Chapter 1

“He (the Father) chose us in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him (the Father) in love…TO THE PRAISE OF THE GLORY OF HIS GRACE, by which He (Father) made us accepted in the Beloved (Jesus). In Him (Jesus) we have redemption by His (Jesus’) blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His (Father’s) grace…In Him (Jesus) also we have obtained an inheritance…that we who first trusted in Christ should be TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY. In Him (Jesus) you also trusted, (and)…in whom having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY.” Eph.1:7-14

We are studying the book of Ephesians to discover Paul’s worldview on worship. And one of the things we are looking at is Paul’s use of worship words in his writing, which cue us into his underlying presumptions about this central issue to all of life. In last month’s newsletter, we compared Paul to David – as an equivalent in worship based on their theology of worship. Could this be? Well, let’s see as we proceed together. And let us be sensitive to the challenge that Paul might bring to us in this regard. It may well be that our own basic orientation to life needs to be adjusted in this great matter. Can we be open to this as we ponder these things?

In this letter, just after Paul identifies himself and his intended readers, he immediately blesses them in his salutation. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” I want to suggest that this is not just a simple salutation. It is not just the “normal” way that the brethren greeted one another. Nor was Paul being “religious” here. This was Paul’s great desire for the church, and, I might say, God’s great desire for them/us in Paul. The whole book is about this. All of life in Christ is about this, and I don’t think we get it!

God’s grace is glorious! It is massive, huge, pervasive, powerful, plentiful, incredible, splendid, wonderful, awesome, immutable, and indispensable! We cannot live without it. We do not live without it. We have not lived without it. We shall not live without it. And so Paul begins the substance of this letter blessing the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for His exercise of grace on our behalf. The whole first half of this chapter is worship (blessing) by an enumeration of the ways our heavenly Father has displayed His glory in time and space in Christ “to the praise of the glory of his grace”.

Let us note a couple of things here. First, while this is nothing short of a deep, clear and concise summery of the work of God in Christ, it is not designed to be a theological statement as much as an expression of praise. Not only has God’s own plan had the result of displaying the glory of His grace – grace itself glorifies Him in whom it exists – we glorify Him when we are reconciled to Him according to the counsel of His good will. Second, when we have digested the substance of Paul’s words, might it not be time to examine our own words? It just might be that we could add some depth to the content of our expressions of worship. “Oh,” you say, “but I am not Paul. Surely you cannot imply that I have as deep an understanding as Paul.” As a matter of fact, I am not. There is no way that I would imply or assume such a thing. I am only encouraging you to make use of the revelation that is in this passage and many others like it. They are there for us to learn from – so, let’s learn from them.