Eph 1:1-14 OUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST
We are starting a new series today in the book of Ephesians.
• The theme of the book is God’s salvation through Christ and His relationship with the church.
• As usual, Paul starts with the doctrines in the first 3 chapters, stating the truths about the work of our salvation through Christ.
• And then the second half of the book addresses the practical aspects of living out this relationship we have with Christ as the church.
Paul opens up the letter with a song of blessings or thanksgiving to God, recounting God’s great work of saving us.
• Verses 3-14 is what the Jews call a berakhah, a song of blessings or praise to God.
• Paul praises God the Father (3-6), the Son Jesus Christ (7-12), and the Holy Spirit (13-14) for their work in our redemption.
Reading through this song not only praises God for what He has done but also reveals WHO we are because we are the reason for all that God has done.
• It answers the questions “Who are we in the eyes of God?”; “Who are we in Christ?”
• We are the ones being saved and blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. And this is because of God’s good purpose and will.
In praising God for our redemption, we see also OUR TRUE IDENTITY IN CHRIST.
• This is what we want to remind ourselves of from this text today – knowing who we are in the eyes of God. This is important because KNOWING WHO WE ARE changes us.
• It affects the way we see ourselves, the way we see God and the way we see our world.
Many are suffering from identity crisis today. They do not know who they are and they find their value and worth from all the wrong places.
• They believe what others say of them. They believe what the world says of them.
• There is no right answer apart from a relationship with God, who made us in His image.
• Christianity’s answer to the identity crisis is to bring men and women into a direct, personal relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.
Through these opening words, Paul reminds the Ephesians WHO they are in Christ.
• Let’s go to the text (1:3-14). We see three sections addressing the work of the Father (3-6), the Son (7-12) and the Holy Spirit (13-14).
• For the work of the Father, it was BEFORE THE WORLD began; the work of Christ was IN OUR WORLD and finally the work of the Spirit FOR THE WORLD TO COME.
Our salvation is the work of the triune God! It has everything to do with Him. Appreciate that and live confidently today!
• Paul ends each section with “to the praise of…” – “his glorious grace” (v.6), “his glory” (v.12) and “his glory” (v.14).
Eph 1:3-6
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
1. KNOW OUR SECURITY IN CHRIST: Chosen by God BEFORE THE WORLD
God has chosen us before the foundation of the world.
• He predestined us. He adopted us, to be His sons through Christ.
• Paul uses different words to express the main point that God had us in mind when He decided to save us, even before the world began.
• We were chosen, predestined and adopted by God according to the purpose of His will.
• The theological words for these are election, predestination and adoption.
This relationship anchors us in life. Knowing this and believing it, changes the way we live. We are sons of the living God, made in His image and redeemed to live like Christ.
• By His grace and through Christ, we can live to be who we ALREADY are.
• This truth frees us from living like a chicken and not an eagle. Heard that story before?
A young eagle that fell out of his nest was taken by a farmer and placed among his chickens, growing up eating and behaving like them, trained to be earthbound and never learned to fly.
Someone came by and took the eagle apart. “You are an eagle, you can fly!” and threw her up to the sky. The eagle was confused and did not know who she was.
After many tries, the man finally took her up to the mountain and threw her off the cliff.
"You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly."
The eager stretched her wings and flew into the heavens.
We are made for more! God has designed life to be lived in a relationship with Him, not apart from Him.
Gary Millar, principal of a seminary in Australia wrote a book ‘NEED TO KNOW’:
“When people come to new life in Christ, our first instinct is to teach them to do. To read the Bible, attend church, become part of a small group, give, and so on. And of course, all these things are important.
But there is a prior step. If we are to negotiate living for Christ in all the muck of life, if we are to cope with the ups and downs of our emotions, and the whims of circumstance, and the sheer pressure of our human brokenness, then the first step is to make sure that we know who we are as children of God, as those who have been united to the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Last week Jack encouraged us to spend time in solitude and to REFLECT on our identity in Christ – we are God’s child, justified, we have peace with God, free from condemnation, we live with Him and in His love, and we are being transformed constantly into His image. That’s WHO we are in Christ!
Know that we are elected, predestined and adopted as sons of God and fully SECURED in Christ. And that is NOT of our own doing; it is the will of God.
• Many find this hard to accept. Our inability to comprehend this does not negate the truth of it. God has initiated it because He loves us.
• For a God who has created all things and existed before time and outside of time, then this is plausible and believable. It is the revelation of God.
• Anything less makes Him less than a God worthy of our worship.
Salvation did not start with us. It did not start with our love for God, our faith in Christ, our good deeds or merits. It starts with God. That is His love for us. Enjoy it.
• We would never have chosen Him if He had not first chosen us.
2. KNOW OUR SIGNIFICANCE IN CHRIST: Redeemed by Christ IN THIS WORLD
Eph 1:7-12
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Jesus came into our world and did that which was necessary. We are redeemed through His blood and sacrifice. Our salvation cost him his life.
• We have the forgiveness of our sins because He took our place and paid the price.
• And this “according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us…” (vv.7-8)
• This Gospel was the “mystery of His will” but now made known to us. (v.9)
We affirm the forgiveness of our sins each time we take the Holy Communion.
• Jesus said “…for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:28)
• We affirm it each time we recite the Lord’s Prayer and also the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sin.”
This is something only Christ can do – the removal of our guilt for our sin against God.
Albert Speer, a confidant of Adolf Hitler, was charged for his war crimes committed in WWII. He was the only one charged among the 24 war criminals.
He admitted his guilt and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was interviewed after his release. He said, “I served a sentence of twenty years, and I could say, ‘I’m a free man, my conscience has been cleared by serving the whole time as punishment.’ But I can’t get rid of it…”
The interviewer pressed the point: “You really don’t think you’ll be able to clear it totally?” Speer shook his head. “I don’t think it will be possible.”
True forgiveness can only be granted by the offended party. Our offence against God can never be forgiven apart from the sacrifice of Christ.
• Only the unblemished, sinless Lamb can remove that guilt and cause us to say…
• Psalm 103:12 “…as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
And with this forgiveness and a relationship with God, we have a home in heaven. We received an inheritance (v.11).
• Paul concludes this song pointing us to our eternal inheritance. Heaven is where we belong because that’s where our heavenly Father is.
• An inheritance is something that is ours because we are sons of God.
3. KNOW OUR SATISFACTION IN CHRIST: Sealed by the Spirit FOR THE WORLD TO COME
Eph 1:13-14
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
An inheritance is something that belongs to us but is yet to come. We have the SEAL of the Holy Spirit guaranteeing what is to come.
• As children of God, we are heirs of the inheritance. Heaven is our home.
An inheritance is not something we earn but is given to us. It is a gift we receive by God’s grace through faith in Christ.
• No one goes to heaven because he deserves it. Most religious people would like to believe that.
• We received this inheritance because we “have been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…” (v.11)
• That’s our destiny and eternal fulfilment. We will be home with God and Jesus Christ forever.
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Dear friends, I hope you understand. This world is not our eternal home.
• God loves you and chose you to be made holy and blameless through Christ so that you can forgiven and be restored in your relationship with Him.
• Transforming us in this life is His delight and His goal. This is God’s heart for you and me, and His heart for us is good. You need to believe in Jesus Christ today.
All that the Word of God says here may be quite mind-boggling but it is true.
• Our salvation is a revelation of God. Our election, predestination and adoption, led to our redemption and forgiveness of sin.
• All because of God’s grace and the work of Jesus Christ. We are reconciled to God and we will enjoy our eternity with Him.
Yet Paul said it very clearly here in verse 13, this is made possible “when you HEARD the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and BELIEVED in Him…” (v.13)
• We are elected, predestined and adopted by God and yet God’s way of salvation is still for us to HEAR and BELIEVE the Gospel.
• When we do that, we are SEALED by the Holy Spirit in this relationship and guaranteed an eternal inheritance with God in the world to come.
God in Christ has blessed us with security, significance and satisfaction in life.
• Our identity is not in what we do but WHO we are in Christ. We are children of God and heirs to His Kingdom.
• We have peace with God and hope in Christ. We have purpose and meaning in life.
• Things around us can change, but we will always be one of His own.
Let me close with this thought - our relationship with our Father anchors our life in this messy world.
• We call Him “Abba! Father!” – this is uniquely Christian and very significant.
• Rom 8:15 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!””
• Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
God is never addressed this way in the OT. It’s quite unthinkable to the Jews.
• The closest we have to the word “father” is a metaphor to mean God ‘fathered’ the world as in He created it.
• That word is used only a few times and in a very general and impersonal way.
But when Jesus came onto the scene, He addressed God ONLY as “Father” in all his conversations and prayers, using it more than 60 times in the Gospels.
• No one in Israel’s history ever prayed or talked to God that way.
• And yet Jesus uses it and the word He used was the Aramaic “Abba”, which is an intimate and personal word. We heard it in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In Jesus, the disciples saw a personal relationship with God as Father, which was something that had never been revealed to the Jewish people under the old covenant.
• But in the new covenant, this is our relationship with God. Paul says we call Him “Abba! Father!”
• This relationship is unique, significant and eternal.
Jesus said in John 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
• We can be assured of God’s care for us today. We are His beloved sons and daughters. No one and nothing can separate us from His love.
We are living in a time where this truth is all the more precious.
• Things are not going to get better in the world. Life is not going to get easier.
• But we can rest in Christ and be forever secured in the hands of a loving Father.
• No one can snatch us from His hand.
Prayer:
We join Paul in praising you, Lord, for everything You have done. For your love and goodness, for your grace and mercy.
Thank you for all the spiritual blessings we enjoy today because of Christ.
Help us demonstrate in our daily lives the reality of our relationship with You.
May the world know you as their loving Father and Jesus Christ, their only Saviour.
This we pray in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
