Ephesians: Finding our Identity in Christ
Ephesians 1:3-6
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
1-17-2026
Review
In college, I was a part of the honor student association. Don’t be too impressed. We called our professor mentor "Dr. Daddy” and he had a bar in the back of his van.
He took a group of us to the national convention in New Orleans for three days of…um…convention stuff that I did not attend. I’m told I had a great time.
As we were walking out of the hotel, we separated into two groups. My group, the cool people, were headed to Bourbon Street to get the party started. Kelly’s group was headed for a tour of old homes. (Yawn).
She stopped me before we parted ways for the day. She asked two questions that changed my life and redefined my identity.
First she asked, “Do you know that you are a leader? Look at those other students. They would follow you anywhere.”
My head spun. No one, I mean, no one had ever called me a leader before.
Before I could catch my breath, she asked me, “Why do you chose to lead the wrong way?”
I was stunned. Lead the wrong way? I didn’t know how to respond and said, “Enjoy your old homes today.” But the rest of the day I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What if what she said was true? What if I was a leader and I was leading the wrong way? I knew Kelly was a follower of Christ. What did that mean? Did God think I could be a leader?
It went to the core of my identity, of who I thought I was. Inside, I knew I was broken and that God couldn’t use me. But what if, just what if, I had been lied to and I didn’t actually know my real identity.
35 years later, I’m so thankful for Kelly’s boldness to lay it on the lie and speak truth into my shame-filled soul.
Review
Last week, we began our sermon series on the book of Ephesians by studying
the author - The Apostle Paul
The recipients - the believers in the church in Ephesus
And the blessing - grace and peace to you in Christ.
Let me remind you that if you miss a Sunday, you can always watch the sermon on Facebook, Youtube, our website, or read the manuscript on Sermoncentral.com.
Today we are going to learn some more really good news about our identity in Christ.
Please turn with me to Ephesians 1.
Prayer.
Explosion of Praise
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
In verse three, Paul explodes into praise and he doesn’t calm down until verse 14. These verses are one long run-on sentence in the Greek (202 words). Paul had a point writing this way.
These verses at the beginning of the letter are meant to overwhelm the hearer/reader.
Blessing after blessing after blessing! Paul can’t contain himself. One commentator writes that his words are like a snowball tumbling down the hill picking up volume as it descends.
I don’t know how demonstrative the Ephesian believers were, but by the end of this section I bet some of them were yelling Amen!
Paul’s perspective is that we bless God because of how much He has blessed us. The Greek literally reads “praised with worshipful love.”
David wrote:
“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” (Psalm 103:1-2)
This is called a doxology, like the one we sang after the offering today.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Have you ever stopped and asked why we sing that little chorus after we give hilariously and generously to fund God’s kingdom?
God gives us everything we have and our giving a portion of that back to God is a a form of worship.
He has blessed us “in Christ,” a phrase that he uses 11 times in this section. It is our union with Christ that allows us to receive these blessings.
Commentator Kyle Snodgrass writes,
“Christ is the ‘place’ where believers reside , the source in which they find God’s salvation and blessings and the framework in which they live and work.”
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
Most of the time, we focus on our material blessings. Paul focuses on something more important, God blesses us with every spiritual blessing, gifted by the Holy Spirit through our union with Christ.
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
Charles Spurgeon said:
“But our thanks ought to go to God in thunders of hallelujahs for spiritual blessings. A new heart is better than a new coat. To feed on Christ is better than to have the best earthly food. To be an heir of God is better than being the heir of the greatest nobleman. To have God for our portion is blessed, infinitely more blessed than to own broad acres of land. God hath blessed us with spiritual blessings. These are the rarest, the richest, the most enduring of all blessings; they are priceless in value.”
God has blessed us in the heavenlies. All of these blessings are available to us in the here and now.
Do you understand how much God has blessed you? If you begin to comprehend his blessings, it will change the way you love and live, work and worship.
Charles Spurgeon again:
We are not sitting here, and groaning, and crying, and fretting, and worrying, and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us; and therefore we will bless him. If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him; but if you have a great notion of his great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to your gracious God.”…
In 1897, Johnson Oatman wrote a hymn to be included in the Hymnal “Songs for Young People” entitled “Count Your Blessings.”
So, that’s what we are going to do the next two weeks. We are going to count our many blessings and name them one by one.
Worship Song: All Hail the Power of Jesus Name
Blessings #1: He Chose Us in Christ
How doesn’t it feel when you aren’t chosen for something? Maybe you were like Maxine and got chosen last for kickball in elementary school. Maybe you didn’t make the chorus when you tried out or you weren’t picked for a role in the play. Maybe you have put your mane in for Jeopardy for 25 years and still haven’t been chosen! (Yes, I’m bitter)
You feel that in your gut? Not a good feeling, right?
Now, how does it feel to be chosen? How does it feel when you get the call that you got that job or got into that school? Or you made solo ensemble or that girl with the red hair picked you to be their hubby?
I asked on Facebook what being chosen feels like.
HUGE hit of dopamine in the brain!! Feels oh so good!!
The weirdest combination of humility and pride, like “Wow! I can’t believe I was actually chosen! I didn’t know they would find me good enough! I’m honored and grateful!”… but then also, “Well, I guess I AM good enough! They chose me over all these other people.
Thankful
I have a really unique story of being chosen, After Kimmy died, I was at the high school ministering to students. I was sitting on the floor with students circled around me and we were talking about Kimmy, Ryan, and Tori. (We lost three students in one week).
My friend had brought the comfort dogs that day. As I was trying to grieve myself and to comfort these students, one of the comfort dogs made her way over to me. She sat right in front of me and suddenly, put her paw on my shoulder and then her head on my shoulder.
Later, Jeanne told me that they are trained to sense the person who most needs them and then they chose them to be their focus of care.
That beautiful comfort dog chose me and I’m grateful because I did need her.
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Paul because with his first blessings - we are chosen. But how are we chosen? We are chosen in Christ. In Christ, God chose a people for Himself.
We were chosen in Him before the creation of the world. This is amazing news!
Paul wrote to Timothy:
“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:9-10)
If you are in Christ, then you have been chosen. You didn’t choose God, He choose you, from before the foundation of the world. He didn’t choose you because of anything you did or didn’t do. You didn’t earn it and could never deserve it. It was simply because of love.
Jesus told His disciples,
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit…” (John 15:16)
One pastor said, “I’m glad that God chose me before I was born, because He certainly wouldn’t chose me afterwards!”
The fact that we have been chosen shouldn’t make us puffed up or arrogant but “holy and blameless before Him.” Holy means set apart to reflect God’s purity. Blameless doesn’t mean sinless but “free from blemish,” like the animals that were sacrificed on the altar.
This is not speaking of our perfection here on earth but our position in Christ when we stand before Him at the judgement day.
Satan will try to read the indictment against you and I, which will be long, but Jesus will say, “She’s mine! I chose her!” And that will end the discussion.
Blessing #2: Adoption Papers!
In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
For the purposes of this sermon, I’m not going to try to dive deep into the word predestination because that’s not really the point this morning.
Does God predestine us? Yes. Do we have free will? Yes. Which one is true? Both. How? That is a mystery. How do you reconcile these two ideas? D.L. Moody once quipped, “You don’t have to reconcile friends.”
In this context, what does God predestine us for? That’s spiritual blessing number 2 - adoption.
In his classic book "Knowing God," J. I. Packer wrote:
“If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. . . . “Father” is the Christian name for God.”
Adoption at its core is relational. God, in love, chose us to become a part of his forever family.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (I John 3:1)
In Paul’s culture, adoption was very common and someone who is adopted would legally become a new person - even their debts would be forgiven. They would attain full status in the family and an heir of the estate.
Paul wrote to the Roman believers:
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:14-17)
Many years ago, I was adopted into the Stepro family. I don’t have any living grandparents, so Gma and Gpa Stepro became my adopted Grandparents. In fact, when I did Gpa Stepro’s funeral, I was introduced as one of the cousins!
If you are a Christian, you have an adoption story.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)
In response to my question of what it is like to be chosen, Jennifer Morrison from Grace Christian School, wrote:
“For me, being adopted gave me a deeper understanding of being chosen by God's love and sacrifice; it reminds me that I'm exactly where I'm meant to be, and I'm grateful for that.”
Matt Merker, a pastor and father of two adopted children, gives several reasons we should celebrate the fact that God has chosen to adopt us.
Adoption rescues us.
We were enslaved to sin and were by nature objects of God’s wrath. But adoption changes all of that.
Adoption was God’s foreordained plan. This was’t a haphazard plan but according to His pleasure and will.
Adoption is God’s initiative. He chose us to be his children.
Adoption is costly. Salvation is free to us but it cost Jesus His life.
Adoption brings a whole new spiritual state.
“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
Adoption brings a whole new inheritance.
“So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Gal 4:7)
Adoption is all by grace and for His glory.
…”to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”
Michael Reagan, son of former president Ronald Reagan, died this past week at the age of 80. He was adopted by President Reagan and Jane Wyman. This is what he wrote about that:
“My parents, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman never referred to me as adopted,” he said. “I was always their son. We are all adopted into Christ’s love but when you bring a child into to your home, that’s your child.”
It’s been said that the only person who can wake up a king at 3:00 am for a glass of water is his son. And that’s the kind of Father we have.
Worship Song: Good, Good Father (KN)
Blessing # 3 - What’s Love got to do With It
Why did He do this? Look at the first two words of the verse - in love.
God loves you. No really, you. Yes, you. Do you know what happens when God think about you? We know from Zephaniah:
“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” ( Zeph 3:17)
But love to God is more than just delighting over you. To God, love is a verb.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)
Growing up in the Bible Belt, I knew John 3:16 I just don’t know it was for me:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
In the devotional I’m using this year, “New Morning Mercies” by Paul Tripp, his words jumped out at me this week:
“Think about this. The One who created and controls the world, the One who is the ultimate definition of what is loving true and good, and the One who only has the power to finally defeat sin has chosen, because of His grace, to wrap His arms of faithful love and protection around you, and He will not let you go.”
Count Your Blessings
In 1902, Evangelist Gyspy Smith was visiting a children’s hospital and met a little girl who was very sick. She asked him if she could sing a song and she started singing “Count Your Blessings.”
Hw wrote of this experience:
“Immediately I was deeply touched and impressed. Here I was in full enjoyment of health and of many priceless benefits of God, yet I had never counted my blessings. It had never occurred to me to do so. I felt sure that thousands of others had been guilty of the same omission. Many of us, alas! are never so happy as when we are talking about our miseries. The sweet song fastened itself upon my heart and soul.”
Tennis superstar Arthur Ashe died of AIDS, which he contracted from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. More than a great athlete, Ashe was a gentleman who inspired and encouraged many with his exemplary behavior on and off the court.
Ashe could have become embittered and self-pitying in the face of his disease, but he maintained a grateful attitude. He explained, "If I asked, 'Why me?' about my troubles, I would have to ask, 'Why me?' about my blessings. Why my winning Wimbledon? Why my marrying a beautiful, gifted woman and having a wonderful child?”
My friend Brian Bill gives us three ways to apply these verses:
Instead of always asking God to bless you, start living in light of the blessings He has already given you. 2 Peter 1:3 says we’ve been given “everything we need for life and godliness.” Live out of our identity, not the lies of the world, the flesh and the devil.
Instead of asking God to bless what you’re doing, figure out what God is already blessing, and join Him there.
Henry Blackaby says it profoundly: “So many Christians try to come up with ways they can serve God and then ask Him to bless their efforts. But the more biblical approach is to observe what God is already doing around us and join Him in that work.”
Instead of focusing on your material blessings, celebrate the spiritual blessings God has given you. He has blessed us, chosen us, adopted us, loves us, redeems us, and seals us with His Holy Spirit.
Worship Songs:
Count your blessings (KN)
All My Boast is in Jesus (KN)
He Redeems Us in Christ
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
To redeem means to “buy back.”
There’s a beautiful book in the Bible named Hosea. Hosea is told to marry a prostitute named Gomer. They have several children, a couple that doesn’t look much like him. And then Gomer takes off. She ends up being sold into slavery.
Hosea finds himself standing in the slave market bidding on his own wife in order to buy her back out of bondage.
This is a picture of the Father sending His Son to buy us back from our bondage to sin.
We cannot redeem ourselves. We are hopeless and helpless and hellbound with intervention from the outside.
“If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” (Psalm 130:3-4)
This was done though His blood shed on the cross.
“There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:23-24)
Jesus lived a perfect life and through that perfect life we get His righteousness for our sins.
But Jesus also died the perfect death - in our place, for our sins, to take the wrath of God against sins, in order to redeem you from our hopeless and helpless state.
But wait, there’s more! He didn’t stay dead! The tomb was empty!
On the cross, Jesus wrote a check for your soul and early that Sunday morning, He rose again proving the check cleared!
What’s the main benefit of being redeemed? Forgiveness!
Paul wrote the Colossians:
“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)
Forgiveness means freedom from the shame and guilt of sin. And God is never stingy with His forgiveness. Paul uses the word lavished. It’s a picture of a cup overflowing.
“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” (Psalm 32:1-2)
Forgiveness is a gift of grace to the one being redeemed.
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:8-9)
Paul gives the reason for God choosing and redeeming us:
“With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
When Paul uses the word “mystery,” he means “something once hidden but now has been revealed.”
What’s God’s plan and purpose? To make a people for Himself, not divided by ethnicity, language, or political orientation, but united by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is called “the church!”
John Stott sums this up nicely:
“In the fullness of time, God’s two creations, His whole universe and his whole church, will be unified under the cosmic Christ who is the supreme head of both.”
Notice that we put our hope in Christ. I thought God predestined us to believe.
Think of it this way. You are in the middle of the ocean and you are drowning. There is no hope of saving yourself.
Then a helicopter shows up and I throw a life preserver to you. It’s right there, floating beside you. Are you saved? No. You could drown just looking at it. You have to grab a hold of it. You have to place your faith in the ability of that life preserver to save you.
He Seals us with His Spirit in Christ
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
