Ephesians Series #2
“Thoroughly Blessed”
REVIEW
This letter to the believing saints living in Ephesus is a foundational book. It focuses on the identity, privilege and responsibility of the Church.
Greetings
I. Our Wealth and Worth in Christ 1-3
II. Our Walk and Work with Christ 4-6
III. Our Warfare for Christ 6
Farewell
I. Our Wealth and Worth In Christ 1-4
A. Paul blessed God for blessing us with every spiritual blessing 1:3-14
After his brief introduction and greeting, Paul broke out into a three stanza doxology celebrating the significance of what it means to be "in Christ" and the wonder of the blessings freely conferred on those in Christ by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Prison would not be the first place you would think to inspire such praise to God. Paul’s spirit rises above his immediate unpleasant circumstances to inspiring unparalleled praise to God. Paul encapsulates his symphony of praise with a grand opening declaration of blessing to God.
His symphony moves from awe filled praise to passionate petition until the closing equally grand doxology in chapter three.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ!
Paul's opened his letter by "Blessing God who has blessed us!" God’s abundant blessing on our behalf is his motivation to passionately bless Him. God is the beginning and the end goal. God took the initiative to bless us so that we in turn would respond by blessing Him. God’s work in the lives of his “called out ones” will result in offerings of praise & glory to Him.
"Bless"
The basic meaning of “bless” means "to speak well of". Paul uses the same word to communicate both blessing from the greater to the lesser and the lesser to the greater.
My thoughts are all in the notes from last week so even though we didn’t cover everything you can read and meditate on it yourselves.
Today we will focus on some principles mined from this verse. There are no wasted words in this verse. It is packed full of information. I will use a question format to get at the basic facts.
Who confers these blessings? “God blessed”
Paul identified the blesser as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is none other than God Himself who blesses us. He is not only Jesus’ Father but ours as well.
The Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth is the One having already blessed. It is a done deal. It is not future. It is not even ongoing in the present. (At least these particular blessings)
The irrevocable blessing has already occurred. He is to be “blessed” because He has already imparted grand blessing. The fact of the blessing is settled, the experience of it will play out through the ages. There are past, present and future elements to His blessing. We serve a God who delights to bless us.
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! MAT 7:11
Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. JAM 1:17a
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Romans 8:32
Who are the recipients of the blessing? “us”
Paul infers by the use of the word “us” that this blessing has already been imparted to all believers. This is not a special blessing for the “worthy” (for there is none). This is not a limited blessing for the successful or great. This is a blessing for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ.
When do we get this blessing? By implication, it comes at the moment of new birth. It comes with the package. It is reserved for all God’s children at the moment of their adoption or birth.
Just as Old Testament fathers would pass on a blessing to their children, our heavenly father has blessed us. The blessing included…
Physical touch
Verbal affirmation
Material Goods
Future confidence
Peter affirms that God’s blessing is our destiny and calling.
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:8-9
So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. GAL 3:9
This word is not used in classical Greek literature. For example, Zeus is not said to have bestowed any specific act of blessing on anyone. Rather he is said to have caused good luck or good fortune. However, the verb eulogeō is used over 400 times in the Old Testament, indicating that God bestows benefits to His children in every Age.
How much blessing have we been blessed with? “every”
The word translated “every” here is a common Greek term translated by the English word “all” 748 times “every” 117 times, “all things” 170 times. We got the whole package. It doesn’t come in pieces. It is all inclusive; nothing is missing or reserved. It indicates a blessing with all manner or all sorts of blessing. Peter affirms this truth.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:2-3
Paul encouraged the Corinthians to consider God’s abundant blessing.
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:4-9
It is hard to miss the all inclusive language here. It is like installing a new computer program.
It takes time to discover the amazing capabilities of that program. They are there; you just have not yet learned how to tap into them. We have been touched by God. We have verbal affirmation of his love and our worth. We have his magnificent promises to provide and protect. We have a future hope and confidence. We have been blessed already with every necessary blessing. If that is so then why don’t I feel blessed? We need to read the card that came with the gift.
What is the nature of these blessings? “spiritual blessings”
What kind of blessing have we been blessed with? We normally think of material things.
People who say I’m blessed are normally responding to earthly, material blessing. Some say that material blessing is an indication of God’s favor. Such a view does not hold up under careful consideration. Under that logic, Jesus was cursed and the drug lords and pagans are blessed. Paul indicates that the blessing he has in mind is of a spiritual nature. We have been blessed with every manner of SPIRITUAL blessing in contrast to the Ephesian’s focus on the material blessings expected from the goddess Artemis.
Paul clearly taught that what is seen is temporal and what is not seen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18)
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17
We are spiritual beings. There is an immaterial aspect to our existence that transcends the material. So many that have everything they could want materially, are empty spiritually.
Their spiritual emptiness impedes their ability to enjoy the material blessing that God has given us to enjoy as well. It is only as we are filled, in a spiritual sense, can we fully appreciate the material side of life. The use of “spiritual” may also indicate these are blessings that come through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has His finger in all the blessings Paul mentions later.
“spiritual blessings” refers to blessings that are by their very character such as come from the Holy Spirit. We have here therefore, a balance, on the one hand. the kind of blessings. Spirit-produced, and on the other hand, the source of these blessings, the Holy Spirit. Kenneth Wuest
As we will see in the coming weeks, the blessings Paul identifies deal with the spiritual side of things.
Our need acceptance (chosen)
Our need for belonging (adoption)
Our need to be free from condemnation (redemption / forgiveness)
Our need for favor apart from merit (grace)
Our need for knowledge (enlightenment)
Our need for eternal future hope (inheritance)
Our need for security (sealed)
God’s blessing touches the spiritual side of our life. It focuses on our greatest need.
"It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.' "For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways." Acts 3:25-26
These are only a sampling of the blessings God provides for everyone who embraces Jesus.
We don’t need a second or third or fourth blessing. We don’t need to wait or plead for God to bless us (or the missionaries). We simply need to understand what He has already provided in Jesus for every believer. We should be praying that God grant us greater ability to perceive and appreciate the blessings we already have. In Christ we have been given the keys to a heavenly storehouse from which we may draw at any time for His glory and our good.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14
As Peter said, we have been granted EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness through a true knowledge of Him who called us. These blessings cannot be earned or manufactured from within ourselves. These are blessings done IN us and for us on the basis of God’s amazing grace.
What is the source of these blessings? “in the heavenlies”
This reinforces the concept already made; that these are spiritual in nature. Paul says they flow from the spiritual realm. They are “in the heavenlies”.
This phrase is found four other times in this letter.
EPH 1:3 Blessed {be} the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ,
EPH 1:20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies
EPH 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus,
EPH 3:10 in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies
EPH 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenlies.
As you can see this refers to a spiritual realm. I agree with John Stott when He says,
"It is neither sky, nor grace, nor glory, nor any literal spatial abode, but rather the unseen world of spiritual reality.
It is from the world of spiritual reality that these blessings of God and the necessary resources of real life flow and impact every other dimension of life. These blessings flow from the heart and home of the Trinity. They were conceived in heaven and are dispensed from heaven.
All life flows from God’s presence. Just as our life is even now hidden with Christ in God in the heavenlies, our blessing flows from the throne of God. We have one foot in each sphere or world. Not until eternity, will it all be drawn together into one world. Heaven will come to earth where we will live eternally and enjoy the inheritance of blessing in all spheres of life; material and immaterial. Paul urged the Colossians to keep a heavenly perspective while living in this age.
Therefore since you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Keep thinking on the things above, 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. Colossians 3:1-4
Paul told the Philippians to remember where there true citizenship was located.
Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us…For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Philippians 3:17-21
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. MAL 3:10
What windows does God promise to open? Not the Bon Marche or even the K-Marche or the Wal-Marche. He promises to open the windows of heaven; the heavenlies. It is in this spiritual realm that true riches reside and it is from this realm that true riches flow.
Jesus referenced such riches.
"Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? Luke 16:11
What is the criterion for acquiring these blessings? “in Christ”
How does one qualify for this blessing? On what basis are we granted access to the heavenly storehouse? Paul clearly teaches it is by reason of our connection to Jesus. These blessings come to those who are IN CHRIST. Paul encouraged the Colossians to joyously give thanks to the Father…
who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Colossians 1:12
He did that by rescuing us from the domain of darkness, and transferring us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col 1:13-14
This phrase "in Christ" or “in Him” is used eleven times just in this short passage and permeates the other epistles. It is therefore vital that we have some concept of what it means to be "in Christ." This term, when used in relation to another person or place, indicates close identity or association or location.
"the children are in the car"
“the dog is in the yard”
"He has membership in the Rotary club"
"He is in boy Scouts"
"You were born in our family"
All who were born or married into the Welch family are considered in the Welch line. Along with that come certain advantages as well as liabilities. All were born “in” Adam inheriting a truck load of liabilities including a sin nature.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22
Our only escape is to find a connection to a new family.
But by His (God’s) doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD." 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, he has become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
To be “in Christ” is to enjoy vital connection with Christ. Without this vital connection to Christ we have no life. Jesus said apart from me you can do nothing. (John 14) Jesus clearly taught that unless we enter into intimate relationship with Him we have no true life in ourselves.
Application – So What?
Only when we come to appreciate the enormity and magnitude of God’s blessing on our behalf will be able to address any ministry on His behalf. Until we perceive correct doctrine we will struggle with useful “duty”. Until we understand our amazing identity in Christ we will stumble fulfilling our responsibility to Christ. Peter told his readers that to fall short of spiritual character has to do with memory lapse.
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 2 Peter 1:9
J Vernon McGee shared this illustration.
Now there are two ways to treat these blessings, which are actually your spiritual possessions: either to lay hold of them or not to lay hold of them. Two stories illustrate what I mean, and both of them are true. When I was in Chicago many years ago, I picked up the evening paper during the week and read a little article and clipped it out. It was way down at the bottom of the front page and wasn’t apt to be noticed. It read: “The flophouses and saloons of Chicago’s Skid Row were searched today for one Stanley William McKenna Walker, 50, an Oxford graduate and heir to half of an $8,000,000 English estate. The missing persons detail hoped that somewhere among the down–and–outers who line the curbs and sleep off wine binges in the cheap hotels they would find Walker, son of a wealthy British shipbuilder.” I thought how tragic it was. Imagine being an heir to half of $8,000,000 and being a wino who’s sleeping in two–bit hotels. I felt like sitting down and weeping for that poor fellow. Then I began thinking of the children of God today who are living in cheap hotels, living off the little “wine” of this world. I don’t mean that literally, but that they engage in cheap entertainment down here. They are wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus and are blessed with all spiritual blessings, but they live like paupers down here. There are a lot of folk in our churches who live like that today, and it’s tragic. I was telling this story when I was a pastor in Los Angeles, and a lady who was visiting from Chicago came up afterward and asked, “Dr. McGee, do you know the end of that story?” I said, “No, I never heard.” She said, “Well, they found him.” “Oh,” I replied, “that was wonderful.” “No,” she said, “they found him dead in a doorway on a cold night later on that fall.”
How tragic to die like that man died. Many Christians live and die like that, and yet they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
The second true story happened out West here, years ago. An heir to a British nobleman was living in poverty and barely eking out an existence. After the nobleman died, they began to look for his heir and when they found him, they told him about his inheritance. A great deal of publicity was made of it. Do you know what that fellow did? He immediately went down to the clothing store and ordered their best suit and then bought a first class ticket to return to England in style. Do you know why? He believed the inheritance was his, and he acted upon it.
My friend, you can go either route. You can travel your Christian life in first class or in steerage. You can go second, third, or fourth class, and there are a lot of Christians doing that today. God wants you to know that you’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings. He hasn’t promised us physical blessings, but He has promised spiritual ones, and these are in the heavenlies in Christ. My friend, you’re not going to have any spiritual blessing in this life that doesn’t come to you through Jesus Christ. That’s just how important He is. He not only has saved us, but He is also the One who blesses us. How we need to lay hold of Him today and to start living as a child of God should live!
Are we going to live like spiritual paupers and keep begging God to bless us or are we going to live like the thoroughly blessed children of the King the Bible declares us to be? Determine today to make it a habit to daily count our blessings so that our heart overflows in praise and blessing to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ?
