Christians in Ephesus and everywhere
Please read Ephesians 1 v 1-14 and then pray: Almighty God, whose Word is the sword of the Spirit, (6:17) grant me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation (1:17) so that I may know, love, and serve Christ with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength – to the glory of God. Amen!
In an age of emails and texts and quick-fire social media messaging and communication, isn’t it nice to occasionally receive a personal hand-written letter? There is something about such a traditional form of communication which is heart-warming and deeply satisfying. I wonder if you are someone who has kept and cherished special letters sent from your past – perhaps letters from your days of dating your spouse, or letters from friends and family situated in another country, or letters sent to you by someone who expressed care and concern for you at a time of personal tragedy.
The NT contains many letters which are known as epistles. These unique letters, inspired and anointed by the Holy Spirit, and written by specially chosen apostles like Paul, form a very precious and highly significant part of the NT. Paul wrote almost half of the NT, and many of his letters were written to Churches and Christians from a prison cell.
The German Lutheran Pastor and Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45), who was a notable and courageous anti-Nazi dissident, wrote what was to become a book entitled Letters and Papers from Prison. He was executed on April 9th 1945 in Flossenburg Concentration Camp. The great apostle Paul wrote several of his letters whilst held captive for the sake of the gospel he loved and lived for. In Ephesians he describes himself as “a prisoner for the Lord” (4:1) and “an ambassador in chains.” (6:20)
His letters are deeply and passionately pastoral, and contain theological teaching which is immense, spiritually inspiring, uplifting, challenging, and captivating; letters which open us up to the truth and practical outworking of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And if his letter to the Romans is the King of his epistles, his letter to the Ephesians is the Queen. Ephesians is most famous for its delineation of the theological truth about the identity and nature of the Church of Jesus Christ. If you want to understand what the Church is and its unique place in God’s plans of salvation – then read and study Ephesians!
Today and next Sunday, we are simply going to consider the contents of Paul’s opening salutation/ greeting to the Church in Ephesus, and seek to understand how this, in and of itself, opens-up for us so much teaching about what a Christian is and how Christians together make up the Church of Jesus Christ. For Paul to speak about the nature and the glory of the Church, he must first outline what a Christian is, how people become Christians, and how God’s grace through the gift of Christ is central and vital to the creation and building of the Church. Here then are Pauls opening words, and we must understand that he always wrote with great care, precision and spiritual insight under the authority and anointed guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now let me share those opening verses again with special emphasis on certain words and phrases;
Paul, an apostle of CHRIST JESUS by the will of God, to the SAINTS in Ephesus, THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS: Grace and peace to you from GOD our Father and from the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
From this short salutation/greeting we can discern at least 7 if not 8 truths which Paul brings to the attention of the recipients of his letter – all the individuals who make up the Church in Ephesus.
I will begin this week by examining 3 ways Paul describes his Christian audience. He says the recipients of his letter are;
- Saints
- The faithful
- In Christ Jesus
Paul begins by using the term “saint.” All the Christians in Ephesus are referred to as saints. There are no exceptions. You may be surprised to hear that the most common and frequent way Christians are described in the NT and especially in the letters is with the term – saints. The word is used 39 times in the NT and several times in this letter. In chapter 3:17 Paul prays;
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how long and high and deep is the love of Christ…
And in Ephesians 6:18 we read;
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests; with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
According to Paul and to the entire teaching of the Scriptures – every Christian is a saint. What does that mean? To be a saint means to be “set apart” by God and for God’s glory. Every Christian is uniquely chosen by God and set apart within his purposes of grace. Paul wants to reminds his readers that they have been specially chosen and set aside through the Spirit. Chosen and set apart for what?
- For holiness and for total transformation into the image and likeness of their Saviour who is head of the Church – Christ Jesus. (1:4) Christians are heading toward perfection.
- For the glory of God and the glory of his revealed grace in Jesus. (1:12)
- For doing the works which God prepared in advance for them to do – to his glory. (2:10)
Saints, Christians are set apart for holiness, for glorious change, for good works which glorify God, for heaven and for eternal fellowship, enjoyment, and friendship God. And what is truly mind-blowing is that saints were/are set apart by God and for God before the creation of the world. (1:4, 11)
The first thing to understand about your Christian identity is that you are a saint – you are set apart for God and for his wondrous purposes. You have been chosen from all eternity. Saints are not a select category of Christians canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. When Paul writes about the saints, he is writing about all true believers. So here is a question? Are you conscious of the call of God upon your life? Are you conscious of somehow being separated, set apart by God’s grace and for God’s glory? Are you awed by the fact that God had your salvation in mind even before he created the world? The NT not only teaches that every Christian is a priest, and has a priestly ministry of prayer (the priesthood of all believers – 1 Peter 2:9), it also teaches the sainthood of all believers. This is why Paul can write at the end of his lovely letter to the Philippians the following greeting;
Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings. Especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. (Philippians 4:21-22)
This is why in the Protestant Churches – many mark “All Saints Day.” (November 1st) And if you know you are a saint, especially chosen, picked out and separated by God, this should fill your heart, your life, and your service to God with immense joy, humility, gratitude, wonder at the love of God, and secure hope. Why? Because of what Paul reveals in passages like Romans 8: 28-39, 1 Corinthians 2: 9)
Secondly, Paul not only describes Christians as saints – separated ones, he describes them as “the faithful.” Why does Paul refer to saints as “the faithful?” Paul believes Christians are the faithful ones in 2 ways. Christians are;
- Those who possess faith, who believe and place their trust in Christ Jesus.
- Those who confirm and display that belief by their “faithful, truthful and holy living.”
The faithful conveys the idea of both strong belief and true fidelity – faith and faithfulness – faith in Jesus and faithfulness toward the commands and demands of Christ. A Christian is one who has come to believe that Christ is the Son of God, the Chosen One, the Messiah (or Christ) , the Saviour, the Lord. Like Peter, they can categorically say to Jesus;
Lord to whom shall we go.? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and we know that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69)
This is why in the opening remarks of his letter, Paul uses the term “Christ Jesus” twice and “Lord Jesus Christ” once. But as well as making a confession about their firm heartfelt belief in Jesus, and his resurrection and Lordship (Romans 10:9) – the Christian is also one who lives out their faith in Christ with true and faithful practical love, compassion, justice, humility, and righteousness. The Christian is one who lives faithfully for Christ and in obedience to his word – and much of the word of the Lord is shared through his chosen apostles like Paul. This is why the second half of Ephesians is highly practical in its call and insistence upon Christians living lives of purity, love, soberness, and kindness. An excellent example of Paul’s call to faithfulness and fidelity comes in Ephesians 4: 25-32. (Read)
What do you believe about Jesus? Is what you believe in line with the teaching of the apostles and the NT, and do you live out the confession of your faith in the Lord who calls us to holiness, faithfulness, integrity, and a commitment to love? Are you resolutely seeking to remain faithful to Christ? Are you a Christian who walks the walk and not just talks the talk. Jesus’s severest condemnations were aimed at hypocrites. Active obedience mattered to him and it still does.
Thirdly, as well as the Christians being described as “saints” and “the faithful,” they are also described as being those who are in Christ Jesus. This phrase “in Christ Jesus” is Paul’s favourite and most used phrase in this epistle. He loves this form of speech. In Christ or in him. Every Christian is “in Christ Jesus.” What does this mean? It means that every saint has the joy and the privilege of being in a special, personal, deep, and real relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This real relationship of love and grace means that the Christian is truly “in union with Christ” and Christ really lives in the life of each saint by His Spirit. They are marked and sealed by His Spirit. (1:14) Bonded to Christ! This is a genuine union; a sacred and precious relationship of mutual abiding love. We are one with Christ. We are reconciled to God. We know God and we know Christ and we live in him and in his love. We abide in Christ and Christ abides in us. He is the Vine – we are the branches. (John 15: 1 f)
As Francis Foulkes writes in his Ephesians bible commentary; Christians not only have faith in him; their life is in him. As the root in the soil, the branch in the vine, the fish in the sea, the bird in the air, so the place of the Christian life is in Christ. (my emphasis)
And because we are in Christ, we are also with Christ is a spiritual sense; even now raised up with Christ and seated in the heavenly realms IN CHRIST JESUS, in order that in the coming ages he might show us the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (2: 6-7)
This union with Christ is set to not only lift us up now, but to ensure that we are with Christ forever; for nothing can snatch us out of his hand (John 10:28) or separate us from his love. (Romans 8:38-39)
This is the great and unique high watermark of the Christian life and experience – to know Christ and to be found “in him.” (Philippians 3:8-9). Our Church mission statement reflects this – “To know Jesus and to make Him known.”
Before we get anywhere near to the start of the meat of this letter, Paul has already said 3 keys things about what it is to be in the Church and a follower of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian, to be a member of the body of Christ is to be –
- A saint – one who has been chosen and separated by God for his glory.
- A faithful one – one who believes and accepts Jesus as the Christ, the Saviour, and the Lord – and lives out that faith with faithfulness and integrity.
- A person who now knows what it is to live in Christ Jesus – to be able to say with Paul; I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who love me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
This is why Paul will go on to speak about the magnificent glory and uniqueness of the Church which is the body of Christ (4:4) and the “bride of Christ.” (5:25) The Church is made up of the saints, the faithful in Christ Jesus. What a privilege and a joy to not only be “in Christ” but to be “in his body” and to be part of “his bride.”
Next week, we will look at what others truths Paul reveals about the recipients of his letter and about those (including us) who he seeks to encourage to be true and faithful Christians;
We will think about how;
- The Church is apostolic – built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20 with Jesus Himself as Chief Cornerstone). Remember, Paul introduced himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” What does it mean for us and our Church to be apostolic?
- Christians are also those who have be called and saved and transformed by “the grace of God” and brought into a living knowledge and experience of “the peace of God.” We will think about how Paul introduces his letter with a prayer requesting that the Ephesians know grace and peace. Grace and peace to you.
- We will also explore how each Christian now knows Almighty God as “Father.” Grace and peace to you from God our Father. How do we know, understand, and enjoy the Fatherhood of God?
- And we will also consider how the Christian now lives under and in the light of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Take some time to read Ephesians – perhaps several times, using more than one modern translation, and look out for all Paul has to say about the saints, faithfulness to Christ, being in Christ and in His Church which is His body. This is the Queen of his epistles. This is what to read if you wish to grasp basic Christianity and Church membership. This is the letter to read if we wish to understand that the Church is in a battle against the devil and against the powers of this dark world. May God speak to you and inspire you as you read these words which were obediently written by “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be all glory, honour, and praise.
Amen.
(Revd Peter J Clarkson 14.7.24)