In Christ

 

Sometimes I miss some of the old late night television shows like Johnny Carson and David Letterman. I especially miss Letterman's Top Ten Lists.

Today we are going to examine Paul's Top Ten List. At the beginning of Ephesians he lists the top ten things God has done for us in Christ. Listen for God’s word to you from Ephesians 1:3-14…

 

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. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

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, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

 

What we have just read is one long sentence in Greek. To make sense of it, we are going to break it down into its constituent parts and examine each part individually. These opening words of praise to God from the Apostle Paul form, as it were, a golden chain expressing what God has done for us in his Son Jesus Christ. Specifically, Paul mentions ten things that God has done for us in Christ… ten links in the golden chain…

Blessed

 

Paul uses the word for “blessing” three times in verse 3. Literally, he says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one having blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.”

 

From this Greek word for “blessing” we get our English word “eulogy” which literally means “to speak a good word”. Paul speaks a good word about God for having spoken a good word about us in Christ.

 

Let’s pause right here at the beginning to meditate on what an amazing thing this is, that God speaks a good word about us in Christ. How can God do that? How can God speak a good word about us, given that we are sinners, given that we have fallen short of God’s plan, given that we have wandered away from him and pursued our own selfish life plans? The only way that God can speak a good word about us is if we are in Christ. 

 

Jesus Christ is mentioned by name or title or pronoun or possessive no fewer than fifteen times in the first fourteen verses of this letter. The phrase “in Christ” occurs eleven times in the first fourteen verses. As I mentioned last week, this may be the most important idea in Ephesians, this idea of being in Christ. As we move along through this passage, and through the rest of this letter, we will learn how we come to be in Christ. But for now, note this: if you are in Christ, then when God looks at you, he sees his Son. He sees his Son’s character and actions and destiny. That’s why God can speak a good word about you.

 

And notice where God speaks this good word. Notice where he blesses us. He blesses us inthe heavenlies. This letter is the only place in the New Testament where this word is used. Now we can think of “the heavenlies” as either the place from which God blesses us, or the storehouse of his blessing, or the residence already granted to us in Christ. In the Old Testament the corresponding word to this Greek word is always plural. The Jews thought in terms of three heavens: (1) the sky, (2) what we would call “outer space”, and (3) the abode of God. I think that Paul is here referring to the abode of God. The important thing, as Markus Barth has said, is that “God himself is the source of blessing, and all real or imagined dimensions of creation and of man’s existence are permeated and changed by that blessing…”

 

Notice too, what kind of blessing God has given us in the heavenlies, in Christ. He has given us every spiritual blessing. This may be in contrast to the material blessing of the land that God gave to his people Israel in the Old Testament. More valuable than any material blessing is the spiritual blessing that God gives us in Christ in the heavenlies. And he has given us every spiritual blessing. As we will see in a moment, these spiritual blessings come to us through and have been activated by the Holy Spirit.

 

From here on out in this one long sentence of praise, Paul is going to spell out precisely how God has blessed us in Christ. And in this one long sentence he sums up what he is going to tell us in more detail in the rest of this letter.

 

Chosen

 

The second thing that Paul tells us that God has done for us in Christ is that he has chosen us in Christ. Paul says this twice in this one long sentence of praise; that’s how important this action on God’s part is. Paul tells us in verse 4: “For he [God] chose us in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” And then in verse 11 he says, “In him [Christ] 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.”

 

Now I know that many people often react negatively to this idea. People ask, “Well, if God chooses us, do we have a choice about it?”? I believe the answer is “yes”. But God’s choice comes first, and his choice enables our choice.

You may rightly ask, “Well how does that work?” I don’t claim to know exactly how this works. But I think what Paul is saying is something like this… I think Paul is telling us that Jesus is the chosen one, and that if we are in Christ then we too are chosen. As we will see in a moment, the way we end up in Christ is by faith. And faith is a choice.

 

When did God choose us? Paul tells us it was before the creation of the world. God’s choice of us precedes the creation itself. Before God even creates us, he knows us. We were in the mind of God before he even created the universe. Like I said a moment ago… God’s choice comes first, and his choice enables ours.

 

Notice too, the purpose for which God chose us in Christ. He chose us to become holy and blameless in his sight. Holy and blameless are words that are used in the Old Testament ritual regarding sacrificial animals. First, such animals had to be holy. They were set apart for a special use. Then secondly, only those animals that were without defect could be used for sacrifice in the temple. So, Paul is telling us that we have been chosen and set apart and that God is going to make us perfect in Christ. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:28… “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” So, God knew you before the creation of the earth and he chose you for the purpose of making you like his Son Jesus, the only perfect human being who has ever lived on this planet. That’s what you are in for if you let God have his way with you. He is going to make you perfect, whole, without blemish, blameless in Christ.

 

Adopted

 

The third thing Paul tells us that God has done for us in Christ, is that: “In love he [God] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.”

 

There is that love theme which is what Ephesians is all about. I know people have all sorts of hangups about God choosing us and predestining us but note this: predestination is all about love. God predestines us to become like his Son because he loves us!

 

Here’s another thing we need to get our heads around. This language of pre-destination, that is an accommodation to our way of thinking as creatures who live in time. God does not live in time. There is no “before” in terms of his choice of you and me. God chooses us in his eternal now. And his knowledge of us is not really foreknowledge; he simply knows us in his eternal now. That means our choices really are free.

 

It’s kind of like this… If I throw this pen out into the congregation right now. You see that action and you know it is happening as it happens. But your knowing did not control my action. God’s knowledge of us is kind of like that. He knows us and he chooses us in his eternal now.

 

And what does God choose us for? What does God predestine us for? He predestines us for adoption through Christ. Markus Barth explains…

 

Among the NT writers Paul alone speaks explicitly of adoption. Others speak of the father-child relationship between God and man, but they prefer biological imagery and mention a specific role which the word of God, the Spirit, the resurrection of Christ, or the reception of Christ in faith has in the act of birth or rebirth. Paul’s utterances on adoption emphasize the causative and cognitive power of the Spirit and at the same time the juridical-economical implication of adoption: those adopted receive an inheritance. His specific concern is always the inclusion of the Gentiles among the children adopted by God.

 

One way of putting this more simply is to say that we are adopted into God’s covenant family through Christ. Paul talks in Romans 9:4 about the fact that adoption to sonship originally belonged to Israel.

 

In our study of Galatians, earlier this year, we read these verses from Galatians 4:4-5…

 

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

 

What an amazing thing it is that those of us who are in Christ can call God Father, and even more intimately—Abba, Daddy. 

 

Graced

 

The fourth thing Paul tells us that God has done for us in Christ is that he has given us grace. Paul says that our adoption is “in accordance with his [God’s] pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

 

We spent many weeks looking at God’s grace through the lens of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, so we hardly need expand on it here. But I will simply remind us that grace is God’s undeserved, unearned favor. And God has given us that favor freely in the One he loves, that is, in Jesus Christ.

 

The word translated as “freely” in the NIV is the verb form of the noun, grace. So, grace is both a noun and a verb, a thing and an action. The word can mean to make graceful, charming, lovely, agreeable. It can also mean to pursue with grace, compass with favor, to honor with blessings. God does all of that for us in Christ.

 

Redeemed

 

Fifth, God has given us redemption through Christ. Just as Paul does in Romans, so also, he does here in Ephesians. He draws language from the slave market (redemption) as well as from the legal world (justification) and the familial world (adoption). By piling term upon term, word picture upon word picture, Paul is conveying the fact that our salvation in Christ is really beyond the capability of being described adequately in words.

 

And how is it that we are redeemed, bought back by God out of slavery to sin? He has bought us with the precious blood of his Son, and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, God gave his life for our life. He gave his life as the purchase price to redeem us.

 

This redemption involves the forgiveness of our sins. Anything that stood against us from the past is wiped out… and more… our past, present, and even future sins are forgiven. And all of this, again, is in accordance with the riches of God’s grace in Christ, grace that God has lavished upon us. In other words, God’s grace, forgiveness, and redemption are over and above, beyond anything we could have imagined or hoped for. His redemption, his forgiveness, and his grace overflow to us and through us.

 

Revealed

 

The sixth thing Paul tells us that God has done for us in Christ is that God has revealed to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.

 

The word in Greek for mystery is μυστήριον. This word has an interesting history and development. In 1 Corinthians 4:1 Paul says that ministers of Christ are stewards of the mysteries of God. When Jerome later translated this verse into Latin, he used the Latin word sacramentum to translate the Greek, μυστήριον. Thus, ever after Jerome, both the Catholic Church and many Protestant churches have thought of ministers and priests as stewards of the sacraments.

 

But what Paul means by mystery here in Ephesians is something else. Paul can indeed use the word “mystery” to refer to various mysteries of God’s will. But the main one he talks about in Ephesians is spelled out in Ephesians 3:6… 

 

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

 

In other words, God planned all along to include Gentiles, non-Jews, among his children, but this mystery was only revealed in Christ. 

 

Unified

 

The seventh link in Paul’s golden chain of God’s acts is that God has planned to bring unity to all things under Christ.

 

Those who often emphasize predestination have an exclusive view of God’s salvation. For them, God saves only those whom he has specially chosen. On the other end of the theological spectrum are the Christian universalists who believe that verses like Ephesians 1:10 prove that God is going to save everyone in the end. But that conclusion begs the question: what does Paul mean by “all things”? Does Paul mean that all people are going to be saved and spend eternity with God whether they like it or not, whether they choose God or not? Personally, I do not think so. I think that the rest of Ephesians, and Paul’s writings in general, make clear that we do have a choice. I believe in verse ten what we are given is a glimpse of Paul’s view that God is in the business of redeeming the whole of creation (all things) not just human beings. 

 

Given Hope

 

And this truth gives us hope, something desperately needed in our world today. Paul says that “we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ,” are to live “for the praise of his glory.” The Christian hope is not just about “pie in the sky by and by”. The Christian hope is for a new quality of life that can begin now and never end.

 

Included

 

How does that hope come to us? How does hope get inculcated in us? Paul tells us, it happens when we hear the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation. When we hear that message and respond in faith, we are, Paul says, “included in Christ”. Paul’s vision of salvation is neither an exclusive vision nor a universalist vision; it is an inclusive vision. Anyone can be included in Christ, anyone can discover hope, when they put their trust in Jesus.

 

And that leads to the final link in Paul’s golden chain…

 

Marked

 

Paul says, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

 

When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, when we trust him with our lives, God gives us a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. It’s just like when someone buys a house or a car today; they put down a deposit guaranteeing that they will pay the rest of what they owe to purchase the house or the car in total. The Holy Spirit is the deposit that God pays, guaranteeing to us that we are his inheritance for all eternity.

 

I know this is a lot to take in in one message. Paul must have known that his readers would find this to be a lot to take in in one sentence. But the bottom line is this: every real spiritual blessing comes to us in Christ. Put yourself in Christ by faith and literally every spiritual blessing will be yours, now and forevermore…