February 9th – From the Pastor’s Desk
Seeing Christ Clearly and the Birth of Faith
Over the past several weeks, I’ve genuinely enjoyed the process of sermon preparation through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. It is an incredibly rich and densely packed book that has been carefully crafted. One of the real challenges in preaching through a letter like Ephesians is that there is simply more than can be said in a single sermon. Each week requires discernment about what to emphasize and what to hold back, always with the aim of tracking with the main flow of the letter rather than chasing every compelling detail.
Over the years, I’ve learned that some of the most important conversations in the church are not about whether something matters, but about how it works. I’ve also learned that in our disagreements we are often closer than we think, and it’s easy to lose sight of that shared ground. One such conversation concerns faith—how it comes about, how it grows, and how lives are truly transformed.
For that reason, I’ve chosen at times to use this blog format to explore questions that arise from the text but cannot always be addressed fully on a Sunday morning. These reflections are meant to go with the sermons, especially for those who want to linger longer with the Scriptures and reflect more carefully on how the Bible itself speaks.
And as we turn to the Scriptures, one thing quickly comes into focus: faith clearly matters—but the Bible also invites us to pay close attention to how faith comes to life.
“By grace you have been saved through faith” (Eph 2:8).
The question before us is not if faith is necessary, but how God brings people to faith. That said, I try, as best I can, to let the actual words, movement, and emphasis of Scripture speak for themselves—rather than importing preconceived ideas about how faith must be produced. Without that posture, we end up hearing Scripture echo our assumptions instead of forming them.
When we slow down and listen carefully to what Paul actually says and how he says it, it becomes clear to me where Paul is placing the emphasis.
Ephesians opens not with commands, warnings, or exhortations, but with worship.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3).
What follows is a cascade of divine action. Over and over again, God is the subject of the verbs:
- God chose us in Christ (1:4)
- God predestined us for adoption (1:5)
- God redeemed us through Christ’s blood (1:7)
- God lavished grace upon us (1:8)
- God made known the mystery of his will (1:9)
- God raised Christ from the dead (1:20)
- God seated him at his right hand (1:20)
- God put all things under his feet (1:22)
What is striking is not only what Paul says, but how long he stays there. Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence in Greek, and in it, Paul keeps our focus on what God has done in Christ. Just as striking is what Paul does not yet do. He does not pause to urge his readers to believe harder, decide better, or act more faithfully. Instead, he follows up his worship of God’s activity in Christ with a long prayer:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ… may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation… having the eyes of your hearts enlightened” (Eph 1:17–18).
Paul assumes something crucial: when the eyes of the heart are opened, faith follows.
That same pattern continues in Ephesians 2.
“But God, being rich in mercy… made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:4–5).
Notice the order and emphasis:
- God acts
- God makes alive
- God raises
- God seats
- God saves
- God creates
Only after all of this does Paul speak explicitly of faith—and even then he carefully guards how we understand it:
“By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9).
Faith isn’t presented as our contribution that activates salvation. It is the means by which we receive what God has already accomplished. Paul goes out of his way to protect this point.
In Ephesians 3, Paul again reveals his pastoral instincts. He does not pray that believers would try harder or summon more resolve. He prays:
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith… that you may have strength to comprehend… and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:17–19).
Faith, here, is sustained not by pressure or fear, but by encounter, comprehension, and love. Paul believes that seeing Christ rightly—knowing him deeply—changes people from the inside out.
A Question of HOW (Not Whether)
This is where our differences often lie. We agree that the goal is not mere belief, but faithful disciples of Jesus—people who take up their cross daily and embody the good news of God’s kingdom. Where we differ is in how that kind of life is actually formed.
I’m increasingly convinced—biblically and pastorally—that lasting life transformation comes through seeing and experiencing God in Christ. Throughout Scripture, when people truly come face to face with God—Isaiah in the temple, Peter before Jesus, Paul on the road to Damascus—the decisive factor is not another person exhorting them to have faith. The encounter itself brings them to a crossroads.
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17).
The Word reveals Christ.
Christ is seen.
Faith is born.
That sequence raises an important and honest question—not about whether faith matters, but about how God most often brings it to life.
When we look closely at Paul’s prayers in Ephesians, we notice what he emphasizes and what he does not. He does not primarily pray for stronger resolve, clearer arguments, or firmer defenses against error. Instead, he prays for vision—for enlightened hearts, for deeper comprehension, for a fuller knowing of the love of Christ. Paul seems convinced that when Christ is truly seen, trust and obedience follow.
That invites us to pause and reflect together:
- What most shaped your own faith—not just its content, but its vitality?
- Was it pressure, argument, or fear of being wrong? Or was it an encounter with the goodness, beauty, and faithfulness of God in Christ?
- When we think about forming mature disciples today, which approach does Scripture itself seem to prioritize?
These are not questions meant to unsettle faith, but to deepen it. Scripture does not ask us to abandon convictions; it asks us to continually submit them to the light of God’s self-revelation in Christ. Again and again, the biblical pattern points us not first to technique or leverage, but to sight—to God opening eyes, hearts, and imaginations to what he has already done.
Few lives illustrate this more clearly than Paul’s own. Before the Damascus road, Paul was not indifferent, careless, or half-committed—he was convinced, zealous, and certain he was defending God’s truth. What changed him was not a better argument or a stronger warning, but an encounter with the risen Christ that reoriented everything he thought he saw. The scales fell from his eyes, and a new vision of God’s purposes was born. In Ephesians, Paul reveals that his deep desire is that others—both Christians and not-yet-Christians—would experience that same kind of seeing: that hearts would be opened, eyes enlightened, and lives transformed through a true encounter with Jesus as he is.
My prayer—for myself and for us—is simply to echo Paul’s own:
“That the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened.”
Because when Christ is truly seen, faith does not need to be forced.
It is awakened.
Grace and peace,
Nathan