Count Your Blessings (Part 1) Series

Ephesians: Finding our Identity in Christ

Ephesians 1:3-6

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

1-17-2026

Review

In college, I was a part of the honor student association. Don’t be too impressed. We called our professor mentor "Dr. Daddy” and he had a bar in the back of his van.

He took a group of us to the national convention in New Orleans for three days of…um…convention stuff that I did not attend. I’m told I had a great time.

As we were walking out of the hotel, we separated into two groups. My group, the cool people, were headed to Bourbon Street to get the party started. Kelly’s group was headed for a tour of old homes. (Yawn).

She stopped me before we parted ways for the day. She asked two questions that changed my life and redefined my identity.

First she asked, “Do you know that you are a leader? Look at those other students. They would follow you anywhere.”

My head spun. No one, I mean, no one had ever called me a leader before.

Before I could catch my breath, she asked me, “Why do you chose to lead the wrong way?”

I was stunned. Lead the wrong way? I didn’t know how to respond and said, “Enjoy your old homes today.” But the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What if what she said was true? What if I was a leader and I was leading the wrong way? I knew Kelly was a follower of Christ. What did that mean? Did God think I could be a leader?

It went to the core of my identity, of who I thought I was. Inside, I knew I was broken and that God couldn’t use me. But what if, just what if, I had been lied to and I didn’t actually know my real identity.

35 years later, I’m so thankful for Kelly’s boldness to lay it on the lie and speak truth into my shame-filled soul.

Review

Last week, we began our sermon series on the book of Ephesians by studying

the author - The Apostle Paul

The recipients - the believers in the church in Ephesus

And the blessing - grace and peace to you in Christ.

Let me remind you that if you miss a Sunday, you can always watch the sermon on Facebook, Youtube, our website, or read the manuscript on Sermoncentral.com.

Today we are going to learn some more really good news about our identity in Christ.

Please turn with me to Ephesians 1.

Prayer.

Explosion of Praise

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. 

In verse three, Paul explodes into praise and he doesn’t calm down until verse 14. These verses are one long run-on sentence in the Greek (202 words). Paul had a point writing this way.

These verses at the beginning of the letter are meant to overwhelm the hearer/reader.

Blessing after blessing after blessing! Paul can’t contain himself. One commentator writes that his words are like a snowball tumbling down the hill picking up volume as it descends.

I don’t know how demonstrative the Ephesian believers were, but by the end of this section I bet some of them were yelling Amen!

Paul’s perspective is that we bless God because of how much He has blessed us. The Greek literally reads “praised with worshipful love.”

David wrote:

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.  Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” (Psalm 103:1-2)

This is called a doxology, like the one we sang after the offering today.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; 

Praise Him, all creatures here below; 

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host: 

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Have you ever stopped and asked why we sing that little chorus after we give hilariously and generously to fund God’s kingdom?

God gives us everything we have and our giving a portion of that back to God is a a form of worship.

He has blessed us “in Christ,” a phrase that he uses 11 times in this section. It is our union with Christ that allows us to receive these blessings.

Commentator Kyle Snodgrass writes,

“Christ is the ‘place’ where believers reside , the source in which they find God’s salvation and blessings and the framework in which they live and work.”

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

Most of the time, we focus on our material blessings. Paul focuses on something more important, God blesses us with every spiritual blessing, gifted by the Holy Spirit through our union with Christ.

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)