Ephesians Talk 1

‘In Christ we have an inheritance: Guaranteed’
Introduction
I used to work in a consulting engineering firm, I’ve since repented of that so don’t hold it against me, but one day one of the project managers asked one of the younger engineers if a set of drawings for a particular project was going to get out the door today to meet the contract deadline. The younger engineer, who was fairly new from China replied, ‘I’m not sure!’. To which the project manager responded something along the lines of, ‘well that isn’t good enough, I need a guarantee!’

So the younger engineer went to the slightly jaded, weary and parochially Australian senior drafts person who was preparing the documentation it to find out for sure.

After a quick consultation she returned. The project manager asked, ‘Is it going out today?’. To which the young engineer very eagerly and positively replied, ‘Yes, it is going out today, she said we have TWO chances!

Now what got lost in translation, is that those two chances were buckley’s and none!
Guarantees are hard to find in this world aren’t they, it seems no one always meets their obligations - even when it’s a legal contract.

In this life we all know the overwhelming feeling that uncertainties bring and that is why we want guarantees!

Well What a stark contrast we see in the promises of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ as written in the Letter called Ephesians.
P1 – Paul God’s apostle, writes to the saints
Ephesians 1:1-14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
by the will of God,
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful
in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace and peace to you
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul in Verse 1, as is usual in his letters, emphasizes the authority of the message he is bringing by reminding the readers, or the hearers, that he is Christ’s apostle, one of the few messengers specially chosen by God and most importantly sent by God with a message for the world. A message which is now the Gospel inscripturated in the Bible – a message entrusted to us to continue to proclaim to a lost world.

A Gospel Paul regularly summarizes in the short pithy expression we find in verse 2. As ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’

A great summary of the Gospel when you think of it, the most important thing anyone needs in life is grace from God, and peace with God. A Grace and Peace only found in Jesus.

Paul writes this letter while a prisoner we learn, from a number of references throughout the letter including 3:1, 4:1. This prisoner for Christ highlights he is not concerned that his liberties are taken away by chains, because his inheritance is with God in heaven, which cannot be taken.

The letter is addressed to the saints, particularly the Gentile saints at Ephesus. A city Paul had been to and caused quite a rucous at if you remember in Acts 19-20, where the city basically rioted because Paul’s Gospel preaching was effecting their income from selling idols.

Now as we work through the book, you may note a particular emphasis that is concerned with the ‘heavenly realms’, which is unusual for us in 21st century western society, but seems to be a concern of the Ephesian Christians who lived in a city dominated by the goddess ‘artemis’. A factor that would have lead to some level of physical and it appears reasonable to say, spiritual, opposition, for the Christian believers. In addition, many of the converted Christians had previously been heavily involved in magic as we learn in Acts 19, which would have no doubt had a significant impact upon their spiritual understanding of the world.

And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. 21

But Paul starts his overview of his letter to the Ephesians by explaining important Christian truths. Truths that begin from a very important theological premise, they start with looking at the sovereign action of our God and then it’s result on our behalf. In light of God’s action, Paul reminds us of three important truths;
P2 – We are Chosen, Blessed and adopted in 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
in Christ.
4 For he chose us
in him
before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless
in his sight.
In love
5 he predestined us
to be adopted as his sons
through Jesus Christ,
in accordance with his pleasure and will--
6 to the praise of his glorious grace,
which he has freely given us
in the One he loves.
7 In him


As we start chapter one of the letter, Paul outlines his goal for writing in brief – which he will go on to expand throughout the following chapters. Paul wants all the
saints to be assured about what God has done for them, he wants them to be certain of their inheritance. He is giving them a guarantee.

He has this refraining idea of the generosity of God towards us, in v3 we are ‘blessed’, in v4 we are ‘chosen’, and in v5 ‘predestined’, to receive the inheritance he has prepared for us. And verse 5 goes on to say that it is God’s sovereign and free choice to be generous in this way, ‘in accordance with his pleasure and will’.

This, my friends, is magnificent news! And yet I bet at least a couple of us hear these words of ‘chosen’ and ‘predestined’ and feel just a little uncomfortable – maybe a little embarrassed! I mean predestined sounds like a left over idea from the dark ages.


We live in a generation of rights and free choices, we can choose anything these days. We can go to Paris for Sunday lunch and be in Africa for Monday breakfast. We can choose to change careers every couple of years. In our society we even demand the right to choose the gender that we will fall in love with, and we even
believe that we have the right to chose what gender we will be – which is probably more likely when we were living in Newtown than Blaxland I’ll admit, but you get the picture, we are a society obsessed with our free right to chose everything, and want no obligations regarding anything!

How dare God ‘predestine’ ME!
Because, the logic goes, if God predestines me, how am I free to choose God? It seems quite an imposition on my humanity – if you like. But this ‘logic’ owes more to Greek philosophical thought (or call it bush logic if you like), than it does to the Bible. You see the Bible tells us that God is sovereign over everything, ‘he gives the Kingdoms of the earth to whom he chooses’…… the book of kings tells us

And despite this, the Bible also affirms that each person is responsible for their choices before God, the Gospels are full of the call that the Kingdom of God is near repent and believe.

The Bible shows God as sovereign even over and despite mans choices – In the story of Joseph in Genesis, we see the evil intent of his brothers in selling Joseph into slavery. But in the end Joseph acknowledges the sovereign goodness of God over all this situation when he declares, ‘what you intended for evil, God has purposed for good’.

SO the Logic of the Bible, is not some tyrannous God who fickly determines our path’s, but a personal and generous God – one who freely gives in accordance with his good pleasure and will. He has the riches, he is after all God, and he freely bestows them upon us – I mean how exactly can you receive an inheritance, if someone hasn’t decided before hand to give it to you?

A good lawyer maybe? That might help to you get your hands on Aunty Ethel’s money, prior to your cousins, but even an exceptional lawyer is not going to be able to subpoena God. I mean what court would you drag him into?

God has determined himself since before the creation of the world, to bestow on us an inheritance. It his pleasure and will, but most importantly Ephesians tells us, God’s blessing is found exclusively ‘in Christ’. V1, V3, V4, V6, V7, V9, V11 and V13 talks about receiving our blessing and the extent of the blessing ‘in Christ’.


This passage, and in fact the whole letter, is full of the necessity of Christ and what we receive ‘in Christ’. All God’s spiritual blessings are found exclusively ‘in
Christ’. ‘In Christ’ we are adopted as sons and daughters and can genuinely call God ‘Our Father’.

Paul wants us to be assured that God has determined (predetermined if you like) to do us good in Christ Jesus. We have a sure and certain hope and inheritance ‘in Christ’ that any opposition, even evil in the heavenly realms which the book of Ephesians seems to emphasize, cannot take away

Application:
So what does this passage mean for us today? Well two words: Assured and Exclusive
-Assured: We don’t need to feel hopeless and fear life and it’s hardships, but we are able to trust in God’s sovereignty and goodness. We have sure and certain inheritance – where the moth can’t eat and rust can’t spoil

And the second thing this passage means for us today is:
- exclusive: The blessings of God are found in Christ, and in Christ Alone V3. SO logically if every spiritual blessing is found in Christ, there’s none left over, and none to be found anywhere else. So let me ask you, deep down, when no one else is looking are you looking somewhere else for an inheritance and blessing, some where other than in Christ alone?

Christ demands an exclusive life from us – are you playing with the gods of this world?

I know a bloke who was a regular at church and decided to go O/S to ‘clear his head and find some answers about life’. And a concerned mate said to him,’ you won’t find the answers by clearing your head, you’ll find them in hearing God speak in the Bible’. Or as Ephesians put it, you find them ‘in Christ’. That guy went O/S, and cleared his mind, he didn’t really find anything earth shatteringly new on his travels about life, but he did lose something – his Christian faith.

Paul wants us to be assured, We are chosen, blessed and adopted, but it is exclusively in Christ. We are chosen from eternity for eternity. God showers on us the riches of his glorious grace in Christ Jesus, and it’s for this we have been chosen, blessed and adopted.

But in verses 7 and 8 Paul goes on to explain, our third idea for today
P3 – God’s rich grace to us was costly
7 In him
we have redemption
through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins,
in accordance with the riches of God's grace
8 that he lavished
on us
with all wisdom and understanding

Why does God make such a big deal about spiritual blessings being found alone in Christ, well it’s because our inheritance was extremely costly to God. What could be more precious to God the father, than God the Son? What greater thing does the Father have that he could offer instead of the Son? Christ’s life, death and resurrection are a concrete, and in fact the ultimate, expression of God’s love towards us.


Throughout the book of Ephesians, what is surprising is the emphasis of the letter upon the resurrection, as evangelical Christians we are so used to talking about the cross (and rightly so) that we often forget the resurrection – and it’s a theme worth looking for as the letter to the Ephesians develops and in particular as we
see Christ’s exaltation over all things. But in verses 7 and 8, Paul does in fact focus upon Christ and his cross.

Paul calls us redeemed, we have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness, of slavery to our sin. Chapter 2 of Ephesians puts it like this, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were the targets of the certain impending judgment of God who is our enemy. But now Chapter 2 goes on to say, we have been redeemed from this scrap heap of certain destruction, and we are now forgiven, we have had our sins removed – we have grace and peace from God to quote verse 2 of chapter 1.

And how has this come about, how have we received the rich grace of God and now been made alive from our trespasses and been raised into heaven itself? Well it is through the blood of Christ v7. This is a stark image that takes us to the foot of the cross to see the sacrifice of Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, upon a cross, as John’s Gospel tells us.

This stark image of the blood of Christ being shed is important reminder to us today about the offensiveness of our sin to God.

Today we are pretty protected from having to take the life of something. I mean lets take a straw poll – who here has ever plucked a chicken before they ate it? Ok – who here has ever had to take the life of the chicken before they ate it?

In western society today, we don’t even pluck a chook, much less have to be the person that wrings it’s neck. And because of our remote life, it seems we forget the earthiness and the vileness of the reality that death is a horrible thing to witness, much less inflict – and yet that is how abhorrent our sin is and how costly the resolution of it was. Jesus had the life drained out of his veins upon the cross, and your sin, and my sin put him there.


I suspect at times our western life protects us from the grossness of the effects of our sin. I suspect we more often think of our sin as white collar crime, without any real victim, or maybe like a parking fine – no one really gets hurt and a rich guy
can pay it for me. Well God is a holy and just God and he is greatly offended by our sin. But such is the great paradox of the cross. In that one action we see the depths of our own selfish and sinfulness, BUT we also see the amazing depths of God’s love.

The cost of buying our freedom, was the sacrifice of this innocent man, a man who is also the son of God the Father, the man who is God himself, God the Son.

Our Freedom was costly to God, and he shared these great riches with us, despite the great cost, because he has generously set his heart upon us, and adopted us as his children, in Christ. If God has gone to such great length’s and cost to save us from death and judgment – how can we now doubt he will see us through to receive all of our great inheritance with all the saints?

God knew the cost to himself beforehand and did it anyway, God in Christ, has determined to do his children good.

So Let me ask you, Have you really accepted the gift of forgiveness found in God’s son? Do you come to God trusting in Christ’s death on your behalf alone? Or do you deep down think somehow, ‘well my sin, just isn’t really that bad’ or ‘I’m a pretty up right person, well at least I’m not like them over there!’

Let me ask you then, Exactly what is it about you, or what you have done, that you think will convince God that it is really more valuable than the death of his only Son? Let me suggest that it is a lost cause – the only response, and the right response, is to say to God, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place to pay the penalty I can’t pay, I’m sorry for my sin against you and I don’t want to live that way anymore. Please forgive me. Any other approach, is quite frankly madness.

You see, God’s rich grace to us was costly.


In Verses 9 & 10 of chapter 1, Paul gives us our fourth idea for today.
P4 – The mystery of Life and the universe has been revealed by God, that Christ is King
9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure,
which he purposed
in Christ,
10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—
to bring all things
in heaven
and on earth together
under one head,
even Christ.

In the humorous book, The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams, a group are asked to build a computer named Deep Thought in order to calculate the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. When the computer comes back with the answer, the answer being the number 42. They were then told to build a more powerful computer to work out what the Ultimate Question actually was.

To try a postulate as to what the meaning of life is, is surely too greater undertaking for any one mind or life time isn’t it? I mean it is so ridiculously large an undertaking, it deserves at some level to be the subject of mockery. I mean what do the stars, McDonalds and Elvis all have in common?

And yet the Bible, fearlessly and shamelessly proclaims the truth from God the creator – that the meaning of life the universe and everything is found in and exists for Jesus Christ. What a staggering statement that is, when you start to contemplate it.

Jesus is not a solution derived from a riddle, or found by solving a mathematical equation, but the truth about a mystery that can only be revealed by God. This mystery is revealed that Christ is the King of the Universe. Christ’s inauguration as king was seen at his resurrection, (his defeat of death and sin), His Kingship was confirmed at his ascension, (where he now rules at the right hand of God in heaven) – and Christ will be consummated as King of all the universe at his triumphant return.

There will be a great Cosmic reconciliation of all creation to Christ at his return. If you like the world has a common story – like stars traveling across a night sky, that are inescapably pulled into effects of a black hole. In the same way every created thing and person, irrespective of the path the travel now, will be pulled inescapably into the event that will be Christ’s return. Christ will be confirmed a King! A thought Worth contemplating as you read passages like Philipians 2 and Psalm 2.

Application: So that really begs the question, What are you really living for? Like the Psalmist, do you ask God to teach you to number your days? This world is heading for a certain destiny of Christ’s returning rule, that’s your destiny, my destiny and the destiny of all people.

SO don’t get distracted by the riches of this world, the moth will destroy the Armani suit, and rust will eventually deal with the BMW car, don’t get sucked in to what the pagans think are important, but put your trust in Christ for all your life and your future, for that is where your true riches are, that is where your inheritance is placed and kept secure for you.


And finally for today:
P5 – In Christ we have a heavenly inheritance and our redemption awaits – Guaranteed.
11 In him
we were also chosen, having been predestined
according to the plan of him who works out everything
in conformity with the purpose of his will,
12 in order that we, (who were the first to hope in Christ),
might be for the praise of his glory.
13 And you also were included
in Christ
when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Having believed, you were marked
in him
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those who are God's possession—
to the praise of his glory.

Christ’s spirit, that has entered us and enables us to truly declare him as Lord, or more correctly, Our Lord, is the spirit that has done a new work of creation in us, it renews us, regenerates us, and importantly assures us of the forgiveness and Grace of God found in Christ. We are in Christ because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and ensures the deposit of our inheritance, an inheritance we will receive in full when Christ returns. We are God’s possession, and that is our guarantee that the best is yet to come.

So, while we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, we haven’t already been given our inheritance in full, which is good news because there are parts of life that quite frankly suck!

Application: So it is hard now – but better awaits, better is guaranteed

Now just for a moment take a look around at the people near you, what do you think? Impressive? What does the world think?

Well Paul thinks We are all for the praise of God’s glory. Believe it or not, God’s plans that centre on Christ included you since before time began. And that’s something worth being thankful for and excited about isn’t it?

When I was working in the engineering office, one of the draftsmen I worked with regularly was a slightly crazy young Macedonian fella. And when I found myself in the situation of having to get a job out the door that day, I’d ask him, Igor is going to get out the door today, he would always respond the same way, ‘Andrew, I shall do my best, but I cannot guarantee!’.


Thankfully, for us God is not like Igor, Paul has written the letter to the Ephesians to absolutely assure the saints that God has gone to great lengths to secure their inheritance. From before the beginning of the world, God had planned it, and in these last days he has revealed it. He sent his Son to achieve it, at great cost, but
great riches are costly aren’t they? His son achieved it, and now the Holy Spirit has sealed and assured it!

The Ephesians passage we have looked at today answers the question, how can I be sure I am really saved?

And the answer of God is clear in the Gospel of his Son the Lord Jesus. God says ‘Christian, I have done my best, I have done enough, in Christ it is guaranteed’.