Soldiers for Christ E-Book

Dr. Brian J. Bailey

• Herausgeber: Zion Christian Publishers
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Dr. Brian Bailey presents this commentary on the epistle to the Ephesians, which beautifully portrays Christ as the warrior King, clothed with the armor of God. This same armor is available to us by His grace so that we too may be victorious over the enemy. It is the author’s prayer that the readers might enter into these beautiful truths that we might be raised up to “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (2:6)

Leseprobe

Soldiers For Christ

An Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians

Version 1.0

“Soldiers For Christ”

 © 1991 by Brian J. Bailey

Front cover design:

 © 2010 Zion Fellowship, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the

King James Version Bible unless otherwise stated.

Published by Zion Christian Publishers

Version 1.0

Published as an e-book on November 2013

in the United States of America

E-book ISBN 1-59665-143-1

For more information, please contact:

Zion Christian Publishers

AZion Fellowship ®Ministry

P.O. Box 70

Waverly, New York 14892

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to extend our thanks to all the following:

To Tarah Heyer, Mary Humphreys, Suzette Erb, Kathryn Erb, Mercy Pineda, and Joseph Cilluffo for the original editing and formatting of this book.

To Caroline Tham, Justin Kropf and Sarah Kropf for the re-editing, re-formatting and graphic design of the front cover.

We wish to extend our thanks to these dear ones for without their many hours of invaluable assistance, this book would not have been possible. We are truly grateful for their diligence, creativity, and excellence in the compilation of this book for the glory of God.

PREFACE

The Ephesian Epistle beautifully portrays Christ as the warrior King, clothed with the armour of God. This same armour is available to us by His grace so that we too may be victorious over the enemy.

Ephesians is the epistle of grace, love and power. Its pages are permeated with the fragrance of prayer. Because of its high degree of spiritual truth and revelation, Ephesians has been called The Queen of the New Testament Epistles.

The first part of Ephesians (chapters 1-3) takes us into heavenly places in God through Christ Jesus. The second part (chapters 4-6), after revealing to us our throne rights with Christ, shows us how to walk victoriously over the world, the flesh, and the devil in our daily life.

This epistle was written (along with Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians) during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment. It is one of the richest and deepest teachings in the whole of the Word of God, mainly due to the fact that these dear Ephesian believers had been privileged to sit under the teaching of the Apostle Paul in person for about three years.

One of the main themes of this epistle is love. Remarkably, it was for the lack of this personal love for Christ that the Lord rebuked the Ephesian believers many years later in Revelation 2:4: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”

It behoves us to learn from this rebuke, since it is often in our strongest area that we can fail. For example, Moses, who was the meekest man in all the earth, became provoked in his spirit by the children of Israel and lost his temper. His reaction and subsequent disobedience caused him to be barred from entering the Promised Land (see Ps. 106:33).

This little book is presented to you with the prayer that it will help you climb to higher spiritual places in Christ, and thereby give pleasure to God the Father in whom we live, and move, and have our being. I pray this book will be a blessing to you.

Brian J. Bailey

INTRODUCTION

The Apostle Paul addresses this epistle to the believers in Ephesus. Ephesus was built on several hills about four miles from the Aegean Sea at the mouth of the Cayster River. It was situated between the Maeander River to the south and the Hermus River to the north. This strategic position caused Ephesus to flourish.

It is worthy of note that the seven churches of Revelation are all situated in this area. Laodicea is located in the basin of the Maeander, while Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia are near the Hermus. Pergamos is further to the north on the River Caicus. In the valley of the Cayster River, the birth of ancient Asia took place.

Eventually the Asian province extended from sea to sea. It was ruled over by the kings of Pergamos. The last king of Pergamos, King Attalus III, died in 133 B.C. He left the whole of his domains to the Romans. According to the historian Strabo, the province of Asia was made a proconsular province by Augustus. Today it forms part of the nation of Turkey.

By New Testament times, the city of Ephesus had become the capital of the province of Asia, and was the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire, with an estimated population of over 250,000. It was an extremely wealthy city, and its treasury served as a bank to which many kings applied for massive loans.

Its religious life was governed by the pagan temple of Diana, which was one of the seven wonders of the world, and it supported hundreds of tradesmen who made souvenirs and images of the goddess. Also, Ephesus was filled with the worship of the occult, as Acts 19:13-20 seems to suggest.

Paul’s visit to this city of wealth and paganism is recorded in Acts 19:1-2: “And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”

Paul remained in Ephesus for two full years teaching in the school of Tyrannus so that all who dwelled in this province of Asia heard the Word of God. One reason the Gospel spread from Ephesus was that the city was connected by highways to all parts of the province and beyond. However, the most significant factor was that God did special miracles by the laying on of Paul’s hands, and by handkerchiefs which, after being laid upon his body, healed the sick to whom they were sent.

This epistle is full of long and complicated sentences that are at times difficult to unravel. We need to remember that in actuality it was not written by Paul but dictated by Paul while he was chained to a Roman soldier.

Timothy became the first bishop of Ephesus. Years later, Onesimus the runaway slave of Philemon was appointed bishop of Ephesus. Tradition holds that the beloved Apostle John lived there, and possibly that Mary the mother of Jesus died there. Thus the church was graced by many wonderful saints of God over the years. However, by the early Middle Ages Ephesus was no longer useful as a port due to silt deposited from the river, and it declined as did its spiritual influence. Its name, however, lives on through this most beautiful and spiritual letter which we will now seek to study.

Above all, we want to experience those most precious truths contained within its pages, for the Epistle of Ephesians is not a book that can be understood through mental comprehension, but only through personal experience.

Three Dominant Themes

1. Divine Election

2. Reconciliation

3. The Church (the Body of Christ)

OUTLINE

1.  THE INTERIOR LIFE

The believer’s position in Christ (1:1- 3:21)

2.  THE PRACTICAL LIFE

The believer’s conduct in Christ (4:1 - 6:24)

EXTENDED OUTLINE

THE BELIEVER’S POSITION IN CHRIST (CH. 1-3)

1.  Blessed with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ

a. Elected

b. Adopted

c. Redeemed

d. Forgiven

e. Sealed with the Spirit

2.  The Need to Receive the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

a. The hope of His calling

b. The glory of His inheritance

c. The exceeding greatness of His power to us

3.  Members of the Church are:

a. Quickened from their trespasses and sins

b. Made to sit in heavenly places

c. Saved by grace

d. Made His workmanship

e. Made a new man

4.  A Habitation of God Through His Spirit

a. Strengthened with might by His Spirit

b. Indwelt by Christ through faith

c. Rooted and grounded in love

d. Filled with all the fullness of God

THE BELIEVER’S CONDUCT IN CHRIST (CH. 4-6)

1.  Qualities of Leadership

a. Humility

b. Meekness

c. Longsuffering

d. Forbearance

e. Peace

2.  Gifts of Leadership

a. Apostle

b. Prophet

c. Evangelist

d. Pastor

e. Teacher

3.  Goals of Leadership

a. Perfecting the saints

b. Equipping them for the work of the ministry

c. Bringing them to the unity of the faith

d. Bringing them to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

4.  The Aspects of Walking in Christ for the Believer

a. Walking in love

b. Walking in light

c. Walking circumspectly as Christ walks

5.  The Abundant Life is Revealed in:

a. Married life

b. Family life

c. Secular life

d. Prayer life

Part One

THE BELIEVER’S POSITION IN CHRIST

Chapter 1

Chapter One of Ephesians speaks of the good pleasure of the Father. In this chapter we see that everything in life is done according to God’s good pleasure. Everything has been created for the pleasure of the Father, and that includes you and me, beloved.

1:1 -“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.” Paul opens his letter to his friends at Ephesus in his normal manner. He says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Our ministry is according to the will of God. We cannot choose what we want to be in the Body of Christ; the Lord is the One who chooses. Hebrews 5:4 speaks of the fact that not just anyone who aspires to be in the ministry receives that calling: “And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.”

We think we know what will make us happy, but in reality only God knows what we were created for and what will truly satisfy us. Many people spend their whole life seeking to do something that they were not meant to do or pursuing a career that God has not called them to, and they are never happy.

I know people who have spent their whole lives trying to become concert pianists, but they were never happy or satisfied because God had not called them to that ministry. We must find out what God’s will and calling for our lives is, and seek by His grace to fulfil it. Only then will we find true happiness.