What a Blessing!
Ephesians 1:1-6
“What a Blessing!”
One of the toughest things parents have to teach their children is how to receive a gift gratefully even when they don’t like it; and kids don’t learn that lesson very quickly! Jean and I have some friends who are working on this with their little four year old son. This past Christmas he received a gift from a relative who was present and watching him unwrap it. When it was opened it turned out to be a little toy train that the boy already had. His spontaneous response was, “No, I already have this train. Why would they do this to us?!!” Still, as we mature most of us learn the art of receiving a gift with humility and gratitude—both for the thought and for the gift itself.
And at times it’s not hard at all, is it? When we’re given a great gift it’s not at all hard to be gracious—or when we’re given a meaningful gift by a close friend. I was given and iPod by the pastoral staff at Moody Church a couple of weeks ago. Graciousness came quite easily! At the same event I was given this Bible by Pastor Lutzer. (He’ll be preaching here next Sunday, by the way; I look forward to welcoming him.) Here in the front he wrote a brief message: “Presented to Rev. Daryle Worley from Erwin Lutzer; God’s best for you in your new ministry.” Simple wording, right? Nothing profound. But, do you think this gift means something to me?! There’d be no way to assign a value to it! Its worth immeasurably more than the iPod Why? Because it is a gift of love from one whom I love and have served with for nearly eighteen years—and it’s a copy of God’s word from my pastor as I prepare to enter a pulpit ministry! When we’re given a meaningful gift, we don’t have to work at appreciating it—no, we treasure it.
My friends, Christians have been given a gift. We have been given a gift of love from one whom we have been enabled to love deeply in return. We’ve been given a meaningful gift—a gift which we treasure; a gift of great value, of unspeakable worth. Paul reminded the Ephesian believers of this gift as he opened his letter to them.
It’s a letter that is relatively unencumbered by references to any specific problems in Ephesus. And because of that many have wondered whether it was really addressed to the Ephesian church per se. It also lacks Paul’s customary personal greetings like those that appear in Rom.16, 1Co.16, or Col.4. The words “in Ephesus” there in vs.1 are not in three of the oldest manuscripts. This doesn’t threaten the authenticity at all, though, because the prescript or title “To the Ephesians” appears on every single manuscript. But, all of this taken together lends credence to the idea that this may have been a cyclical letter delivered to a number of the churches in Asia, perhaps all of the ones in Rev.2-3—the ones Tychicus could have visited as he delivered this letter and the one to the Colossians. However, early historical evidence assures us that this letter was most associated with Ephesus—the most prominent city of the region—and that even though it differs a bit from Paul’s usual writing style, he was the author—likely from his Roman imprisonment in 60-61.
As a whole, the intent of the letter seems to be to tell anyone who’s listening what it means and what it should look like to be a Christian. Paul’s greeting was the rather typical “grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” But as Stott put it, “Nothing from Paul’s pen was ever purely conventional. Both nouns are particularly appropriate at the beginning of Ephesians—‘grace’ indicating God’s free, saving initiative, and ‘peace’ what he has taken the initiative to do, namely to reconcile sinners to himself and to each other in this new community” (Stott, 27).
From there, then, beginning in vs.3, Paul erupted in an expression of praise and worship in which he didn’t even stop to catch his breath until the end of vs.14.There is somewhat of a division in his thought, though—a trinitarian division: we see blessing from the Father in vss.3-6, blessing in the Son in vss.7-12; blessing in the Holy Spirit in vss.13-14.
This morning we’re only going to look at vss.3-6: Blessing from the Father. And what a blessing! It is a beautiful medley of praise. John Mackay wrote, “This rhapsodic adoration is comparable to the overture of an opera which contains the successive melodies that are to follow” (in Stott, 32). Let’s look. Three specific blessings are mentioned here in Eph.1:3-6, and the first one is essentially the heading over not only the other two, but over all of the remaining blessings listed as this passage continues through vs.14. Still, we want to look at it first on its own, apart from the list—vs.3.
Blessed with Every Spiritual Blessing – 1:3
The verse opens with the words, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Blessed means to be praised or worthy of praise (Nicoll, 244). It’s written here in the “typical Old Testament and Jewish style of an extended blessing” (O’Brien, 93). You can see a quick example in Psa.72:18-19: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” Here it’s formed as an affirmation, so the focus is on the subject, not on the blessing: It says, “Blessed be God,” as opposed to, “blessed be God.”
Now, “Blessing is a word that works two ways in the OT: it expresses God’s kindness to us as well as our thanks or praise to him” (Liefeld, NIVSBN). And that’s precisely how it works here: God is worthy of blessing—he is to be blessed—because he has blessed us so richly. In fact, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that exists in the heavenly realms. Paul is the only one who uses this interesting statement, “in the heavenly realms,” and he uses it only five times—all here in Ephesians. What he seems to mean by it is essentially “the very presence of God.” And we have access to it! Kent Hughes puts it this way, “The ‘heavenly realms’ are ‘the immaterial reign, the “unseen universe” which lies behind the world of sense’—the place of Christ’s throne, where we are enthroned with him!” (19)
What Paul is telling us is that every spiritual blessing that exists in this glorious realm belongs to all those who are “in Christ”—a phrase that occurs in various forms 11 times in these 12 verses. It refers to those who are identified with Christ, cleansed by his sacrifice, made alive in him. And these folk have all of the blessings of heaven made available to them in Christ—God’s favor is showered upon them. So let’s see what this lavish blessing entails.
Chosen To Be Holy and Blameless – 1:4
First, vs.4, we’ve been chosen by God to be holy and blameless in his sight; wow! Now, what catches your attention in this verse? What ought to catch your attention? What normally catches everyone’s attention? The word chosen—“You mean you expect me to believe that God chose me to receive salvation; I didn’t choose to receive it myself?” And from there the battle rages between competing theological factions that are often deserving of the rebuke given to the Corinthians for the self-promoting divisions they were pursuing.
This particular theological debate cannot be avoided entirely, though. It has many worthy aspects to it and many more cardinal doctrines that intersect with it. Here in Eph.1, however, we need to understand the passage before we begin to use it in debate. What is this passage teaching us? What should strike us most from the content of vs.4? Yes, we have been chosen. And the word means exactly what it sounds like: “to pick or choose out for oneself; choosing one out of many, like Jesus choosing his disciples” (Strong). And, yes, we were chosen from before the foundation of the world—meaning that whatever the reason was for us to have been chosen, it had nothing to do with anything we had done. We certainly didn’t earn it.
If further proof of that fact is needed, read through Rom.9:10-18. There Paul makes this very point using Jacob and Esau as examples. But back here in Eph., and now here’s the point, we were chosen from before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God! Can you imagine any more glorious truth to hear about ourselves from God’s most holy word?!
What emotions run through the heart and mind of a person in court when they hear the words, “Not guilty. You may go free?” How might those emotions be enhanced if he actually was guilty, but the conviction and fine for his crime were voluntarily assumed by someone else? Would he quibble with the judge? Would he argue with his benefactor requesting to know whether he likewise blessed every defendant in this courtroom? Would he charge him with injustice if the response was, “No, I’ve only chosen to bless you in this way?”
My friends, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, and the foremost one that he has highlighted for us is that he has chosen us to be recipients of his grace to the point that we stand faultless, blameless, in the presence of a perfectly holy God! We should praise his holy name that this is even possible. And we should glory in his grace that has made it available to us. This, then, is the context in which we should understand Eph.1.
Predestined for Adoption – 1:5
The final blessing we’ll consider this morning is closely related to our being chosen; in fact, some say it is the logical antecedent to it. Vs.5, “In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ.” Predestined, just like it sounds, means, “to predetermine, or decide beforehand.” Many suggest that the basis for God’s predestination is his foreknowledge, his ability to look down the corridors of time to foresee our free choice, and then he predestines us on that basis. Rom.8:29 seems to agree. The problem is, this passage doesn’t allow for that—and neither, by the way, does the definition of foreknowledge in Rom.8:29.
Here, Paul explicitly gives us the basis for God’s predestination, and it is the purpose of his own will—or perhaps better, the kind intention of his will. The idea is that God delights in fulfilling his purpose to bless us in this way! Again, though, the purpose should be paramount. The target of God’s predestination is our adoption into his family! We become his children with full family rights!
Paul wrote to the Romans (8:15-17), “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” What an inheritance! What a blessing! Yet so often we use this passage and others like it to fuel doctrinal debate. Shame on us. Let us, rather, glory in the goodness and generosity of God.
Illus.: Suppose Bill Gates rang your doorbell some evening, came in, sat on the couch, and said to you, “I have more wealth than you could imagine, more than I—more than many—could spend in a lifetime. I want you to enter into my riches. From now on, all I have is available to you. It is yours just as it is mine. Use it responsibly, but use it.” Would you even think of questioning his goodness or his sense of justice by asking him why he has not made this offer to someone else? Would you not merely feel grateful beyond words? After all, are not Bill Gates’ riches his to do with as he pleases?
Conclusion
Friends, this is how Paul’s spiritually lofty letter to the Ephesians begins—the grandest expression of his theology of the church; the quintessence of Paulinism according to F. F. Bruce (229). He enlightens us to our limitless blessings in Christ, to our blamelessness before God, and to our adoption in to full family intimacy and full family privilege. But then, vs.6, he gives us the overall purpose which, in context, is perhaps the most startling statement in the passage: God did this to the praise of his glorious grace with which he graced us—that’s the word—graced us in Christ.
He did all this for us in order to magnify his grace. That means we are the canvas on which the beautiful portrait of God’s boundless grace is painted for the world to see—that they may see the utter contrast between a world pursuing its own best interest and a church that has been chosen out of the world to display the glory of God. How, then, shall we respond? I’d like to issue three challenges to answer that question.
1. We need a concept of God that is big enough to allow him to be sovereign over every aspect of his creation—including the eternal destiny of its inhabitants. Job came face to face with the bigness of God when he was struggling to make sense out of his incredible suffering. He was goaded by his friends into being willing to question God’s goodness by defending his own righteousness. But in the end God came back at him, asking, (38:2-3) “Who is this that darkens council by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” Then for most of the next four chapters God asked Job questions about the nature of the universe and its operations—unanswerable questions, demonstrating with clarity that God was sovereign and Job was not. God knows how to run his world. He is big enough. And we need a concept of him that matches who he is. We need to be willing to let God be God, and to praise him for it. And we need this in order to understand Eph.1.
2. We need a concept of self that is small enough not to feel offended when we realize that the boundaries of our freedom are far easier to find than the boundaries of God’s freedom. We are just absolutely certain that we have a measure of freedom that is hindered by God’s sovereignty. But that is not so. We can’t really decide anything of consequence. We can’t choose our gifts or abilities, our appearance or physical features, our family or nation of origin. As others have noted, we can’t even decide which side of the road to drive on! Why would we think that we could actually make the choice regarding our eternal destiny? And when we press this matter too far, we get an answer quite similar to Job’s. After making the point that God favored Jacob over Esau before they were born and before either had done right or wrong, Paul anticipated our question. In Rom.10:19 he wrote, “You will say to me then, ‘Why does (God) still find fault? For who can resist his will?’” Then he answered with another question, just as God did to Job: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” We need a concept of self that is small enough not to be offended by the sovereign majesty of God. And we need it in order to understand Eph.1.
3. We need some kind of reminder that is common enough to reinforce the essential importance of Challenges 1 & 2 several times a day. Friends, God has blessed and chosen and predestined us to bring praise to his glorious grace. How are you doing at that task this morning? When others look at you, can they see it—the glorious grace of God? He’s provided what we need to put it on display; we’ll see that in the text of Ephesians in the weeks ahead. But at this point I believe we simply need to ask him to enable us to put it on display every single time it comes to mind—to make it a matter of continuous prayer. And we need some kind of reminder, don’t we? In my office there is a clock that chimes every fifteen minutes. I’ve been asking God to remind me to ask him for the enabling to display his glorious grace every time I hear that chime. Maybe that sounds a bit silly, but I’m firmly convinced that I need to be reminded that often! Is there something that could remind you often enough to actually see some success? Perhaps you have clock that chimes in your home or office. If not, maybe you have a child who cries or a phone that rings or a person who shows up—something that happens several times a day. Could that serve as a reminder to you to ask God for the enabling to live every moment of your life to the praise of his glorious grace—to live as a blessed and chosen and predestined child of God, holy and blameless before him? I do believe that might be one of the simplest, but one of the best ways to bless God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.