Ephesians 6:21-24. Wow we finally made it through Ephesians. I guess for people using this blog after I wrote it, it wasn’t the adventure it was for me and those who tried to follow along with me. If you look at the dates in the Reading Schedule you’ll see it took me about a two and a half years to get through Ephesians. There were a lot of breaks in there. It was an eventful two and a half years that saw us move to Texas, find a job, lose a job and go back to work for myself. On top of all that turmoil Ephesians was particularly hard for me to get my head around. Hopefully I got my head around it enough to help you all understand it a little better.

Today we will read the conclusion to this letter that Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus. As I mentioned in the “Intro to Ephesians” some Bible experts doubt that Ephesians was written to the believers in that town because there are some old copies of the book without the word “Ephesians” in the first verse. As I explained that is because those copies were probably copied from the original with the idea of sharing them with other churches (a common practice and why we have and use these letters today). In those cases the name of the particular church would be inserted where the word “Ephesians” is in our Bibles. It has also been noted that the letter has a more general message than other letter in the New Testament. Some letters in the New Testament are very specific in the problem or problems they are dealing with and we need to understand the principle the author is applying to the situation and them apply it to our own lives. Ephesians is more general in it’s message and more direct in it’s application to us.

Paul ended his instructions to the believers about putting on God’s armor with a request for prayer that he would be bold about telling those around him about Jesus. Even though he was under house arrest he wanted all his guards and visitors to know how they could have a forever relationship with God and be a part of His forever family (the Gospel or Good News).

In verses 21-22 Paul tells the readers that he wants his readers to have a full report about what is gong on in his life. Remember he is under house arrest and the charges that were originally against him carried the death penalty (Acts 25:10-12). The governors of the region where Paul was arrested did not feel that he should even be in jail but Paul had appealed to see the Caesar (or king) to avoid an ambush set to kill him by certain Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem. It was near Rome under house arrest that Paul was waiting for those accusers and the trail before Caesar. If the governors were correct Paul would not be sentenced at all but the situation was still very dangerous and he probably would have already been killed by the religious leaders were he not under Roman guard.

In spite of his situation Paul consistently focused on the many new believers in the churches that he had started and even in churches started by others. He was the apostle (sent one) to the non-Jews (gentiles) and wanted them to grow as believers (Ephesians 4:15-16). One thing that could cause these believers to doubt or hide was the difficult men like Paul were having in their lives. After all if someone like Paul could be arrested and have other kinds of troubles what chance to the rest of us “little” Christians have. In reality Jesus had promised all of his followers trouble in this life (John 15:20) and in both Romans 1:1 and Titus 1:1 Paul calls himself a bond-slave of God for the purpose of telling the good news about Jesus to others and helping the new believers grow stronger in their faith in Jesus. Or as he said in Galatians 3:28 we are all the same in Jesus. There’s no rank in the kingdom of God, we are all equal children of God. In order to help the believers stay strong in their faith and not doubt because of his troubles Paul sent a faithful helper, Tychicus, to talk to them. It was this helper who would personally carry the letter to them as well as one for believers in Colosse (a town near Ephesus) and a letter to Philemon (a leader and friend in the church at Colosse). In those days there was no mail system for common people, no UPS, no Fedex. People would send letters with people headed in to the place they wanted the letters to go. They would try to find someone they could trust but would use whom ever they could find if the letter was urgent enough. In this case Tychicus was a trusted helper and was bringing not only the letters but also a verbal report, the purpose of which was to comfort the hearts of the believers in Ephesus.

Paul ends the letter with a fairly typical closing a prayer-wish that involved peace, love, faith, and grace. It is interesting that in this letter he addresses the readers in the third person (they, them, etc.) in stead of his usual second person (you). This may be because many of the believers at Ephesus had become believers after Paul had moved on but it is more likely that he uses the third person because he intended this letter to be passed around to other churches (like the letter to Colosse, Colossians 4:16) and this type of language would make those other readers feel more included.

Here at the end he concludes just as he started he wants the “brothers” (remember we are all “children” adopted into God’s forever family, brothers and sisters in a sense) to have peace (see Ephesians 1:2). This is peace with God and peace with each other.

He also wants them to have “love with faith”. Here too we see the relationship with each other and with God. Through faith we became a part of Gods family because of God’s loving gift to us. Jesus’ sacrifice for us took care of the consequences of our disrespect and disobedience (sin) and paved the way for us to be a part of God’s forever family. That sacrifice is seen here in the end in his prayer and wish for the people to have “grace” (the word translated “grace” means a free and undeserved gift). The love is with faith because this is real love that results in actions on the behalf of others. This is love with hands and feet and open homes and open wallets. In the face of the trials that believers in those days suffered those acts of love took real faith. Faith that God had the people’s backs and faith that he had their futures. That is why Paul reminds them that their peace and love are based on who they have believed in; God is their living caring giving father and Jesus is the lord and master, not just of them but over the whole universe (Matthew 28:19, Hebrews 2:5, Ephesians 1:22).

So he wants them to have lives filled peace (in spite of troubles) and lives filled with love. He ends by wishing and praying that the free gift (grace) these people have received will take root in their lives in this way (love and peace and lives lived by faith). He concludes with word of great encouragement when he identifies them as those who love the Lord (master) Jesus (his personal name) Christ (the promised one who would fix the sin problem) with an incorruptible love (that word incorruptible translates a word that can mean “without decay” (pure) or it can mean “immortal” (without end). It is cool that Paul sees their love as pure and endless. That’s pretty encouraging since he reminded them in the letter not to follow the world and to live to see others return to God through Jesus.

I think it is cool that God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us. I think it is cool that he adopted us into his forever family. The changes that happened in Paul’s life were amazing from a very devoted Jewish leader who went around arresting Jewish people who decided to follow Jesus to one of the main guys that got the whole Jesus movement started among non-Jews (gentiles) and Jews alike. But the same God and the same Spirit that made Paul what he was works in our lives too. Paul was encouraging the readers of this letter to follow through on that adventure, to live for Jesus, to have that eternal purpose in their lives. Remember he said that God gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers to equip the rest of us for service so that the “body of Christ would be built up” and become a “mature man” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Of course the “body” he is talking about is the group of believers; the church. We are the building but more importantly we are the builders, we were save for those “good works”. I love it that each one of us has a purpose and that the purpose isn’t some here today gone tomorrow thing, our lives can matter now and for eternity, we just need to walk in a way that honors our new Father (Ephesians 4:1) as children of light, wisely (Ephesians 5:8, 15). We need to love God with a pure and everlasting love.

God help me live that love for you in the way I treat others. Thank you for the opportunity to give hope and meaning to a hopeless world. Thank you for giving me hope when I had none. Thank you for giving my life meaning when it seemed so empty. Thank you for your great gift of salvation and the restored relationship with you. Help me help others find eternal life in your forever family.