Grace in the Mundane

6 · The pastor unpacks the historical context of Paul's self-identification in Ephesians 1:1, explaining that Paul was a trained Pharisee under Gamaliel who violently persecuted early Christians, making his later identity as an 'apostle of Christ Jesus' shocking rather than mundane

First, verse 1, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus." Now, that seems very mundane to us.

If you've been around the church for any length of time, you've heard about the Apostle Paul, or depending on church background, Saint Paul, right? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, right? Our eyes just kind of move on from that, but that is perhaps one of the most shocking phrases in first-century Judaism. Paul was a Pharisee, meaning he was a trained and skilled Jewish interpreter of the law. Think of almost like a religious lawyer in a sense.

He was trained by one of the best in Jerusalem, Gamaliel. He was perhaps the most zealous persecutor of a new sect of Judaism that he viewed as being dangerous and destructive and evil, and he was so zealous that he went from town to town with authorization to bully and intimidate and destroy and throw in jail and, some believe, even kill people. This new sect called the Way or the followers of Jesus made it his life ambition to stamp this group out.

7 · The pastor explains the weight of the title 'apostle' as one sent with another's authority, emphasizing that Paul—who was not merely Jesus's employee but His ambassador—represents a shocking elevation from persecutor to one who speaks with Christ's own authority

That's why it is shocking to read that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus. So, an apostle literally meant a sent one, an ambassador, someone sent with the authority of someone else.

Well, who is sending Paul? He— that is Jesus Christ. Notice this: Paul isn't even an acquaintance of Jesus. He is not an employee of Jesus. He is an ambassador, and in a sense, an emissary, somebody who comes with the authority of Jesus himself.

8 · The pastor explains how Paul became an apostle through God's sovereign will overriding Paul's own hostile will—narrating the Damascus Road encounter where the risen Christ appeared to Paul (who was traveling to persecute Christians) and transformed him from persecutor to apostle, demonstrating that God's will trumps human will in salvation

So how in the world did Paul go from hater of Jesus to missionary of Jesus? Notice the phrase Paul inserts right there. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by, or because of, the will of God. God willed it, and so it happened. Like, in the story of Acts, if you don't know it, Paul is literally on the road to Damascus to persecute more Christians, to prosecute more Christians, where when a blinding light appears to him on the road and stops him in his tracks, and he sees in the light the person of Jesus Christ, Christ, the risen, resurrected Jesus himself.

Now look, in that story, Paul's will was bent toward persecution. It was bent toward the hatred of Jesus and his people, right? And the result of Paul's actions should have been, yep, Jesus showing up to judge him, Jesus showing up to beat him down, to take him down. But Paul does not receive what he deserved. Paul's will was bent away from Christ, but God's will was that Paul become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

No, not just a disciple, an apostle of Jesus Christ. God stops him. God's will outmatches Paul's in a radical act of grace.

9 · The pastor defines grace as 'God's unmerited favor' and has the congregation repeat the definition together, emphasizing that this concept is foundational to understanding Scripture and particularly the New Testament

Look, this is grace. The simplest definition you can give of grace that I think is beautiful and succinct is simply this: grace is God's unmerited favor. If you're new to your Bible, you have to get this. Grace is all over the Scriptures, especially the New Testament. You need to get what this is.

I want us— this is so important— I want us to say this together: grace is God's unmerited unmerited favor. Let's say this together: Grace is God's unmerited favor. Unmerited.

10 · The pastor expands the definition of grace using Tozer's formulation, emphasizing that grace by definition doesn't make logical sense—it's the bestowal of benefits on those who don't deserve them, which contradicts merit-based thinking

A.W. Tozer expounds on this a bit where he says, "Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits on the undeserving." Well, why?

Why would God do that? Why would he be inclined to bestow benefits on the undeserving? If you're actually keeping track of this in your mind, that doesn't make any sense. That's grace. If it makes sense, it's probably not grace.

If it makes sense, "Oh yeah, of course, that person merited this, so therefore they receive that," that's not grace. That's getting what they deserve. Is getting what you do not deserve, bestowal of goodness on the undeserving.

11 · The pastor connects Paul's Damascus Road conversion to every believer's story, drawing on Ephesians 2 to show that all Christians share the same narrative structure: we were following evil, but God stopped us, made us alive, and saved us by grace—not by our own doing but as a gift

Now, look, this is Paul's story, but Paul's story is, in a sense, in miniature, the story of every Christian who comes to know Christ. Even though we may not all be— we're not called to be apostles in the technical sense of the New Testament, in Ephesians 2, Paul will say in this book later that we once followed the course of evil.

We once essentially followed the devil, but God stopped us. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ. And again, he says resoundingly in Ephesians 2, "By grace you have been saved, and this is not your own doing. It is a gift." Right? This story encapsulated in the life of the Apostle Paul is our story.

12 · The pastor shifts to direct pastoral concern, addressing the congregation's tendency to overlook or take for granted the radical grace that defines their conversion stories

And so often we miss it. So often we think of our story, we miss the radical act of grace in our lives.

13 · The pastor illustrates the universal pattern of God's interrupting grace by recounting how, when he asked longtime church members about the church's founding, every person instinctively began not with institutional details but with their personal testimony of how 'God stopped me'—showing that the DNA of the church is God's radical intervention in individual lives

Like, one of the most powerful moments I think I've had in ministry was when I first became lead pastor a number of years ago. I sat down with some of the longtime members of the church, people who'd been here kind of from the beginning, from the early '80s. And so I kind of gathered them up just to meet with them and pray with them.

And one of the things I wanted to do is just to hear how the church began, get a sense of the story of the church. And so I started with this question. I started with, how did the church start? But every single person did not answer that question by saying, well, we started meeting in this room, and then we moved to this room, and then we, you know, we set up chairs. Nobody started You know, everybody started— everybody started with this: "Let me tell you how God stopped me." I remember sitting in a living room with story after story.

One person shared, "You know, I was living a double life and could have kept going on forever, but God stopped me." Another person said, "I was thinking— I was so hopeless and lost, I was thinking of taking my own life, and God stopped me." Another person sharing, "I was so good at the religious game. I was so good at being self-righteous, and yet God in his mercy stopped me." Or another person, "I sat in church every week going through the motions, inwardly hating it, and one "one day God stopped me." Or another person, "My marriage broke up and I had nowhere to go and I was absolutely hopeless and helpless and God stopped me."

14 · The pastor applies the exposition directly to the congregation, arguing that every believer's name should create the same cognitive dissonance as Paul's—it shouldn't make sense that we are disciples of Jesus given who we were, and that very incongruity is the evidence of grace

Church, this is the beginning of every Christian's story, that we have been stopped by the radical grace of God. That if you were to insert your name into verse 1, Ricky, comma, A servant of Jesus Christ, a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you were to put your name in that sentence, there should be something in that that goes in— that you think inwardly, "That doesn't make any sense. Why?" It should be Ricky, a self-righteous jerk; Ricky, a hater of Jesus; Ricky, leader of a double life.

But instead, it is Ricky, a disciple of Jesus. Oh friend, look, what is your story?

15 · The pastor instructs the congregation to reflect on their conversion stories this week, dismantling the false hierarchy between 'dramatic' and 'undramatic' testimonies by insisting all believers share the same core pattern: we were walking away from God when His will interrupted us—no one rationally investigates their way to Jesus

I want to encourage you this week to think about your story and remember God's radical grace to you, whether it seems dramatic or not dramatic. I always joke with Vince, one of our former pastors who's now in Prague, I always joke with him that nobody ever wanted to follow his testimony because he had one of those testimonies of, like, he was literally doing drugs when God stopped him and brought his heart to life. And after that, nobody's like, "Well, I just— I was saved and—" VBS?

You know, like, that doesn't seem, like, dramatic. Think of it, though. All of us were like Paul, going one way, walking one way, when God's will interrupted us and saved us. That's the only reason anybody's going this way. Anybody going in the direction of following Jesus— it wasn't like somebody woke up, "You know what I think?

I'm going to investigate the claims of Jesus." And then you investigate them, you're like, "They seem pretty valid," and then you begin to follow Jesus. That's nobody's story. I've never heard that story.

It was, "I was going this way and Jesus stopped me." God's grace in our story.

16 · The pastor signals the sermon's second major movement from 'God's grace in our story' to 'God's grace in our identity,' shifting focus from Paul as author to the Ephesian recipients

Second, God's grace in our identity. Now we're going to get to who he is writing to. Who is Paul writing to?

17 · The pastor unpacks the Old Testament background of 'saints' (hagioi/holy ones), explaining that holiness means 'set apart'—first describing God's transcendent separation from creation and sin, then showing how God gathered a people set apart through elaborate tabernacle/temple symbolism where everything entering God's presence required ritual purification from sin's stain

It says, "To the saints who are in Ephesus." Now, that word "saints" is also a radical word.

If you're from a Catholic background, you're like, "That doesn't say that," because often Catholic Scripture is translated as "the holy ones," and they're actually— they're right. That's what it means. "Saints" literally means "the holy ones." They mean the same thing. And in the Old Testament, in the background of the Old Testament, this was a rich word full of meaning. In the Old Testament, God was holy, holy, holy.

He was the thing set apart. Holy literally just means set apart, right? So he was the one set apart and above creation. But we quickly see when humanity falls and sin pervades the world, the other aspect of holiness that's so important is his set-apartness from sin, set-apartness from injustice. Or evil.

God is fully, completely set apart. And so what God does in the Old Testament is he begins to gather a people that are set apart from the other peoples, from sin and injustice. And there's all this rich symbolism in the Old Testament. Think of the tabernacle, right? This special tent of meeting between God and his people.

And there were all these regulations for this is how you have to handle this in the tabernacle. And don't let this happen, be careful of this, and all of these things. And you'd think, okay, what is the point of all of this? Well, there's a number of things going on, but one of the most important points is this: that everything that represented God, was made to be in the presence of God, must be holy and set apart from the sin and stain and evil and injustice of the world. The priests would go through purification after purification after purification to symbolically enter in to the presence of God.

The temple was holy. There were holy objects, right? This word "holy," "set apart," was rich in meaning.

18 · The pastor uses humor to illustrate the impossible human requirements for sainthood according to Catholic canonization (WikiHow's five steps: exemplary piety, global goodness, verified miracles, martyrdom, decades of review), building toward the shocking incongruity that Paul calls ordinary sinners in Ephesus 'saints

Now, this week I did what's, you know, a pretty common Google search for me. I Googled "how to become a saint," and I found the very helpful website WikiHow.

So same guys that teach you how to, like, unclog a drain are now giving you the directions for a saint. So I love it. So few steps here. First, live an exemplary and pious life. What they mean when they say that is basically nobody's even aware of you sinning, right?

You may have a little sin somewhere, like, oh, I did get upset briefly at my child Thursday, but I haven't done it since then. You know, you gotta have that kind of a life. Exemplary, pious. Also, do good to all those around you, every single person, usually helpfully, if possible, on a global scale. Okay, you're like, okay, well, that— sure.

And you're thinking, anybody who's thinking, I can hang in there, I think I'm all right, I actually didn't sin since last Thursday, and I am a pretty good person. Okay, next up on the list, perform at least 2 miracles that are investigated and verified. So you should be dropping out now. Then, I love the people at Wiki helpfully point out that at the end, dying as a martyr really helps. So if you get some kind of situation there, there you go.

And then there is a multi-step process of review, usually taking decades.

19 · The pastor pivots from humor to serious theological claim: while acknowledging different Catholic usage, he argues that the WikiHow requirements actually do represent what would be necessary to earn the title 'saint' (holy one) by human achievement—yet Paul calls imperfect Ephesians saints, creating the central theological tension of the section

All right? Now, look, I'm saying this partially for a little bit of humor here, and I'm fully aware— look, my whole extended family is Catholic. I'm fully aware that when Catholics speak of saints, they're translating it and thinking of it differently than the use of Ephesians Chapter 1. But I want to point out something.

That, that process, those requirements of no sin, do good to everyone, walk so with the Lord that the miraculous is just a part of your everyday life, at great cost, no matter what, every day of every— every moment of every day of every decade of your life— that is actually what what it would take for you to be called a saint, a holy one, a set-apart one in the sight of God. But as we are going to see in Ephesians, these people are not perfect. They're not living a perfectly exemplary, pious life. So how in the world can Paul the Apostle have the audacity to take a bunch of people and say, "Oh, you're saints. You're holy ones of God"?

How in the world?

20 · The pastor intensifies the theological shock by adding geographical context: Ephesus was the fifth-largest Roman city, a religious center famous for the Temple of Artemis (a world wonder), where the economy ran on pagan pilgrimage and dark magic—making Paul's declaration that these former idol-worshiping, magic-practicing Gentiles are 'saints in Ephesus' even more audacious

And notice this, not even just saints, but saints in Ephesus. Now Ephesus is likely the fifth largest city in the Roman Empire, and its fame was renowned in the Roman world as a religious center. As we talked about last week, one of the great wonders of the world, like the pyramids, was in Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis. And so pilgrims would come from all around, and the city was saturated with the pagan spirituality.

It's the thing that gave lifeblood to their local economy. Like the way that in El Paso, the border and trade and Fort Bliss are often two of the big economic drivers. In Ephesus, it was idolatry. It was magic. It was books.

It was pilgrimage. And yet somehow some of these Gentiles who, remember in Acts 19, they're burning their books of dark, evil magic, full of idolatry, Paul all of a sudden is like, "Yep, even you Gentiles from Ephesus whose house have little cubbies for all of your idols that you've now taken out, but they were once there and the stain of it is still in your house, you are saints even in Ephesus."

21 · The pastor resolves the tension by expositing 'faithful in Christ Jesus' (better: 'full of faith in Christ'), arguing that the two words 'in Christ' are the only explanation for how sinners become saints—the phrase is so powerful that without it, the sentence calling Ephesians 'saints' could not be written

How is that possible? Look at the next phrase. And are faithful in Jesus Christ, or in Christ Jesus. That term faithful can either mean that they are faithful or that they are full of faith.

And on balance, it's actually probably more close to full of faith. Full of faith in what? In in Christ Jesus. How can it be that sinners become saints, that failures are called faithful, that the set apart as being the worst of the worst pagans in the world are now set apart as being the holiest of the holy, right? Two of the most powerful words in Scripture right here make the connection: in Christ.

That's why. That is the only reason. Apart from that phrase, this sentence could not be written there would be no saints in Ephesus apart from being in Christ.

22 · The pastor unpacks the theological meaning of 'in Christ' by returning to Paul's Damascus Road encounter where Jesus said 'why do you persecute me?'—revealing that believers are so united to Christ that their identity is fused with His: when He died, they died; when He rose, they rose; His death wiped away all their sin because they are in Him

Look, remember that when Paul is on the road to Damascus, he is on the road and Jesus appears in front of him. Does anybody remember what Paul says?

Paul, Paul, or Saul, Saul, why, what? Why do you persecute me?

Me. Jesus says— but Paul would probably be thinking, "I haven't persecuted you. I haven't even seen you before. I don't know what you're talking about." What's Jesus referring to? His people.

That in faith, when people believe in Christ, they are united to Christ in such a way that to persecute one of them means to persecute Christ. What does that mean? That they are in Christ, that they are united to him in such a way that when Christ died, he died for them, or they died with them. And when he rose, they rose with him, right? He died when they were— when he was on the cross, he died for their pagan, sinful, failure-filled lives.

And all of it was wiped away. All of it was wiped away. All the uncleanness, all the paganism, all the evil, all the injustice in the sight of God were wiped away. Why? Not because they wiped it away, but because they were in Christ.

23 · The pastor contrasts two ways of viewing the Ephesians' identity: not as 'let's see how holy you are this week' (performance-based) but as 'saints who are in Christ' (grace-based)—the phrase 'in Christ' transforms their entire identity from earned to given

And so now their very identity is not to the people in Ephesus that we'll see how holy you are this week in the sight of God. I've got a few things to talk to you about. Now, Paul just says at the beginning, "To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus." That phrase "in Christ" changes everything. This is the grace of God. This is their grace, their identity by grace.

24 · The pastor illustrates the concept of identity transfer through a personal story about showing up to his grandfather's exclusive club in work clothes—the waiters were ready to dismiss him until his grandfather appeared, at which point the warmest welcome was extended not because of who he was but because of who he was with

Now, look, I am, as I mentioned, an Alcantara. And so one of the things that I've benefited from in being an Alcantara is that my family, sometimes if people like my dad, all of a sudden they'll be okay with me. Or my grandfather. I remember when I was in high school, I think summers I would work, a few summers I worked at my dad and grandfather's business. And so my grandfather would say, "We're going to go to lunch." And one of his favorite things to do is to go to lunch down town at what he called the club.

So you had to be a member of it. It was at the top of the one San Jacinto Plaza building. So you'd go to the club. And I remember my grandfather was a little bit slower because he was older than me. And so I would kind of waltz up to the front desk at the club, the El Paso Club, right?

And waltz up to the front desk. And there would be this— the waiters were always very proper and very courteous. And they're greeting all these people coming in. And everybody's coming in in a suit. And I'm coming in in like a— dirty polo from the warehouse or whatever.

And I just remember the guy looking at me and kind of going like, who's this kid, right? This is, are you gonna be lost, buddy? And I could see he's about to give me the price, the menu prices, and just go like, this isn't what you're looking for, bud, and send me on my way. But if around the corner would come my grandfather, who all the waiters knew, Everything would change. So he comes around the corner and all of a sudden, "Mr. Alcantar!" You know, everybody's happy to see him and they're greeting him and basically welcoming him.

And I'm now with him. They're realizing, okay, that little kid in the high school dirty polo is with that guy. So all of a sudden, the warmest greeting imaginable is extended to me. "Is there anything we can get you, son? You know, mijo, is there anything you need?" You know, and I'm like, whoa, whoa.

I mean, I'll have a— give me a Coke with maraschino cherries, please. You know, like, all of a sudden he says, sure, whatever, if you're with Mr. Alcantara, we've got it.

Did I earn any of that? No.

25 · The pastor applies the club illustration to the believer's standing before God: though the Ephesians come with all their past idolatry and present struggles, they don't come alone but with Christ, and therefore their permanent status is 'saints, holy ones, embraced and loved by the Father'—this is how God views every Christian every moment of every day

In a truer, deeper, greater way, In the sight of the Father, as the people in Ephesus, as the believers in Ephesus come in with all of the idolatry of their past, all the sins of the week, all of the tension between Jews and Gentiles, as we'll see, all of the struggles in marriages, as we'll see, all the parenting struggles, as we'll see, as they come in with all of that, their status according to themselves would be far away from the Lord. Right in the mix of the world, full of injustice and evil and sin. And yet, when the people in Ephesus, the believers in Ephesus, come into the presence of God, they do not come on their own. They come with Christ, such that they have died with Christ, such that they have been raised with Christ, such that they are now in Christ. That if they have been justified by faith and united to Christ by faith, every moment of every day their status is in Christ saints, holy ones, those embraced and loved by the Father.

Christian, that is the way God views you if you are in Christ.

26 · The pastor pauses the exposition to deliver a direct pastoral word of assurance to believers: their identity in Christ as saints is permanent and unbreakable—they are united forever to the Son of God and cannot be separated from Him

It's going to be unpacked over the next number of weeks. But Christian, just hear this today: In Christ, you are a saint. In Christ, you have been united forever to the Son of God, and you will not be pried away.

That's your identity.

27 · The pastor signals the third and final major section, moving from grace in conversion story and grace in identity to grace in daily living, transitioning to exposition of verse 2's greeting

Christ. Grace in your story, grace in your identity, and now grace in your life. Now finally, verse 2.

28 · The pastor exposes the puzzling logic of Paul's greeting 'grace to you'—why ask for grace when they've already received saving grace?—then resolves it through Grudem's insight that grace is not only decisive (salvation) but continuous (sanctification), such that Paul is praying for God's ongoing, unmerited favor to sustain the entire Christian life

Paul says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Now Paul, in a sense, is blessing them with this greeting. He's praying over them. He's saying, "May God give you grace and and peace. But here's what's puzzling. If what we've just talked about is true, hasn't God already given them grace?

Hasn't he already given them saving grace and Christ uniting by faith grace? So why would he say, "Grace to you," or rather, "May grace be with you"? Now, when we speak of God's grace, we sometimes speak of his decisive kindness and mercy, saving grace, as it were. But grace is not just— grace from God is not just a decisive deluge of mercy. It is, well, it is a constant reality for the Christian.

Wayne Grudem says this, and I think it's so helpful. He says this: In the New Testament, and especially in Paul, not only the forgiveness of sins but also the entire living of the Christian life can be seen to result from God's continuous bestowal of grace. I'm going to read that again.

Not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the entire living of the Christian life can be seen to result from God's continuous bestowal of grace. This is what Paul's asking. Paul's saying, listen, the grace of God has come to you. He's going to unpack that in Ephesians 1 through 3, but he is also asking, God, give more grace. Continually bestow your grace, your favor, your unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor on your people.

Please, God.

29 · The pastor diagnoses the problem of grace-blindness (we're so used to grace we don't see it) and asserts that God's grace doesn't stop at salvation but transforms every mundane detail of life into a place where God's extraordinary grace can be perceived

Look, the problem is often that we're so used to God's grace that we we don't even see it. But God's grace is not just what saves us.

God's grace transforms even the most mundane part of our lives to places where we see God's extraordinary grace.

30 · The pastor reveals Paul's intentional wordplay: he changes the standard Greek greeting 'chairein' (hello/rejoice) to 'charis' (grace), making grace the first word of the letter and the last (6:24), demonstrating that Paul can't even say hello without invoking grace—every mundane moment, even a greeting, is a place to see and ask for God's grace

Look, Paul does something really unique here. The Greek greeting— if I could talk about this just for a second, I promise I will not put you to sleep. The common Greek greeting for hello was rejoice, or charain, right? It was just— it meant basically hello.

So, at the beginning of a letter, you'd say, you know, Paul so-and-so writing to Joe so-and-so, and then they would say hello, or charain, you know, hope you're having a good week, and then jump into the body of the letter.

But Paul changes it. Instead of "Charain," or something similar, he says "Charis," or "Charis," right? Instead of "Charain," it's "Charis," meaning grace. So Paul changes the greeting in Greek from "Hello" to "Grace." Why would Paul do that?

It's a prayer greeting. He wants the first thing he speaks to the Ephesian church to be grace. The first thing he says is grace. Paul is aware that he can't even say hello without referencing God's grace and asking God to give grace on his hearers. And then how does he end the letter?

He ends it in Ephesians 6:24 with grace "Grace be with all." So what do we see here with Paul? That his salutation, his greeting is grace, the letter is full of grace, and it ends with grace, right? Do you see this? Do you see what Paul is doing? For every Christian, every mundane moment of life is a place to both see God's grace and ask for God's grace.

31 · The pastor articulates the sermon's core structural claim: grace is not just the doorway into Christian life but the entire pathway—Ephesians 1-3 establishes God's extraordinary grace (theology), then chapters 4-6 show how that same grace transforms everyday life (ethics), such that every mundane Christian duty (love, speech, marriage, parenting, spiritual warfare) flows from and depends on God's continuous grace

Grace for the Christian is not the doorway to the Christian life only, it is also the pathway of the Christian life. It's not as though, "Here's the door called grace, we walk through it like, 'Oh, cool, that was cool, thanks for the grace,' and then we continue in our own strength." No, we open the door called grace only to find that the path is grace. Look, this is the whole shape of the book. Ephesians 1 through 3, as we'll see, Paul lays out the extraordinary grace of God. Then in chapters 4 to 6, he lays out how that grace changes their everyday life.

Lives.

Paul asks here at the outset that God give his readers grace, and everything else he calls the church to do, you could say, falls under that prayer. Meaning, chapter 4, he asks for God's grace that they might love each other well. He asks for God's grace that they might use speech well in chapter 4. He asks that they might use the gift of sexuality rightly and live their marriages well and live their family, parent-child relationships well in chapter 5. In chapter 6, he asked that they might wage spiritual warfare well by grace.

Over and over, in everyday stuff of life, in the mundane stuff of life, Paul prays at the outset that may the Lord give you grace. May the God who grants saving grace also grant sanctifying grace, Jesus-following grace, looking more like Christ grace in the mundane stuff of life.

32 · The pastor briefly expounds the relationship between grace and peace in verse 2—grace (unmerited favor) is the source, peace is the effect—then introduces a critical theological tension: while grace is unmerited for the recipient, it is not free in an absolute sense

And then he adds, "And peace." These two things are very much tied together. God's grace is the gift of unmerited favor. Peace closely follows it.

Grace is the source, in some ways. Peace is the effect. And all this, Paul says, is from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul references that this free grace given to the church and who they— and who he is and who they are and what he asked God to do for them. All of that grace is not free.

33 · The pastor resolves the tension by distinguishing between grace being unmerited (we didn't earn it) and grace being free (it cost nothing)—grace is unmerited for believers but infinitely costly to God, purchased by the Father's giving up His Son and the Son's giving up His life

Grace is not free when it comes to the Christian. Grace is given at the cost of the Father giving up His Son, and the cost of the Son giving His life.

Grace is for us absolutely unmerited, but in a real sense, it is not free. It was so costly that the Father gave His Son and the Son gave His life that we might be recipients of the saving, transforming, eternity-altering grace of God might come to us.

34 · The pastor applies the three-part sermon structure to the listener's life, praying that they would see grace in three areas: (1) their conversion story, (2) their identity in Christ, and (3) the mundane details of daily life where God's enabling grace makes all good things possible

Look, if you are here today, here's what I'm praying is true of you as we see these things. Look, I pray that you would see that your story, if you're a Christian, is a story of God's grace. I'm praying that you would see your identity in Ephesians as we see in Christ, in Christ, in Christ over and over.

You'd see your identity is grace. And then third, that you would see that grace then transforms the mundane details of your life, and grace is a play. Grace is, in a sense, what enables all of the mundane good things that we're so used to from the Lord. They're all grace for us.

35 · The pastor distills the entire book of Ephesians through Ligonier's framework: theology's essence is grace (chapters 1-3), ethics' essence is gratitude (chapters 4-6), and his burden for the church is that they would learn to see grace in all theology and live Christian life in dependence on and gratitude for God's grace

Let me end with this.

Ligonier, a wonderful ministry that served many people over the years, sums it up like this. They sent this out, I think, in a Christmas card one year. "The essence of theology is grace. The essence of Christian ethics," meaning how to live as a Christian, "the essence of Christian ethics is gratitude." That's the book of Ephesians. The essence of theology in chapters 1 through 3, grace.

The essence of how to live as a Christian, gratitude for the grace of God. So here's my burden for us, church. As we walk through this book over the next several months, that we would learn to see the grace of God in all our theology, in everything we think and believe about God, and then learn to live the Christian life Dependent on the grace of God, fully in gratitude for the grace of God.

36 · The pastor introduces a concrete application tool—'Grace for ____' stickers—instructing the congregation to write their name on one sticker (remembering God's saving/sustaining grace in their story) and optionally write a specific life area on a second sticker where they need to see and ask for God's grace (e

And here's what we've done. We're going to hand these out at the very end, but we've got these little— we've made these little stickers that I hope you'll use one in.

And now this could be cheesy. If you're one of these people that's like, "Oh, stickers are cheesy." Whatever, get out of here. I like the stickers, okay? Here's what I want to do over the next few months. I want us to see the grace of God in our lives and see the grace of God in the mundane.

And so we've made these little stickers, and this is what they look like. It just says, "Grace for blank." Here's what I want to encourage you to do. At the end of the service, grab one of these and write your name in it.

You should not, in a sense, even as a Christian, be able to write your name without remembering across all the years of your life the radical saving and sustaining grace of God. That he would save a self-righteous kid Pharisee like me is insane grace. Take that, and then if you want to, you can take a second one. And write an area of your life that you need to ask for God's grace and remember to see God's grace. So for me, it might be chronic pain.

I might take another one and just say, "Grace for chronic pain," because even though it hurts and there are days that it's really annoying, God has been there every step of the way.

37 · The pastor circles back to the opening credit card illustration, contrasting his typical routine (swipe, beep, move on) with the potential for even that mundane moment to become a place of seeing God's grace, then issues a final charge for the congregation to ask God to give them eyes to see His radical grace in everyday life

Church, I use my wallet every day. I'll pull out my credit card, Jose Alcantara, Cross of Grace Church, and use it, swipe it, beep, move on with my day.

And our days are filled with these kinds of mundane moments. But let me ask for something as we end. Let's ask the Lord would allow us to see the radical grace of God even in the everyday stuff of life. Amen.

38 · The pastor closes with a two-part prayer: first, that God would interrupt some listener's story today with saving grace, uniting them to Christ; second, that God would give Christians grace to see how radical His grace truly is and never become numb to it

Let's stand and pray.

Oh, Father, I do pray that as we go out this week, Lord, that you would help us, that you would give us eyes to see the grace of God in our lives. I pray for anyone here who may— well, this may be the day that you interrupt their story with the grace of God. And I pray that you would pour out your grace on them today, saving grace, that they would see what they deserved is not grace, but what they've been given in Christ is grace. That they see who you are, believe in who you are, call out to you in faith, and in that moment be united with Christ such that when you died, you died for them. When you rose, you rose for them.

And this is the new— a new day in their life. I pray you give them the grace of salvation. I pray for those of us who are Christians, Lord, that you would give us Well, really, the grace to see how radical your grace is, if I could pray that way, God, that we never become used to it, that your grace was for me. Oh, I pray that you'd help us see. Amen.