Alba 1-15-2023
WE ARE BLESSED
Ephesians 1:1-14
One night a wife found her husband standing over their infant's crib. As she watched him looking down at their very first baby, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: ...disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, skepticism.
Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arm around her husband. "A penny for your thoughts," she said.
"It's amazing!" he replied. "I just can't see how anybody can make a crib like that for only $46.50."
He missed the baby for the crib. But too often we are like that. We miss the best because we are focused on other things. And we miss living in the reality of God's blessings because we live as if we are on our own.
Ephesians 1:3 says that “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,... has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
Sadly we don't recognize it as we should. We tend to forget the blessings and look at the troubles. It is natural to complain, to see the problems of our life, to get fixated on the wrong things.
The Israelites fell into this temptation - time and time again. God miraculously intervened to free them from slavery in Egypt, a powerful empire.
He led them, defended them, provided even their daily food. And, what did they do? They complained! I am sure that living in tents, in a wilderness was not always a lot of fun. But God was providing all that they needed.
They were abundantly blessed! And so are we! The reality is that in Christ we have blessings that can't compare with anything here on earth. The first verses of Ephesians chapter one give us a view of what our situation really is – we are blessed!
Let's take a look at these verses and read from Ephesians 1:1-14.
1 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.
Did you notice how many times it says, “in Him”?
In Him we are chosen by God (vs. 4).
In Him we have redemption through His blood (vs. 7).
In Him we have obtained an inheritance (vs. 11).
In Him we have trusted (vs. 13).
God has many blessings to pour out to every one who comes to Him in obedient faith, “Whosoever will may come”. But only through Jesus. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We receive our blessings in Jesus! Let's look at these blessings.
First, we are blessed by God's choice (verse 4). There are those who say that God has pre-decided who will be saved and who will be lost. But that doesn't leave much room for “whosoever will”.
It also doesn't agree with scripture that says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
(II Peter 3:9)
Still God has made a choice. His choice from the beginning of time was to send His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to be the way, the only way, for us to “be holy and without blame before Him in love.”
So what God has predetermined, predestined, is the way that He would provide salvation for us. Knowing what would happen from beginning to end, as if it were all in an eternal instant, this plan to save us in Jesus was predestined.
The blessing for us is that God could see the future and could see our need, even before we were born. And He put a plan in place before it all happened so that we could be with Him forever. Our salvation is in Jesus, according to God's predetermined plan.
We are blessed to be included in that plan. And even beyond that God has planned to include us in His family, to adopt us as His children by Jesus Christ to Himself (vs. 5).
Yes, God decided in advance to adopt us into His family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus. Many think they can just tell God, “I am in your family now.” You cannot adopt yourself into someone’s family, you have to be ADOPTED!
There are children who are passed from one foster home to another feeling alone and rejected. How good it must feel when someone says, “I want to adopt you.”
As you know, our daughter and her husband recently were able to complete the adoption of three children that they had had in their care for two and half years. It happened just before Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Day, I made a point of saying, “I'm so glad that Justin, Kaylee and Nevaeh are part of our family.” My wife, Janine, said, “Me too!” Then 12 year old Justin shouted, “Me three!”
And we who are in Christ have been blessed that God has made our adoption possible through Jesus, so that we could be included in His family!
Second, we are blessed to be redeemed by the blood of Jesus (vs. 7). There are people who see a crucifix or a picture with three crosses, but still do not know the significance of the cross.
The apostle Paul says in I Corinthians 1:18, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
In the Old Testament, the people sacrificed animals as a means to push back their sins for another year. As Hebrews 9:22 says, “without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
But ultimately more was needed because Hebrews 10:4 says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” So Hebrews 10:10 says, “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
And the apostle Peter in I Peter 1:18-19 tells us, “you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ!
To be redeemed means that there has been a payment made. Just like a slave bought at the auction block, a price must be paid. Jesus did that for us when He went to that cross and paid with His life and His blood... and then He set us free.
At the cross of Jesus Christ, He traded places with us. He literally traded places with each of us. All of the punishment, all of the shame, all of the condemnation that we deserve went to Jesus.
That is the reason for the cross. It is not just a nice emblem of piety or a piece of jewelry. It is the means for us to be redeemed so that we could have “the forgiveness of sins” (vs. 7). What a blessing!
Next, we are blessed to obtain an inheritance (verse 11). When my mother died, she had some funds that were divided between my brother, three sisters and me. My mother was not a rich woman, but we each received some monthly checks from the funds until the money ran out.
Imagine if you opened the mail one day and discovered that you had been given a huge inheritance from a relative. I think you would feel blessed.
Now imagine, you just got notice of an inheritance from the eternal realm. It declares that you will be receiving what the Eternal Father and family holds...all that is lasting and good.
It states some of what is included: Physically, freedom from all suffering and pain. Emotionally, no more sorrow and a joy that lasts forever. Spiritually / relationally, in perfect peace with God.
Sound like a good inheritance? It is beyond anything we could hope for in this world. Besides all of this, there is the promise of heaven. Streets of gold, gates of pearl and the very presence of God Himself.
Actually, our inheritance starts now. There are things available to us right now that we seem to forget are ours. You see as it says in verse three, God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
It says He “has” blessed us, meaning that these are in our possession right now. And what does it mean to have every spiritual blessing? Mainly it means that since we know God, we have everything we need in order to grow spiritually!
And as we do, then we who have put our trust in Christ will do as God has predestined, that we “should be to the praise of His glory” (vs. 12), living lives that honor Him, so we can be both blessed and a blessing.
Think of all that God has given us! Look at what we have already received. God's greatest gift is love. He has given us His only begotten Son and poured out to us the riches of His grace.
A book about Michelangelo by Syracuse University professor of art history, Rab Hatfield, entitled, “The Wealth of Michelangelo” said that “He was the richest artist of all time,” at least until that time. But he often refused to show it, and often declined to share it. The artist was hoarding his money.
And Michelangelo would complain to family members about how short of money he was. On the road with a pair of assistants, Michelangelo would get just one bed for all of them. He wouldn't spend the money for more beds.
He was a rich man, living like a poor man. Let that not be said of us. We have an inheritance. We are rich in Christ; let’s not live in spiritual poverty.
Then finally verse thirteen reminds us that we are blessed because we trust in Jesus and us adds one more thing to the blessing of trusting in Christ, that after “having believed, (we) were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
As part of the inheritance we have already received, He gives us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the full inheritance that He has promised.
And through the Spirit we are offered gifts and the fruit of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
Often we see ourselves as needing something to grow in our relationship with God. We might see a need for more patience, for a deeper sense of joy, for more compassion, or for a stronger hope.
This scripture shows that we already have patience, joy, compassion and hope. They are not things that we need to receive, but rather they are characteristics that we can claim as ours and live in their reality.
We have the spiritual resources to forgive; let’s not live in bitterness. We have the spiritual resources to love; let’s not live in hate.
We have the spiritual resources to win over sin, death and the devil; let’s not live in defeat. Instead, let’s just praise the Lord for all the blessings He has given to us.
And note this: The fact is that God blesses even though we do not deserve it. His blessings are freely given and not earned. Verses five and nine speak of the good pleasure that God has in blessing us.
We don’t have to “manipulate” or “coerce” God for Him to approve of or bless us. He planned to do it all along!
We need to thank God and praise him, because... we are blessed!
CLOSE:
I read of a miserly woman of the last century, who lived on cold oatmeal for the last half of her life. She didn’t want to waste the money to boil the water to cook it!
Her son nearly died of an infection while she shopped around to find a doctor who would treat him for free!
When she died in 1916, her estate was valued at $100 million dollars, an amount comparable to billions of dollars today.
Her foolishness makes us shake our heads as we think of her needless suffering. Why? Because it is just so dumb to live like that when there is all that wealth available.
But, there are Christians who live as if they are spiritually impoverished. They have no assurance of the love of God and are not living in the reality of His blessings.
Make these confessions from Ephesians 1 with me...
* I am blessed to be among God's chosen!
* I am blessed to be redeemed!
* I am blessed with a great inheritance!
* I am blessed to trust in Christ!
* I am blessed... with every spiritual blessing!
Those blessing come because we are in Christ.
And He invites all to come to Him.
