Ephesians 1:3-5
If you were to look at the Greek Bible and turn to Ephesians 1, you would soon see that verse 3 to 14 is one long sentence. Paul's mind goes on and on because gift after gift and wonder after wonder from God pass before his eyes and enter into his mind.
Ephesians is a tremendous book. Often, it is recognized as the "The Queen of the Epistles" -- and rightly so. It helps us understand the crucial questions in our heart...WHO IS GOD, followed by WHO IS MAN.
When man makes a choice to be "IN CHRIST", God sees that person in a totally new light. "IN CHRIST" means that we have made a decision to become a Christian, to become a Christ-follower. We have asked God's forgiveness and seeking to live in obedience to Him.
(1) - "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God." Apostle is "one sent forth with a message." it was not his plan, his ambition. He recognized that God had called him, chosen him to do this.
Jesus said to his disciples: (John 15:16) "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last."
(2) - "Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
(3) - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing."
We are not waiting to be blessed. "You have been." These are spiritual blessings, ones that only heaven can offer. These are spiritual blessings, meaning they are of the Holy Spirit.
Imagine the Holy Spirit at the assembly line when you received these blessings. I'll give him this, her that... No. Every one of God's children receives all the blessings that are available to man. If you are a child of God, you are lacking nothing spiritually.
In other words, when as a Christian, these blessings are recognized only when we live in obedience.
(4) "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."
God sees you as one he has chosen. In fact, every Christian is chosen. Chosen to salvation. But we are not chosen because of what we have done. We are chosen in Christ. This reminds us that salvation does not begin with man, but in eternity past with God.
The Bible also teaches, however, that even though God has chosen us, we are responsible to choose God. John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him." In v.40 He also says, "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life."
CH Spurgeon used to say, "It's a good thing that God chose me before I was born, because he surely would not have afterwards."
This ought to reassure us of God's love for us. God choosing us means that the weakness of our faith will not cause our salvation to be taken from us. Our salvation lies in the fact of who God is, his plan & choice.
Holy means different. Something which is holy is different from ordinary things. This building is holy because its purpose is different from other buildings. The Sabbath is to be holy, different from other days. Thus, God chose man to be different from other men. The tendency of the church today is to play down the difference between the church and the world. God's choice for his chosen ones was more than living a decent, respectable life. Identifiable as a Christian at school, shop, office...everywhere. Here's the difference -- the Christian lives, works, behaves, not as any human law compels him to but as the law of Christ compels him to do.
This is a sacrificial word. Under the Jewish law, an animal could be offered as a sacrifice only after close examination. If a single blemish was found, it would be rejected. It was an unfit offering to God.
Our whole life is to be blameless. Pleasure, sport, home, relationships, work.
This word does not mean that man must be respectable; it means that he must be perfect in order to be a fit offering to God.
(5) "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will"
In God's love for man, knowing that man could not be perfect, he planned an adoption.
Under Roman law the Father of the family had absolute power over his children so long as he and they lived. He could sell them as a slave and kill them. This continues to be the case even when the son grows older. "I brought you into this world, I can take you out."
Under Roman Law, a child could not possess anything; all property of Father. Thus adoption was a very serious step. Serious to take a child from one family and place them in another.
The ritual was very impressive. There was a symbolic sale. Twice the real father sold his son, and twice he symbolically bought him back. After this, the adopting father had to go to a principal Roman Magistrate, plead his case, then the adoption was complete.
The person who had been adopted had all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family, and lost all rights in his old family. In the eyes of the law he was a new person. So new that all debts and obligations connected with his previous family were canceled out and abolished as if they had never existed.
That's what God has done for us. We were absolutely in the power of sin and of the world; and God, through Jesus, took us out of that power into His power; and that adoption cancels and wipes out the past and we are made new. We have passed from the family of the world and into he family of God.
What does God think of you? He chose you, blessing you with every blessing there is to offer. He adopted you, thus making you a completely new person. In heaven's eyes he sees you as one fit for the family of God and heaven. He sees you as holy and without blemish.
It is a devastating thing to live your life below your potential. To feel inadequate or worthless. The is one reason many Christians live fruitless, anemic, defeated lives. If Satan has a strategy to defeat the Christian, and he does, he will do his best at getting them to believe they are less than they really are. They will defeat themselves.
Romans 12 says that we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We must put right thoughts into our mind. That's what Ephesians does. Paul is letting us know what God thinks of you as a Christian. IMPORTANT! He wants you to know that your are: Accepted, secure, significant.
From the previous study:
1. He has blessed you with every spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1:3
2. He chose you. Ephesians 1:4
3. In Christ you are seen as holy and blameless. Ephesians 1:4
4. He adopted you into his family. Ephesians 1:5
In this study we see the the idea that you were RESCUED. That makes it sound like I was in some kind of trouble. Like you were in a burning building, drowning, lost at sea. In Ephesians 2:1 it describes from what we are to be rescued. We had an eye mask on that hindered us from seeing God. We were rescued from blindness and the destiny of hell.
Man's need is not to become religious, to become a church-goer. Being RESCUED means much more than that. It is by God's grace (Ephesians 1:6-8) that you were rescued and not by man, your efforts or the Church.
John 1:12 - I am God's child
John 15:15 - I am Christ's friend
Romans 5:1 - I have been justified
1 Corinthians 6:20 - I have been bought with a price; I belong to God.
1 Corinthians 12:27 - I am a member of Christ's body
Ephesians 1:1 - I am a saint.
Ephesians 2:18 - I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:14 - I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins.
Colossians 2:10 - I am complete in Christ. Understanding these truths is where the dynamic, spirit-filled Christ life begins. See your selves as God sees you.
crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed…" 2 Cor. 4:8,9
How do you keep standing in times like this?
What we have learned so far from Ephesians 1:3-8:
A. God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)
B. God chose you (Ephesians 1:4)
C. In Christ you are seen as holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4)
D. God adopted you into his family (Ephesians 1:5)
E. God sees you as redeemed (Ephesians 1:7)
F. God sees you as forgiven (Ephesians 1:7)
Today we want to add to the list and provide a brief application.
1. A finished transaction
2. Ownership
3. Security
Paul took a word that was used in everyday life to help us understand an important spiritual truth. When a parcel was shipped out, the sender would place his seal on it. This was a guarantee that it came from the sender, and that all was he sent it.
People always wish they were in the "inner circle". God honored you by putting you in the highest honor society of all.
So what? What difference should this portion of Scripture make to our lives?
1 Peter 2:9-12
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God's people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul, and maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears."
Ask and answer these questions:
Matthew 21:1-11
This day was just as it had happened many times before. And yet it was very different.
It was the practice of the High Priest to go to Bethlehem and return to Jerusalem with a perfect lamb on the 4th day before Passover. All the Passover lambs came from Bethlehem. After finding the spotless lamb, the High Priest would enter Jerusalem through the Northern Gate. As the Priest was nearing the city, people would line the streets with Palm branches and recite or shout the words they had learned as children,
Hosanna to the Lamb of God who has come to save us from our sins” (Psalm 118:25-26)
It was a Jewish Passover custom. Everything was happening as it had happened many years before. And yet this day was going to be very different.
Jesus, the Son of God is being carried on a donkey, probably moments behind the High Priest. Just days before, Word has spread throughout the region that Jesus had performed his final test required for the one they would declare their Messiah. The Messiah was to raise a person, that had been in the grave 4 days, from the dead. Lazarus.
The word was out. News spreads that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem, upon a donkey, on the road from Bethany which brings you directly through the Eastern Gate. The words suddenly bring new life and meaning. The shouts are louder than just moments before,
Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!
Look! Your king is coming to you:
he is legitimate and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
Jesus of Nazareth, the perfect lamb of God born in Bethlehem, hears the cries of people running toward him, “Hosanna to the Son of God who has come to save us from our sins”. Palm branches in their hand they run to line the streets to welcome the final sacrificial lamb and the One that will save them from their sins.
My Point: The Eastern Gate was shut by Muslims in 1530AD, supposedly to deter the Jewish Messiah from entering. For further insurance, they established a burial ground in front of the gate, knowing that it would keep a Jew from coming near. Yet we do know that Jesus will come again, this time upon a white horse and a few bricks will not stop him. My question is this, if you knew he was coming again, let’s say today, would you line the streets to shout and sing?
Matthew 21:12-16, Exodus 12:1-51
The Passover Celebration began the day that the children of Israel were preparing to escape from their life of slavery in Egypt. God instructed each family to take a perfect male lamb and on the 14th day of the month, at sundown, they were to kill the lamb publicly, so that all could witness it. Then they were to personally take some of the blood to smear it on the door post of their home. On the two sides and then the top. When the Lord passed over the land to judge them, he would see the blood and pass over that home, withhold judgment.
Here’s where it becomes fascinating.
We all know the story of placing the blood on the doorposts. What we don’t know is that as the blood was applied the blood, it symbolized a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter “chet” 
– and means “life”. It’s amazing to me to know that God would instruct the families to put “life” above them.
Death cannot come to where God has placed life.
Luke 20:20-26
A funny thing happened in the Temple Courts. It all started when the religious authorities sent some of their best debaters in to trick Jesus in a mental game. Think on that one a moment. The creator of our universe on one side of the debate table – on the others side the created. The odds in Vegas were not that great.
First a little background. The stuff you may not know.
The Jewish people were forbidden to have in their possession any image to worship. The last thing they would do was to bring such an image or idol into the temple. Only a few years earlier soldiers came into Jerusalem with great banners in hand with the image of Caesar on them. They attached them to the Antonia Fortress next to the Temple. The Jews were incensed with anger and were willing to die if they would not be taken down.
John 17:1
It’s early Friday morning, about 1:00am.
Jesus and 11 of his disciples have left the upper room where the Passover meal was celebrated. They walk across town toward the Eastern Gate which would lead them to the Garden of Gethsemane. Along the way they have to pass through the temple courts and by the altar where lambs have been sacrificed, their blood poured on the altar as an offering to God.
I need for you to think on what they must have seen.
The number of lambs slain for the Passover was immense. A census was taken thirty years after Jesus ascension to heaven – the number of sheep slain was 256,000. (And yes, I double checked that number.) No doubt Jesus has seen this many times, but today he has chosen to be THE SACRIFICIAL LAMB for the sins of the entire world.
Does Jesus pause to take in this scene?
From the altar, down to the brook Kedron, a channel has been excavated; developed to allow the blood of the Passover lambs to drain away. No doubt the brook is still red. Jesus walks down that very slope and over the brook. He sees the blood that has been shed as an offering to God. Does Jesus stop to ponder the words that he has just prayed? “The time has come. Glorify your Son” (John 17:1). Jesus, the Son of God, Deity, the name that is above every name continues on the path to the olive garden.
What’s my Point: While the image of this scene may be grotesque for us to visualize; pause for a moment and know that Jesus saw all this, knowing his blood will be shed this very day as God’s perfect sacrifice. There were moments when Jesus could have called it all off but he continued so that you and I could be reconciled to God. What’s my point? Jesus’ intense love for you. He continued because of you and me. There’s not a better time to reconfirm your love and devotion back to him, our Lamb of God.
”Thank you Lord………"(finish that sentence)
Luke 23:46
During Passion week our thoughts are often set on the physical suffering of Jesus. It is true that no matter how hard we try, our words cannot clearly describe the extent of Jesus suffering. It is also true that if our attention is only on the physical aspects of Jesus’ final hours on earth, we just might miss the greatest meaning of all.
When we pause to remember today’s events in Jesus’ final week, the words that come to mind may be: Agony, torture, humiliation. And just maybe, the most important word picture of all is Satisfaction.
Let me explain.
John 20:1-10
I love hearing the response to the most significant phrase in the history of Christianity. As a Pastor, I would call out to the congregation each Easter Sunday, “He is risen!” the response was the confirmation, “He is risen indeed!!” I have never become complacent with that phrase because it strikes the very core of my entire belief system and the values that shape my life. There are reasons to shout it with passion. Every reason validates it’s reality.
Billions live without the confirmation. Someone needs to tell them.
There are those that want to disprove the reality. They sound like fools in the process. The Devil himself is the courtroom plaintiff holding his best charge against the resurrection.
“He didn’t really die!” is his best argument. “Jesus merely fainted from the physical and emotional trauma and later revived in the coolness of the tomb. While there he regained strength and pushed back the large stone that sealed the tomb’s entrance.”
With that the Devil sits down and gives a foul grin to the defense – you.
