Sermon Tone Analysis

Blessings ALL Mine

(Ephesians 1:3)

A man comes to dinner at a new friend’s house.

While they eat, the new friend’s small son keeps staring at the guest.

Finally, the guest says, “Why are you staring at me like that, young fellow?”

The kid says, “Well, Daddy told me you were a self-made man.”

“I am.” “Well, why did you make yourself like that?”

Our purpose in the next few weeks is to help us find our identity and purpose in life so that we don’t make ourselves like that! – so that we are something worthwhile.

And the passage we look at today can start us out.

How can we find real “worth” in life?

People today are greatly concerned about identity, life purpose, self–worth, and self–acceptance.

Consequently there is a plethora of books, articles, seminars, and schemes from Tony Robbins to Wayne Dyer that attempt to fulfill those longings.

But because God and His Word are not considered in most such attempts, the only source for finding the truth is eliminated, and men inevitably are led back to themselves for the answers.

In spite of many variations and sometimes complex formulas, the end result is to tell men they are really all right after all and that what identity, worth, and meaning they find in life they must find in and for themselves – usually by digging deeper.

We are told to think of ourselves first and are shown how to get on top by using and manipulating others, by intimidating before being intimidated.

We are told how to be successful and how to be number one how to find the winner within.

We are counseled to find meaning in the heritage of our family and ethnic roots, with the expectation that finding out where we came from will help explain where we are and where we are headed.

But such approaches give only a psychological gloss that helps cover, but does not help remove, the underlying problem of meaning in life.

Every human effort at self–improvement or self–satisfaction is subject to the law of diminishing returns.

Genuine and lasting satisfaction is never achieved.

All that really happens in our self-help efforts is that our friends and acquaintances are thinking (though they are probably not unkind enough to say it out loud), “Why did you make yourself like that?”

In fact, in our most introspective moments, we are probably asking ourselves the very same question.

The truth is, the only way a person can achieve a true sense of self–worth, meaning, and significance is to have a right relationship to his Creator.

A person without Christ has no spiritual value, no standing before God, no purpose or meaning in the world, and certainly no long term prospect.

He is like “chaff which the wind drives away” (Ps.

1:4).

A Christian, however, is a child of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.

He just needs to understand the position he already has in his Savior.

That is the foundational thrust of Paul’s Ephesian letter.

Verses 3-14 of Ephesians 1 are comprised of one long, rapturous, 202 word sentence as Paul became so caught up in the glory of God’s gifts to His children that he scarcely paused for breath in his dictation.

Our goal in the next few weeks is to catch something of the splendor of our position in Christ as explained by Paul because it will change our lives if we do.

In this barakah or blessing of God – bestowed by Paul because of the unprecedented and unfathomable blessings bestowed by God on us – Paul describes the work of all three persons of the Trinity in positioning us individually within his body, the church.

But verse 3 is introductory to the whole section and deserves its own attention today because it establishes the great worth that we have – in Christ.

It is not a worth derived from our natural talents, higher education, financial status or any other earthly measure – no, it is much more real than any of those.

Our true worth is established by the fabulous way that God has gifted us and that is the thrust of this passage.

Let’s look at the various aspects of how we are blessed.

As John Calvin said, “The lofty terms in which he [Paul] extols the grace of God toward the Ephesians, are intended to rouse their hearts to gratitude, to set them all on flame, to fill them even to overflowing with this disposition.”

I pray it will do the same for us.

*I.

Who Gives?

-- God!*

Paul says, 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,

The word “blessed” is the Greek word ευλογεω from which we get our English word “eulogy”.

Paul is raising a hymn of praise and commendation to God for His great goodness to us.

He is to be commended because He is the one who gives all the gifts that Paul has in mind as he confronts His own blessed state.

What a reminder that God is always good, good beyond measure and always worthy of blessing.

Goodness is God’s nature and He not only does good things, but He is good in a way and to a degree that no human being can be.

Psalms 73 says, 1) Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

The word “truly” could legitimately be translated “only”.

God is only good to Israel, never anything else.

Yes, Israel had it tough at times as did Paul – but always out of the goodness of God’s loving heart.

Jesus Himself said in Luke 18:19 No one is good except God alone.

Now, Paul says – It is the very God who alone is good – it is this one who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Now, don’t miss this, folks.

God is the giver.

He alone is the Giver.

God is the giver of every spiritual blessing.

And if we don’t have a relationship with him, we are bankrupt.

And if we have a relationship with Him, but never pay it any mind, we are equally bankrupt.

There is no blessing.

The most that we can ever hope for is whatever we can amass by way of fortune, honor, position, and prestige in this life – all of which we will leave the instant that death beckons, because there is no permanent spiritual blessing without Him.

Which means what?

Well, it means if we are truly going to live forever that we can never find our true worth outside of Him.

We will never find our true purpose outside of Him.

We will never find eternal satisfaction and reward outside of Him.

Our life can never be more than an empty shell of what it was meant to be outside of him, for at our best, even at our very human best, we will leave little behind of lasting value.

He is the great giver of blessing – and if you do not have Him, you cannot be blessed.

You simply cannot be what you were meant to be.

Let me illustrate.

We were meant for great things.

But we have been born into a world system that is anti-God and with a sin nature.

We are like a duckling that hatches in the wrong place.

When a duckling hatches from its egg it does something called “imprinting.”

To “imprint” means that the duckling attaches itself to the first thing it sees after it hatches, thinking that it is that thing.

This usually works in the duck’s favor, since when it hatches the first thing it normally sees is mama duck.

But this phenomenon backfires occasionally.

I read once about a duckling that was hatched under the watchful eye of a motherly collie.

The baby duck took one look at the collie and decided that the dog was its mother.

It followed the collie around, ran to it for protection, and slept with it at night.

It spent the hot part of the day under the front porch with the collie.

When a car pulled into the driveway, along with the dog, the duck would run out from under the front porch quacking viciously, trying to peck the tires.

That duck was meant to fly – to soar – it was meant for great things, but it was doomed to its porch-sitting, tire-pecking life unless it came under the influence of a duck.

And just so, we can never find our full potential until we find it in the blessed God who made us.

He’s the great and good giver if only we will receive.

*II.

Who Gets? -- Believers*

Now, if God is the one who gives, the next logical question is, Who gets?

It’s not everybody!

Who gets this great package of spiritual blessings?

The answer in verse 3 is that it is “us” – some group of “us” are the recipients of this gift that has Paul so overjoyed.

To find out who “us” is, we have to go back to verses 1 and 2 where it is clear that the “us” is Paul and the saints and faithful in Christ.

We’ve previously identified those as believers.

These are the ones who are the recipients of God’s great blessings – and, of course, by extension, those of us who are 21st century believers are also in that group.

Since we’ve studied this group, I don’t want to belabor the point except to remind us that there is nothing that really sets us apart except – except the grace of God.

We’re still sinners just like before, we still look like those that we are around every day.

But as those who have believed in Christ and accepted Him as Savior and Lord, we are suddenly and surely in the family of God and that makes all the difference.

Ferenc Molnar (1878-1952) was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist who gained international success with some of his plays in the first half of the 20th century.

While living in a motel in Vienna during the 1920s, a large contingent of his relatives cam to see him in hopes of sharing some of the fruits of his success.

They were prepared for a hostile reception, but to their surprise, Molnar greeted them kindly, even insisting that they all sit for a group portrait to mark the occasion.

The print ready, Molnar presented it to the hotel doorman.

“And whenever you see any of the persons in the picture trying to get into the hotel, don’t let them in.”