Posted on 07/11/2009 7:58:01 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
“The Big Picture: Chosen by God, Redeemed in Christ, Sealed with the Spirit” (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Our Epistle reading today is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. In fact, this is the first of eight straight Sundays when the Epistle comes from Ephesians, and these readings will be the basis for a sermon series. Also, we’ll be studying Ephesians for our Bible class during this time. I look forward to this opportunity to “dive in” to this epistle and really explore it in depth, and I hope you do too. I encourage you to read through Ephesians, perhaps even in one sitting, sometime this week--it’s only six chapters, so it shouldn’t take too long--and then come for the whole sermon series and stay for the Bible class, too. You will be richly blessed, I guarantee it.
Now how can I be so confident you will be richly blessed? Because this is God’s Word we’re talking about here! This is the gospel, set forth in all its richness and blessing! St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is a glorious gem, shining forth the beauties of God’s grace in Christ from every angle. Ephesians takes us from the grand cosmic sweep of God’s plan for the ages down to the practical realities of our everyday life. It’s all here, in this one midsize epistle. Christ, eternity, the cross, the church, grace, faith, good works, the new life in Christ, marriage, family, spiritual warfare--all these themes Paul deals with in his letter to the church in Ephesus in the first century and to the church in Bonne Terre in the twenty-first. I don’t know if it’s OK for pastors to have favorite books of the Bible, but if it is, Ephesians would be up there toward the top of my list.
Our reading from Ephesians today is really the opening statement of this epistle. It comes after a standard introduction, “Paul, an apostle of Christ, to the saints in Ephesus, grace to you and peace, etc.” Then in verses 3-14, which is our text for today, Paul launches into this great opening statement that sets the tone for the rest of the letter. I call it an opening statement, but really it is a rush of praise, as Paul considers all the rich blessings God has showered upon us in Christ. In our English Bibles this text takes up twelve verses, but in the Greek it is just one long, extraordinary sentence. It’s like Paul takes a deep breath and then gushes forth with a stream of praise for the triune God.
Here Paul’s mind surveys the whole sweep and scope of God’s eternal plan for the cosmos. It’s “The Big Picture” Paul is giving us here. Paul takes us from eternity to eternity, to see what God is doing in all of this, to reflect upon the cosmic dimensions of God’s plan. It’s the big picture! But the picture has a purpose and a focus--God’s plan is centered in Christ--and the picture is not so big that it does not include us. Oh, it does! By all means, it does include us, as we shall see.
Now to organize our thoughts, I think it will be helpful to look at our text today in three parts, corresponding to the three persons of the Holy Trinity, as well as to God’s gracious plan for us--reaching back before creation, then moving into history, and finally culminating in the life of the age to come. And so our outline, “Chosen by God, Redeemed in Christ, Sealed with the Spirit.”
First, “Chosen by God.” Our text begins: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
“Blessed be God, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing!” And from there Paul will begin to extol these marvelous spiritual blessings. This part of our text emphasizes how God the Father chose us to belong to him from “before the foundation of the world.” Dear friends, we did not choose God; God chose us. In love he “predestined” us to be his children. That means he chose us beforehand, before creation, to be his own. This is what is usually called the doctrine of election. This is a comforting teaching of Scripture, for it reassures us that even our coming to faith in Christ is all God’s doing. It doesn’t depend on us or on the strength of our “decision.” God chose us in advance to believe in Christ and to belong to him. And it is not because of anything in us. It is purely by God’s grace, his free gift.
Indeed, we could not have chosen God--we were dead in our trespasses and sins, as Paul will say later, in chapter 2. But God made us alive in Christ, bringing us to faith through the enlivening word of the gospel. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Those are the familiar words of Ephesians 2, and they are really saying the same thing as what Paul says here in chapter 1, namely, that God chose us in advance, he predestined us for salvation, and he gave us the gift of faith. The doctrine of election--that God chose us, we did not choose him--this is one of those spiritual blessings with which God has blessed us. We are chosen by God, and this is “to the praise of his glorious grace.”
Second, “Redeemed in Christ.” Our text continues: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
“In him.” “In Christ.” Notice how many times Paul repeats this key phrase throughout our entire text. Over and over again he says, “in Christ,” “in him,” “through Jesus Christ.” All of God’s plan for eternity is centered in the person of Jesus Christ. And our entire salvation comes to us only in connection with Christ. Apart from him, there is no salvation. “In him,” “in Christ,” we have every spiritual blessing.
The salvation God planned for us before the foundation of the world was accomplished for us in time, in human history, in the coming of Christ into the world. Paul calls it “redemption”: “In him we have redemption.” This is a great word in the biblical vocabulary. “Redemption” means a release from bondage, by the payment of a price. We were in bondage, you and I were, and we were unable to free ourselves. There was nothing we could do or pay to get ourselves out of our slavery to sin and Satan. But Christ came and he redeemed us. He set us free. And he did it by paying a price we could never pay. Because there is nothing so valuable, in all of heaven or on earth, as the holy blood of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ. “In him we have redemption through his blood.” This is the blood that Christ shed for us on the cross, when he died to take away our trespasses--when he, the sinless one, died under God’s judgment to suffer the punishment that we by our sins deserve. Now, in him, in Christ, we have freedom and forgiveness, we have liberation and redemption. We have been set free from death, eternal death, and have been set on the path of eternal life.
Are you weighed down by your sins? Are you troubled in your conscience? Does your guilt before God hang heavy upon you? Then hear this today: You are redeemed in Christ. You have full forgiveness in him. God does not hold your sins against you. For Jesus shed his blood for you, and you are free. Believe it, it’s true!
“Chosen by God.” “Redeemed in Christ.” And third, “Sealed with the Spirit.” Our text concludes: “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Now we reach forward into the future--toward an eternal future, the life of the age to come. That is our “inheritance,” our text says. “In him we have obtained an inheritance.” Christ has won for us this wonderful inheritance, namely, eternal life with God in bliss forever. He won it for us by his death and resurrection. The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting--this is the hope we have, to hold on to.
But it is in the nature of this inheritance that we have not yet acquired possession of it. Right now our bodies are still subject to decay and death. We still struggle with sin. Where is the hope? It is in the inheritance that is ours in Christ. We hold the title to this inheritance. We are in line to receive it. For you and I have been baptized into Christ; we’ve been made joint-heirs with him. We believe in Christ, we trust in him. The gospel gives us this faith. And so we have been sealed with the Spirit. We were “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” You see, the Holy Spirit is the guarantee, the deposit, the down-payment, telling us that there is more on the way, more to come. The Holy Spirit keeps us in the one true faith by means of the Word and Sacrament, which continue to strengthen us. We have been sealed with the Spirit, and so we look forward with confidence and hope to taking ownership of the inheritance that awaits us, the eternal home in heaven Christ won for us.
And so today, here in Ephesians 1, we have been taking in “The Big Picture” Paul has been putting before our eyes. It is a grand and glorious picture, stretching from eternity to eternity. God has a plan, a purpose, he is accomplishing: “his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Everything in the whole universe finds its proper place in relation to Christ.
Yes, God’s plan is centered in Christ, and it means riches, grace, and every spiritual blessing for us. For you and I have been “Chosen by God, Redeemed in Christ, and Sealed with the Spirit.” All this, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ping.
Thank you for posting this article and the upcoming series of lessons.
Election is one of the controversial subjects in the Scriptures. One day God will resolve the different understandings and probably we will learn that God’s Word is deeper and wider than we know. There are mysteries that seem difficult, one day we will wonder why we made it so.
The Word of God is living and as Jesus said “streams of living water” to the woman at the well.
Praise God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen,
Amen
It’s only a mystery to those who are not his and are not filled with the Holy Spirit...
Interesting link
The Bible has been interpreted ... through several major languages Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin, (Spanish, Italian. German, English, Dutch,etc.. You get the idea. No doubt there are words that do not match exactly the meaning of the original word. Simply because it does not translate directly.
The Bible is the Word of God. Prayer, study, time spent in the Word, the presence of the Holy Spirit of God is the best way to grow in knowledge of the word.
God be true and every man a liar. Romans 3:4
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