What Presbyterians Believe

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2)

          So you’re telling a friend that you’re a Presbyterian, and wham! He blindsides you with that question: “Say, what do you Presbyterians believe?”

          All you really have to say is one word: “Ephesians.”

          This morning we begin a new study of St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, which makes for a wonderful textbook in the course, “What Do Presbyterians Believe?” Paul wrote this letter to the Christians at Ephesus (where he labored for more than two years) sometime around AD 60-62, but unlike many of his epistles, he didn’t have to respond to a particular problem in the church in Ephesus. He was free simply to write a letter to this beloved church (and, really, to all of us Christians) expressing the grand and vital doctrines of the Christian faith.

          As we study verses 1 and 2 of chapter one, you and I will learn that these verses lay out the major themes in the entire book: they teach of God’s perfect will; of God’s grace to us in Christ, which brings peace with Him and with others; and of your position and purpose in life as a saint of God.

          Above all, this is a book of comfort. God in His sovereign will chose to redeem you for Himself in Christ, which gives you comfort and purpose in a hurting and drifting world.

           While the first two verses of this book generally are given short shrift in commentaries, they actually contain vital teaching in Christian doctrine. What is more, St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture – not some, not just the “famous” parts, but all Scripture – is inspired by God and therefore useful for your instruction in righteousness. In these verses we also note that Paul was an apostle (a chosen messenger) of Jesus Christ: not of Paul’s own making, but of Christ’s commissioning. This means you and I need to listen to the apostle as he speaks the words that the one true God gave him.

For one, these verses teach you and me about God’s perfect will.

Paul was an apostle of Christ “by the will of God” – and it is in Paul’s life that you and I observe God’s perfect will unfolding so gloriously. Paul isn’t merely establishing his authority as an apostle (apostles, you’ll recall, had a direct experience with and commissioning from Christ, and their office closed with the completion of the New Testament). Rather, he is giving a hint about one of the themes of this letter – God’s sovereign control of whatsoever comes to pass – using his own life.

Remember the miraculous manner of Paul’s – Saul’s – conversion to Christ and subsequent commissioning as an apostle? Saul was en route to Damascus to find followers of Jesus whom he could bring to Jerusalem for trial and, thus, for certain execution. Saul thought he knew God perfectly, thought he was on the right path in life.

In reality, he happily was on his way to Hell.

Yet it was God’s perfect and unimaginable will to save the man who later would refer to himself as the “chief of sinners.” Jesus appeared to Saul in a bright vision at noonday and began Saul’s brief and stunning conversion. Saul never would have imagined he would become Paul, God’s apostle to the Gentiles – but God did! Paul would write to Timothy that he was converted in part to be an example of the longsuffering of Christ to sinners who are confidently on their way to Hell, just as he once was. As we learn from Paul’s life and conversion, God is in control, and His will is both perfect and comforting for His children in Christ.

Does your life sometimes seem out of control? Do you wonder if, and how, things are going to work out for your well-being? With a downward trend in the economy, are you wondering how you’ll make it? Or, more important, do you face a seemingly hopeless situation at home or at work?

If so, think on God’s perfect will – especially as He worked out his gracious will in the life of a self-righteous and “hopeless” sinner named Saul. Ephesians reminds us that Christ is on his throne!

Second, these verses teach us of God’s grace in Christ, which brings true peace both with God and with other believers.

St. Paul wishes “grace and peace” to the Ephesian believers, and if you’ll read a bit further in this epistle you’ll note that grace is the central theme of that famous passage in chapter two. “It is by grace you have been saved,” Paul writes, “… and not of yourselves.” Indeed, all of the Christian life is summed up by the word “grace,” because you and I were dead in sins and trespasses, callous toward the things of God and unable to do anything to appease the Lord’s anger at our violation of His law. We were absolutely unable to help ourselves in any way spiritually; yet of God’s grace, He rescued and redeemed you and me by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of His Son.

Grace may be defined best as “God’s undeserved favor in Christ to you and me, while we actually deserved His punishment for our sin.” Grace isn’t just a “free gift;” it is the gift of salvation when you merited condemnation.

From this grace flows peace, which, in the biblical sense, means true wholeness and restfulness in the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I tend to think of peace as “all quiet on the Western front.” Actually, peace involves knowing the Lord as God and Savior and meeting the day’s challenges in Christ’s strength to Christ’s glory. Peace means wholeness and steadiness in Christ even when the world around you seems to be caving in due to cancer, family troubles or financial ills. As we’ll read in chapters two and three, God’s gracious saving of you in Christ takes away God’s anger for your sin and reconciles you to Him, thus ushering in peace between you and the Lord. And the blood of Jesus makes it possible for you and me to do what the sinful world cannot: live in forgiveness, in compassion and in peaceful love with one another in the church.

This past week a fellow minister said he recently was praying for some unbelievers on the Coast for whom his church had done some works of mercy. One of the unbelievers was shocked – pleasantly so! – at how the minister spoke so freely to the God Who made all things, even calling God his “Father.” But that’s what Ephesians teaches you and me: God drew near to us in His Son and saved us so that we could be His children, know His peace and grow in His likeness.

Are you facing a trial right now, whether physical, spiritual or emotional (or all three)? Are you battling residual feelings of guilt for old sins? Are you fearful of God in a bad sense, or at odds with another believer?

Study Ephesians, for here you learn of God’s undeserved goodness to you in Christ, and of the peace which passes all understanding and must characterize your relations with God and with others.

Ephesians, thirdly, teaches you of your position and purpose in this world: you are a saint, and you are called to be a saint.

Take another look at verse 1, in which Paul identifies the recipients of this epistle. He is writing to “the saints” in Ephesus. That number isn’t restricted to the few; it includes all believers in Christ!

When you and I speak of saints, we often – and wrongly – think only of Christians who have done great work for God or who live seemingly impeccable lives. In fact, you are a saint! That’s because the word “saint” means “one who is holy/cleansed from all sin/set apart to God, who is holy,” and those are characteristics of anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior. That’s why Paul also calls them “the faithful (the ones believing) in Christ Jesus.”

If you trust in Jesus as your Savior, you have once for all time been cleansed of your sin and guilt. God the Father credits you with Jesus’ righteousness (perfect keeping of God’s law) and Jesus with your sin (hence his descent into Hell as he suffered the Father’s wrath at Calvary). Jesus makes you holy forever, so you are a saint!

But sainthood is as much purpose as it is position. Chapters 4-6 of this book contain God’s instructions for an uncommon, Christ-filled, holy life – and these instructions flow from who you are in Christ (a saint). Sainthood is your calling, and it extends from what you say to how you treat your spouse to how you behave at work.

Have you been feeling down lately, thinking you’re not good enough to get into Heaven? Well, if you don’t believe in Jesus as your Redeemer, you’re not! But if you do trust Christ, then remember that he has made you a saint forever. There is no question you will be admitted to Heaven, because Jesus is your righteousness.

Does the daily grind sometimes wear you down spiritually? Are you tempted to conform to the world instead of bearing Christ’s image? Remember that “saint” isn’t just a title – it is a daily calling to you from Jesus.

With all of our culture’s infatuation lately with environmentalism, with actors’ belief in Scientology, and with a general turning from the Lord to worldliness, I’m reminded that there are a lot of baseless, hopeless and foolish systems of belief in our world today.

That’s why, when someone asks me what I as a Presbyterian believe, I say, “Ephesians.” This is a book of comforting truth: that God saved a sinner like me, who deserved Hell, so that I might live for Him in peace in every moment of life. Let’s grow in our knowledge of these precious doctrines so that you and I can point sinners around us to the God of Ephesians – the God of infinite grace in Christ.