Ephesians 1:1-14
Two old guys from a seniors home were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine when one turned to the other and said, "Hey Slim, I'm 83 years old and I'm just full of aches and pains. You’re about my age. How do you feel?" And Slim said, "I feel just like a newborn baby." "Really? Like a new-born baby?" "Yep. I’ve got no hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants."
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
There are three things we have in Christ or that we recieve when we become a believer.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Last week I focused on the concept of antinomies and you’ll remember that I said antinomies are seeming irreconcilable teachings that may not make sense to us but are perfectly sensible to God.
So, why did God put these antinomies in the Bible? Listen to this verse from Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
There are some things that God never tells anybody. We don’t understand them because they’re way above our comprehension and for whatever reason, God mentions the existence of these things but keeps their meaning to Himself. I know it’s hard to believe but there are certain things our puny little minds can’t handle. We are very limited in comparison to the mind of God and the most intelligent of the human race probably only knows a-zillionth of the knowlede in our universe. So, God choses to reveal some things and some things He simply keeps to Himself.
And then there are some things God has revealed just to believers. In Psalm 25:14 it says, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. And He will show them His covenant." Proverbs 3:32 says; "His secret is with the righteous." Amos 3:7; "He reveals His secrets unto His servants." So, the righteous are those who are right with God and they fear Him and know His truth. These are the believers, you and me.
So, there are some things that nobody knows, then there are some things that only believers know and then there are some things God has kept secret for a period of time butthen revealed them to the believers of the first century when they recieved the New Testament. The New Testament was the new truth that the scripture says the Old Testament saints longed to look into but God had reserved this truth for His church.
These things were a mystery to the people of the Old Testament but when we see the word mystery here; it simply means that something has been hidden but now it’s been revealed. And the mystery Paul is talking about is how the New Testament church would incorporate both Jew and Gentile or another way of saying this; is the Jewish people and everybody else is brought into one body, which is the church.
And this is something the Old Testament believer couldn’t possibly concieve; because they saw themselves as God’s chosen people but now they’re part and parcel of the church.
This week I want to look at three specific clauses beginning with verse 7 that begin with the words, “In Him.” The phrase “in Him” means that all believers are partakers of the divine nature. It means that we are not only in Christ but Christ is in us. Colossians 2:10 says, “And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” This idea of completeness means we lack nothing and nothing needs to be added to us.
I So, let’s begin with verse 7 that deals with the concept of redemption. It says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
Redemption is the act of buying something back, or paying a price to retrieve something. When I was a kid we always returned our pop and milk bottles to the store and got money back. We also took used coat hangers to the dry cleaners and they gave us a penny for every two we brought in. The various stores were redeeming or buying back their goods. Let me give you an example of what redemption isn’t.
Several years ago I was visiting someone in the Moncton Hospital but the person I had gone to see had been sent down for x-rays and the nurses said they’d be back in about twenty-thirty minutes; so, I went down to the cafeteria to have a coffee. And as I was paying for my coffee I noticed that there was a plastic container by the cash register and it was almost full of those little metal tabs you pull off pop cans.
I’ve seen people collecting these before and I always wondered what they did with them. So, I asked the girl at the cash what the tabs were for? And she said, that for every ten thousand tabs they collected the pop companies would pay for one hour of dialysis for someone with kidney problems.
I asked which pop company was doing this since all the tabs looked the same and there would be no way to track any increase in sales which is why everybody is in business; but she said she didn’t know.
And then I asked her who came to get the tabs when the carton was full and she said it was a friend of a friend of a friend of hers but she didn’t know the person herself,and then she said, “I wish they would come and get them because we have three buckets of these things in the storage closet.
I asked who was depositing these tabs and she said everyone was, doctors, nurses and everyone else who ate in the cafeteria.
And then I said, that since we have socialized medicine and no one has to pay for dialysis; why were the pop companies spending money for something that no one needs? But I could tell by the expression on her face that she didn’t appreciate my comments.
So, why was she doing this? She was doing it because she cared about people with kidney problems. She was absolutely sincere in her efforts but she was absolutely wrong.
The idea of collecting something that has little value whether it’s pull-tabs, pop caps or empty cigarette packs to buy time on a dialysis machine, a wheelchair or even a seeing eye dog goes back a long way and ours is not the first generation to fall for what have become known as “redemption rumours.”
But here, this isn’t a rumour but verse 7 says “we have been redeemed through His blood.” The price of our sin was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ that was spilled on Calvary’s cross and that was the act of redemption.
There are three different Greek words that help us understand the concept of "redemption" in the New Testament.
The first word is agorazo and this simply means "to buy in the market." We’re constantly buying things whether it’s groceries, clothes, cars, houses or anything else but we never talk about buying people because slavery in our part of the world ended about a hundred years ago.
Slavery was so common in Paul's day that you could walk through the market and see people standing on blocks and those who sold them would describe their abilities and quote you a price. And some might buy a slave and then turn around and try to sell them for a higher price, like people who trade in real estate. So, the word agora was simply used to describe a place where you could do the business of buying and selling slaves.
The second word is exagorazo and this means, "to buy out of the marketplace” and this word was used to describe someone who bought a slave with the intention of keeping them and that meant that this particular slave was no longer for sale.
And then there’s third word and that word is, lutroo which means "to release or set free." And lutroo is the word that’s used in verse 7 and it takes the act of buying a slave a step further because the one who bought this slave bought them to set them free.
And listen, God has come into the marketplace of this world and purchased us with the blood of Jesus from the slavery of sin. And now, we are no longer subject to sin’s penalties because we’re free. We’re no longer slaves of sin but we’ve been adopted into God’s family and made heirs in the Father’s house.
In 2 Cor. 6:17-18 God says, “Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Now, maybe you’re thinking, "Wait a minute, Jesus said, “You must be born again” but here it says we need to be adopted into the family.
And both of them are true. We were both born into God’s family and we’ve also been adopted. And both of these words are used to emphasize two different aspects of our relationship with God.
We were born into the family of God when we repented of our sin and recieved Jesus as our Savior but it also says God adopted us which means He specifically chose us as individuals. So both are true; we’re born again but we’ve also been adopted and I think we could refer to this as another antinomy.
So, the only way we can be redeemed or set free from sin is when someone who is sinless pays the price we can’t pay for ourselves. It’s like the song writer said,
He paid a debt He did not owe;
I owed a debt I could not pay;
I needed someone to wash my sins away.
And, now, I sing a brand new song,
“Amazing Grace.”
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.
This is the process of redemption Paul is talking about and there are three aspects to it. There is the price of redemption – which is the blood of Jesus and when Paul speaks of the blood he’s emphasizing the painful, agonizing death of Jesus on the cross. Why does it say, “By His blood" and not merely, "By His death"? I think this describes the kind of death He died because it fulfilled a type of Old Testament sacrifice.
So, there is a future aspect of redemption when we’re delivered from this world but there is also a present aspect because even now we can experience freedom from slavery to sin. Now, that doesn’t mean we’ll never sin again because we’ll always be human and still have our flesh nature; but it does mean that we don’t have to sin. Before any of us accepted the Lord we couldn’t help but sin because that was our nature but now that we’ve been redeemed He gives us freedom from sin.
When we hear the term "redemption" we automatically think about it in the theological sense but the people Paul was writing to had a more practical implication.
There were millions of slaves in the Roman empire. Some of them were born slaves and some had been enslaved by Rome when they conquered their land but there was one thing for sure, a slave was never free to do whatever they wanted but they belonged to someone else and they all longed for someone to redeem them and set them free.
And each of us were born as slaves of sin and there’s nothing we can do to change our situation but God not only had a plan of redemption but He paid the price by the death of His Son for you and me. Listen, someone said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, it will keep you longer than you want to stay and it will cost you more than you want to pay.” But, Jesus can set you free.
II And then in verse 11 it says, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance.”
There was a kid sitting in the living room with his grandfather and his grandfather was reading the paper and right out of the blue the kid said, “Hey grandpa, how bout making a noise like a frog.” His grandfather just looked at him and went back to reading his paper. A few minutes later the kid said, “Come’on grandpa, make a noise like a frog.” His grandfather ignored him and just kept reading his paper but the kid wouldn’t quit and said, “Please make a noise like a frog.” And his grandfather put the paper down and said, “What are you talking about?” And the kid said, “Mom says, “As soon as you croak we’re all going to Florida.”
As a child of God we have the right to an inheritance from our Father. Romans 8:16-17 tells us, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
So, we’re all in line not only for an inheritance but to be joint heirs with Christ. Now, what does it mean to be joint-heirs with Christ? Basically, whatever Jesus recieves from His Father at the end of this age He intends to share with us which is not something any of us deserve but it’s God’s gift to His children.
I don’t know about you but I get so pre-occuppied with this world that I hardly ever think about the world to come. We can only imagine what life was like before Adam and Eve sinned. They had no consciousness of their own bodies but as soon as they sinned the first thing they did was go shopping for clothes and got themselves some brand new leaves. And before they sinned all they ate was fruit and vegetables which came from the garden of Eden because nothing had ever died before. So, after they sinned life was completely different and sin not only changed their world but it changed the way they saw the world. And their sin has affected all of us but as soon as we enter heaven; sin and all of its affects will be gone and life will never be the same again.
I read someones message on heaven and they said; that the first of our senses to be affected will be our sight and our eyes will be opened in the sense that we’ll recognize not only the people we knew here; but we’re going to know everybody, instantly.
Remember when Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration; and it says they saw Moses and Elijah but it doesn’t say that anyone introduced them and don’t forget that Moses and Elijah had been dead for thousands of years and yet, the disciples knew exactly who they were. And maybe, we’ll have the same experience with everyone in heaven. I mean, if our mental capacity is magnified and our normal abilities are greater than they are now; then knowing people on contact shouldn’t be too difficult.
So, we will be who we are but we’ll be sinless and we’ll still be recognized by who we were when we were living in our mortal bodies. And not only will we continue our relationships with the believers we already knew but I believe that every relationship will be better because everyone there will be perfect.
And in heaven, our understanding of the nature of God is going to be so much better because as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 "though now we see through a glass darkly, then we shall see face to face and shall know fully, as we are known." So, when we join the heavenly chorus and sing our hearts out; it’s not going to be because its song time but it will be a natural reaction to the person and presence of God.
So, our eyes will be opened like they’ve never been before and maybe we’ll see colors differently and colors may have other properties like scents, sounds and sensations and they may even feel differently from one another.
And then there are numbers and people like me who stand in awe of those who can do their own income tax will be able to cope with mathematical equations that would baffle any genius alive today.
Then there are other things like water which appears in either liquid, frozen or gas forms but remember when Jesus and then Peter at Jesus’ bidding were able to walk on water like it was paved stone. This gives us the impression Jesus was able to change the fundamental principles of matter at will and maybe we’ll be able to do the same.
And then there’s our ability or our lack of ability to hear but have you ever noticed the things Jesus could hear while He was on earth.
For instance in Luke 7:36-39 Jesus was having dinner with some Pharisees and it says, ‘When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Now listen, it says of the Pharisee that he said this to himself but how do we know what he said to himself? Obviously, Jesus could hear what he was thinking and told His disciples.
And listen, we may have the same ability when we receive our resurrected bodies. And that means we won’t have to talk but simply think something and others will know what we mean.
Well, I’m sure some of you are thinking, I don’t want everyone to know what’s going through my mind all the time; but you don’t have to worry because your sin nature will be gone and so will everyone else’s in heaven.
And then there’s the concept of smells that we associate certain foods or even with emotional moments of our lives like the smell of a home cooked meal; but what if food were able to provoke other kinds of response? Like eating or drinking something and not only experiencing the sensation of contentment because you’re full but also having a sense of emotional excitement that’s associated with what you ate.
And then finally, there’s the ability to taste and have you ever wondered what’s going to be on the menu at the great banquet in heaven?
Most of us think of great meals we’ve had in the past and we think maybe it will be like that but ten thousand times better. Well, maybe it will be; but imagine you’re seated at this huge table in a very comfortable chair and all of a sudden you noticed you’re sitting next to John the Baptist. I mean, would that be exciting or what? And then John reaches over to a snack bowl and grabs himself a grasshopper and dips it in honey and eats it and then he offers you the dish. Well, that would kind of put a damper on things wouldn’t it?
But listen; this is heaven and all of our appetites are going to be different and nothing is going to make us sick or disgusted but God who created us knows how to throw a party and everything is going to be fantastic.
And there are other things like our ability to overcome simple obstacles. Do you remember when Jesus passed through the angry crowds and no one touched Him or when He entered the house by passing through the locked doors after His resurrection. Maybe we’ll have the ability to go anywhere we want; anytime we want; simply by willing ourselves to go there.
And then think of this; there won’t be any time in heaven and space may be a matter of our will because when the Bible says God will destroy this present universe; this also includes the dimension of time. So, listen carefully, when we die, we could all end up entering heaven with everyone who either went before us or who lived long after us which would not only include our ancestors but also our descendants.
So, you could be walking into heaven talking to your great, great, great, grandfather who died long before you were born and meet your great, great, great, grandchild who wasn’t even born until fifty years after you died; but because of the absence of time, everything will happen at once.
So, how will things happen in the absence of time? Instantly, there will be no more waiting for anything and listen to this; everyone will be able to talk to Jesus anytime, at the same time - just like we do now.
One of our problems is; that very few of us know the things God has already revealed and we assume that heaven is a very secretive place that God is keeping under wraps but the fact is, there’s an awful lot we’ve already been told in scripture.
For instance, Ezekiel chapter 1 Ezekiel describes heaven and in his description he talks about angeligic belings and things that are simply beyond our understanding but when John describes the new Jerusalem in the book of Revelation we imagine the streets of gold and precious stones everywhere but when Jesus talks about heaven He doesn’t focus on the buildings, the comforts or any of the luxuries but He zeroes in on the rewards and responsibilities that relate to our faithfulness and talks about all the rewards and honours we’re going to receive.
For instance, in Matthew 22 Jesus told a story where He described heaven like a large wedding feast where He says all the religious people were invited and they accepted but for some reason they all decided they didn’t want to go; and so, He turned to all the down and outers and that’s you and me. You see, we weren’t born in the right race and we didn’t have the proper religious background but He simply accepted us because we were willing to go.
And yet, this story ends by telling us that of all the people who were there; there was a man who wasn’t dressed right and it says the king had him bound hand and foot and threw him into the outer darkness. The assumption is that the invitation had been accepted but he decided to do his own thing and please himself but he ended not only being thrown out but cast into outer darkness where it says there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And Jesus seems to be describing someone who was just going to church and assuming he was in the kingdom because he hung out with believers but he knew he wasn’t saved because he hadn’t repented and was just part of the social scene and he ended up being thrown into hell with the rest of the unsaved.
Now, when I say that I’m sure some of you think, throw him into hell? Isn’t that a bit much? I mean, this guy seemed to be pretty good; he was in church and not hanging around the tavern; so, why does Jesus treat him so harshly?
Listen, it wasn’t what he did, it was what he was. He was unsaved and all the unsaved no matter how good they appear to be are going to heaven. Heaven is only for those who have confessed their sinfulness and received free admission by God’s gift of grace.
So, when you get to heaven and Jesus says, well, you claimed to be a Christian and attended church and tithed since you were little; but what did you actually do? How did you use the gifts I gave you and how did you serve those around you? Was your spiritual life real or was it merely social?
Listen, the people of this world get excited when they see huge buildings but I don’t think God does; because buildings come and go. The people of this world get impressed when they hear about huge programs or ministries but Jesus never said there would be joy in heaven because 40 or 50 people got together for one reason or another but He did say, not once, not twice, but three times; that there is great joy in heaven when a sinner repents.
There are a lot of people who claim to be saved but they’re oblivious to what the word of God says.
When I first got saved my friends at the Christian commune where I was lived bought me a Bible for my birthday and one of the Rochdale security guards who was a friend of mine had chipped in ten dollars for the Bible and whenever I would see him he’d always shout, “Praise the Lord!” Which normally would have been nice to hear but he also dealt dope and was an extremely violent person. Jesus said, “Not everybody who says, Lord, Lord will be there.”
I was doing a funeral one day and I tried to make the gospel as clear as I possibly could and afterwards a girl came up and held up the cross she was wearing and said, see, I believe.
I have a friend I met when I was down east and he plays organ in church every Sunday and he’s also involved with an evangelical homosexual group.
There are a lot of people who make all sorts of claims but their lives are lived in conflict with the word of God. Dr. Ian Thomas said, “They are professing believers but practising atheists.”
And then finally, verse13 says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.”
Listen, God knows about your past, your present and your future and He loves you anyways. He’s omniscient; which means He knows everything, all the time. He knows because He watches and He watches because He cares.
Second, He’s omnipresent and that means that no matter where you go He’s always with you. He’s personally present – whether you want Him there or not and this tells us, we can never hide from God but it also tells us; we can never be lost. He’s always there. We’re never alone.
And then third, God is omnipotent and this simply means He’s all powerful. Hebrews 1:3 tells us, “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” There is nothing and no one outside the controlling hand of God.
So, God who knows everything and is constantly present and all-powerful; neither leaves us nor forsakes us. And the question we should ask is why, why does God care so much for you and me?
Conclusion
Let me answer that and close with a personal illustration. A few years after I was saved I got my driver’s license and bought my first car. It was a 1963 Valiant and it had a push button gear shift. It was a kind of a light, metallic blue and it had several patches where the holes had been covered over and spray painted. It kind of reminded me of a well-worn pair of blue jeans. I paid $300 for that car and it was my pride and joy.
If I went to a donut shop, I always parked by the window; so, I could keep an eye on it. You know, just in case someone might try to steal it. And one day a brand new Cadillac pulled up beside me and I said, “Hey, don’t bang my door” and the guy laughed; but I wasn’t kidding.”
So, what was so special about that car? When I bought it I paid $300 for it and that was everything I had.
And when God looks down from heaven and sees the members of His body; He doesn’t see a bunch of half-hearted, semi-committed Christians. He sees people for whom His Son died on Calvary’s cross. Listen, our value is not in what we are but it’s in what He’s paid for us.
