David Bahn – Reflections

Ephesians 1:1-2

 ¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

   To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

 ² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are times when I feel downright smug about my spiritual walk – in a humble sort of way. Now mind you, I know better. But I do occasionally believe myself to be a godly man. That’s not what Jesus had in mind when he said we ought to be last, and when he announced that the meek are blessed. Consider this story:

The Sunday school teacher is teaching the children about the publican and Pharisee praying (Luke 18:10-14). The Pharisee brags on himself and thanks God he is not like the publican. The publican refuses even to look up, but prays for God’s mercy, acknowledging that he is a sinner. Jesus says that the publican went to his home justified – not the Pharisee. The Sunday school teacher proceeds to instruct the children in her class, “Let’s pray now, and thank God that we’re not like the Pharisee.” And we laugh because we are (silently) thanking God that we’re not like that Sunday school teacher!

Truth is we’re all prone to judge ourselves favorably in comparison to others. But saints; do we actually consider ourselves to be saints?!? Are we holy ones? Saints are those marbleized, statue-enshrined folks in churches from the Bible. Saints are the Mother Threasas of the world, the St. Pauls, Joans of Ark, and Billy Grahams of our times.

So we must ask, is God talking to us when he inspires Paul to write to the saints in Ephesus?

Ephesians is considered to be a round-robin letter; written to an area in and around the city of Ephesus. A number of house churches are likely to have been there, this letter having been circulated to several churches. That makes the scope of the book wider – much more applicable to many different sorts of people. Do we therefore consider this to have been written only to a few of those people? Do we apply the profound truths of this letter to the few truly holy people, and exempt the rest (and ourselves) from the promises and challenges of this letter? Is God talking to me? Is he talking to you? Are you a saint?!?

By God’s grace that’s what the faithful truly are. Paul says it another way in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if we are in Christ we are new creatures. If our sins are removed from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), we are saints. If Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) we are saints. If God was reconciling the world to himself not counting men’s trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 5:19), we are saints. If God nailed our sins to the cross (Colossians 2:14) along with Jesus we are saints. If a Savior has been born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:11) we are saints for Jesus will save his people from their sins.

That’s who we are: saints. The question is now, “How do saints live?” They live in the grace and peace of God. They live in repentance and faith. They live in fear, love and trust of God. God bless you, dear brother and sister saint. Let’s live like the people we are today!