00:00:00:19 – 00:00:06:50
Clint Loveall
Hello friends again, and welcome back again to, the, what are we now? The further.

00:00:06:54 – 00:00:08:15
Michael Gewecke
Further Faith podcast.

00:00:08:15 – 00:00:28:25
Clint Loveall
For the Faith podcast. It’s going to take I’m going to get that wrong a few times. I appreciate you being with us as we kind of kick off the book of Ephesians today, at least in the text the last couple of days, who spent doing some, some precursor work and some background material, if you haven’t seen that, you may find it helpful.

00:00:28:30 – 00:00:53:13
Clint Loveall
But today we jump into the text, though I don’t know how far we’ll get, but, I’m going to read the first two verses, and then we’ll stop and start unpacking them. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

00:00:53:18 – 00:01:19:24
Clint Loveall
Michael, I we run the risk probably, of making very slow progress, but these are the kind of verses that can easily be read over. If you’re if you’re doing Bible study, this is not a place that feels particularly spiritual. And I think these verses often get treated as not very important. But there’s a lot happening here and it involves some of these words.

00:01:19:24 – 00:01:42:22
Clint Loveall
So, if you’ve been with us the last couple days, you know that we’ve said that a lot of scholars are skeptical about the authorship of this letter, and it may seem surprising that the first word in English is Paul. However, a case can be made, and many would make it that in the ancient world, if you’re a disciple of someone, you can use their name on their writings.

00:01:42:27 – 00:02:07:28
Clint Loveall
Again, those arguments are out there if you’re interested in reading them. What I think is more important is what Paul or whoever uses his name calls him, which is apostle. That’s a church word we’re pretty familiar with. Disciple. Apostle. We may or may not know. It means sent one or commissioned one. It. So the idea is ambassador.

00:02:07:28 – 00:02:37:05
Clint Loveall
So Paul, one who is sent of Christ Jesus. And then look at the preposition here by the will of God. This is in some ways an incredible place for Paul to start that he’s reminding the church I’m sent by Christ, and I am sent at the will of God. So on one hand, this is Paul claiming some authority for himself.

00:02:37:10 – 00:02:56:22
Clint Loveall
On the other hand, this is Paul’s recognition of who he is and what his mission is. And you know, again, Mike, I think these are words we get comfortable with, but sometimes it’s it’s good to back up and remind ourselves what they mean, because they are powerful words that sometimes we take for granted.

00:02:56:31 – 00:03:22:59
Michael Gewecke
Well, and in this case, actually, we might read past that apostle is a strange word in in one way, because remember that regardless of where you land about the authorship here piece, whether this is penned by Paul himself or not, the point being, Paul was not among the first 12 disciples, and some have drawn the line of what the apostle is based upon.

00:03:23:04 – 00:03:53:38
Michael Gewecke
The people that Jesus called. What’s fascinating about Paul and his ministry in the early church was that the story about the road to Damascus functions as a way of including Paul in that first generation of church leadership, in a broader sense, than just those who were called by Jesus himself. In fact, Clint, I think I would make the case and push back on this, but I think acts as a book that tells the story of the early church is somewhat notable.

00:03:53:38 – 00:04:15:11
Michael Gewecke
It’s somewhat remarkable for how little time it pays on the disciples that were chosen by Jesus in his earthly ministry. The idea that Paul spends so much of the attention of that book in the in the growth of the church, though we know Peter was hard at work in Jerusalem. Right? So there was a lot of things happening.

00:04:15:16 – 00:04:41:45
Michael Gewecke
But when the scriptures come and we get an address like this to the church, and after, says an apostle of Christ, I think we should be struck by the fact that God was choosing and working by the power of the spirit in some mysterious ways. Paul was not there for all of the miracles that Jesus Christ did. And yet God chooses Paul to be a messenger, to be a leader, to be a servant.

00:04:41:58 – 00:05:04:43
Michael Gewecke
All of this gets lived out on the other side of the resurrection. And that’s a remarkable thing to see so early in the church’s life. And by the way, it’s the foundational building block upon which the church continues to function. We still believe that the will of God is seen as God calls people to serve, that just pastors and church leaders in the traditional sense clan.

00:05:04:48 – 00:05:15:04
Michael Gewecke
But every single believer who’s called into service of the kingdom, each and every one is done so by the will of God. And it’s got at work in them.

00:05:15:09 – 00:05:43:46
Clint Loveall
Yes. And I mean, that’s well established in Scripture that God works through people. In this case, Paul the sent one of Jesus Christ according to or by the will of God. And then in the next line, what to who? Whom, whom? Yeah, let’s say who to whom is Paul sent? He’s sent to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

00:05:43:51 – 00:06:14:35
Clint Loveall
Saints is a word that is outside of many of our faith traditions. We think of that as a Catholic word, perhaps an Eastern Orthodox word. But here in context, the word saints just literally means Holy One. And we have, in other context, had this discussion. So we don’t need to to do it all the way. But Paul understands that because of Jesus Christ, all Christians are saints.

00:06:14:40 – 00:06:47:38
Clint Loveall
All Christians are holy ones, not because of a long list of accomplishments or miracles, but because Jesus Christ has made them holy and therefore each Christian is a holy one, a saint. And he writes here to the saints. Again, at some point early on, the words in Ephesus were added. We talked about the last couple days and then the interestingly enough, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Jesus Christ.

00:06:47:38 – 00:07:23:19
Clint Loveall
Now, some suggest that what Paul is doing here is, perhaps taking a first shot across the bow at those he considers unfaithful, those who are causing problems in Ephesus in other places, those who are preaching what he understands to be a different gospel. So to the saints in Ephesus who are faithful in Jesus Christ, a word of encouragement to them and a word of correction to those who are not being faithful.

00:07:23:24 – 00:08:00:14
Clint Loveall
But already in this first line, we have the two and the from Paul ascent one two, the holy ones, and the words that dominate both halves of that equation in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus. And so, here we already see Paul just thoroughly immersed in the idea that both the sent one and the holy ones who receive his message do so under the umbrella under the auspices of Christ Jesus.

00:08:00:14 – 00:08:10:28
Clint Loveall
And this is just it’s a non-negotiable for Paul. He cannot conceive of himself or what he does apart from his experience of Jesus Christ.

00:08:10:33 – 00:08:33:59
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. Clint, we need to make sure that we see that Jesus Christ is not an afterthought in these addresses, that Jesus is actually the beginning and the end. So Paul is an apostle of Christ. He’s also writing to those who are in Christ. But notice also, how is he writing? But while he’s writing as an apostle by the will of God.

00:08:33:59 – 00:09:01:51
Michael Gewecke
So this entire thing is couched within the idea that God’s providence and God’s choice is active in this relationship. What’s fascinating, and this is just a small, small detail, but I it’s sometimes fun to lift these things out. Clint, you mentioned that some of the earliest manuscripts miss this word in Ephesus. And so, yes, that’s true. What would the manuscripts have said?

00:09:01:51 – 00:09:34:33
Michael Gewecke
Well, to the saints who are faithful in Christ Jesus, which is a little bit of a strange way to to word that. And one commentator points out that it’s possible and this is 100% and pure speculation. So that needs to be said. But that what could have happened is that could have been a blank spot. It could have been to the Saints who are in blank that you would have filled in when you read the letter, and then you would have said, who are holy or who are in Christ Jesus, regardless of what actually was.

00:09:34:33 – 00:10:02:01
Michael Gewecke
We don’t know. You’re reaching back in time and these are things that were lost to history. The the point here, I think, is clear. The reason why Paul is writing is because he is in Christ Jesus, the people to whom he’s writing. And therefore the people he expects to listen are the people who are in Christ Jesus. And that phrase in Christ Jesus we’ve dealt with in other places.

00:10:02:06 – 00:10:46:01
Michael Gewecke
But realistically, you have to grapple with that as an idea. It’s such a simple phrasing in our Bibles, but the in Christ Jesus defines everything. You are either in Christ Jesus and then therefore your world is oriented because of Christ Jesus, or you’re outside of Christ Jesus. And then you live with an entirely different set of values. And it’s a little bit like The Matrix and Red pill, blue pill type thing, because when Paul writes in Christ Jesus to the holy ones, which, by the way, is the set apart ones, when Paul’s writing to those he’s writing with a certain set of expectations, a certain set of values, and he’s trying to lift those out

00:10:46:13 – 00:10:55:52
Michael Gewecke
to distinguish them from the opposing values of cultural and world and all of these things that we set up in the introduction over the last couple days.

00:10:55:57 – 00:11:30:31
Clint Loveall
I think that one of the challenges and one of the opportunities in this kind of language is this word, Saint Mark. I think very few Christians would consider themselves saints. In fact, we might be skeptical of those who did. We might think that’s a little presumptuous. But for Paul and and I think this is I think this is a wonderful, calling for each of us.

00:11:30:36 – 00:11:59:37
Clint Loveall
The reality of being in Christ is to be a holy one. And because one has already been made that in Jesus, now our task becomes to live as if that’s true. And the thing that we think about saints is that they lived life differently. They conducted themselves in a way that was different enough that they stood out from the world around them.

00:11:59:42 – 00:12:29:09
Clint Loveall
And that’s the idea here that in being holy ones, not because of our own merit, but because of what Jesus did, we are therefore called to a life which looks different than the world around us. And Paul is not going to build an obvious bridge between these ideas and the rest of the letter. But this is the understanding that undergirds the entire rest.

00:12:29:09 – 00:13:04:04
Clint Loveall
And I would argue everything that Paul writes, that that when the church fails to live as holy ones, it is failing to live up to and out of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s failing to be what Jesus has already made it. And and I think that’s such a wonderful understanding. Very comfortably within our own reformed tradition, that that idea that our task is to do our best to reflect what Jesus has already done for us.

00:13:04:04 – 00:13:27:00
Clint Loveall
And I think we see that even here in a very subtle way, in these opening words. And then, of course, we get, almost boilerplate. Paul, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace are the two most important words that Paul shares with churches. He uses them in virtually every letter that he writes.

00:13:27:05 – 00:13:52:23
Clint Loveall
Grace and peace. That’s what he wishes upon the body of Christ. Now, grace to cover our mistakes and our failures and our humanness and our sinfulness and peace, to guard our hearts, to guide our ministries, and to inform our relationships with one another. And again, you can simply read past Grace and peace and think of all that.

00:13:52:26 – 00:14:08:44
Clint Loveall
Those are nice words, but those are foundational words for Paul. Those are at the heart of the gospel and what the gospel offers communities like Ephesus and Spirit Lake and wherever, in in reflection of what Christ has done.

00:14:08:49 – 00:14:44:15
Michael Gewecke
Well, let’s look at those, you know, specifically put them under the microscope. What makes Grace remarkable? It’s a free gift. It’s a thing given that is not earned. And so ultimately, when you live in the ancient world and you live in a mentality in which it’s the sacrifices offered that merit the gift of the gods or that bend the gods to your favor, grace becomes a universal entrance into the will and presence of God, that it be something not done by you and therefore not contingent.

00:14:44:22 – 00:15:16:18
Michael Gewecke
But while that’s good news, it also brings with it a form of responsibility, of trust, of belief. And then peace is ultimately a thing that I think many Christians today, Clint, would, if we’re honest and slow down in our readings, say, yeah, that’s a thing I could use to I could use peace today. I could use the the faith that lives within me being so strong and firm that I live with a kind of peace in the kingdom in which I am called, that in Jesus Christ.

00:15:16:22 – 00:15:37:31
Michael Gewecke
I have peace. For many. They live in the spirit of anxiety, or that, or they are caught up in fear of what’s happening around them in in this moment or the world. And that’s true today. But, Clint, that’s been true for as long as humanity has existed. We have always been, as humans, fraught by the things that surround us.

00:15:37:31 – 00:16:00:20
Michael Gewecke
And the question is, are we those who have received grace? Are we those who have allowed that grace to work, that kind of faith within us that could even engender peace even when the world in which we live and the world. I think there could be all caps. The world in which we live is is full of fear and fight and anxiety, conflict, anger, all these things.

00:16:00:25 – 00:16:21:27
Michael Gewecke
And yet the person of faith is one for whom grace and pieces are not for. And Paul desires that for a church in Ephesus, which, quite frankly, had lots of reasons to struggle with grace and to struggle with peace. And yet that’s how he begins the words. Is it a formal offering? Much like any ancient letter? Yes.

00:16:21:27 – 00:16:44:45
Michael Gewecke
There are similar conventions that are offered, but the words chosen here, I don’t think are just conventions. I think they’re chosen purposefully. They they represent an author who wants to communicate clearly the values of the letter, and therefore the values of the kingdom. And these values as represented here are grace and peace. And those are beautiful, deep words that we would do well to spend some time with.

00:16:44:52 – 00:17:10:24
Clint Loveall
Yeah, a sent one wishes upon holy ones Christians grace and peace, and in some ways as wonderful as the words grace and peace are the most important word in verse two might be from. Because peace and grace are not something we accomplish, there’s something we receive. Where does this come from? From God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

00:17:10:24 – 00:17:39:25
Clint Loveall
So, Paul hasn’t even really started writing yet. And yet, because of who Paul is and what he thinks and how he is informed and shaped by the gospel, he is already laid out for us a sermon of sorts in just the opening, in just the salutation, and, it it will, it will get even better from here very quickly.

00:17:39:30 – 00:17:59:23
Clint Loveall
But I would encourage you, don’t don’t just jump past these kind of passages in biblical letters. Spend some time with them and listen to them because they’re not throwaway material. There’s there’s very important stuff here, even though it is, kind of customary.

00:17:59:33 – 00:18:22:06
Michael Gewecke
To plant this idea really quick as we get out the door here, this word that we have in verse one, those who are faithful is what the NIV translates it here. Another way that you can translate that is, are the believers in Christ Jesus. And if you think for a second the bar of being inside the group that Paul’s talking to, right?

00:18:22:06 – 00:18:54:54
Michael Gewecke
That to be a believer, to be a person inside the church in this letter, is simply to be a person whose belief is in Jesus. If you really take that to heart, Clint, that’s an astonishingly simple bar. Now, it’s not an easy bar. It’s a deep bar. But, we would do well to remember that if this letter was written as an encyclical in which lots of churches might be intended to hear it, the idea of what makes us all together, it’s our shared belief in Jesus Christ.

00:18:54:54 – 00:19:31:24
Michael Gewecke
It’s Jesus Christ at the center. That idea is a hinge idea. Everything turns on it. And so we would do well to think of ourselves in the same way today. Your faith may not be climbing mountains. That’s okay. Do you believe are you seeking to believe and simply to believe in who Jesus Christ is? If you can find yourself at that level which I think many of us would find far more comfortable than than some of our beliefs about what our faith should look like, then you’re going to see yourself addressed by this letter, too.

00:19:31:24 – 00:19:54:31
Michael Gewecke
I think it’s easy to see they’re faithful and think, well, people who have been doing it well for a really long time. Really, it’s those who have put their faith towards and in Jesus Christ. That’s it. And though that may seem small to us, we will live our entire life seeking to live it out. And that’s our goal today, again, is to be the believers, to be the ones who put our faith in Jesus Christ.

00:19:54:36 – 00:20:18:41
Clint Loveall
Yeah, to whatever extent Paul calls them saints, it’s not because of what they’ve done, it’s because of what they have accepted has been done for them. And as they put their faith in the one who did it in Christ, then they become holy. They become a reflection of his holiness. So, for Paul, it is always first about Jesus and then very, very distant second about us.

00:20:18:41 – 00:20:26:37
Clint Loveall
Not that we are unimportant, but we are not primary. And Paul will, I think, never let us think otherwise.

00:20:26:42 – 00:20:30:25
Michael Gewecke
Good work. Thanks for being with us. We’ll be back tomorrow. And so until then, be blessed.

00:20:30:25 – 00:20:31:03
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.