God's Riches At Christ's Expense...It's All Grace!

Introduction: The book of Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul, between 60-62 A.D., while he was a prisoner, awaiting trial in Rome.  Ephesus was a capital of the Roman Empire in Asia, located in present day Turkey.  Many in Ephesus worshipped the goddess Diana...in fact the Temple of Diana, was located there and was one of the seven wonders of the world at that time.  Paul visited and ministered at Ephesus toward the end of his second missionary journey and during his third journey he stayed in the city and ministered for three years.  He writes this epistle to them...people who he loved and cared for and shared with them some very great truths.  This letter  has been given such titles as the Believer's Bank, the Christian's Checkbook and the Treasure House of the Bible.  I love these titles.  We so often forget how very rich we are as believers in Christ.  The riches we have are unfathomable...in Him we are filled with all the fullness of God.   We are fellow heirs with Christ and one Spirit with Him.  Jesus calls us His brothers and shares all He possesses with us...in Him we have an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for us.

In this letter Paul reminds us of those riches that are ours in Christ and our standing before God because of what Christ has done for us.  In the first three chapters, Paul teaches truths about the gospel and salvation, about the church and about the body of Christ.  In the last three chapters he gives practical teaching on church, family and work.  He also teaches us how to obtain spiritual victory by putting on the whole armor of God.

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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.--Ephesians 1:1-2


Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God....Paul is an apostle, or one who is sent forth with orders, of Jesus Christ not by man's will, nor by any credentials or training but by the will of God.  His job as an apostle was to teach the Word of God and build up others in the faith. Paul was who he was by God's grace.  Our lives mean nothing and are for nothing until we can say along with Paul who and what we are by the will of our God.  It is then that we are who our Creator would have us be.  I think it is also important to note that Paul is not boasting here...he is simply stating what his qualifications for speaking on God's behalf.  He has been sent forth with orders...Paul knows who he was without God.  He was an unbeliever, a persecutor of God's people,  and considered himself the chief of sinners.  None of us  is anything until we act in faith and receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is then that we are justified before God and are established in our position with God as "in Christ."  Paul counted whatever he was and had before coming to faith in Jesus as dung:


Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:



to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:  As believers we are His saints!!! We are the faithful!! (sometimes that is hard to believe)  Every believer has been set apart and made holy through the righteousness of Christ that has been placed to his account.  When we act in faith to believe and receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, God acts in grace and imputes Christ's perfect righteousness to our account. It is all God and nothing of us.  Our position with God is now "in Christ." We may be physically in the world but have now been made alive spiritually and our true home is now in heaven with our God.  The Spirit of God now resides in our hearts and it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.  We are now identified with Christ and can draw on the riches we have in Him as we sojourn our way through this world toward our permanent home in heaven.

Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  This was a common but beautiful greeting used in the early church that acknowledged the divine grace that has made them members of Christ's body and God's family.   The word grace pictures God's great kindness to us who are undeserving of His favor but have placed our faith in His Son.   I have been grafted in as His child...a member of His body and God's family only by His unmerited and undeserved favor....His grace.  It is because of His grace that I can have peace with my God and can be accepted in His beloved Son as His child.  I am complete in Him and have all that I need for life and godliness.

For next study (Ephesians 1:3) go here