"Jesus Changes Our Strength, pt.2", Will DuVal | (Ephesians 6:18-24)
Ephesians 6:18-24 | 12/8/24 | Will DuVal
This morning we come to the END of our study through the book of EPHESIANS. And as I always find myself saying at the conclusion of EVERY book we pore over together, but it’s always TRUE: that this study has been a massive BLESSING to me these past 14 weeks, and I pray it has been for you also. And as I am ALSO in the habit of doing at the end of every sermon series, I’d like to spend the first 10 or 12 minutes this morning simply REVIEWING with you the highlights of the past 3 months and 6 chapters. And I do this for 3 reasons:
In case you MISSED a Sunday somewhere in the series, hopefully this serves as a reminder to you to go back and watch or listen or read the sermon online. You can’t have half a chapter’s worth of notes MISSING in your ESV Study Journal! 🙂
We’re FORGETFUL! Even if you made all 14 Sundays in the series and took meticulous notes, the fact is you’ve probably only retained a FRACTION of it. That’s why we review. That’s why I read back through the whole Bible every year (and I ALWAYS manage to glean new insights); something YOU may consider as the new year approaches. But thirdly, and the best reason to recap…
Is that now that we’re at the end, we can finally see the entire book - Paul’s LETTER - to the Ephesians, as the one, unified whole that it is. We’ve been taking it in bits and chunks, but Paul most likely sat down and wrote it all in just one sitting. We miss out on the FLOW of his train of thought, when we spread it out over 14 weeks.
But let’s try and DO that now, briefly: trace Paul’s CASE.
-
We started with the standard background info: title, author, audience, date, purpose… before considering Paul’s INTRODUCTION in the first 6 verses, where he introduced us to the most IMPORTANT, overarching theme of the book: Jesus changes EVERYTHING. And most significantly, he changes our IDENTITY. There’s a lot of talk about identity these days, which LABELS we attach to people. But according to God’s word, the new identity and label that for the believer transcends and supersedes ALL others, is this one: “IN CHRIST”. We are now God’s people, his children, because and ONLY because we are “in Christ”. So we looked at how Paul characterized what it means to be “in Christ”: it means we are SENT, SAINTS, SECURE and SPIRITUALLY BLESSED; we are CHOSEN, SANCTIFIED, BELOVED sons and daughters of God, “to the praise of HIS glorious grace”.
Then BECAUSE of our new identity, we considered in week 2 how Jesus Changes our Inheritance. For ALL who are now “in Christ,” we have inherited INDEMNITY - “compensation for damages” - that’s what we have now, in Christ. Jesus is much MORE than, but he’s certainly not LESS than, the Christian’s eternal INSURANCE policy: “ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses”; indemnity. We also inherit INSIGHT; Jesus lavishes his grace upon us “in all wisdom and insight”. We inherit INCLUSION into God’s kingdom and FAMILY; Paul says, “In love [God] predestined us for adoption to himself as sons [and daughters] through Jesus Christ”. And lastly, we inherit Christ’s own INDWELLING in our hearts: we are “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance”.
In week 3 we discovered how Jesus Changes our PRAYERS and our POWER, giving us both the power over DEATH - we have now received the same power that God “worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” - as well as the power of DOMINION, the power to RULE; Paul declared that God “gave [Christ] as head over all things to the church, his body.” In other words, Jesus reigns “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come”, and because WE are his BODY, we are CO-rulers WITH him! “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne”, Jesus promises (Rev 3:21).
But the only reason ANY of it is possible - new identity, eternal inheritance, prayerful access TO God and the power OF God - ALL of it is a result of Jesus changing our SPIRITUAL CONDITION. That was week 4, chapter 2, the most important passage in Ephesians, perhaps even the whole BIBLE! “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
THAT is what it means to be “in Christ”: it means you’ve been raised from spiritual DEATH to LIFE, not because of anything YOU’VE done, but because of EVERYTHING that JESUS did for you, in his life, death and resurrection. It is by GRACE that we are SAVED through FAITH… FOR good works. Not “by” works, but “FOR” them. Now that we’re saved, we SERVE our Savior.
And it’s gotta START, week 5, in the CHURCH, as Jesus changes our RELATIONSHIPS. Whereas we once experienced SEPARATION - Jew / Gentile; male / female; black / white; Republican / Democrat - now in CHRIST, he “has made us [ALL] one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility… that he might… reconcile us [ALL] to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” Jesus killed our HORIZONTAL hostility, the tribalism that otherwise prevents us from being one unified body, “a holy temple” and “dwelling place for God”, but MOST importantly, Christ killed the VERTICAL hostility that kept ALL of us sinners from relationship with a HOLY God: “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace”.
This is the GOSPEL, the “good news” of our faith, and the BEST news in the WORLD! And it’s SO good, that the very NEXT thing Paul opened ch3 with was an avowal of our STEWARDSHIP of the gospel. “The responsible oversight and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving”. NOTHING is more worthy of our care, oversight, preservation, MULTIPLICATION… than the GOSPEL. And that is exactly the stewardship God has entrusted to us. “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace”. And Paul declared, “WOE to me if I do NOT preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16) I can’t HELP but share it - this news is just TOO GOOD! EVERYONE has got to KNOW, which means WE must steward and SHARE it.
But not in our OWN strength; Paul says we minister “by the working of [CHRIST’S] power. ” So at the END of ch3 Paul stopped to PRAY for the Ephesians - “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father… that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being”. WHY? “that you… may have strength to comprehend… the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God.” Christ’s LOVE is both the source and the OBJECT of our strength. We need supernatural STRENGTH just to comprehend His love for us, and to the extent that we DO, we are filled with even more of His STRENGTH, Christ’s LIMITLESS strength - he is “able to do far more abundantly than ALL that we ask or [even] think”.
But as we turned to ch4, Paul made the turn from “doctrine to duty; from creed to conduct… from the indicative to the imperative” (Hughes, Ephesians, 119), URGING us now to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which [we] have been called”. Having BEEN saved by grace through faith, we are now “called” to RESPOND by living lives of HOLINESS, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Then Paul told us how to DO it; how to LIVE in holiness: we must always be GROWING spiritually, MATURING in our faith. Jesus has given us the EQUIPMENT that empowers our growth - spiritual gifts; he’s given us the equip-ERS of growth - the church’s leaders. Christ is himself the EXTENT and END-GOAL of our growth; he wants to “build up the body until we all attain to… mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”.
In the second half of ch4 and first half of ch5, Paul detailed even further for us what it looks like to “walk in a manner worthy of our calling”, in holiness: we must “put OFF our OLD self” and “put ON the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:22-24). We put off “futility of mind” and “hardness of heart” and put on WISDOM and REPENTANCE. We put OFF falsehood and put ON truth-telling. We put OFF sinful anger and put ON righteous indignation. We put off THEFT and put on good, honest, hard work and generosity. We put off “corrupting talk” and put on gracious, edifying speech. We put off “all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander… and all malice”, and we put on “kind[ness]... tenderhearted[ness], and forgive[ness]” just “as God in Christ forgave [us].”
We “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us”. Putting off “sexual immorality, all impurity and covetousness… filthiness, foolish talk and crude joking… all DARKNESS,” and we “walk as children of light ” - carefully, efficiently, wisely, soberly, cheerfully, worshipfully, thankfully, humbly, SPIRIT-fully.
Then at the end of ch5 we saw how Jesus changes our MARRIAGES, empowering wives to respectfully submit to their husbands, empowering husbands to selflessly LOVE their wives, and empowering marriages to mysteriously, profoundly illustrate the GOSPEL, the sacrificial, covenantal relationship between Christ and His Bride, the CHURCH, US!
In ch6, Jesus changed our FAMILIES - both how we PARENT as well as how we… “child”? (there’s not a good verb for that) - but Jesus changed our WORK as well - both how we SUPERVISE as well as how we SERVE as subordinates. Children and parents, workers and bosses - EVERY person and every RELATIONSHIP is transformed by the GOSPEL!
And finally - FINALLY! - last week, we examined how Jesus changes our SPIRITUAL WARFARE. Paul offered his FINAL exhortation to us to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might”, and then he instructed us how to DO it: by “Put[ting] on the whole armor of God, so that [we] may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit (which IS the word of GOD), and the most powerful weapon of all, which activates and undergirds ALL of the rest: PRAYER.
And that’s where we pick back up this morning with really part TWO of Paul’s CONCLUSION to the letter. He introduced the BEGINNING of his ending back in v10 with the word “FINALLY”. So ALL of vv10-24 really belong together as Paul’s conclusion, but we thought the “armor of God” deserved its own sermon - probably its own sermon SERIES! But for now, Ephesians draws to a close with part TWO of Jesus changing our STRENGTH. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.”
How does he STRENGTHEN us? With the armor of God, yes. But now Paul’s going to finish with FOUR additional FORTITUDES with which Christ spiritually strengthens us.
I invite you to STAND… Ephesians 6:18-24. Hear the word…
“Finally, be strong in the Lord… praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.
23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”
[This is the word of the Lord… Seated…]
In addition to the armor of God, we discover FOUR ways that Christ strengthens us here, in Paul’s conclusion:
1) The FIRST is with PERSISTENT PRAYER (v18).Now, I’m gonna try not to spend ALL of our time just in v18, because Pastor Thad already touched on it LAST week, and because we’ve still got six more verses and three more bullet points to cover AFTER this. But I DO have SEVEN subpoints for you under this first strength, prayer. And of course I’m going to ALLITERATE them because, fun fact: Paul himself alliterates the “p” sound (in Greek, it’s the letter PI), repeated EIGHT times in this verse. So I’m gonna pinch a page out of Paul’s book, and point out that our PRAYER ought to be:
1a) PERPETUAL - Paul exhorts us to “[Pray] at all times”.
“pray without ceasing”, he enjoins us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
In Luke 18:1, Jesus told his disciples a parable “to the effect that they ought always to pray”.
In Psalm 116:2, the psalmist declares “Because [God] bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!”.
How do you “pray at all times”? Here’s how John MacArthur explains it (“Praying at All Times”, GTY, 1962): “It is simply living your life in God consciousness. It is that your whole life rises before God in communion and communication… Everything I see and everything I experience in my life simply becomes a prayer…. something I share with my best friend… If I am tempted, immediately I [pray] “Lord… Help me in this.” If I see something good, my first thought is, “God, You’re the source of every good and perfect gift. Thank You for that.” If I see something evil I [pray]... “O God, make it right.” If I see somebody without Christ, [I pray] “O God… Draw them to Yourself.”... all of LIFE becomes an ascending prayer.”
And Church, what a gift, that God invites us into his presence PERPETUALLY!
Second, our prayers should be 1b) PNEUMATIC.
We pray “in the SPIRIT”, v18 specifies. Clinton Arnold notes (464): “The Spirit prompts [us] to pray, directs [us] whom to pray for and how to pray, as well as energizes [us] in praying.” Romans 8:26 says “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Third, our prayers are 1c) PERSONAL
Paul says, “pray at all times… with ALL prayer”, or “all KINDS of prayer”. There is NO prayer, nothing that is on your heart, that God doesn’t want to HEAR about. He wants you to take ALL of it to Him, “casting ALL your cares on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). And in that same vein…
Fourth, prayer is often, then, 1d) PETITIONING. We pray “with all prayer AND (specifically) with all SUPPLICATION.” That’s when you ASK God for something. Once again, we are invited to ask God for things. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Mt 7:7). Now, a few verses later Jesus explains that God loves giving “good things to those who ask him” (v11), which means sometimes God has to say “NO” to our BAD requests. But whenever we ask in accordance with God’s good WILL for us, 1 John 5:14 promises “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
Fifth, our prayers should be 1e) PURPOSEFUL. Paul writes, “To that END” - if you’re going to be ABLE to “pray at all times in the Spirit”, you must what? “Keep ALERT!” And the converse is just as true: the best way to STAY alert, “sober-minded… watchful,” knowing our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” and the best way to “RESIST him, firm in our faith” is through PERSISTENT PRAYER, “praying at ALL times”. That is ONE of the primary purposes of prayer - yes, it is first and foremost about communing, fellowshiping with GOD, but it is secondarily about staying on GUARD, keeping ALERT.
And we must DO so, SIXTHLY, “with all perseverance”; prayer should be 1f) PERSEVERANT.
I already mentioned that parable Jesus told in Luke 18 “to the effect that [we] ought always to pray and not lose heart,” NEVER give UP… PERSEVERE! And here’s the UPSHOT of the parable itself: even WICKED HUMANS can be ANNOYED into compliance, if you BEG them, BOTHER them enough. And GOD is neither human nor evil. He is GOOD, and he LOVES to DO good to US. But sometimes he just wants to be ASKED… PERSISTENTLY. If you’ve been praying the same prayer for weeks… months… YEARS now - DECADES! - and God STILL hasn’t answered, maybe it’s because he knows as soon as He DOES, you’d stop praying. And he just loves HEARING from you that much. And yet he REASSURES us here: to “KEEP AT IT!” Don’t stop asking me! And in time, when it’s in accordance with His will and timing, he WILL answer.
Lastly, our prayer ought to be 1g) PERVASIVE. Paul bids us pray, “making supplication for ALL the saints”.
The Bible commands us to pray for the SICK (James 5:14).
For ISRAEL (Ps 122:6)
For RULERS and ALL who are in AUTHORITY (1 Tim 2:2)
For PASTORS and MISSIONARIES (1 Ths 5:25)
For OURSELVES. (Phil 4:6)
For our ENEMIES. (Mt 5:44)
For ALL people! (1 Tim 2:1)
But specifically, and most frequent of ALL of God’s calls to prayer throughout the Bible, is his directive to pray for fellow BELIEVERS, for “the saints”.
We pray for one another BURDENS (Gal 6:2).
For one another’s PHYSICAL healing (James 5:16).
SPIRITUAL healing (1 John 5:16)
For one another’s FORGIVENESS (Dan 9:19)
For one another’s FAITH (Philemon 4-6)
For one another’s EVANGELISM (2 Thess 3:1)
For one another’s SANCTIFICATION (Col 1:9-12)
The list goes on and on, as should our PRAYERS… for ALL the saints. If you’re in the habit of just praying for your life group, or your discipleship group, perhaps God is calling you this morning to begin praying for ALL of West Hills. Did you know that every prayer request that gets filled out on those cards in your bulletins, as long as it’s marked “PUBLIC” and dropped in the prayer and offertory boxes in the narthex on your way out - the prayer team compiles them all into a public prayer database that is accessible to the WHOLE church. Only the prayer team, staff and elders see the “Confidential” requests, but EVERYONE can access the “public” ones - there’s a link to it in every single midweek all-church email newsletter. Maybe God is calling you to start READING those emails and CLICKING on that link so you can “pray for ALL the saints”, at our church. For those who already DO, maybe God is calling YOU to start praying for all the saints BEYOND this church. To download the Voice of the Martyrs app and start praying for a different persecuted church every day. To develop the habit, when you’re driving down the road and you pass a CHURCH, to stop and PRAY for the saints at that church.
The possibilities are ENDLESS… as should be our PRAYERS!
We pray at ALL times, with all PRAYERS, and all PERSEVERANCE, for ALL the saints.
“AND,” Paul adds, now in v19, “while you’re AT it, pray ALSO for ME”. Specifically, “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel”. Pray that Jesus might…
#2) strengthen [me] with GOSPEL BOLDNESS (vv19-20).
Arnold explains (467): “As Paul pens this letter, he is about to face the greatest opportunity of his Christian ministry: to stand in a tribune in Rome before Emperor Nero and all of the magistrates and defend himself against the charges brought against him. Paul’s motivation goes far beyond presenting the best defense possible to escape death or further incarceration; he sees this as an extraordinary opportunity to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the most influential and powerful people in the world… While Luke suggests (in Acts 28:30-31) that boldness WAS characteristic of Paul’s proclamation, he no doubt had periods of discouragement, weariness, and fear - perhaps especially as his trial drew near. Yet he knows that his capacity to keep sharing the good news is a matter of God’s empowering touch.”
“I can do ALL things,” Paul declared, “through CHRIST who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).
Jesus EMPOWERS us with gospel boldness. He PROMISED to! Remember what he told his disciples, right before he went to the cross? He warned them: they’re gonna persecute YOU too, for MY sake. “they will deliver you over to councils, and… you will stand before kings for my sake, to bear witness… But do not be anxious about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.”
Now, if Jesus promised to be right there with them, his disciples, the apostles, Paul, the earliest evangelists, witnessing under the most HOSTILE of conditions - Nero was famous for impaling Christians on stakes and then lighting them on FIRE, to serve as human garden torches at his dinner parties - if Jesus could say to THEM, evangelizing under THOSE kinds of conditions: “Don’t be ANXIOUS; I will be WITH you”, then don’t you think he can handle your PARENTS’ hostility, your SIBLING’S hostility, your KIDS’ hostility, around the family Christmas table this year, if the subject of FAITH happens to come up. Are you NERVOUS that it might? Are you PRAYING that you can make it through just ONE meal without your faith being brought up and mocked? Or like PAUL here, are you PRAYING for the opportunity to “declare the gospel BOLDLY”, regardless of the reception it might get?
Like Paul, are you asking OTHERS to pray that prayer for you, with you? That is one of my FAVORITE prayer requests to oblige: when y’all ask for boldness and opened doors to be able to share the gospel with others - I will ALWAYS GLADLY pray that with you!
This is how, v20, we “ought to speak”. We shouldn’t need a reason to share the gospel; the GOODness of the news, and the DIREness of the consequences of others’ IGNORANCE or REJECTION of the news - that should be all the reason we need to “declare it BOLDLY, as [we] ought to speak”. Paul JOYFULLY suffered as “an ambassador in CHAINS” for Christ. Most of us will never know THAT kind of persecution. And yet Jesus promised, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:20). What are YOU willing to suffer for Christ’s sake? Better question: what HAVE you suffered? What ARE you suffering? If he PROMISED we’d be persecuted - that’s a relative term; we won’t ALL be killed or imprisoned. But we WILL - we SHOULD - all be “oppressed” in SOME way for our faith. Is yours PUBLIC enough, BOLD enough, to earn you some stripes? If not, you need to PRAY for that kind of boldness. Christians - REAL Christians - don’t win popularity contests. Everyone shouldn’t LIKE us, because everyone didn’t like JESUS. But if we SUFFER with him, we will also REIGN with him (2 Tim 2:12). And Christ is WORTHY of our BOLD allegiance.
The THIRD way in which Jesus strengthens us is with DEEP FELLOWSHIP (vv21-22). Community. Brotherhood. The Greek word is koinonia. It refers to the BOND of familial affection that binds us together as believers. And while Paul doesn’t USE it here explicitly, he does paint a PICTURE of it for us, when he tells the Ephesians: “So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister… will tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.”
1) “so that you may know how I am” – Paul assumes their concern. (maybe a lost letter, but…)
2) “and what I am DOING” – they’re concerned not only about PAUL but about his EXPLOITS.
3) “you ALSO” – hints at the fact that Ephesus wasn’t the ONLY church praying for Paul; Tychicus was probably ALSO sent to the church in Colossae to deliver THEIR (now NT) letter to THEM as well, on this same journey. Speaks to how WIDELY known and loved Paul was.
4) But Paul wasn’t the ONLY beloved one; consider how he speaks of Tychicus here - “the beloved brother and faithful minister” - these two men clearly shared a DEEP bond of spiritual brotherhood. Arnold notes (479): “Tychicus was apparently one of Paul’s missionary colleagues with him in Rome as he writes this letter. According to Acts, Tychicus was from the province of Asia, which may very well mean that he was from Ephesus (Ac 20:4)... He probably journeyed from Ephesus to Rome specifically to assist Paul during the difficulties of his Roman custody. He continued to assist Paul after his release, for Paul deliberated on whether to send Tychicus to the island of Crete to help Titus (Ti 3:12); during his second imprisonment and shortly before his death, Paul once again dispatched Tychicus on an assignment to Ephesus (2 Tim 4:12).” So these two were TIGHT.
5) Which makes the fact that Paul would send them Tychicus, his close companion and CAREGIVER, while he is imprisoned, who he RELIED on, yet Paul SPARED him, gave him up, for the weeks possibly even MONTHS that a journey like this would have taken, to deliver AT LEAST the TWO letters we KNOW of, there could have even been more… it makes it all the more moving. As we consider not only the EPHESIANS’ concern for PAUL, but HIS deep concern for THEM. Paul doesn’t want them WORRYING about him. “I have sent him to you for THIS very purpose”, Paul says: “that you may know how we are”.
And 6) “that he may encourage your hearts”. Because that is what brothers and sisters in Christ DO for one another - we ought to be the source of SUCH great and regular ENCOURAGEMENT to one another.
And brothers, sisters: I can only speak for myself, but I’ll just take this opportunity to let you know that you ARE that for ME. You all encourage MY heart more than I can even put into words. And I hope and pray the same is true for YOU, here at West Hills - that YOUR heart is encouraged, week in and week out, by this fellowship of believers. If not, please let myself, or Pastor Thad, who oversees Connections & Assimilation, let us KNOW. We want to help you find your people, your koinonia here. I know we’ve GOT them; it’s just a matter of making that connection. And we love getting to play matchmaker; it’s one of my favorite things about this job. I thought being a dad was amazing, back when we just had ELLERY. But then we adopted ELIJAH. And watching the two of them love each OTHER - there is no greater joy in the WORLD, as a parent. I feel a similar way as a pastor. It brings me such joy to watch the people of this church LOVE one another. If you feel like you’re still on the outside of that, please come talk to me. If you won’t do it for YOURSELF, do it for ME - don’t deprive ME of the joy, of watching you grow in koinonia with this Body.
Lastly, 4) Jesus strengthens us with PEACE, FAITH, GRACE & LOVE (vv23-24).
Here is Paul’s closing prayer of benediction for them, for US: “Peace be to [you], and love with faith… Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ”. Paul makes it CLEAR that this benediction isn’t just for the Ephesians; it’s for ALL who love Jesus, it’s for US.
And what a PERFECT way for him to end, with arguably the four most important VIRTUES he has commended all THROUGHOUT the letter - peace, faith, grace and LOVE - now he prays, “may they be YOURS “from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”, who is the SOURCE of ALL true peace, faith, grace and love. As we’ve already seen; remember:
“[Christ] himself is our peace… [who] reconcile[d] us to God… through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to [all]” (2:14-17). Paul even summarized the good news of our faith, in ch6, v15, as “the gospel of peace”.
But we can only enter into relationship with Christ in the first place, through FAITH. Think back to ch1, v13: “when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in [Christ] (when you “FAITHED” in him, then you) were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,” and saved. Or ch2, v8: it is “by grace you have been saved through…? Faith.”
But speaking of GRACE, “in Christ, we have forgiveness according to the RICHES of his GRACE” (1:7). God saved us “so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (2:7). And it’s a GRACE, a GIFT, to be able to SHARE this good news with OTHERS, Paul said (3:8).
Finally, LOVE. God “predestined us in love” (1:4). He rescued us from our sin and shame “because of the great love with which he loved us” (2:4). So we are called to “walk in love” (5:2), to “bear WITH one another in love” (4:2), to “speak the truth in love” (4:15) and so “build one another UP in love” (4:16). But Paul’s DEEPEST prayer is that “being rooted and grounded in love, [we] may have the strength to comprehend… what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ” for us.
And that is MY final benediction for you as well, Church: may the PEACE and FAITH, the LOVE and GRACE… of our Lord Jesus CHRIST be YOURS, both today and forevermore. Amen.