If you walked into Fairfield Presbyterian Church PCA on the first Sunday of our new Ephesians series, you may have noticed the sign out front simply said: Hello. It was the perfect introduction to a letter that opens with two of the most loaded words in Scripture — grace and peace. In Ephesians 1, Paul transforms a simple greeting into one of the most theologically rich passages in all of Scripture.
“Lisa and I try to come up with fancy titles,” Pastor Chris O’Brien admitted, “especially in winter. We want them short, sweet, and to the point.”
It was a fitting introduction. Because that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul does in the opening verses of Ephesians. He says hello. But the way he says it, who he says it to, and whose name he invokes, turns a simple greeting into one of the most theologically rich passages in all of Scripture.
Over the next several months, we’ll be working through this letter together, one passage at a time. Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus is only six chapters long. You could read it in an hour. But as Pastor Chris explained, preaching it in three sermons would be like trying to cover the Sermon on the Mount in an afternoon: technically possible, and thoroughly inadequate.
“There’s a richness here. A depth here,” he said. “The material is presented differently than a gospel narrative, and it rewards careful, unhurried attention.”
Who’s Writing, and Why It Matters
We know who Paul was before his conversion: a man who, by his own description in Acts, was doing everything in his power to destroy the early church. Then Jesus interrupted him on the road to Damascus, knocked him flat, and called him by name. No gentle nudge. No extended orientation. Just: “You’re going to find out how much you’re going to suffer for my name.”
Written to the Saints: That Means You
There is another tradition that reserves the word saints for a select few, spiritual heroes of exceptional virtue who can intercede on our behalf. But that is not what Paul means here.
“Paul can describe all the Christians at Ephesus, whatever their ethnicity, whether they’re slave or free, whether they have a lot of money or they don’t, whether they became a Christian yesterday or six years ago, as holy ones in Christ,” Pastor Chris explained.
We are not holy in ourselves. We have been set apart by God. And that same holiness, Paul says, is inseparable from faithfulness. They come as a package. If you are truly in Christ, you will not ultimately turn your back on him. Not because Christians are perfect (we are not), but because the one who called us is.
Grace and Peace: More Than a Greeting
These are not religious add-ons, the spiritual equivalent of signing off with “blessings.” They carry real weight.
Blessed Be the God Who Has Blessed Us
Notice how Paul uses the same word two different ways. “Blessed be God” means praise. We bless God when we ascribe glory to him. “Who has blessed us” is grace. God blesses us not by praising us back, but by pouring out his favor on us.
Pastor Chris had a gentle word for the well-meaning churchgoer who approaches the pastor after a sermon and says, “Oh, that was such a blessing.” He didn’t want to be too cynical about it. But there is a real point underneath the observation: we don’t come to worship primarily to receive something. We come to give something, our praise, our attention, our hearts, to the God who made us and redeemed us.
One God in Three Persons
The Father ordained our salvation. Christ accomplished it. The Holy Spirit seals it and indwells the believer. Paul’s greetings come from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” His doxology praises the same God. And the Spirit shows up in verse 13, sealing those who believe, and again in verse 17 as the spirit of wisdom given in prayer.
This is the God of the Bible. Not a vague higher power. Not a theological abstraction. Not “someone up there.” The sovereign, self-revealing, triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“Those that claim to worship God, but don’t worship this God, may be a lot of things,” Pastor Chris said plainly. “But they’re not Christians. Because this is the Christian God.”
For those searching for a Bible-believing church with formal worship services rooted in the historic Reformed faith, that kind of clarity matters. The liturgy at Fairfield isn’t decoration. It is theology in action, week after week, pointing us back to the God who is really there.
A Note on Our Approach
“It’d be like trying to do three sermons on the Sermon on the Mount,” Pastor Chris said. “Nobody would argue that was adequate.”
So we will be moving more slowly, taking smaller chunks, staying in the rich terrain of what some have called the Alps of the New Testament. Pray for a good pace: not so slow we lose the thread, not so fast we miss the treasure.
Coming to the Table
We come to the Lord’s table not simply to remember a historical event, but to be reminded that our sins are forgiven and that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are freed to pursue holiness. Not as an attempt to earn standing before God, but as the fruit of the standing we already have in Christ.
That is where Ephesians 1 lands us: loved before the foundation of the world, graced in the beloved, sealed by the Spirit, and invited to the table.
Not a bad place to begin.
Recent Comments