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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him………
“Oh goodness, I hadn’t given her a thought”.
It was Christmas morning, and I'd just realised I'd entirely forgotten about an expected guest who was vegan...I knew she was being kind enough to bring her own "meat," but the trimmings, along with the dessert, were my responsibility....and some of those foods were clearly not fit for a vegan.... how could she now be an afterthought?
Being an afterthought in anyone's eyes is undoubtedly not a nice feeling, and I am certain that I am not alone in my failings when my forgetfulness overrules my consideration for people.
Fortunately, as far as our heavenly Father is concerned, His children are most certainly not an afterthought, they are the complete opposite.
In Ephesians chapter 1, as we start to read Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, we find Paul in jail, imprisoned for preaching the truth of the Gospel, but even in this dire situation Paul had the desire to give God glory and to encourage the Christians in the new churches and I hope you too will be encouraged as we look at Ephesians 1:3-14
Imagine you're a new Christian in Ephesus, you receive word that a letter from the great Apostle Paul has arrived, so you go to hear what this man of God has to say to you. You've come to understand that you've been chosen and called by God, that you've been set apart, and now you need some encouragement to live the life that is worthy of this great calling, because while you're now a Christian and have some productive days, you also have problems, all kinds of troubles, and discouragements, and you want to hear what Paul has to say...will what he has to say encourage you in any way?
v3 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.
Paul starts with the word 'blessed', however since God has no need of anything and is complete in every manner, we can't bless God in the same way that He blesses us. Blessed here is derived from the Greek word eulogy, which means to praise or commend, and we are required to do just that.
Why is Paul exhorting the Ephesian church to worship and glorify God? It is in response to the blessings that were planned by God the Father, that have been accomplished by His beloved Son and have been applied to us by the Holy Spirit. Paul then speaks of these blessings in v3-14.
Before the 16th century, before punctuation and numbers were introduced into the scriptures, we would have seen that verses 3 through 14 were originally written as one incredibly long sentence.
It's long because Paul just wants to speak of the blessings we have been given in Christ Jesus, and he just can’t stop!!
Paul declares here that salvation has provided us with every kind of blessing that can be received spiritually for our spiritual well-being and our resource and motivation for holy living.
Paul tells the Ephesians that they have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and that they should be holy and blameless before him.
When did this choosing take place; before the foundation of the world – how amazing that we were not an afterthought - but before the world was even formed God chose us. This is mind-blowing that before God spoke a word and the earth was formed God chose us to be adopted into His family.
As if that wasn’t enough, he gives us some understanding as to what He chose us for; He chose us to be holy and blameless before Him. This is our standing with God, this is our position before Him, we stand before Him as if we had never sinned, God now looks at us and sees Christ’s righteousness. Paul is also talking about sanctification, our holiness, and our position of being set apart for God, and we are or should be growing more holy as we go through our Christian life; we grow more Christlike. Now we might not be able to measure this daily, it may be 3 steps forward, 2 steps back……I can think of some days when I certainly don’t feel and act holy or blameless, but as we are guided by God into progressive, practical holiness, there will be a growth in our understanding and application of God’s Word and our Christlikeness.
Paul then states the next blessing, remember this is all one sentence, that God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ for Himself. We are given all the rights of being God’s sons (and daughters) but it gets even better because, unlike human parents, who can bestow their love, resources, and inheritance on an adopted child but not their distinguishing traits, God miraculously bestows His nature on those who have repented and trusted in Christ. He conforms people to the image of His Son, bestowing upon them not only Christ's righteousness, riches, and blessings, but also His very nature.
Why would he do such a thing? why would he choose us and adopt us?...he did it for His purpose, for His glory, Paul says according to the good pleasure of His will; God took pleasure in choosing us as His children so we would be conformed to His image and also to the praise of the glory of His grace. It’s not about me or you, it’s about Him, and it puts Him on display. This is the ultimate motive as to why God predestined us to adoption, to the praise of the glory of His grace. God planned to choose, predestine, and adopt unworthy children so that His grace would be praised. How wonderful is God’s grace!
The second half of verse 6 continues by saying that we are accepted in the beloved; this indicates that we are highly favoured in the beloved, that we are objects of His favour, that we as God's children are the object of His love and affection...How incredible is it that the creator of the universe loves you, loves me with an unending love?
Paul also tells us that we have redemption through his blood. Redemption at that time meant a release from captivity and slaves could be redeemed by relatives who bought their freedom… what was the price for our redemption, for our freedom from being slaves to sin?...it was the blood of Christ, we can’t buy, can’t work our way into heaven, it’s only by the blood of Jesus.
He has forgiven our sins. What does it mean to forgive, it means to release something from someone which is binding, before we were saved, we were bound in darkness and sin. Forgiveness means to send away….as far as the east is from the west it says in Psalm 103:12…how far is east from west?.... it's incalculable!.......never to be seen again, he remembers them no more. This forgiveness is according to the riches of His grace, again this is all for Him, for His glory.
Still not taking a breath to punctuate, Paul runs on in verse 8 and we see another blessing, he made wisdom and insight abound to us. We have been granted wisdom and insight, we have been given the ability to see into the heart of things and given understanding and discernment that lead to the right actions, we’re given these blessings of wisdom and insight so that we can make the right decisions in life that are according to Gods will and that bring Him glory. Where can we find wisdom and insight if we feel it's lacking…in the bible says James 1:5
This wisdom and insight are given in relation to the next blessing which is that he has made known to us the mystery of his will.
A dictionary definition of mystery is ‘something difficult or impossible to understand or explain…’ Without this wisdom and insight, we wouldn’t understand the mystery of the gospel. The Bible says we have the mind of Christ, how do we have the mind of Christ….it’s in God’s word…you want to know what Christ would do…read His book. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
And here we have again that this is for God’s good pleasure, it’s all for Him, for His glory.
Having been predestined to adoption in Christ we now have obtained an inheritance, this is speaking of our inheritance in heaven, we are God's children, adopted into God’s family with the rights of His children. This blessing is according to the purpose of God’s will, it cannot fail. Our plans fail, but God’s plans made according to the kind intentions of His will never fail. God's purpose and plans for our lives never fail.
God gave you the ability to trust in Christ. He has opened our eyes and given us faith and the ability to believe and trust in Christ. We might be chosen by God, but we still need to believe, trust, and have faith in Christ. God is sovereign but man is responsible. We have a responsibility to believe and respond to the Gospel, but first of course we needed to hear it.
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. Remember how legal documents used to be sealed many years ago, with red sealing wax, you would melt it and stamp it to give it authority so that it could not be revoked, it was secure. When we are sealed with the Spirit, God gives us the promise of Himself, an assurance of His love, a guarantee that we are the Lord’s inheritance until he receives full possession of us; until the day when we fully reflect our owner’s character, when we are conformed to the image of His Son. It is a sign of ownership. No one can pluck us out of God’s hand, He is ours, and we are His, owned by our Lord and master…we are His and His promise to us cannot be broken.
This is our guarantee that God will preserve our eternal salvation, it is His pledge to His children.
Paul is astonished by the kindness and goodness of God to sinful people. Although God’s blessings are all to the praise of His glory and His plan for our life is all about Christ, Paul looks to the blessings and the security that the believer has in Christ.
Why did God create man?
Why did He allow him to sin?
Why call him to repentance?
Why did He bless, and why does He still bless all those who truly repent with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places?
Why did he choose us before the foundation of the world?
Why does he make us holy and blameless?
Why does He predestine us to adoption as His children?
Why does He redeem us through His blood?
Why does he lavish grace and forgiveness upon us?...
……….it’s for Christ, ultimately He purposed it for Christ, it’s all about Christ. We did not pursue God; he pursued us and bestowed upon us these blessings, we could never deserve or earn these blessings, so why do we not feel the benefits of these resources sometimes? Why do we live as though we don’t have any spiritual blessing from God? If we are those who God has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”….why do we sometimes not feel loved, not have peace, not feel chosen, not feel forgiven…we still can’t sleep thinking about things we’ve done, we don’t practice wisdom, we make senseless choices etc….we never enjoy our blessings, our resources.
Is it because we seldom think of these blessings, we seldom thank God for these blessings, and we seldom consider the alternative? Are we so concerned about the here and now that we forget our inheritance, we forget our best life is yet to come? Are we preoccupied with our earthly lives to such an extent that we seldom consider the glorious life that awaits us? Or are we sometimes so affected by the culture of the world that we fall into the trap of only considering material and prosperity blessings to be true blessings? Do we only look for physical gratification in our blessings?
Paul wrote these blessings to the early Christians to encourage them, to enable them to live in a blessed emotional environment, in a reassuring and comforting environment, knowing that they could be secure in their faith and their walk regardless of their situations, to assure them that they belonged to God. He also wanted to enrich and encourage their worship of God by making them aware of their blessings. This is how Paul must have felt even though he was in jail, he was secure in his faith and his salvation, and he was able to rejoice in his release from the penalty of sin and his eventual deliverance from sin’s reality.
I hope that reading this has reminded you of your blessings from God, that it’s refreshed them in your mind, and that it has encouraged your desire to worship and to strive in your obedience to God.
That you have been reminded of the way that a Holy God has lavished such love, grace, and goodness to sinful people.
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