and that and that and partly because he'd been hearing a lot of wrong kind of teaching on this matter and that's why he had had this kind of wrong emphasis in his Christian life And so that's why it is very important for us. And likewise also, we can't just stay in chapters 1 to 3 and forget about the application. We need to have the theological foundations about the truths about God. And that's the foundation, that's the foundation of the house. That's what you build on, that's what your life should be built upon. But then you build a house, and the house is then, okay, how should we live because of these truths? You can't have one or the other. There's no point in just having a foundation without a house, and there's no point in having a house without a foundation. It will just crumble and break. So, so even for that reason, I want this, you know, and obviously, you know, you can read Ephesians at home and read it too, and I hope you do. But even just hearing it read out loud in one go together and, and try and listen for that, try and see, okay, you know, Miska said that there's these two kind of, two, categories or two you know there's a change that happens halfway through the letter try and see if you can see that there and how Paul builds his case that there's a reason why he says all those things in chapters one to three and there's a reason why he then begins in chapter four the way he does and that's what we need to understand all of it And then we will look at, you know, in weeks and months to come, we will go verse by verse because there's so much great truth. And even the Ephesians, even though they had it read once, you know, they would then, I'm sure, read it many times, and they would memorize parts of it, and they would think, what does he mean by that? But they would hear it read once, at least, through together as the congregation. I know it's going to be a little long, but bear with me. And if you have a Bible with you, you know, you can follow along and listen there or just hear or just imagine what it would be to be in the first century church. They didn't have a copy of it. You know, just listen to the letter of Paul to the Ephesians being read. So beginning in verse one, and let me pray at this point before we leave. Our Father, we thank you for this time together. We thank you that you've given us your word, the word of God, and you've given it through very humble means by weak people writing to other weak people. And yet, all of this was your wonderful plan in giving your word to your people. We thank you for the apostle Paul that you used for your purposes. We thank you for the Ephesians, the church, and everything we can learn from this. Help us, Lord, to learn and apply and to live in light of this great truth that we see even in this letter of Ephesians and that you might be glorified in our lives. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. So Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you. What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe? According to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all rule, and authority, and power, and the mint, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet, and gave him as the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who dwells, who fills all in all. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus four good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore remember that at one time you gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you, who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace. who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and He preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly, when you my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given. to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. That you may be filled with the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captains and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy, to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ. Assume that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you. Along with all malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for Because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is life. Therefore it says, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to him to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body therefore a man shall leave his father father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh this mystery is profound And I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise. that it might go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service as people-pleasers, but as bond-servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bond-servant or is free, Masters, do the same to them and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven and that there is no partiality with him. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm, Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up your shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth. boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all. who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. And that's how the letter of Ephesians ends. And that was a little long, but that's what the letter is. And that's how the letter obviously would have been read in Greek, but that's how they would have read it, and that's how Paul wrote it. And just like any letter, if I write you a letter, you write me a letter, it's important to read the whole. Then you can start focusing on, but if you write to me a letter and you say something in the beginning and I just keep on thinking, what? And then I misunderstand what you're saying in the beginning because I haven't read the end of the letter. You need to understand it in its context. And that's why I wanted to even read it together for us to hear it as it was written. And you probably, I hope you noticed there in verse 4 how, you know, at the end of chapter 4 and end of chapter 3, Paul even kind of almost, you almost think the letter ends in end of chapter 3, he says, To him be glory in the church, in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. And you almost think, oh, did he end? And then he begins chapter four. I, therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. And that's where he begins all his direction, how you should be. You should be humble. all this, and then later he talks to the wives, he talks to the husbands, he talks to the children, he talks to the fathers, he talks to the workers, the slaves, the masters, everyone. But before he gets to that, and before he says, I therefore, he has given three chapters of truth about God, and God's election, and believers, and their place in Christ, and all that. And that's why it's important, and as I mentioned, my dear friend, who you know, this was his own words, he's like, I've been reading, I've almost ignored chapters one and three, and I've just been focusing on what I should do, do, do, do. And it twists, you have a twisted idea of the Christian life if you simply focus on those commandments, how we should live. Because that's very important as part of it, but that's built upon something. You need to first have the understanding of God's promises and who you are in Christ, and His grace shown toward you, and then, yes, live according to that. But that's why we need all of it. And that's the letter of Ephesians, which we'll be looking at for the next, we'll see how long it takes, maybe a year or so, kind of verse by verse going through. because as you probably noticed even they're reading there's like what does he mean by that oh there's a big word you know there's a lot of things there's a lot of things that uh uh is important to unpack and see kind of the greatness of god revealed in in the word of god specifically in this lecture of the ephesians so let's uh pray now and we'll have one more song our father We praise You that You are God, that You rule over all. Help us, Lord, to be men and women who take seriously You, who take seriously Your Word. And help us to appreciate Your Word that You've given to us, that we have the Word of God given to us in the Bible, in the Old and New Testament. And we thank You that we have it available in our own language, and even multiple translations that have been faithfully translated. Thank you that we have the freedom to read the Word of God and we don't have to be afraid that we will be burned on a stake because of possessing parts of your Word in our own language. We thank you Lord, help us to appreciate it more and to spend time on our own thinking about your Word and living in light of it. We thank you for this time together now, and we ask that you bless the rest of our day, this Lord's Day, as we spend time together here at the church and then as we go to our homes. Help us to live in light of these truths that we've heard even from Ephesians. how we should live as christian men and women trusting in our lord jesus who has ransomed us from darkness and made us alive in him and that by grace we have been saved it is not of ourselves but is a gift from you we thank you now for this time and may you be honored in our lives we pray this in jesus name amen amen so we have one more