THE THIRD IN A SERIES OF MESSAGES ON EPHESIANS FOR BBCMP, DELIVERED 1/20/13
PM
GRACE TO YOU, AND PEACE
EPHESIANS 1:1-2
INTRODUCTION:
A Scottish preacher named John
Mackay, who was converted at the age of 14 while alone, in the Highlands,
reading this book, declared
“What we read here in Ephesians is truth that
sings...doctrine set to music.”
As I
explained before, while there is no purer expression of the gospel than that
given in the epistle to the Romans, there is no more sublime or majestic expression
of it than given here. It is not the
most direct, but it is the most broad and majestic. Because there is no need for Paul to address
any particular problem in conduct, or controversy over doctrine, he is enabled
to put all of his energies into the exultation of Christ in the first half of
the letter and to simply urge them to grateful practical application in the
second half.
So far, I’ve been able to talk about this much of the
first 2 verses;
Paul – the author
An Apostle – his calling and authority, although
there is much yet to be said. He is more
than an experienced pastor or a veteran missionary, as great as those things
may be. He speaks with God’s
authority.
But
the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear
my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: (Acts 9:15)
Of Jesus Christ – there are numerous
Christological threads to pull on in this book
By the will of God – another thread
that is easy to trace through this epistle.
To the saints - Sainthood is about being set apart to God, which
translates practically into knowing Who you belong to and Who you serve, and
taking that knowledge with you into every corner of your life, however poor, or
simple or meaningless that may seem to be at the time.
The saint is the man who
simply knows, and says, “Lord, I am not my own, I belong to Thee. Do with me as You see fit, for Thy glory and
Thy pleasure, and whatever my hands find to do today, I commend it to You and
your Kingdom.”
And so we pick up next with
-
·
WHICH
ARE AT EPHESUS
Bible
critics dispute that address, but there is no valid question about it. These were the primary intended
recipients.
It has
been suggested that the difference between the spiritual conditions of Corinth
and Ephesus was that Paul only spent 18 months in the former, but 3 years at
the latter. I think there is something
to it.
But
people are people – which means they are sinful, and can easily become petty,
petulant, critical, discontent, judgmental, griping, seditious, ungrateful and
undependable no matter how long you are with them and what you do for them or
what you teach them. And they can also easily
fall back to sensuality, and the pursuit of pleasure, or materialism and the
pursuit of things.
But at
least at the time of writing, Paul knew of no problems there, and was able to
do what he could not do in any other epistle, and that is to sail among the
clouds and marvel at the wonders of God’s redemptive work in Christ.
·
AND
TO THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS
That
would be us, or at least we would hope so.
But it does open the audience up from just the Ephesian believers. And even if we aren’t aren’t all that
faithful[1], if we have repented of
sin and believed the gospel, we are nonetheless “in Christ Jesus.”
Just as
a reminder of how this is not by works, or according to our performance, the
Heidelberg Catechism has
Q
60. How are you righteous before God?
A.
Only by true faith in Jesus Christ: that is, although my conscience accuses me,
that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have
never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil; yet God, without
any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction,
righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any
sins, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled
for me; if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.
And so
with that in mind, I take these words “faithful in Christ Jesus” to mean two
things, each equally true
1.
Those
that are faithful are so because they are in Christ
2.
Those
that are in Christ will be found faithful
We find
here the doctrines of Perseverance, of Separation, and of Good Works. Our Church’s official statement of faith has
as #14
Of
the Perseverance of Saints (Eternal Security)
We believe that such only are real
believers as endure unto the end[2];
that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which
distinguishes them from superficial professors[3];
that a special Providence watches over their welfare[4];
and they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation[5].
And #21
also reads,
Of Separation
We believe that all the
saved should live in such a manner as not to bring reproach upon their Savior
and Lord; and, that separation from all religious apostasy, all worldly and
sinful pleasures, practices and associations is commanded of God.[6]
I won’t
take the time now to go into “Of Good Works” because it’s pretty long. But the three do flow together. The Faithful in Christ Jesus will do good
works, not to prove they are faithful, not to get something in return, but
because they are in Christ. It couldn’t be otherwise.
·
GRACE
TO YOU AND PEACE
This
can be taken as both a prayer and a benediction.
As a
prayer,
may all of you have the same bestowed up you.
J.C. Philpot said: “Grace the fountain, peace the stream”;
This is, quite literally, by the
way, a book of prayer. About half of it is about prayer We’ll find reports
of answered prayer, prayer requests, and invitations to prayer, and even some outlines
of prayers that Paul prayed – for the Saints in Ephesus, and for “the faithful
in Christ Jesus”. There are prayers of
praise, prayers of thanksgiving, and prayers of intercession.
·
6:19-20 is a prayer request. He tells them exactly what he wants them to
pray for him.
·
3:14-19 reports what he had been praying
for them.
·
And from v. 3 down to verse 14 of
this chapter is also a prayer – although it is along the lines of a doxology or
a creedal statement. I have learned, and
tried to teach you, that affirming the faith is to be as much a part of the believer’s
prayer life as petition and intercession.
And that isn’t all the prayers in
here, but it’s all for now.
This preponderance of prayer in
Ephesians hinges on that unique feature of the book about which I have already
commented more than once – when Paul sat down to write it, there was nothing to
fight about. So instead of giving an
argument for justification by faith, or some other doctrine, he gets to take it
up by way of prayer.
And this is where Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi ("the law of prayer is the law of
belief") comes from. Likewise Lex
Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi (As we Worship, So we Believe, So we Live). This is how prayer changes us. It changes us more than asking to be changed
changes us. Because asking to be changed
focuses on ourselves. Professing
(affirming, confessing) our faith focuses on God.
Now the wonderful thing about this,
of course, is that prayer can take us so much further than argument can. When someone gives us an argument, no matter
how good it is, we want to argue back.
We bristle up and get froggy. We
resist anyone that comes at us with “I’m right, you’re wrong, you need to get
over it, and change.” Sometimes that has
to be. But we still don’t like it.
But when someone says something
like; ‘I’d like to pray for you’ or ‘This is what I’m praying for you,’ it
brings our defenses down. If I was to tell you, “I’ve learned something
wonderful, and I want to share it with you.
Let’s pray that you will understand it easily”, you wouldn’t be inclined
to resist.
Well, that’s the tone in Ephesians,
from start to finish. No wonder the book
is so precious and beloved by so many, in every age since it came to us.
We will
have plenty to say about grace in the weeks to come. For now I’ll just say that grace can be
thought of as the cause of salvation. The word encompasses all the favor which God the Father has
towards his people;
As for peace,
as it’s used here it is not a life of undisturbed tranquility free from
vexation or danger. It is never to be
taken as a “feeling” that we have that we’re doing the right thing, especially
if the Scriptures say otherwise.
It is
with reference to the change that has gone on in us, from our former enmity
with God to our new relationship with God as our adopted Father. Peace is the result of salvation.
As a Benediction,
for centuries
Christians have used these words, or some version of them during the worship
service – usually as a greeting. The
evidence for doing so is irrefutable. But
I’m still trying to get into the habit and make it seem natural. Bear with me.
And speaking
a benediction, at the start or the finish, is not an Un-Baptist thing to
do. It’s an un-American Evangelical
thing to do. But looking at what that
has become, I want to do everything I can to resist the drift. And being a good IFB is no insurance. If you don’t believe me, you can follow the
history of Temple Baptist Church in Detroit.
These
things come from both the Father and the Son, and they come by means of our
union with Christ, and nothing else.
And we thank God for them once again.
·
FROM
GOD OUR FATHER
I spoke
at length about this last time, but I’ll remind you again that this is also a
book about GOD. It boldly affirms the
Trinity – For example, in this first chapter he springs into a discourse on the Father’s electing, Christ’s dying and rising, and the
Holy Spirit’s power and working.
Instead of affirming us, it affirms
the Trinity. The way to success and
notoriety today is to affirm the audience – to talk about the champion or
the super-hero inside of them just waiting for the right life tip to be set
free and change the world. Paul has
nothing of the kind to say. He says the
opposite in no uncertain terms. But his
affirmation of God is in the clouds.
The contemporary evangelical false
gospel is that you can make the right decisions and choices and learn the right
techniques to achieve your full potential and greatness. Paul’s gospel is that God alone can restore dead
sinners to the fullness of His own image as Adam was created.
There is no lifting up of the
reader. The creature is abased, but the Creator
is exalted for His work of reclamation of the creature.
When we get to v. 10, I’ll show you
how this book is not only about prayer, and about God, but also about
Evangelism and Missions.
·
AND
FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
Ephesians
is loaded with the doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ. In just a few words, Paul is going to enlarge
on that in the next verse. So we’ll pick
it up there.
But I will suggest to you right now
that what has caused so many believers to adore the book of Ephesians is
another subject than prayer, God, or missions.
And that would be the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All that the Triune God had planned
from before the foundation of the world, was provided for in The Lord Jesus. The work is being accomplished through the
Holy Spirit, working with His own Word, and through the Church.
[2] John 8:31; 1 John 2:27-28; 3:9; 5:18
[3] 1 John 2:19;
John 13:18; Matt. 13:20-21; John 6:66-69; Job 17:9
[4] Rom. 8:28; Matt. 6:30-33; Jer. 32:40; Psa. 121:3;
91:11-12
[5] Phil. 1:6; 2:12-13;
Jude 24-25; Heb. 1:14; 2 Kings 6:16; Heb. 13:5; 1 John 4:4
[6] Rom. 12:1-2;
14:13; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 1 John 2:15-17; 2 John 9-11
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