In Christ

In Christ

Ephesians 1:3-14

If I were given just one word to describe the life of a Christian, it would be the word blessed. Because when you truly understand what God has done for you in Christ the result should be a heart that is full of gratitude.

When someone comes into the house of the Lord they should be greeted by the happiest people on the face of the earth. They should be greeted by a people full of love, peace, joy, and kindness. Why? because we understand how blessed we are.

Now that doesn’t mean believers don’t have problems. After all we are just human, and we all go through difficult situations. But it means we should be able to rebound faster, because we have a different world view. We have a hope of heaven. We view the world through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now, if we don’t see that in the life of a Christian, it is because we don’t understand what the bible teaches us. Our focus is on the world around us, and not on the glory of God.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “we are in the world but not of the world.” That’s what it means to live the blessed life. It is to live in light of eternity.

A church that is properly teaching the bible should result in a people who properly praise the Lord. Praise should be evident in our life, on our heart, and on our tongue because we recognize the blessings of belonging to Jesus.

That is what we see in our passage this morning. Ephesians 1: 3-14 is one long sentence in the Greek of Paul praising God. 11 times in this passage you will see the phrase in Christ, in Him, or in the beloved, because that is the theme of this passage. This is a doxology of praise to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the blessings we have receive in Christ Jesus. (Read Eph. 1:3-14)

3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love

5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight

9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him

10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him

11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Pray)

The very first word in our passage this morning, is the word “blessed.” Paul says, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is important we understand this is not the same word Jesus uses in the B attitudes. Paul is not talking about God having an attitude of happiness.

The word blessed used here is the Greek word “eulogetos” which means to say a good word about someone or to speak a word of praise.

It is where we get the English word eulogy from. Well, what do we do when we eulogize someone at their funeral? We say a good word about them, and that’s what Paul is doing here. He says, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to be praised, and honored, and glorified.

Why? Because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Now that doesn’t mean we have everything we want in this world. (TGFUP) What this means is we have everything we will ever need spiritually in Christ.

What this is saying is we are blessed in every way, no matter where you are at in this world, no matter what you are going through, even if you are down in the dumps, you are seated in the heavens. That is our position in Christ. So, what we have in our passage this morning, is Paul praising God for the blessings of those who belong to Jesus.

Notice how the passage is broken down into three parts, each part ends with the phrase “to the Praise of His glory” in Vs. 6, 12 and 14. I want to take this passage today and show you the three most important blessings that come from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

The first thing I want you to see is, we have been chosen by the Father, Vs. 4-6 This is the blessings of the Father in eternity past. Vs. 4 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.”

I think this is one of the most important verses in our day. We need to clearly understand this and what this means. This phrase “before the foundation of the world” occurs seven times in the NT. Every time it is talking about what God the Father did for us before Genesis 1:1. This is the plan of redemption before the creation of the world. This is what is commonly referred to as the doctrine of election or predestination.

Just to give you one example, Revelation 13:8 speaks of Jesus as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. We are told our names are written in the lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world. This is certainly speaking of the sovereignty of God and our predestination.

This is one of the most difficult doctrines of the Bible for Christians to except and to understand. But what is the purpose of predestination? My concern is we take an elite attitude about it. There are some Christians who point their fingers at others and say, “I have been chosen and you haven’t” That is not the purpose of predestination.

Predestination has been given to believers to encourage us when we are struggling. It teaches us God is for us no matter what we are going through. This is not a doctrine about lost people and nowhere in the bible does it say people are chosen to go to hell. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus died for everyone.

(John 3:16) 1 John 2:1-2 says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” So, clearly salvation has been made available to everyone.

But, why did God chose us and what did He chose us for? Vs. 3 says, “to be holy and blameless before Him.” We are not chosen for an elite status, but we are chosen for Christ likeness. We have been chosen for a purpose and that purpose is to be holy and blameless. I wonder how anyone could miss this and think this is speaking of anything other than our personal responsibility.

Ephesians 2:10 picks up on this same thought, and says, “We are God’s workmanship created (There is that same predestination word) in Christ Jesus for good works God has prepared for us.” We have been chosen by God for a reason, we have been chosen for works. Now, it is important to understand we are not working toward our salvation. That is a gift from God, but we are working toward our Christlikeness.

So, what are we predestined to? loving service, loving one another. Loving others as He has loved us. Sharing Christ with the world, making disciples. This is what the bible teaches throughout. The purpose of predestination is not to terminate salvation on us, but to produce a life of holiness and Godliness where others will come to trust Him to.

Abraham is a great Old Testament example of this. He was chosen by God. God called Abraham to leave his home and to leave his people and go into a land God would show him. Out of all the human beings on earth God chose Abraham to start a new nation. They would be His people and He would be their God. Genesis 12:3 tells us why. God said in you Abraham, all nations of the world will be blessed.” That is the same reason we have been chosen in Christ, not because you are special but so that you would be a blessing to the world.

That’s why Jesus would say in Matt. 5 “You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill and you are the salt of the earth, not because we are the only ones chosen but because our life is supposed to attract others and make them thirsty.

Notice Vs. 5, “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself.” The word adoption here speaks of our security. It is a metaphor Paul uses. John and Peter call it being born again or being born from above, but Paul never uses the phrase born again, he calls it our adoption.

What does it mean to be adopted? It means we have all the rights and privileges of the Fathers children. Paul is the only one that uses the word, and he uses it five times in the New Testament. Every time he uses it with Gentiles who were familiar with Roman adoption.

You see in the Roman culture a father had the right to kill his biological children and they often did. Many times, to prevent them from receiving their inheritance. But it was illegal for a father to kill an adopted child. So, you see why Paul would choose the word adoption. It speaks of a guaranteed inheritance, and guaranteed favor. This is the blessings of those who belong to Jesus.

Then Paul tells us why God chose us as adopted sons and daughters, Vs. 5 says, “According to the kind intention of His will.” In other words, He had a plan from the beginning. He loved us, and through Christ He poured out His grace on us. Why? that we might live out His grace before the world. That is God’s will for our lives, and He did all of that, as Vs. 6 puts it “To the praise of the glory of His grace.”

So, we do not want to shy away from the doctrine of election but, we want to understand it. I like the way Dwight L Moody put it. He said, “The whosever wills are the elect and that whosever wonts are not.”

I can tell you it was a good thing God chose me before the foundation of the world because if He would have waited for me to arrive, He never would have chosen me.

The point is it doesn’t matter who you are. There is a legitimate invitation that goes out to you today, to receive Jesus and be saved.

So, the first most important blessing of belonging to Jesus is we have been chosen by the Father. The second is we have been redeemed by the Son, Vs. 7-12.

If you are in Christ, you have been redeemed. That speaks of our present standing with God, we have been reconciled. Notice Vs. 7-8, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us.”

Everything we have comes to us through Christ. He is the conduit of the blessings of God. That’s why Jesus can boldly say, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 and again, in John 10 Jesus said, “I am the door to the sheepfold anyone who tries to enter any other way is the same as a thief and a robber.”

That’s why Christianity is under such attack in our world today. The world claims there are no absolute truths, everyone’s opinion is valid, and everyone is included. But Christianity claims the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. There is no other way. The Bible says there is no other name given among men by which we must be saved.

Notice the verb tense of Vs 7 “In Him we have redemption.” This is present tense. Our salvation begins the moment we trust in Christ, but it is lived out in our life in a daily commitment to Him. We are the already but not yet children of God. We have been redeemed by blood, but our redemption is not complete until we go to heaven.

The word redemption in the bible means to buy someone back. In Old Testament Hebrew terms, it was to purchase someone’s freedom. This is the substitutionary atonement understanding. God paid a price for us in Christ Jesus.

Now it is important we understand, no where in scripture are we taught who that price was paid to. We were not purchased from Satan. The point is God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He redeemed us, He bought us back from our sin, He purchased us with His own blood.

The concept here is that when Adam sinned in the garden it was as if the whole world sinned, and now Jesus died on the cross so that the whole world could be saved.

It’s the same concept they practiced in the Old Testament sacrificial system. Once a year a perfect lamb would be slain to forgive the sin of the entire nation. Well Jesus is the one- time sacrifice for the sin of the world. He is the perfect lamb of God.

Notice the end of Vs. 8 and the beginning of Vs. 9, “In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.” Well, what is the mystery of His will? We find that answer in chapter 2:11- 3:13. The mystery is that Jew and Gentile are now one in Jesus Christ. They are united as the people of God.

God’s plan of redemption always included the whole world. Israel was just a means to reach the Gentiles and not the end in themselves.

Vs. 10 speaks of the fullness of time and how God would sum everything up under the leadership of Jesus.

In Genesis 3:15 we have what is known as the first evangelion. It’s the first mention of the coming of the Messiah. God said one would be born of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. That statement was made before there was ever a Jew or a Gentile. All of mankind was created in the image of God, and it is God’s desire to reconcile all of mankind. So, in the fullness of time God sent His Son to die on a cross for the sin of the world.

Now Vs. 12 just reinforces my interpretation. It says, “to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ.” (Now if we are the first to hope in Christ, doesn’t it stand to reason there will be more to come after us who will hope in Christ?) I believe Paul is referring to Jews here, but it applies to us today as well. Then he ends this section with another refrain of, “To the praise of His glory. It is all about the glory of God.

We have been chosen by the Father. We have been redeemed by the Son and that leads us to the third most important blessing of being in Christ. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit Vs. 13-14.

But how do we get the Holy Spirit? Paul lays the order out for us in Vs. 13 he says, First, we listen to the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation. Then, we believe that message and we are sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit of promise.

The gospel is the good news, that God forgives all our sins and gives us eternal life. That happens the moment you believe in Christ. His pledge is that you will inherit all the blessings of heaven for all eternity.

Some people teach that not all believers have the Holy Spirit but that you have to seek God in a special way to receive it, and when you do, there will be evidence of gifts in your life. While I don’t think there is anything wrong with seeking God for gifts, a better evidence is the fruit of the Spirit in a person’s life.

Are they full of love, peace, joy, and kindness? Those are the internal evidence of the Spirit of God. That’s what gives us a personal security in our salvation.

We live in the age of technology, and with the invention of the smart phone we have instant knowledge at our fingertips every moment of every day. But for a believer knowledge of God is not the end it is only the beginning. Without wisdom we don’t know what to do with the knowledge of God we have. God gives us wisdom and understand through the Holy Spirit so that we can live for Him.

One of the greatest joys of childhood is opening Christmas presents on Christmas Day. Sometimes you can guess what’s under the tree, and sometimes you can’t, but it is still fun to open the present and see what you got.

That’s what we’ve done in our passage this morning, Paul says that if you are in Christ, all of the gifts under the tree have your name on them!

God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. He shows the three most important blessings of belonging to Jesus.

We have been chosen by the Father. We have been redeemed by the Son, and we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it is all to the praise of His glory.