IN HIM Ephesians 1:3-14
1. There are certain words that are used in our lives like “what were you thinking”, game changer, AI or Artificial Intelligence, pardon my French, come on, you got to be kidding, there are certain words used I. In the church, there are words like hallelujah, praise the Lord, and Thank Ya!!!
2. In the book of Ephesians the buzz word is “In Him.”
• In Him I can bear much fruit Jesus once said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing.”
• In Him I am a new being or creation. II Corinthian 5:17 tells us “Therefore, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation”;
3. Ephesians tells us In Him we are blessed “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
• Blessed (v. 3). Interestingly, the Greek word here is "eulogatos," the root word of which is "eulogy." We often think of a eulogy as a blessing or praise of people at the end of their lives.
• God has blessed (eulogized) us In Christ and has blessed us from the very beginning.
• So often we think of blessings as something we have accumulated -- family, home, prosperity -- but receiving a blessing is really a form of receiving God himself!
• God blessed us with his presence in Christ
• God is not distant; God is present In Christ in our stories, in our lives, in our troubles in our sickness in our death.
4. In Him we are Chosen 4 just as he chose us in Christ[b] before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
• Chosen (v. 4). God "chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love."
• God has given us "life that has purpose. The question is, "To what purpose is our life dedicated?"
• Paul makes it clear that God created and chose humans for a particular purpose: to reflect his image to his creation. Humans were made to be "holy and blameless," and, despite our brokenness and sin, God still chooses us.
5. In Him we are Destined (v. 5). 5 He destined us[c]for adoption as his children[d] through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
• The destined ones have been given a journey. A plan for our life
• The journey or plan of god is for us In Christ to be adopted as his children
6. In Him, God has bestowed God has Given
• Bestowed (v. 6). This word appears another time in scripture as I was studying is an interesting verb in Greek, appearing only one other place in the New Testament, when Gabriel greets Mary as God's "favored one." "
• In Him we are favored ones like The Virgin Mary
• In Him We are favored by God not because of our own efforts but simply because God loves us and wants to transform us into his image once again.
7. In Him God has Lavished generous or extravagant quantities (v. 7).
• God isn't stingy with grace; it is "lavished" on us.
• In Him we are lavished with "redemption through his blood,
• In him we have been lavished with the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us" (vv. 7-8).
8. In him God Gather up (v. 10).
• We can see that God's plan is to "gather up all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth."
• Paul invites us to imagine a new reality in which heaven and earth are gathered together under the rule of Christ -- a reality that Jesus called the kingdom of God. Is God wanting in Christ for the heaven and Earth to be one?
• Our future isn't "out there," but right here in Christ.
• Paul goes on to say in verse 11 that this is the purpose to which we have been "destined" -- to live for the praise of his glory in light of this new reality.
• In Him we are marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit (v. 13).
9. In Him I am forever blessed, in Him I am Chosen, in him I am destined, in him I am lavished, in him I am gathered up.
• In Him we can know the mystery of his will
• In him we have an inheritance
• 9 he has made known to us the mystery of 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance
• In Him 13 when you heard the gospel and believed in him, you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
• In Him 14 we have our inheritance of redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
