Our Blessings in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Good morning Liberty
I hope everyone has had their fill of this cold weather! I am ready to complain about it being hot!
I once went into a horrible pub called The Fiddle, it really was a vile inn.
I want to thank Peggy for helping us out and playing the piano!
Guitarist
Today we are going to be in Ephesians 1:1-14.
Last time we were together, we did an over view and now we will start going through verse by verse. I am really excited to go through this letter. It has so much in it. Keep in mind as we go through this letter, the type of city Ephesus is. It was a pagan city and the capitol city of the Roman empire for that region. It was a vital port city for Rome. It was a very important city, but it was a dark city. It was originally a Greek city and then Rome took over and both of those cultures are pagan and worshipped multiple gods. Remember the darker it is, the brighter the light is. When the gospel was brought to this region, it had a great impact, so much so that the silver smiths who made idols were afraid of going out of business so the started a riot.
These first 3 chapters of Ephesians is so rich in theology and our blessings that we have in Christ. The last 3 are how we should live in light of our blessings.
Today we are going to look at a controversial subject, predestination! To a lot of Christians, this is a dirty word and gets them so upset. Hopefully after today if you are one of those, you will not be quite as upset with the word.
Please stand as we prepare to hear God’s Word.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed 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 upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 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, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 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.
Pray
Who here believes that God is Good?
Who here believes that the Bible is the Word of God?
Who here believes that the Bible is inerrant?
Remember your answers as we go through this today.
Ephesians 1:1 “1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus:”
In verse one we can have Paul’s stand introduction to most of his letters. He is letting his readers know that it is him and he is reminding them where his authority comes from. The authority of all the Apostles comes from Christ. Jesus tells the disciples this in the great commission. Matthew 28:18
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Since the Apostles were sent by Christ, they have His same authority. When we are in Christ, we have that same authority, sadly we are to timid to use it for His glory. We have so much power and authority and we seldom us it. I am including myself in that statement also. We tend to focus on the physical things and not the spiritual. Our fight is 100% spiritual. When people attack us or slander us, it is not because they hate us, they hate who we belong to. They are being obedient to their master, the devil. We shouldn’t fight them, we should fight who is sending them. We should pray for those who are against us, they are doing what they know. The same thing that we, before we were in Christ, knew the same things. We have to remember, all those people who we see in the news that are protesting and causing all this trouble, we were once just like them. It should break our hearts when we see them doing those things and drive to our knees and pray for them to receive the light.
The second half of verse one Paul says to the saints. Who are the saints? They are dead people right? No, anyone who is in Christ is a saint. The rest ain’t. Most of us in here are saints. Paul is talking to the believers in Ephesus. He says that they are faithful and that they are in Christ Jesus.
I hope that when people talk about Liberty, that they use this language about us. That we are faithful in Christ. I hope our greatest desire is to live a life worthy of the words, well done my good and faithful servant!
Ephesians 1:2 “2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is a common greeting in the early church and Paul used in all of his letters. This should be our attitude toward all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even though we may not agree with everything that they may do, we still should love them and wish them well and all of God’s blessings on them. Paul tells us where grace and peace comes from God our Father and Christ Jesus. They are the source of all grace and peace, it is amazing the more mature in my faith I get, the more peace I have and the more I notice His grace in my life. I am not saying that I never worry. I just worry less.
Ephesians 1:3 “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,”
Here Paul gives us a summary statement of the next 11 verses. 3-14 is one giant run on sentence! It is an English teachers worse dream!
The Greek word for blessed is “eulogy”, which means to praise or commend. Paul is lifting up the name of God. He is praising Him with these words. This is the ultimate duty of all creation, to praise and worship God! To glorify Him! If we are not doing that, we are failing! If we fail to glorify God, the rocks will cry out about Him! We must be intentional about choosing to glorify God.
When we repent and believe in Jesus Christ, we are given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
God’s superabundant blessings belong only to believers who are His children, by faith in Christ, so that what He has is theirs—including His righteousness, resources, privilege, position, and power.
I can’t think of anything else I need! If God chooses to not give me a single material blessing here on earth, that is ok. Jesus is enough! Eternal life in heaven with Him is all I need! Blessing here on earth are temporary and will rot of pass away. Heaven is forever!
If Jesus isn’t enough for you, we need to talk! He has to be enough! He is our everything, without Him, we are lost and doomed to have to pay the price for our sin! That price is eternity in hell! Eternity separated from God. Separated from the one who’s image we bare. Sin has broken us. Adam walked with God daily in the Garden! He and Eve were the only people to get to do that! We have know idea what that was like. I feel the pain of my sin and hate it! I can’t imagine how much more it effected Adam. He lost something that he had, we can’t know how that feels!
Ephesians 1:4 “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”
In verse 4 Paul begins to tell us about God choosing us before creation! To me that is amazing, that God would chose me, a wretched, sinful, selfish person to be adopted and called His child. I don’t understand why this gets people so upset. To think that the God of creation, would chose us for Himself, wow.
I know some people say that how could God chose some people to go to hell. I don’t see that anywhere in the Bible. No where does it say that God predestined them for hell. When the Bible talks about predestination, it is always about those who are going to heaven.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
God’s election or predestination does not operate apart from or nullify man’s responsibility to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Just as awesome is why He chose us. He did so that we should be holy and blameless before Him. This is both the purpose and result of God’s choosing those who are to be saved.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
Unrighteous persons are declared righteous, unworthy sinners are declared worthy of salvation, all because they are chosen “in Him” (Christ)
How does that make someone mad? God chose us to set us apart for Him and He, through Christ, made us blameless!!! What an amazing God we serve. God chose for His pleasure, but we got the blessing! We get to walk with God again in the garden one day!
Ephesians 1:5 “5 He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,”
This verse should start with the words that end verse 4. In love. This is God’s divine motive for His elective purpose. How can that be upsetting? All of this that God has done is because He loves us. Think about that for a moment. God, the creator of everything. The one who spoke and it was. He didn’t need to have any material present to build. All God needed was His voice. He spoke and the world was. He breathed life into us and made us set apart from all other creation. He made us in His image! He loves us!! Predestination is not a bad thing!
Paul tells us in verse 5 that we are predestined (chose) us to be adopted as sons and daughters through His Son Jesus. We have several adoptive families in our church. It is a beautiful picture of salvation! The parents chose the children they want to adopt, the children they want to call sons and daughters! Once adopted, they are given new birth certificates that show their new parents as the birth parents. As far as the world knows, these new children are their birth children. The only thing that the new parents can’t do is to give the children their characteristics. That is the major difference with God, when He adopts us, we are given a new nature, we are a new creation. We become like Him, our mirror is restored. We were created in His image and just like a mirror reflects the person looking into it, the reflection is not that person. Sin breaks our mirror and we are no longer able to reflect God. Christ restores our mirror and makes better than it was before. After our salvation and adoption in God’s family, we are able to be the image bearers that we were created to be.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
God miraculously gives His own nature to those whom He has elected and who have trusted in Christ. He makes them His children in the image of His divine Son, giving them not just Christ’s riches and blessings but also His very nature.
As a adoptive parent, God has given me a special glimpse into salvation. Just like He chose me, I got to chose my kids. God has loved me since before He created me. I chose to reject Him and to sin against Him. I love my kids, some days I can feel a small piece of the pain that God must feel when His creation rejected Him. It is tough to have a kid you chose to love and bring into your family reject you and cause so much pain and suffering. Adoption is the hardest things I have ever done. It is also the most rewarding thing I have ever done. It has shown me how much pain I have caused by my sin and how much forgiveness and grace has been given to me.
Predestination only happens to those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we are able to be predestined for adoption. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God predestines some to go to hell. Predestination is only for those who are in Christ.
Paul tells us that He chose us according to His will. God doesn’t wish any to perish.
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
That doesn’t sound like God chose anyone to go to hell does it?
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
Through God’s sovereign will before the creation of the world and, therefore, obviously independent of human influence and apart from any human merit, those who are saved have become eternally united with Christ Jesus
Ephesians 1:6 “6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He favored us in the Beloved.”
God’s election to salvation is done so that He gets glory! This is the same reason we don’t go to heaven the moment we are saved. God leaves us here to reflect His image, to do what we were originally created to do. As adopted sons and daughters, we are given a new nature, Christ’s nature. We should be shinning Christ’s light every day! That is the only reason for us as believers to be here.
We end with the words that He favored us in the Beloved.
MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary
Because believers are accepted in Him, then they, like Him, are beloved of God.
If it weren’t for Christ, none of this would be possible. God loves us so much, that He sent His only Son away from heaven, to come to earth and be born a man, to walk a sinless life and be rejected and sacrificed for us. They put His body in a tomb, but that is not where it stayed. He rose on the third day and because of that, we have the privilege of being predestined for adoption into God’s family!
Liberty, do you remember the questions I asked in the beginning of this?
Do you remember your answers?
God is good
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
34 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
The Bible is the Word of God
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
The Bible is inerrant
5 Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Predestination is in the Bible, so it is from God and it is true and it is good. I think when we get upset about God choosing and and us not having a say, we are being prideful. Who are we to think we know better than God! If God didn’t predestine us, we would never chose Him.
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.
If we could chose God on our own, we would boast in our salvation. It has to be all God or nothing. It can’t be 99% God and 1% man, that is not Biblical salvation. Biblical salvation is 100% God and 0% man, that way God gets all the glory. We don’t deserve any glory, what we deserve is hell, but God loves us so much, He provided a way for us to have life.
It is hard for us to understand predestination because we don’t know the future. We are limited by time, God is out side of time. He created it, He is not bound by it. I heard it explained this way.
A kid had one of his friends spend the night. They got up the next morning and he asked his friend what he wanted for breakfast. The friend said lets have French toast. I can tell you what my mom is going to say. She will say “you had that for breakfast yesterday.” The son had no control over his mother and had no way of making her say that, but because he had an intimate knowledge of his mother, he know what she would say, how she would react. She said exactly what the son said she would say.
This is similar to predestination, God knows us so well, He knows who will chose Him and who won’t. He isn’t forcing a decision on anyone, He is just acting our of the perfect and unlimited knowledge that He has. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He isn’t choosing hell or heaven for anyone, He just knows who is choosing which destination. With that knowledge He predestines those who chose Christ to be adopted as sons and daughters.
It’s like a husband and wife who have been married so long, they can finish each others sentences and even answer for them correctly. They are not forcing choices or words for them, they just know them so well, they know how they will answer or speak.
God knows us better than we can ever imagine knowing ourselves. He loves us so much! Everything He does for us is done out of love!
We can trust that He is good and we can trust that He does what is best for us.
God has given us such a blessing in Christ, lets not get upset about it, the point is that we were made to glorify God, we broke that when we sinned against Him. He sent His son to fix our brokenness and once we repent and believe in Him, we are given Christ likeness. We can once again fulfil the purpose of our creation.
If you are in Christ, is it a secret?
God doesn’t have undercover servants!
We need to let the world know who’s we are!
We need to do what we were created to do, glorify Him.
If you are not in Christ, then your mirror is still broken and you can not reflect Christ. But, there is good news, there is still time to get our mirror fixed. All you have to do is realize that you are a sinner and that that sin has broken your relationship with God. You need to repent of you sin and then believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who came to earth to offer Himself as a sacrifice for your sins, so that you can be made right with God again and you mirror can be fixed and you can start reflecting Christ and being an image bearer again.
No where in the Bible does it say that you have to walk an isle to be saved. All you have to do is pray to God and repent of you sin and believe in Jesus Christ as you Lord and savior. Once you do that, you are a brother or sister in Christ and have been adopted into God’s family.
If you do say that prayer, please let someone know, we want to be able to celebrate our brother or sister! We also want to be able to know how we can pray for you and come along side you in you new life. You are a new creation!
If you would like to join the church, when we sing, you come down and we will get that taken care of.
Also while sing, if you want, these alters are available for you to come and talk to God!
Let’s pray
