The Blessing of the Gospel

As I reflected on those words more and more, I thought this is particularly powerful. And so we're going to look at only three verses this morning, the very last three verses of the letter to the Ephesians this morning in Ephesians 6:21-24. Now as we come to this part of the letter, let's be reminded of what's been happening in the past few chapters in Ephesians. We've been urged by Paul, from chapters four through to six, to live as light in response to the gospel. Paul, having told these Christians how transformative the gospel has been, tells us that the gospel itself causes us to maintain a loving unity within the church.

It causes us to participate in the church's growth. It causes us to be renewed in the relationships we have within the church between parents and children, husbands and wives. Last week we saw how the gospel gives us a defence, like armour on our bodies to protect against the powers of evil, the schemes of Satan, he says. Paul now wraps up his letter with a closing blessing in verses 21 through to 24. And Paul does this by coming full circle as he returns to the things that he pointed out in the first half of his letter.

Paul finishes, in other words, how he started. He calls on God to bestow His abundant grace and peace on Christians through the reality of God's redemption. Let's have a look at those words in Ephesians 6:21. Paul writes, "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. I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts."

"Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, with love incorruptible." That is the word of the Lord. This morning I want to point out three things that we see in these short four verses. Firstly, in verses twenty-one and twenty-two, we see a partnership of encouragement exists between the church and its ministers.

Paul tells the Ephesian church that someone's going to come to them, probably carrying this letter, by the name of Tychicus, who is called a beloved brother, a faithful servant or a faithful minister in the Lord. There's an almost identical message about this Tychicus in the closing remarks of the letter to the Colossians as well. You may want to have a quick look in Colossians 4:7-8, where Paul says almost the identical words in the exact same way about Tychicus, who will also visit the Colossian church. What it means is well, probably it indicates that Paul dictated these two letters, Colossians and Ephesians, at roughly the same time. And that Colossians and Ephesians are sent to the two churches in Ephesus and Colossae in the same province of Asia Minor.

If you have a look at the Colossians passage, you will see that at the very end there, Paul tells us, "I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains," he says, "grace be with you." So Paul, in other words, writes these closing remarks in his own writing. You may not know this, but Paul probably dictated most of his letters. So there would have been another person, a Luke perhaps, or a John Mark, who would have written Paul's words down as he said them.

But these are his personal remarks at the end, and he writes this with his own hand. And so he writes almost identical conclusions and sends Tychicus to deliver both these letters to Ephesus and to Colossae. Again, it's a historical detail that, like I said, we might skip over pretty quickly. But it is useful for us, important for us to try and think deeply about why God includes these descriptive elements in many of Paul's letters. Questions we ask ourselves are: are they just empty historical details?

Do they sort of just help us understand the context in which these letters were sent, or do they actually carry some weight? And I believe that what Paul writes in two Timothy 3:16, that all of Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. This is Scripture. So the question this morning is, how does this part of Scripture help with all of that? Well, I don't think we will build any serious theological positions on these two verses, but at broader levels of application, we see some edification.

What we see is a partnership between Paul and this church. Paul played an integral part in the life of the Ephesian Christians. He was an apostle to the Gentiles, and the Ephesians were largely Gentile. He loved them, he says, and they loved him. And Paul's mention of Tychicus and his purpose in relaying an update about Paul is a reminder that our church, our church is never disconnected from those who minister to us.

We stand in partnership together forever. The Ephesus church cares about Paul because they know that he cares about them and that their common goal in the gospel was to make the news of Jesus Christ available to all. So they stand in this solidarity. They stand in this partnership together for the gospel. And so this general application is to be reminded of those who faithfully minister in our church, those we support through this church.

They deserve our ongoing affection, our support. If I can indulge, I need your prayer and support. I need you to stand in partnership with me in declaring the gospel to the nations. I need you to pray for my family that we don't lose heart in this hard work. You need to pray for the health of your pastor, for his preaching, for his counselling, for his decision making in looking after this church.

And in doing so, you not only grow in your affection for him personally, but I think more significantly, you grow in your affection, your interest, your spiritual investment into the eternal significance of ministry itself. You will love the church and its ministry if you love the pastor and his ministry. Paul's example here of equipping Tychicus to go back to share an update on how he's travelling is a good reminder for me of how I can also, and I need to be more transparent with you about how I am travelling, about how ministry in our church is shaping up, and also about the struggles which I may be facing. The other significant detail here is that Paul uses the word "we". You see that?

"I've sent him to you for this that you may know how we are," and that indicates there is more than one minister. There is more than one worker that Paul is giving feedback about. All of those ministers, remember, are sitting in Rome around Paul during his imprisonment there. And it's a reminder that we uphold in prayer, we uphold in encouragement, not only the pastor, but our elders, our deacons, our ministry workers, our musicians, our Sunday school teachers, our intern even, Quentin. We uphold the workers in our church who diligently, intentionally, thoughtfully minister to us. We see an example of a faithful church who will always find ways to encourage their ministers, to pray for them in their gospel proclamation, and ministers will find ways to share with them the joys, the struggles, the advances of their ministry.

It is a partnership of mutual encouragement. At the end of Philippians, which is another letter written from Rome during Paul's imprisonment, Paul tells them that the Philippian church, that some family members in Caesar's own household send them regards. What an amazing encouragement that would have been for the Philippian Christians. The gospel is bearing fruit in Rome, in the household of the Caesar. Tychicus is being sent here to the Ephesians to encourage their hearts with these sorts of updates.

Then Paul moves on to a blessing in verses 23 and 24. It's his final words in his Ephesian letter, and it's the word of a benediction, a blessing. And Paul does pray for four things. He prays for the gifts of peace, love, faith, and grace. After those sort of closing remarks about what he is sending Tychicus to do, Paul prays a blessing over the church, and in this blessing, Paul identifies the source of these four blessings as coming from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 23. Now the words peace, love, faith and grace again might be so common to Christian ears that we read over them. We don't take note of them. But let's think about exactly what these blessings are referring to. The blessings of peace and grace correspond arguably the most intrinsically to the gospel.

If you were to summarise the effects of the gospel, you would say it is grace and peace. For this reason, Paul almost always begins his letters with those exact same words in his opening blessing. Who's ever turned to one of his letters and read, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ"? Grace and peace go together because they are the prime blessings of the gospel. In fact, verse two in the Ephesian letter begins exactly like that.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." And we know that grace is perhaps the most defining word in the Christian faith. Grace is the action of someone showing a kindness when they aren't obligated to show kindness. That's a definition of grace. And when Paul talks about grace, it's almost always referring to God's grace towards people.

It's grounded in what Christ has done. So when Paul asks for God to give grace in this blessing, he asks for God's unobligated kindness towards those who don't deserve it. When peace is asked for, which is in the Greek, Irene, by the name, the name Irene is this word in the Greek. It's almost certainly linked to the Hebrew word shalom, peace. Jewish people like Paul greeted one another with those words, "Peace, peace to you."

But for Paul, when he opens his letters and he closes his letters with those words, it is more than a greeting. The shalom peace that Paul prays for draws into its deep kingdom-minded meaning of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, that peace was grounded in the hope of God's kingdom reign breaking into planet Earth. To pray for this peace is to ask that the justice, the righteousness of God's kingdom will reign in life. In other words, when you find yourself living in this peace, you experience a life that is distanced from the chaotic effects of sin, which seeks to break down God's kingdom.

And so you see that when grace and peace are prayed for in both these opening and closing blessings, the request is for God to surround you with the incredible protections that only He can give against the horrors of sin. It is a blessing both in this life and in the next. And so in this sense, grace and peace are eschatological designations. Let me explain that. Just as we know how in Christ, the kingdom of God has arrived.

We say the kingdom of God has arrived in Christ, and yet it has arrived in part. We taste the freedoms. We taste the hope. And yet, somehow, the grace and peace that have been given to us in the kingdom arriving now can also be added to by more grace and more peace. Somehow, even more grace and peace can be received.

Just like Paul can say that we are all filled by the Holy Spirit and yet command us be filled with the Holy Spirit, so grace and peace can be given to you, is given to you through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and yet more peace, more grace can be added. Perhaps this request for more grace and peace comes through being granted a greater capacity to understand it, or perhaps to actually taste and see the grace and peace of God breaking through your life as you progress in your sanctification. But somehow, grace and peace is this now and not yet feature in your life. You have it in Christ, and you may ask for more of it. Paul then also prays for love with faith, he says in verse 23.

Again, like grace and peace, love and faith show up together in earlier parts of the letter. For example, have a look in chapter 1:15. Paul says, "For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease giving thanks for you." Or in chapter 3:17, Paul says, "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend God's love for you." So again, love and faith are found and used together in the letter before, but what's it referring to here in this final blessing?

Well, it's asking God to give us love for each other as church members. So this love that Paul is praying for is not so much a love for God as it is a love for one another, that we will grow to love each other more and more. We sort of find that with Paul's reference in chapter 4:2, where he says, "With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bear with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." So there is peace and love connected again. How can we experience some of that peace of God breaking through?

By loving one another and being reconciled to each other, working hard to be unified in the faith. In that same passage in chapter four, in the very next verse, verse 3, we see this love flowing out of faith even. "There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism." In other words, Paul asks God to give us a love for each other. Paul asks God to give us a love for each other, which flows out of the faith, which He also gives us.

Have a think about that. What we see is God's sovereignty in all aspects of our sanctification. God is the one who gives us the love we have for one another. God is the one who gives us the faith that we have in Him. In Paul's blessing here, we see this wonderful example of the type of prayers that we can and should be praying.

We can pray for God to grant us a love for our brothers and sisters. We can and should pray for God to grant us faith, to grant us peace in our church. In all aspects, God is the one who grows us in our godliness, in our Christ-likeness. We don't do it. God does it on our behalf.

And yet, in the same blessing, we see that there is still a responsibility to play our part. Because Paul talks about this need to respond to Christ, he says, with an unfailing love, which is our third and our final point. Paul finishes the letter to the Ephesians. He finishes his blessing with the words, "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible." Now the word in the Greek here literally translates to immortality, an immortal love.

In other words, you are called to love Christ with an undying love. But the way that Paul frames this last phrase of the blessing indicates that there is a conditional element to God's blessing. God's grace is connected with your love of Christ. In other words, in order to receive the blessing of God's grace, there is a need to respond to Christ with incorruptible love. In order to receive God's grace, in order to receive the peace, the faith, the love, we need to respond to Christ with incorruptible love.

Now I want us to be careful because, obviously, Paul would never say that God's grace only comes to those who have loved Christ first. Because back in chapter two, Paul famously says, "It is by grace that you have been saved, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God." God's grace comes to us without our own effort to love Him first. None of us can claim God's grace by having loved Christ first.

So what's going on here? Well, it continues this same idea we mentioned before. God's grace is measured out more and more in the life of a Christian as they go on in their faithful allegiance to Him. So you already have grace, and yet God's grace extends more and more into the areas of your life where you continue to love Him. Secondly, notice that this love incorruptible, this undying love is connected with the love that God is asked to give in verse 23.

So have a look again, verse 23, "Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith." And then in verse 24, "Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible." So on the one hand, God gives love, and yet we are called to love Jesus Christ. God gives love, and we are called to love Christ in return. Andrew Lincoln, in his commentary, writes this.

He says, "The common factor of love, so the love given and the love responded, given in response, highlights what has been a consistent emphasis of the writer, of Paul throughout the letter. What is required of believers is already given by God." What is required of believers has already been given by God. Now we know this amazing dynamic is already highlighted in other parts of scripture, beautifully summarised in one John 4 by the Apostle John. One John 4:10, we see this.

"This is love. Not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiating sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." Can you see that dynamic that happens there?

It's because God is the origin of our love. God is the one who loved us first that we can love in return. In a few minutes, at the end of this service, you'll hear me pronounce the same words that I pronounce most Sundays, which is a blessing at the end of the worship service. Traditionally, this is called the benediction, which is Latin, which literally translates to a good word. You receive a good word.

Every week at church, we receive this blessing, which we should understand to be a blessing from God, not only from the pastor. Typically, we finish our worship services with the words from two Corinthians 13:14. You'll probably know this. "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." That is what we receive at the end of the service.

But when you hear it this morning, I want you to take note of the order in which the persons of the Trinity are called upon in this blessing. It might be surprising to you because you might actually expect, like I did, that God the Father should be referenced first. Right? He is the source of all blessing. He is the source of all good.

James says He is the giver of all good things. And yet it is Jesus Christ and His grace that is mentioned first, and the order is not a mistake. Friends, the reason why the words "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" is mentioned first in the great blessing we receive is that before we can receive the love of God the Father, we need the grace of Jesus Christ first. Without the grace of Jesus, we would not know God's eternal love. And so this is exactly the same dynamic that Paul is appealing to here.

You must love Christ. You must love Him so much that nothing can corrupt your affection towards Him. But you love Him because He first loved you through His grace. And because His love is so incredibly generous, you should love Him with an undying love, brothers and sisters. Love Him with an endless, incorruptible love.

Friends, do you love Jesus in this way? Do you love Him with an incorruptible love? Perhaps this morning, you realise that you love Him half-heartedly. Perhaps you realise that your love is corrupted by all sorts of other things that divert your affections. Is your love fickle?

Does it come with fits and starts? Can you identify that there is a sin in your life which keeps you away from loving Christ the way that He deserves? If you long for the blessings of grace and peace and love and faith, if you long for the wholesome existence of a life distanced from the chaos of sin, decide today to love Jesus Christ. To those who trust in Him, to those who are given all these benefits that Paul prays for, grace and peace and love and faith. So respond to His love. Give Him what He deserves.

And when you love Him, do so with an endless, undying love so that the words may be true for you: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your love given to us first. It is how we know what love is, not that we loved you, but you showed us the example of love, the ultimate love by sending Jesus Christ as the satisfying sacrifice for our sins. That is love.

And in light of this generous love, Lord, who are we to deny love back to you? Forgive us for a love that has been corrupted, a love that is not undying, a love that comes in fits and starts. Lord, help us in our fight against sin to be sanctified, made holy, made more godly, that we may experience peace in our church, love amongst the brothers and sisters, love in our families, that all the things that we have heard of and been encouraged to do in these past few months, Lord, may be true for us in every sphere of our life, parents and children, husbands and wives. Grant us, Lord, these things in a way that will overwhelm us so that all of us may see and understand this is only the blessing of God Himself. Holy Spirit, we pray that you will have fellowship with us in that pursuit, that you will commune with us, that we may continue down that path growing more and more.

Thank you that you bless us with these blessings today. In Jesus' name. Amen.