Today you’ll see how the gospel turned Ephesus upside down—and why the message of Jesus still has the power to transform even the most spiritually resistant cultures today.
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Okay, on a show of hands, how many of you have ever seen the movie? Ready? This is an old one. The Sound of Music. Raise your hand. Sound of Music. Okay. Awesome. So even if it’s a vintage movie… It’s a famous movie. Now, the opening scene in The Sound of Music shows an aerial view that kind of sweeps down on Julie Andrews, who’s in a field, but she’s not just in a field. She’s in a field on top of a hill, on top of a mountain. Around her are valleys and mountains. Beyond that, the view is heavenly. It’s spectacular. And the camera pans around her. Do you remember that scene, the opening scene? And then she goes, are alive with the… Go ahead. Oh, look. You’re all in the choir. Yeah, so that is just this incredible scene of Austria, which is a beautiful country, but the view that she has while she sings is the view we get of our salvation in the book of Ephesians. We will be taken by Paul to the heavenlies, to the heavenly places where he will uncover for us our wealth, the riches that we have because we belong to Christ. But he does it from this incredible vantage point. You feel like you’re on top of a mountain peering through the vistas and seeing the panoply of God’s redemptive history before us. That is how God’s plan is presented to us in this book. Now, a little background is in order. In the spring of 52, I don’t mean 1952, I mean the year 52 AD. In the spring of 52, that is when we believe Paul the Apostle first visited the town of Ephesus. He was there on his second missionary journey. And he came into this incredible city that had one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the temple to Diana, whom they said the statue fell from heaven and she was enshrined, her statue was enshrined in this magnificent temple. None of that temple is left to this day. Just a couple of pillars remain from that temple, though much of the city does remain intact. But Paul went there, and he saw this capital of the eastern section of the Roman Empire, which was Ephesus. He goes there in the spring of 52. He brings with him a wonderful couple that he had met in Corinth. And we like this couple for one reason. Their names rhyme, and they’re just cute, Aquila and Priscilla. They had been tent makers. They were Jewish. They had lived in Rome at one time, but Claudius, the emperor, kicked all the Jews out of Rome. So Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who were tent makers, left Rome and came to the city of Corinth where they met Paul the Apostle. And they became friends with Paul because Paul’s trade also was that of a tent maker. So they became close. They joined a partnership with Paul. They heard the gospel from Paul. They were born again because of Paul’s ministry in Corinth. But later on, Paul went to Ephesus on his way back to Antioch of Syria at the end of his second missionary journey. And when he went to Ephesus, he brought with him Aquila and Priscilla. And Paul went into the synagogue. They asked him to stay longer. He said, no, I’ve got to get back to… where I’m going before the feast. He left Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, and it seems like the church was started in Ephesus because of the ministry of Paul ministering to Aquila and Priscilla, who probably planted the church themselves in Ephesus. Now that’s just a guess. I may be wrong. It could be that Aquila and Priscilla were there, and we know they were, but somebody else came to town, and Aquila and Priscilla got close to him, and it could be that the church started from this guy by the name of Apollos. Apollos is a Jewish man who comes to Ephesus. He’s mighty in word, mighty in the scriptures. He was quite intelligent. He could prove that Jesus was the Christ. But he only knew the gospel up to the baptism of John. So though he was powerful and mighty, he didn’t quite have all the information. So Aquila and Priscilla, who were mentored by Paul, took Apollos aside and trained him more completely in the ways of God. So it could be that the church was started through Apollos and Aquila and Priscilla. We really don’t know if Paul in his second missionary journey began the church or just left this couple there and then they got together with Apollos. But we do know that when Paul comes back on his third missionary journey, he comes to Ephesus and He meets with the disciples. There’s not very many at that time, only about 12 believers in Christ. He meets with them, and he said to them, because he evidently, in looking at their lives, noticed something was lacking. Something was missing. Maybe joy, maybe peace, some fruit of the Spirit. Something was lacking. And so Paul said, Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they said, Holy Spirit, we haven’t even heard that term. We don’t even know what the Holy Spirit is. So Paul went on to explain to them the rest of the story that had been left out by Apollos, evidently. And then… We discover that Paul saw ministry opportunity in Ephesus and he decided to stay there for at least two years, probably a total of three years, two of which he taught in the school of Tyrannus. He taught the scriptures every day so that all of those who dwelt in that province of Asia, ancient Asia Minor, all those who lived in that province heard the gospel. So Ephesus sort of became Paul’s new home, new headquarters for about three years. Now, while Paul was in Ephesus and he was sharing the gospel and building up the church, it was successful, it was fruitful, but it was also dangerous. Because, as I said, the main object of people’s worship was whom? Diana, Diana of the Ephesians, this multi-breasted woman. figure that they worshipped in this temple. And there was quite a trade going on in that city where Demetrius, the head of the silversmith guild, was in charge of making little figurines and selling them off to people who would buy them and place them in their homes. Well, when Paul goes through the city and spends a few years there, the gospel spreads. It is very effective. He’s very fruitful. More and The silversmith business was losing income. People weren’t buying these idols anymore because they’re coming to a revelation of who the true God is. So this caused a problem, and a riot will break out in Ephesus. where the whole town rushes into the theater. By the way, that theater can still be seen in Ephesus today. In its original grandeur, it could seat 25,000 people. In ancient Ephesus, 25,000 people from that town could pile in there and see a play or a concert or whatever. But the whole town rushed into the theater and cried out on one particular occasion for two hours. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And Paul wanted to go in there. He thought, great, I have an audience. God made it easy. I’m going to go in there and preach the gospel. And some of the brothers said, no, you’re not. They’re going to rip you limb from limb. And they prevented Paul from doing that. So Paul stayed there. A work was accomplished there. It was a very divided town because of their worship of Diana. Eventually, Paul will leave. And Paul will go back to Jerusalem where he’s going to be arrested. You know the story. And then taken to Rome. When he is at the end of his journey on his way back to Jerusalem, the last meeting that he has in Ephesus doesn’t take place in Ephesus, but it takes place on the shores of Miletus. Miletus is about 10 miles away from Ephesus. It was right on the coast. Paul didn’t want to go inland. Ephesus had originally been built on the coast. But there’s a river that runs through it. You can still see it to this day called the Cayster River. And it has brought an enormous amount of sand and silt down. So it filled in the port and the city of Ephesus for many years had to be moved every few years. Because if you go to Ephesus today, you’re not even on the coast. You’re about 10 miles from the coast. It’s just filled in with silt. for the last couple thousand years.
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So anyway, Paul met with the Ephesian elders, Acts chapter 20 on the shores of Miletus. And he said, you know, I’m going to Jerusalem. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me there. The Holy Spirit testifies wherever I go. Chains and tribulation await me. None of these things move me. Neither do I count my life dear unto myself because I want to finish my course with joy in the ministry that I’ve been given by the Holy Spirit. And then Paul says, I know that I’m never going to see your faces ever again. At that, the elders of Ephesus started weeping, hugging Paul because they heard that Paul is leaving and it seems like he’s never going to return. He’s walking into the lion’s den. He’s walking into, going to Jerusalem. And he, you know, even says the prophecies say that not going to be good, but I don’t care. I’m going anyway. So Paul leaves, goes to Jerusalem, gets arrested, spends a couple years in Caesarea, is taken as a prisoner to Rome. When he is in Rome, he is placed under house arrest. And that means that for two years, he was chained day and night to a guard. He had his own house. So he had his own, like, a little apartment. People could come in and see him, but he couldn’t leave. He is chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day, and they were doing it in shifts, which I’ve always thought was fascinating because can you imagine being chained to the Apostle Paul? Do you think you’re going to hear about Jesus? Do you think you’re going to get the gospel? Yeah, not only did they get the gospel, but many of those guards that were chained to Paul, because they were indeed a captive audience, came to Christ. And so when Paul writes one of the letters from that prison, Philippians, he said, all of the members of Caesar’s household, even in my chains, greet you. So some of these elite soldiers who where the Praetorian guards, they were in the royal household, had come to Christ. While Paul was in Rome for two years, he wrote four letters, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. This is the first of the prison letters written by Paul during those two years to the church that he loved, to the elders that wept with him when he left. It’s a church Paul was very fond of. Evidently, Paul prayed for them often, as you will read in the first chapter, if we ever get to the first chapter. But we’re not done yet. Eusebius, one of the church historians, tells us that another of the apostles ministered there by the name of John. Peter, James, and John. That John, one of the disciples, the apostles of the Lord Jesus, Eusebius said, spent his latter years in Ephesus before he was arrested, taken as a prisoner to the island of Patmos. So John ministered to this church of Ephesus as well as Paul, as well as Timothy. And then after John was taken to Patmos and was off the scene, John’s successor by the name of Polycarp. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that name. Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John. He became the next pastor of the church of Ephesus. So they have a glorious history. of great Bible teachers, apostles, and influencers. Not only that, but the Lord Jesus Christ himself wrote a little letter to the church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2. In the seven letters, or I like to call them the seven postcards, because they’re short, to the seven churches in Asia Minor, first on the list is the church of Ephesus. And what is remarkable, especially after reading the book of Ephesians and seeing how awesome and spiritual these people were, is how soon they fell away from that place having Paul and Timothy and John and Polycarp. Jesus says, I have something against you. You have left your first love. You don’t love me like you had at first. That intimacy that we enjoyed together has been abandoned by you. And it was within 30 years that that little postcard was written in the book of Revelation by John from the island of Patmos. As we get into this book, we need to know what’s up with Paul. What is he writing about? The theme of this book is God’s new society. God’s new society, and what I mean by that is the church. God’s new society comprised of Jew and non-Jew, Jew and Gentile. Mostly they were Gentiles there, but there were some Jews. Apollos was a Jew, Aquila and Priscilla were Jews, Paul was Jewish. There was a substantial Jewish presence in the church, but the town was largely Gentile. So the theme of Ephesians is God’s new society, as demonstrated by new life, new standards, with new values that bring new relationships. So when you look at a husband and wife relationship, a parent and child relationship, an employer-employee relationship, you see newness because of the salvation brought on by Jesus Christ. So that is his theme. To divide up that theme by chapter, I would call it the wealth chapter. The walk and the warfare of that new society. The wealth, who we are and what we have in Christ. The walk, what we do with what we have and who we are in Christ. And then the warfare, how we fight battles because of the spiritual warfare we encounter because we belong to Christ. So the wealth, the walk, and the warfare of the believer. Now, the book of Ephesians has six chapters. It’s a short book when you compare that to like Romans or 1 Corinthians. So it’s not a long book, but it is typical Paul the Apostle style writing. Typical Pauline authorship. Meaning, the way Paul writes after he gives greetings, salutations, prayer, etc. He begins… Setting the pace, laying the foundation with doctrine. So chapter 1, 2, and 3 are doctrinal. The second half of the book, 4, 5, and 6 are applicational. You’ve got to know certain things before you do certain things. This is what you need to know. Here are certain doctrines you need to know about your wealth and who you are and what God has done, etc. Now, this is what you are to do with it. So that’s pretty typical of Paul. He begins, he front loads his letters with doctrine. He back loads them with application. So you can divide the letter in two. The first three chapters are the doctrinal chapters. And then the last three are the applicational ones. Now, I’m going to just, I know we haven’t even got into verse 1 yet. But go to chapter 6, verse 21. Verse 21. Because you get an idea of how this letter was delivered. Verse 21, But that you may also know my affairs and how I am doing. Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you. So remember I said Paul was under house arrest? People could come and visit him. A guy named Tychicus came and visited him from Laodicea. Laodicea wasn’t too far away. It’s in the area of Asia, province of Asia. So Tychicus was there. The letter to the Colossians and Philemon and Ephesians were going to be delivered by Tychicus. So that’s how the letter got from Rome to Ephesus. Okay. Chapter 1, verse 1. Paul… an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. At one time, Paul was not an apostle of Jesus. Paul was an opponent of Jesus. Paul was an apostle of Judaism at one time. He had been raised in the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem. He was a Pharisee. He had been trained in the Scripture. He was very intelligent, very advanced, knew several languages, knew rabbinic literature, etc. He was an apostle of Judaism and saw Christianity and especially the ideology of Jesus Christ risen from the dead as something lethal and should be stopped at all costs. So he got special permission from the high priest in Jerusalem to run up to Damascus and find believers and imprison them. And he was even egging on the crowd when they stoned Stephen to death. So he was hostile to Christianity. He was the chief opponent to Christ. Now he’s an apostle of Jesus Christ. How did it change? How did he go from opponent to apostle? Damascus Road. We all know the story. He’s on his way to arrest Christians, gets a vision, knocks off his horse, he’s on the ground, and here’s how he got his commission. He asked a question. Two questions. Who are you, Lord? That’s always a good question to ask when You get knocked off your horse and you don’t know who it is talking to you from the sky. Who are you, Lord? And the answer is, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. I’m sure there was a lump in his throat. He realized suddenly, if Jesus is speaking to me, then he indeed has risen from the dead. I’m experiencing the voice of the risen Christ. So he asked a follow-up question. And it’s the follow-up question that led to his apostleship. The question is, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now, some Christians, every Christian gets an answer to the first question, who are you, Lord? They answer it, they believe in Jesus, they come to faith in him. But not every Christian gets around to asking the second one, what do you want me to do? What do you want out of my life? What is my calling? What am I to be involved in? How can I serve? And one of the reasons we don’t live fruitful lives is because we don’t get around to asking the second question.
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Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on His wood. Make a connection.
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Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God’s never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
