Dead or Alive

Eph. 2:1-10

Here is today’s passage:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Eph 2:1–10

Black or white.  Yes or no.  True or false.  Saved or objects of wrath.  Grace or works.  Dead or alive.  Imagine going to your doctor and you ask him one simple question, “Do I have cancer?”  His response: “Well, sort of.”  What if you go to your banker and ask, “Do I have any money in my account?”  Her response: “Well, sort of.”  Before you take off in a jet you ask the pilot a simple question, “Do you have any experience flying an aircraft?”  “Well, sort of,” is their response.  There are some things in this world that are black or white, true or false.  The same is true for spiritual life.  We’re either dead or alive.  We have to understand our spiritual state based on what God’s word says about us, not how we feel.  

You can have the COVID virus and not have any symptoms.  You feel healthy.  The objectivity of science can show us whether or not we have the virus.  We also need the objectivity of God’s word to tell us what is really going on with our relationship with God.  The reality however is that we are experiencing the symptoms of a sinful heart.  Some people don’t know what symptoms to look for.  Others are in denial.  

Imagine that you have a high fever.  You’ve been coughing seemingly non-stop, your head hurts and you’ve lost your sense of taste.  You go to the doctor and she gives you a COVID test.  Your results come back as positive.  There’s a virus inside of you that has been multiplying.  It’s weakening your body.  The symptoms are a result of a disease.  Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matt. 6:19)  The disease is sin, which is our rejection and hate towards God.  As bad as the list Jesus gave, they’re still just the symptoms.  We are accountable to God for our sinful heart as well as the sinful thoughts, words, and actions that come as the result of a sinful heart.

When you read the story of Adam and Eve you see what happens as a result of rebellion towards God.  One thing that happens is blame.  Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.  Hiding is another symptom.  They hid from each other and they hid from God.

There are different kinds of death you can find in the Bible.  There is physical death.  In Hebrews 9:27 it says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…”  There is eternal death as well.  Paul talked about the “everlasting destruction” people will face: 

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. – 2 Thess. 1:8-10a  

The apostle John talked about this too: 

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. – Rev. 20:14  

Eternal torment is known as death.  In Ephesians 2, Paul was talking to people who were alive physically but had been dead in the past.  These people were without spiritual life.  They didn’t have eternal life.  They were disconnected from God.  They were walking dead people.

When we see this world, all types of people know that there should be something better.  This is true even for people who don’t believe in absolute truth.  Some people don’t believe there is true or false, right or wrong, dead or alive.  I try to help them see that they really don’t believe that.  We all believe that certain things “should” be this way or that way.  For example, instead of being violent, we should be loving.  Instead of lying, we should tell the truth.  Miriam doesn’t know much about car mechanics.  When something is wrong she doesn’t say, “I believe that the valve spring on cylinder number 8 was tightened to 150 degrees instead of 365 degrees.”  Instead, she shows me how the van lurches when she presses the gas.  Sometimes she will make entertaining sounds, trying to mimic what she is hearing from under the hood.  She doesn’t have to know the inner workings of the engine.  She just knows that something isn’t right.  The car is not doing what it’s supposed to.  There are even atheists who believe that there should be more love instead of hate.  As they would say where I come from, “Something just ain’t right here.”  

Where does this sense of “should” come from?  Take for instance what happened in Israel recently.  Why can anyone say that Hamas “should” have loved the Israelites rather than raped them?  Why can anyone say that showing kindness is better than killing an entire family in their home, including babies?  My point is there is right and wrong.  It’s possible that you are dead in your transgressions and sins.  And it is possible that you are dead even though you may not feel like you are.

For many years I didn’t think that I was that bad of a person.  At least I wasn’t as bad as this person over here.  I didn’t think I was dead.  Matter of fact, I didn’t even know there was a state of spiritual death.  I’ll share one thing I did when I was a kid.  

I was probably about 10 years old.  I hung out with one of the neighborhood kids a lot.  He was not a good influence.  We ended up doing stupid things.  One night we decided we were going to throw rocks onto the neighbor’s house.  The kid that lived in that house was picked on by a number of kids our age.  They were poor.  We wanted to practice our ninja skill of stealthiness.  We threw rocks and they would come outside to see who was doing it.  They couldn’t find where we were.  I remember hiding behind our green metal shed.  

I had a good throwing arm.  I lobbed a rock way in the air to maximize the noise I could make when it landed on the roof.  But instead of hearing a thud, I heard the sound of glass breaking.  I had broken the sliding glass door.  It made a huge explosion sound.  The mom came out of the house yelling.  We stood there frozen, not knowing what to do.  We talked for a couple minutes about our plan to escape.  We turned around and there she was…the mom.  I’ll never forget the feeling of fear and shame wash over the inside of me.  She was a short lady but she seemed a couple of feet taller that day for some reason.  We didn’t hear her coming at all.  It turned out that she had some mom ninja skills.  Apparently, our skills weren’t complete.  What did I do?  

I ran.  I ran like I’ve never ran before.  I ran like demons were chasing me all the way to the house.  I think I jumped over all four steps that led to our back door.  In the 3.2 seconds it took me to run 200 ft, I had come up with a plan.  I busted through the doorway while out of breath and I saw something I couldn’t believe.  Someone came to visit my mom and dad.  This “someone” had never come to our house before.  Before that day I felt like God didn’t want to be involved in my life.  But that day changed my mind.  You see God had sent someone at the most peculiar time.  God had sent the prophet Nathan to King David.  He sent the prophet Samuel to King Saul.  And there on our couch, I saw who God sent to me…our pastor.  

There are 365 days of the year.  At this point, I had probably lived about 3650 days.  There are 1,440 minutes in a day.  Out of all those days and all the minutes in that day, he “just so happened” to show up at our house during the moments in which I broke the sliding glass door.  There in front of my parents and our pastor, I nervously explained what had happened.  I had been so frightened by the momma ninja that I was speaking lightning fast.  There, in front of all three of them, I made a confession.  I did what I thought was the right thing.  I confessed that it was my friend’s idea to throw the rocks.  And it was he who threw the rock into the sliding glass door.  

I had no regard for our neighbor’s well-being or their property.  I caused suffering for someone else.  I chose to lie over the truth.  I had dishonored my parents.  Just like Adam and Eve, I hid.  I hid my sin.  I hid the truth from all three of them.  I don’t remember how things unfolded after that.  I do know that because me and my friend were telling opposite stories it must have been difficult for the truth to be found out.  I don’t remember receiving a severe punishment.  I think I was able to get away relatively unscathed.  It’s unfortunate I did.  I have done many other things in life that have shown the disease of sin that I’ve had in my heart.  

Paul said that “we were by nature objects of wrath…”  Before we are “in Christ” we’re not God’s children.  We’re objects of wrath.  We’re all created by God.  We’re created in his image.  He loves us.  But we are objects of wrath.  

None of us are ever in a neutral spiritual state.  We are always following someone.  If we’re not following Jesus, then we are following Satan.  He’s the one often thought of as the “ruler of the kingdom of the air…”  Another translation says “the prince of the power of the air…”  Most people would say, “Oh, I’m not following Satan.”  I thought the same thing.  How can we know if we are following Satan?  We need to look at how God defines it.  Have you ever gratified the cravings of your sinful nature and followed its desires and thoughts?  Have you ever been disobedient to God?  If so, then you qualify as a follower of Satan.  You don’t have to be involved in the occult.  You don’t have to be involved in pentagrams and strange animal, or even human, sacrifice.  People have been saying that the attacks from Hamas on the Israelites were demonic.  I think demons were involved in what happened.  But let’s not forget that gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and being disobedient to God is Satanic.  I’m not saying that we’re possessed by Satan.  Satan does nothing but produce pollution and we’re taking all that air into our lungs.  It’s not just murder that has demonic influences.  James says, 

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. – James 3:14-15  

This passage that we’re looking at in Ephesians takes a dramatic turn in verse 4…”But God…”  That’s how the NASB translates it.  Paul, in contrast to our sin, begins talking about the nature of God and what he’s done for us.  God has “great love for us” and “is rich in mercy.”  He makes us alive and he saves us.  He raises us up and seats us with him in the heavenly places.  He has shown us the “incomparable riches in his grace, expressed in his kindness…”  He makes us his workmanship to do good works.

Who God is and what he has done is set in contrast to who we are and what we have done.  You know, I think I’ve done a pretty good job cleaning my teeth.  They seem white and not too yellow.  But it’s interesting what happens when I shave.  I spread a really white substance on my face.  All of a sudden my teeth don’t look so white.  They actually look a disgusting yellow.  The bright white reveals the true imperfection of my teeth.  And my teeth reveal the incredible pure whiteness of the shaving cream.  When we realize how sinful we were before Christ it reveals how merciful God has been to us in Christ.  When we see how gracious God is we realize how much of his kindness we don’t deserve.  When our sins are forgiven, God’s love, mercy, grace and kindness are magnified.  

God always tells the truth.  If we believe what God says about our sinfulness, then why not believe him about what he says about himself as well as what he has done for us.  In Christ we’ve been prepared to good works.  God saves us by grace.  Our salvation is a gift.  And at the same time he has expectations for us.  He has good works for us to do.  His grace empowers us to do those works.  He also expects us not to live for ourselves anymore.  Listen to what Paul said, “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15).  When lost people hear that we’re saved by grace they think we’re saying, “We want God to save us from hell to come.  After we’re saved we can do whatever we want.”  But we’re saying exactly the opposite thing.  It’s God’s grace that empowers us to do good works, not our guilt.  If I told Miriam that I love her and that I would never leave her, then what would that motivate her to do?  It would motivate her to be faithful to me, not to leave me.  It wouldn’t do the opposite.

What greater way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to celebrate what God has saved us from, what he has prepared us for, and all the things he has given to us.  I’d like to close with the lyrics of a song I like.  It’s by Lauren Daigle and it’s called “He’s Still Rolling Stones”.  

Out of the shadows
Bound for the gallows
A dead man walking
Till love came calling
Rise up (rise up)
Rise up (rise up)

Six feet under
I thought it was over
An answer to prayer
The voice of a Savior
Rise up (rise up)
Rise up (rise up)

All at once I came alive
This beating heart, these open eyes
The grave let go
The darkness should have known

You're still rolling stones…

Prayer for Power

Eph. 1:15-23

I want to start by reading the Introduction to Ephesians from the Message translation of the Bible:

What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of getting broken apart in our lives.  The moment the organic unity of belief and behavior is damaged in any way, we are incapable of living out the full humanity for which we were created.  

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians joins together what has been torn apart in our sin wrecked world.  He begins with an exuberant exploration of what Christians believe about God, and then like a surgeon skillfully setting a compound fracture, “sets” this belief in God into our behavior before God so that the bones ----belief and behavior----knit together and heal.

Once our attention is called to it, we notice these fractures all over the place.  There is hardly a bone in our bodies that has escaped injury, hardly a relationship in the city or job, school or church, family, country, that isn’t out of joint or limping in pain.  There is much work to be done.

And so Paul goes to work.  He ranges widely, from heaven to earth and back again, showing how Jesus, the Messiah, is eternally and tirelessly bringing everything and everyone together.  He also shows us that in addition to having this work done in and for us, we are participants in this most urgent work.  

Now that we know what is going on, that the energy of reconciliation is the dynamo at the heart of the universe, it is imperative that we join in vigorously and perseveringly, convinced that every detail is our contribution (or not) to what Paul describes as God’s plan worked out by Christ, “ a long range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in Him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.” - The Message

Last week Carl spoke on Ephesians 1:1-14. Before I begin today’s message from Ephesians 1:15-23, I want to highlight a few verses from Carl’s message.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – Eph. 1:1-2

For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. – Eph. 1:4-5,11

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory. – Eph. 1:13-14

Now here are three takeaways that I received from Carl’s message: 

1. If Jesus Christ is our Lord we are saints whether people call us that or not.  We don’t have to wait until 5 years after we die and someone shows proof of our life of heroic virtue and we don’t have to show proof of verified miracles and we don’t have to be Canonized by the church to be saints and be called saints by other believers.
   
   
2. We are chosen by God. Predestination and Free Will can coexist.  God being all knowing decided before He created the foundation of the earth that He would create us through Adam and Eve and that they would have free will and because He is all knowing, He knew that they would fall and would need to be reconciled back to Himself.  In keeping with the God given free will their offspring had and still have the free will choice to be reconciled or not.  Because He is all knowing and He lives outside of time and space He knew and knows what choice each of us would make and will make.  If He didn’t He would not be God.
   
   
3. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, those who make the free will choice to be reconciled according to God’s plan by asking Jesus to be Lord of our lives are given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee.  The guarantee is that we will in the fullness of time inherit heaven as adopted children of God.  At the same time that we were given the Holy Spirit our names were written in the Lambs book of life.  This book will be significant when it comes time for judgement and rewards to be given at the end of the age.

Now today we are going to go over the rest of chapter 1, i.e., Ephesians 1:15-23.

Now that was my takeaways from last week’s message.  But before I begin today’s message let’s take a moment and ask the Lord to open our minds and hearts to both understand today’s passages and apply them to our everyday lives.

Now I read a commentary that stated Ephesians chapter 1 verses 15 through 23 are part of a single sentence in the Greek Bible Translation.  Without taking a course in Greek I have no way of verifying that this is true.  But supposing that this commentary was correct I will first read the entire set of verses in this supposedly long run-on sentence.  Then I will unpack the thoughts contained in this passage one small portion at a time.  So here is the passage:

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church; which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. – Eph. 1:15-23

So with that I will begin unpacking this passage. I will start at verses 15 and 16. 

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”  Paul says for this reason.  I asked myself for what reason?  Well since verse 1 was just the From and the To Paul must mean for all the reasons given in verses 2 through 14 but mainly for the three takeaways that I mentioned. 

Namely that if, Jesus is our Lord and we are saints and we were chosen by God to inherit the kingdom of heaven and that the Holy Spirit who now lives inside of us was given to us as a permanent seal of God’s promise to be bestowed at the end of the age.

So for that reason singular Paul goes on to say; “ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”  

Now why did Paul continually give thanks when he heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus and their Love for all the saints?  Well the answer is that he experienced great joy to hear that the saints that he had preached to were still walking in the truth of the Gospel.  We get a glimpse of this great joy from another famous believer i.e., John the Author of the Gospel of John and the Author of First John, Second John and Third John and the Book of Revelation. When John had received news of the people that he had preached to he wrote in Third John: 

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. – 3 John 1:2-4

Christine and I got a glimpse of this great joy when we recently visited our friend and brother in the Lord Linton Abraham and his family.  Most of you may not remember Linton but he went to school here at Clemson University for his Master’s degree in computer Science Engineering.  He graduated around 2010 and took a job in the Boston Area.  In 2012 he got engaged to his now wife Cassia.  Linton and Cassia later invited Christine and I to their wedding in Boston which we attended in 2013.  At that time Christine and I flew up to their wedding.  At their wedding we met his parents who were both from India but they had moved to Kuwait where his father worked as a manager of one of the oil refineries there.  Since that time Christine and I continued to keep in touch with Linton and Cassia through the years.  We visited them and their children again in Boston in August of 2018 while we were there for our son John and his wife Lindsay’s wedding.  

While there we even drove up to Cape Cod to hear Linton Preach at one of the local churches.  Linton and Cassia now have four children and they have since moved to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area where he continues to preach at local area churches while still working as a computer science engineer for one of the local companies.  Christine and I again visited with them this past September while we were in the Pittsburgh area for my sisters 60th birthday celebration.  It was so encouraging to see him and his family again still walking in the truth and living for the Lord.

So like these two apostles, Christine and I took great pleasure in hearing Linton tell us that he was continuing to preach the Gospel in the surrounding area in Pennsylvania and how grateful he was to us and the others here at Clemson Community Church for inspiring him to continue living whole heartedly for the Lord .  This is how it must have been for Paul, when he heard of the Ephesians faith and their love for the saints.  Paul was continually thankful for them.  So as a result of their faith and their love for each other these believers were on his mind when he prayed.

What kind of things do you think Paul kept praying for them? Well he tells us starting in verse 17:

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. – Eph. 1:17 

Just like Jesus was subject to the Father’s will, the Holy Spirit who imparts wisdom and revelation to whom the Father choses is also subject to the Father’s will.  So why does Paul pray this to the Father for the saints?  Well Paul tells us that too.  “so that you may know Him better.” Of all the things that Paul could pray for them he asked first that they be given wisdom and revelation so that they may know the Father better.  Why?  Because there is nothing better than knowing the Father and experiencing His love for us His adopted children.  

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. – Eph. 1:18-19

So what does it mean to have the eyes of your heart enlightened?   

Someone once said the biblical concept of the heart is the convergence of our soul, spirit, body, brain and overall our perceptive faculties.  

The heart is one’s entire emotional nature and understanding and Paul prays that this be illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Why does Paul pray this?  He tells us directly that he prays it for three reasons:

1. That you may know the hope to which He has called you - which is likened to divine hope.
2. That you may know the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints - which is likened to divine faith.
3. That you may know His incomparable great power for us who believe - which is likened to divine love.

First to know the hope to which He calls us is a concrete and everlasting hope, as opposed to a temporary hope.  A temporary hope for example is when Christine hopes there is a parking spot in the shade for her to park her van in so it won’t be hot when she is done shopping.  That is not the permanent concrete everlasting hope that we are called to.  Now we need the eyes of our heart enlightened to understand the concrete and everlasting type hope so that we can hold on to it day and night for our whole life.

Second to know the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.  This is likened to Divine Faith.  If we think of all the faith in Hebrews 11 as though it were a bank with enough gold to back up the value of every U.S. dollar ever printed.  This was what the bank of Fort Knox Kentucky was used for before they replaced the gold standard with a promise.  

If you add to this faith the faith of every person who has ever lived by faith this is our inheritance.  Ok, He wants us to know that He gives us this inheritance in the form of people.  Think of it as faith (aka treasure) handed down as an inheritance from the saints of the past and being passed on through all generations as though it were gaining exponentially compounded interest year after year.  The value of this inheritance then is off the charts. So that makes us treasure for each other.

Third to know His incomparable great power for us who believe.  Ok this is something I think about frequently.  He has the power to create the Universe and hold it all together.  There is nothing that we should fear because He is the God of our circumstance.  He doesn’t allow things to happen to us by accident.  To think that He does allow accidents to happen to us is to fall into the trap of believing one of the many lies of Satan (the father of lies).  The Father’s great power is His Love for us who believe.  

So if Paul is praying to God the Father to give them wisdom and revelation for these three areas it begs the question, “Do you and I need more wisdom and revelation to know the hope of our calling? Or do you and I need more wisdom and revelation to know the riches in His inheritance in us?  Or do you and I need more wisdom and revelation to know and the great Love the Father has for us?”. In other words do we need more Hope, or more Faith, or more knowledge of the Father’s Love?  I would say we need all three.

But Paul goes on to say,

That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms. – Eph. 1:19-20  

Now as I was preparing this message I thought to myself that might be a poor analogy because it probably didn’t take too much power and strength for God to raise Jesus from the dead.  After all He created the Universe with hardly any effort at all.  And Jesus raised many people from the Dead as did other prophets and disciples mentioned in the Bible. And it probably didn’t take too much strength and power to seat Jesus at His right hand in the heavenly realm.  After all Jesus had come from heaven and was just returning home.  What I missed here was that fact that the Father loved us enough to ask Jesus to leave heaven and comedown and suffer and die for us in general and me in particular.  That Love is beyond comprehension.  That Love is power, great power beyond comprehension.

Paul tells us in First Corinthians that there are three things that last forever.  

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – I Cor. 13:13 

Now here in Paul’s Ephesians letter he swaps the order a little and prays for hope, faith and love (aka power).  The order is a little different but the greatest of these is still love.  That is what Paul prays for them, that they may know the great power of the Father’s love for them.

Now Paul goes on to describe Jesus’ present title, location, position and authority.  He says: 

...far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. – Eph 1:21

Paul also referred to this age to come in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9 and 10 that Carl went over with us last week.  If you recall Paul says in those verses:

And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. – Eph. 1:9-10

So Paul again ties the “to be put into effect when the times have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head even Christ as stated in verse 10 to verses 20 and 21 when he says: 

...when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. – Eph. 1:20-21

He goes on to say in verses 22 and 23:

And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. Eph. 1:22-23

The church is Christ’s Body.  Body here refers to the universal church of all believers, regardless of denomination.  The body, then, is not literal but metaphorical.  The phrase the fullness of Him refers to the fact that God imparts His personal fullness into Christ.  Therefore it is the glory God and the glory of Christ that makes the church what is supposed to be.  That is a pure spotless bride under the headship of Christ.

Referring to Christ and the church Paul wrote something very similar to the Colossians in Colossians 1 when he said:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him. - Col. 1:15-19 

The Apostle John also wrote in First John chapter 3: 

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. – 1 John 3:2

So if the fullness of God dwells in Christ and we will be like Him when He appears the fullness of God will dwell in us just like the Holy Spirit dwells in us now. 

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. – 1 Cor. 15:50-53

Takeaways:

1. Paul prayed that wisdom and revelation be given to us so that we may know the Love of the Father better.  There is nothing better than knowing the Love of the Father.
    
2. Paul prayed that the eyes of heart would be open so that we would know the hope of our calling the great riches of our inheritance in the saints being passed down to us through the ages from one generation of saints to the next compounding interest exponentially.  This is true treasure worth more than all the gold in the entire world.
   
   
3. Paul prayed that we might know His incomparably great power for us who believe.  His love for us is the source of that great power and it is far beyond all comprehension.
   
   
4. We should pray the same things for ourselves and for each other.

The Chosen

Eph. 1:1-14

Welcome to a new series, on the Book of Ephesians. This series has an unusual title: “Therefore”. There’s a popular saying in church sermons that point out the word “therefore”: People ask, “What’s the ‘therefore’ there for?” And it is a good question. Here, our entire series is called “therefore” so it is even more appropriate to ask the question. I hate to give away the answer so soon, but let me just point out that the word that the series is named after appears in Eph. 4:1. Ironically, the word is translated “then”, not “therefore” Eph. 4:1 in the NIV. But the word is the Greek word oun (omicron upsilon nu, pronounced “oon”) and is usually translated as “therefore.” It appears about 500 times in the New Testament, so it is a pretty common word. It actually appears 7 times just in the Book of Ephesians, but there is something special about that second occurrence, the one that occurs in Eph. 4:1. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – that’s all I’m going to say about oun for now.

Now it is no accident that we are exploring the Book of Ephesians on the heels of going through the Book of Acts. Some theologian has said that “Acts is all about the history of the church, and Ephesians is all about the theology of the church” and I think that is right. As we will see, Ephesians is very rich in theology. 

I think that is a enough of an introduction for us to begin to dig into this book. And so let me start with the opening of the letter, the first two verses: 

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, 

To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – Eph. 1:1-2

Somewhat similar to a modern letter, letters at the time the New Testament was written start with a “from” line, and then a “to” line, and then a “greetings” line. The “from” line identifies the author of Paul, and he describes himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus. He describes himself as an apostle in multiple letters. 

Let me ask a question. Is this presumption? Is this boasting? I would say strongly the answer to both questions is “no.” What did Paul mean by the term? I think he meant that he was someone, like the Twelve, who had been personally commissioned by Jesus to go out and share the gospel, making disciples of Jesus. As we saw in the book of Acts, both Paul and the Twelve did have direct encounters with Jesus – although Paul’s was a bit different in that he did not meet with Jesus before He died, nor did he meet with Jesus during His days after the resurrection before He went up to heaven. But he nevertheless did have an encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road, as we read about in Acts 9. Recall that a voice spoke to Paul, saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” And Paul replied “Who are you, lord?” And the response could not be any more plain: “I am Jesus, who you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” There he had met Ananias, whom God had also called. And God told Ananias what Paul’s special mission would be: “Go! This man is My chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” Paul certainly was qualified to use the word “apostle” to describe himself. And he was not boastful to do so, because we know from other New Testament letters that there were many who tried to discredit Paul. And so Paul is very clear here in the opening of Ephesians: He states that he was an apostle of Messiah Jesus “by the will of God,” not by his own will.  

Next we have the “to” line: “To God’s holy people, […] the faithful in Christ Jesus.” Wait, did I leave out some words? Well, that is a little complicated. Some of the earliest manuscript copies we have of Ephesians do not have the words “in Ephesus.” And so on one theory, one that makes a lot of sense to me, is that this letter went out to many early churches, and for each one, Paul wrote “in” followed by the name of the city or region the letter was to go to. One reason I think this makes a lot of sense is that this letter has essentially no personal references in it. There’s no “say hi to so-and-so for me”, no “I am sending so-and-so to you.” I believe this letter was used in this way because it is indeed teaching foundational theology of the church, and thus, was meant for all the churches. Unlike letters like, say I and II Corinthians, it is not addressing a particular problem at a particular church location.

And so, who is letter written to? Paul uses the phrase “God’s holy people.” The Greek word used is agios, which can also be translated saints. But another phrase you could use to describe this word is “the chosen,” which happens to be our message title for today. (No, it’s not because of a certain TV show.) Do you have a misunderstanding of what a saint is? Do you picture the people that Catholic churches are named after, that statues are made of? Well, that is a re-definition of the word. In Scripture, all true believers are called saints, holy ones, agios. If you are a believer, you are all of these things. 

But, you say, you don’t feel holy? Well, in yourself, you most certainly are not holy. But this is talking about your “declared” holiness – if you are truly a believer in Jesus, if you have placed your hope in Him, then when God looks at you, He sees Christ’s holiness, because the sinless Christ died for you. We could go much deeper into this theme, but if we do we will never get through our passage today. Suffice it to say that if you are a believer, then you are a saint. Don’t let it go to your head. You are a saint because of Christ, not because of you, just like Paul is an apostle because of Christ, not because of Paul. 

Paul also calls the letter recipients the “faithful ones” in Christ Jesus. This is another word that has shifted meaning on us. When we think of someone being faithful, say in their job, we mean that they consistently get the work done. This idea of faithfulness is cut off from the reason for that faithfulness. But the word in Greek means something very different. It means people who have faith, believers. Yes, they demonstrate faithfulness in the modern sense that we use the word, that is, they are faithful to continue to do the things that believers should do, but the all-important thing is the reason they do it – because of their faith. And so Paul is writing to the faithful saints, the faithful holy ones. These aren’t two different groups of people; they are two sides of a single coin – two ways to describe believers in Jesus Christ.

And then we have the welcome line: Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Not from Paul. Paul is only the messenger. He is taking on the role of an ambassador. He does not convey his own message, but the message of his King. More precisely he is conveying the single message of two person of the Trinity of God, the Father and the Son, who are in complete agreement as to the content of the message. And the message is a blessing, a blessing from God, of grace, and of peace. Grace is charis, and peace is eirene. With regards to charis, I want to read a pertinent definition from Strong’s Definitions, because it is so encouraging: “of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” Wow! What a blessing! As you have probably heard, grace is “unmerited favor,” but that doesn’t say what the unmerited favor bestows or produces like this Strong’s definition. And Eirene has two definitions in Strong’s that I really like. Here is the first: “security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous).” If you don’t know what felicity means, it means intense happiness, like a cat in catnip. Are these promises for this life? Wait, am I falling into the prosperity gospel? No. It all depends on how you define prosperity. Our prosperity, on the one hand, is far beyond what even any prosperity gospel teaches, but it is primarily our eternal prosperity. We don’t know what this world will bring, and indeed, for many early believers it brought poverty, persecution, and even martyrdom. But we are to be laying up treasures in heaven, not here. And with this in mind I also like another definition in Strongs: “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.” Grace and peace. This is Paul’s incredible blessing opening to the Book of Ephesians, not from Paul, but from God Himself. 

Now, today, we are to go through the first 14 verses of this letter. We have just read verses 1-2. Believe it or not, verses 3-14 in the Greek comprise a single sentence! All translations I have seen break this down into more manageable pieces, and we will do the same. Let us first look at verses 3-6: 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. – Eph. 1:3-6

Now I have underlined a few words here. And I have a simple question: Who is the “who” and the “He” and the “His”? It is the Father, is it not? For reasons we will see, I think this is worth pointing out.  

Now it is a terrible shame that some people are made uncomfortable by this passage because, they would say, they believe in free will. But this should not be. I don’t believe predestination and free will are mutually exclusive. I believe they are both true, and although it is hard for us to keep them simultaneously in our brains, the difference has to do with perspective. First of all, both are clearly presented in Scripture. God repeatedly calls on people to repent, in both the Old Testament and the New, in the New to repent and trust in Christ for salvation. But at the same time God repeatedly states that he knows what the outcome of every choice will be, and indeed this is a necessity if God is truly omniscient. It is important to remember that although God enters into time, He is not bound by it. And so, just like you can choose to jump to the last page of a book and read it first, so can He. But, you argue, the characters in books don’t have free will. True. So an analogy that maybe gets us a little closer is a simulation. In my research I have written many simulations, and they include randomness. Now randomness is not the same as free will either, but at least there is a sense that “participants” in the simulation can make decisions based on something that includes randomness, and yet, the author of the simulation (that’s me) can always choose to just look at the final results rather than “enter in” and watch the simulation unfold. 

Free will without predestination, it seems to me, would allow us to think of our decision to come to Christ as a “work” but we are not saved by works. Predestination without free will would mean that we have no responsibility for our decisions, so God could be accused of being unjust or unrighteous in His decision to punish those who refuse to turn to Him. But this is also clearly incorrect. And so, for me, I fully embrace that both are true and are each useful to understand different aspects of Christian truth. And even if I have trouble wrapping my head around them together, that’s just a problem with my head. Both, as I have said, are clearly proclaimed in Scripture.

And so, because of this, these verses are tremendously encouraging. The God of the universe, the Author of everything, has blessed us, has chosen us, has predestined us, and has given us. These are the verbs in the passage. Why has He blessed, chosen, predestined, and given us? Because He loves us. He loves us so much that He has had His Son Jesus die on the cross for us.

What did He bless us with? Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. What does that mean? Well, I certainly can’t give you an exhaustive list. I’m pretty sure it would be infinite. But let’s think of some examples. I need more capacity to love. I’m pretty sure that’s included. I need more peace. That’s in there too. I need more joy. That too. Patience? Yep. Hope? Yep. Contentment? That too. Hopefully you get the idea. 

Now as for choosing us, there should be two questions: When did He choose us and what did He choose us for? When I was a little kid I always wanted to be chosen early in team sports when “captains” would pick out their teams, but being a kid who was pretty awful at sports, I was chosen pretty close to last, if not last outright. When that happens you don’t feel chosen at all. But – get this – God choose us before the Creation of the world! Wow – that’s pretty neat, don’t you think? It seems like He chose us even before He decided what color stripes the zebra would have. To use another analogy, I think about a fancy banquet. Imagining getting all dressed up for this banquet, even buying an expensive outfit just for the occasion, and coming to the banquet hall entrance, giving your name, and things become awkward as you cannot find your name tag on the table, and when you ask the people there, they look at the list and say there must be some kind of mistake, because you aren’t on the guest list. Well, that’s not going to happen here. There is a seat in that banquet hall with a table banner with your name on it that has been waiting for you as long as there has been a heaven and an earth. And you won’t even have to buy an outfit – even that is provided for you, as you will be wearing special wedding clothes from Christ Himself (see Matt. 22). 

And what did He choose us for?  He chose us to be holy and blameless in His sight. How are we supposed to do that? Not in our own power, of course. Christ’s own righteousness, which is perfect righteousness, is imputed, or ascribed, to us. For believers, when God looks at us, He does not see our unrighteousness, but Christ’s righteousness. And in our resurrected bodies we will also be healed of our divided minds; the part of us that still wants to sin, to rebel against God, will finally be gone, and we will truly be righteous, because we will be fully “in” Him.    

And what has He predestined us for? Adoption to sonship! This is incredible. With the example of Scripture, we call one another brothers and sisters, and this is true. But we won’t just be siblings; we will be sons and daughters of God Himself. In some sense, Christ will also be our brother. We are not just guests in heaven, we are children of the King of heaven. We will have the run of the place. Like most of this passage, I think we struggle to get even a hint of how awesome and amazing this is.

And what has He given us? “Glorious” grace. The word for glory here is doxa which has synonyms like magnificent, kingly, majestic, exalted. The grace of God given to us is a kingly gift, beyond comparison. God showers us with incredible blessings! Let’s continue in the passage. 

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. – Eph. 1:7-10

Now the passage overall still is primarily through the perspective of the Father, but the two underlined words refer to Christ, and indeed, this entire section focuses much more on what Christ has done and what this means for us. 

This is the gospel message. In Christ we are redeemed. The Greek word is apolytrosis, where apo can mean “out of” and lytron means ransom. So we are taken out of ransom. The C.S. Lewish book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe illustrates the idea so well. In the story, Edmund betrays the “good guys” and ends up under the complete control of the evil queen, who reminds Aslan, a lion who serves as a Christ character, that Edmund cannot be taken from her by force, that because he has betrayed Aslan, Edmund belongs to her now. And so Aslan and the woman talk in privately, and Aslan agrees to die in Edmund’s place so that he can go free – that is what redemption is, and that is what Christ has done for us. This was the plan of God the Father, who willingly sent His Son to do this for us. 

Another analogy goes back to Roman times. In the Roman world, slavery was everywhere. There were many ways to become slaves. One was being part of a city or region that revolted against Rome or refused to become subjects of Rome when first approached – after it was clear that a diplomatic solution was impossible, Rome would send in their armies and slaughter those they couldn’t capture or who wouldn’t surrender, and the rest they would take in captivity to be slaves. Now imagine that you wanted to free one of these slaves. How could you do it? You would have to buy the slave for yourself and then set the slave free. This is lytron. And this is indeed our situation. We have not rebelled against Rome, but against God. And because God is perfectly holy and just, God cannot simply let us go free. A price must be paid. In the Old Testament, we had a picture of what was needed through the sacrifice of animals. The problem with this was that as soon as you sinned again, you were back in the same position of needing redemption. All of this was to illustrate that a much greater payment was needed, and God giving up His Son on the cross was an infinite payment, one that once for all, paid for all the sins of all who by faith accepted the gift of grace, redemption, that was offered to them. This gift is received not by works, but by faith.

I love that it says that God gave us redemption in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. Given who God is, how much grace is that? If a poor person lavishes money on you, you aren’t going to get much. But if Bill Gates lavishes money on you, you are going to get a lot of money. If God, the Creator of the Universe, is going lavish God’s grace on us, how much grace are you going to get? An awful lot of grace. And that is what we have in Christ. The more we understand the depths of our sin and the holiness of God, the more we understand the heights of God’s generosity of grace. Lavish is not a word we use very often. It means completely and totally over the top, infinitely above expectations.   

What does to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ mean? There is a sense in which our redemption is now, when we repent and put our faith in Christ to save us, but there is also a sense of “not yet,” and this part of the passage is dealing with the “not yet.” We have the promise of redemption now, but redemption has not yet been put into effect. When will that happen? “When the times reach their fulfillment.” The Greek is more literally “when time is filled up,” pleroma. Picture a ship that you load with supplies and crew, more and more, until there is absolutely no more room. Now picture that more figuratively with time, such as having a giant hourglass – and pleroma is when the last grain of sand falls to the bottom. Other passages call this “at the end of the age.” 

And what happens then? All things in heaven and earth are brought to unity under Christ. All who were unredeemed, people and demons, will be sent away, and all people who were redeemed along with those angels who remained faithful will be brought together, and Christ will be King of kings and Lord of lords over them all. It is at this point that our redemption will move from being a sure promise to a physical, experiential reality.  How amazing is that?

Let’s look at the next part of today’s passage:

In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. – Eph. 1:11-13a 

When I read this passage, part of me wants to ask, “Wasn’t there an easier way for God to accomplish what He wanted?” Bear with me, but this reminds me of the news people and protesters who say that Israel is committing genocide on the Palestinians in Gaza. No, Israel is not committing genocide. If Israel wanted to do that, they could be done with it in a short amount of time, as Gaza is a really small place. No, Israel is doing something much harder – they are trying to save as many people as possible while still bringing about justice. And doing this comes at a tremendous price to Israel. 

Again, bear with me – I am not saying that Israel is like Jesus – they are a nation that has many problems, including the quite important fact that their leaders largely do not believe in God and are trusting – and have continued to trust – in their “chariots and horses” instead of the Lord. But there is a comparison to be made – God could be perfectly just and wipe out every sinner. But God chooses to do something much harder, something that comes at an unthinkable price to God – to redeem as many people as possible. 

And so here Paul recaps his previous ideas, making it personal. He says that he himself, along with the other disciples, were chosen by God, predestined, and God carried out His shocking will, sending Jesus His beloved Son to die, so that he, Paul, and the other disciples could be the first to be redeemed, through their faith in Christ. And then Paul tells his letter readers, not just in Ephesus, but everywhere, and not just in the generation of Paul, but in every successive generation including us here right now, that we too are among those that Christ has redeemed through faith. All praise to the glory of God! And indeed this is the gospel – the good news – of our salvation. The Greek word for gospel is euangelion, coming from two words, eu, meaning good, and angel which is our word angel, which means a messenger from God. The gospel is the good message from God. It is the message of our salvation – it is what saves us from the consequences we deserve, the consequences of our sin against our Creator. 

And the final section of today’s passage:

When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory. – Eph. 1:13b-14

Remember that the perspective of this passage has shifted from the Father at first, to more focus on the Son, and now, to the Holy Spirit. Let’s talk about concept of a seal. An example of a seal is in Daniel 6, when the king throws Daniel into the hungry lions’ den overnight. Vs. 17 says, “A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.” Because the king was the highest authority, nobody had the authority to open the den other than the king himself, which he did the next morning after discovering that Daniel was alive. If you recall the king was kind of tricked into this, and regretted putting Daniel into that den. But another example is probably Jesus’ tomb. Matt. 27:66 tells us “So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.” What was this seal? There are reasons to think it was a combination of rope and mud or wax. To open the tomb would require disturbing the seal. The practice back then, like that of Daniel’s time, was to imprint the seal with the mark of the authority of Rome so that anyone who disturbed the seal would know that they would face death for doing that. Of course, the angel of the Lord that rolled away the stone answered to a higher authority, so he didn’t really care about the seal.

The point is that we have such a seal as a promise that redemption is sure for us! This seal is the Holy Spirit, which as the third Person of the Trinity, means that our seal is “imprinted” with the authority of God Himself! Seals are also used as a sign of completion of a transaction. An example of this in the Bible is Jeremiah 32, where Jeremiah buys a field, in obedience to a vision from God. Vs. 10 says that he paid for it and signed and sealed the deed. And I believe there is an application of this here in Ephesians - it says that the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. That is, it promises that the transaction is finished, that the “field” (in this case, us), is truly bought and paid for. I suppose a third idea of a seal is that it bears a unique “signature” of the person conducting the sealing or completing the transaction. In our case, the Holy Spirit, as a Person in the Trinity, bears the signature of God Himself. 

But this passage describes the Holy Spirit as more than a seal – the Holy Spirit is also a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. To explain this I go back to the Scriptural description of the wedding supper of the Lamb. We are the bride of Christ. Do we know exactly what this means? No, as I think it is a picture of a deeper reality. But it serves us well here. If you are a man promising to marry a woman, you give her a kind of deposit guaranteeing her future marriage. What do you give her? Today it is a ring. In the Bible it would be given to the family of the future bride. In Genesis, Jacob wanted to marry Rachel but was not wealthy enough to give the bride price that Laban would have required, so he instead offered to work for Laban for seven years. 

We are the promised bride of Christ. And we could say that God provides an extravagant bride price: He gives us the Holy Spirit. This is what it means that the Holy Spirit is a “deposit  guaranteeing” our inheritance until that future day of redemption/the wedding.

Of course, the Holy Spirit is so much more than this – He is an ever-present help to us, a teacher, a companion, our helper, one who prays for us when we don’t know what to pray. The result (fruit) of his work in our life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He fills us, and He reveals God’s truth to us. And yet, this passage only describes Him as a seal and a promise. If the seal/promise is this great, we cannot even begin to imagine how great the end of days will be when our redemption is experienced in full.

With All Boldness

Acts 28:1-31

Good morning everyone!  We have reached the end of our Acts series.  We will have the final message today, and it covers the last chapter of the book of Acts, chapter 28.

Carl left us with a cliffhanger at the end of chapter 27 last week.  Taking a little further look back, Paul had been imprisoned in Jerusalem under accusation of the Jews.  Their charge against Paul was that he had violated the laws of the temple and stirred up a riots, not only the one in Jerusalem, but many times throughout the empire.  Neither charge was true.  Paul had not desecrated the temple and he had not started any riots, though others had started riots in an effort to discredit the message of the gospel.

So, Paul had been relocated to Caesarea which was still in Judea, but about 70 miles northwest of Jerusalem on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  He had been relocated by the commander of the Roman cohort due to threats against Paul’s life.

Paul then spent two years imprisoned at Caesarea under two different governors.  Finally, he got his hearing before the Governor, Festus.  These Roman governors were in a precarious situation.  They were largely hated by the Jews but were expected to rule over them and maintain the peace.  As a result Felix wanted to do the Jewish leaders a favor and let Paul be taken back to Jerusalem for trial.  Paul knowing well the situation in Jerusalem makes an appeal to Caesar.  Since Paul was a Roman citizen, this was his right.  And so, the journey to Rome began in chapter 27.

It was not a good time of year for traveling as they were heading into the stormy winter months.  The captain of the ship they were traveling on kept trying to find a way to make things work out, first to complete the journey, and then to find a good harbor to winter in.  Ultimately, as they were moving along the southern coast of the island of Crete, they were swept out to sea in a storm which blew them a distance of 500-600 miles due west over a two week period.  That may not seem like an amazing passage, but keep in mind, they had no sails up, and they were dragging a sea anchor.

At this point, the 276 people on board the ship have quite nearly given up hope.  They haven’t eaten; they don’t know where they are.  At one point, the sailors try to find a way to get into the lifeboat and abandon everyone else.  A sort of “every man for himself” attitude.  It seems even Luke thought there was no hope for them.  (27:20)

Paul steps into this leadership vacuum and encourages the sailors, soldiers and passengers.  God has revealed to Paul that they will all be saved if they stay together in the ship.  As they finally come near land with a reasonable place for landing, they try to bring the ship onto a sandy beach.  Before they can reach it, the ship gets stuck on a sandbar and then begins to break apart in the surf.  Miraculously, all 276 people on board are able to make it to shore.  Some can swim, but many others get ashore hanging onto broken up pieces of the ship.  Abd Chapter 27 ends, “In this way everyone reached land safely.”

With that, let’s pray and dive into chapter 28.

Father God, please speak to us from Your Word.  It is our hearts desire to know You more.  Teach us we pray, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. – Acts 28:1-2

The ship was lost, but everyone aboard the ship was saved.  They have reached Malta, an island just south of Italy, and centered in the Mediterranean Sea.  It seems like the storm has abated somewhat.  Now it is just rainy and cold.  Remember it is winter still.

Malta has been long inhabited.  The Phoenecians were there, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans.  

It is interesting that Luke considered it an unusual kindness that they helped the survivors of the shipwreck.  Keep in mind that spirit of hospitality and openness because it will come up again.

Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live." – Acts 28:3-4

Despite the fact that he just survived a shipwreck, Paul is there helping and serving.  Not only does the snake bite Paul, it doesn’t let go!  People see what has happened.  The inhabitants of the island have a kind of superstitious belief which is not uncommon regardless of place or time.  If Paul gets bit by a snake after surviving a shipwreck, it must be justice.  In this case, they attribute it to the goddess Justice.  Clearly the people of Malta are a pagan people.

But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. – Acts 28:5-6

But rather than falling dead, Paul shakes off the snake and survives.  Not only that, he suffers no ill effects.  Obviously, it is a supernatural act, a miracle.  And we see that their superstition and pagan beliefs lead them to conclude that Paul is a god.

Paul demonstrates a calm attitude in spite of a shocking situation.  We also see his faith in God’s plan that a snakebite won’t take him away from that plan.

There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. – Acts 28:7

The hospitality of the people of Malta continues.  Now, the chief official, likely a Roman or someone appointed by Rome, takes them in and cares for their needs for three days.  Publius is generous in his display of hospitality.

The expression chief official is another one that Luke used which is accurate here even though it is not the most common one.  The writing of the book of Acts continually fits to a document that was compiled at that time.

His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. – Acts 28:8-9

Paul’s ministry continues.  Now as they have been helped, Paul helps the people of Malta.  First, Paul takes the initiative to go in and see Publius’ father.  This is not something that seems obvious to do.  At least, I wouldn’t think about going to visit a feverish sick person that I don’t know.

I can imagine that there will be times where it is the right thing not to visit, but it is wise and loving to consider that there are times when it is the right thing to do to visit.  Jesus encourages us to visit the sick in Matthew 25:36.  Notice too that Paul goes in and prays with Publius’ father.  Any of us can pray with someone, right?

Paul by the Spirit of God is able to heal Publius’ father and all the sick people of Malta.  We don’t know how many that might have been, but I think it would have been a hundred or more people.  These people and their families are no doubt greatful to Paul and I hope also to God.

They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed. After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island--it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. – Acts 28:10-11

The Maltese people are generous and kind.  They are willing to give Paul and his companions supplies they need for the journey.  But, there are no salvation stories among the Maltese people here in Acts 28 or elsewhere in scripture.

In Roman times, it was not uncommon for ships carrying grain from Egypt to winter at Malta.  Malta was the second possible stop “on the way” from Egypt to Rome.  It would also be possible to stop at Crete.

It’s curious that Luke draws out the detail of the Alexandrian ship.  The figurehead is another evidence of the pagan beliefs.  Castor and Pollux were regarded as patrons of sailors.  The mention of them here may point to the fact that those taking Paul to Rome were still holding to their pagan traditions and superstitions.

We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. – Acts 28:12-14

Once they get out to sea, they travel in a series of short hops.  First, they go north to the east coast of Sicily and stay at Syracuse.  Then, they stop at the tip of the toe of the boot of Italy at Rhegium.  The next day, they get a favorable wind, and move up the west coast of Italy toward Rome stopping at Puteoli.

At Puteoli, there are some Christians which is encouraging.  We know from earlier in the book of Acts that Paul has not made any journey to Italy.  So, these believers either came from another area or they were reached by others who had come to Puteoli.

They are invited to stay a week there.  Luke is sparing with the details, so we don’t know what enabled them to have this opportunity.  No doubt it was a blessing to fellowship with other believers there.

Puteoli was the main port for Rome even though it is 75 miles away.  The journey from this point continues over land.

And so we came to Rome. The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. – Acts 28:15

We’ll read in a moment that the Jews of Rome had no information about Paul, so it is encouraging that that the Christians know about his arrival.  I do expect that their accurate knowledge came from the believers at Puteoli where they had just stayed for a week.

I think Paul was also encouraged by the distance that the believers from Rome had traveled to meet with them.  Three Taverns is 33 miles from Rome.  The Forum of Appius is 43 miles from Rome.  It was a couple of day commitment just to get down there to half and even more than half the way to Puteoli.

Of course, Paul gave thanks because he had the opportunity to fellowship with these believers.  he had written to these believers while he was in Corinth, four years earlier.

When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him. Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: "My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain.” – Acts 28:16-20

While he was in prison in Caesarea, Paul was allowed to be attended by his friends, but it seems he was kept locked up there.  Now, in Rome, Paul has another step up in freedom.  He has a soldier with him at all times, perhaps even chained to him.  But, he gets to live in his own house.

Paul wastes no time in reaching out to the Jews of Rome.  He begins with the leaders.  I don’t think he says anything that we haven’t discussed before.  He does perhaps hold back a little, saying that he is in chains because of the hope of Israel.

It is worth noting that Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome back at the beginning of chapter 18.  That would have been about 9 years earlier.  Claudius died in 54 AD, about 6 years earlier.  His decree had been allowed to lapse at some point, and Jews were living in Rome once more.

They replied, "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect." They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. – Acts 28:21-23

So, there has been no communication sent to the Jews of Rome regarding Paul.  With the difficult passage and the shipwreck, it seems like there would have been time available for news to reach Rome if the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had sent any.

I get the feeling that the Jewish leaders didn’t really work at communicating with or staying connected to other Jews throughout the Roman Empire.  It seems they expected the dispersed Jews to return to Jerusalem for the key holy days, and that would be the connection point.  And that would be if they thought about it at all.

Paul again spends an extended amount of time going through the scriptures, the Old Testament, seeking to persuade these Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.  They do listen.  At least, they stay with Paul for the whole day.

Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: " 'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" – Acts 28:24-28

I assume that the Jews were talking and even arguing amongst themselves, and it was evident that some were rejecting the truth when Paul gave them the words of Isaiah.

There is an urgency to the gospel.  Psalms and Hebrews talks about “today.”  

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” – Heb. 3:7-8

The Jews of Rome at least some of them are hardening their hearts.  Paul doesn’t want the Jews to harden their hearts, but he knows that it will in large part turn out that way.

His last line here is a summary of the message of Acts.  God’s salvation is for Jews and Gentiles, and the Gentiles will listen to the message.

For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ--with all boldness and without hindrance! – Acts 28:30-31

Paul is chained up, under guard, and yet the gospel message continues to go out.  For two years, people are coming to see him there in his rented house in Rome.  Paul makes the most of the time.  He proclaims the kingdom and teaches about our Lord Jesus Christ.

How does he proclaim and teach?  With all boldness and without hindrance.  God has again brought Paul to a place where the message can go out without hindrance.

I feel like there is a need to talk about what happens after the end of Acts, particularly what happens to Paul.  There is a fair amount of evidence which points toward his release.

The fact that Acts ends abruptly here makes release a possibility.  In Philippians 2:24, Paul wrote  that he was confident in the Lord he would soon visit them himself which anticipates a release.  Paul also writes in several letters about things that happened which don’t fit within the events of the book of Acts.  Finally, tradition says Paul went to Spain.  There is no definitive evidence he did, but for that expectation to arise, a release here makes sense.

As during the book of Acts, the believers after the end of the book of Acts continued to proclaim the message of the gospel.  Some would die a martyr’s death.  Others would die of natural causes.  Many would suffer.  Some would be imprisoned.  And still, the gospel message would go forth.  Generations of new believers would follow the previous ones.  The gospel continued to go out until it flowed across 2000 years throughout nearly the whole earth.  And the message came to each of us.

While the gospel has reached many people groups, it has not reached all people.  Also, the spread of the gospel is also accompanied by persecution.  Today is the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church.

The abrupt ending of Acts in the middle of the action also points out that the story of the gospel is ongoing.  It’s still going, and it needs to keep going.

I would like us to take some time and pray together.  Before we do that, let’s watch a short video that was put together by the ministry Spirit of Martyrdom.  Then, I would like to share a prayer guide also put together by this same ministry.

Trust the story.  God has a plan for us to do good works with Him.  Paul trusted the story.  Despite the shipwreck, despite the snakebite, despite being locked up for four years, the gospel went forth without hindrance and with all boldness.

Since the first Sunday of November is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, let’s watch a short video and review a prayer guide produced by Spirit of Martyrdom ministries.  Then, we can take time and pray together for the persecuted church.

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) - (spiritofmartyrdom.com)

International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians - The Voice of the Martyrs (persecution.com) 

IDOP – Struck down but not destroyed