Ephesians • Seek Your Treasure in Jesus Christ

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Have you lost confidence in the one true God to meet your needs? Have you begun to rely on the aid of substitute “powers,” even subconsciously? Why would you do that? In the last article in this series, we looked at the similarities between the culture of Ephesus and our modern culture regarding what we consider valuable, especially when it comes to successful living. This is post #2 in the Ephesians blog series. In this post, we will learn how to seek our treasure in Jesus Christ alone and get rid of anything we substitute for Him.

Listen to this post as a similar podcast from the Seek the Treasure Bible Study covering Ephesians in the New Testament. (8 lessons)

How God Uses Miracles

Paul taught truth

In Acts chapter 19, we read this,

Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. (Acts 19:8-10)

Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus, teaching daily about Christ in a local lecture hall. Anyone and everyone were invited to listen and learn.

Extraordinary miracles

God validated Paul’s words with a statement of His own. Big time!

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. (Acts 19:11-12)

God did extra-ordinary miracles. Now, miracles are already pretty spectacular. And they generally have a three-fold purpose:

1. Miracles authenticate the message and the messenger. Jesus on earth performed lots of miracles, and people listened to His message. The Ephesians listened to Paul’s message as coming from God because of the miracles that God performed through Paul.

2. Miracles demonstrate God’s compassion for people. The Bible says that God cured people of their illnesses. Reading through the gospels will show you how much compassion Jesus as God has on women, men, and children.

3. Miracles demonstrate that God’s power is beyond that of any human as well as Satan and his demonic forces. Ephesus was a superstitious place. They believed in supernatural power. They were just seeking the wrong ones.

So God did extra-miraculous miracles. The Greek word used in Acts 19 verse 11 is tugchano (toong-khan-o). It means “to hit the mark like one who is throwing a javelin or arrow.”

God was targeting their need. I love that visual. God was saying, “You Ephesians want spiritual power. I’ll show you spiritual power.” Extra-miraculous miracles!

He did things the evil spirits couldn’t overcome or copy. God demonstrated to those superstitious, obsessed people that He was more powerful than their magicians and their other religious substitutes. He knew what they really needed—Himself!

God hits the mark

You know what? Our powerful God knows how to hit the mark for your need as well, doesn’t He? Whatever it is! Whatever it takes! He’ll do it. You can probably think of something in your life where He hit the mark. I certainly can!

And God hits that mark for you and me not just to get our attention but to draw our attention to His Son, Jesus Christ.

Christianity is Christ! It is not a lifestyle. It’s not rules of conduct. It’s not a society of people who are joined together by the sprinkling or covering of water. Christianity is a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus invites every man, woman, and child into a close relationship with Himself as brothers, sisters, and friends.

But who is Jesus? The New Testament teaches that He is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose again so that we could have eternal life just by believing in Him as the Savior.

Jesus Is Fully God

Jesus’ claims

Jesus claimed to be fully God and demonstrated it through His life and His words. That is clearly seen in the text of the first four books of the New Testament which tell of Jesus’ life.

Jesus not only claimed to be God, but He also claimed to be the answer to the needs of the human heart as God would. Jesus consistently called God His father. He declared His right to judge and said that He deserves the honor that belongs to God. The works He was doing could only be done by God. He clearly and boldly claimed His identity as the promised anointed one of God. He claimed to be the Son of Man who was also the Son of God. Those are all radical statements.

All God’s powers and attributes are in Jesus. There is nothing missing. There is nothing more of God that we can get apart from Jesus (Colossians 1:19).

Lord Jesus Christ

In the New Testament, Jesus is called the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is His title. It comes from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew title “Messiah” meaning “anointed one.”

According to Psalm 110:1,

The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” (Psalm 110:1)

“My lord” is the Messiah who would sit at the right hand of God and be called Lord. Jesus claimed this for Himself. Jesus is the Son of God who is Christ the Lord.

Jesus is not just a good teacher. He claimed and demonstrated that He is fully God in human flesh.

Jesus Is Fully Human

His humanity

We have a harder time wrapping our brains around that fact than we do believing He was God. Yet, Jesus experienced the normal process of body development from a child to an adult man. He obeyed His parents and learned to live with at least 4 brothers and 2 sisters (Mark 6:3).

In His human body, Jesus felt hunger and thirst. Tears fell down His cheeks when His friends were hurting. He had the normal human response of anger against the stubborn hearts of the religious people who opposed Him and were not teachable. During the last hours before His death, He experienced distress and pain just as you would.

And because Jesus was fully human, He understands every single one of your heartaches. He experienced human life for more than 30 years. He gets your physical pain, your feelings of rejection, and your strained relationships. He gets your abuse, your grief, and your impatience because those were part of His life as well. Jesus looked upon the crowds of people with compassion. He not only felt their need but also wanted to do something about it. And He did something.

His love for women

Jesus also demonstrated in His life on earth how much He loved and valued women. He taught them truth about God, forgave them for their sins, accepted them in His circle of followers, and gave new life to them after His resurrection. His care for them was so countercultural to what they had previously known. Women recognized that and responded with love for Him and a desire to serve Him. He does the same for you today.

Read more about this in the blog, “New Testament Women • Trust Jesus to satisfy your heart needs.”

Without sin

Jesus was fully human and lived as a human, but He did not sin. Why is that? He lived in perfect love for God the Father, His Father. Because He loved God perfectly, He lived in perfect dependence on God the Father and perfect obedience. And He gave us a pattern to follow so that we can learn to love God and to depend upon Him and obey Him by faith too.

Still completely God

Jesus was completely human while being completely God. None of us can really understand how this is, but we must accept it as truth. His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead provided everything you needed to have a relationship with God and satisfying spiritual life. As fully God and fully man, you can be confident that Jesus as human understands how you feel and is powerful enough as God to take care of your every need. When you go to Him in prayer, you can trust that He understands, that He knows how you are feeling and what your needs are at that moment. You can trust His compassion toward you to meet your needs. Jesus Christ is our treasure!

When Christians Lose Confidence in God

Life’s challenges hit

In our heads, we can say confidently that Jesus is powerful and has authority over the whole universe and all spiritual powers. Then life’s challenges hit us squarely in the face. What happens when you get tired of waiting for Him to answer your prayer? What happens when you don’t see Him rescuing you from a tough situation? What happens when He doesn’t heal your disease or your mom’s injury or your kid’s cancer? When you lose confidence in God’s power to manage whatever is burdening you, where are you tempted to turn?

Read the blog, “Release Your Expectations of Acceptable Outcomes.”

Seeking substitutes

When Christians lose confidence in the one true God to meet our needs, we begin to rely on the aid of other “powers,” even subconsciously. We look for something that will work, such as formulas for “success,” religious experiences, and lucky practices.

We see that happen in Ephesus in Acts 19:13-16. Some Jewish magicians tried driving out evil spirits by saying, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” One day the evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” What happened next was pretty ugly.

Those verses tell us two things: 1) demons are real and dangerous forces and 2) the spiritualism of the culture invaded even Judaism.

Those Jews were sons of a Jewish chief priest. They were professional exorcists. What had they been using to drive out evil spirits? It must not have been based on faith in the true God and His power. Those Jews had turned to using an acceptable practice in their culture—speaking magical names that supposedly had power behind them. They thought all you had to do was use the right name. Let’s try Jesus and Paul.

What Are Substitute Powers?

Common substitutes

This is really a very sad passage because it hits close to home. When Christians lose confidence in the one true God to meet our needs, we begin to rely on the aid of other powers evidenced by what we do and say and post on Facebook and other social media.

What picture do you post on social media, claiming that it is the answer for the day’s stressful challenges? Do you ever do that? That’s a substitute power.

Do you do anything to avoid “bad luck?” Those are substitute powers. Did you know that most of our superstitions are rooted in a fear of evil spirits? Do you fear the number 13—the 13th floor, Friday the 13th? Are you unconsciously afraid to walk under a ladder, break a mirror, open an umbrella inside, or see a black cat? Can you jinx the pitcher throwing a no-hitter in the 9th inning just by talking about it? No!

What about things that guarantee “good luck?” Do you place a horseshoe over your door, knock on wood, or toss salt over your shoulder? None of that has any power. Go ahead and walk under a ladder, step on a crack, adopt a black cat, and plan a party on the 13th. Forget the horseshoe except for decoration. Don’t bother knocking on wood or tossing salt. You don’t need lucky numbers to be successful. It’s okay to have favorite numbers. But recognize they have no power, at least not good power. Those are substitute powers. Jesus is enough.

“Religious” substitutes for Christ

You might laugh about this and say, “I don’t believe in any of that.” Maybe not. Maybe you go for more sophisticated stuff, often disguised as something religious. How about these?

Do you follow a certain formula for prayer guaranteeing that God hears you and will answer your prayer? The formula becomes the substitute. Not using it might make you feel like you can’t pray.

Do you follow a certain procedure to get on a higher level with God and expect to hear His voice audibly every time you pray? That’s actually putting yourself on a higher level than God because you expect Him to do what you ask when you ask it. What if He doesn’t speak? How do you feel then? The procedure becomes the substitute for submission to the authority of Christ.

I’ve been there with you. When I don’t see God meeting my need, I’m tempted to take matters in my own hands. I’ll try something I see on Facebook or the internet that is guaranteed to work. It hit me one day that something I had been doing frequently was actually relying on a substitute power.

Here’s what I was doing: I would enter sweepstakes over and over to get a better chance of winning. That’s what the world tells you to do. But here’s the truth. If I truly believe that our powerful God is the one who makes it happen, I can enter a drawing once and leave it in God’s hands. So that’s what I do now.

Dear reader, here’s the warning for you and me. When you are no longer convinced that the treasure you have in Jesus Christ is effective to meet your need, you will be tempted to look to substitutes, even subconsciously.

Read more about religious substitutes in this article, “Flee the Spiritual Substitutes Infection.”

Recognizing and Getting Rid of Substitutes

Can you now recognize any loss of confidence in the one true God to meet your needs? Have you relied upon the aid of other “powers” such as mystical experiences or formulas to get your prayers answered?

What should you do when you recognize those substitutes in your life? Remember what the Ephesians did? Acts 19 says they burned it up!

Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. (Acts 19:18-20)

They burned their “substitute powers.” They deleted them from daily life. They saw that the treasure they had in Jesus was more powerful than any of their substitutes. So they were willing to get rid of their substitutes and cling to their treasure in Christ alone. That sounds like a great response. Recognize the substitute powers and get rid of them!

Paul wrote the letter called Ephesians only 7 years after that bonfire. He was sitting in prison, waiting for trial. Would anyone define his life as successful living? Probably not. But Paul was still convinced that the treasure he had in Jesus Christ was more powerful and valuable than any substitute. That comes through clearly in this beautiful letter we are studying in this blog series.

Read the first blog in this series, “Ephesians Theme • What Is in Your Treasure Chest?”

Jesus Christ Is Fully Powerful

As our true power source

Jesus is your treasure and your power source to overcome anything you picture coming against you. In fact, the Greek word for power, dunamis, is where we get our word dynamite and is often translated as “miracles” in the New Testament.

Our identity comes from our power source. It comes from whatever we are relying upon. The Ephesians were obsessed with power. God’s mighty power was revealed in extraordinary ways to them. And Paul used the word, dunamis, seven times in this short letter to the Ephesians to refer to the power of God available to every believer to meet every need. God’s dynamite power is for us and within us. We’ll cover what this means in future blogs.

Over everything

That power is the same as the mighty strength [God] exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. … And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 1:19-23, 2:6)

Jesus Christ is over everything. What is not included in everything? Evil is under His feet. God seats us with Christ in heaven. As we sit with Him, evil is under our feet. All we have to do is remember our place with Him in the heavenly places. That’s where God dwells. It’s a place of power. Jesus has more power than anything you can picture coming against you.

Picture yourself with Jesus

So dear Christian, picture yourself sitting with Jesus in the heavenly realms, holding your treasure chest containing all the wonderful blessings you get from Him. It’s not about something you do. It’s something that has already been done and given to you by faith in Christ.

You can rest in that and all the treasure that comes with it. That’s the way to guarantee successful living—God’s way of successful living. You can trust in that!

Seek Your Treasure in Christ Alone

Because God targeted the Ephesians’ need, many followed Jesus and became disciplemakers. They went to their towns and planted churches all over western Turkey. Ephesus stayed prominent—with a new identity as one of the leading centers of Christianity for hundreds of years. And many Ephesians became obsessed with a new purpose and object of worship—Jesus Himself.

God does that for us too. He gives us a new identity in Christ and a new purpose as we follow Jesus and live for Him daily. What we fix our gaze upon is what we’ll pursue in life. Behold Jesus Christ! Seek the treasure you have in Christ. And trust in His power to meet your needs.

In the next post, we will look at the treasure we receive of being rescued from darkness.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with the confidence that the treasure you have in Him is more powerful and valuable than anything you could substitute for Him.

All of the above information is covered in the Seek the Treasure Bible Study covering Ephesians in the New Testament.

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