SHOW NOTES
Ephesians Study, pt1
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 185
I struggle with reading the Bible. I find it much more enjoyable to study the Bible. When I just sit and try to read the Bible like I read another book, my mind wanders. You have to dig in. I cover less pages in my Bible study time because I take the time to study it, to really dive in. Once I understood one book of the Bible (for me, that was Galatians), really grasping what it was about, it seemed like the rest of the Bible opened up to me. I had a “velcro” that I could stick things to.
I’m going to walk you through a little bit of the book of Ephesians.
Book of Ephesians: It is really the only epistle that is written to more than one local church. Ephesus was a region, and this book was written to multiple congregations in the same region. For that reason, there was really no correction in the book of Ephesians. There is a lot of vision, a lot of vision on what God’s Church looks like. Paul is painting a picture.
It is a good Bible study technique to first read everything at one time. Read the whole book. Once you get the general theme of the book, then you read each chapter and figure out the theme of that chapter. I’ll read that first chapter over and over again—maybe every day for a week, and I’ll make notes.
It takes a long time to absorb things. Every word means something. Often, we take verses out of context and not apply them in their full meaning.
Keith Tucci’s Ephesians Outline
Chapter 1: Identification—Who we are in Him
Chapter 2: Sanctification—What He has called us to
Chapter 3: Preservation—The ongoing reality of our salvation
Chapter 4: Articulation—Us sharing the message of the gospel
Chapter 5: Dedication
Ephesians 1:18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
You can’t speed read this. Every part of this verse needs to be studied out.
If you read the whole chapter, this is not something that is to come, but what those things are that he laid out in the prior 17 verses. It’s like a preacher who preaches and then prays that he hopes they get what he just preached.
Ephesians 1:7-9
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.
Wow! In those three verses, we have the words RICHES, LAVISHED, KIND INTENTION. God lavishes on you! He doesn’t give you crumbs, but lavishly gives to you. Does that not give you a great appreciation of God’s intention on how He wants you to see yourself in His Church? He wants you to see that you are a part of this Church He birthed.
Verse 18 is Paul praying what he just preached to them. That they might understand, having lavished grace, having the riches of forgiveness, having the kind intention of Almighty God, and that that would be their identity. That when they looked at their life, even in rough circumstances, they would see they were rich in Him.
This is what God says about you. This is the picture of His Church. That is why you have to be careful when you talk about God’s Church. He has put all His eggs in one basket. This is His Bride. When you start cursing His bride, calling her names, saying she isn’t good enough for you, you are mocking the cross.
Ephesians 1:20-23
Which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Where is the fullness of Christ today? In the local church. In His body. In that body, He has LAVISHED all His grace upon us, shown His kind intentions towards us, and given us the riches of His forgiveness. This is the understanding of identification. This is what Paul is praying in verse 18, that we would understand this.
Challenge: Read Ephesians 1 every day for a week, and pray verse 18 over yourself as you read it. Pray that you would get it. That you would see your identification in it. That you would see His Church, His bride in it.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
