82. Ephesians

Ephesians (Thru the Bible #47) J. Vernon McGee. 1977. 192 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: A quartet of men left Rome in the year A.D. 62 bound for the province of Asia which was located in what was designated as Asia Minor and is currently called Turkey.

I am reading the Bible in 2020 using the daily M'Cheyne (Robert Murray M'Cheyne) plan. I thought it would add a layer of substance to in addition to the four chapters a day, to also read commentaries for those chapters. For that I am using Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible. But the plan goes through the New Testament (and Psalms, I believe) twice. So now that I've finished Henry's commentary for the New Testament, I am tackling the New Testament commentary section of J. Vernon McGee's series.

This is not my first time reading J. Vernon McGee. I've read probably twenty or so of his commentaries. Most recently Galatians.

Overall, I like his laidback, casual, straightforward, tell it like it is approach to teaching Scripture. There is something so grounded and down to earth about him. Each reader is "his" friend. It's hard not to feel like he is a friend too.

Quotes:

Ephesians presents the church which is Christ’s body. This is the invisible church of which Christ is the Head. Colossians presents Christ as the Head of the body, the church. The emphasis is upon Christ rather than on the church. In Ephesians the emphasis is on the body, and in Colossians the emphasis is on the Head. Philippians presents Christian living with Christ as the dynamic. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13).

Dr. Arthur T. Pierson called Ephesians, “Paul’s third-heaven epistle.” Another has called it “the Alps of the New Testament.” It is the Mount Whitney of the High Sierras of all Scripture.

Years ago I got tired of hearing folk say, “I believe the Bible from cover to cover,” when they didn’t even know what was between the covers. They were just making a pious statement. If one really believes it is God’s Word, he will try to find out what it says.

Saints should act saintly, it’s true. But they’re not saints because of the way they act. They are saints because of their position in Christ. They belong to Him to be used of Him. The believers and the saints are the same, you see. A saint should be saintly and a believer should be faithful. A believer is one who has trusted Christ and a saint is the same one. 

The fact of the matter is, you are in the heavenlies in Christ even when you are down in the dumps. Everyone who is in Christ is seated in the heavenlies in Him. That is the position which He has given to us.

We are in Christ. Have you ever stopped to think of what we have in Christ? Christ has been made unto us justification and sanctification. When I started out in church as a boy, I was working for my salvation. I didn’t do very well with that. Then I learned that Christ is my justification. I tried to work to be good after I was saved, and I didn’t do very well at that either. Then I learned that Christ has been made unto me sanctification. You see, I have everything in Christ; I have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. You can’t improve on that, can you? When you come to Christ, you have everything in Him.

God the Father planned the church, God the Son paid for the church, and God the Holy Spirit protects the church. The source of all our blessings is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He carries our mind back to eternity past to make us realize that salvation is altogether of God and not at all of ourselves. You and I are not the originators or the promoters or the consummators of our salvation. God did it all.

A boy in Memphis, Tennessee, wanted to join a conservative, fundamental church, and the deacons were examining him. They asked him, “How did you get saved?” He answered, “I did my part, and God did His part” The deacons thought they had him, so they asked him what was his part and what was God’s part. He said, “My part was the sinning. I ran from God as fast as these rebellious legs would take me and my sinful heart would lead me. I ran from Him. But you know, He done took out after me ’til He done run me down.” My friend, there is nothing in a theology book that tells it as well as that. God is the One who did the saving. Our part was the sinning.

God chose believers in Christ before the foundation of the world, way back in eternity past. That means that you and I didn’t do the choosing. He did not choose us because we were good or because we would do some good, but He did choose us so that we could do some good. I emphasize again that men are not lost because they have not been elected. They are lost because they are sinners and that is the way they want it and that is the way they have chosen. The free will of man is never violated because of the election of God. The lost man makes his own choice. God has never predestinated anybody to be lost. If you are lost, it is because you have rejected God’s remedy.

God is righteous. He is holy and He is good. That adds up to one thing: God cannot do things that are wrong—that is, wrong according to His own standard. So God couldn’t save us by love. Love had God strapped—we could say it put Him in a bind. Now a God of love can reach out His hands to a lost world and say, ‘If you will believe in My Son, because He died for you—if you will come on that basis—I can save you.’ God doesn’t save us by His love. God saves us by His grace.”

Friend, your salvation rests upon the grace of God—not upon your faithfulness. You can be confident of this very thing, “… that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

On the basis of what Christ has done for you and on the fact that the Holy Spirit has inclined you toward Christ and you have believed the Word of God and have trusted Him, you can say, “I am saved” It’s not an “I hope so” salvation or an “I’ll try” salvation. It is a salvation that is by the grace of God, by means of faith, and it is not of yourself. It is a gift of God.

Faith is that instrument of salvation. Spurgeon says, “It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy hope in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ’s blood and merit.” That is where the power is, and that is where the salvation is.

The Spirit of God is talking to saved people. If you are not a Christian, God is not asking you to do the commands in this epistle. First you must become a child of His through faith in Christ; you must become a member of His body. What follows in this epistle is for those who have been redeemed and have heard the Word of truth. Dead men cannot walk no matter how insistently they are urged to walk. The dead man must first be made alive. Paul has told us that we were dead in trespasses and sins. That is the condition of all who are lost. The top sergeant doesn’t go out to the cemetery and yell, “Attention! Forward march!” If he did, there certainly wouldn’t be any marching. Nobody would move. They must first have life. 

I think the greatest sin in the local church today is the ignorance of the man sitting in the pew; he doesn’t know the Word of God, and that is a tragedy. I would hate to get into an airplane if the pilot didn’t know any more about flying than the average church member knows about Christianity and the Word of God. The plane wouldn’t make it—I think it would crash before it got ten feet into the air. That is the condition of the church today. All believers need to be trained in the Word of God so they can do the work of the ministry.

If you can get into sin and not be troubled or bothered by it, you are not a child of God. I do not think there is any other alternative. But if there is conviction in your heart, you can rise and go to your Father as the Prodigal Son did. You are a son of the Father, and only sons want to go to the Father’s house. I have never heard of a pig that wanted to go there. The sins listed here are low sins which characterize the ungodly person.

God does not spank the Devil’s children.

There are too many Christians who take the critical method or the preaching method. They try to correct an unsaved person by saying, “You shouldn’t be doing that.” My friend, that is not the way to approach the darkness. You are to be light. You cannot preach to people about these things. You cannot tell them what to do and not do. I constantly get letters from people who are telling me that I should preach against certain sins. No, my business is to turn on the light of the Word of God—that which God calls right. You see, you are not able to win a person to Christ by lecturing to him and telling him what is wrong. You are not to try to get the unsaved man to change his conduct; he cannot change his conduct. He needs to be born again in order to change. You are not to shake your finger under his nose and say, “Don’t do that. Don’t be a bad boy.” You are to be light, and light will always affect darkness. There is a saying that you never ask a Texan if he is a Texan. If he is a Texan, he’ll let you know it without your asking. If he is not a Texan, you wouldn’t want to embarrass him! My friend, a Christian ought to walk in such a way that you know he is a child of God without asking him. We all need to look carefully how we walk. 

I do not think the Devil is concentrating in the nightclubs or on skid row or in the underworld or in the Mafia. I think he is concentrating on the church on Sunday morning. He is working on the spiritual front, and too many sleepy Christians seem to be totally unaware of that. Too many Christians are concerned about closing up the cocktail parlors when they need to be closing their mouths from gossiping and criticizing. The Devil is working in an area where we least expect to find him. He is not out on the town on Saturday night. He has gone to bed early so he can get up and go to church on Sunday morning. The spiritual battle is being fought wherever a man is giving out the Word of God, where a church is standing for the Word of God. That is the place the Devil wants to destroy, and that is the place of the spiritual battle.

Do you think that the Devil is going to knock at your door and say, “Look, I’m the Devil; I’m here to take you in; I’m here to fool you”? Obviously, that is not the way the Devil will approach you. He will use every possible way to deceive you. He may send someone to knock at your door and offer you literature that will “explain” the Bible. Or, he may approach you this way if you are in a church that is going liberal: “Remember, grandpa had a pew in the church and that window over there is named for grandma. You can’t afford to leave this church because you have so much invested here.” The Word of God says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord …” (2 Cor. 6:17). And the Devil says, “But we really need you here, so why don’t you just stick around?” You see, he is subtle.

If we line up with Satan, we will find ourselves defeated. What can we do? Listen: We cannot overcome him ourselves. You and I are no match for the Devil. We are not even told to fight the Devil. We are told that God will fight for us.

It is only God’s armor which can withstand the strategy and onslaught of Satan who has all kinds of weapons (spiritual missiles). We need an antimissile system if we are going to overcome him. That is why it is so important for the Christian soldier to recognize that he does not fight an enemy who is flesh and blood. We are not to fight other men. The enemy is spiritual, and the warfare is spiritual. The Devil is the enemy of every believer and the one here whom we are told we fight.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible