Part 2 Finding and Embracing the real you March 25 07

Part 2, Finding and Embracing the Real You

March 25, 2007

Introduction:  Did you know this morning that God’s opportunities to use you to advance His kingdom are only limited by your obedience? God will give you unlimited opportunities to advance His kingdom—you only need say, “Yes, Lord.”

 Last week we talked about being IN Christ.  That when we are IN Christ (that is a position) we are a brand new creation—we are no longer defined by the standards of the world, we are no longer defined by how we see ourselves, we are no longer defined by how others see us; we are now defined by how God sees us IN Christ Jesus our Lord.  Open your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter 1.  As you open to Ephesians 1, I want to remind you that the battle the enemy and this world wage against you, that in fact you wage against yourself, is primarily in your mind.  We must change our thinking—renew our minds—in order to think like God thinks.  We must also be who He has made us to be.  I want to continue to look at who we are today.  Ephesians is the book of the church—it really is the place in Scripture that tells us who we are and what are destiny is going to be.  This morning we will look at four more descriptors of who we are IN Christ.  It is critical that we learn to see ourselves as God sees us.  Read with me please.     "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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:3-14, ESV NT Rev. Int.)

I want us to concentrate on just the first few verses: We talked last we have been blessed in Christ with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places—and we talked about 10 of those spiritual blessings.  Today I want you to see the further benefits of the new covenant— that the next benefit of the new covenant is that  God has chosen us—think of that—you, me—we are God’s choice.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have chosen me—fact is a lot of times I am not my first choice.  God chose us—not only did He choose us, He chose us to be HOLY and BLAMELESS in HIS sight.  That means that when He looks at us, He sees a Holy and blameless son or daughter—set aside for His purposes.  We are chosen in Christ—because Jesus fulfilled the new covenant by the shedding of His blood on Calvary’s cross, sin no longer separates us from God—the sin barrier has been destroyed by Jesus. We are not only now blessed with every spiritual blessing, we are chosen by God.

Not only are we chosen—but another benefit of the new covenant is that God has given us a destiny—look at the first part of Ephesians 1:4—there is a reason for our life—we are not an accident of nature, we have a purpose for living. To live with a destiny is to live with purpose—to know that we have direction—a destination for our journey though life.  Verse 12 tells us that we have a destiny to live for the praise of God’s Glory.  That we have been specifically chosen by God to be adopted into His family!  Really this is spectacular because we have both been born (again—John 3-5-8) into the family of God with all the legal rights of a child born into a family and we have also been adopted too and now have all the legal rights of an adopted child into His family—nothing or no one  can EVER disinherit us! As we look at benefits of this new covenant I want us to look at one more for today—we are also recipients of God’s Grace—God’s favor which has been freely given to us in the beloved—and is NEVER earned.  We are so abundantly blesses in Christ.