Know the Blessing Christ Has Given Us More and More (2)
Notes
Transcript
My boss in the shoe room would say often when we were real busy and stressed
I am too blessed to be stressed
The idea is that since God has given me so many things, I have no reason to be stressed
Does it really work, to simply consider all the physical blessings God has given us and tell ourselves to be happy?
It’s something we confess together as a church every Lord’s day as we close out our worship service each week
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
It is most appropriate to sing each week, even each day because it describes the very fundamental purpose of your existence:
God blesses his creatures, his creatures are to return that blessing with praise and worship
We are to worship for the blessing, or good things he gives us, not because we worship his blessings but because it is through such blessings he reveals who he is as God
We worship God because of who he is, and he shows us who he is by his many blessings
Our God is all powerful, all good, all loving…that is who he is
And so when he desires to make himself known, he uses his physical world to bless his creatures
So that we would take that blessing, and respond with our own blessing, or worship of him
Adam was created and was not placed into a wasteland
Rather, because God is all good, he placed Adam in a garden to receive his many blessings
So that Adam would receive such blessing with worship to God
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow”
Is very fundamental to our human existence—receiving his blessing is how we know who God is, and responding in worship to him is how we glorify him and enjoy him forever
Sin was introduced to mankind by Satan tempting Adam and Eve to use God’s blessings not as an act of worship to God, but rather as an end of itself
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
This was the first time the physical blessing of God was used not to praise him, but to find enjoyment in it without God
This is sin
And all of Adam’s offspring fell into this same miserable condition
The physical blessing of God goes through our sinful hearts which refuses to use it for worship
Indeed, the more blessing we have, the more of a temptation to use it for sin
This is why so many things that are used for evil is actually, at its root a blessing from God
Sex, food, drink
As praising God for his blessing you is foundational to your existence
Your issues in life can be traced to using God’s blessing not to worship him with, but an end to itself
Filled with anxiety over finances?
At the heart of it is a lack of using what God has given you in worship to him
And so our problem is not a lack of blessing from God, but the lens it goes through of our sinful soul
That is why understanding, meditating, and applying the main point of Ephesians is vital for us as Christians
After a brief introduction in which I will circle back to in a few minutes, Paul underlines his main point of this letter to the Ephesians
3 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,
Blessed be the God
This is like saying, praise be to God, or worship God
We don’t bless God as he blesses us
He gives us what we need
He needs nothing from you, so we bless him with worship
So it’s like he is saying, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us
As was already stated, this is what God does for his creatures
He blesses, or gives generously
But the blessing that Paul has in mind here is not physical and from the earth but rather
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
Paul is highlighting the greatest thing God gives to his people
And he does not highlight physical blessings, but spiritual
He does not highlight the blessings we receive here on earth, but from heaven
Why?
Because in our sin, we use God’s physical blessing in a cursed way
And so God who loves his people gives them something better
spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
And the medium he uses is
in Christ
And so the main point of Paul in this entire epistle is to encourage us to praise God for the greater blessing not of the physical in the earthly realm, but of the spiritual in the heavenly realm
And not only to know what this means, but to know it greater and greater
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
What’s your great aim Christian?
To praise God from whom all blessings flow
And this blessing is found not in the physical, but in the Spiritual in Christ Jesus
What is spiritual blessing from the heavenlies?
We can easily explain what physical blessing from the earth
The air in your lungs
The food on your table
The family with you around the table
The shelter over your head
But all the physical blessing is rubbish without it flowing from the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus
So what is that?
That is exactly what Paul explains in the first three chapters of this epistle
1:3-14 is all about what Jesus has done in forgiving you of your sins and bringing you near God once again
It was a plan from before time began, and it was made a reality when you believed upon Jesus and were sealed with the inheritance of the spiritual blessing
2:1-10 talks about how you were at one time dead in sins. Using the blessings of this world for your own passions and desires, but were made alive together with Christ who causes you to use the blessing of this world for good works
2:11-22 talks about how he did not just do that for the individual but for an entire group of people called the church of Christ
Chapter 3 is all about Paul’s role in proclaiming this blessing in Jesus, as an apostle, as an evangelist, as a minister
And then the second half of this letter, 4-6 is all about how you can use the physical blessing of God in light of the spiritual blessing of Jesus
4:1-16 is all about the church growing more after the identity of Jesus to realize this blessing in him
4:17-32 is about denying the life you had without Christ and his blessing of bringing you to God, and to put on the new self that is created after the image of Jesus
Chapter 5 and 6 explains how to use the blessing of marriage and parenting no longer for the passions of your flesh, but in light of the spiritual blessing Christ has brought
And the epistle concludes with putting on the armor Christ provides to do war against the flesh and the devil so that you live your life in light of Christ and his blessing
And so the book of Ephesians is all about how Jesus provides great blessing to his people so that they can live in this world of physical blessing in a way that honors God which is your greatest good
All the spiritual blessings found in Jesus brings you near to God so you can use the physical blessings he provides to know, and worship him