Thanks to God for Other Christians

We must never forget that the epistle to the Ephesians is a pastoral letter, and that its purpose was thoroughly practical. St. Paul’s object was to help Christians, to strengthen them, and to encourage them in their daily Christian living. The Apostles believed that the best way to help Christians was to make sure they understood who they were in Christ, and to help them live in terms of that.

The Apostle has been rejoicing in the fact that salvation in Christ is for Gentiles as well as for Jews. He is particularly concerned that those to whom he is writing should realize that they are partakers in these blessings; and so he begins his new section with an emphatic “wherefore,” a word that acts as the link between what has gone before and what is to follow.

Observe that there are two aspects to his praying. First of all, he “ceases not” to give thanks for them. He thanks God for the fact that they are in this Christian life at all; for the fact that they have been made fellow-heirs with the Jews in the glorious kingdom of God. No one can truly be a Christian without rejoicing that others also have become Christians.

The Apostle gives us two tests. One refers mainly to our belief; the other mainly to our practice. The proof of true faith is that it shows itself in action.

I. Faith in the Lord Jesus

This is, of course, the most vital thing of all. We must not put conduct and behavior in the first position. There are many very good people who are not Christians. Many do not even claim to be; indeed they may be opponents of the Christian faith. But as regards life and living they are good people.

A Christian is a person in whose life the Lord Jesus Christ is at the center. He sees everything in him. Jesus Christ has become the controlling factor. Many religious people and religious movements are very active and zealous, but often Jesus Christ is not mentioned by them.

There are some people who seem to think that to have faith in the Lord Jesus means that you believe that he came into the world to tell you that God loves you. But that is not faith in the Lord Jesus. The New Testament, however, tells us that the Lord Jesus is himself the Savior, that he came into the world in order to save us. It is he, and what he has done on our behalf, that constitutes the means of our salvation.

Faith in the Lord Jesus means, then, that I cast my entire hope upon him and what he has done on my behalf; it means that I have no confidence in my good deeds, nor in those of anyone else; that I realize that I am a hopeless and a lost sinner, and that I am saved only because of the work of Christ.

A Christian is one who believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son of God. A Christian believes in the Incarnation, in the Virgin Birth, and the miracle involved in that Birth; he ascribes to him no lesser term than this—The Lord!

Finally, we must emphasize that you cannot separate the Lord Jesus. If this is true a man cannot accept him as Savior only, and then perhaps later decide to accept him as Lord, for he is always the Lord. The One who died for our sins is the Lord.

II. Love Unto All the Saints

The one follows the other as the night the day. Because of sin we all hate one another. But Paul has heard that the Christians in Ephesus love all Christians; so he knows that something must have happened to them.

One who is not a Christian, has no interest in Christian people. He generally dislikes them because he finds them to be dull and uninteresting, and “narrow-minded,” and he certainly would not choose to spend hours in the presence of such people. He feels that there is no affinity, no community of interest. It follows therefore that when it can be said of a man that he loves Christians, you can be sure that the man has been given a new nature.

So when we find ourselves beginning to love Christian people, we have a proof that we must be one of them.

Note that the Apostle says that he has heard of their “love unto all the saints”. They not only love those whom they happen to like; but all the saints. Not only the smart ones, not only the pleasant ones, not only those who belong to a particular social group— no, all the saints. When a Christian meets a person for the first time he does not look at his clothing, he does not look at his general external appearance. He does not ask himself, Where has he come from, what school has he attended, what is his bank balance? He is interested in one thing only. Is he a child of God, is he my brother in Christ?

We love the saints because we know where they are going. We are marching together to Zion. We belong to the same Father, to the same family; we are going to the same home and we know it. Some of us are very difficult, and very trying, and very hard to get along with; but, thank God, we are traveling together towards our heavenly home; and we know that the day will come when all our faults and blemishes will disappear and we shall all be perfected together, enjoying the same glorious eternity.