The Many Blessings Of God because we’re in Christ Jesus: Eph. 1:1-6 3-15-08
Today we’ll try and point out a few of the many blessings we have because of our being in Christ Jesus.
1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Have you ever noticed how much time is spent by Paul and other NT writers to remind us of all that is ours in Christ!
I am afraid that in our day as what must have been true in Paul’s day as well, is that so many Christians are not living out of the resources that are rightfully theirs through their relationship with Jesus Christ.
You probably never heard of Hetty Green. She died in 1916 and left an estate with an estimated value of $100 Million Dollars(not pesos and not 1960 but 1916).
Hetty regularly ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much to heat it.
Her son had his leg amputated because she took so long to get him adequate care because she was looking for a free clinic.
Hetty died in the midst of an argument over milk, she argued that skim was best because it was the cheapest.
She was wealthy but she lived like a PAUPER. She never enjoyed nor benefited from the riches that were hers.
A second person I heard about lived on the West Coast of America living in poverty until one day he found out that he was the only living heir to a British Nobleman. What do you think this guy did when he found out? He went to the clothing store and bought the best suit he could find, bought a 1st class ticket to London and returned to England in style!
HE BELIEVED WHAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD WAS TRUE AND HE BEGAN TO ACT UPON IT!!!
Which illustration best describes your spiritual life?
·Paul gives a long list of blessings which are our in Christ in the book of Ephesians and encourages us to walk in them and not live in the poverty of this world.
Three areas I want us to look at in these verse.
First is to look at the EXAMPLE OF PAUL’S LIFE
THE EXAMPLE OF PAUL’S LIFE: Ephesians 1: 1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
It’s amazing when you stop and remember who Paul actually was when we first met him in the book of Acts. He was named Saul and was an antagonist to the Church of Jesus Christ. His life is an amazing example of the power of God’s grace to change even the most aggressive foe of the gospel.
1. PAUL KNEW WHO HE WAS IN GOD’S PLAN: Ephesians 1:1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God
a. The problem most believers have is that they don’t know who they are in God’s plan, how they fit into all that God is doing in the world. They go through the motions of church life but never really live out any calling in their lives.
Now suppose you were writing this epistle. Take out the name Paul, and insert your name. Jim, an engineer by the will of God. John, a technitian by the will of God. We may not all be called to be an Apostle like Paul but we all do have some calling and you can’t live it until you know it!!!
b. Who are you by the will of God? That is one of the most important questions we must answer in life. God does not hide His will but makes it freely known to a surrendered heart.
John 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
2. PAUL KNEW WHO HE WAS CALLED TO MINISTER TO: to the saints who are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
a. Part of every Christian’s life is the element of reaching out for the sake of the gospel into the life of someone else. Paul knew he was called to build churches and encourage believers.
b. Who are you called to reach? Ministry to children, Women’s ministry, men’s, witnessing to lost people, teenagers? Encouraging believers through musical talents? Drama? Paul’s life was an example in that he knew who he was called to reach.
3. PAUL KNEW WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN THE LIVES HE MINISTERED TO who are faithful in Christ Jesus
a. He knew that his ministry was having an impact. He didn’t say anything about numbers or money or building programs but simply faithfulness to Christ. The TRUE TEST of any ministry.
b. There are various Scriptures that we can see that Paul’s desire was that believers become more and more like Jesus Christ.
ROM 8:29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Gal 4:19 19My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
I think it is interesting that Paul is writing to this church in Ephesus about what real riches are all about.
He is writing from a prison cell and has no financial portfolio to brag about
He is writing to a city that had one of the largest pagan building of worship (Temple of Diana/Aritmis) which was also a wealthy banking center and here Paul is telling this band of persecuted believers without a building or a bank account how rich they really were.
PAUL KNEW WHAT WAS REAL AND WHAT WASN’T - HE KNEW WHAT COUNTED FOR ETERNITY AND WHAT WOULD ROT ON EARTH.
THE ENCOURAGMENT FOR OUR LIVES (v 1) …to the saints…(v2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (v3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
I was reading this past week of a Pastor as he described growing up in churches where all they did was tell you what you were supposed to do for God and never took time to tell you what God has done for them.
He said the result was that his focus was always on what he wasn’t doing: not praying enough, not reading enough, not giving enough, … he went into the ministry and the # of people weren’t enough, people saved weren’t enough, budget was too small… THEN
One day God changed his ministry, he became a pastor teacher and started to feed His sheep, to make them strong, and there was a dramatic change in his ministry.
As he quit beating the sheep and started feeding the sheep, the sheep started getting strong. They started getting healthy, and as they got strong and healthy they started to reproduce.
Their lives changed by the Word of God and the power of the Spirit. They became witnesses and the effect of it was that their witness began to go out, throughout the neighborhood, and their neighbors began to come and be saved. And the church began to be blessed and grow.
1. WE CAN KNOW THE INTENTIONS OF GOD IN OUR LIFE
a. PAUL REMINDS US OF OUR GOD-GIVEN TITLE (v1) Saints
What they call you says a lot about how they feel about you.
ILLUS: At the end of World War I, Herbert Hoover, later to become President of the United States, led the allied relief efforts in Europe. He kept hundreds of thousands from starving, and a new word entered the Finnish language. In Finland, to "hoover" means "to be kind, to help."
If someone coined a word from your name, what would it be?
NEWPAPER AD: Lost one dog with brown hair and several bald spots. Hobbles on right leg due to being broken in auto accident. Left hip hurt, right eye missing, left ear bitten off in dog fight, answers to the name LUCKY.
We may not look a lot like it but God calls by the name He thinks of us and not what we may feel about ourselves.
A saint is not what you might commonly think: A football player from New Orleans, a private eye on TV or even a dead person who is canonized by the Catholic church. None of these are what makes a [saint] a saint. People don’t say a few words and announce that now so and so is now a ]saint].
IN THE BIBLE a Saint is a living, breathing follower of Jesus Christ, of coarse there are saints that have gone on to be with the Lord as well.
“ SAINT” literally means ‘set apart one, holy one’. It is a description not based on what we have done but on who Christ has made us to be because of what He has done.
Fastest growing crime in America is Identification Theft: 500,000 new victims every year. 25% of all Credit Card theft results is related to this. Some states it is not even considered a crime yet.
IT IS A HEAVENLY CRIME TO NOT KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE BECAUSE OF WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR YOU.
c. PAUL REMINDS US OF OUR GOD-GIVEN TREASURES (v2) Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Two basic treasures that are ours as SAINTS
v1) GRACE: unmerited favor…God’s riches at Christ’ Expense…undeserved, unearned by us but provided through what Christ has done.
v2) PEACE: Not peace in the world, no war or hostilities, but the peace that Christ provided between believers(enemies, sinners) and God.
2. WE CAN KNOW THE EXTENT OF GOD’S BLESSING IN OUR LIFE
a. Unlimited Spiritual Blessings (v3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Exciting Verse: The word “BLESSED” We get our English word ‘Eulogy’ from this word. Literally means ‘to speak well of’. What are some reasons we should speak well of God?
a) Our blessing is SECURE! It is a done deal! You don’t need anything more than what you already have in your relationship with Christ.
Our blessing is SUFFICIENT! EVERY Spiritual blessing is ours already.
We are talking SPIRITUAL blessings and not material and financial health and wealth things. Those may come as God blesses us but we have already in the bank all we need in a spiritual sense.
The reason for our blessings is Christ. That is where they are found. He is the reason and in our relationship with Him these blessings are found.
Praise be to God.
