Ephesians – A Book of Grace and Growth

(Ephesians 1:1-3)

These are the opening verses of the letter of the Apostle Paul to the church of the Ephesians. These few verses are a good summary of what is to come.

The letter to the Galatians was a letter to a church that was in a lot of trouble. They were turning away from the Lord and going back to a form of worship based on works of the law.

But the Ephesians church was a church that was growing and strong in the Lord. This letter is all about the blessings and grace of God towards His people. And in this letter Paul explains God’s grace and the processes God has put in place to bring the church to maturity in Jesus Christ to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Grace and Peace

Paul opens his letter as he does in many others with a salutation to the church at Ephesus wishing them grace and peace.

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

While this is not an unusual form of greeting for Paul in his letters, we will see as we examine this letter in detail over coming posts that his letter is full of teachings and encouragement about grace, peace and the blessings of God.

We walk as Christians and have the opportunity for life n Jesus Christ because of one thing and one thing only: the grace of God.

It is by His grace that we live and walk with Christ. And it is by His grace that we are not under condemnation and have been set free from sin and the law to live a better life in Jesus Christ.

To try and get a feel for what grace is, I have heard it described as being: the undeserved favour and kindness of God.

This is a good definition because the kindness and favour that God has shown us, to set us free from sin, the law and the ability to be freed from the evil passions, lusts and desires of the flesh, is indeed undeserved. We have done nothing and cannot do anything to deserve this kindness and the love of God.

But He gives it to us anyway.

And God’s grace is not a one time thing. He continues to extend his loving grace and kindness to us as we walk with Christ until the work of transformation in us is complete.

We are slowly being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. But the road is long and we all make many mistakes as we walk the road to life.

God knows we are works in progress, and so He extends more grace to overlook our mistakes and failures until we come to the fulness of maturity in Jesus Christ.

Blessings of the Father

As we continue in the study of this letter to the Ephesians, we see some of the blessings of grace opened up to us. As the third verse in this opening section states:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3)

The very first blessing we receive when we come to Christ is the blessing of Jesus Christ Himself.

In Christ we are blessed for it is by Him that we have this opportunity for life. It is by and through Christ that the door has been opened to us to be freed and made righteous, holy and acceptable to God.

Our walk begins with the work that Christ started. In Him we begin this walk of life.

When Christ died He established the way to salvation in His blood and His death. We begin by faith to be set free from our former and future sins by being released from past sin and released from the law to negate sin in the future. This is the first freedom we receive in Jesus Christ and it exists as a possibility only because of the grace of God who set up this plan and allows us to come to Him this way.

But this is only a beginning of the blessings of the Father.

Spiritual Blessings

We see in the third verse of Ephesians 1 that we also receive “…every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

The second blessing of grace from the Father that we receive is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We can ask the Father to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as the Apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and then it is by the Holy Spirit that we have access to “…every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

All of the power of God Himself is at the disposal of the Holy Spirit to help us walk and grow into the image of Jesus Christ, as the scripture tells us:

10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. 14 The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:10-14)

See here that God reveals things to us through the power and the working of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit searches even to the very depths of God for whatever is needed to bring us to completion in Jesus Christ.

We can receive the Holy Spirit so that He will give us the understanding of the gifts of God. Without the Holy Spirit these gifts are not fully able to be understood because they are spiritually discerned, and man in the flesh does not and cannot understand the things of the Spirit, as the final two verses in the section quoted above shows.

But how do we gain the full understanding of the spiritual gifts bestowed on us by God? It is only by receiving the Holy Spirit as the disciples did at Pentecost.

Look at the change that took place in those disciples before and after Pentecost. They were hiding out in the room where they had taken the last supper. They were seeking to return to their lives before coming to Christ. They were feeling lost after Christ had died and was taken away from them.

And then they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

And they became charged with power. Peter stood and addressed the people in Jerusalem with an oration so powerful that three thousand people came to Christ that day. They walked about Jerusalem and the surrounding villages teaching and preaching the word of Christ boldly. They were no longer hiding and no-one would dare consider them “shrinking violets” but they became powerhouses that established, grew and multiplied the words of Jesus to build the early church to what it is today.

All of this was made possible after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And this same gift is promised to you and I today if we just ask. Consider this verse:

9 And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13)

This is a well known scripture from the Sermon on the Mount, but in the version here in Luke 11 it is extended. Look at verse 13. The Lord Jesus told us to ASK the Father to give us the Holy Spirit.

Have you? Have you closed your eyes in prayer and said to the Father, “Lord God, give me this gift of the Holy Spirit.” If not, do it and receive the same transforming power that allowed the early apostles and disciples to build the church. And although that is impressive, the real work of the Holy Spirit is the work of transformation so that we may be made into the image of Jesus Christ. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot and will not understand the gifts of the Father and the blessings of the Spirit bestowed upon us.

And don’t just think that those blessings evidenced at Pentecost were only for those people and those days, as some today seem to believe. Look at the words of Peter regarding this gift of the Holy Spirit when he spoke to the people.

38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:38-39)

Here is a question for you to consider. Do you believe that the Lord God has called you to Himself?

If the answer is “Yes,” and it should be, then the promise of the Holy Spirit with all the gifts attending it is offered to you.

All you have to do is ask. And when you ask, then all of the offers of grace and peace are yours as well. And we will discover more of these gifts of grace and the blessings of the Father and of the Spirit as we continue our journey through the letter to the Ephesians.

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