Dear Family at Christ Community,

     We will begin our current series “Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: Life in Christ, Life in the World” this coming Sunday. Our time in worship will focus on the beginning, 1:1-2, and the end, 6:21-24, in which we will behold the golden thread of God’s grace and peace in Christ that runs throughout the letter. The grace and peace supplied by God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ serves to equip us to grow in our undying love for Christ for the life of the world. Said another way, our life in Christ forms and informs our life in the world for His glory and their eternal good. Ultimately, how we live proves to be our true confession of the lordship of Christ. Stephen E. Fowl reflects this truth when he writes in Ephesians: A Commentary:

If Christ’s lordship is to have any material reality in the present, then there must also be a community of people whose faith and practice, whose hopes and desires, whose very life and death—all are shaped by their allegiance to their Lord. Apart from this, language about being in Christ and attempts to call Christ “Lord” begin to lose their coherence.

     One of the great gifts from the Lord’s Table is the tangible reminder of God’s grace and peace. Through the gift of Christ’s body for us as represented in the broken bread, we remember that we are at peace with God and will one day dwell in the eternal peace of the New Heavens and Earth. Through the gift of Christ’s blood spilled for us as represented in the overflowing cup, we remember God’s grace in granting us newness of life and inviting us into the eternal work of His unfolding kingdom. Our love in faith for Christ finds depthless stores of nourishment in the Lord’s Table! May we come with great expectations as to God’s faithfulness to provide grace and peace for His people!  

     Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you the eyes to see afresh and the ears to hear anew the grace and peace declared to you from God our Father in our Lord Jesus Christ! Invite others to come and see in hopes that they too would taste and see that the Lord is eternally good either for the first time or the first time in a long time. Pursue reconciliation with others offering them grace and peace as it has been offered to you in Christ. Praise God for His lavish provision of grace and peace so that we experience the undying love of Christ!

In Christ,
Cameron