Ephesians 1:1-2 - Paul, the Saint, & Grace and Peace

Introduction (1:1-14)

[ILLUS] When I was younger and living apart from my mother, she would ask me to write to her, but I always had the same problem—I didn’t have anything to write about!

I think I wrote to her once, “Hey Mom. I went to school this week and came home. Well, that’s all the news for now! I love you! Rocky” You know, a real touching letter that Mom was sure to treasure forever.

It’s hard to write a letter when you don’t have anything to write about, and some say that’s the situation the Apostle Paul found himself in when he wrote to the church in Ephesus.

Most of the time when Paul wrote a church, he was addressing some problem or some conflict in the church. But in his letter to the Ephesians, he doesn’t address a problem or conflict, but that doesn’t mean that Paul didn’t have something to write about.

Jesus so filled Paul’s heart, so consumed Paul’s existence, that Paul could always write about Him.

In this letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote about how all things have been united in Christ Jesus and about how all Christians should live as a result.

Paul preach in the city of Ephesus for a short time on his second missionary journey and for a longer period on this third.

A church was born and Paul writes to encourage the believers there, beginning with these words in Ephesians 1:1-2…

Ephesians 1:1–2 NASB95

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

[PRAYER]

[TS] In this opening greeting, I want us to think about Paul, the Saints, and grace and peace.

Major Ideas

#1: Paul (Ephesians 1:1a)

[EPHESIANS 1:1A] PAUL, AN APOSTLE OF CHRIST JESUS BY THE WILL OF GOD.

[EXP] This little bit of information on the Apostle Paul prompts us to ask a few questions: (1) Who was Paul? (2) What is an Apostle? And (3) What difference did he make?

Who was Paul?

We’ve been studying through Acts in Sunday School and not too long ago we studied the conversion of a man named Saul.

Saul (a.k.a. Paul) was a persecutor of Christians in the earliest days of the church. He stood by holding the coats of those men who murdered Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He breathed out murderous threats against Jewish believers and traveled from place to place to arrest them—an authority that he had received from the Jewish religious leaders.

But as Paul was traveling to persecute and arrest believers, Jesus arrested him with His holy presence. On his face, Paul was made to know that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is Messiah, and that to oppose His people was to oppose Him and to oppose Him was to opposed God.

Paul was miraculously saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ and called into His service as an Apostle.

What is an Apostle?

There are two ways to think about an apostle. In general to be an apostle simply meant to be a messenger. But to be a capital-A Apostle of Jesus Christ was something different.

A capital-A Apostle was specifically called by Christ to serve Christ. In Galatians 1:1, Paul says…

Galatians 1:1 NASB95

1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),

This was absolutely true. Paul was not an Apostle by choice. He was an Apostle because Jesus made him an Apostle.

In Acts 9:15, after Jesus confronted Paul as he persecuted the church, Jesus said that Paul was His “chosen instrument… to carry (His) name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”

A capital-A Apostle saw the resurrected Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:7-9 the Apostle Paul wrote about the resurrected Jesus…

1 Corinthians 15:7–9 NASB95

7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Paul didn’t feel worthy of being an Apostle because He persecuted the church, but He was a capital-A Apostle who had personally seen the risen Lord.

A capital-A Apostle had authority to govern the church, to speak and write the words of God. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:37…

1 Corinthians 14:37 NASB95

37 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.

A capital-A Apostle got the Gospel straight from Jesus. In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul says…

Galatians 1:11–12 NASB95

11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And, finally, let me add—there are no more capital-A Apostles. In 1 Corinthians 15:8, Paul wrote…

1 Corinthians 15:8 NASB95

8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Paul was the last. The last of the Apostles to see the resurrected Jesus and the last one to be called as an Apostle.

What difference did he make?

[ILLUS] I remember being at a conference once, hearing David Platt preach about the impact of the Apostle Paul.

He showed a map of a dark world and said something like, “This was the spread of the Gospel before Paul.” There were just a few spots of light on the map representing the Gospel.

Then he said, “But this was the spread of the Gospel about the time Paul died.” And the map was lit up with the Gospel.

That’s the kind of difference that Paul made… or, rather, that’s the kind of difference that Jesus made in Paul.

[APP] I’ve heard people say before, “The Apostle Paul is my hero. Look at what he wrote! Look at his preaching! Look at his missionary activity!”

You surely could have worse heroes, but as you look at all that stuff in the life of the Apostle Paul, understand that all your looking at is the difference Christ made in him!

As Paul said, “…it was not I but the grace of God that is with me,” (1 Cor. 15:10).

And that grace only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

[TS] That’s Paul. Let’s notice The Saints…

#2: The Saints (Ephesians 1:1b)

[EPHESIANS 1:1B] TO THE SAINTS WHO ARE IN EPHESUS, AND ARE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST JESUS

[EXP] Now, here again, we need to ask some questions: (1) What’s a saint? And (2) what were the saints in Ephesus facing?

What’s a saint?

A saint is a ‘consecrated one’ or ‘one set apart to God.’

In the Catholic Church, to become a saint requires a formal process.

Someone has to nominate a deceased individual as a saint.

An investigation follows in which the performance of at least one miracle has to be proven.

Then before something like a jury an advocate argues in favor of sainthood for the deceased person and another, the devil’s advocate, argues against sainthood for deceased person.

In the end, a decision is made and the person is declared to be a saint or not.

But throughout Ephesians, all followers of Jesus are called saints.

Ephesians 1:15 NASB95

15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,

Ephesians 1:18 NASB95

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 2:19 NASB95

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

Ephesians 3:8 NASB95

8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,

Ephesians 4:12 NASB95

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

Ephesians 6:18 NASB95

18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Every Christian is a saint because every Christian is set apart by God.

Set apart by God before the foundation of the world.

Set apart by God to be the recipients of His grace.

Set apart by God to be saved through the death and resurrection of His Son.

Set apart by God to receive the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of our salvation.

If you believe on Jesus for salvation this morning, you are a saint.

No investigation necessary.

What were saints in Ephesus facing?

The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary says that Ephesus was “One of the largest and most impressive cities in the ancient world, a political, religious, and commercial center in Asia Minor.

“At the time of Paul, Ephesus was probably the fourth largest city in the world, with a population estimated at 250,000.

“Today the Turkish town of Seljuk occupies the site of ancient Ephesus.”

The saints in Ephesus were called to be faithful to Christ in Ephesus, which may have been challenging

Ephesus was a major port city on the west coast of Asia. One writer said…

Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary The Church at Ephesus

Its port was large and so became the chief communication and commercial link between Rome and the East. Merchants flocked to it. It became a melting pot of nations and ethnic groups. Greek and Roman, Jew and Gentile mingled freely in its streets.

Greek geographer, Strabo, called Ephesus the greatest emporium (i.e., the greatest marketplace) in Asia Minor just a few decades before Paul came to Ephesus.

Ephesus was worldly and materialistic.

Ephesus featured the temple of Artemis (a.k.a. Diana), which they believed came down out of heaven and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

It held huge deposits of treasure and was essentially the bank of Asia.

It was served by hundreds of temple prostitutes.

A fire once burned the temple, but the people were so proud of it that they rebuilt it with their own money, even refusing help from Alexander the Great.

They were so devoted to Artemis that in Acts 19 they shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians,” for two hours while persecuting the traveling companions of the Apostle Paul.

Ephesus was idolatrous and immoral.

Ephesus featured a massive theatre that seated 20,000 or more spectators.

One writer said that is was the largest of all Greek open-air theatres, large enough for chariot races and fights with animals.

Ephesus was entertainment-driven.

In the years after Paul’s association with Ephesus, the city had temples and monuments to Romans emperors—emperors like Julius Caesar, Tragan, Hadrian, and Domitian.

Ephesus was devoted to politics.

Now, this is not a complete list, but its enough to show us what saints in Ephesus were facing as they tried to remain faithful in Christ Jesus.

The late, great preacher, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that being faithful in Christ Jesus involves two things—saving faith and continuing faithfulness.

Having been saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, these Ephesian believers were continuing in or striving for faithfulness to Christ in a worldly, materialistic, idolatrous, immoral, entertainment-driven, politically-devoted city.

And, no, it wasn’t easy. But Paul wrote to them to remind them that they weren’t just in this city—they were much more importantly in Christ Jesus.

[APP] To be in Christ Jesus is to be joined to Christ in one spiritual body so that what is true for Him is true us. In Ephesians 2:6, Paul says that we are so joined to Christ, that God “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Him—in Christ Jesus.”

Like the Ephesians we live in a worldly, immoral, idolatrous, sinful city.

But like the Ephesian saints, we are saints in this city.

We are in Christ Jesus in this city.

And no matter how hard it gets to be faithful, we can remember that in Him we are already raised up, already seated with Him in the heavenly places.

Apart from Christ we are absolutely hopeless in a city like this, but in Christ we are unimaginably glorious—and we are in this city as saints to let the glory of Christ shine through us.

We do that by being faithful to Him.

[TS] We’ve looked at Paul, and The Saints… let’s look at Grace and Peace…

#3: Grace and Peace (Ephesians 1:2)

[EPHESIANS 1:2] GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

[EXP] What is Christian grace? What is Christian peace? And how do we get this grace and peace?

What is God’s grace?

God’s grace is His unmerited (i.e., His unearned and undeserved) favor (i.e., His blessing, kindness, or love).

Some translations use the word lovingkindness to describe God’s grace in the OT.

That’s what grace is…

…God’s lovingkindness that we do not deserve.

…God’s lovingkindness that we have not and cannot earn.

It is God loving us because He is love.

It is God loving us because it is His will to love us.

It is God loving us because loving us pleases Him.

What is God’s peace?

God’s peace is not just the absence of conflict but the presence of harmony in all of life. It is everything rightly ordered with God at the top of our lives and His sovereign rule ordering everything else underneath Him.

It doesn’t mean that there will be absence of conflict but that everything in our lives is bowing in obedience to God.

How do we get this grace and peace?

What does Paul say? “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

If we want to experience the grace, the lovingkindness of God, then we must come to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

If we want to experience the peace that surpasses all understanding, then we must come to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

We must call on Jesus as Savior, admitting our sin and believing that Jesus paid the price for our sins upon the cross and rose from the dead.

We must bow to Jesus as Lord, submitting every aspect of our lives to His sovereign rule.

[TS] …

Conclusion

Have you done that? Have you called on Jesus for salvation? Have you let Him rule every part of your life?

Call on Him today.

Submit to Him today.

Know His grace and peace today.

[PRAYER]