Ephesians 1:1-2
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Today we start a mini-series on the topic of grace.
The apostle Paul often began his letters with the introduction “grace and peace.” This is no mere formality. Grace is the basis and foundation of the Christian life. Peace is the result and fruit of a Christian life lived in response to God’s grace.
Grace is the Greek word charis, and it means unmerited favor. Grace is God’s love and kindness toward those who are undeserving. It means that God does not give us what we deserve, and instead gives us gifts and blessings that we don’t deserve.
The grace of God is essential to everything in your life as a Christian. Here are four essential things you need to know about grace.
#1 Grace reveals God to you.
Aside from creation, the most amazing thing that has happened in the universe is that the Creator God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. He is not a distant, disconnected deity. As Francis Scheffer was fond of saying, the infinite-personal God is there, and He is not silent. The Lord has revealed Himself in creation, and in His dealings with Israel throughout history. God has also revealed Himself in scripture. Most importantly, God has revealed Himself in and through Jesus.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth … And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1.14-18)
“The Word became flesh” means that the infinite-personal God has broken into human history in the person of Jesus Christ. Philosophers and theologians have speculated, debated, and pontificated about God, but Jesus breaks through the noise by breaking into the world as the Word become flesh.
Verse 18 above is a powerful, radical statement about Jesus: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
More tomorrow …
