Ephesians 1:1-14

I was marked and there was nothing I could do about it. My grade six teacher made an off hand comment about how I got the mark a different way and the whole class laughed. It was at that point that i discovered turtlenecks.

There was going to be known based on what one man said, so I hid.

And sometimes in my life I have tried to hide that I am a follower of God. I have forgotten that I am a child of the creator of the universe and I hid.

But why? Fear, insecurity, status? Let me ask you this, “If you knew that the creator of the universe had invited you into a relationship with him. Invited you to be his child. Would you hide that?”

If you were marked by the creator of the universe as his special possession. Would you hide that mark? Wouldn’t being marked by him be a reason to be thankful today?

There was one fellow named Paul who knew without reservation who he was. His name was Paul and when he wrote the letter we are looking at today, the letter of Ephesians, he was in prison. He was waiting to be seen by the emperor and eventually would be executed.

He was writing to a group of believers who were a mishmash of ethnicities, social groups, and backgrounds. Writing from imprisonment in Rome around 60-61AD Paul wanted to remind followers of Jesus who they were and who they belonged to.

Writtent

And today, it is good for us to be reminded of what and who we are. How followers of Jesus have been marked. if you haven’t made a decision to follow Jesus then today will be a window into the core of what a Christian is and as we go through this series how that identity looks being lived out.

Ephesians 1:1–6 NIV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Ephesians 1:1-

What we need to know:

In Christ there are things that are true about me

In a world that has been shaped heavily by humanism and the drive to see humans as the pinnacle over all creation. The idea that God is alive and active is really offensive. Didn’t everything happen by chance. Aren’t we all simply a big cosmic accident? Aren’t we here by chance. Even if God is real, and did create us, he must have made mistakes along the way and now he is sitting back with a bag of popcorn and watching things unfold. When man was created, he simply went oops, and slowly backed away.

Is that idea consistent with what we know and see around us though? Is there really evidence that God has checked out? When I look at my own sinfulness I am amazed that he hasn’t checked out.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always feel very blessed, that somehow I either haven’t seen or I skipped out when the blessings were being passed around.

But in his passage we get a glimpse of the things that are true about us in Christ. Through the book of Ephesians we’ll see the phrases in Christ, in him, through him, under Christ,

What are the true things about every follower of Jesus?

We are holy and blameless in God’s sight.

Apart from Jesus, we are objects of God’s wrath and because of our sin we are enemies of God. There is a barrier between God and me called sin. All of humanity shares in that. This is a spiritual truth.

But in Christ the thing that is true about me is that I am holy and blameless. Literally I am set apart for God and I ma declared innocent of my sin.

Because we are declared holy and blameless. Instead of being objects of God’s wrath. In Christ I am adopted into a new family.

And this isn’t something amazing I’ve done, it is because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These are things that in Christ are true about you. That is powerful and encouraging. It is a reason to be thankfu today.

Now there are two other words in this section that need a little bit of explaining. Chosen and Predestination. Both have the idea that these things were destined by God before the creation of the world. It points to the fact that God is sovereign. He is in control. He see the end from the beginning. So if that is true, what about my free will. What is that all about and how do these two seemingly contradictory things harmonize.

Indeed, a significant amount of energy has been put into these two things and caused huge rifts in the church globally. Some saying that God has planned everything out in minute detail. Others saying that God doesn’t know what will happen next. But the solution is not as simple as choosing one or the other.

No one here would say they are as smart or insightful as God. No one would say that we can see all of thoughts of God and now exactly what he will do in every situation. It is because God exists on a level that we do not. He is eternal we are created. But we are created with free will. We do have the right to choose.

How can the two come together? We cannot come up with an answer that does not divide people because we are limited. The Bible teaches clearly that God is sovereign. It also teaches clearly that we have a right to choose. Trying to bring these ideas together with logic distorts the truth of one or the other.

Both of these truths most be held to for us to appreciate what Paul is saying here. This is where we come up against or finite minds and an infinite God. And it isn’t intellectual suicide to do this.

We have examples of these seemingly contradictory ideas in nature. Light acts like energy and matter. Science can’t explain it. There are some disagreements about it in the scientific community but there is agreement that light acts as a wave and a particle. Something that should not happen. Yet we have light.

But Paul’s thrust is that those who give their lives to Christ and follow him. God planned in advance that they would be declared holy and blameless and be adopted into his family.

Ephesians 1:7–10 NIV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Ephesians 1:7-

What else is true about me in Christ?

Redemption is the idea of buying something back in order to set it free.

What were we redeemed from. Our own sin. Christ paid the penalty that yours and my sin deserved, death. Apart from Christ we are all slaves to sin. Their is nothing we can do about that except to throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus and confess our sins to him and receive his forgiveness.

When we do that we enter a new life where we:

Saved from the penalty of sin: Eternal seperation from a loving God

Saved from the power of sin: The Holy Spirit enters us and gives us a new nature with a new life.

Saved from the presence of sin: One day sin will be removed and we will live in perfect unity and relationship with God.

That is the mystery that is talked about here. And there is something that happens in us when we surrender ur lives and follow Jesus. Something that identifies us for when “times reach their fulfillment.”

In Christ we are marked by the Holy Spirit

In the movie, Batman verses Superman, Batman uses his Mark on criminals to identify them as criminals. He brands them with the Bat Symbol.

Ephesians 1:11–14 NIV

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:

In the movie, Batman verses Superman, Batman uses his Mark on criminals to identify them as criminals. He brands them with the Bat Symbol.

I was identified by a burning stick as a careless child who though the swinging a red hot poker around was a good idea. But I have something so much better than that.

When we put our hope in Christ, when we believe the message of Jesus we are marked with a seal, the Holy Spirit.

God the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our lives as a deposit guaranteeing what is true for followers of Jesus. We are God’s possession.

Why all of this? “to bring glory to God.”

Our confession of faith which is a document that our family of churches holds to gives a great summary of all of this.

MB Confession of Faith:

Though Jesus entered a world ruled by sin, he chose not to submit to its allure and broke its domination. Through his obedient life, his death on the cross and his glorious resurrection, Christ triumphed over Satan and the powers of sin and death, opening the way for all people to follow. Convicted by the Holy Spirit, people turn from sin, entrust their lives to God, confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and join the family of God. All who receive Christ are born again, have peace with God, and are called to love one another and live at peace with their neighbor. Those whom God is saving no longer live for themselves, for they have been set free from sin and called to newness of life.

What we need to do:

Practice thankfulness for what Christ has accomplished

As we progress through this series there will be other application steps. But for today, this is the step.

This week take this passage and every day read through it and thank God for what he has accomplished in your life through Christ.

For those of you who have said yes to Jesus know the spiritual truth that you are marked with a seal. The Holy Spirit. And that mark is a guarantee that God is with you in all of the situations you find yourself in and ultimately is a seal that when we stand face to face with God that seal will identify us as his children and we will be invited into the inheritance he has promised us. All this because God thought it God to send Jesus to live among us, die for our sin and be raised again from death, paving the way for us to follow him into a new life.

As we transition into communion

It is why we celebrate monthly with communion, to remind ourselves of that. And at this time I want to ask those serving communion to come forward as we take part in something that in Christ is a beautiful reminder of what God has done.

Related Media

Related Sermons