Ephesians: Our Identity In Christ
Part 2
Christ: The Sum of All
Ephesians 1:7-12
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:7-12)
The French writer Andre Maurois had said: "The universe is indifferent. Who created it? Why are we here on this puny mud-heap spinning in infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am quite convinced that no one has the least idea." There are many others who agree with him. For some, all of life is meaningless. There is no purpose, no underlining goal for human history. So, for them, life is only what you make of it. For many, God is factored out of the equation, and when you factor Him out, life is random indeed. This is the philosophy of despair to which many unwittingly hold.
But what applies to history also applies to individuals. If there is no rhyme or reason in this universe, then our lives as individuals are essentially meaningless. This idea is the foundation for the pop philosophy of "you only go around once, so you'd better grab all the gusto you can get." With that kind of philosophy, no wonder so many people are depressed. If you do not believe in a life which is meaningful, and purposeful, there is an unconscious despair. The search for significance carried on by all of us is frustrated. And we are left empty.
It is to these kinds of philosophies that our text speaks. The opinion of the apostle Paul concerning those philosophies could be summed up in a word, "baloney!" Actually, that is not exactly what the apostle said. We shall examine that more closely in a moment. But that is very much what he might say, based on the truth revealed in Ephesians 1:7-12.
This text continues the unfolding of the truth concerning our identity in Christ. It is the key which unlocks an essential door in our search for meaning. And this passage continues to open our eyes to our significance in Christ, and the richness of His grace in our lives. As the light of this truth begins to dawn, we will begin to see the privileged position we hold in Christ. And as we begin to walk in this new identity in Christ, it will impact every area of our lives.
Do you understand what it means to experience the riches of God's grace in Christ? In this passage we will see something of what God has given to us in Christ.
A Redemptive Pardon
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. (1:7-8a)
In Christ, God has given us a redemptive pardon. This is what it means when it says in Him we have redemption through His blood. The word for redemption comes from a Greek word which meant "to release from captivity." It was used in Roman times for the paying of a ransom to purchase a slave. By New Testament times the Roman Empire had as many as six million slaves. You can imagine what a business it was, the buying and selling of slaves. If someone was a slave and another person wanted him freed, that person would have to buy the slave in order to free him. This is what the word translated redemption has in view. It is the paying of a ransom for the purchase of freedom. And that is precisely what Christ did for us.
Our text indicates that Christ paid this price through His blood. His blood was the price of our redemption. It was a sacrifice which cost Him his life, but provided life for us.
I read an interesting story the other day which illustrates this. One day Max Walsh left the warm environment of a mountain lodge in the Austrian Alps. The weather was clement and "friendly." But, as can happen in high altitudes, the weather changed suddenly and dramatically. Max found himself in a blinding snowstorm. Losing all sense of direction, he finally succumbed to the elements and collapsed.
The owner of the lodge, knowing the man had no doubt lost his way, sent his best dog to look for Walsh. Following his God-given instincts, the well trained dog soon discovered Max, still lying where he had fallen and in a semiconscious state. Responding to his master’s orders, the dog grabbed the sleeve of Walsh's frozen jacket and began to jerk and pull. Responding, Walsh began to regain his senses, saw the dog but mistook him for a wolf. Fear gripped him! Pulling his hunting knife from his sheath, he managed to reach out and stab his would-be savior.
Badly wounded, the dog let go and limped back to the lodge, where he fell dead at his master's feet. Sensing immediately what had happened, the owner of the lodge made his way through the blizzard, carefully following the trail of blood. He found Walsh, once again in a semiconscious state, but was able to carry him back to the safety of the lodge where he survived. Walsh's life was saved because a faithful dog carried out his master's command, literally shedding his blood in the process.
Sometimes we can get emotional over the death of a dog, but fail to really feel the impact of the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is what He did for us. He laid down His life that we might have life. He found us on the slave market, and paid the ransom price for our lives, and set us free. And our redemption can only be found in Him. It is in Christ that we have been set free. It is because of His blood shed on Calvary that we have been redeemed. In 1 Peter 1:18-19 we read, "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." In Christ we were bought back for God's purposes.
It is like the story of a young boy who made for himself a beautiful model sailboat. He spent months on that boat, and after it was finished he began to sail it on a stream near his house. One day the current, aided by a sudden gust of wind, caught the tiny boat and carried it quickly out of sight. He searched and searched for that little boat, but in vain. He came back day after day to search the banks of the stream, but never found it. Then one day as he was walking through town he saw it. It was displayed in a store window! He went in and talked to the owner about the boat, announcing that it was his. The owner replied that it was not the boy's, for he had bought it from a local fisherman for good money. The boy could have the boat, but he would have to buy it for a price. And so this young man began to work at odd jobs, doing anything and everything, until he finally returned to the store with the money. Finally, holding this precious boat in his hands, he said, "You are twice mine now. I made you, and I bought you. You are twice mine." That is what Jesus did for us. He made us. And He bought us. We are twice His.
And what did His redemption buy us? It bought us, according to the text, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Because Jesus bore our sins on the Cross, we can now be forgiven completely. We have been pardoned in full because of Christ's sacrifice. What a wonderful benefit! We are the redeemed. The redemption price is Christ's blood. And the redemptive result is the forgiveness of our sins.
But not only do we have this redemption and forgiveness of sins. We have it according to the riches of His grace. This qualifies how and how much we have been redeemed. Grace comes from the Greek word charis. It is God's unmerited favor toward us. Grace is receiving the favor of God when we deserve His displeasure. When we receive the grace of God, we are receiving something purchased by the death of Christ, and given to us because of what Christ did, not because we deserve it.
But God has chosen to give us this grace in a specific way. It is given according to the riches of His grace. You know, God could give us His grace out of His riches, or according to His riches. There is a vast difference.
John D. Rockefeller, who was one of the richest men in the world, used to have himself photographed dressed in a top hat and cut-away coat, giving a dime to some little waif. He was giving money from the famous Rockefeller fortune. Though it doesn't seem like much today, to some of those boys it was quite an honor to receive anything from Rockefeller's fortune. But just imagine what it would have been like to have received according to Rockefeller's fortune. Instead of a dime he might have given a beautiful home, complete with furniture, and manicured lawns. Sitting in front of that home might be a Rolls Royce. There is a vast difference in receiving from a fortune and receiving according to a fortune.
God has a vast, limitless, storehouse of grace. And He gives us His grace without limit. Our text says that He lavished upon us this grace. He did not simply give us a little tiny bit of grace. He lavished upon us grace in an extravagant way. We didn't get the leftovers, we got the main course. In Christ God has given us a redemptive pardon.
A Revealed Perspective
In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. (1:8b-10)
Not only has God given us a redemptive pardon in Christ, He has also given us a revealed perspective in Christ. By that I mean that we have a new perspective given to us by a revelation from God.
How do we receive this revelation? We receive it in all wisdom and insight. These words are very interesting. Wisdom has to do with coming to an understanding of the eternal verities of life. The meaning of life, the existence of God, the purpose of the universe, heaven and hell, time and eternity, all have to do with wisdom. On the other hand, insight has to do with practical understanding. It enables you to apply what you know to everyday living. In insight you apply the wisdom that you have to life. And God has given both of these characteristics of revelation knowledge to us in order that we may understand the mystery of His will.
And what is the mystery of His will? This mystery is not mysterious. The way the New Testament writers use this term refers to something which was hidden but is now made known. It is something which has been revealed. God has revealed to us that it is His desire to see the summing up of all things in Christ.
Christ is at the center of all God's purposes in this universe. That is God's goal. He desires to sum up all things in Christ. This is the mystery that He made known to us. The word for summing up is a compound word which really means to gather everything under the headship of Christ. So you could say God's purpose in this universe is that everything be gathered together and united under Christ.
It is hard to believe that this is possible that we can be so dis-united. Just look in the Handbook of Denominations in the United States. It lists no less than twenty-eight Baptist denominations. Here are some:
The Duck River (and Kindred) Associations of Baptists
The Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Presdestinarian Baptists
The River Brethren
The (Original) Church of God, Inc.,
The Churches of The New Jersusalem
The Fire Baptized Holiness Church
The Pillar of Fire Church
The Schwenkfelder Church
The Triumph of the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ Church
But Christ, at the consummation of time, will bring us all together. Colossians 1:16 says that "all things were created by Him and for Him."
Christ is the center of God's purposes for all things. This is why Paul uses the little phrase “in Christ” so much. And it is “in Jesus Christ” that we find our purpose, and the true meaning of life. Acts 17:28 says, "For in Him {Christ} we live, and move, and have our being."
This is the mystery with which we have been entrusted, and for which we are responsible. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul says that we have been made stewards of the mysteries of God. We have a responsibility to understand these mysteries and speak out about them. It's up to us to tell forth to the world what the world desperately needs to hear: Christ is the sum of all things. All we need is found in Him.
A Rich Provision
In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)
Don’t get all hung up on the word “predestined,” it just means that God’s purpose is that you are saved. Finally, we see that God has not only given us a redemptive pardon and a revealed perspective in Christ, He has also given us a rich provision in Him. He calls this provision an inheritance. And it is a rich inheritance indeed.
The Bible clearly indicates that God has made generous promises to us as believers. 2 Peter 1:4 indicates that God "has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises." The inheritance we have obtained is found in these promises. But these promises have not been given like mere human promises. People will promise you many things and then not come through on their promises. God is not like that. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, "for as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes." In other words, the promises of God are yes in Christ! God's promises never fail.
We have already seen in Ephesians 1:3 that God has blessed us with "every spiritual blessing . . . in Christ." This is why it says that we have obtained an inheritance. God has already given us an inheritance in Christ. He has already begun fulfilling His promises to us in Christ. We are already recipients of the rich provision of God for our lives.
Romans 8:16-17 says, "the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." Heirs of God! Children of God! Fellow heirs with Christ! What more could we ask for? This is the rich inheritance we have in Christ.
It is an inheritance that we have received according to His purpose. In other words, it is by God's choice that we have received this inheritance. And it is an inheritance that has a purpose. The purpose is to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In other words, God has given us this inheritance in order that we might be to the praise of His glory. God desires to make us a positive reflection of His glory and His grace. God desires to point to us and show the world what He can do in a human life.
These are but a few of the rich blessings of God in Christ. It's all found in Jesus. If you are in Christ you are even now the recipient of true riches. These are riches which no man can steal. They are the riches of His grace. And they are yours. That is who you are in Christ. That is what God has done for you.
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Footnotes
[1]. Gene A. Getz, Looking Up When You Feel Down (Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1985), p. 37.
