Understand our glorious inheritance

SRB 1 How to live as people worthy of our calling; understand our glorious inheritance - Ephesians 1

Scene 1: Spiritually destitute people have failed to grasp the richness of their inheritance.

She had gone down in history as “America’s Greatest Miser,” yet when she died in 1916, “Hetty” Green left an estate valued at over $100 million.

She ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it.

Her son had to suffer a leg amputation, because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable.

She was wealthy, yet she chose to live like a pauper.

Eccentric? Certainly! Crazy? Perhaps—but nobody could prove it.

She was so foolish that she hastened her own death by bringing on an attack of apoplexy while arguing about the value of drinking skimmed milk!

But Hetty Green is an illustration of too many Christian believers today.

They have limitless wealth at their disposal, and yet they live like paupers.[1]

One of the great criticisms of modern Christianity is that there is nothing that distinguishes us from non believers.

In fact I have met many non believers who have far more joy and contentment with life than many who claim to follow Christ.

Now I am not saying that we need to pretend that everything is fine when it is not.

Nor am I saying that it is easy to be happy.

We live in a fallen and broken world and many of us have been afflicted with depression and have needed medical assistance to overcome it.

Sometimes things happen.

We can go through times of immense grief.

Times of uncertainty!

Times when life hurts!

But what I am saying is that something is wrong when people who say they know Christ, are no different from everyone else.

We have Christ; we have the immeasurable love of God and eternal life.

We are in fact spiritually rich people!

We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing 1:3-8

Ephesians 1:3-8 says;

Ephesians 1:3–8 NLT

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

When the Apostle Paul wrote these incredible words he was probably in prison in Rome.

He had just written the letter to the Colossian church and the personal letter to Philemon.

And in reflecting on these two very personal letters, which deal with very specific problems, he is inspired to write a more general letter to be circulated to all the churches of Asia Minor.

Colossians 4:15 – 16 refers to these letters.

Ephesians is unique in all of Paul’s letters because it doesn’t address a particular issue.

Paul is free to reflect on the greatness of God’s gift of life in Christ.

Without the bounds of addressing any particular issue or any particular church, Paul can declare the greatness of God.

The immense privilege of salvation in Christ.

The joy and wonder of being known by God.

Without these constraints Paul, in flowing and lofty language, sets out his understanding of the incredible spiritual richness of being united with Christ.

For three chapters his joy and wonder flows on and on.

Then his mind is turned to the practical outworking of this blessing and the final three chapters of Ephesians address these themes.

The principle of unity and harmony in the church.

The principle of spiritual gifts and maturity.

The principle of moral living and family harmony.

The principle that there is a spiritual battle which must be fought and won in order to take hold of the blessing of unity with Christ.

Then after all these wonderful incredible thoughts are poured out, Paul concludes this letter and sends it with his messenger Tychius.

The copy we have today is the one made by the church at Ephesus as Tychius travelled through the area.

And so we have what is regarded as the crown of Paul’s writings.

A letter which deals with our heavenly calling and the practical instruction of how to live lives worthy of that calling.

So today let’s understand these blessings and then the practical steps required to grab hold of them.

After all what use is a wonderful present if you never un-wrap it?

Ephesians 1:3–14 is one of the most complete statements of Christian doctrine to be found anywhere.

It is one long sentence of 202 words in the original Greek.[2]

We will break it up into three sections.

In verses 3 to 8 we have received every spiritual blessing by being chosen by God.

Let me ask you is there anything quite like the feeling that comes when we are chosen?

Perhaps as a child you can remember the wonderful moment that you were accepted by the “group”.

Someone chose you to play on their team.

Perhaps you can also remember the pain of being the last one selected?

For those older it might be the pure joy of a marriage proposal accepted.

The Apostle Paul never thought of himself as having chosen God—it was the other way round: God had chosen him.[3]

Before we were born, before the creation of the world, before even time itself God chose us!

Isn’t that special, God chose you?

The creator made an individual decision to love you!

Now some people have a real problem with this.

They misunderstand the concept.

They get to verse 5 and see the word predestination or “chose in advance” and get all concerned that God might have chosen some and not chosen others.

That it is like living the nightmare of not being picked in either team in the school playground; of simply being left out.

That God somehow predetermines that some people don’t even get an invite to heaven.

That there is no choice.

That is a total misrepresentation of what it means when we say that God chose us.

Larry Richards in the Bible Readers Companion answers this question well.

Whatever the role of God in choosing us “before the foundation of the world” His choice in no way forces any individual to believe, or keeps any individual from believing in Jesus.

The Gospel invitation is real, and we do freely choose to believe or reject the Gospel.[4]

We need understand that this immeasurable blessing is a gift of grace offered to all.

Our faith rests completely on the work of God and not on anything that we can do.

There is no place for human boasting.

The very purpose of this blessing is so that we can be holy and blameless before him (Verse 4).

We were made that we might be Holy as Christ is Holy[5]

We need to understand our glorious inheritance in Christ.

When we understand this we will live as the spiritually rich people that God chose us to be.

This blessing is so great that we will share in Christ’s rule over all creation

Have a look at verses 9 to 11.

Ephesians 1:9-11

Ephesians 1:9–11 NLT

God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

The key is verse 10.

At some point in history everything in heaven and earth will bow to Christ as Lord and King.

There will be no more suffering, no more pain.

Evil & death will be destroyed.

Christ’s rule will be complete, absolute, everywhere!

Our inheritance is to share in this victory.

He has blessed us, he has chosen us, and he has given us the immeasurable privilege of being united with Christ.

He will fulfil his plan.

But how do we know?

How can we be sure?

What guarantee is there?

This blessing has been guaranteed by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:12-14

Ephesians 1:12–14 NLT

God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

When you buy a house, or a car or something of significant value you are asked to pay a deposit.

Something which shows that you are serious about making the purchase.

The deposit demonstrates that you will continue with the transaction.

Now in human terms there are a number of ways in which you can break the agreement.

You can simply refuse to continue and forfeit the deposit.

In the case of buying a house you can get a refund of your deposit if the bank won’t give you a loan to go ahead with the purchase or because there is some fault found with the building.

But God’s promise of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee is different.

We are not buying something from God.

He has brought something for us; our salvation.

We can do nothing to earn this salvation.

It is a gift; a gift which is given now and will be completed in the future.

Instead of us paying a deposit to get something; God gives us the Holy Spirit as a demonstration that he will complete the promise.

We have salvation now, God the Holy Spirit dwells within us now, empowering us and equipping us to worship and serve God now.

We have the joy and privilege of being loved by God now.

One day God will complete our salvation when Christ returns.

Then the blessing will be complete.

Christ’s rule will be over all.

But for now we must live in this in between place.

We have the joy and immeasurable blessing of being chosen by God.

But not yet the full blessing.

So how do we make it work?

How do we live lives of contentment and joy in the midst of a fallen and broken world?

How do we live as spiritually rich people when we are surrounded by the poverty of sin?

To grasp the greatness of this blessing we need to pray as the Apostle Paul does;

Firstly for wisdom & Insight to know God & the hope he has given us (1:15-18) and then for the experience of the greatness of God’s power which is available to his church (1:19-21)

It is actually very simple; verse 17 gives the answer.

Pray; don’t talk about praying, don’t wait to pray.

Simply pray and keep on praying, asking God to give you spiritual wisdom.

So that you will know him each day a little more.

For when you do you will be overwhelmed with his love and when you are overwhelmed with his love then you will be filled with the joy of the privilege of knowing him.

Secondly pray that you will understand the might of God’s power.

We do not serve a god made of wood or stone.

A god of human imagination and wishful thinking.

We serve the creator of the universe.

The only true God who made the mountains and the sea.

Who made the very air we breathe.

The one true God who came to earth in the person of Jesus and defeated death, rising to eternal life.

The God who sits on heaven’s throne and in his time will bring to completion his promise.

This is the God we serve.

This is the God who knows us, who chose us and who wants us to walk with him in joy and contentment.

Now and for all eternity.

So I ask you; will you ask him to reveal to you his power, his love that you may know him and grasp your glorious inheritance.

Will you grasp the spiritual riches that are yours; So that you can live as people worthy of your calling?

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 8). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [2] Fields, W. C. (1972). Ephesians. In H. F. Paschall & H. H. Hobbs (Eds.), The teacher’s Bible commentary (pp. 745–746). Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers. [3] Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Vol. 31, pp. 145–148). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc. [4] Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed., p. 797). Wheaton: Victor Books. [5] Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 10, pp. 55–56). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.