Ephesians:
Teacher, you only have ten (10) minutes to cover Ephesians! Hit the high points only and focus on the story of Ephesians – Christians and the church live to bring glory to God.

• Ephesians is a circular letter that was passed on from Ephesus to other churches in the region (most likely some of the seven churches mentioned later in Revelation plus Hierapolis and others – we can tell by the structure of the Ephesian letter and the absence of personal greetings that it was intended to be a circular letter.)
• The letter was written around AD 60/61).
• The theology or story of Ephesians is that Christians and the church live to bring glory to God (Eph 1:12; 3:10, 21).
• According to God’s plan, Christians were called before the foundation of the world to be children of God in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:1-13)
• Christians were destined (which means that God decided this before the foundation of the world) in God’s plan to live for the praise of his glory (Eph 3:12).
• All of God’s eternal purpose and plans are fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is the head over all things for the church, which is his body (Eph 1:15-23) [Teacher do not stop here and develop a lesson on the church as the body – just mention it and go on!]
• This plan of God was that both Jew and Gentile would be reconciled to God through and in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:1-22).
• When the church functions properly, including both Jew and Gentile among its members, the church is able to demonstrate the wisdom of God to the world (Eph 3:1-21, especially Eph 3:10).
• The church brings glory to God when Christians maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and grow up in unity into Christ (Eph 4:1-6). [Teacher: do not spend time here developing a lesson on the unity of the church, as important a doctrine as this is, merely mention that God’s purpose is defeated when we do not live in unity, and the church that is divided cannot bring glory to God in Christ].
• The church and Christians bring glory to God and Christ by living good moral lives (Eph 4:17-5:20). [Teacher: do not develop a lesson on church music at this point even thought hat is an important and needed doctrine].
• Christian families bring glory to God and Christ by respecting one another (Eph 5:21- 6:9).
• Christians bring glory to God by fighting a war against Satan in their lives (Eph 6:10-20).
   

Colossians:
Teacher, you only have ten (10) minutes to cover Colossians! Hit the high points only and focus on the story of Colossians – The all sufficiency of Christ for living the Christina life and pleasing God.

• Colossians was written at the same time (AD 60/61) as Ephesians and several of the same theological interests are mentioned in Colossians.
• Colossians includes some wonderful high points, and we will mention them first:
• Christ is in the image of God (Col 1:15) emphasizing the deity of Jesus.
• In Christ the fulness of God dwells (Col 1:19; 2:9). Notice the emphasis on fullness – everything you would expect to find in God you find in Jesus.
• The preaching of Christ was the focus of Paul’s preaching and teaching (Co 1:24-29). The mystery of Christianity is "Christ in you". Paul desires that every Christian be mature in Christ. The focus of Paul’s ministry and preaching was Jesus Christ.
• Christ is all sufficient for all our spiritual needs (Col 2:8-15).
• Rules and regulations do not make a Christian mature (Col 2:16-23).
• Since we have been buried and raised with Christ through baptism our lives are hidden in Christ, we put to death the things of the world, and put on Christ (Col 3:1-17).
• Notice that in Col 2:12, 13 Paul emphasizes that we have been raised from baptism by faith in the working of God. Baptism is not a work that we do, but is God’s work. We simply trust in his work in baptism.
• As in Ephesians Paul concludes with instructions on the Christian household (Col 3:18-4:1).
• Paul concludes with some interesting personal references and instructions for the church in Colossae (Col 4:2-18).
   

Philemon:
Teacher: After covering this material read the letter to Philemon through carefully without comment to the class. It will only take about five minutes.

• This is a personal letter to Philemon, a leader in the church in Colossae.
• Apparently Philemon was a wealthy person; the church met in his house, he owned slaves.
• One of Philemon’s slaves had run away, apparently stealing something from Philemon in the process.
• The slave’s name was Onesimus. Onesimus had found his way to Rome where he had been converted by Paul.
• Paul on finding out that Onesimus had apparently stolen something from Philemon, or wronged him in some manner, taught Onesimus that he had to return to Philemon and rectify the wrong.
• Paul wrote the letter to Philemon to encourage him to receive Onesimus back, no longer simply as a slave, but now as a brother in Christ.
• There are three great lessons we can learn from this brief letter:
• How to act when you are wrong – Onesimus – make every effort to set things right again. Repentance and restitution are necessary.
• How to act when you have been wronged – Philemon – receive the wrongdoer back as a brother in Christ. Make it possible for the wrongdoer to repent and return.
• How to act when you are right – Paul – never pull rank, but act out of love and concern for the others
• Read the letter to the class!
   

Philippians:
Teacher: there is a lot of good teaching in this section and you will be tempted to go into detail. Do not as you do not have the time for this! Emphasize that the key to Philippians is the message that Joy in Christianity comes from humble service to others.

• Apparently many Christians in Philippi had "let their spiritual batteries run down"! The joy of Christianity was missing form their church life!
• The word "joy" appears 5 times in Philippians, and "rejoice" 9 times, 14 times in all!
• The reason for this many emphases on joy is that joy was not present in the church in Philippi!
• For some reason inter-personal problems had cropped up in Philippi (Phil 4:2, Euodia and Syntyche, two women n Philippi were not getting along) and there were some who were not living as Christians should (Phil 3:17-21).
• It is possible for Christians and churches to be doing church but the joy of Christianity is missing for a number of reasons.
• Paul wrote to encourage the Philippian Christians to return to the joy of Christian life that they had in the past enjoyed:
  • Paul prayed that the God who had begun a good work among the Philippians would be able to bring that work to completion (Phil 1:3-6).
  • He prayed that their love may abound more and more (Phil 1:9).
  • He prayed that they may approve what is excellent and be filled with the fruits of righteousness (Phil 1:10, 11).
  • There apparently was some rivalry in preaching among the Christians (Phil 1:12-15).
  • Paul encouraged them to let their manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ (Phil 1:27).
• Paul recommended a remedy for the loss of joy among the Christians in Philippi:
  They should develop the mind of Christ (Phil 2:1-5)
  The mind of Christ that Paul recommends is that of humble service (Phil 2:5-11).
  Humble service is the key to Christian joy.
• Paul gave four examples of outstanding humble service:
  Jesus Christ (Phil 2:5-11)
  Teacher: this is one of the great passages of the New Testament – we recommend that you read it through to the class, emphasizing without comment the key thoughts in the text.
  Timothy (Phil 2:19-23)
  Timothy had a genuine interest in others.
  Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25-30)
  Epaphroditus was a messenger from Philippi who had nearly died in the Philippian service to Paul.
  Paul (Phil 3:1-16)
  Paul had given up everything for the sake of Christ (Teacher: note especially Phil 3:8-10).
• Finally (Phil 4:10-20), Paul commended the Philippian church for their gracious gifts (financial support) they had repeatedly sent him – this drove home the point that the Philippian church had in the past known humble service.