2023-Q3-L03

2023-Q3-L03: The Power of the Exalted Jesus

Read for This Week’s Study: Eph. 1:15-23; Eph. 3:14-21; 1 Thess. 5:16-18; Deut. 9:29; 1 Cor. 15:20-22; Ps. 110:1.

Memory Text: Memory Text: Through the Holy Spirit, believers may know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:19, 20, NKJV)..

Ephesians 3:14-21

Scriptures

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (ESV): 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Deuteronomy 9:29 (ESV): 29 For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’’

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 (ESV): 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Psalm 110:1 (ESV): 1 The LORD says to my Lord:“Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Notes

Themes:

(1) Prayer and Thanksgiving are essential for the life of a Christian

(2) Experiencing the transformation of Christ

(3) Know and experience this power of Christ

Power. Power over people to get to the top. The ability of one to achieve his will against the will of others

Power in Ephesians.

The power of God (today) is to change lives. You know God is powerful when you see changes in your life.

The power Paul is talking about is found in chapter 2. We are "raised with him..."

Two powers. Power of coercion; power of persuasion.

Christ's idea of power when on earth was not ours. He could have commanded legions of angels by a word.

Power: The ability to do work.

Key verse. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is the power that is now at work within us.

There is power in HOPE. Because we are driven to continue in the face of trials and disappointment.

God's power is not like our power. God's power is resurrection power. It is creative and recreative power.

Philippians 3:8-11: Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed to his death, 11 if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Hebrews 13:20: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

Christ's enthronement is our guarantee of victory. Since Christ remains human, his reality will become our reality in the not too distant future.

PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens.

EGW

PLEDGE:

DA 25.3: By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan's purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” John 3:16. He gave Him not only to bear our sins, and to die as our sacrifice; He gave Him to the fallen race. To assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature. This is the PLEDGE that God will fulfill His word. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder.” God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the “Son of man” who shares the throne of the universe. It is the “Son of man” whose name shall be called, “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. The I AM is the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 7:26; 2:11. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.

SC 14:3: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” He gave Him not only to live among men, to bear their sins, and die their sacrifice. He gave Him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify Himself with the interests and needs of humanity. He who was one with God has linked Himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is “not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11); He is our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne, and through eternal ages one with the race He has redeemed—the Son of man. And all this that man might be uplifted from the ruin and degradation of sin that he might reflect the love of God and share the joy of holiness.

9T 186.4 - 187.2: “If these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:8.

Shall we not strive to use to the very best of our ability the little time that is left us in this life, adding grace to grace, power to power, making it manifest that we have a source of power in the heavens above? Christ says: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Matthew 28:18. What is this power given to Him for? For us. He desires us to realize that He has returned to heaven as our Elder Brother and that the measureless power given Him has been placed at our disposal.

Those who will carry out in their lives the instruction given to the church through the apostle Peter will receive power from above. We are to live upon the plan of addition, giving all diligence to make our calling and election sure. We are to represent Christ in all that we say and do. We are to live His life. The principles by which He was guided are to shape our course of action toward those with whom we are associated.

When we are securely anchored in Christ, we have a power that no human being can take from us. Why is this? Because we are partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, partakers of the nature of Him who came to this earth clothed with the habiliments of humanity, that He might stand at the head of the human race and develop a character that was without spot or stain of sin.

Why are many of us so weak and inefficient? It is because we look to self, studying our own temperaments and wondering how we can make a place for ourselves, our individuality, and our peculiarities, in the place of studying Christ and His character.

Hedge of protection

Job had a hedge of protection, as we have. Otherwise, Satan would have his way with us.

Ephesians 6:12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Christ is in heaven at the right hand of the Father with power. However, evil forces are in the air, in between heaven and earth.

We are to carry God's acceptance. We are surrounded by good angels which excel in strength.

SABBATH.

Four cosmos-shifting, salvation- history events:

The resurrection of Jesus; ("which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead")

His exaltation at the throne of God; ("set him at his right hand in the heavenly places")

All things being placed in subservience to Christ; ("he put all things in subjection under his feet")

Christ being given to the church as its head; ("has made him the head over all things for the church")

SUNDAY. Praying and Thanksgiving

From the lesson: Sometimes our default tone in prayer can be doleful, mourning over this challenge or that problem. Paul’s prayer reports in Ephesians suggest that thanksgiving is the native language of prayer. We gather up the blessings of God and thank Him for them. We seek to perceive God at work in difficult circumstances and praise Him for His transforming presence in our lives. Celebrating the grace and power of the exalted Jesus (Eph. 1:20-23), we thank Him for blessing those in our circle of influence. Here is Paul’s transforming secret for prayer: prayer is the key of praise and thanksgiving.

Paul also said that he does “not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Eph. 1:16, NKJV; see also Phil. 1:3, 4; 1 Thess. 1:2; and 1 Thess. 5:16-18).

What does it really mean to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17)? It cannot mean that we are always kneeling before God in prayer. It does mean that, blessed by God’s Spirit, we move through life with hearts open to the presence and power of God, seeking cues for thanksgiving to Him. It means a readiness to process the issues of life in the presence of God, to seek divine counsel as we experience the twists and turns that life brings. It means living not in estrangement from God but in engagement with Him, ever open to divine leading.

We too often view prayer as a nicety, an add-on to discipleship that is to be exercised when convenient. Paul illustrates a different view. Paul takes seriously the task of praying for the believers in Ephesus, doing so both by giving thanks for them (Eph. 1:16; compare Eph. 1:3-14) and by interceding for them (Eph. 1:17-23; compare Eph. 3:14-21). For him, prayer is a central, or even the central, task of Christian faith. These verses provide a moving call to prayer, an invitation for each of us to consider our own “prayer ministry” in the light of Paul’s dedication to it.

MONDAY. Experiencing Insight From the Holy Spirit

TUESDAY. Participating in Resurrection Power

From the lesson: In Ephesians 4:8-11, Paul warns us away from adopting a merely static image of Christ on the Father’s throne, presenting rather “the dynamic NT picture of the exalted Christ going forth by His Spirit in all the world, conquering and to conquer.” — F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984), p. 133. So Paul portrays the exaltation/coronation of Christ not simply as an illustration of the divine power offered to believers, but as the source of that power.

Notes

What does Jesus do in Heaven? Is it only performing the Investigative Judgment?

WEDNESDAY. Christ Above All Powers

THURSDAY. Jesus, All Things, and His Church

From the lesson: Early Christians saw in Psalm 110:1 a prophecy of the exaltation of Jesus: “The LORD says to my LORD: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’” (ESV). They read Psalm 8 in the same way, with its affirmation that God has “put all things under his feet,” (Ps. 8:6, ESV), the feet of “the son of man” (Ps. 8:4, ESV). While they believed that the powers of darkness in the heavenly places were over their heads and threatened to subjugate them, they laid hold of the truth that those powers were under Christ’s feet.

Notes

All powers: cosmic, supernatural, spiritual power included. Christ was victorious over all evil powers, as we can be. We can tap into this power through prayer.

Eternal purpose "in Christ". Ephesians 1:9; 3:11; 2:15; 4:24

Ephesians 1:9: He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ

Ephesians 3:11: This was according to the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:15: He did this by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments contained in ordinances in order to make peace between the two groups and create in himself one new man.

Ephesians 4:22-24: to put off the old man, which belongs to your former way of life and is corrupted through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new man, created according to the image of God in true righteousness and holiness.

"in Adam." Romans 5:12. Being born of Christ we are in Christ

John 1:12, "The right to become the children of God."

Romans 8:15-18. Joint heirs with Christ.

FRIDAY. Further Thought: “When Christ passed within the heavenly gates, He was enthroned amidst the adoration of the angels. As soon as this ceremony was completed, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in rich currents, and Christ was indeed glorified, even with the glory which He had with the Father from all eternity. The Pentecostal outpouring was Heaven’s communication that the Redeemer’s inauguration was accomplished. According to His promise He had sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to His followers as a token that He had, as priest and king, received all authority in heaven and on earth, and was the Anointed One over His people.” — The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 38, 39.