Ephesians is a letter that focuses on what God did through the historical work of Jesus Christ and is still doing through His Spirit today. He is building His new society, the church, in the midst of a dead world. Ephesians is a message to remind us of the wealth of spiritual blessings we have in Christ and how to use those blessings to grow into Christ and be a Christian in a broken world for the glory of God and our good.

Today’s Theme: Ephesians -The unfathomable riches of grace

Key Takeaways

• Hetty Green, an infamous miser, was known as the richest woman in America. Due to her extreme frugality, her abundant riches did not positively impact her life or the lives of those around her. Similarly, Christians often choose to live in spiritual poverty rather than receive the grace and reap the blessings available in Jesus.
  
  
• In Ephesians, we have:
  
  – Everything we need to come to maturity in Christ.
  – Practical instruction about how to access and apply the riches of God’s grace in our roles, relationships, and responsibilities.
  – The role of the church: who we are (body, bride, temple, family, household) and how we are to live in light of our calling.
  – A letter to the church… every church… for all time.
  
  
• As Tyler defines, “Christian maturity is to be drawn up fully into the very life of God.
  
  
• Ephesians can be broken down into 3 sections: Sit – seated in the heavenly places with Christ, Walk – in a manner worthy of our calling, Stand – firm in the faith against the evil one.
  
  
• Verse 1 evidences the riches of God’s grace in Paul’s life. He was formerly an active persecutor of the church and by the grace of God, he became an apostle, a proclaimer of the Gospel, and a light to the Gentiles.
  
  
• As displayed through Paul’s story, no one is beyond the reach of the unfathomable riches of grace in Christ Jesus.
   
• Ephesus was a wealthy trade center, a melting pot of nations, a city drawn to magic and the occult, and home to the Temple of Artemis.  
  
  
• Like the Ephesians, we are called to leave behind the riches of the world and receive the unfathomable riches of God’s grace.
  
  
• If you are in Christ, then you are a trophy of God’s grace. As a trophy of God’s grace, you have the unfathomable riches of His grace available to you as His church.
  
  
• All believers have access to the unfathomable riches of God’s grace.
  
  
• With the introduction “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul takes two ordinary greetings and reconciles them into one new greeting to demonstrate the equality between Jew and Gentile in Christ. Through God’s grace, there emerges peace between God and man as well as between redeemed humanity.
  
  
• The unfathomable riches of grace laid out in Ephesians include election, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, knowledge of His will, wisdom, inheritance, the Holy Spirit, eternal security, eternal life, personal knowledge of God, an enlightened heart, the hope of His calling, the church, regeneration to a new life, we are new creations as His workmanship, reconciliation across ethnicities and cultures, peace with God, and weapons for spiritual warfare.
  
  
  

Discussion Questions/Application

Personal reading:

• Read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in its entirety. Continue to dwell on and delight in the riches of God’s unfathomable grace.

Personal reflection:

• Reflect on your own testimony of grace– who you once were apart from Christ, who you are in Christ, and how you are to live in light of God’s goodness and grace.
  
  

Discuss with your community group:

• Do your perspective, prayers, speech, and actions reflect the belief that “no one is beyond the reach of the unfathomable riches of grace?” Who do you struggle to extend the love of Christ to in your life?

• In what ways are you prone to live like Hetty Green and experience spiritual poverty when the riches of grace are abundantly available to you? How will you practically encourage one another this week to access and apply what Christ offers?

Passages Referenced for Further Study

Ephesians 1:1-2; Ephesians 3:8; Acts 19:18-20; Acts 7:54-8:3; Acts 9:1-19.