Introduction
Last week we finished our studies in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, when we read about the exile of God’s people to Babylon. And since we’ve spent a long time in the Old Testament, it’s time now to return to the New Testament. And I’ve decided to begin a series of sermons on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Ephesus was a city in the Roman province of Asia, which is now Turkey. And you can read about the time Paul visited Ephesus in Acts 19. That’s something you might like to do this afternoon.
As I was preparing for today, it occurred to me that today’s passage is a good follow up to last week’s passage. And that’s because last week’s passage was all about God’s curses. God sent the people of Judah away from the Promised Land and into exile as his curse on them for their persistent unbelief and rebellion. Because they had turned away from the Lord and had done evil in his sight, God poured out his covenant curses on them.
That’s what the passage we studied last week was about. But the passage we’re studying today is all about God’s blessings. So, take a look at verse 3, where Paul says: ‘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.’ Because of the new and better covenant which God has made with us through his Son, we can expect blessings from God and not curses. We can expect good things from the Lord and not evil. Last week’s passage was all about God’s curses. This week’s passage is all about his blessings. Because we’re sinners, we deserve God’s wrath and curse. But because of Christ our Saviour, we receive blessings from God: one good thing after another. And since we’ve not done anything to deserve these good things, then God deserves all the praise and honour for giving them to us.
Verses 1 to 2
Paul begins the letter by telling his readers that this letter is from him. And he describes himself as ‘an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God’. In other words, he didn’t make himself an apostle. He did not appoint himself. God made him an apostle. It was God’s will for him to become an apostle. And we know that’s the case, because the Risen Lord Jesus met him when he was on the road to Damascus and appointed him to be an apostle. And the apostles, of course, were that small group of men who had been appointed by the Lord as official eye-witnesses of the resurrection and who had been sent out by Christ to proclaim the good news of his life and death and resurrection for sinners. Most of the apostles had once been the Lord’s disciples and they had heard and seen the things he said and did. After Judas killed himself, Matthias was chosen to replace him. And then, the Lord appeared to Paul and converted him so that he became a believer and appointed him as an apostle. And so, he was an apostle by the will of God. God chose him for this work.
And Paul addresses his letter to ‘the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus’. The Greek word translated ‘saints’ means ‘holy ones’. And to be holy means to be set apart to belong to God. God sets his people apart from the rest of humanity to belong to him. He makes us his special people. And the word translated ‘faithful’ can mean faithful. That is to say, the saints in Ephesus were faithful to the Lord and not unfaithful. They were devoted to him. However the word can also be translated ‘believers’. That is to say, they are full of faith. They believe. And in whom or what do they believe? They believe in Christ Jesus, who is the only Saviour of the world.
And Paul then pronounces a kind of benediction on his readers: ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Grace is God’s kindness to us. He graciously pardons our sins and helps us every day. And when Paul mentions peace, he probably has in mind the Hebrew word shalom, which refers to that general sense of well-being: that sense that all will be well. And that sense that all will be well comes to us from God our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour who is also gracious and kind to us and who forgives our sins and who helps us every day.
Verses 3 to 6
And so, we come to verses 3 to 10. In fact, verses 3 to 14 are really one long sentence in the Greek text. It’s one long sentence, but the translators have broken it up to make it easier for us to read and to follow. One of the commentators suggests that when this letter was originally read to the congregation in Ephesus, the reader would know when to take a breath. And by taking a breath in the right place — probably where our translators have put a full stop or comma — he would help the original audience to follow the flow of Paul’s thought.
And this one long sentence begins with Paul declaring praise to God: ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ And why should God be praised? It’s because he has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. So, God has blessed us. He has poured out his blessings on us. He has been good to us.
Paul says that God has blessed us in ‘the heavenly realms’. Later on in the letter, Paul will say that we have been raised with Christ and have been seated with him in ‘the heavenly realms’. So, that’s where we now belong. While we go on living on the earth, we live as citizens of heaven above. And as citizens of heaven above, we have been blessed by God with every spiritual blessing.
And what are these spiritual blessings? Paul is about to mention some of them. Not all of them, but some of them. And before we get into them, notice that he says God blesses us with every spiritual blessing ‘in Christ’. And so, all of these blessings are connected with Christ. It’s because of him that they become ours. God the Father is the source of all these goods things; and they become ours only because of Christ. Christ is the fountain through whom all these blessings flow to us, because he’s the one who was appointed from all eternity to be our Saviour and to make peace for us with God. And from all eternity, when God thought about us, he always thought about us in connection with Christ. And Paul emphasises this for us, because throughout these verses, he refers to Christ again and again and again. Take a look at verse 4: he chose us in him, in Christ. And then there’s verse 5: In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. Verse 6: to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One he loves, Jesus Christ. Verse 7: In him, in Jesus Christ, we have redemption through his blood. That is, through the blood of Jesus Christ. Verse 9: Paul refers to the mystery of God’s will which he purposed in Christ. And verse 10: God’s plan is to bring everything together under Christ. It’s all related to him. It’s all connected with him. God the Father is the source of all these blessings, all these good things. And they become ours because of Christ. They flow down to us from God through Christ. Without Christ, we would have none of these good things.
And so, what are the blessings? As I said, Paul mentions some of them, but not all of them. And the first one Paul mentions is in verse 4, where he says that God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
Let’s start at the end of that. He chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight. I’ve already said that to be holy means to be set apart. Christians are God’s holy people who have been set apart from the rest of the world to belong to God. But to be holy also means to be set apart from evil. Set apart from sin. It refers then to moral purity. And to be blameless means being free from guilt. A blameless person is a person who can’t be blamed for anything. A blameless person can’t be accused of anything.
Is that you? Are you holy? Would people say about you that you’re morally pure and that you never ever sin? And are you blameless? Would people say about you that you’ve never done anything wrong? Well, none of us are holy and blameless like that. But according to Paul, God has chosen his people to be holy and blameless. That is to say, because of Christ, we will be holy and blameless one day. And that’s because one day God will free us from sin and blame completely and forever. It won’t happen in this life, but it will happen. It will happen when Christ comes again to renew us completely in God’s image and to bring us into God’s presence for ever. And when that happens, we’ll be morally pure so that we’ll never do anything wrong or blameworthy ever again.
And until that day comes, God regards us as holy and blameless in his sight because of Christ. So, God forgives us for what we have done wrong, because of Christ who gave up his life to pay for our sins. And Christ shares his perfect goodness with us. He covers us in his perfect goodness, so that when God looks at us, he sees the perfect goodness of Christ instead of our own sins and shortcomings.
What a blessing! Right now, in this life, God regards us as holy and blameless because of Christ. And one day, we will become completely holy and blameless because of Christ. And I should also say that God is working in us day by day by his Spirit so that day by day we become a little bit more holy and a little less blameworthy, because he gives us his Spirit to help us to walk in his ways and to do his will each day.
And God chose us for this blessing before the creation of the world. So, it wasn’t as if he looked at us and saw something good in us, or something salvageable. You know, a successful businessman chooses to make a young person his protege, because the businessman sees something in the young person which makes the young person stand out from the crowd. Well, did God see something in us? Is that why he chose us? What does Paul say? He says he chose us before the creation of the world. So, he chose us before we existed and before we had done anything at all. And that means he chose us because he’s gracious and he chose us because of Christ. Because God is gracious and kind, he chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in his sight.
And then Paul says he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ. The word ‘predestine’ simply means that, when God chooses a person, he has a destiny or purpose in mind for that person. When he chooses someone, he has a plan for that person. And what is the plan which God has in mind for the people he chooses? It’s to be adopted, to become a member of his family.
And what a blessing that is! Have you ever seen that photo of John F. Kennedy, who is sitting at his desk in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, and he’s reading some papers. He was the president of the United States, the most powerful person perhaps in the whole world. And, if you’ve watched The West Wing, or similar dramas, you’ll know that there are always guards posted at the door of the Oval Office to prevent unauthorised people from going inside. But in the photo, you can see one of the president’s children sitting under the desk. The guards outside have to stop other people from going inside, but when the president’s child comes up to the door, it’s opened to him and he can go inside to see the president and to play at his feet, because the president is the child’s father. And Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Most High God who rules over all things, has become our Heavenly Father. And so, we can go to him. We can go to him in prayer. And when we go to him in prayer, the door is opened to us and we can talk to the Most High God about whatever is troubling us, because he has become our Heavenly Father.
And, of course, like all the other blessings, this one becomes ours because of Christ. He is the true Son of God. And because of him, and through faith in him, we all becomes sons and daughters of God.
If you’re a woman, don’t be put off by the words ‘adopted as his sons’, because adoption doesn’t just mean we can go to God in prayer. It also means we become heirs. And normally in Bible times, only sons could become heirs. Only sons could inherit the family farm. And so, when Paul says we’re adopted as sons, he wants us to know that whether you’re a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, you too can receive this blessing. You too can be adopted into God’s family. You too can become an heir. And what do we inherit from God through Christ? We inherit eternal life in the new heavens and earth.
So, when God chose us, he had a destiny in mind for us. And that destiny is to adopt us into his family so that we can go to him in prayer and tell him what’s troubling us; and so that we will inherit eternal life in the new heavens and earth where we’ll live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour for ever and for ever. What a blessing!
And look how verse 5 begins and ends. It begins with love and it ends with God’s pleasure and will. No doubt there have been people who have been adopted reluctantly into a family. No one really wanted these children, but someone had to take them. And so, some distant relative reluctantly adopted the children. But God doesn’t adopt us reluctantly. When he planned it, he did it in love. And it was his good pleasure to do so. It was something he wanted to do.
And therefore it leads to praise: praise to God because of his glorious grace. That is to say, it’s all down to his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. It’s all due to his kindness to us. He chose us to be holy and blameless. He chose us to be adopted into his family. Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for his kindness to us.
Verses 7 to 8
And that’s not all. According to verse 7, God has also redeemed us in Christ through Christ’s blood. And that leads to forgiveness.
In Old Testament times, a farmer whose bull got loose and killed someone was guilty of manslaughter if he could have prevented it. As such he deserved to die. But he could pay a ransom in order to redeem his life. He could pay a price so that his life was spared. So, to redeem someone meant paying a ransom in order to spare your life from death.
And one of the blessings which God gives to people is redemption. He redeems us. He spares us because of Christ. You see, we’re like the farmer who was under a death sentence. We’re like the farmer, because the wages of sin is death. What we deserve for all that we have done wrong is death. Death is the penalty for what we have done wrong. But one of the blessings God gives to us is that he redeems us. He spares us. He releases us from the penalty.
And he releases us from the penalty through the blood of Christ. When Paul refers to Christ’s blood, he’s thinking about his death on the cross. Christ gave up his life on the cross as the ransom price to pay for our sins and shortcomings so that our life is spared. We still die, but death for those who are redeemed is no longer the penalty for our sins. It’s now the doorway into God’s presence and to the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore which God has prepared for his redeemed people.
And so, what a blessing! Though we deserve to die as punishment for all that we have done wrong, we are now brought into the presence of God to live with him for ever and for ever.
And this too is in accordance with God’s grace. It’s all due to his kindness. He was under no obligation to do this for us, but he willingly and gladly did it for us, because he is gracious and kind and good.
Verses 9 and 10
And the final thing I’ll mention today is that God has also blessed us by making known to us the mystery of his will. Do you see that in verse 9? When Paul uses the word ‘mystery’ he’s referring to something about our salvation which we would never know unless God revealed it to us. And what is the mystery of God’s will? What is this thing which we would never have known unless God made it known? It’s his plan to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, Jesus Christ.
When God created the world in the beginning, there was a wonderful richness and variety. He made various kinds of plants, not one kind only. He made all kinds of fish and not one kind only. He made all kinds of birds and not one kind only. He made all kinds of animals and not one kind only. And he didn’t make one kind of human being, because he made us different. He made us male and female. And not one of us is the same as the other; and we all have different abilities and skills and talents and interests, which God has given to us. The heavens and the earth are filled with their wonderful diversity. And yet there was also unity in the diversity, because all things came from God. Although there’s all this diversity, it all fits together because it all comes from God.
But then sin came into the world. And, as I’ve said before, because of sin difference and diversity become opposition. They become divisions. We’ve divided from God because of sin. And we’re divided from one another so that husbands and wives fight with one another; and children rebel against their parents; the rich and powerful take advantage of the poor and weak; and the poor and the weak resent the rich and powerful. Whole countries fight against one another and when asylum seekers flee one country and come to another, they are met with suspicion and hatred and with graffiti telling them to go home. And later in his letter, Paul will write about spiritual warfare and how there are spiritual forces of evil who oppose God’s people in the world. God’s good creation has been spoiled because of Adam’s sin in the beginning and because of our own daily sins. Sin divides us.
But God has revealed the mystery of his will and how he plans to bring all things in heaven and on earth together again under Christ. He’s already at work in the church, because in the church, he helps us to love one another and to bear with one another and to forgive one another. And when Christ comes again, he’ll restore order to the whole universe when every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. Those who did not believe in him in this life, will be sent away to be punished. And therefore they will be put in subjection to him; and they’ll not be able to cause any more trouble in the world. And those who believed in him in this life will be brought into the new heavens and earth where there will be no disorder, but only order; no divisions, but only unity and peace and joy and happiness. And the whole of God’s new creation will fit together perfectly under Christ.
This is the mystery of God’s will. If we just looked at the world the way it is now, we would never have thought it was possible or likely, because everywhere we look, we see sin and misery and division and opposition. But God has revealed it to us that this is what will happen. This is what he has planned. Christ will be at the centre of all things and everything else will fit together under him.
And it begins now. It begins in the church. Though we’re different from one another, we’re to love one another and serve one another and join our hearts and voices to praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we praise him for? We praise him for blessing us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ our Lord.
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