Christ: all we ever need or desire!
Ephesians 1:1-14
Psalm 73:25-28
Today friends, we start our new preaching series from the book of Ephesians.
And before we dig out all the gold that is contained in verses 3-14, let me just take a few moments by giving you the context of this letter, because as in all of life, context is super important!
This letter was written by the apostle Paul when he was in prison in Rome in AD 61, that is 60 years after Jesus came to this earth as a baby.
How do we know Paul wrote this? It says so- in verse 1.
It always amazes me, how many commentators spend pages and pages about writing who the author of the letter was, and often in the end, just end up with the conclusion which we made in 10 seconds, -Paul wrote the letter because it says so…..
Now, when I say Paul wrote this letter from prison, it was more like a house arrest arrangement. Paul wasn’t in a maximum security unit, because Paul wasn’t a violent man- not after he met Jesus anyway. He wasn’t considered a murderous threat to society.
At the time when Paul was writing this letter, he was waiting his trial before Caesar in Rome on charges of treason- He was claiming there was a king of the universe- and it wasn’t Caesar.
And as you can read from Acts 26 and 27, Paul had already been declared innocent of any charges against him by King Agrippa, the grandson of King Herod, who ruled over Judea.
Paul had been preaching the gospel of Jesus- the king of the universe and he ended up in prison for it.
However, remarkably, or really it shouldn’t be remarkable, Paul still considered himself blessed as he was in prison, awaiting the thumb up or down from Caesar.
Just look at verse 3 with me:
Blessed be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
Despite Paul being in “chains” as he wrote in chapter 6 verse 20, he still felt and knew that he was incredibly blessed in and because of Christ Jesus.
Friends, whatever situation you are in today, I want you to know that in Christ you are blessed, and that is something we are going to explore in more detail as we go on.
But before we do, I just want to keep painting the picture, and giving more context of when Paul wrote this letter.
As Paul introduced himself in verse 1, he mentioned as few things which he wanted his readers to know.
1. He wanted his readers to know that he was an apostle of Jesus- that is he was chosen by Jesus, to be sent into the world to tell people about Jesus.
2. He wanted his readers to know was chosen by the will of God- He was an apostle by the will of God- He wasn’t an apostle because he worked harder than anyone, he wasn’t an apostle because he had his own tremendous will power, he wasn’t an apostle by the will of the original 12 apostles
…….No…….He was an apostle of Jesus by the will of God.
So, Paul the apostle of Jesus by the will of God wrote the letter but to whom did he write the letter to?
Look at the next part of verse 1 with me
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Now, the word Ephesus wasn’t in the earliest manuscripts of the scriptures and so it just read “to the saints”.
Later manuscripts put the words “who are in Ephesus” in because it was written to the city of Ephesus, and it was also written to those towns and cities nearby Ephesus. Since Ephesus was the major hub where Paul ministered, it made sense to put Ephesus. It was in Ephesus where Paul served for 2 and a half years.
Most importantly though, this letter wasn’t just for the church of Ephesus, but it was for lots of churches- in fact it was written for all churches, including Wingham Presbyterian Church, Krambach Bible Church and Old Bar bible church. Paul wrote in this letter timeless truths which are applied today.
This letter was also written to saints.
Now, saints are not dead people that we pray too or make idols of, but saints are ordinary people like you and me who have trust in Jesus as Lord and saviour.
And finally, just to finishing painting the picture and give some more context before we start digging for gold, Paul granted the saints, both grace and peace.
Grace is what we live by- it always has been- it always will be.
Grace has been given to us in the person of Jesus.
Peace is what God made us to live in- which is only found as we are reconciled with Jesus.
With the picture painted, with all that context given, let us start digging for that gold- and as you see we won’t have to dig for long.
Look at verse 3 with me:
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
Paul tells us from his prison cell in Rome, that in Christ, in Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Let us un-pack that a little more……
We have been blessed in every way!
Friends, we do not and should not seek some so-called “second blessing”.
If you are constantly seeking a second, third or “special” blessing, you haven’t fully understood who you are in Christ. In Christ, you have been blessed in every way in the heavenly realms.
God has given us all we need in this life and the next because he has given us Jesus. Paul doesn’t mention material things here, because they are not essential in this life or the next. Yes, material things are also a blessing from God, and God may or may not provide them, but most importantly in Christ, we have all we need or desire.
Remember Paul was blessed and yet he was in chains in prison, because he knew he had all he needed in Christ.
Paul went on to explain all these blessings we have in Christ.
Let us look at the first blessing we have in Christ.
Look at verses 4-6 with me:
even as he chose us in him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (set apart) and blameless (a heart after him) before him. In love 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.
The first blessing that Paul says that we have in Christ, is in many ways beyond our comprehension.
Before we were even born, before we were even alive, in fact before this earth was created, God chose us in Jesus to be holy, that is set apart for him- as his people- the saints, to be blameless, just like Noah was blameless before God, that is having a heart to follow God and his ways.
In love and out of his love for us, God predestined us to be part of his family through his one and only son- Jesus.
Before we breathed, God already chose us to be adopted into his family and why?
Verse 6 tells us….to the praise of his glorious grace- so that his name will be glorified, praised and honoured, so that when people see that God even chose and saved a miserable sinner like me, his grace will be shown perfectly.
God chose to save us to make his name known.
Despite what this world often tells us, because it may make us feel warm and fuzzy for a while, this world doesn’t not revolve around you. This world was created for God and we are just a part of that creation.
Now, I know some people struggle with this biblical truth of predestination or election as it is also called……and so I am going to spend a little time today showing you this truth from the scriptures, but more importantly showing you the Joy of embracing the truth of predestination- the joy of God electing his people.
If we believe and embrace the truth that God elects some and not others, we may agree with Spurgeon who once wrote “Election sets the soul on fire with enthusiastic delight in God”
But, where else does the bible teach that God elects some for his family and not others?
Romans 8:29-30 says
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Here in Romans, Paul wrote that those whom God chose, he chose them to be conformed to the image of his son. That is God chose some to be part of his family, to be like Jesus, the first born among the people of God, since Jesus was the first person who came back from the dead. It is just another way of saying that God chose us to be holy and blameless- as Paul describes in Ephesians for us.
Jesus himself taught this truth of election.
Look at what Jesus said in John 6:37
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Clearly, Jesus taught that the father elects some to belong to king Jesus and therefore he doesn’t chose others.
There are many other passages which talk about election and predestination, but we haven’t got time this morning to go into them all, but I just want to give you my reasons, why I take comfort in the truth of election.
First and most importantly the doctrine of election holds the glorious truth that Salvation is all about God- it is all about God’s work, God planned salvation, and God completed salvation at the cross. This means that salvation cannot fail, because your salvation, your belonging to God’s family is not dependant on you- if it was, no-one would be saved.- That gives me assurance!
You are not saved because you are more intelligent than someone else, you are not saved because you are better than someone else, you are not saved because you worked harder than someone else, you are not saved because you had more determination, or will power than some-one else, you are not saved because your parents made sure you were……….No……….you are saved purely because of God’s mercy towards you.
This brings me to my second application of knowing the truth of election- it should humble us- and humility is a good thing. We cannot boast one iota, one dot in our salvation.
Finally, if we understand the truth of election, it should drive us to tell us others about Jesus.
My Arminian friends, who can’t quite accept that God would chose some and not others, would perhaps argue that election would drive us away from telling people about Jesus, since if God has already determined who are his, then why bother telling anyone?
The simple response to that, is, we don ‘t know who God has chosen and so we put out the gospel call to all people.
When the apostle Paul was preaching the gospel in Corinth, God encouraged him to keep preaching the gospel by reminding him of the truth of election. God told Paul, which we can read in Acts 18:10 that he must keep preaching the gospel in Corinth because God had chosen many people in that city.
Paul didn’t know who they were, he just had to keep preaching, praying that the message would take root in those hearts.
Often God will save those whom we don’t think deserving saving- I thank God that salvation is all down to God.
With all that set about election and predestination, Paul wanted us to know that one spiritual blessing we have in Christ, is that God chose us to be adopted into his family, - not as slaves, but as family members who have all the privileges as the head of the family- Jesus.
The second blessing we have in Christ is found in verse 7
Look at verse 7 with me:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
In Christ all our sins have been forgiven. Through his blood shed on the cross, the price/ the penalty for all our sins, past, present and future have been paid for. As Romans 8 tells us, we know since we are in Christ, satan can no longer accuse us of unrepentant sins, we no longer have sins of our past hanging over us, since we have brought them to the foot of the cross. In Christ, we no longer have to hold onto guilt or shame- Jesus has washed us clean.
And yes, there will be times when we walk in our sin, but we no longer are trapped by them, we just keep turning back to God, keep repenting, knowing that his love and forgiveness continues to overflow.
Finally, the last blessing we have in Christ that we are going to look at today, is found in verses 13-14.
Look at those verses with me:
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.
In Christ, we have been given the Holy Spirit….and notice, we were given the Holy Spirit, when we first heard the word of truth, the gospel that Jesus died for my sins.
Amazingly, even though God has chosen his people before the creation of the world, he still ordained that, that faith is birthed in them through hearing the gospel- the word of truth.
This means that all believers, all Christians have the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as a Christians who doesn’t have the holy spirit. We all have God’s spirit and his spirit guarantees our entrance into heaven. We are all born again Christians- there is no other type.
Friends, over the next couple of months, we will pray through and read through how being blessed in every way in the spiritual realm impacts how we live our lives, but for now, just keep meditating on the truth that in Christ, we have all we need and all we ever desire.
Let us pray.
Коментарі