“Are you out of Breath?”
Ephesians 1:3-14
Introduction:
How many of you remember getting excited as a child that you didn’t even stop to breathe when telling the story of what happened? It could have been learning to ride a bike, catching your first fish, or hitting your first home run. I remember when I first learned to ride my bike. I had tried and tried for weeks and just could not get it. Well on this day one of the neighbors had agreed to help me try to ride my bike. So I got on the bike and started peddling with Ryan holding on to the back helping me stay up. I started peddling and when I got comfortable I yelled “LET GO” and He replied I already did and when I turned and looked back there He was 50 feet back. I had rode my bike on my own. I was so excited that I sprinted inside to tell my parents. “Mom and Dad I rode my bike, Ryan was holding on to the bike, and I told him to let go and He already had, and I rode my bike and it was amazing.”(Said all in one breath with no pauses) The bible has one of these breathe taking moments. In the first chapter of Ephesians Paul writes the longest sentence in the Greek New Testament. From verses 3-14 is all one sentence with no pauses. I know all you English buffs are marking your bibles in red pen. Trying to correct Paul on His run on sentence. What I want to do this morning is look at what got Paul so excited and see if we can capture that excitement for ourselves. Starting in Vs. 3 of Ephesians chapter 1
Text:
3(A)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in (B)the heavenly places in Christ,
What does it mean when we bless someone? We say good things about them. Here Paul is going to bless God. He is going to say good things about God. And what is it that got Paul so excited? Its spiritual blessings. What gets us excited? Material blessings. I got a new car, a new house, a new boat. I get so excited to show people my material things. That is not Paul though. I am not saying don’t be thankful for material things, God gives us material things. But thats not what gets Paul to stop breathing and just start praising God. Paul rejoices over Spiritual blessings. What are these blessings? Lets keep reading
4just as (C)He chose us in Him before (D)the foundation of the world, that we would be (E)holy and blameless before [a]Him (F)In love 5He (G)predestined us to (H)adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, (I)according to the kind intention of His will, 6(J)to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in (K)the Beloved. 7(L)In Him we have (M)redemption (N)through His blood, the (O)forgiveness of our trespasses, according to (P)the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9He (Q)made known to us the mystery of His will, (R)according to His kind intention which He (S)purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to (T)the fullness of the times, that is, (U)the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11also we (V)have obtained an inheritance, having been (W)predestined (X)according to His purpose who works all things (Y)after the counsel of His will, 12to the end that we who were the first to hope in [b]Christ would be (Z)to the praise of His glory. 13In Him, you also, after listening to (AA)the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were (AB)sealed in Him with (AC)the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is (AD)given as a pledge of (AE)our inheritance, with a view to the (AF)redemption of (AG)God’s own possession, (AH)to the praise of His glory.
We are going to divide this text into 3 sections. These sections are ended with the same phrase. That phrase is found in Vs. 6 “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” Jump down to Vs. 12 you see it again “praise of His Glory.” If you go to the end of the section in Vs. 14 you see it one more time “To the praise of His Glory.” In Verses 3 – 6 we see that God the Father is active in our Salvation, in Verses 7-12 we see that God the Son is active in our Salvation and in Verses 13-14 we see that God the Holy Spirit is active in our salvation. All 3 have done something. Why did they do it? It is not for me and it is not for you. It is so they would be praised. After every section Paul says to the Praise of His glory. So lets look at what God the Father has done.
Point 1: Blessings from God the Father Vs. 3-6
Lets start by reading verses 3-6. 3(A)Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in (B)the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as (C)He chose us in Him before (D)the foundation of the world, that we would be (E)holy and blameless before [a]Him (F)In love 5He (G)predestined us to (H)adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, (I)according to the kind intention of His will, 6(J)to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in (K)the Beloved.
So what did God the Father do? He chose us. Who is Us? Paul, The Ephesian Believers, and all believers throughout time. What did he Chose us for? To be in Him. He chose us to be Christians. What a spiritual blessing. What does it mean to chose – To Select, if you want to use the theological term it means to elect. When we elect a president we all vote and chose who will be president. God chose US to be saved. When did He chose us to be saved? Before the foundation of the world. When is that? In Eternity past. Before there was anything but God, God chose US to be in HIM. Before anything else but God, God chose us to be Christians. Now thats what I call a spiritual blessing. What else did God the Father do? He made us Holy and Blameless. To be holy is to be a saint and to be blameless, is to be without blemish. Because of God’s choice to make us Holy and Blameless, we are spotless saints. On top of that blessing God also has predestined us to adoption as Sons. That should bring us great excitement. God has chosen us to be His children. Not only did God chose us but He did it ahead of time. To predestine is to make a choice in advance. This wasn’t some off the cuff decision made by God. This was a choice made with complete knowledge and much thought behind it. What a wonderful doctrine. That God would chose for us to be His children. Why did God do all this. Paul says it in verse 6, so that God would be praised because of the glory of His grace. Are we praising God for that today? Are we praising God that before the foundations of the world, He chose us for Salvation, to be holy and blameless, as His children adopted into His family? If that doesn’t take your breath away and leave you in complete awe then I am not sure anything will. We were chosen by God the Father, and we were redeemed by God the Son.
Point 2: Blessings from God the Son Vs 7-12
Lets look at what Jesus Christ has done for us. Verses 7-12 read In Him we have (M)redemption (N)through His blood, the (O)forgiveness of our trespasses, according to (P)the riches of His grace 8which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9He (Q)made known to us the mystery of His will, (R)according to His kind intention which He (S)purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to (T)the fullness of the times, that is, (U)the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11also we (V)have obtained an inheritance, having been (W)predestined (X)according to His purpose who works all things (Y)after the counsel of His will, 12to the end that we who were the first to hope in [b]Christ would be (Z)to the praise of His glory.
What did Jesus do. Verses 7 says he redeemed Us. What does it mean to be redeemed, to be bought with a price or to be ransomed. You see it in the movies constantly, somebody will kidnap someone and demand a huge ransom for that person’s release. We were kidnapped. All of us were taken captive by sin, and sin demanded a ransom. That ransom was blood. Why blood? Hebrews 9 quotes Leviticus and tells us “ that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” But you say I read my old testament and there is blood shed everywhere. Hebrews 10 tells us “it is impossible for the blood of Bulls and Goats to take away sin” So then why did they waste the time making the sacrifices and shedding the blood if it could not take away sin? Because it gave us a picture of what Jesus Christ would do. Jesus Christ paid the ransom sin demanded as He gave His life on the cross. Jesus Christ bought us out of captivity to sin so that we could enter into a relationship with God the Father. Jesus Christ is our redeemer. You are thinking that is great, Jesus has released me from the power of sin, but I have a past. I have a wicked past filled with sin what about that? Continue reading Vs. 7, “we have redemption through His blood, THE FORGIVENESS OF OUR TRESPASSES!” Not only did he redeem us from the power of sin through paying the ransom of blood, but He also has forgiven us for all of our sin. All of our sin in the past, all of our sin in the current, and all of the sin we will commit in the future. He has forgiven us for our sin, before we commit it. Do you believe that? If you don’t, I hope you have a better memory then me. Because if you die and forget to confess just one sin then you are bound eternally for hell. What a blessing it is to know that I don’t have to at the end of the day worry that I might have forgotten to confess a sin. The blood of Christ is so powerful and so wonderful that it has cleansed my sin in the past, present, and future. Are you seeing why Paul couldn’t stop blessing God. Why He couldn’t add in any punctuation and take a breath? This is just to exciting. But why did He do it? Drop down to verse 12. To the praise of His Glory. So that I could bring Him praise and so that I could bring Him glory. Isn’t it wonderful how God has done all of this for us, but yet ultimately its not for us, it is for Him, so He can be praised.
Point 3: Blessings from the Holy Spirit Vs. 13-14
Now what about the Holy Spirit? Lets take a look at what the Holy Spirit has done for us. Lets read verses 13-14. In Him, you also, after listening to (AA)the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were (AB)sealed in Him with (AC)the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who is (AD)given as a pledge of (AE)our inheritance, with a view to the (AF)redemption of (AG)God’s own possession, (AH)to the praise of His glory. The Holy Spirit has sealed us in Christ. Sealed, what does it mean to be sealed? In those days they would take hot wax, like a melting candle, and dip their signet ring in that wax. Then they would push that ring onto whatever they were sealing, and the design of their ring would be made in the wax on whatever they pressed it onto. What was the purpose of doing this? 3 things came from this practice. One was that the seal declared authenticity. Their signet rings that created their seal are the same as our signatures. When you buy a house or car you sign your signature on the title declaring that the house or car you just purchased belongs to you. The seal of the Holy Spirit declares us as genuine Christians. The Holy Spirit is God’s way of saying yes He/She belongs to me. The seal also showed ownership. One of the things that has always fascinated me is cattle brands. The reason for branding cattle is so that you can determine who the cattle belongs to. We are branded with the Holy Spirit, showing that we are owned by Jesus Christ as He paid the price of His blood to buy us from slavery to sin. The third thing that the seal signifies is security. I use to work at a grocery store and when trucks would make delivery’s their doors would be sealed shut. The drivers would get out of their trucks and wait for an employee of the store to come out and break the seal. Drivers would be fired immediately if the seal was broken. The seal signified that all the product was in that truck and that no one had tampered with the product. It was a sign of security. Just as our seal in the Holy Spirit is a sign of security. Nothing can happen to us once we are sealed by the Holy Spirit. God has bought us with a price and He has placed His seal on us claiming us as His possessions for eternity future. When did this sealing take place? The text says having also believed you were sealed. At the moment of our salvation we were sealed as a child of God forever and ever. Again the question is asked, why would God do this? The end of verse 14 gives us the answer, so that God would be praised. No wonder Paul couldn’t put His pen down. This is almost to much to handle. Salvation is not about us. Salvation is about God receiving praise for all that He has done for us. God has chosen us, redeemed and forgiven us and sealed us all so that He would be praised.
Conclusion:
Growing up I was big into sports and with sports comes competitions. With competitions come rewards. In my parents house in my old room still are some of the trophies I have won. First place in the Warren Soccer tournament, first place in the Rose City soccer tournament, 2nd place medal for track and field, and many other rewards. None of these trophies are worth very much but they are some of my most prized possession. Why would I so highly value a $2 trophy? Because of what it represents. It represented something higher. When people look at us, they should see Christians, children of God, trophies of God’s grace. People who represent the character of God the Father. So that when people look at us and see what we have in Christ they would Praise God. That is why I was saved and that is why you were saved. It is not about you or me, but it is all about Him. I wonder how much of an impact we could have on this world if we all learned to find our excitement in Spiritual blessings. If we all like Paul, just got carried away in blessing God for all that He has done for us. Lets pray.
