Ephesians 1 - Our Blessings in Christ - 7/9/06
Join with me this morning in turning to the book of Ephesians. We are going to begin going through the book this morning, and will be looking at it together over the next several weeks. Ephesians is in the middle of the New Testament, the second half of the Bible. It is written by a man named Paul, an apostle of Christ in the early church, who was saved in the years immediately following the resurrection of Christ. Paul traveled extensively through Asia Minor, the area that today we know as the country of Turkey. He started churches wherever he went. And one city where he started a church was the city of Ephesus.
In the book of Acts, we find the history of this church listed for us. In Acts 18 Paul left the city of Corinth to travel to Ephesus, the capital of Asia Minor or Turkey. It was a large, seaport town, and the center of the worship of the goddess Artemis or Diana. Paul was there for a short time, and then left, leaving two disciples in town, Priscilla and Aquila. He came back a few months later, and stayed in Ephesus for two years, teaching in the synagogue, proving to the Jews that Jesus is their promised Messiah, and then leaving the synagogue and going to a lecture hall in Ephesus, teaching every day. Paul stationed Timothy, his young protégé, to stay and lead the church at Ephesus while he went on to Rome. While Paul is under a sort of “house arrest” in Rome, he writes this letter to encourage the church. The letter was actually very likely sent around to all the churches in the area.
Ephesians has two parts, like most of Paul’s letters. The first half is teaching, the second half is application. The first half is doctrine, the second half is duty. Because a study of doctrine always leads to duty and doxology, or praise to God. So, chapters 1-3 talk about the blessings we have received from God, and chapters 4-6 tells us what that should mean in the way we live our lives. Today, we are going to look in chapter 1. Stand & READ 1:1-14 - PRAY.
The early chapters of Ephesians sound wonderful, but can be hard to understand, because we just don’t talk like Paul does today. Actually verse 3 to 14, our passage today, in the original language is really one super-long run-on sentence. Paul just gets all caught up in trying to put into words the blessings we have in Christ.
When you go out to the mall, out in the middle of the mall is a sign with a map of the stores. You’ll see a big X on the map and it says “you are here”. That map tells you what stores you have been to, where you currently are, and what stores are waiting for you down the mall. In Ephesians, Paul paints a map for us that shows us our blessings. He shows us what God has done for us in the past, what he is currently doing in our lives, and what the future holds for us. And the result of it all is that we give praise and glory to God.
In verse 9, Paul talks about the “mystery” of God’s will that he has revealed to us. For centuries, for millennia, people who loved God never knew anything about the church. All of God’s plans were centered, they thought, on the nation of Israel. But from the beginning God had a greater plan in mind. His plan was to bless all the nations of the earth through the nation of Israel, through the promised Messiah. God’s plan is in no way finished with Israel, but this new revelation that God has brought to light is this: all who trust in Christ are part of a new body, the church, the body of Christ, which becomes partner with Israel in receiving all the blessings of God. Paul talks about those blessings here in chapter 1.
Here in chapter 1, we see that
THEME: We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. And because God has so greatly blessed us, we lead lives of worship and give Him praise. In this chapter, Paul reminds us what the Father has done for us, what we have through Christ the son, and the security we have in the Holy Spirit. And after each reminder, Paul gives this phrase, “to the praise of His glory.”
In verse 3, we see the key idea of this passage. 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. In God, we have been given “every spiritual blessing” in the “heavenly realms.” The first thing we need to understand as we look at our blessings is that God has not promised us “earthly” blessings. What are the things we so often want from God? God, keep me healthy. God, make me rich. God, give me a nice house, nice car, a house at the lake.
God, give me a promotion at work. We focus on the things on this “earthly” level. But that is not the focus of God. His focus is in giving us blessings in the “heavenly” arena. We need to understand that we live in two worlds at the same time. Yes, we live on earth, but our citizenship is not here on earth. We are strangers, pilgrims, we are just passing through, because while we live on earth, our home is in heaven. And God has not focused on earthly blessings that will fade and pass away, but he focuses on giving us every blessing in the spiritual arena. While we live on earth, there is also in our midst a very REAL spiritual dimension of angels and demons, principalities and powers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. In this spiritual/demonic realm, God has given us power and authority and every possible blessing.
Notice that the spiritual blessings that are given to us are full and complete. In Christ, each believer has an “equal standing” with God. It tells us in another passage that “God is not a respecter of persons.” God gives each Christian the same spiritual blessings. Let’s look at what they are.
I. Our Blessings
A. The Father chose us and predestined us.
Verse 4 tells us, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. The first blessing we have been given is that of having been chosen by God. Think back to elementary school. It’s recess and you’re choosing sides for kickball. Everyone lines up at the blackboard. The two team captains start picking sides. You’re one of the last ones, and you feel like a reject, a failure, no one wants you on their team. But God chose us before he made the world. He values us. He loves us.
In Jewish culture, disciples would pick a rabbi they wanted to learn from, to be just like. They would follow the rabbi around, and ask him if they could be his disciple. If they were good enough, he would say yes. Jesus told his disciples, you did not choose me, but I have chosen you! Think about that. You ARE good enough, you are of great value, God has chosen you!
Our salvation is based not on our choosing God and choosing to follow him, but upon God choosing us! Everything about our salvation begins with God. God chose us for salvation, to live a holy life. John 6:44 - No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. God has chosen us. He chose us to lead a holy life. We talked about this last week. Paul writes in verse 1 “to the saints in Ephesus” - saints are literally those who are “set apart” - set apart unto God, set apart from sin, set apart from the world. God desires us to be holy, set apart, because HE is holy. 1 Peter 1 - But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
First, the Father chose us - he chose us for salvation. It is all of His doing. We are valued and loved, because God saw us as having great value to Him. He chose us. Then, He predestined us to be adopted as sons.
Predestination is to determine beforehand what will take place. When God chose us, He also determined that we would fulfill our destiny and receive an adoption. This adoption is not the concept of adoption we think of in America, where a family takes in a baby into the family. Rather adoption is a Roman legal procedure, whereby a child would receive all the legal rights to the father’s estate. A slave who was adopted received as big a share as a biological son. In being “adopted” by the Father, we inherit equally with Christ. Romans 8 tells us Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Revelation 20:6 tells us that we will reign together with Christ. 1 Cor. 2 - “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”--
Think about how God has blessed you this morning as a Christian. You have been chosen to receive salvation, something you could never afford, never earn on you own. You have been adopted by God to receive all the blessings of God’s inheritance. We shall rule and reign with Christ. When we think about that, we should respond as Paul in verse 6 - to the praise of his glorious grace!
God has given us every spiritual blessing. The Father is the one who chose and predestined, preordained us to salvation. But not every one is chosen. Not every one is predestined. And this is very confusing and hard for us to understand with our limited minds. But only those God has chosen will be saved. How do you know if you are chosen? God says “whoever believes” will be saved. If you will believe, if you will accept what God has done for you, then you have been chosen. For only those whom God has chosen will believe.
The second part of the blessings that are ours are are those from the son, Jesus Christ.
B. Jesus redeemed us and revealed the Father’s will to us.
Verse 7 tells us that we have “redemption” through the blood of Jesus. The word literally means to “buy the freedom of a slave.” or to “buy back out of a slave market.” God created Adam & Eve perfect in the garden of Eden. He walked with them and had fellowship with them in the garden. But when they sinned it separated them from a relationship with God. They became sinners, children of Satan. Jesus says in John 8:44 - You belong to your father, the devil. Each of us is born with a sin nature, a sinner by nature doing those things which are against the will of God. But when Jesus died on the cross for us, he died in our place, taking not only the penalty of our sin on himself, but also breaking the power of sin over us. When we accept God’s gift of salvation, we receive a new nature. Galatians 3:26 - You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
So Jesus, dying for us, redeemed us, bought us back, enabled us to become the children of God, by dying and giving his blood for us. It says this redemption offers us the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. We say that Jesus “paid the price” to redeem us. So who did he pay? Not Satan, even though we were children of the devil. Rather the payment of his blood was to satisfy the holiness of God. He suffered and died so we do not have to. He paid the penalty of our sin. We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
And this redemption is freely given to us by the lavish grace of God. Grace is unmerited favor. There was nothing we could do to merit or deserve or earn this salvation. But God chose to freely give it to us.
Not only do we receive redemption and forgiveness through Jesus, but verse 9 reminds us, Jesus reveals the father’s will to us, that God’s desire is to bring all things in heaven and on earth under the authority of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 28 in the Great Commission we see this - Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All the authority of the Father has been given to the son. Phil. 2 reminds us, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The book of Revelation tells us that in the end of the tribulation period, Jesus will come back to earth riding a white horse, and he will set up a kingdom on the earth. And we will rule and reign with Christ.
And again, in verse 12, when we consider our redemption, forgiveness, and God’s plan for the future, we are reminded that all of this is for the praise of his glory.
We also see in Ephesians 1, that we have been given blessings by the Holy Spirit:
C. The Spirit seals us and guarantees our inheritance. Verse 13 tells us, And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
The idea of a seal is the idea of identification and ownership. It is the idea of a stamp. Every cow out west is marked with a branding iron so that if the cow wanders off everyone will know whose cow it is. They just need to look at the brand. In the same way, every child of God is given the Holy Spirit at salvation as a mark of being a Christian. We do not need to wait for a “second blessing” like some would teach. Romans 8:9 tells us You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit within them is not a Christian. The Spirit is the mark of identification that we are children of God.
Also, the Spirit is our guarantee that we will receive the inheritance that is promised to us as heirs of God. Verse 14 tells us the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. The Spirit is given to us to give us a guarantee that God will keep his word. All of the promises of God can be relied upon. When Jesus said, I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. -- we can count on him keeping that promise! We have been given the Spirit to assure us that God will give us everything He has promised. The word in verse 14 for a “deposit” is translated in Greece today as “engagement ring”. Just as a man makes promises to the woman he loves and gives her an engagement ring as a sign he will marry her and commit his life to her, so also God gives us the Holy Spirit as his promise that he will do for us everything he has promised.
So, consider the blessings that have been given to us:
We are chosen, predestined for salvation by the Father. We are redeemed and forgiven by the son, Jesus, who reveals the will of the father to us. And we are marked and guaranteed all of our blessings of an inheritance by the Holy Spirit. So what is our response?
II. Our Response: To praise His glory
Three times in this passage we are reminded of how we should respond. Because of all the blessings we have received, we need to live to praise the glory of God. When others look at your life, and the way you live, do they give praise and glory to God? Matthew 5:16 reminds us, In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. To give glory to God is literally to “weigh him down” with honor. When we consider all the blessings we have been given by God, it should cause us to continually give our honor, respect, and devotion to our God. How much time have you spent praising God this week?
This morning, think of all that God has done for you, all the blessings you have received from him. And then ask yourself, What have I done for him?
He died for you -- will you live for him?
Let’s pray.
