Sermon Tone Analysis

Thanksgiving for Faith and Love – Ephesians 1:15-16

 

/For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints,// //do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers.

/            Ephesians 1:15-16

 

This morning we begin a new section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

You may remember me saying that verses 3-14 were one continual sentence as written in the Greek.

The section we begin today is also one sentence.

This time it is 169 words in the Greek in vss.

15-23.

Paul is known for these long sentences.

Our verses today begin with the words /for this reason/ in the NAS.

These words form a connection between the two passages of study.

So when Paul says /for this reason/ he has in focus the five spiritual blessings he has just written about.

Do you remember them?

He chose us, he adopted us, he redeemed us, he revealed the mystery of the gospel to us, and he has sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise.

In addition to those blessings, which Paul is very thankful for, he says here that he is also encouraged by what he hears from the Ephesian church.

He mentions two particular areas here: faith and love.

Let’s consider faith first.

I.

Faith – Paul says he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus.

This is a good thing.

It is encouraging to hear that the church you have been involved in planting has grown spiritually to the point that they are known as faithful Christians.

He writes /having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which exists among you…/the church and her congregants were known as people of faith.

Let’s take a moment and define faith.

a.    Defined

i.       πίστις (/pis'-tis// )/ to trust or believe.

ii.

Webster defines faith as “the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another.”

/Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

/                                                   Hebrews 11:1

 

iii.

What is faith?

Faith is the belief that God is who he says he is and has the assurance and conviction that what he says in his word is truth.

We know that it is not enough to know the definition of a word like faith.

We have to live out our faith everyday.

When we do that we demonstrate that we have a real understanding of what faith is.

It is evident by what Paul says here in vs. 15 that the Ephesians demonstrated their faith.

b.

Demonstrated – What was he hearing?

How had the Ephesians demonstrated their faith?

Paul gives us no detail whatsoever about this.

But we know what is expected of those who believe don’t we?

What does Hebrews 11:6 say?  /And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him./

We are to be people of faith.

In Ephesians 1:13 we read these words, /In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise…                                 /Ephesians 1:13

 

The word “believed” that you see in vs. 13 and the word “faith” in verse 15 comes from the same root word, the greek word “pistis” we looked at just a few minutes ago.

It shows us the relationship between the two words.

You can’t believe in Christ without being a person of faith.

The word “believed” we are looking at here does not refer to a one time deal.

It is not a snapshot.

Paul is referring to a continual belief.

And when he talks here about the faith of the Ephesians he is talking about an ongoing and vibrant faith.

You see,

 

i.

Real faith is a lifestyle

1.

This is what Paul saw in Timothy.

Listen to what Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5-6…/For I am mindful of the *sincere* faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.//

//For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands./

a.

The word sincere means undisguised or without pretense.

Now Timothy wasn’t born with this faith.

He watched his mother and grandmother demonstrate real faith, he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and his faith began to grow until Paul could say this about him.

2.

The people attending the Ephesian church had noteworthy faith as well.

Paul had heard about it.

a.

The interesting thing about faith is that it is almost always clearer when someone is under pressure.

Or maybe I can say it this way; you will see what someone is really made of when they are under pressure.

b.

There was a young architect with a new idea for building large factories.

It seemed a simple idea really.

The old and acceptable way of doing things was placing columns at regular intervals to support the roof of the building.

The problem with the columns was that they took up a lot of space at the ground level.

This young architect figured that he could save a lot of space by making the columns smaller at the bottom and wider at the top.

No one would believe him.

He proposed a test.

He built one of his newly designed columns with a large platform at the top on which they would add weight until the column showed signs of collapse.

The test began and bets were placed on how long it would stand.

By the time the column began to show stress cracks the amount of weight on the platform was many times over the amount needed.

But it wasn’t until the weight was added that they knew for sure the column could do the job.

The people of the Ephesian church had been tested by the weight of persecution and their faith proved strong.

Paul is continually thanking God for their faith.

There is another thing that Paul is thanking God for.

/For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you *and your love for all the saints*,                                                         /Ephesians 1:15

 

So added to the reputation of faith was their love for other Christians (all the saints).

There is something that we should be very sure of.

True faith, the kind of faith that Paul saw in the Ephesians, is accompanied by love.

It was true of them and it should be true of us.

II.

Love - “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:35

 

Simply put, you can’t have real faith without having a love for one another in the body of Christ.

If God is at work in you and your faith is growing love is going to be one of the results that people will see.

You can see that God is at work in someone by the way they treat others in the body of Christ.

The condition of your relationships is an indication of the condition of your faith and trust in God.

Pastor Wayne Barber

 

a.

Defined

i.       ἀγάπη (agape) an attitude of appreciation resulting from a conscious evaluation and choice.

1.

There are other kinds of love talked about in scripture but here Paul uses the word that calls for a conscious choice.

This is what he had heard about the Ephesians.

They loved one another.

2.

Do you think for a minute that the church in Ephesus was that much different than our church here in Ashton?