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 the foundation of the world, that we would 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. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Our God and Father truly deserves to be blessed and praised for blessing us with every spiritual blessing.
We know that He had blessings beyond measure yet in store for His saints in the life to come.
The Christians in Ephesus the Apostle Paul wrote to doubtless felt that they were more highly blessed than any other people.
After all, the great image – in stone – of the pagan goddess Diana stood in their city for all to see and worship. It not only gave them a false sense of security, but it also brought a great deal of wealth to their city – people came from far and near to worship at the statue of this pagan goddess.
But God was not pleased with this idol worship.
God wanted the Christians in Ephesus to know that His blessings came through His Son, Jesus Christ – not through Diana – or any other false pagan god or goddess.
So, it is for that reason that God inspired Paul to write this message to the church in Ephesus.
Let’s take a brief look at the Law of Moses here. The Law of Moses promised many material blessings. READ Deuteronomy 7:12-16.
“Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle. The LORD will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
And, likewise, the Gospel contains some material blessings. Look at Matthew 6:31-34. READ.
“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
And further, hear what Paul says to the church in Philippi in his letter to them: - Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,”
These promises are mainly spiritual promises.
What does that tell us? It tells us that the appeal of the Gospel is not to those who are carnally minded. Still, it is appealing to those who seek the abiding things of the Spirit – the things not seen - as Paul describes them in 2 Corinthians 4:18 – where he describes those who doubted Paul’s word as arrogant, doubting Paul’s care and concern for their spirituality.
Now, let’s look at the blessings that Paul tells us God has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
First – He chose us in Christ – vss. 1-5 – In particular – verse 4: “….just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love.”
God decided – even before He created the world that “the people who accept His Son, Jesus Christ, shall be His people.”
Now, some people look at that statement, and cry – God has pre-destined who will be saved. But it is not predestination at all.
Predestination says that certain people are already assigned to eternity in hell and others are already assigned to eternity in heaven.
What that theology does say is that we can do nothing about our destiny – we are either doomed to hell, or we have been blessed with eternity in heaven.
That, in reality, is saying that not even God can change our destination.
None of us – none of any person who ever walked this earth – is lost because we have not been elected or chosen.
If we are lost and headed for the fire of hell, it is because we have chosen to live a life of sin. It is because we have made a choice to follow the ways of the world rather that the path God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ.
God DID choose a particular class of people – those who are in Christ. Those will be His people.
Hear what the writer of the Revelation says – Revelation 22:17 – “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come. And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ “And let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.’
Holiness is the result of being chosen – it is not a condition of being chosen. We can say it like this: Holiness does not come before surrender. We don’t become holy so that we are eligible to surrender to Jesus Christ. We surrender to His will to become holy.
I believe some people believe that if God really loves us He will save us no matter how we live our life. But, God does not have to save anyone.
God says to us – “You are sinners. I have chosen you because you have accepted My Son, Jesus Christ. NOW – BE HOLY and WITHOUT BLEMISH.”
Do you ever think about what you will do in Heaven? What will be your occupation? Or is that already decided that you will sit at the feet of Jesus, playing your harp and listening to His teaching?
If we were truthful we would understand that, in Heaven, it would be a privilege just to scrub the floors of Heaven.
But God, because of His love for us, honors us as His children. What a great blessing it is for us to have been chosen in Christ.
What more could He do for us? What else would surpass the greatness of that truth?
A second blessing is that we have Redemption Through Christ – Ephesians 1:7 – “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
Our redemption is through the blood of Christ. Before our redemption, we were in bondage to sin. Christ redeems us.
The price of our redemption is the blood of Christ. We didn’t make the payment – He made the payment with His own blood to accomplish our forgiveness.
Joseph Parker, a preacher back in the late 1800’s once made this statement about blood: “Many persons have a great objection to the word ‘blood’, and I have a great objection to those persons. If we take out the blood of Christ, we leave the New Testament without a theme and without purpose.”
Redemption is deliverance from the torture of our sins.
In the South, during the days of slavery, a young girl was put on the auction block to be sold as a slave.
A very cruel slave owner began to bid for her; the girl became afraid that she might become the property of this man who had a reputation for treating his slaves with extraordinarily brutal actions.
Then another plantation owner began to bid for the girl. This slave owner was known to treat his slaves with kindness. This man finally offered the final bid, and the girl became his property.
The young slave girl followed her new owner, but he told her: “You misunderstand. I didn’t buy you because I need a slave. I bought you to set you free.”
The girl fell down at his feet and said, “I will serve you forever.”
That is the way Jesus wants us to serve Him and to follow Him.
He loves you. He paid a price for you. He gave Himself and shed His blood so that you could have forgiveness of sin.
We – all of us – have a personal responsibility for our sins.
Our guilt should cause us to tremble – and to seek forgiveness – and to seek redemption.
And there is a third blessing we need to know about as well. READ Ephesians:1:11-12.
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Christ, we are made a heritage.
A heritage is an inheritance. An inheritance means that we have a possession that we own – by the rights of that inheritance.
In past ages, the Jewish people were God’s heritage.
Now Christians have become His heritage.
That was God’s plan – from the beginning of time – that was His purpose in His creation and in His sending His Son into the world.
The heritage was to be in Christ, and unto the promise of His glory.
We cannot really praise God unless that praise is offered in Christ.
Again, all this was according to God’s plan and His purpose.
The blessings just keep coming. A fourth blessing we enjoy as redeemed children of God is that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
When certain events come about in our lives official papers are required – usually by manmade law. These papers are often stamped with an official seal. We think of documents such as a birth certificate, a marriage license, etc.
These documents prove that the proper authorities have seen the documents, and the evidence required, and they have approved that they are valid and true.
Documents like those have been used since ancient times.
So, we received the Holy Spirit when we heard the Word of Truth. We received the Holy Spirit when we believed and responded to that Truth through our Repentance, our Confession of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Lord and Savior, and through our Baptism where our sins were washed away.
And from there, the Holy Spirit begins his work in us. Our daily lives begin to produce holiness and good fruits in us as we begin to grow in Christ.
We are stamped and sealed as God’s property, living, and growing daily as His obedient children.
It should be obvious to those who observe our lives and our behavior that we are in Christ, being guided by His Spirit in our walk and our talk.
So, we have these blessings in Christ:
We are chosen in Christ.
We are redeemed through the blood of Christ.
We have received the inheritance with Christ.
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Our lives are filled with the joy of living with these blessings in Christ..
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