Brought To Life; Brought Together

We are in our new series, Brought to Life; Brought Together, based on Paul’s letter to Ephesians. If you have your bibles, turn to Ephesians 1:3-14. Last week we saw this passage has one main point, praise God because he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (3). Then verses four through fourteen describe those blessings: the Father chose us (4-6); the Son redeemed us (7-12); and the Spirit sealed us (13-14). Then we considered the first blessing, the Father chose us (4-6), this week we will look at the second blessing, the Son redeemed us (7-10). Then Matt is going to preach on Pauls’ prayer in chapter one, 1:15-23, and when I return, I will finish with the third blessing. We will read the passage and then I want to review last week’s message before we look at the second blessing, the Son has Redeemed Us.

1. The Nature of the Blessings (3)

Praising God because he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (3). God imparts to us every spiritual blessing necessary to flourish. All of the blessings listed are spiritual, not material blessings. Most of the time when we talk about blessings, we are usually speaking about material blessings but Paul tells us that the spiritual blessings are much more important for us to have and to understand for us to flourish in life. So, we praise God for every spiritual blessing we need to flourish in this life.

2. The Description of the Blessings (4-14)

Then Paul goes on to describes specific blessings. Last week we looked at, The Father Chose us (4-6); this week, we are looking at, The Son Redeemed us (7-12); and lastly, we will look at, The Spirit sealed us (13-14).

The Father Chose Us (4-6)

We saw that the Father chose us (4), refers to the doctrine of election. Election can be defined as the act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure. All Paul is saying is that God is the decisive factor in salvation. Then Paul goes on to say that he chose us by adopting us as his children. And finally, the purpose of adoption so that we praise God for extending grace toward us. Now let’s look at the Son redeemed us, which is what we are looking at today.

The Son Redeemed us (7-10)

First, we see the character of redemption, in him we have redemption through his blood. Redemption is paying someone a ransom to secure another’s freedom from slavery. Biblically, it is rooted in the Old Testament, in the Exodus story, when God redeemed Israel from slavery to Egypt (Ex. 21:8; Lev. 25:48; Dt. 7:8; 9:26; 13:5; 15:15). Redemption includes a ransom and a release; a ransom is paid and a release is secured. Then Paul describes the means of redemption, through his blood. God has ransomed us by the death of Christ (1 Pet 1:18-19; Rom 3:23-25). Jesus secured our redemption by his blood, his sacrificial and substitutionary death on the cross. God could not simply bring redemption into being, he secured it by a substitutionary sacrifice that turns away God’s wrath and reconciles us to him (Rom 3:21-25; 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23; Heb 9:22). Redemption has both a present and a future dimension. We have redemption now (Rom. 3:24; 1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 1:14) which secures our future redemption (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30; Heb 9:12). Then notice that this redemption is in him. Redemption is inseparable from Christ. That is, there is no redemption apart from faith in Christ.

Then Paul gives us the substance of our redemption, the forgiveness of trespasses or sins. To be forgiven means to be released from the legal liability of punishment that our sin and guilt required. Trespasses refers to actual sin we have committed. From birth, every thought, desire, and act is sinful because we are born with a sinful nature that taints everything about us. So, even our good and moral acts are sinful because they are from a sinful heart. In redemption, Christ’s sacrificial death secures our release from the penalty of sin, God’s judgement; our release us from the power of sin, our bondage to sin; and it will release us from the presence of sin in eternity. Finally, Paul gives us the source of redemption, we now have redemption according to the riches of his grace (7). The words riches (7) and lavished (8) speak of an infinite abundance and extravagance of God's kindness toward undeserving sinners.

Next, describes the consequences or the blessings that flow from redemption (8-10). The grace that redeems us also brings the blessing of the revelation of the mystery God's will. With this grace in redemption comes the gifts of wisdom and insight, so that we are enabled to know and understand God’s will. This grace comes by making known to us the mystery of God’s will (9). Grace is God making known to us this mystery, something previously unknown that God now reveals to us in Christ (2 Cor 4:3-6). The making this mystery known was according to his purpose or sovereign good pleasure. The mystery of God's will is his purpose to unite all things in Christ (10). This mystery of his will is God’s eternal plan centered on Christ and executed in the fullness of time to unite of all things. History has a purpose and it is going according to his plan. God is orchestrating, administering, the events and direction and course of history to bring about his ultimate purpose on his time table and centered around Christ. God is like the conductor of an orchestra joyfully directing different sections who follow his commands and when played together make a beautifully written symphony that is playing a sonnet about Christ. Paul describes the extent to which he will unite all things, things in heaven and things on earth. In other words, everything. All that is hostile to God and all decaying elements in creation will be renewed and unified under the Lordship of Jesus. Everything will be brought into submission to his will and subservient to his glory. He will bring submission by saving his people and conquering his enemies. The angels will be united to him and demons conquered by his Lordship. The animal kingdom will be subdued so that there is no longer any hostility among them. And the inanimate creation will be renewed (Rom. 8:18-23; 2 Pt. 3:13). This is the gospel, God is uniting all things in him, beginning with redeeming his people. Praise God, the Son has redeemed us!