In Christ #4

In verse 3 we are told that God wants to bless us. Then Paul gives us a grocery list of things in the next few verses that God has blessed us with.

Illus: One of the biggest days of the church year should be Thanksgiving Day. Why? It is obvious. Because we all have so much to be thankful for!

Illus: Rudyard Kipling was famous for his writings. However, at one time he was so popular that his writings were bringing ten shillings per word. But Kipling also had his critics. For example, some college students did not appreciate his writings. They sent him a sneering letter, enclosing ten shillings, and said, “Please, send us your best word.” In a few days they received a letter from Kipling, “Thanks.”

That should also be our favorite word because God has been so good to all of us.

As pointed out in a previous message in this series, Paul listed what we have IN CHRIST and by the time he got to verse six he had to pause to praise God for His blessings. Let us look at that verse again, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

Notice, he was not praising the Lord because he had just won the Reader’s Digest sweepstakes. He was PRAISING THE LORD BECAUSE GOD, “...HATH MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED!

Paul recognized the GREATEST BLESSINGS in life ARE SPIRITUAL. Paul got excited even writing about it!

Again, the book of Ephesians is a marvelous book in that it reveals to us what we have IN CHRIST!

Illus: Reading Ephesians is like living in poverty and waking up one morning to find that you are wealthy. You had been wealthy for a long time, but you only found out.

Illus: The song writer had it right when he wrote, “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.”

• If you have good HEALTH, you ought to praise the Lord because it came from Him.

• If you have a good SPOUSE, you ought to praise the Lord because he/she came from God.

• If you have HEALTHY CHILDREN, you ought to praise the Lord because it came from Him.

• If you have a GOOD JOB, you ought to praise the Lord because it came from Him.

• If you have GOOD FRIENDS, you ought to praise the Lord because they come from Him.

• If you have a GOOD CHURCH, you ought to praise the Lord because it came from Him.

Illus: In a little church there was a father and mother of a young military man who had been killed. One day they went to the pastor and told him they wanted to give a monetary gift in memory of their son who had been killed in battle. The pastor said, “That is a wonderful gesture on your part.” He asked them if they would mind if he told the congregation of their memorial gift and they said they did not mind. So, the next Sunday the pastor told the congregation of the gift that had been given in memory of the dead son.

On the way home from church another couple was driving down the highway when the father said to his wife, “Why don’t we give a gift because of our son?” The wife said, “But our son did not die in any conflict!” The husband replied, “That’s exactly my point! That is all the more reason why we should give.”

Everything in your life that you consider to be a blessing is a gift from God. We should never take it lightly that God would want to bless us.

Suppose God was not that kind of God! Suppose He was like evil man.

Did you know there are evil people who enjoy seeing others suffer. That is, their minds are so warped that the more they see someone suffer, the more they enjoy it. For example...

Illus: In Columbia, S. C., three men took a young woman out into the woods and literally tortured her to death. When they found her body, not only had she been raped, stabbed, and slashed with a knife; they found at least a hundred cigarette burns all over her body.

People who would do that kind of criminal act are so possessed by the devil that they literally enjoy seeing another human suffer. The more they suffer the more they enjoy it.

Do you know what is ironic? There are people in this congregation who are sinners, who know Satan causes people to do those evil acts, yet you keep serving him. SATAN LOVES TO SEE US MORTALS SUFFER.