Title: Blessings In Christ Scripture Text: Ephesians 1:3-10
Introduction: Are there days, especially during this special time of year; that you really don’t feel that thankful? One of the songs we will be singing today has the words, “Count Your Blessings” Have you had time in your busy life to count your blessings, naming them one by one? In life, and in an especially noticeable trademark of Bible Scripture; is that there are two choices in most everything, and normally they are almost completely opposite. For example, there is a narrow road, and a broad road; but no medium width road. There is righteousness, and then there is wickedness; but there is no kind of goodness in between. There is light, and there is dark; but no gray, and especially none that is noteworthy. We have two choices as I see it! And in every situation or circumstance in life, we can choose to direct ourselves towards life; or we can choose to shrivel, and lose ground to death. If we choose to be apathetic and sick about life, we can be led to bitterness and despair-and eventually the death that comes as a result of those attitudes. Or, we can choose to be enthusiastic and excited about a new day. When we are in the hard times of life, we think, if we don't choose to be strong-we will just give up. The song ‘Count Your Blessings’ rightly continues, “see what God has done!”
Antiphonal Response:
For he chose us before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless
In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
He made known the mystery of his will
Response: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms.
Propositional Statement: Today, I am going to outline three of the spiritual blessings that the Apostle Paul mentions here in Ephesians. John MacArthur says that within these passages, “Paul here presents six aspects of the divine blessing he is about to unfold: the blessed One, God; the Blesser, also God; the blessed ones, believers; the blessings, all things spiritual; the blessing location, the heavenly places; and the blessing Agent, Jesus Christ (John F. MacArthur Jr., Ephesians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 7.)” The blessings found here are just a few of the many blessings found throughout Scripture; and we will today just barely scratch a surface of the depth found in these three blessings! Praise is the operative word all throughout these passages in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God (2 Cor. 1:3-4).”
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).”
During this thanksgiving season and approaching Thanksgiving Day; we have been considering how we are truly thankful. One of the greatest gifts ever given is reflected in the Book of John, Chapter 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” “Being saved from certain condemnation is certainly the most important blessing in this life; and much to be thankful for!”
I. Holy and Blameless – verse 3. Holy means set-apart and Blameless means without spot or blemish.
A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, "Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments aloud at the top." "I have a better idea," replied Twain. "You could stay in Boston and keep them." (Moody Bible Institute's Today in the Word, September, 1991, p. 32.) It is a good idea to keep God’s commands, but what we are getting at in Ephesians 1 is not what we do to be holy and blameless; but what God does for us so that we are called blameless and holy.
Col. 1:22 here echoes the same language of blamelessness and holiness when it says; “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ….”
(For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world) Before anything was….(at some point before time) God determined to set in place a plan that would separate a people that would be different. …. IN HIM (vv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14)
If we be in Christ Jesus, because of His great love for us, we have the freedom to choose life…. Being holy in Christ Jesus means you have been given holiness and blamelessness, and are being transformed into an over-comer. “Because we have believed in and received Jesus as our Savior, all our sins are forgiven in him. This does not mean that true Christians never sin. It means our sin is paid for by the death of Christ. Jesus was holy and blameless. We are in Jesus; therefore, we are holy and blameless in God’s sight (Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 92.)”
Romans 8:37 says it like this…. “….in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
“The reasons for his election were rooted in the depths of his gracious, sovereign nature. To affirm this is to give to Christians the assurance that God’s purposes for them are of the highest good, and the appropriate response from those who are chosen in Christ from all eternity is to praise him who has so richly blessed us (Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 100.)”
How certain is God’s plan of predestination? The story of Napoleon meeting up with a noblewomen in Russia illustrates. The women said that man proposes and God disposes. Napoleon replied, “I propose, and dispose!” Yet, a few months after retreating from Russia, and losing his crown, army, and liberty, God disposing of human affairs was vindicated. If we know that God is in control of all our lives, we can rest assured that we will blessed due to the relationship that we have in Him.
Transition: God has set us apart, made us special, if we know Him! God has also made us blameless-without spot or blemish. And as we stand before the ultimate judge of all things, that should be so comforting. Because of God’s holiness, we can count on his protection and provision. Feeling the arms of Jesus wrap around us, as we know of the heavenly blessings that are ours. The next scripture starts, “In Love”, …
II. We Are Adopted – verses 5-6. Warren Wiersbe remarks, “Adoption” in the NT refers to the official act of a father who bestows the status of full adulthood on a son of minor status. It is not the taking in of an outsider; it is the placing of a family member into the privileges and blessings of adulthood. This means that even the youngest Christian has everything that Christ has and is rich in grace. …. In ourselves, we are not acceptable to God, but in Christ, we are “made accepted.” The Epistle to Philemon is a beautiful illustration of this truth. Paul wrote, “Receive your slave Onesimus as you would receive me” (Phile. 17). Though we have sinned, Christ says to the Father, “Receive this saint as you would receive Me (Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1992), 538.).”
The Scripture affirms that this was freely given to us from God, in His Son Jesus; to the Praise of His Glorious Grace! The NIV clarifies, “which he has freely given us in the One he loves” –in the Greek, freely given is reflected as ‘charis’ or unmerited favor and grace. For it is by grace you are saved, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God….” We are favored only in the light of the obedient work of Christ Jesus. “Believers praise God the Father because his purpose in choosing them was to bring them into a personal relationship with himself as his children (Peter Thomas O’Brien, 102).
We were once the inheritors of death because of our sinful nature. We can choose to settle with that inheritance- an inheritance of sin in the world. Or, because of the work of Christ, have an inheritance of eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Transition: Jonathan Edwards comments on our dependence on God’s blessings: “The redeemed are dependent of God for all. All that we have-- wisdom, the pardon of sin, deliverance, acceptance in God's favor, grace, holiness, true comfort and happiness, eternal life and glory--we have from God by a Mediator; and this Mediator is God. God not only gives us the Mediator, and accepts His mediation, and of His power and grace bestows the things purchased by the Mediator, but He is the Mediator. Our blessings are what we have by purchase; and the purchase is made of God; the blessings are purchased of Him; and not only so, but God is the purchaser. Yes, God is both the purchaser and the price; for Christ, who is God, purchased these blessings by offering Himself as the price of our salvation (Jonathan Edwards, Closer Walk, July, 1988, p. 15.)”
III. Redemption Through His Blood – verses 7-10. “To be redeemed means to be “bought back.” It carries with it the sense of being released from slavery. By being redeemed by Christ, we are freed from sin, both the penalty and the enslaving power. This redemption was accomplished by the death of Christ on the cross where he shed his blood and died to secure our redemption. His death paid the price for our release from sin and death (Anders, 92-93).”
In Christ we have redemption through His blood or the forgiveness of sins. Scripture says that we have forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s Grace-because of God’s unmerited favor towards us-Romans 5:8-we have the forgiveness of sins. Jesus redeemed us. God decided, now remember the scripture says, in all of the Fathers wisdom and understanding, to make just payment for mankind’s sins, that His Son would have to die on the cross, bearing vicariously all the sins of the world. In that moment, even His Father had to turn from Him because of the great sin He bore, thereby paying the price of our redemption. There was no other way! We were bought with a price. “Paul agrees that believers have been bought with a price, and that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 106)”. Paul warns us, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men (1 Cor. 7:23)” And said that this must happen: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Galatians 4:4–5).” “Christ’s violent death on the cross as a sacrifice is the means by which our deliverance has been won…. (Peter Thomas O’Brien, 106).” Wiersbe says, “We have a present redemption in that He has delivered us from the penalty and power of sin; we shall have a future redemption (v. 14) when Christ delivers us from the presence of sin at His return (539).”
Because we are redeemed, we don’t have to choose the darker things in life, we can choose the way that leads to life. Is it not a blessing in itself to know a God personally, that loves us and cares for us so much that he not only gives us gifts in today’s physical realm, but gives gifts from heaven as well?
Transition: “A story told by Paul Lee Tan illustrates the meaning of redemption. He said that when A.J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously.
Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?"
The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field."
"What are you going to do with them?"
"I'm going to play with them, and then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat we have at home."
When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don't want them, they're just little old wild birds and can't sing very well."
Gordon replied, "I'll give you $2 for the cage and the birds."
"Okay, it's a deal, but you're making a bad bargain."
The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.
The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ's coming to seek and to save the lost -- paying for them with His own precious blood. "That boy told me the birds were not songsters," said Gordon, "but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, 'Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!"
You and I have been held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us at liberty. When a person has this life-changing experience, he will want to sing, "Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed! (Our Daily Bread).”
Conclusion: “If someone were to give me a dish of sand with iron particles in it, I might look for the iron with my eyes and try to pick them out with my fingers, yet I would probably be unable to detect them. But if I took a magnet and swept through the dish with it, it would draw all of the iron particles by way of attraction. The unthankful heart, the one that chooses the darker way, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercy. Yet, the thankful heart is like a magnet finding the iron. This magnet of the heart will throughout the day find many heavenly blessings, only the iron in God’s sand is gold! (Source Unknown)” Words are hardly adequate to describe the inexhaustible nature of God’s giving (Peter Thomas O’Brien, 107). Ephesians 2:6-7 further describe the inexhaustible nature of His giving: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
In my beginning comments; I said that being saved from certain condemnation is the greatest blessing in this life. Let’s think about this a little deeper….
Last week, when I spoke about Lazarus, I said, “we know that Jesus did what are called ‘sign miracles’ to authenticate who He was and what He came for. John 14:11 says, “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” This begs the question, and I only mention this to give context to what I am going to say: Have we denied Jesus’ ability to perform miracles today because we cannot reconcile theological beliefs with real everyday life? First, we should be very careful not to presume upon God’s will; which might include the ‘name it- and- claim it crowd’ and theatrical healing service productions. But, we should also be careful not to be confused, and by no means limit God’s power in our prayer life. Just because we don’t see the kind of ‘sign’ miracles that Jesus performed everyday does not mean that God is not working. In fact, if you were unaware, one of the greatest miracles today is the salvation of a soul. The disciples reflected upon this when they asked Jesus how it was possible that someone would be saved. And the answer to the question is: “it is a miracle!” Genesis 6:5 describes the condition of peoples hearts after the fall; “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” So answer me this: “how is it that a heart in that wicked condition can be transformed into a child of God?” Jesus responded to the disciples about this: He said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!”
This gives the Christian a transformation or redemption of life that allows them a freedom to confidently rise above! “The merchant adventurer puts to sea, rides out many a bitter storm, runs many a desperate hazard, upon the bare hope of a gainful return; the valiant soldier takes his life into his own hands, runs upon the very mouth of a cannon, dares the lion in his den, merely upon the hope of victory; every man hazards one way or another in his calling, yet are but uncertain venturers, ignorant of the issue: but so it often falls out, that the greedy adventurer, seeking to increase his stock, lose the many times both it and himself; the covetous soldier, gaping after spoil and victory, findeth himself at last spoiled, captivated: but the confident Christian, the one true child of God, runs at no uncertainty. Being blessed with every spiritual blessing means that we don’t have to choose the darker way of helplessness, nor the way of human might, but the way of an over-comer (Unknown).” The way which allows the blessings of Christ to strengthen us.
Being….Blessed in the Heavenly Realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. May the Holy Spirit of God impress these things upon your heart!
(Finally, "The life of Christianity consists of possessive pronouns" says Martin Luther. It is one thing to say, "Christ is a Saviour"; it is quite another thing to say, "He is my Saviour and my Lord." The devil can say the first; the true Christian alone can say the second.” Resource, July/August, 1990.)
