The Blessing Of The Body

Introduction

The last time we engaged with the book of Ephesians, we only covered the first three verses.

In those three verses, we found the Apostle Paul telling us of a spiritual blessing that has been bestowed upon us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

In today’s text, we see the Apostle Paul begin to truly flesh out what he meant by the “blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

What we find is that Paul is not speaking of “blessings” in a general sense. Paul is recounting specific blessings that have been given to him by The Lord.

The foremost of those blessings is: Salvation.

In fact, verses 3-14 of Ephesians is one, single, run-on sentence in the Greek.

This tells us that Paul is is speaking on one subject, one idea, one theme running through this entire selection of verses.

That one thing is salvation through Jesus Christ.

The entirety of the book of Ephesians is focused on the “oneness” of the Body of Christ: The Church.

The foundation of what makes us one is found in the fact that there is one salvation. One way, one truth, one life.

There are not multiple ways to God, there is one way, and that is Jesus.

Therefore, Paul makes an effort to break down the “ordo salutis” or “order of salvation” in Latin.

His emphatic desire (inspired by the Holy Spirit) is that the Church at Ephesus understand and enjoy their salvation, and have their eyes opened to what God has done through reconciling them back to Himself through Jesus.

So He begins not at the garden, or the manger, or even the tomb… He begins before the world was even created.

READ OUR TEXT

Eph. 1:4-6 - According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

I. The Sovereignty Of Salvation

Now - I want to take a timeout here and say this. “These words, (chosen, predestine, election) they do not scare me. Why? Because they are Bible words - they are in the Bible for a reason.

What I’m saying is this, Hyper-Calvinists do not have a trademark or copyright to these words.

Now, that is what has been attempted, Hyper-Calvinists have taken these words and in many cases, ran too far with them. Therefore, it makes everyone whose not a Calvinist afraid to embrace verses like v. 4, because we are afraid it makes us look a certain way or label ourselves a certain thing.

However, these words, and these verses are Biblical words and Biblical verses. They are inspired by God, and the meaning and reality behind them reveal the glory of God Almighty. We do not need to be afraid of or shy away from these verses, rather we need to be longing to embrace and adopt a Biblical understanding of these words. A balanced understanding of these words.

So, here we see God acting in the sovereignty of salvation, by devising the plan of salvation from before the foundation of the word. (v.4)

Before time began, God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in unison and harmony, devised the plan of salvation and chose for themselves the redeemed people of God.

Now, there are three types of choosing that we see God do in the Scriptures: Theocratic election, which is when God elects (Deuteronomy 7:6 ““For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for His own treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” ) - This election is based on God choosing a nation as His people, but did not have a bearing on personal salvation.

Then there’s vocational election or choosing, God chose Levites to be His priests. This doesn’t have a bearing on their personal salvation, this was simply their vocation. Think also of the 12 apostles, all were called to a vocation, but only 11 of them were saved.

Lastly, there is the salvational election. This is the type of election that draws men to God in salvation to believe in Him. This is the type of election that Paul is describing in our text this morning. We also see this is John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

However, this is where those who ere on this doctrine go wrong. The Hyper-Calvinist stops there, and says, “Okay, God does the choosing, therefore man has no will, no volition, and no responsibility.”

But we know that idea is not compatible with Scripture, of course man has a will! Of course man is responsible to choose to follow God and believe on Him as Savior and Lord. A few explicit examples of this are:

Matthew 3:1–2 NKJV

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Joshua 24:15 NKJV

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Isaiah 55:1 NKJV

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

John 5:40 NKJV

But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

John 6:37 NKJV

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

John 7:37–39 NKJV

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Revelation 22:17 NKJV

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

We believe in a “whosoever” Gospel, because that is what the Bible teaches. Yet, we also believe in a God who elects because that is also what the Bible teaches. Explicitly.

Some will say, “How can we reconcile that?” or “How can we make that fit?”

To our minds it seems like the two are in opposition to each other, but they are not. It is by God’s design that salvation works this way. “God has chosen in His sovereignty to save those who trust in Him.”

(Example of Paul/Romans Harmonization)

To comprehend this mater altogether would be to know the mind of God. We simply must believe what He has given us in His word.

All of this to say: God’s plan of salvation was not a “plan b”. No, God knew before the foundation of the world, and had foreordained the salvation of His people. He had foreordained to reconcile all those who belong to Him back to Himself.

Not only that, but look at what takes place from salvation...

II. The Side-Effects Of Salvation

Ephesians 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”

He has not only saved us, but He has saved us with a divine purpose.

He has purposed in us that coming from salvation, we are to be holy before Him.

God’s purpose is to bring us into conformity to Jesus (Romans 8:29–30 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”)

In Christ, we stand has holy positionally. Meaning, that when God looks at us, He sees the holiness of Christ. Christ’s blood has been applied to us, and God treats us in the same way that He treats the Beloved Son.

However, we are to be continually pursuing holiness practically. We are mandated to be seeking after God and growing in grace, through the renewing of our mind, toward the image of Christ. (1 Thess. 4:17 “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”) (1 Peter 1:15 “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.)

Is this some legalistic obedience-based form of salvation? No, by no means! Paul says “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” No, it is simply Christ’s plan for your life that you continually grow in your walk with Him to be holy and conformed to His image. Paul said, “imitate me as I imitate Christ.”

We approach the goal of holiness with the understanding that it is unattainable in our flesh, and will never be accomplished this side of Heaven. Yet, if we seek to live with the peace of God resting upon our life, then we must seek to live as He has mandated us.

This is not a rigid or harsh commandment, it is actually done out of love. Which brings us to our third point...

III. The Source of Salvation

v. 4 “...in love”

What drives God to do such a thing? What is His motivation for saving us?

Is it so that we can be of some use to Him? Does He need me? Well God doesn’t need me, I’m not producing some magical return-on-investment for Him.

Is He obligated? No, I stand before Him guilty of sin. He is completely justified in punishing me for all eternity.

None of these swerve as our Lord’s motivation. God’s motive for salvation is this: LOVE.

The reason God saved me, the reason He saved you is simple. “He loved us.”

The concept of this love goes beyond any comprehension of love that we could have. This is “agape” love - which is described in John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” It seeks the welfare of others before itself.

God’s love far exceeds any of our notions of what love is. Romans 5:7–9 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

Christ displayed the ultimate showcasing of true love on the Cross at Calvary where He dies for you and for me. I’m reminded of the old song, “When He was on the Cross, I was on His mind.” What Christ did was not out of begrudged obligation, but He willingly laid His life down for you and for me.

And if you do not know Him this morning, today is the day of salvation!

IV. The Sonship of Salvation

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Ephesians 1:5 “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”

The result of God’s election, His love toward us is that we are adopted into the family of God. We are given what the Bible calls “sonship”

This literally means that we are given the status of a son and daughter of God. We have been brought into His family.

We are not simply sojourners in His Kingdom, nor are we simply citizens, nor are we even just friends of God. No, He has given us the title and status of His children.

Paul makes this clear in Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

“Abba” is the Greek usage of an affectionate name for a father. This is not the formal or proper address of a “father.” This would be akin to what we say and call our earthly fathers. When you speak to your father, you call him the preferred name. I call my father “deddy”.

And you fathers know, there is something special and something that pulls on the very strings of your heart when you child calls out your name, and addresses you as “dad” “daddy” “dada”.

This is what Paul is describing that we have the authorization and right to do before the Almighty God of Heaven. He is our father, our “dad”.

In fact, it has been said before, and you may have already heard it, but: Biological parents have rights and expectations. However, there are legal parameters that speak of disowning and abandoning a child that is yours biologically. On the flip side, for an adoptive parent, these do not apply. See, an adoptive parent does not provide out of obligation or biology, the adoptive parent does all they do out of LOVE. This aspect describes how God has loved us by bringing us into Him as His adopted sons and daughters.

V. The Song Of Salvation

Ephesians 1:6 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

Finally, we conclude with this - all of these are done to the glory of God.

It brings Him ultimate glory, to elect, to set His love upon His people, to die, to redeem, to adopt and make sons out of sinners. This is all done and accomplished to the end that it brings ultimate glory to our God.

Therefore, Paul, as he is describing and explaining these things to the Church, He must pause and acknowledge that God must be praised for these things.

Our job, our mandate, as saved individuals, as a redeemed people is to live our life as an act of praise to the glory of God.

Why?

Because He has “made us accepted in the Beloved”. Who’s the “Beloved”?

Matthew 3:17 “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

God has placed us in His Son, given us the title and status as His Children, all because He loved us. Therefore, I say we ought to praise Him for what He’s done. Let’s do that this morning, come down to this alter and lay open your heart in praise to Who He is and what He’s done! If you don’t know whether or not you are one of His children, today you can have that issue settled.