Intro.:
These magazine sweepstakes have always intrigued me. I’m not quite sure that I really believe anybody is winning any money. What do you think? Do you know anyone who has won anything from these sweepstakes? The letters always come personally addressed, claiming that you are among the select, chosen at random, and that if you will only mail the form back in, you may be a winner. Fat chance!
Equally intriguing are the television ads promoting such sweepstakes. There you will see so called "real people" winning millions of dollars. What a prize! But I’m skeptical. These people never appear to be quite as happy as I would be, were I to win a million dollars. Perhaps the answer lies in their most common remark - "I can’t believe it!" Perhaps that would be our remark if we found we had suddenly inherited a fortune from a little known relative.
The reason why such a response is common is because we have been conditioned to expect the ordinary, the routine. Indeed, life seems to be filled with the routine. And the possibility of some extremely good thing happening to us seems remote. Sadly, we not only can’t believe it when it does happen, we can’t believe it may happen.
Unfortunately, what is so true in the material realm is also true in the spiritual realm. Many of us have trouble believing in the extravagant goodness of God toward us personally. The idea that God would lavish extravagant blessings on us is something we find hard to believe. It seems that we have been conditioned to think of ourselves as unworthy creatures. We are not good enough, or holy enough, or sincere enough to get the really good things from God - that is our thinking. Who are we to presume upon the goodness of God? But the fact remains that all of us have a rich and extravagant inheritance in Christ. In fact, when we are told just how rich is that inheritance, we easily find ourselves saying, "I can’t believe it!" We may not be able to believe it, but it is true.
This is one of the main themes of the book of Ephesians. It reveals to us the extreme magnitude of God’s blessings to us in Christ. It tells us who we are and how we can live. And it is powerful.
One amazing truth we will find as we study this book is that our inheritance in Christ is given to us freely. There is nothing we can do to earn it, or deserve it. We don’t have to work for it, or enter any contest, like one I know of.
A city newspaper owner had three sons. He offered ownership of the newspaper to the son who could write the most sensational headline of only three words. The first son’s headline was, "Reagan Turns Communist." The second son concocted this: "Khomeini Becomes Christian." But the third son inherited the newspaper when his headline was submitted. It had only two words, "Pope Elopes." Fortunately, we don’t have to earn our spiritual inheritance in this way. We don’t have to work hard and earn it, or be clever, or be good, or be deserving. All we have to do is be in Christ.
How to be in Christ is the subject of the first three chapters of Ephesians. If you will expose yourself to the light of God’s truth contained here, you will be able to see farther than ever before.
Along with Paul, it is my prayer that, as we work our way through Ephesians, "God . . . may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him . . . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." (Eph. 1:17-19)
Now, let me ask you an important question: Do you really know who you are in Christ? How do you see yourself as a Christian? Do you see yourself as powerful? Or do you see yourself as impotent? Do you understand the true extent of what it means to have the Son of God living inside of you? Do you hold your head up high because of your relationship to Christ, or are you sometimes embarrassed? Do see yourself in rags or in riches?
Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Sometimes we emphasize the fact that the truth has the power to make us free. Truth is truth whether you believe it or not. And truth is truth whether you know it or not. But let me approach this from a different perspective.
There are times when we can never be free unless we "know" the truth. You see, if you do not know the truth, you may be acting on a lie. If you act on the basis of an untruth, then the untruth becomes the reality for you. Don’t shortchange yourself by believing you are less than God says you are. What a shame it would be to believe you are a pauper when you are really a prince.
In the first six verses of Ephesians, we will discover at least three characteristics of who are in Christ.
I. In Christ We Are Significant
A. Everyone in life is striving for significance.
1. We place great value on possessions, power, and positions.
a) Ask people to tell you about themselves and you will find out what they value, what gives them significance.
b) They will tell you what they do for a living if that is an important part of their significance.
c) They will tell you where they work.
d) They will tell you about their children.
2. People strive after acceptance and they strive after a sense of significance in this life.
3. In Eccl. 2:4-11 we find the man who had it all writing about striving after significance.
a) Solomon tested the significance of being prosperous and wealthy.
b) He tested Accomplishing something big
c) He tested doing exciting things.
d) Look at his conclusion in verse 11… It didn’t bring happiness.
e) The conclusion of this search for significance for Solomon is found in 12:13.
Trans: The same truth regarding our significance is found here in our opening passage to Ephesians.
B. We are significant because we are saints!
1. As Paul opens this letter to the church, he addresses it to the "saints."
2. This is a good biblical term commonly applied to all believers.
a) In fact, in some ancient manuscripts, the designation "at Ephesus" is not found at the beginning of this letter.
b) Because of that, many believe that this was a general letter from Paul to be circulated among all the churches.
3. In any case, Christians are commonly referred to as saints.
a) It comes from the Greek word hagios, which literally means "holy."
b) To be a saint, in the New Testament sense of the word, is to be a "holy one." And that’s who we are in Christ.
4. Don’t be misled by the mistaken idea that sainthood is something which can only be conferred upon certain dead people by some ecclesiastical body.
a) According to God’s Word, all believers are already saints.
b) From God’s perspective, we are saints, not because of who men say we are, but because of what Christ did for us.
5. We are not holy because of our own good works or righteousness.
a) The Bible tells us that "all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." (Isaiah 64:6)
b) We are righteous because Jesus died on the Cross so that He could give us His righteousness.
c) We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He {God} made Him {Christ} who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
d) We are now the righteousness of God in Christ.
6. What an amazing statement!
a) When Christ died on the Cross, He paid the penalty for our sin.
b) He died there to put to death our old self.
c) But He not only died to forgive us, He died to enable us to receive His life.
d) As we surrender to Him, He gives us His life in exchange for ours. He becomes our life. We live by His life. He is in us, and we are in Him. Now we live from this new level of life. His righteousness is made ours. When God looks at us, He sees us in Christ.
C. The truth is that we are significant “in Christ.”
1. In Christ we have significance.
a) We must begin to realize our righteousness in Christ.
b) And that will only come as we begin to see ourselves as in Christ.
2. One scholar wrote that the heart of Paul’s religion is union with Christ.
a) 164 times we find the expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” or “in Him” in Paul’s letters.
b) This union with Christ is more stressed by Paul that any other doctrine or concept.
c) More than justification, than sanctification or reconciliation.
d) Unity of being in Christ unlocks for us 20th century readers the very soul of Paul.
3. Here is where we find the importance of knowing the truth.
a) Unless we know our true position in Christ, we will never begin to live from that position.
b) In Colossians 3:1-4 our position is described, "If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, and not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."
c) Our position is as those who are "hidden with Christ in God."
4. We are now seated in heavenly places in Christ.
a) That is our position.
b) And we are saints because of our position in Christ.
c) We are significant because of our position in Christ.
5. What we must begin to see by faith is that our significance comes not from the three “p’s” Possessions, power, and positions..
a) Rather, who we really are is people who have intimacy with God.
b) It has been said that some people can’t get saved because they won’t accept their sinnership, and that some Christians can’t walk in victory because they won’t accept their sainthood.
6. In Christ we are significant.
a) In Christ we are saints.
b) You have His permission to live like a saint.
Trans: So we find right here in the intro to the book of Ephesians that we are significant because of our status before God as a result of Jesus’ work. But we learn much more from this letter written by Paul. We also learn that…
II. In Christ We Are Sufficient
A. God has given us sufficiency in Christ. (vs.3)
1. Look closer at this jewel of a verse.
a) It is not that He will bless us.
b) He has blessed us. It’s a done deal.
2. And what has He blessed us with?
a) He has not just given us a blessing; He has given us spiritual blessing.
b) But look further. He has not just given us spiritual blessing; he has given us every spiritual blessing.
3. And finally we are told that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
a) What a promise! It’s really more than a promise.
b) It’s a current reality.
4. These blessings, or benefits, are spiritual in two ways.
a) First, they come through, and are experienced through, the Holy Spirit.
b) Secondly, they are spiritual, not physical.
5. In the next verses 4-14 Paul mentions some of these blessings, though he certainly doesn’t give an exhaustive list.
6. Christians probably enjoy more spiritual blessings than we can ever imagine.
a) One of the benefits Paul writes about in this text is predestination, being chosen by God.
b) We are not going to ignore that, but I’m going to save it for next week when we can have a little more time to explore this controversial, and often misunderstood, blessing.
B. If you do not know this truth, you will never walk in it.
1. In Christ we have sufficiency, because we have every spiritual blessing in Christ.
2. And so we must learn to rely on our resources in Christ.
3. In Christ, we are rich.
a) The riches of Christ have already been deposited into our account.
b) We must now begin to draw upon those riches.
ILL. It is as if someone made an anonymous and secret deposit into your checking account. If you did not know about the existence of that deposit, you would never be able to draw upon it. But when you came into the knowledge of that truth, then you would immediately have access to that resource. This is precisely what the Word of God is saying to us. You may choose not to believe it, and live in spiritual poverty. Or you may choose to draw upon your resources in Christ. Write a check on this account! See if it doesn’t clear. It will not bounce. By not “cashing in on the check God has written us we fail to acknowledge His gift!
C. Sometimes we fail to acknowledge the one who has blessed us!
ILL. To illustrate how we often fail to give God the thanks he deserves, Chuck Swindoll told the following story of a man he visited in a dismal veterans hospital:
The day I arrived to visit, I saw a touching scene. This man had a young son, and during his confinement in the hospital, he had made a little wooden truck for his boy. Since the boy was not allowed to go into the ward and visit his father, an orderly had brought the gift down to the child, who was waiting in front of the hospital with his mother. The father was looking out of a fifth-floor window, watching his son unwrap the gift.
The little boy opened the package, and his eyes got wide when he saw that wonderful little truck. He hugged it to his chest.
Meanwhile, the father was walking back and forth waving his arms behind the windowpane, trying to get his son’s attention.
The little boy put the truck down and reached up and hugged the orderly and thanked him for the truck. And all the while the frustrated father was going through these dramatic gestures, trying to say, “It’s me, son. I made the truck for you. I gave that to you. Look up here!” I could almost read his lips.
Finally the mother and the orderly turned the boy’s attention up to that fifth-floor window. It was then the boy cried, “Daddy! Oh, thank you! I miss you, Daddy! Come home, Daddy. Thank you for my truck.”
And the father stood in the window with tears pouring down his cheeks.
How much like that child we are.
1. In Christ we are already sufficient for everything He calls us to do.
2. We have all we need to live for Christ and to serve Him!
a) We are spiritually wealthy beyond belief.
b) Begin to live in that knowledge.
III. In Christ We Are Secure
A. We are secure because of the spiritual blessing of being chosen! (vs. 4)
1. In verse 4 we are told that God chose us in Christ.
a) In Jer. 1:5 tells us that God knew us before he formed us in the womb.
b) He chose us who are today Christians to be His before Adam and Eve ever took a step on this planet.
3. This choosing by God is called election – He elected us to the position of being His children.
4. We will look at election more intently as we turn our attentions next week to predestination.
5. For today, just know that part of our spiritual blessing is that we who believe are the chosen ones who have had our hearts and minds open to receive God.
B. We are secure because we are predestined to be adopted children through Christ.
1. The Greek word here is proorisas and it can be translated as foreordained or more literally as “marked out beforehand.”
a) It is simply another word that expresses the fact that God’s plan for His people is from eternity.
b) The word adoption here is a Roman concept and not Jewish and Paul uses it well to indicate that an adopted son has his position by grace and not by right.
2. We have all the blessings of God’s inheritance given to us!
C. We are secure in the blessings of God because of His grace. (6a)
1. The Greek word for grace, Charis, is found 156 times in the New Testament, and 102 times it is apostle Paul who uses it.
2. What does the word mean?
a) Well, there are a variety of dimensions.
b) Essentially grace is unmerited love and favor.
3. In the Christian context, it is God’s unmerited love and favor demonstrated in, and experienced through, Jesus Christ.
a) Some of you know the little acrostic defining grace as "God’s riches at Christ’s expense."
b) That’s not a bad definition.
c) What stood out in Paul’s mind is that God treated him with incredible kindness, even though he in no way deserved it.
ILL. Have you heard about Pocket God? It’s one of the top-selling video game applications for Apple’s iPhone. Here’s the game description found on iTunes:
What kind of god would you be? Benevolent or vengeful? Play Pocket God and discover the answer within yourself. On a remote island, you are the all-powerful god that rules over the primitive islanders. You can bring new life, and then take it away just as quickly.
Seeing that game options include throwing islanders into volcanoes, using islanders as shark bait, bowling for islanders with a large rock, or creating earthquakes to destroy the islanders’ villages, designers seem to think players will only want to play the role of a vengeful god—which must mean they think that’s the only kind of god players can ever imagine being real.
4. That is Paul’s desire in pointing out this spiritual blessing to us.
a) All of life is extra.
b) He would have sung, "All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to God’s grace which is mine in Jesus Christ."
D. In Christ we can learn to rest in our relationship to Him.
1. In Christ we are secure, because we are in the Beloved, we are truly “in Christ.”
2. Some translations say we are accepted in the Beloved.
a) The point is that we are His.
b) We are in Jesus.
c) Therefore, we are secure. Our security rests on our relationship.
Conclusion: It was God’s will to choose us. He called us in order to adopt us as His sons and daughters.
We are told that this is His will. In other words, God has given us what we do not deserve. He has freely bestowed on us His grace and made us part of His family. No wonder John could say, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1).
God loves me. He has accepted me. And the same is true for you. There is nothing you can do for God to love you more. There’s also nothing you can do for God to love you less. God doesn’t change you so that He can love you; He loves you in order to change you. It is His love that changes you. Surrender to that love. Bask in it. Rest in your relationship in Christ. In Christ we are secure. In Christ we are accepted.
What a powerful passage! In Christ we are significant. In Christ we are sufficient. In Christ we are secure.
We can say it another way. In Christ we are righteous. In Christ we are rich. In Christ we are received. We are saints, so learn to realize your righteousness. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing, so learn to rely on your resources. You are accepted in the Beloved, so learn to rest in your relationship.
“The Mystery of the Missing Owner” read the headline on an unusual section of the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, February 6, 2005. The supplement was actually a legal notice published by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office seeking to give money away to rightful owners—the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes, forgotten bank accounts, security deposit checks, uncashed paychecks, and dividend checks.
More than a billion dollars is owed to nearly five million people and businesses that the Treasurer’s Office could not trace. The front page of the supplement listed the names and last known addresses of 10 individuals or couples each owed over $100,000. And what followed were 116 pages packed tightly with names from Lucilee Aakeberg to Leonard E. Zyzda—113,000 names of people all owed more than $100 in cash and/or stock!
It seems like such a shame that people could be unaware of their rightful treasures. Yet that is precisely the condition of many Christians who live without taking advantage of God’s promises of peace, strength, comfort, wisdom, love and many other spiritual treasures to which all the heirs of God are entitled. What treasures might God be holding in trust for you to claim?
Remember what Jesus said about the importance of knowing the truth. You can’t behave right unless you believe right. Proverbs 23:7 says that as a person "thinks within himself, so he is ." If you believe what the devil says about you, you will fail. You probably will not even try. If you live based on what others say about you, you may or may not be any better off. It depends on whom you talk to. But if you live based upon who God says you are, then you can hold your head up high. You are somebody because Somebody lives in you. In Christ you have all you will ever need. And in Christ you are totally secure. Nobody, nothing can ever take that away from you.
