These verses tell us about the many blessings we have from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Several years ago the Los Angeles Times reported the story of an elderly man and wife who were found dead in their apartment. Autopsies revealed that both had died of severe malnutrition, although investigators found a total of $40,000 stored in paper bags in a closet.
For many years Hetty Green was called America’s greatest miser. When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at $100 million, an especially vast fortune for that day. But she was so miserly that she at cold oatmeal in order to save the expense of heating the water. When her son had a severe leg injury, she took so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that his leg had to be amputated because of advanced infection. It has been said that she hastened her own death by bringing of a fit of apoplexy while arguing the merits of skim milk because it was cheaper than whole milk.
The book of Ephesians is written to Christians who might be prone to treat their spiritual resources much like that miserly couple and Hetty Green treated their financial resources. Such believers are in danger of suffering from spiritual malnutrition, because they do not take advantage of the great storehouse of spiritual resources that are at their disposal (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Ephesians, p. vii).
OUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS TO BE PRAISED! WHY? BECAUSE HE HAS BLESSED US, CHOSEN US, ADOPTED US, AND ACCEPTED US.
Martin Luther said, "The most acceptable service we can do unto God, and which alone He desires of us, is, that He be praised of us."
I. THE FATHER IS TO BE PRAISED BECAUSE HE HAS BLESSED US (v. 3).
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places."
This verse may be the key verse of this epistle.
The realization of the truth concerning our salvation always leads to praise.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones:
• "Praise and thanksgiving are ever to be the great characteristics of the Christian life" (God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1, p. 48). See Acts.
• "There is no more true test of our Christian profession than to discover how prominent this note of praise and thanksgiving is in our life" (ibid., p. 49).
• "We should not come to God’s house simply to seek blessings and to desire various things for ourselves, or even simply to listen to sermons; we should come to worship and adore God" (ibid., 50).
We bless Him with words; He blesses us with deeds.
A. He Has Blessed Us "in Christ."
It is not who I am, or what I am, but WHERE I am that is important.
Every blessings we enjoy as Christians comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ:
• ". . . he hath chosen us IN HIM. . . ."
• "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children BY JESUS CHRIST. . . ."
• ". . . he hath made us accepted IN THE BELOVED."
It is not because I am worthy, but because of who Christ is and what He has done that I am the recipient of all these heavenly blessings.
B. He Has Blessed Us with " All Spiritual Blessings."
"Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. . . ." (James 1:17).
The word "spiritual" describes the source of our blessings.
These blessings are ours "in Christ," and are delivered to us by the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians continually ask God for what He has already given.
• They pray for PEACE, although Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you" (John 14:27).
• They pray for HAPPINESS, although Jesus said, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11).
• They pray for STRENGTH, although His Word tells them that they "can do all things through Christ who strengthens [them]."
It is not that God WILL give us but that He has ALREADY given us "all spiritual blessings." Notice that verse 3 says that God "HATH blessed us."
Our resources in Christ are not simply PROMISED; they are POSSESSED.
Christ’s riches are our riches, His resources are our resources, His righteousness is our righteousness, and His power is our power.
Our need is not to receive something more but to do something more with what we have.
C. He Has Blessed Us "in Heavenly Places."
This phrase occurs five times in Ephesians (1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12).
Look again at2:6. That means nothing less than that you and I in Christ at this moment are seated in heavenly places. We are there; he does not say that we are going to be, but that we are there.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes,
Spiritually, I am in heaven at this moment "in Christ", in one sense as much as I shall ever be; but my body is still living on earth. . . . My spirit has been redeemed in Christ as much as it will ever be redeemed; but my body is not yet redeemed, and I am, with all other Christians, "waiting for . . . the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23)" (God’s Ultimate Purpose, p. 76).
This speaks of our security.
A day is coming when I shall be in the heavenly places not only in my spirit but in my body also.
II. THE FATHER IS TO BE PRAISED BECAUSE HE HAS CHOSEN US (v. 4).
"According 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."
Why do we now enjoy the amazing blessings of God?
Many would say we receive these blessings by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. But that is not where Paul begins. He does not start with anything that happened in this world. He goes way back into eternity, before the foundation of the world; and he starts with that which has been done by God the Father.
A. He Chose Us Before the Foundation of the World.
The cross was planned before "the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:18-20).
Our names were written in the book of life "from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).
Those who enjoy these spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ do so because they have been chosen by God to do so.
Some try to water down the doctrine of God’s election because they think it violates human freedom.
Many doctrines in Scripture have two seemingly contradictory sides:
• You say that the Bible is the work of the Holy Spirit; I say that it is the work of human authors. We’re both right!
• You say that Jesus is fully God; I say that He is fully man. We’re both right!
• You say that God is one God; I say that God is three Persons. We’re both right!
The doctrine of the election of God is a great proof of the divine inspiration of Scripture.
Both doctrines our found in one verse: "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).
Exactly how God’s election and man’s freedom operate together only the infinite mind of God knows.
B. He Chose Us so that We Might Be Holy.
"That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that is should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).
Positionally
Practically
Everything is salvation is destined to bring us to this end of holiness.
Separating justification from sanctification is a great mistake.
The person who is chosen, is chosen in holiness; and if there is no evidence of holiness in his life, it is proof that he has never been chosen.
"Follow . . . holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).
III. THE FATHER IS TO BE PRAISED BECAUSE HE HAS ADOPTED US (v. 5).
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."
Our adoption is perhaps the highest expression of God’s love.
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1).
Romans 8:15-17
Romans 8:29-30
IV. THE FATHER IS TO BE PRAISED BECAUSE HE HAS ACCEPTED US (v. 6).
"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).
We see Jesus staggering up Golgotha, we see Him nailed to a cross. He is rejected, despised, hated, spat upon, and scourged. We cannot conceive the agony, the suffering, and the shame that were involved. The Father is looking down as His Beloved endures it all. That is the measure of God’s love. As the Apostle Paul expresses it in Romans 8, "He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all" (v. 32).
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
". . . hast loved them, as thou lovest me" (John 17:23).
"By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).
A. W. Tozer said, "I am going to say something to you which will sound strange. It even sounds strange to me as I say it, because we are not used to hearing it within our Christian fellowships. We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done for us in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end."
CONCLUSION
Imagine for a moment that a billionaire is riding in his limousine through the streets of Toronto when suddenly he spots two teenagers sitting on a curb. Something within him says, "Stop!" The man tells his driver to stop the vehicle, and he gets out and approaches them. One is a boy and the other is a girl. He discovers that they have no home, no jobs, no education. They are dirty, smelly, and hopeless. Then the billionaire decides to do something amazing. He offers to take these two teenagers to his home and adopt them into his own family. The homeless pair accept the invitation, and in the days and years that follow, they are treated as the rich man’s own children and enjoy all of the wonderful privileges of being his son and daughter.
If you are a child of God then you are that boy or that girl. God has chosen you, a hopeless sinner, and has adopted you into His family and has accepted you as His child and has given you every spiritual blessing available.
Consider what God has done for you and offer Him your most sincere praise.
There’s the wonder of sunset at evening,
The wonder as sunrise I see;
But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
Is the wonder that God loves me.
