Reading Ephesians with John Stott (eBook)

11 Weeks for Individuals or Groups

John Stott (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017 | 1. Auflage
175 Seiten
IVP Bible Studies (Verlag)
978-0-8308-9241-9 (ISBN)

Infos

Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus is a concise yet comprehensive summary of the good news and its implications. The entire letter is a magnificent combination of Christian doctrine and Christian duty-faith and life-written that we might recognize the hope to which we are called.In this volume, John Stott's teachings from The Message of Ephesians are offered as brief devotional readings suitable for daily use. Designed as a church resource for small groups, this book includes eleven weekly studies that take you passage by passage through Ephesians, allowing readers to enjoy the riches of Stott's writings in a new, easy-to-use format.

John Stott is known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. Stott was honored by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the '100 Most Influential People in the World.' His many books, including Why I Am a Christian and The Cross of Christ, have sold millions of copies around the world and in dozens of languages.

Autor

John R. W. Stott (1921-2011) has been known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. A leader among evangelicals in Britain, the United States and around the world, Stott was a principal framer of the landmark Lausanne Covenant (1974). His many books have sold millions of copies around the world and in dozens of languages. Stott's best-known work, Basic Christianity, has sold two million copies and has been translated into more than 60 languages. Other titles include The Cross of Christ, Understanding the Bible, The Contemporary Christian, Evangelical Truth, Issues Facing Christians Today, The Incomparable Christ, Why I Am a Christian and Through the Bible Through the Year, a daily devotional. He has also written eight volumes in The Bible Speaks Today series of New Testament expositions.Whether in the West or in the Two-Thirds World, a hallmark of Stott's ministry has been expository preaching that addresses the hearts and minds of contemporary men and women. Stott was honored by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" and was named in the Queen?s New Years Honours list as Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1969, Stott founded the Langham Trust to fund scholarships for young evangelical leaders from the Majority World. He then founded the Evangelical Literature Trust, which provided books for students, pastors and theological libraries in the Majority World. These two trusts continued as independent charities until 2001, when they were joined as a single charity: the Langham Partnership. Langham's vision continues today to see churches in the Majority World equipped for mission and growing to maturity in Christ through nurturing national movements for biblical preaching, fostering the creation and distribution of evangelical literature, and enhancing evangelical theological education.

Textauszug

1

Ephesians 1:1-14

A Life of Spiritual Blessing

Grace to You

Ephesians 1:1-2

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

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

2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul claims the same title Jesus had given to the Twelve, designating somebody specially chosen, called and sent to teach with authority. He had not volunteered for this ministry, nor had the church appointed him. On the contrary, his apostleship derived from the will of God and from the choice and commission of Jesus Christ. If this is so, then we must listen to the message of Ephesians with appropriate attention and humility.

The apostle then describes the readers of his letter as saints. He is not referring to some spiritual elite but to all God’s people. They were called “saints” (that is, “holy”) because they had been set apart to belong to him. The expression was first applied to Israel as the “holy nation,” but came to be extended to the whole international Christian community, which is the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16).

His initial message to them is one of grace and peace. Grace indicates God’s free, saving initiative, and peace points to the initiative he has taken to reconcile sinners to himself and to each other in his new community. These are key words in Ephesians. So if we want a concise summary of the good news that the whole letter announces, we could not find a better one than the three monosyllables “peace through grace.”

What then is the vital link between Paul, his readers, and his message? It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For Paul the author is “an apostle of Christ Jesus,” the readers are themselves in Christ Jesus, and the blessing comes to them both from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who are bracketed as the single spring from which grace and peace flow. Thus the Lord Jesus Christ dominates Paul’s mind and fills his vision. It seems almost as if he feels compelled to bring Jesus Christ into every sentence he writes, at least at the beginning of this letter. For it is through and in Jesus Christ that God’s new society has come into being.

The Past Blessing of Election

Ephesians 1:3-4

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Paul stresses that the blessing God gives us in Christ is spiritual. A contrast is probably intended with Old Testament days when God’s promised blessings were largely material. It is true Jesus promised his followers some material blessings, for he forbade them to be anxious about food, drink, and clothing, and assured them that their heavenly Father would supply their needs if they put the concerns of his rule and righteousness first.

Christians are trinitarians. We believe in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We affirm with gratitude and joy that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. That is, every blessing of the Holy Spirit has been given us by the Father if we are in the Son. No blessing has been withheld from us. Of course we still have to grow into maturity in Christ, be transformed into his image, and explore the riches of our inheritance in him. Of course, too, God may grant us many deeper and richer experiences of himself on the way. Nevertheless, if we are in Christ, every spiritual blessing is ours already.

Also note the statement “he chose us in him.” God put us and Christ together in his mind. He determined to make us (who did not yet exist) his own children through the redeeming work of Christ (which had not yet taken place). It also arose from his entirely unmerited favor, since he chose us “to be holy and blameless before him.” This means that when in his mind he chose us, we were unholy and blameworthy, and therefore deserving not of adoption but of judgment. So this is no cause for boasting.

Now everybody finds the doctrine of election difficult. “Didn’t I choose God?” somebody asks, and we must answer, “Yes, indeed you did, and freely, but only because in eternity God had first chosen you.” Scripture nowhere dispels the mystery of election, and we should beware of any who try to systematize it too precisely or rigidly.

The truth of God’s election, however many its unresolved problems, should lead us to righteousness, not to sin; and to humble adoring gratitude, not to boasting. Its practical consequences should always be that we live on the one hand “holy and blameless in his sight” (v. 4) and on the other “to the praise of his glorious grace” (v. 6).

The Present Blessing of Adoption

Ephesians 1:5-8

5He predestined us for adoptions to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us.

When people ask us why God went ahead with the creation when he knew that it would be followed by the fall, one answer we can tentatively give is that he destined us for a higher dignity than even creation would bestow on us. He intended to adopt us, to make us the sons and daughters of his family. In Roman law (part of the background to Paul’s writing) adopted children enjoyed the same rights as natural children. The New Testament has much to say about this status of sonship, its rich privileges and demanding responsibilities.

Take our privilege first. God’s children enjoy a free access to their heavenly Father, and their confidence before him is due to the knowledge that they have been redeemed and forgiven. Redemption means “deliverance by payment of a price.” Here it is equated with forgiveness, for the deliverance in question is a rescue from the just judgment of God on our sins, and the price paid was the shedding of Christ’s blood when he died for our sins on the cross. So redemption, forgiveness, and adoption all go together. We become his sons and daughters because of the lavish outpouring of his grace on us.

But adoption implies responsibility too, for the heavenly Father does not spoil his children. On the contrary, he “disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). So Paul’s two statements are parallel, that “he destined us . . . to sonship” (v. 5) and “he chose us . . . to be holy” (v. 4). It is inconceivable that we should enjoy a relationship with God as his children without accepting the obligation to imitate our Father and cultivate the family likeness.

So then adoption as God’s sons and daughters brings both a plus and a minus, an immense gain and a necessary loss. We gain access to him as our Father through redemption or forgiveness. But we lose our blemishes, beginning at once by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, until we are finally made perfect in heaven. What seems to unite the privilege and the responsibility of our adoption is the expression “in his sight” (v. 4) or “in his presence.” For to live our life in the conscious presence of our Father is both an immeasurable privilege and a constant challenge to please him.

The Future Blessing of Unification

Ephesians 1:9-10

9He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

God has done more than choose us in Christ in a past eternity and give us sonship now as a present possession. He has also “made known to us the mystery of his will” for the future. This is “purposed in Christ, to be put in effect when the times reach their fulfillment.”

History is neither meaningless nor purposeless. It is moving toward a glorious goal. God’s plan “when the times reach their fulfillment,” when time merges into eternity again, is “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Already Christ is head of his body, the church, but one day “all things” will acknowledge his headship. At present there is still discord in the universe, but in the fullness of time the discord will cease, and the unity we long for will come into being under the headship of Jesus Christ.

What are the “all things” which will one day be united under Christ? Certainly they include the Christian living and the Christian dead, the church on earth and the church in heaven. No doubt angels will be included too. But “all things” normally means the universe, which Christ created and sustains. So Paul seems to be referring to that cosmic renewal, that regeneration of the universe, that liberation of the groaning creation. In the fullness of time, God’s two creations, his whole universe and his whole church, will be unified under the cosmic Christ, who is the supreme head of both.

If we shared the apostle’s perspective, we would also share his praise. For doctrine leads to doxology as well as to duty. Life would become worship, and we would bless God constantly for having blessed us so...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.7.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Reading the Bible with John Stott Series
• Reihe/Serie: Reading the Bible with John Stott Series
• Verlagsort: Lisle
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Moraltheologie / Sozialethik
• Schlagworte: bible reading • bible reading plan • bible speaks today • Bible study • daily devotional • Devotional • Ephesians • Jesus • John Stott • John Stott Bible studies • Letter to the Ephesians • message of ephesians • Paul • read the bible • Scripture • small group
• ISBN-10: 0-8308-9241-9 / 0830892419
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-9241-9 / 9780830892419