Grace and Peace Before You Do a Thing

Beloved, hear how the letter to the Ephesians begins, and do not hurry past the doorway to get inside the house. Much is buried here in what seems only a greeting.

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 1:1).

Consider first how I name myself. Not "Paul, who has striven hard," not "Paul, who earned his place." An apostle "by the will of God." I did not appoint myself; I did not stumble into this by cleverness. Once I breathed threats against the church of God, and He laid hold of me on a road when I was running the wrong way. So when I say "by the will of God," I am confessing that everything I am, I am by mercy. Remember this before you read one more line: the man writing to you was rescued, not self-made. And if God can make an apostle out of a persecutor, take heart — there is room in His will for you.

Now look at whom I am writing to. "To the saints." Do not let that word frighten you or feel far off, as though it belonged to some rare few with shining faces. A saint is not a person who has arrived; it is a person who has been set apart by God — made holy not by their scrubbing but by Christ's blood. If you are in Christ, that word is your name too. You may not feel like a saint this morning. You may feel like a struggler, a doubter, a failure. But God is not describing your feelings; He is declaring what He has made you.

And see where these saints are. "In Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus." Two addresses at once. They lived in Ephesus — a real city, loud with commerce and thick with idols, with all its temptations and burdens. You also live somewhere real this morning: a house, a street, a workplace, a hospital room, a season of cold and want. That is your Ephesus. But there is a deeper place you dwell: "in Christ Jesus." This little phrase runs through the whole letter like a golden thread. You are in your city, yes — but if you belong to Him, your true home is in Christ. Circumstances cannot evict you from that place.

Then comes the blessing, and I want you to weigh every word: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:2).

Grace first — always grace first. Grace is the unearned favor of God, His kindness poured out on those who could never deserve it. And notice: I do not say, "Get to work, and perhaps grace will come." I say grace is given, held out to you before you have done a single thing today. This is the very order of the gospel. We do not labor in order to be loved; we are loved, and so we labor.

And then peace — which follows grace as surely as morning follows the sun's rising. Not merely peace as the world hands it out, a quiet that lasts only while the trouble sleeps. This is peace with God, the war ended, the enmity slain, the sinner brought near. From this comes the peace within you, that guards the heart even when the storm has not yet passed.

See from where it flows: "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Not from your bank, not from your health, not from another person's approval, not from your own steadiness — which comes and goes like the tide. Grace and peace come down from the Father who claims you as His own child, and from the Lord Jesus who bought you. Two named together as one source, for the Son is Lord indeed.

So then, bring this home. Before you have prayed well enough or worked hard enough or felt anything at all — grace to you. You who read this doubting whether God could want you — you are addressed here; He is speaking over you. Take these two gifts as your own this day. Live out of them, not toward them. When the accusations rise, when the old shame comes hunting, when Ephesus presses in — answer it with the plain word God has spoken over His people: grace, and peace, from the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am held by that same grace, even here in my chains, and I have found it enough. It will be enough for you.

Grace to you, and peace.