Blessings from God the Father
Ephesians - Live Like You Really Are
Chuck Sligh
March 18, 2012
POWERPOINT: There is a PowerPoint presentation for this sermon available by requesting it from me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 1
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – Her name was “Hatty” Green. She came to be known as “America’s Greatest Miser.” When she died in 1916, she left an estate valued at over $100 million.
But strangely, she lived a life of absolute poverty. She ate cold oatmeal because it cost money to heat it. Her son suffered a leg amputation because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable. She was wealthy, yet she chose to live like a pauper.
Does this sound strange to you? Well, it really shouldn’t, because there are multitudes of Christians like that today. They have measureless riches in Christ, and yet they live like spiritual paupers. These are the kind of Christians Paul wrote the Letter of Ephesians for.
In our series through Ephesians, we began with an introduction to the book in verse 1; then spent two weeks looking at those marvelous words “grace and peace” in verse 2. Then we looked at the “elephant in the room” in verse 4, the doctrine of election, which we’ll look at again briefly this morning in its context of chapter 1.
Today I want you to think about what Paul says in verse 3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”
Here is the theme of Ephesians: that God has blessed those who are His “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Now note this carefully: All of these blessings are PRESENT possessions of believers “in heavenly places in Christ,” as verse 3 says. “Heavenly places” in Ephesians is literally “the heavenlies” and refers to God’s realm in heaven in contrast to this sinful realm on earth. Although here on earth believers still sin, fail the Lord, are sometimes hypocritical and do not fully live up to God’s standard, in the heavenlies, because we are “in Christ,” our position before God is everything that Christ is. That is…just as Christ is chosen, has all the full rights of sonship, and is accepted by God, perfect, holy, and blameless, so are we before God in heaven. It’s a hard idea to grasp, but all our blessing in Christ are PRESENTLY ours in our position in heaven before God.
Well, what are these wonderful spiritual blessings Paul refers to here? In verses 4-14, Paul outlines several of them for us. A close examination of these verses shows that some of them flow from God the Father, some from God the Son and some from God the Holy Spirit.
Today we want to think about the blessings we have from GOD THE FATHER (verses 4-6), and over the next two weeks we’ll consider the blessings from the SON in verses 7-12 and the blessings from the Holy SPIRIT in verses 13-14.
Verses 4-6 tell us of three marvelous blessings from God the Father to us who are saved:
I. NUMBER ONE, GOD THE FATHER HAS CHOSEN US IN CHRIST – Verse 4 – “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”
I don’t have time to preach the whole sermon on election I preached before, but I believe that election, or God’s choosing, does not concern one’s eternal salvation. Rather, Paul says that God’s people—the church—are collectively chosen “in him”—that is, “in Christ.” JESUS is “the chosen one” and when a person trusts Christ for salvation, he or she enters into HIS chosenness just as they enter into His crucifixion, His resurrection, His ascension, and His victory and exaltation in heavenly places.
What a truth, that by being joined to Christ in salvation, we partake of his chosenness! But that chosenness was for a purpose: verse 4 goes on to say we are “chosen in him…that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” The reason God chose a people out of the world—His body, the church—was so that they would be two things: holy and without blame.
Now, this isn’t a statement about a condition we achieve or aspire to by our effort. Rather, it’s a statement of the PRESENT state of believers “in the heavenlies in Christ.” Later in Ephesians 5:25-27, Paul said that Jesus gave himself for the church that he might sanctify it, or set it apart unto God and that he might present the church to Himself as “a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle…but that it should be holy and without blemish.” All who are “in Christ” are part of this universal body and thus are already positionally perfect, holy, without blemish before God, because we’re “in Christ.”
That’s the way we are before God in the heavenlies; unfortunately, practically speaking, we don’t always live up to that calling here on earth. This’s why Paul exhorts us later in Ephesians 4:1 – “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation [i.e., “calling”] wherewith ye are called.”
May you and I who are perfect, holy and without blemish in Christ before God in the heavenlies live before men on earth consistently with our heavenly state.
II. THE SECOND BLESSING FROM GOD THE FATHER IS THAT HE PREDESTINED US TO THE FULL PRIVILEGE OF SONSHIP – verse 5-6a – “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace…”
As with election, people get edgy when you start talking about predestination. But as you can see in this passage, predestination is taught in the Word of God, so we shouldn’t be afraid of it. We just need to study it out and define it properly—not according to some man-made system of theology, but according to the infallible Word of God.
A flawed view of predestination has caused no end of misunderstanding and confusion. Often confused with election, it’s thought to mean God’s choosing some to be saved and others to be damned, causing many to live in fear and uncertainty about their eternal destiny.
Illus. – Ivor Powell tells a story from his life as a minister in a church in Northern Scotland. An elderly lady in his church tearfully confessed “I have not been chosen.” Completely convinced that she had been predestinated to be damned to hell, she looked through tear-filled eyes and said, “I would willingly give my right arm if only I could be saved, but I have not been called.” (Ivor Powell, Exciting Epistle to the Ephesians).
How tragic that someone could so misunderstand the Bible. Such a view contradicts Jesus’ own words in John 7:37b, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” Such a view makes a mockery of verses in the Bible like 1 Timothy 2:4 – “Who will have [literally, “desires”] all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
Please understand this one fact—God never predestinated sinners to be saved or lost! Nowhere is it implied in this verse, nor anywhere else in the Bible, that some people are predestinated to hell and some to heaven. I like what one preacher said about election and predestination: “God voted for me; Satan voted against me; and God gave me the deciding vote!”
Rather than predetermining a person’s FATE, predestination predetermines a believer’s FOCUS—that is, God’s eternal purposes, goals and privileges for him.
Every instance of the word “predestinate” in the New Testament refers to some purpose, goal or privilege that God has predetermined for BELIEVERS.
• For instance in Romans 8:29 we’re not told that God predestinated us to be saved, but rather that we’re predestined “to be conformed to the image of his Son” – This is not a predetermination of a SINNER’S eternal DESTINY, but of a BELIEVER’S eternal PURPOSE—to be like Christ.
• What are we predestinated to here in Ephesians 1:5? – “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself…6 To the praise of the glory of his grace.” – This is not talking about a predestination of the salvation of SINNERS, but a preordination of BELIEVERS to the privilege of adoption and the goal of God’s glory.
• Finally, Ephesians 1:11-12 says “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” What are we predestinated to here?—To heaven or hell? To salvation or damnation? To acceptance or rejection by God? No—as in verse 5, we’re predestinated to be “to the praise of his glory.” Predestination is God predetermining certain future things for those who are “in Christ.”
Illus. – Let me see if I can illustrate this for you: Suppose your parents owned a family business, and their goal was for you to join the business and own it when they retired or passed away. You, of course, have the choice to opt in or out. But if you decide to take over the family business, your parents wisely planned out how you would get to that point. They determined when you would be ready to start working in the family business, what on-the-job training you should have, what outside education you should receive, and when the business should be fully placed in your care and management. Years later, because of their wise preparation, you take each of the steps they had laid out for you to be prepared to be the full owner and manager.
That’s what predestination is! Before the foundation of the earth, God pre-planned that all who opt in by believing in Christ and thus being joined to Him would have certain goals, purposes and privileges to accomplish God’s predetermined plans. Then in His infinite wisdom and love, He prepared believers so that they could fulfill God’s calling and purposes in their lives.
Now note again WHAT we’re predestinated to in verse 5 – “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,…” Paul says that God predestinated you as a believer to “the adoption of children.” Adoption in Paul’s day was entirely different than adoption today. The Greek word for adoption is huiothesía (υἱοθεσία, 5206), from huíos, (which means “son”) and thésis (which means “a position or a placing”) So huiothesía means “placement as a son” which in those days was the endowing to a son all the privileges, rights and duties of adult son-ship.
In Jewish society, a boy was the heir to his father, but he could not legally use his inheritance until his adoption, which gave him adult standing in the family. Something similar to this is still practiced today in the Jewish ceremony called “bar mitzvah.”
In the spiritual realm, you don’t get into God’s family by adoption; you get into God’s family by regeneration, which means to be born from above. Adoption is the act whereby God gives those who are born into His family by regeneration adult standing in the family of God. Why does He do this?—So we can IMMEDIATELY claim our inheritance and enjoy our spiritual wealth and thereby bring glory to God.
Oh, brethren, listen to me! If you’ve trusted in Christ as your Savior, God predetermined for you His course, goals and purposes for you. He didn’t just let you into His family and set you free from sin and death, but He made you an heir of God and gave you all the rights of a son of the Most High God! Let me tell you something, if you’re saved this morning—YOU ARE RICH BEYOND MEASURE!
But that’s not all God the Father did for we who have believed in His Son…
III. THE THIRD BLESSING FROM GOD THE FATHER IS THAT HE HAS “ACCEPTED US IN THE BELOVED” – verse 6 – “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
This is one of the most wonderful truths in the Bible and it ought to thrill your soul! This verse says that God has ACCEPTED US who are saved!
That may not seem like such a big thing until you realize the enormity of our sin before a perfect, holy God. Sin made us UNACCEPTABLE to God; it SEPARATED us from Him; it SEVERED us from the blessings and favor of God; it made us GOD’S ENEMY. And it created a chasm between man and God so deep that no amount of good works can SPAN IT,…no degree of holy living can BRIDGE IT,…no quantity of religious activity can TRAVERSE IT. In fact there was NOTHING you or I could EVER do to erase the guilty stain of sin that severed us from God. If you try to get to God your own way, it’s a hopeless cause.
But there’s a way in which that awful gulf between us and God can be spanned. Look what Paul says in Ephesians 2:13 – “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” It is only through the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross of Calvary that we can be accepted by God. He died for our sins so that our sins can be forgiven.
Now notice the verse just before that – 2:12 – “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
Paul says that before we were saved, we were aliens from all the blessings of God—that is, all the blessings of son-ship. An “alien” is a foreigner in a country in which he is not a citizen and thus does not have the rights of citizenship. An unbeliever has no right to BE a citizen of heaven nor to possess the rights and privileges citizen of heaven possess. But through His Son, Jesus Christ, we are “accepted in the beloved.”
Illus. – I found a wonderful illustration that illuminates this truth: During World War II a number of Welsh young women thought that the quickest way to fame and fortune was to find a way to Hollywood. When they were denied visas to enter the U.S. legally, a number of them stowed away on various ships bound for New York. When they were discovered, they were unceremoniously jailed and eventually sent back to Wales.
You see, they were illegal aliens. They had no right to be in America, so they had to be sent back. They were not welcome in America. They were rejected and expelled from America.
But when Adolph Hitler declared war, thousands of American soldiers arrived in Great Britain, and many of them ended up in Wales, and many of them married Welsh women. The “G.I. brides,” as they were called, became famous! People were astounded when the U.S. government sent specially equipped ships to British ports with teams of nurses and doctors and lawyers to help the G.I. brides prepare for life in the U.S. Then with amazing fanfare they were brought to the land of their dreams, where red carpets were rolled out, bands played and huge crowds gave the brides a tumultuous welcome.
Did you notice a difference between the two groups of women?
• The first group were aliens, without American citizenship, without full rights in America, unwelcome and rejected.
• But the second group were given the red carpet treatment—welcomed with ACCEPTING arms. Why?—There was only one reason—the second time the government looked at the HUSBANDS, not the women! The husbands had gone overseas to serve their country in the defense of freedom. It was for the sake of the HUSBANDS that the wives were welcomed in America. They were accepted on behalf of the beloved men who fought for liberty—“accepted in the beloved”. (Source unknown. I think Barnhouse.)
CONCLUSION
Can I ask you a question this morning: Have you been accepted in the beloved? Put another way, have you been saved?—Have you been born into God’s family? Have you had your sins purged by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross in your behalf?
You need to stop trying to get to heaven illegally—through works, or through a good life, or through religion. The only way you can come is through the beloved Son—Jesus Christ. If you come through Jesus alone, you’ll be accepted by God. Who is the Beloved?—JESUS CHRIST. God will accept you because of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made when He came to a foreign land called earth and secured your right to citizenship in heaven—IF you will receive it by faith.
If you’re already saved by God’s grace this morning and know you are a child of God, are you living a life consistent with God’s calling for you?
• You are CHOSEN IN CHRIST who is holy and perfect and without blame and therefore, before God you too stand positionally as holy and perfect and without blame. Are you walking in conformity with that calling? Are you trying to live out in your life on earth what you are positionally before God in heaven?
• You are PREDESTINATED to the full rights of son-ship in Christ so that you would live to the PRAISE OF HIS GLORY. Are you a good son living up to the family name here on earth? Are you living to bring glory to your father in your life?
• You’ve been ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED. – Are reaching out to others so they can be accepted in the beloved.
If there is something God has pricked your heart about when I asked those three questions, why don’t you surrender to God this morning so that you can fulfill your destiny as a child of God?
