Ephesians 6:21-24
The End to an extraordinary letter
Well we’ve finally arrived. We are at the end, the end of Ephesians. I don’t know if you’ve been counting, but guess how many sermons we’ve had on Ephesians this year? 22. This final one will bring it to 23. 23 sermons on 6 chapters. In most Bibles, Ephesians is 4 pages. There is so much in 4 pages. In 4 pages of a nearly 2000 year old letter from Paul to the church in Ephesus. But what a letter - an extraordinary letter. This letter is like gold, worth far more than its four pages would suggest. This four pages is part of the Bible - Holy Scripture. God’s revelation through Paul – to us. And what a weight it punches
In Ephesians, so much of the Gospel is covered. It covers our problem – sin and separation from God. It covers the solution. Jesus died for us. It covers the result. Eternal life with Him and what it means to live as a Christian. A life of holiness as the people of God – the church. And as the church our task is to preach the Good News of Jesus to those who haven’t yet heard.
Today we look at Paul’s closing remarks. Last time we spoke about Holy War -spiritual warfare. That was Paul’s summation, reminding the Ephesians of what it is live the Christian life and that living the Christian life is no walk in the park, no recipe for an easy life, but a holy war. Spiritual warfare.
So today’s final four verses are Paul’s final closing remarks. The first two are very personal.
Ephesians 621 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.
These couple of verses remind us that originally Ephesians was a personal letter - that Paul sent to the believers in and around Ephesus. The postal system was not like ours today so Paul sent this letter with a friend – Tychicus. Not only would Tychicus deliver the letter, but as we see, Tychicus would pass on news to the Ephesians believers about how Paul was going.
And the next two verses are the final verses of the whole letter.
Ephesians 623 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.
Now Paul’s summary of Ephesians was back in verses 10-20 which we covered last week, where he reminds us that the Christian life is a spiritual battle. These last two verses of the book are not Paul’s summary, but they are his closing greeting and blessing. The words are very similar to the closing greetings in his other letters. And they are not just greetings, but a blessing where Paul blesses – or prays - for his listeners to have certain things.
What are those things? Money? Leisure? Status? Thrills? No! They are: Grace (vs 24), peace (vs 23), love (vs 23) and faith (vs 23). Each of these four things features strongly throughout the letter, and we’ve covered them in our last 22 sermons. “Grace” is mentioned 11 times. “Peace” is mentioned 7 times. “Love” is mentioned 15 times. “Faith” is mentioned 8 times. That’s a lot of mentions. And we’ve talked a lot about those things – grace, peace, love, faith - as we’ve gone through Ephesians. But it is interesting that in the introduction to Ephesians:
Ephesians 12 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note how similar it is to the last verse of the letter! In the second verse Paul also blesses the Ephesians – and us - with grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. For those who remember back to the first sermon on Ephesians, you might remember that you coud just about sum up Ephesians with those words: grace and peace. The British preacher Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones said, “Grace is the beginning of our faith, peace is the end result of our faith.” Or as we said in the first sermon on Ephesians, “Through God’s grace we are saved from our sins in order to receive His peace: peace with God and peace with each other.” So today we are going to review the book of Ephesians using those two themes in the blessings in the first and last verses of the book – grace and peace, and also looking at the role of love and faith.
So we’ll start with Grace. Grace – what is “grace”? Simply – it means a gift. In the Christian sense it means God’s gift of salvation to us. It means the unmerited favour of God. It means that we receive something from God that we don’t deserve.
In Ephesians 1:3-10 we looked at spiritual blessings - the incredible things God has given us. Do you remember them? Chosen to be blameless. Adopted to be His children. Redeemed – rescued from our sins. Eternal life with Christ. What amazing spiritual blessings! And remember that Paul was so excited about them that verses 3-14 are one big sentence in the original. No fullstops, no pauses, because Paul was so excited about this, our spiritual blessings, that are so much better than any material blessings we may have.
Not only do we have these spiritual blessings, we have an inheritance which we learned about in verses 11-14. Remember we talked about the inheritances of some well known people. Lachlan Murdoch – in line to inherit a media empire. Paris Hilton – in line to inherit a hotel empire. But those inheritance, fantastic as they may be, are only material. They won’t satisfy and they won’t last for eternity. Our inheritance is an eternal one that lasts forever. What an inheritance that God has included us in!
Wow these are amazing things: spiritual blessings, eternal life, an eternal inheritance. But is always easy to keep our eyes on these things in the rough and tumble of this life? We can’t see our spiritual blessings. We can’t see our spiritual inheritance. As we go through life, the things of this life - physical blessings such as houses, cars, luxurious holidays, wealth, fame and fun - they all look so much more enticing than spiritual blessings don’t they? And most people in this world would rather trade places with Paris Hilton and get her material inheritance and the lifestyle that goes with it, than have the spiritual inheritance that Paul talks about here. Why is that material blessings seem so much more attractive than spiritual blessings? It’s because we can see them! We can see our neighbour with the new BMW, with the new swimming pool. But we can’t see eternal life – yet anyway – one day we will! Paul knows this, so in Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul prays for our eyes to be opened so we can see what is really going on. Remember I talked about climbing Mt Beerwah at night. Who’s climbed Mount Beerwah or any other mountain at night? At night you can only see the track in front of you, as far as the torch light goes. You can’t see the stupendous view, or the sheer drop next to the path you are walking on! But which is bigger, which is more important? The track in front or the amazing landscape around you? Which is more important in the overall scheme of things? The amazing landscape of course, but you can’t see it at night so you don’t know it is there, until of course the sun comes up and all is visible. So in these verses Paul prays in Ephesians 1.18 for the eyes of our heart to be illuminated, so that we can see the spiritual realities, that the things of eternity are far more important than the things of this world. And we can only get this illumination through prayer, which is why these verses are a prayer.
Then Paul goes on in chapter 2 and drives home just what Christ has done for us, because he reminds us of what we were like before we became Christians. What where we like? Ephesians 2.1: we were dead! Dead in our sins. And if you are here today and aren’t following Jesus, then you are dead. You might be physically alive now but you are spiritually dead. And one day, death comes to us all. And if you are still spiritually dead when you physically die then you will remain dead forever. So Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2.1-10 of how we were dead in our sins. Now what characterises someone who is dead? They can’t do anything. They can’t do anything for themselves. And so when we were dead in our sins, there was nothing we could do to make ourselves acceptable to God, to meet His perfect standard of holiness. So God did that for us, sending Jesus to die for our sins and thus paying the penalty for our wrongdoing. He took us from death to life. What an extreme – death to life! More extreme than any other extreme.
And that is though Grace. That is – the undeserved gift from God, as it says in Ephesians 2.8 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And so here we see faith also mentioned. God’s grace is available, but we must believe, trust, have faith in God, following Jesus, so that we can receive this wonderful gift – God’s grace.
Then in Ephesians 2:11-18, Paul reminds us that we were spiritual refugees before we came into relationship with Jesus. We were cut off from God, without citizenship, hostile to God and hostile to each other. But through Christ, the wall has been broken. Remember, those old enough to remember, in 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. The wall between us and God was stronger than the Berlin Wall but it has come down through what Christ did for us on the cross.
Grace, what wonderful grace. Through grace we go from death to life. We receive spiritual blessings, we have a wonderful inheritance. Things that are so wonderful that we need to have a relevation – an illumination from God – so that we can understand how wonderful they are.
And then, the result is Peace. Peace with God and peace with other. God has brought people of all walks together who believe and follow Jesus. Jew, Gentile. Black, white. Rich, poor. Educated, uneducated. Put them together in the church, which we learn about in Ephesians 2:19-22. If you are a believer in Jesus - following Jesus - then you are a member of the church, because in Ephesians 2:19 it says that all believers are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. So if you are a Christian, the question is not if you are a member of the church, but the question is, which local church are you a member of! And the church, as it grows together, is knit together, is being built into the temple of God. That is, the church is where God lives! And the question for us as a church is, are we growing together, being joined together?
Paul keeps going on about the church in chapter 3. In Ephesians 3.1-6, he talks about the mystery of God. Who likes a mystery? Well, here Paul talks about the solution to the mystery of God! And this revealed mystery is something amazing: Ephesians 3.6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. We – Gentiles – that is, non-Jews, had been cut off from God, but now we share with believing Jews some amazing things. We share the inheritance. We are members of the same body – the church. And we share the promise in Jesus Christ of the Gospel. We have peace with God.
But not everyone has.peace with God. Some people have rejected God, but some people don’t have peace with God because they haven’t yet heard about Jesus and what He did for them. And still 2000 years after Jesus was born, 1/3 of the world’s population - that is 2 billion, not 2 million, but 2 billion people - do not have peace with God because they haven’t even heard about the opportunity to have peace with God. And so in Ephesians 3.7-13, Paul talks about how he was made a servant to preach the Gospel to those who haven’t yet heard. He calls that service a gift. And it’s not just for him, it’s for us too. Eph 3.10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. God’s plan for His wisdom to be made known is through the church. That’s us. Are we making the wisdom of God known everywhere to those who don’t yet have peace with God? Both hear in Gympie and elsewhere?
And so as chapter 3 finishes, Paul digresses with another prayer in 3.14-21, a prayer that we can understand the un-understandable love of God. That somehow we
Eph 3.18 may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Wow.
And thus ends chapter 3, full of grace and peace which we have because of God’s amazing love, and through our faith in Jesus .
And then in chapter 4, we move on to how we live practically as Christians. How this life of peace is worked out in love for God and love for each other. Paul starts chapter four by reminding us to Eph 4.1b walk in a manner worth of the calling to which you have been called. In Ephesians 4:1-6 Paul reminds us of our calling, which is to live in manner worthy of our calling. That is – to live lives of righteousness and love, which he spends the next few chapters fleshing out. And he reminds us of the unity that we must have in the church. Peace is not just with God, but with each other. It is not a peace at all costs, but a unity in the one faith – the true faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A unity in the one baptism we share. A true unity in the one body – which is the church. And a true unity in the one God- the one Father, the one Lord Jesus and the one Holy Spirit.
And then in Ephesians 4.7-16, we are called to excerise that calling, that unity, in using our gifts in service to each other. Being equipped in our gifts and service, so that the whole body of Christ is built up. Are you using your gifts for the Lord’s service? So that the whole body – the church - can be built up? If you are not doing your bit, the whole body suffers. Remember I talked about Marcela’s earache when we did that sermon. Her Eustachian Tube, which is tiny, was not pulling its weight, and so the whole of Marcela suffered. It’s like that when we aren’t all pulling together. But when we are all pulling together and doing our bit, it says in Ephesians 4.16b when each part is working properly, (it) makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Then from Ephesians 4:17, Paul talks about our new life in Christ. Ephesians 4.17-24 talks about a New way of Living. Earlier in chapter 2 there was the extreme of death to life. Through Christ we have gone from death to life - what an extreme, when we go from death to life. That ought to bring about a change in the way we live also. An extreme change in our behaviour from bad to good. From the way we used to live – our old self, to the way we live now – the new self. We talked about how if we really are Christians, that the holy, obedient life is not an optional extra. It’s not like McDonalds, where they ask you “would you like fries with that?” God doesn’t ask us
“would you like holiness with your salvation?” It’s not optional. When we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us and therefore, there must be a change in the way we live. Of course we aren’t perfect yet, and won’t be until the next life, but we must be getting better, changing, putting off the old self and putting on the new. And if that’s not happening, if there’s no evidence that you are a Christian
then you probably aren’t one.
Paul then goes on to tell us how this Christian life ought to look like - this changed life, this new way of living. In Ephesians 4.25 to 5.2, we talked about anger, our speech, and forgiveness. We shouldn’t get angy like we used to. We must watch our speech. Our speech must not tear others down, but as it says in Ephesians 4.29, our speech must build others up. It must be speech of peace, of grace and of love. And we must not be bitter people. When wronged, we don’t excuse the sin – the wrongdoing. We don’t say the sin was okay that someone did against us And it’s not always easy to forget the wrong someone did against us. But rather we forgive. That means we don’t seek revenge, because we remember what Christ did for us. When I have trouble forgiving others, I just remember the horrible things I’ve done against God, and that He forgave me. And when I think of that, how can I not but forgive others? As it says in Ephesians 4.32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. If you still hold unforgiveness against another, if you are not at peace with a Christian brother or sister, you need to rectify that or it will impede your relationship with God.
In the next section, in Ephesians 5.3-14, we are told to live lives of sexual purity, avoiding sexual immorality. The Ephesians lived in a sexually immoral society, not unlike today’s society really. And Paul must warn the Ephesian church, as he warns the Australian church today, not to accept the world’s lack of sexual morality. We must be pure in deed, in thoughts, and in what we say. We must not flirt with sexual immorality, but rather as it says in 1 Corinthians 6.18 Flee from sexual immorality.
Paul has been telling us as Christians that we must be careful how we live, watching our tongue, watching our anger and watching our purity. And so in the next few verses, in Ephesians 5.15-17, we are told to be careful how we walk, and careful how we use our time. Remember, our time here on earth is limited. We don’t know how long we’ve got, but God does. What are you going to do with that limited time? We need to make the most of our limited time, by living wisely, and understanding the will of God. The will of God is about living the way He tells us to in the Bible and about taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who don’t know him. Both those here in Gympie, and those overseas.
And next Paul tells us in Ephesians 5.18-21, to be filled with the Spirit. Instead of being drunk, instead of living wild lives of reckless behaviour, the follower of Christ is to be filled with the Spirit. Part of being filled with the Spirit means addressing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and making melody to the Lord in our heart, which we do in our worship service. It also means giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And being filled with the Spirit also means submitting. And then we spent four sermons talking about submission.
In Ephesians 5.22-24 it talks about wives submitting to their husbands. Something controversial in today’s society, but something the Bible tells wives to do, but possibly not as hard as the husband’s responsibility, which we saw in Ephesians 5:25-33. The husband must love his wife in the same way as Christ loved the church.
Wow.
And then in Eph 6.1-4 we looked at children submitting to their parents. That is – listening to and obeying them. So that everything will go well for you children, which includes you teenagers as well! And Fathers are responsbile for bringing up their children. They are responsible for bringing their children to maturity in the Lord.
And then in Ephesians 6.5-9, we looked at slaves and masters. A bit different for us today as we don’t have slaves or masters. But from this we can learn that Christ is our master, and we are his slaves.
Which brings us to the last section we looked at - Ephesians 6.10-20. Spiritual warfare and the armour of God, which we looked at a fortnight ago.
So that’s Ephesians, and if you’ve missed any of the sermons, you can read them or listen to them on the website at www.gympie-baptist-church.com or ask a copy to be made for you at the sound desk.
In a nutshell, what is Ephesians saying to us? Well - grace, peace, love, faith. By grace we have been saved. Amazing grace, stupendous grace, grace beyond understanding. Grace that we receive through faith. Grace God gives us because of His love. And the result is peace. Peace with God, and peace with each other, in what God calls the church.. The result is a changed life and a person that now has left behind the old sinful way of living, but follows God and His ways. And a person that is now motivated by faith and love. Love for those who haven’t yet heard about the grace of God, for those who still don’t have peace with God. Both those in Gympie and elsewhere. The result is a born again person whose sole reason for living is to please God. Living righteously, and working to see God’s purposes done.
Today we say “goodbye” to Ephesians. Not forever I hope. I’ve enjoyed going through Ephesians. But more than enjoyed it, I’ve been challenged. I’ve been in tears at times as I’ve realised God’s love for me. I’ve also been humbled into realising the implications of what it means to live as a Christian, and challenged to realise I could be doing better. Today, I want to give a challenge to us all.
Firstly, perhaps there are some here. You don’t know God. You don’t have peace with God. I want to ask you to consider the claims of the Gospel. Jesus Christ died for your sins, but you need to believe that and you need to trust Jesus. You need to be sorry for the wrong things you have done and want to change with God’s help, and to follow Jesus, to do what He says. If that’s you, I’d like you to come and talk to me after the service. I’ll stay down the front here for a few minutes after the service, so come and talk to me.
And I’d also like to issue a challenge to others. Perhaps you’d thought that you were a Christian but you realise now that being a Christian is more than just words. It’s about following Jesus. It’s about a changed life. I’d like to challenge you to be serious about following Jesus. To make Him the reason you live. Serving Him the way it tells us to in Ephesians and the rest of the Bible. If you’d like me to pray with you, then please also come and see me straight after the closing song.
And I’d like to issue a challenge for us all, me included. We could all improve in our Christian lives. I’m sure we’ve all been challenged as we’ve listened to Ephesians these last few months. Don’t just let this information slide. Live it. Do it. Work on your Christian life. To be more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ as it says in Ephesians 5.1, to be imitators of God as beloved children.
Peace be with you, brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all of you who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. (Ephesians 6:23-24).
