Supporting Texts: Psalm 139:16; John 14:27, 15:11; Romans 5:5, 8:14-17, 29, 12:2; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Galatians 4:4-7; Philippians 2:13, 4:13; Revelation 5:12-13.
In the introduction to Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we have already discovered that God calls all those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ to recognize that they are saints, that is, born-again people who have been set apart for His glory. The same apostle has told us that we “have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). The next important facts Paul wants Christians to know are the glorious riches God has granted to those in Christ. They have been changed. They are no longer part of this world’s system. They are now part of the family of the living God.
Many people today are concerned about identity, the purpose of their lives, self-worth, and self-acceptance. As a result, there are numerous books, journals, seminars, conferences, and schemes that attempt to fulfill these longings. But, because God and His Word go without consideration, the only source for finding the truth is eliminated and people inevitably are led back to themselves for the answers and find only emptiness. Despite many variations and sometimes complex formulas, the final result is to tell men and women they are really all right after all and that identity, worth and meaning they find in this life they must find in and for themselves.
We are actually told to think of ourselves first and are shown how to work our way to the top by using and manipulating others, and intimidating before being intimidated. We strive to find out how to be successful and how to be number one. We are counseled to find meaning in our genealogy and our ethnic roots, fully expecting to find that where we came from will help explain where we are and where we are going. But these ideas give only a temporary psychological gloss that helps to cover up, but not to remove, the underlying problem of the real meaning of life.
Some try to establish their self-worth by achieving righteousness through works; many even become heavily involved in church work or other Christian activities. They seek praise and commendation from others but it isn’t long before they are entrapped in the same kind of hypocritical religious games that characterized the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day. As their prideful self-satisfaction grows their spiritual lives shrivel, because all such efforts feed the flesh but cripple the soul.
Sadly, every human effort at self-improvement or self-satisfaction, no matter how religious its covering might be, is subject to the laws of diminishing returns. Genuine and lasting satisfaction is never achieved, and increased achievement only brings increased desire. Even more important is that the more guilt and fear that cause dissatisfaction are suppressed but not relieved. The longer a person plays such superficial games, the deeper becomes the depression, anxiety, and feelings of guilt. The only real way a person can acquire a true sense of self-worth, meaning, and significance is to have a right relationship with his or her Creator. A person without Christ has no spiritual value, no standing before God, and no purpose or meaning in the world.
The world system in which we live is designed to keep us from finding our true significance and instead live pointless lives in guilt and fear. The Apostle Paul warns us of this in the twelfth chapter of the book of Romans: “And do not be conformed to this world…” The word “conformed” in the original language bears the idea of being pressed into a mold. Paul tells us that the world wants to press us into its mold, but God wants us to be transformed by having our minds renewed. And in that transformation is the understanding of all of the riches we have in Christ.
The Christian, having been made a child of God by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has been made a joint-heir with Jesus. It is unfortunate when a believer has no understanding of God’s wonderful blessings that have already been given to him or her in Christ. One of the purposes of the book of Ephesians is to edify Christians by explaining the blessings God gave to them at the instant of their salvation.
Today we will discover three of these great benefits God has freely given to those who believe in Christ. First, God has provided all spiritual blessings. Then we will find that we have been chosen in Christ and what God’s purpose is in that election. Finally, we will find that God has predestined all Christians to be adopted as sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ.
GOD’S PROVISION OF SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS. Ephesians 1:3
Blessed Be God. The Apostle takes us into the presence of God at His throne to show us the greatness and the enormity of the blessings and treasures that belong to those who are in Christ. These words provide the starting point for successfully living the Christian life, that is, it begins with praise to God. God is the One who has provided our great salvation in Christ and He is the One who provides for everything else in our Christian walk. The true worship of the living God is the great necessity of the Christian life. Christians are to praise the Lord, they are to shout joyfully to God, and we are to sing the glory of His name. As believers in Christ, we are to make His praise glorious. Worshiping the Lord is not something we just do on Sunday. Our lives should be characterized by praising and honoring the name of the Lord at all times.
The word “blessed” in the original language means to “speak well of.” Our worship of the Lord is one of praise and adoration and is the declaration of God’s goodness. Only God is good and so our highest praise; our supreme worship is for Him alone. As Christians we join all creation in praising God. John the Apostle wrote, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying, “To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 5:12-13).
Blessed With Every Spiritual Blessing. When anyone comes to receive Christ as Savior, God grants them blessings. This condition of being blessed by God is true now and will be for eternity. All Christians are in an eternal state of being blessed by God. The ones being blessed by God are those mentioned in verse one: the saints and believers. These are the ones who stand forever in the center of God’s blessings. God grants to us not just a few blessings, but an unlimited quantity of blessings. In fact, He blesses us with every spiritual blessing from the moment we trust in Christ. Spiritual blessings are not in contrast to material blessings because God often blesses His people with material blessings. Instead, this points to the divine origins of the blessings given to believers. God’s blessings help us in our spirits, our minds, our bodies, and our daily living. God’s blessings are under His sovereign control and they do not depend upon our desires.
Sometimes Christians pray for things they have already been given. Some pray for love, but God says His love “has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). We pray for peace, but Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). We pray for joy, but Jesus said, “I have spoken these things so that My joy may be in you” (John 15:11). Christians pray for strength, but the Bible says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
In the Heavenlies – in Christ. In the original, “heavenly places” is only one word, and it can be translated, “heavenlies.” This embraces the entire supernatural realm of God, His complete domain, and the full extent of His divine operation. It is from here that all of our blessings originate. We do not construct any blessings on our own, all come to us from God, who is Sovereign and Lord over all things.
As Christians, we live in something of a paradox because we have two levels of existence, or, maybe better, a dual citizenship. While we are on earth, we are citizens of earth. But, in Christ, our primary citizenship is in heaven, even while we are here. As citizens of God’s heavenly domain, Christians hold all the rights and privileges that this heavenly citizenship grants, even though we live in a foreign and hostile land. Our true life and our true living are in the supernatural: the heavenlies. Our Father is there, our Savior is there, our family and loved ones are there, our name is already there, and our everlasting dwelling place is there. The key to living as a heavenly citizen in this world right now is to walk in the Spirit.
The words “in Christ” is the key phrase around which this entire passage is built – the Christian life and faith have their center in the Lord Jesus. Christians are blessed because they are in Christ. When we trust in Him as Lord and Savior, we are placed into a wonderful and eternal union with Jesus Christ. Instantly, all that Christ has, the believer has. Christ’s riches are our riches, His resources are our resources, His righteousness is our righteousness, and His power is ours. In Him, His position has become ours and we are heirs to all He has. Are you a Christian? This is true about you right now!
GOD’S PURPOSE IN ELECTION. Ephesians 1:4
The Chosen Ones. The word “chose” in the original language is eklegō. It means to pick out or to choose. In the Greek text, it is in the middle voice, which means that God chose for His own purpose. This was God’s completely independent choice. The idea of God’s choice in our salvation is not isolated here in Ephesians. It is found throughout the Bible. Let me give you a couple of examples from the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. First, we notice in verse 44 that Jesus stated, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” This “drawing” is a description of God’s choice, and it is clear that if you and I are Christians, it is because the Father drew us to Christ for salvation. But then notice verse 37 in this same chapter, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” This shows us God’s perspective in our salvation: He elected us, He drew us to Christ, and He gave us to Christ. Of course, we did not know all of this was going on, but God did!
Put more succinctly, the sinner is set apart by the Holy Spirit who brings him or her to the act of faith in the Lord Jesus. God the Son cleanses the believing sinner in His precious blood and God grants them everlasting life. That God chooses or elects the sinner in the New Testament expresses the fact that salvation is originally and completely God’s action.
The Foundation of the World. Just when did all of this take place? When Jesus died on the cross? When you or I believed? It’s even better than that. The Bible says it happened before you or I were born, before the Declaration of Independence, before the Incarnation of Christ, before Moses and the Ten Commandments, before Noah’s flood, and, wait for it, even before the world was created. If we could go back that far, and God gave us the ability to perceive what was around us, we would find nothing physical or material at all. Only God existed and if we were allowed to see in the spiritual realm, we would see the blazing reality of the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and nothing else because nothing else had yet been created.
And there, before the air we breathe had been created, God knew who you were and had chosen you. He knew your name and everything about you. David put it this way, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (Psalm 139:16). God chose the believer in eternity past.
Holy and Blameless. I have had discussions with people who have become so concerned by the idea of God’s election and sovereign choice that they fail to notice the purpose in God’s election. Paul’s interest is in the reason that God chose believers. Notice carefully God’s two purposes in the Christian’s election: they are to be holy and blameless. This is the process of sanctification. From the moment of salvation, God has chosen that each believer in Christ grow in their holiness, spiritual maturity, and moral purity. In the book of Romans, Paul put it this way, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). You and I are designed and destined to become more like the Lord Jesus. Here in Ephesians, Paul put it positively and negatively. Positively, Christians are to be holy – set apart from the world and set apart to God – there should be a profound difference in the way we live. Negatively, we are to be blameless, which means, we are to have no spot or blemish – no sin or ungodliness in our lives. It is for this holy living in a wicked world that God chose the believer before the foundation of the world.
GOD’S PLAN OF ADOPTION. Ephesians 1:5-6
Predestined to Adoption. Since God has chosen His people in Christ from before the universe was created, then He also has predestined them for adoption into His family as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. As believers we should worship and glorify our Lord because His purpose in choosing us was to bring us into a personal relationship with Himself as His children. This predestination was for a God-designed purpose, in this case, adoption. Adoption brings us into a privileged position.
God made us His authentic children by formally adopting us into His spiritual family. In adoption, a child is brought into a family and given the same rights as a child born into that family. God did this through Jesus, and He is pleased. As adopted children, we have the right to call God our Father, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7).
According to His Will. Once more we find that Jesus is at the center of this great blessing. It was because of Jesus’ sinless life and His triumphant death, burial, and resurrection that the way was opened for any sinner to come by faith and receive Him as Savior. Because of His work of redemption, any person can be saved for eternity and receive all of these blessings. No wonder every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
All of this: being blessed with every spiritual blessing, being chosen by God, and being adopted by God as His sons and daughters, was all completely because of His will. It had nothing to do with our merit, but only because of His sovereign will.
The Glory of His Grace. We end up where we began, with the glorious worship of the Lord. We are to praise the Lord. We are to praise Him gloriously. We are to praise Him for His grace because it is only because of His grace that He could transform a race of rebels, a people who were once children of their father the devil, and turn them into adopted sons and daughters who will walk in holiness and be blameless in Him.
God chose and predestined Christians to come to faith in Jesus Christ, covered them with His blessings and grace, and placed them into His eternal body: all this before the foundation of the world in order that no human being could boast or take glory for himself, but that all the glory might be His. Salvation is not partly of God and partly of man, but entirely of God. To guarantee that, every provision and every detail of salvation was accomplished before any human being was ever born and even before any star twinkled in the heavens.
I am certain that I mentioned somewhere in this message that Jesus Christ is the Savior and that He grants everlasting life as well as all of these blessings to anyone who come to Him by faith. It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, right now, you can ask Jesus to come into your life and He will save you. If you have never received Christ into your life, He awaits you with open, loving arms for you to come. Delay no longer. Come to Christ today.
