Sunday, September 2, 2018 – Ephesians 6:23
The Blessing of a Faithful Life as Noted
in Ephesians, Pt. 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDmItxUYOZE
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
Eph 6:23, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Our faith grows out of God’s call,
Acts 2:39, and His Word, as it is
received, Acts 2:41. It results from
the fact that God opens hearts of those with positive volition, Acts 16:14-15. Paul’s writings view
faith as the normative expression of the Christian.
The basis of faith is the Word of
God and God’s action in history. As such, faith is directed at God Himself,
both subjectively, (based on perception and feelings), as well as objectively,
(not influence by feelings, but based on fact, experience, or some measurable
quality). God and Jesus Christ are the objects of faith, central to the life
lived by faith, John 14:1. In
addition, as the prototype for the unique spiritual life of the Church Age,
Jesus is rightly called the “author (leader,
pacesetter) and perfecter (finisher) of our faith,” Heb 12:2.
In the great portrait gallery of
faith, Hebrews chapter 11, we are
given a lengthy series on the OT models of faith. These saints believed God’s
promises in spite of the apparent hopelessness of their circumstances. Without
seeing the realization of the promises, they lived and died believing that the
promised Messiah would one day come and of the promised inheritance God would
give them. Faith characterized their lives. They might be said to have realized
that “without faith it is impossible to
please (God),” Heb 11:6.
The book of James advises us that
works must follow as the “fruit of faith” and as “proof of salvation.” He
cautioned against a “faith” that rests upon an intellectual assent to the truth
that lacks a life yielded and obedient to God. Therefore, Faith is the yielded
life to God and His Word, as we actionably live faithfully unto Him in thought,
word, and deed.
Next, we note that faith, PISITIS,
is used in the book of Ephesians 8 times. Eight is the superabundant number,
the beginning of a new era or order, regeneration, and resurrection, as our
Lord was raised on the eighth day. Thus is speaks of the new creation, the new
creature, the new spiritual species we are in Christ. And, in that new
creation, our mode of operation inside the Christian way of life is that of
faith, as we have noted above. It is found in Eph 1:15; 2:8; 3:12, 17; 4:5, 13; 6:16, 23. A survey of the
utilization of the Noun PISTIS in the book of Ephesians tells us:
1. Eph 1:15, “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord
Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints.”
In this passage, the first thing
we learn about “faith” is that in seeing it in other believers, it encourages
and motivates us to execute the Christian way of life even more so.
As we see here, knowing of the
faith of the people in Asia Minor who had come to saving faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ brought Paul great encouragement, joy, and motivation to offer up
prayers of thanksgiving to God. This tells us that the knowledge of other
people’s faith brings great joy, happiness, encouragement, and inspiration to
other believers who are going forward in God’s plan for their lives. As Paul
stated, “For this reason I too, ... 16do
not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.”
We take from this that we are to
thank God for evidences of His grace in the lives of His people that is
expressed by their faith towards God. This is also a public commendation and
encouragement back to the people of God, as Paul prays to God giving thanks for
their faith as he also lets the people know that he is thankful for them being
in his life.
So, we take from this a good
summary of what a Christian is: a Christian has faith in the Lord Jesus and has
love toward the saints.
“On January 6, 1822, the wife of a poor German pastor had a
son, never dreaming that he would one day achieve world renown and great
wealth. When Heinrich Schliemann was seven years old, a picture of ancient Troy
in flames captured his imagination. Contrary to what many people believed,
Heinrich argued that Homer's great poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, were based
on historic facts and he set out to prove it. In 1873, he uncovered the ancient
site of Troy, along with some fabulous treasure which he smuggled out of the
country, much to the anger of the Turkish government. Schliemann became a
famous, wealthy man because he dared to believe an ancient record and act on
his faith.
We discovered that
we were "born rich" when we trusted Christ. But this is not enough,
for we must grow in our understanding of our riches if we are ever going to use
them to the glory of God. Too many Christians have never "read the bank
book" to find out the vast spiritual wealth that God has put to their
account through Jesus Christ. They are like the late newspaper publisher,
William Randolph Hearst, who invested a fortune collecting art treasures from
around the world. One day Mr. Hearst found a description of some valuable items
that he felt he must own, so he sent his agent abroad to find them. After
months of searching, the agent reported that he had finally found the
treasures. They were in Mr. Hearst's warehouse. Hearst had been searching
frantically for treasures he already owned! Had he read the catalog of his
treasures, he would have saved himself a great deal of money and trouble.
Paul desired the
Ephesian Christians to understand what great wealth they had in Christ. Paul
knew of their faith and love, and in this he rejoiced. The Christian life has
two dimensions: faith toward God and love toward men, and you cannot separate
the two. But Paul knew that faith and love were just the beginning.” (Bible Exposition Commentary).
2. Eph 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Clearly, this verse tells us that
salvation is from the grace of God when we apply faith, that is, believe what
the Bible tells us about the work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. It tells us
that faith is a non-meritorious action because salvation is a gift from God to
those who believe. Even our faith in Jesus Christ is not good enough to earn
our salvation; it must be gifted by God. Our faith is not a work or deed, but a
mental attitude towards what God and Jesus have done on our behalf. When we
believe in God’s and Jesus’ work on our behalf, the grace of God gives us
salvation. “Through faith” we are saved, not “by faith” are we saved.
Nevertheless, faith is the
subjective medium for the process of salvation, it is a necessary condition.
Faith is the human response to what God says and does: belief, Eph 1:13. At the same time, it too is
a gift from God, which refers to the whole process of salvation, not just the
granting of faith to believe, cf. Acts
13:48; 18:27; Phil 1:29.
Eph 2:9, “Not as a result of works, so that no one may
boast.” During the time of Jesus and Paul,
faith became a system of works, as the Jews believed that by following the Law
they were faithful to God and would be saved. They confused faith with human
good works and the two became one. But as we know, that kind of faith nullified
their salvation, because it was what they would do and earn, rather than being
a gift of God.
Grace means salvation completely
apart from any human merit or works on our part. Grace means that God does it
all for Jesus’ sake! Our salvation is the gift of God. Salvation is a gift, not
a reward. Therefore, even our faith is a grace gift from God for those who
possess positive volition towards His Word.
As you know, we are not saved by
faith plus works, but by grace through a faith that does work; post salvation.
We have a living faith, a functioning faith! Now that we belong to God, God is
working on us and in us so that He might work through us in faith.
3. Eph 3:12, “In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith
in Him.”
One important aspect of our
working faith is our prayer life as noted in this passage. Here, we understand
that through faith in Jesus Christ, we have confident assurance and access to
God the Father in our prayer life, 1
John 5:14-15.
1 John 5:14-15, “This is the confidence which we have
before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15And
if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the
requests which we have asked from Him.”
“Knowing,” in 1 John 5:15, is another way of saying faith. Faith is expressing
positive volition towards an object or thing that you have deemed to be real or
true. To “know” something means that you have learned about it and understood
it to be real or true. This is the application in 1 John 5:15. We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, have
learned about the prayer life that we can exercise in the spiritual life. We
have learned that we can pray to God the Father, and that He answers our
prayers. Therefore, we know about the prayer life. Now in exercising the prayer
life, we understand and apply our prayer life by praying to God the Father. In
that, we have learned that He hears our prayers, so we pray to the Father. We
also have learned that He answers our prayers, so we wait patiently with
confidence for Him to answer them. When we do this that is faith, PISTIS in
action or PISTEOU.
If you are convinced in something
so that you “know” it to be true or real and then use that information in some
way that is faith. It means that you believe that thing to be so and you apply
it to your life. In this case, the thing we are applying is that we can pray to
God the Father and He hears our prayer, and that He answers our prayers.
Therefore, we know / believe that God hears our prayers and answers them, which
means we have faith. If you know / believe that God answers your prayers, that
is faith. Therefore, our prayer life is a great example of our faith rest life
in God.
Yet, if we are not bold,
confident, and assured that God hears and answers our prayers, even though we
have learned to the contrary, we are lacking in faith. Yet, if we are bold,
confident, and assured that God hears and answers our prayers, we excel in
faith as we should. As Heb 11:1
states, “Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
The emphasis on Jesus Christ in
this passage tells us that in our prayer life we can enter the Father’s
presence with “boldness and confidence,” because we are covered with the
righteousness of Christ. That gives us access to the Father. When we place our
faith in Jesus Christ, we have done so because we realize He is the only One
who met the requirements of God laid down in the OT Law. When God looks at
those people who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He sees the
righteousness of Christ in them, which equals His righteousness that qualifies
for relationship with Him, and therefore provides us the opportunity in grace
to offer prayers to Him. Therefore, we are able to offer prayers to God the
Father, because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the Cross.
This is also part of the mystery;
that believers can experience a nearness to God that far exceeds that of the OT
saints. Christians can boldly approach God because of Christ, vs. 18. This is not an “arrogance of
access,” but a “freedom to access” that we are confident in, Heb 4:14-16. We know that God hears us.
He is for us. He is with us. That confidence is faith.
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