Adding To Your Faith
Adding to Your Faith is all about helping you understand biblical principals and workshop biblical practices in a way that shapes and forms us into the image of Jesus Christ.
Adding To Your Faith
Adopted And Equipped ("Their Home" Day 1)
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What a privilege to be chosen and redeemed. Nothing reveals the glory of God more beautifully than a saved sinner surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus. In this episode, Rachael and Matt start in Ephesians to demonstrate the second method in their "How to Study the Bible" series: "From Their Home to Our Home." Walk with them through a radically different time, place, and context - only to find the timeless truths and personal application that promise to truly transform you in the here and now.
Click Here for week three homework sheet
BEFORE this episode: Complete DAY ONE homework (Ephesians 1:1-10)
AFTER this episode: Complete DAY TWO homework (Ephesians 1:11-14)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
While it is important to know that you have everything you need to engage with God's Word if you simply have a Bible and the indwelling Holy Spirit, a few additional resources could be helpful in providing you clearer understanding of the spiritual and cultural context of the book of Ephesians. Click the links below if you'd like to explore these additional tools:
Framing A Fruitful Christian Life
SPEAKER_00Do you ever feel like your life just isn't as productive or effective as it should be? As followers of Jesus, we want our short time on earth to have eternal impact, but often we feel like we're falling short. The good news is that Scripture gives us a promise. A life that's never ineffective or unproductive in knowing Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 1, we're told to build on our faith, adding goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. As these qualities grow, they keep us fruitful and effective for God's kingdom. I'm Matt Morrow, and my wife Rachel and I have spent nearly 20 years teaching God's word and walking with people in every stage of faith. Our passion is to see lives permanently and radically transformed by Scripture applied. Adding to your faith is here to help you understand biblical truth, practice it daily, and grow to look more like Jesus. We're glad you're
Meet Matt And Rachel
SPEAKER_00here. Let's walk this journey together.
The Study Method Overview
SPEAKER_01Welcome, I'm Rachel, and I'm here with Matt, and we are on week three, and we are on day two of our new method of studying the Bible, which is called From Their Home to Our Home, and is a method that walks us through observing their home, understanding what it means, and then bringing it back to our home, trying to figure out how it relates, what those timeless truths are, and then applying it in our home and in our lives. So, what do we do? What is our response to that? And so we will walk through this first day of homework. We're going to be in the book of Ephesians, and we're going to be in verses one through
Homework And How To Engage
SPEAKER_0110. And if you have not done this homework, I would encourage you to pause this podcast right now and download the notes if you haven't done that. But spend some time walking through, observing this text, asking good questions about what's happening in that text, identifying timeless truths, and then applying those truths to your life. So really spend some time wrestling through that with the Lord yourself because that's where transformation happens. And then you can come back and listen to our discussion if that's helpful to you. So as we begin, we're going to walk through day one homework.
Opening Prayer For Study
SPEAKER_01And so, Matt, would you like to open us in prayer before we begin?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Let's bow and go to the Lord. Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for just the encouragement that can be found here as we study the first chapter of Ephesians. I pray, Father, for those who are listening and who are doing this study alongside us, I pray that you will just encourage the hearts of those who are seeking to know you better by deeper intimacy with your word. And so, Lord, I know that as we try new methods and new new approaches, that it can be uh challenging, difficult, sometimes it can feel complicated or hard at first. So I pray, Lord, that you'll just give encouragement along the way there, that you'll grant us perseverance as we as we learn to step more confidently in applying new methods and approaches to studying your word. But as we do that, most importantly, Lord, I pray that your spirit will go ahead of us. I pray that your spirit will ready our hearts and open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to what you have for us in your word. No method can replace the power of your spirit. And so I just pray that your spirit will go ahead of us, Lord, that you will draw us deeper into your word, and by doing that into deeper intimacy with you as our holy and precious Father. Lord, we love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Amen.
Reading Ephesians 1:1–10
SPEAKER_00So we are going to jump right in to Ephesians 1, and we hope that you've had a chance to really uh wrestle with this a little bit. And again, as I prayed just now, sometimes new methods can be a little bit complicated and can feel a little bit, a little bit awkward at first. I want to just encourage you to persevere through that. Don't don't let that slow you down or stop you. If if you worked through the first week with us, you probably already experienced with the the method of of statement and two questions that what was a little bit more difficult early in the week became much more natural later in the week. The same will happen with other methods, methods as you persevere through that. So we're going to start with Ephesians 1, 1 through 10. And I'd like to begin by just reading it, and then we can uh we can start unpacking that through observe their home, understand their home, bring it back home, and apply it in your home. So uh let's go ahead and pick up in Ephesians 1, 1 through 10. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. That's Ephesians 1, 1 through 10.
Observation: Author, Audience, Theme
SPEAKER_00Just a few things going on there, right? Paul writes in long sentences, we know that. So he does do that. I would not want to diagram it, but nobody diagrams sentences anymore anyway, I guess. But um, as you take a first look at that, I we talked about how observing their home, what do I see? This is you as a forensic detective or an investigative journalist. You're asking who, what, why, where, when, how. You're just getting a sense of what's going on. You're collecting facts as you look at it. Rachel, what were some of the facts that you observe or the or the the the basic information here?
SPEAKER_01I think the thing that that stands out immediately is that the beginning of the letter tells you who wrote it and who he wrote it to. Yeah. Right. So we know that Paul says that he wrote this. Paul says of himself that he is a poss he's an apostle of Christ by the will of God. So he's not an apostle by his own will, right? He's an apostle by the will of God.
SPEAKER_00Which is a theme that just per pervades this whole section of scripture, just the just the sovereignty of God. And it shows up over and over through this whole passage.
SPEAKER_01And this letter is written to the saints who are in Ephesus. And so we know that this letter is written to believers. So we can read this letter in context, that it is written to those who are redeemed, who are in the Spirit of God, who have the Spirit of God. So as we read that, we can know that he's writing to the believers, to the saints.
SPEAKER_00And I also notice there that he's not, I mean, some of these letters in the in the New Testament are corrective in nature, but in this case, he's writing to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful to Christ Jesus. This is an encouragement to the faithful.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And so we can read the rest of this letter in in that context, that this is written to believers who are faithful by an apostle
Understanding Context And Repeated Themes
SPEAKER_01who was chosen and ordained by God into this kingdom.
SPEAKER_00And and so if you if you if you're like me and you take this text and I started just writing down who, what, who, where, why, when, how, on different parts of the of the text, and and it's all over it. So you get you get who, we've talked about Paul and the saints in Ephesus. We've talked about where, which is Ephesus, and and how, the those who are faithful in in Christ. And and then when we get into some deep theological messaging that follows immediately in the greeting. This is just the greeting of the letter, but we get a lot here about how the grace of God works, how the purpose of his will is ordained, and the focus of his grace that that comes with that. But all of that really is just a part of making that observation here in this text. And so we get a good sense of what that looks like and how how you go about it. Again, you can spend and probably should spend more time than we're demonstrating here right now, but you're just collecting facts here at the at the opening in the observation stage. The next stage is to understand their home, which is what does it mean? That's when we start really trying to understand the context, get a sense of what's going on in this space and and what the you know, what the situation is. So, Rachel, what did you do observe here in terms of understanding their home?
SPEAKER_01Well, and as you observe, you see a lot of repetitive words, things like blessed and chosen, things in that theme, chosen, predestined, blessed, loved, redeemed. So you see a lot of these themes kind of showing up again and again. And so when you think about like just what it means, it it seems like Paul is trying to communicate to us who we are in Christ and what we have available to us through Christ. And so noting some of those, some of those things that he says that we have, because of God's love and grace, we're blessed with every spiritual blessing. And the text uh identifies some of those for us, but we're blessed with every spiritual blessing. We are adopted as sons by the most high God through Jesus, and then we are being brought together under the headship of Christ. And so it's just this picture of really who we are and what what we have because we've been adopted into the family of God through Jesus.
SPEAKER_00And this deep theological
Guarding Against Anachronism
SPEAKER_00message is being delivered in a context of a young church. I mean, all the churches, I mean, any church that's receiving a letter in the New Testament is a young church, right? They're they're early, early believers, they've they've come to Christ. Most of them came to Christ at about the same time, but they're all pretty new at it for the most part. And so times are difficult. The church is being persecuted, and at the same time, here are these saints in Ephesus, which we're told here at the beginning of the text, are faithful in Christ Jesus. So there's there's an encouraging message that's a part of this, these deep theological statements. And and you mentioned this message of blessing, of just this blessedness that comes with it, this understanding of living under blessing and a reminder of the glorious work and the purpose that exists in their redemption. That you were saved, you were redeemed because God has always had a plan. And you are a part of that plan, and he has great, he has really great purposes that you now get to be a part of. And all of that is a part of his grand and glorious plan and purpose that he's invited us into, as you said, as sons, as adopted sons.
SPEAKER_01And I mean, historically and culturally, this is written to a gentile church. This is written to the church in Ephesus, which is not Israel. Right. And so he is writing to these believers in Ephesus and saying, This is who you are in Christ, that you are adopted as sons, that you are being brought under the headship of Christ as part of his body. And so you have to just, I think, kind of pause and think about what a radical thought that is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So I'm gonna pause here for a second because I think probably for people who are newer to this kind of a method, that of the four, of the four, you know, steps, I guess if you would call it that, these four principles, observe
Drawing Timeless Truths
SPEAKER_00their home, what do I see, understand their home, what does it mean, bring it back home, how does it relate? That's your timeless truth, or apply it in your home, what do I do? That's how I respond to the timeless truth with personal application. Probably the one that if you're not as familiar with it and you're maybe not as experienced in Bible study, that the that the one that may be the hardest is this one that we're on right now, which is the the what does it mean? And that's where you're drawing a lot of context. You're trying to get an understanding of some of the things that you've talked about here, Rachel, that we've discussed a little bit. And so what I would say is that we're gonna include in the show notes some links to some resources if you find them helpful. The whole point of this is that you don't need other resources in in order to draw nearer to the Lord through his word. So I don't want to give the wrong impression here, but sometimes if you don't happen to have a study Bible that can tell you, you know, what's going on in Ephesus when this is written or that kind of thing, then a couple of resources can be helpful in that regard, mostly just so that you can move beyond that and because you want to rightly understand the foundation. And then from that, you're drawing timeless truths, you're drawing application. You don't really probably typically need additional resources for those kinds of things.
SPEAKER_01No, and taking the the things that the text tells you, I think are really important to do.
SPEAKER_00And it gives you a lot there.
SPEAKER_01And just being cautious not to assign your own cultural understanding to a text. And just being mindful of that, I think can can help prevent some prevent you from from taking some things from it that you shouldn't take from it. Is it's just that mindset that this was written to a particular time and a particular people. And I want to think about it from that lens as opposed to trying to think about what this might mean to me or what this means to something going on in the headlines today.
SPEAKER_00And ask yourself questions and sort of drive your yourself back to that because our our tendency is going to
Personal Application And Identity
SPEAKER_00be to go in that in that maybe more errant direction. But ask yourself questions. I mean, simple questions like, okay, says Paul, an apostle of Christ, what's an apostle? Let me try to let me dig deeper into what that means. What's you know, what is that? What is it? And just really trying to pull yourself every time you can pull yourself back with just basic questions that draw you back into the time, place, culture, and context that it was written as a starting point.
SPEAKER_01Right. And spending that time doing that observation, that's why that's really important because you're noting those things that the word says for itself. You're you're noting that. And then if there are things that as you're reading it seem to be confusing or maybe don't make sense, or you want to check and make sure that that I'm understanding that correctly, then that might be a good time to go to to some of these outside resources. But but to your point, you need to spend the time. You don't you don't have to have outside resources to really understand it. And you're probably not even prepared for those until you've spent some time really reading it and and seeing what it says and identifying kind of what what those things mean.
SPEAKER_00And you don't and just collect the facts, collect the facts and then try to understand the context. Okay. So next up is bring it back home, which is how does it relate? This is where we start to translate that what we observe and what it means into timeless truths, things that were absolutely true then, always have been, and always will be, and certainly are true today. What are some of those kinds of truths that you found, Rachel? How does it relate when you look at timeless truths from this passage?
SPEAKER_01The timeless truth that that I took from this is that salvation is from the Lord, that we are chosen by the will of God, that we are chosen in love, grace was freely given by God, that we have a purpose that was completed in the in Jesus' like in Christ's time, and that we have every spiritual blessing in Christ.
SPEAKER_00So
Bold Witness And Daily Practice
SPEAKER_00I had I have written down timeless truths as well, and some of the words are slightly different, but those are the same timeless truths, right? That God saves us for his glory, that he sacrificed all because of his love for us, and that we have eternal purpose as the redeemed in him. And and so much, there's just so much there that's always true and always will be. And then based on those truths, we move into apply it in your home, which is what do I do? How do I respond to those timeless truths? And they're questions like, who should I be? How should I think? What should I do? Where should I go? Who will I teach? Some of the kinds of responses to that. I mean, I I was struck, the very first one is who should I be? I'm I wrote down, I am an adopted son of God, adopted by grace, redeemed by the blood of Christ. That's who I am, because of what's true in this in this text. What are some of the applications that that you picked up, or how do you answer some of these questions? How should I think? What should I do? What how did you respond to some of these truths, Rachel?
SPEAKER_01I think one of the things that I have to to watch is often my thinking. I can be really prone to discouragement or to think that I'm not not doing enough or not doing the right things, or and so just coming back and resting in the love of God that that everything that I need I have in Christ because I've been giving every spiritual blessing. I have wisdom, I have understanding, I have grace, I have mercy, I have been redeemed, I was chosen in love before the beginning of time. Like to just kind of meditate on some of those things is an encouragement to me that that I
Prayer, Meditation, Memorization
SPEAKER_01have that. Yeah. That I am seated there already.
SPEAKER_00So just in these first couple of applications, what you've heard is you've heard me talk about who who I am based on this text. And you've heard Rachel talk about how I should think as a as a as a response to this, these timeless truths. And then and then if you move on to things like what should I do, where should I go, who will I teach? I mean, uh, one of the things that comes to my mind in light of what Rachel just said and what I said before that in terms of what's what's there about who I should be and how I should think is I should be bold in proclaiming this glorious gospel. There should be nothing that prevents me or stops me from boldly proclaiming the truth of this gospel. It's good news that that I have the privilege of carrying to people who are desperately in need of good news, right? What were some of the any other any other applications that you that you
SPEAKER_01I think just to think about, right? Just to meditate on some of these words. Like God's love has been lavished on me, that I have been predestined and adopted as a son. Like an a son of God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? The most high creator, the king, has chosen to put me in his family. And then to give me everything that I would ever need through Christ. And just to to meditate on that and think about that. And and to your point, right? Like live from that.
SPEAKER_00I should I should walk confidently in that.
SPEAKER_01Right. That we should walk confidently, not in fear, not in anxiety, not worrying about tomorrow, but to think about the blessings that have been lavished on us. I mean, what a great word. No kidding.
SPEAKER_00No kidding. Well, I I think I hope that so as you have those in place, then we want to move typically. Again, we're moving a little bit quicker than you might in your
Encouragement And What’s Next
SPEAKER_00own study, but just to give you an idea of what this looks like in practice. So we went through what do I see and observation, what does it mean and understanding? Uh, how does it relate, bringing it back home in terms of timeless truths, and then applying it in your home, which is how will I respond? How will I be changed in what I do or how I act or how I live in light of this truth of Scripture? And once we've done all of that, love to come back to say, well, what is it in this text that moves me to prayer? What is it that I've seen in this text that I should praise God for or take before Him in need? Rachel, what kinds of things jumped out to you in terms of prayer response to this text?
SPEAKER_01I I I actually at the end of this, because it is so much, you know, there are just so many things in there that I actually just wrote out a prayer. Yeah. You know, that the Lord would help me to know his love and grace so that my heart and life would praise his grace and his sacrifice and his wisdom that he's lavished on me, that I would know that I've been adopted and that I have every blessing, that I would understand what a gift it is to be called a son of God. And it reminded me of 1 John 3:1, where John writes, What kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called the sons of God, and so we are. And so it just reminded me of that verse. And so that became part of my prayer, right? God has just lavished this love on us, and I just wanted to marinate in that for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And you may be moved as you as you read this text to just praise God for his grace. You may be moved to
Closing Prayer Of Praise
SPEAKER_00to thank God for saving you, or to praise him for the fact that he has glorious eternal purposes and that he's invited us to be a part of those, and then just worship the eternal God, who he is, for who he is. These are to me, in in a text like this, that's just a, I mean, that seems like a a response that you almost can't resist as a as a follower of Christ if you're immersed in this word. In a moment, we're going to close in prayer, and Rachel, I'm going to ask you to pray that prayer. I mean, you we should close in a prayer that's inspired by the text today as well. Before we do that, we want to encourage you not only to move on to move reading to prayer, but also to move reading to meditation and memorization. So is there a verse in here or a section of the text that you that you read today that you should just contemplate or that you should commit to to memory? Or maybe you want to again write it down on a card, repeat it back, have it somewhere where you can reference it in other times through the course of today and this week. For me, that was Ephesians uh 1, 11, and 12 in particular. Actually, I take that back. That's actually for tomorrow. So I can't do that yet. I'm gonna hold off on that. Did you have one that you wanted to run with Rachel on this? Oh tease that's a that's a teaser for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01So you have to stay with us to find out why I think you know, just like I said, I there are so many phrases in there that like the riches of his grace, which he lavished lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose that he set forth in Christ, and this plan that was in the fullness of time. And just think about how long the world waited for this promise and and didn't really, I mean, the Jews of Paul's time didn't even really understand what they were waiting for. And then Christ came and fulfilled all of it in a way that they couldn't even think or imagine. And Paul's like, this mystery has now been revealed, and it's been revealed not only to Israel, but it's been revealed to the Gentiles. Like God is calling everybody in into his sonship. And so, I mean, I think just like I said, there's a lot like in there, but just kind of thinking through that, you know, that the riches of his grace that he's lavished upon us.
SPEAKER_00That's good. That's some that's some good stuff there. I hope that this has been helpful to you as you come to this podcast, hopefully, having worked through the first 10 verses of Ephesians 1 yourself, and and as we've talked through some of how we've applied this method, hopefully that's instructive to you or helpful along the way, or just an encouragement to you. I want to encourage you to keep at it. Tomorrow uh we'll be in Ephesians 1, 11 through 14. So a little bit shorter passage than what we had today. So, but you'll apply all the same methods and and steps tomorrow that you did today. And as I as I prayed earlier and as we we discussed, you're going to find that as you practice this, as you do this more, it's going to become more natural to you. Even over the course of this week, it's going to become more natural to you. You're going to get get more comfortable with this as you continue to do it. Uh, Rachel, any any parting thoughts or encouragement you'd like to offer the uh listeners before we uh before we close in prayer?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just keep at it. I mean, I think that's what you said, but that's what I would echo is just just keep at it that that they're that God's word is so beautiful and so perfect. And so as you seek to understand it and to see those timeless truths, the Lord will answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_00He sure will. He's faithful to do it. I'm gonna ask you to close us in prayer, Rachel. And if you as you do that, please, I I hope you'll pray some of the prayer you wrote down that was inspired specifically by today's by today's text. But but would you lead us in prayer as we close?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Father, we just praise you. We praise you because you have loved us and you have predestined us, and your word says that it was according to your good pleasure and your will, that you wanted to do this, that your grace is glorious and it was freely given to us because of your love for Jesus. And Father, we just praise you for that. We praise you that you have redeemed us, we praise you that you have forgiven us, that you have blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, that you have chosen us, that you have loved us, that you predestined us before the beginning of the world, that you adopted us as sons, that you have called us your own. And so, Father, I pray that you will help all of us, each of us, to know your love and your grace, so that we in our hearts and in our lives will praise you. Father, that we will see your grace, your sacrifice, and the wisdom that you have lavished on us, that you have adopted us as sons and you've given us all of these blessings. Father, help us to just think about, to meditate on, to understand what it means to be called a son of God. Father, what love you have lavished on us to be given, like to call us sons, and that's what we are. And so we just praise you for that and thank you for all that you have done for us, and we thank you for the rest and the confidence and and the security that we have, that our salvation belongs to you and is in you, and that we are already seated in the heavenly realms. Father, I pray that you help us to live from that and to live from who we are in Christ, and we ask that in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_00May the Lord go with you and I pray that he will bless your time in Ephesians tomorrow. We'll be back here tomorrow with Ephesians 1 11 to 14.