Understanding Our Blessings in Christ

Understanding Our Spiritual Blessings In Christ

Ephesians 1:3

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why some believers are “joy to the world” in their commitment and worship to Christ? And others are “silent night”, I mean they are there, hoping and praying that they are.

What’s the dividing line? Why do some exhibit depthness while others are just on the surface in regards to their commitment to Christ?

I don’t share this to unload a ton of guilt in your heart if you honestly acknowledged that “you are not as committed” in your walk with Christ as you ought to be.

Every time there’s a pastor conference, one of the topics or concerns of Pastors is this area. To encourage a depth of commitment and worship to Jesus.

As I’ve been reading on the gospels, there’s a story about Jesus (Luke 7) When he has been invited by Pharisee to eat at his house, there’s a “sinful” woman who came running to Jesus, washing his feet with her tears and then anoint them with oil. Simon the religious Pharisee objects at Jesus in his mind allowing Jesus to touch her for in his mind - this woman is a sinner. Jesus gives a parable to Simon that divides the line between Simons of this world and a devoted worshiper like this woman.

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” [Luke 7:47]

You see what Jesus is saying here? If you don’t see or perceive the darkness and offensiveness of your sins, you won’t deeply appreciate God. Your worship would be superficial. Your commitment would be shallow. That’s the difference. Perception. Understanding. Comprehension.

I would like to show you a picture of a tree. The quality of the fruit is a result of the rootedness of the tree in the ground.

Big Idea: Passionate worship to God is an overflow from a theological understanding of the character and deeds of God in your life.

A worship that is just a result of mere emotion or hype is superficial. That’s why you see professing believers that “starts well” but then never darken the church’s door later on. Their “faith” in Jesus is practically non-existent. Their faith is rooted not in truth of Scriptures but in hype, and emotion and experience.

The reason I say that is because you will see here an example of depthness in worship (from the Apostle Paul) that springs from a solid understanding of who God is and what He has done.

Ephesians 1:3-14 is actually one long sentence in the original Greek language. The structure and words used by the Apostle is quite complex but beautiful. Have you ever watched fireworks? It’s like a fireworks of praise bursting out to God one after another. This section is what theologians call “doxology” in its format.

Doxology - A hymn or liturgical formula expressive of praise to God. We can imagine Paul just bursting out in praise and adoration to God as he wrote this letter in his prison cell. His worship is deep because His understanding of God and his grace is also deep.

Let me ask you, is your worship of God deep? Are you filled with awe and beauty of his majesty? Are you overwhelmed by his grace in your life? If not, don’t worry, we are going to redirect our journey toward this direction. It begins with seeking to understand what God has done for us.

There are three things we need to understand as we start this journey:

Ephesians 1:3

The Source of Our Blessings

The Scope of Our Blessings

The Sphere of Our Blessings

As we think, reflect and meditate upon these things, may the Lord ignite a fresh passion in our hearts and give us deeper understanding of what He has done for us. Paul’s response is to bless God, may we bless Him as well as we understand this.

Body

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,

(Eph 1:3)

The Source of Our Blessings

Paul begins this doxological section by inviting our gaze upon the Blesser - “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. It’s not just in this opening, but the whole section is THEOCENTRIC. “Centered on God”

In fact we can outline the rest of the verses from vv.4-14:

VV.4-6 The Sovereign Work of The Father

VV.7-12 The Saving Work of The Son

VV.13-14 The Sealing Work of The Spirit

Every person in the Trinity is involved in Sovereignly planning, working, accomplishing and applying the work of salvation. You see, it centers on the triune God. He starts with God.

Paul is inviting our attention first to God, the One who blesses us. That should always be the place to start.

One of our greatest problems in life is that we don’t start with God. We start with ourselves. We often think that if we could just find ourselves, or learn to love myself or if we could just focus on ourselves more, then we could be happier and blessed.

To fix the brokenness of a relationship, we tend to begin with ourselves. What I want, what I need, what I wish. Me and me. Not realizing that we are not the solution but the root cause of our problem.

If people will learn to love themselves, the world will be a better place. The problem is not that people don’t love themselves, the problem is they love themselves too much.

Our default fallen human state is that we are lovers of ourselves more than lovers of God. We are naturally born narcissists. We are egotistical maniacs who always think about his reputation, his pride, his need for control and entitlement. The reason we have so much brokenness is that we start with ourselves not with God.

[David Martyn Lloyd Jones] “The Bible is God’s book, it is a revelation of God, and our thinking must always start with God. Much of the trouble in the Church today is due to the fact that we are so subjective, so interested in ourselves, so egocentric. That is the peculiar error of this present century. Having forgotten God, and having become so interested in ourselves, we become miserable and wretched, and spend our time in ‘shallows and in miseries.’ The message of the Bible from beginning to end is designed to bring us back to God, to humble us before God, and to enable us to see our true relationship to Him.”

In this section, this is what Paul is doing for us, he wants us to start with God, to behold who God is and what He has done. He wants us to ponder the greatness and glory of God in working out our salvation. We start with God and we continue to gaze upon God. That’s the fuel of our worship. To always start with the source of our blessings.

Today we have the problem called “Consumer Christianity”.

What is consumer Christianity?

“Consumer Christianity” is the Americanized brand of an extra-biblical gospel with self at the center. The come-and-see model of ministry we’ve developed over the past 100 years has produced several generations of Christians who assume that church is about them, for them, and because of them. So they shop around.

When we gather together as a church to worship God - it’s not about you. It’s not even to meet your “spiritual” needs. Your needs are not in the center. Sure, God in his grace will meet your needs. But you’re not the focal point - God is. (even in your salvation - you are not the ultimate end - but God’s glory)

You don’t read the Bible from “me” perspective but from God’s perspective. Sure there are personal applications but the bigger application is to start with God and focus on God. It’s not enough to read the Scripture, you must read the Scripture from a proper perspective. That is, you are not the center of the story, God is.

That’s the solution starting with God.

Do you want to deal with your struggling marriage? Don’t start with yourself, start with knowing God deeply. Cry out to Him.

Do you want to deal with brokenness in your life - don’t start with yourself, start with God. The more you know God, the more you have a proper perspective of yourself.

Theologians in the past have used these Latin terms to summarize the whole posture of the Christian life: “CORAM DEO” CHRISTIANITY. Lit. Before the Face of God. To live Coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

Do you live with that posture?

The Scope of Our Blessings

After pointing our eyes to the Blessed One - the one who blesses us, He then invites us to think about our blessings.

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,

(Eph 1:3)

The word spiritual does not suggest the nature of these blessings like this blessings are other wordly - not of this world, rather it points us to the Agent in whom all these blessings are experienced. It should be read as “with every “Spirit blessings”. Blessings that the Holy Spirit brings (applies) to the believers in Christ.

On the first point, we see Paul’s Trinitarian Formula in blessing the Triune God for our Salvation. We can also outline it from the blessing perspective.

VV.4-6 The Blessings from The Father

VV.7-12 The Blessings from The Son

VV.13-14 The Blessings of The Spirit

But the blessings of the Spirit is really the PINNACLE of God’s blessings in the believers life for the Person of the Holy Spirit is one who makes this real and experiential in our lives.

In fact, that’s the very essence of the New Covenant Promise.

Ezekiel 36:27 - “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules.”

If we go back to Ephesians and survey once again of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we see that He is one who applies and enables us to experience the blessedness of the Christian life.

1:13-14 - In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Eph 1:13–14) [Seal - the presence of the Spirit of God authenticates the genuineness of our faith]

2:18 - For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Eph 2:18) [Close Covenant Relationship With God]

3:4-5 - When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Eph 3:4–5)

4:29-32 - Paul reminds us of the vitality not ‘grieving the Holy Spirit”.

5:18 - We are commanded to be FILLED with the Spirit.

6:17 - We are commanded to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

If we go back in v.3, we have all the fullness of God’s blessings in Christ when we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives. Praise God for that! Why is that important? Because He alone can successfully LIVE OUT the Christian life through me. He helps us experience the blessedness of the Christian life.

Yes, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, but if we are not living our life by continually walking in the Spirit, we are not going to practically experience its blessedness.

Being indwelt of the Spirit (that’s God’s work). Being filled with the Spirit (That’s your daily choice).

If we are going to grow in our depthness of our worship:

The Source of our Blessings - Always Start With God.

The Scope of our Blessings - Daily Yield to the Spirit.

3 C: Consciousness (aware) & Cooperation (yield) & Cultivate (if he gives you the desire the read the Word, you read the Word, fellowship - do it, The Spirit gives you love and appreciation for your wife, cultivate that. The Spirit puts seed, our job is to cultivate) Note: If he wakes you up in the middle to pray - you pray; if he leads you show kindness to that person - you cooperate and cultivate kindness.

The Sphere of Our Blessings

Paul says “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, (Eph 1:3)

“Heavenly Realms in Ephesians”

…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. (Eph 1:19–21)

…raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Eph 2:6)

…to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places

(Eph 3:9–10)

…For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph 6:12)

Heavenly realms/places is an unseen sphere of reality where Christ is exalted over angels and demons through his death, resurrection and exaltation. (And we as believers exist with him in that unseen sphere of reality)

Now I know it’s hard to grasp that. That seems out of touch with reality. But what if we are wrong. What if the way we perceive reality is not limited to our physical senses.

What if we are so limited in the Christian life because we only see reality from our physical senses. In a very humanistic and natural way.

When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. (2 Ki 6:15–18)

This unseen reality affects our earthly walk with Christ.

In this reality we are blessed with every spiritual blessing. That’s our position. We are seated with Christ. Exalted with Christ above all rulers and principalities and demonic forces. That’s our position. It won’t change because we are in Christ. Stand in that position.

Let that ‘unseen’ reality in Christ define your daily earthly activities for Christ. [SHOW CIRCLE]

Let your position in Christ match your daily practice.

If you are a Christian, you are in Christ. If you are in Christ you are Blessed. Let that reality define you until you see Him.

You are not your past.

You are not the opinion of others,

You are not your possessions.

You are not your accomplishments.

You are not your disease.

You are in Christ and you are blessed. And that’s enough.

Conclusion

Growing in depth with our worship begins with 3 things. Understand…

The Source of Our Blessings - Start with God (Coram Deo)

The Scope of Our Blessings - Daily Yield to the Spirit

The Sphere of Our Blessings - Let the Unseen Reality In Christ Defines Our Daily Activity For Christ.

Lords Table