The Benefits Of Being In Christ

The Benefits of Being In Christ

Ephesians 1:1-6

"Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, just as He chose us in Him before us the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

Illustration

A young boy happened upon an old man who was fishing in the mighty Mississippi River. Immediately the lad began to ply the aged fisherman with a myriad of questions as only young boys can do. With the patience of the ages, the old man answered each query. Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by the shrill whistle of the majestic River Queen paddling relentlessly down river. The sight of the ship gleaming and splashing spray in the sunlight caused the surprised spectators to stare in awe and appreciation. Then above the noise of the paddle wheel was heard a small boy’s voice calling across the water; "Let me ride! Let me ride!" The old man turned to the boy and tried to calm him down explaining that the River Queen was too important a ship to stop and give rides to little boys. The young child cried all the more, "Let me ride!" Old eyes bulged in disbelief as that great ship pulled for shore and a gangplank was lowered. In a flash two young feet scampered up and onto the deck. The ship with its new cargo safely on board began to pull back into the main stream. The old man continued to stare after the ship. Then a shock of yellow hair appeared above the rail. It was quickly followed by two blue eyes, button nose, and cherub lips. "Mister, I knew this ship would stop for me. The captain is my father!" (Sermoncentral.com)

There are many benefits of being in Christ. Our text today will give you three (3) important benefits that we have in Christ if we receive Him in our lives as our personal Lord and Savior.

How to be in Christ is the subject of the first three chapters of Ephesians. If you will expose yourself to the light of God’s truth contained here, you will be able to see farther than ever before.

Now, let me ask you an important question: Do you really know who you are in Christ? How do you see yourself as a Christian? Do you see yourself as powerful? Or do you see yourself as powerless? Do you understand of what it means to be a child of God? Do see yourself in rags or in riches?

In the first six verses of Ephesians, we will discover at least three benefits of being in Christ.

I. We Are Valuable (v. 1)

As Paul opens this letter to the church, he addresses it to the "saints". This is a good biblical term commonly applied to all believers. In fact, in some ancient manuscripts, the designation "at Ephesus" is not found at the beginning of this letter. Because of that, many believe that this was a general letter from Paul to be circulated among all the churches. In any case, Christians are commonly referred to as saints. It comes from the Greek word hagios, which literally means "holy." To be a saint, in the New Testament sense of the word, is to be a "holy one." And that’s who we are in Christ.

According to God’s Word, all believers are already saints. From God’s perspective, we are saints, not because of who men say we are, but because of what Christ did for us. We are not holy because of our own good works or righteousness. The Bible tells us that "all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." (Isaiah 64:6) We are righteous because Jesus died on the Cross so that He could give us His righteousness. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He {God} made Him {Christ} who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." We are now the righteousness of God in Christ. What an amazing statement! We’re holy!

Illustration

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $100.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $100 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $100 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple the $100 dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.