Ephesians Chapter 1 Verse 3
· Perhaps the most important word to baseline the entirety of this exceptional promise is actually one of the smallest words, “has.” Don’t miss that. Before we talk about what’s stated in terms of the promise, notice the promise isn’t yet ahead, isn’t contingent upon anything I have yet to do or yet to continue in doing or even yet not to do. This incredible promise of God, HAS been delivered to you and to me in Christ.
· That’s the thing about grace and frankly it’s not fair. God’s resources, unconditional love, incessantly faithful support and guidance, are there for us always. No matter how much I have blown it, no matter if I’m blowing it right now… In turning to God, I will find Him already turned towards me. All because of the cross of Christ, sufficient for the forgiveness of all sin, for all time!
· Now what’s interesting and maybe why so many miss what God has for them is that they are demanding God to deliver where He has not promised. The promise is that we have been blessed, there for us right now and always, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place in Christ. Very different than, “God, bless me with every physical blessing, on earth, in Jesus name, amen.”
· The blessing in the spiritual supersedes and outlives the blessing of the material. And truly to appreciate and enjoy and rightly spend the blessings of the physical (because they all end up spent), the spiritual should have the preeminence.
· It’s simple really. If I am not blessed spiritually, struggling with love, low on joy, not really at peace with myself or others, no strength to suffer, no self-discipline, short on kindness and faithfulness and I come up in a worldly sense, it’s not good enough, not enough, not satisfying and even can be disastrous not only for me but for others. But take someone who is rich in the Spirit, loving, joyful, filled with grace, walking in peace, strength of character to deny the flesh and strong in kindness of heart and bless them materially, well that’s an entirely different story…
· It’s like as I was driving to work on Thursday morning. I was sitting at a light and I looked next to me and there was this super nice car and I was like, “Alright man, nice car!” And I went even to give the thumbs up, ya know. HA! But the look on the guy’s face behind the wheel…he just looked so miserable! Like he wanted to hurt me! And so, I made up this narrative in my head, “My life is falling apart. I hate my job. I’ll probably lose it soon. My wife left me, I ‘ve got no friends…but hey, thumbs up on my car!!” It’s sorta like that…
· The fact is, as stated here by Paul, you and I have been blessed by God because and in Jesus with everything that truly pertains to life and godliness which is in the Spirit, reserved and sent and even housed in heaven, with you name, my name, on it like a Christmas present under the tree. It’s there, all of it, in Christ. And so, the access to this account, these unrestricted and inexhaustible riches, we achieve that by stepping into Jesus and surrendering our own will to being second fiddle to God’s will.
· Before someone is in Christ Jesus, they are not able to benefit from the spiritual blessings and divine resources of God. God’s wealth for every believer is deposited in Christ! And listen, if you are in Christ today, its not that you WILL BE blessed when your ship comes in. Your ship came in 2,000 years ago! You went from having a sinful nature in Adam, to now having a divine nature in Jesus!
· Perhaps the confusing part of it all is the grace aspect. That the covenant that we are in now with God is one in the Spirit, based on grace, as a result of the obedience, perfection and blood of Jesus. It wasn’t always that way. The Old Covenant was a physical covenant. Obey and God will bless. And even things like wealth and health hinged upon the obedience of the Jews. But that was the Old Covenant, a physical covenant, and one that was fulfilled in Jesus.
· This is revealed in Jeremiah 31:31-33, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
· And people get really tripped up in this problem in that expectations of blessing are levied upon God such as happiness, health, wealth and prosperity but all of those are physical blessings…and yes God can do all of those things today but He is under no obligation to heal, no obligation to bless financially, and so on… Truly, that is all Old Covenant talk. The Covenant with God now between Him and His people is one in the Spirit…one based upon grace granted by the accomplishment of Jesus and not of obedience unto blessing.
· And we are given perhaps one of the primary and most important spiritual blessings in these next verses…
Ephesians Chapter 1 Verses 4 – 12
· Before we tackle the behemoth, can we just talk for one moment about adoption? Do you see that there in verse 5? “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself.” If I have nothing and I am homeless, and then I get adopted by a super-rich family, do you think they leave me on the side of the street? Absolutely not! You and I have been adopted into the family of God through Jesus. And so, we have access to everything that God the Father can and has provided!
· Ok, onto the 500lb elephant in the room… (Ephesians 1:11), “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things,” And this statement aligns with many other passages such as Romans 8:29, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” There are many many others.
· And yet we also read 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is patient toward you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” And John 3:16, “For God so loved the (entire) world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever would believe in Him, would not perish but have everlasting life.” So, which is it? It is the will and work of God to predestine some or is it the will and work of God that all should come to repentance and faith?
· This is such a sticky subject in the church today and on one hand I understand, but on the other, part of me just is like whatever. We have such a tendency to concentrate on the 1% we don’t agree about rather than spending our time focused on the 99% we do agree about. But I get it.
· This subject is like the story I heard of a guy that walked into a church that held to a strict interpretation of predestination. And they asked Him, “How’d you find our church?” And he said, “Well, I didn’t. I just decided to come.” So, they kicked him out! Then he went across the street to the church that rejects predestination and they asked him the same question. He said, “Well, I guess I was sent.” So, THEY kicked him out! HA! The goodness is that the guy was going to church, tho! HA! Anyway, I digress…
· So, is it salvation through free will or is it salvation through predestination? Am I saved through my own will or through God’s will? The answer is yes which is confusing but the clarity, explanation, understanding, resolution…is in the sovereignty of God.
· The sovereignty of God…that in all things, God is all knowing, all powerful and all present. That what He promises, He cannot recant. And what He gives, He cannot steal away. He is good. God, in His sovereignty, created man, and unto that creation He declared in Genesis 1:26, “Let them have dominion.” In His sovereignty, He gave man free will. And that’s the key!
· And so, is God sovereign? Yes. Is man responsible then for his own destiny? Yes. Does God know who will and will not choose Him? Yes…. But He GAVE man the ability, capacity, gift and responsibility to choose through his own dominion in his own will… and because God is sovereign, that is the way it must be. So, am I saved by grace or through faith? YES!
· BIG QUESTION. Why still create then? Well, that’s love. If God resolved to only create those that would choose Him then is He really creating in accordance with His gift? The gift of free will? And is He really creating the circumstance of choice upon and within His creation? No way. Without choice there is no love. Love without choice is not love at all…
· It simply comes down to this. Have you chosen Jesus? Then you are the elect. Have you rejected Jesus? Then you are not. This is a long discussion for sure…and honestly, you can disagree with me and that is fine, don’t spend a lot of time here. Spend your time encouraging and serving and loving and building up and caring for others. Not convincing them that you’ve figured out something that you demand they figure out too…
· Look, Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God predestines anyone to hell. You see, that’s where critics of God’s sovereign grace dead-end. Is that ultimately, they have to insert into scripture what is not there…
· We get so stuck in the snow stuck in verses 4 and 5 that its almost like we don’t even care about verses 6-12! Stuck in the snow stuck…sitting there spinning wheels, burning gas, looking stupid…doing too much and going nowhere. Verse 7 says I am redeemed…sins forgiven being clothed forever into the riches of a good God’s grace!
· That redemption, that indwelling presence of God, my new divine nature, what comes with that as I step into all that God has for me…verse 8! Wisdom and prudence and knowledge of even the mysteries of God’s will…that we who first trusted in Christ (my part), should be to the praise of His glory (His part, and the amazing life-long and life-filling benefit of being adopted into the Household of the Highest)!