Every Spiritual Blessing in Christ

Transcription

1 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 1 of 9 Every Spiritual Blessing in Christ Reading of the Text Slide 2 Slide 3 Slide 4 Slide 5 Ephesians 1:3-10 David James Dahms Lazy Mountain Bible Church Palmer, Alaska Sunday, September 25, 2016 Ephesians 1:1 2 (NIV84) 1 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. Ephesians 1:3 5 (NIV84) 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 Ephesians 1:6 8 (NIV84) 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 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. Ephesians 1:9 10 (NIV84) 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.

2 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 2 of 9 Slide 6 Slide 7 Ephesians 1:11 12 (NIV84) 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. Ephesians 1:13 14 (NIV84) 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. Slide 8 Show Title Slide Prayer Our Lord God in Heaven, you have given us everything we need for life and godliness in Christ Jesus. This passage clearly reminds us how deeply blessed we are by the Father, in the Son, and with the Spirit. Open our eyes today we pray, by the anointing of your Holy Spirit, to fully grasp your blessings, and to respond by blessing your Name in Worship. Amen. Introduction to Ephesus The text we re looking at today is from Paul s letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians was written, we believe, around A.D. 61, about three decades after Jesus resurrection. It s written to people in and around the city of Ephesus. On a map you would locate Ephesus along the coastline of the Aegean Sea, in the southwest corner of what is now the country of Turkey. If you strolled through the town of Ephesus in the first century, you d find several structures. One of the structures was the Temple of Artemis. That temple was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was as big as a football field and had foot marble pillars. It may have been the largest building in the world when it was completed. This wonder was just outside the city gates of Ephesus. Ephesus also had a theater. It wasn t the largest theater in the Roman world, but it was pretty good sized with 25,000 seats.

3 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 3 of 9 Another main structure in Ephesus was called the agora, the entranceway. This structure was a triple archway into the marketplace. In this marketplace you could buy anything, including human slaves. It was 100 yards by 100 yards, which is like two football fields side by side. So Ephesus was not just a small dusty town a few dozen houses, goats, and donkeys. In its day, Ephesus was a metropolis, like today s Hong Kong, or Tokyo, or New York City. It s believed to be the fourth largest city in the first century world. And with it came the pickpockets, scam artists, prostitutes, people with volcanic tempers, and binge drinkers all the ills that come to an urban setting when you live in a broken world were present in Ephesus. So despite the amazing architecture in Ephesus, everything there was not good and beautiful. Into this situation, God sent the apostle Paul. Paul arrived in Ephesus around A.D. 53 and began talking about the grace of God in sending Jesus. The Jesus movement gets formed in the region around Ephesus. Paul was there for over two years, and then he left. He left people who had new hearts but they were new hearts with old habits, and at the time of his writing, people were drifting back into the vices of prostitution, rage, malicious gossip, and so on. So Paul writes to same that group of Jesus followers to give them a refresher course in what it meant to be people of the Way. To remind them of all that God had done for them, and all that God was calling them to in Christ. That refresher course is contained for us in the letter of Ephesians that we have in our Bible. 1 The letter to the Ephesians has two distinct sections: Section 1 is chapter 1-3, and in it Paul describes what God has done for us. In Section 2, hapters 4-6, Paul describes what our response should be because of what God has done for us in Christ. Today we want to look at the beginning of section where Paul talks about every spiritual blessing that the Christian has received from God. He tells us we can live in a whole new way because in Christ we have every Spiritual blessing we need. But Paul does this in a very compelling way, in summary he says: Slide 9 Remember who you are because of what God has done for you 1 The Power of Identity by Jeff Manion, html

4 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 4 of 9 What has God done for us? He has given us every spiritual blessing we need. And these spiritual blessings are because of the work of the Three Person s of the Trinity. The outline is thus: Slide 10 We have every spiritual blessing because of: The Selection of the Father (vs. 4-6) The Sacrifice of the Son (vs. 7-12) The Seal of the Spirit (vs ) In verses 4-6 we rediscover we are blessed because of the selection of the Father, in verse 7-12 we are blessed because of the sacrifice of the Son, and in verses we are blessed because of the seal of the Holy Spirit. 2 To make this point, Paul begins by reminding us: We are chosen. We give God praise because He first chose us. In verse 4 he says this selection is in eternity past. That God chose us beforehand to be part of the Christ community: those who believe in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. And this selection process occurred before Genesis 1:1. In the Bible we are reminded that: Slide 11 Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV84) 5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. This truth was spoken to the prophet Isaiah, but Paul repeats it here for all believers: God chose us from the beginning. The word God choses is the word: Adopted. We are adopted and are His through our faith in Jesus Christ. Why is this so significant? 2 Hoehner, H. W. (1985). Ephesians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 616). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

5 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 5 of 9 When Paul writes to the churches in and around Ephesus and says that in love God adopted them, he is writing to an abandonment culture. He is writing to a culture where babies were routinely abandoned. I have read that outside the eastern gate of Ephesus, the edge opposite the theater and the harbor, there was a garbage dump where people would frequently bring babies they did not desire. Paul writes, that is NOT God s desire. Paul writes to these people and says: If you have come to know Jesus, your most defining moment isn t who threw you out but who took you in. God picked you out, he picked you up, and he took you home. Has anybody here ever been dumped? Dumped by a fiancé? Dumped by a spouse? Dumped by a kid who shut you out? Dumped by a company? Have you ever run a business and invested in an employee only to have them join a competitor, taking your customers with them? Has any of this ever happened to you? 3 Our adoption by God is so much greater than any abandonment that we have experienced here in this life and all of us have some experience with abandonment in some form. Paul is saying to people living in a culture of abandonment, where it is common, that what is uncommon about you is that God himself has chosen you, adopted you in the family of Christ. Just as Jesus is the Son of God, you are also a son or daughter of the King, and have been included in Christ s family by grace through faith. And God takes great, great pleasure in doing so. Slide 12 Ephesians 1:5 (NIV84) 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will It was always God s plan that you would believe in Jesus Christ that you would be part of God s forever family. That is what it means to be predestined according to God s pleasure and will. Slide 13 3 The Power of Identity by Jeff Manion, html

6 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 6 of 9 We are chosen by the selection of the Father, but we are also chosen by the sacrifice of the Son. Slide 14 Ephesians 1:7 (NIV84) 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God s grace Redemption (apolytrōsin) denotes release or deliverance from a state of slavery (cf. Col. 1:14). The 4 We have been released from slavery to sin. The wages of sin is death. Slide 15 Romans 6:23 (NIV84) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God instead of punishing us for our sin, because of our faith in His son s sacrifice on the cross for our sin, instead of inflicting punishment, lavishes grace upon us. I love this word lavish, the word here means to be in abundance or to abound, to be in excess. When I think of this word lavish, I think of how thickly I like to lavish raspberry jam upon my toast or English muffin. I spread it on thick. You Paul is reminding us that our primary identity is not as a sinner but as a saved son or daughter, who has had forgiveness and grace lavished upon them because of their faith in Jesus. Jesus has redeemed us, bought us away from slavery to sin, to be sons and daughters of righteousness. In the days of Ephesus this would be especially poignant imagery, because not only babies abandoned in Ephesus, they were sold into slavery. And the only way a slave could be freed is if he was redeemed, if a price was paid for it. 4 Hoehner, H. W. (1985). Ephesians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp ). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

7 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 7 of 9 Paul reminds us in verse 7, Christ paid the price for our sin at the cost of his blood shed on the cross. Christ did not want our slavery to sin to separate us from him. He paid the price for our freedom. Slide 16 Slide 17 The Father adopted us, the son redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit made it permanent: He sealed us. Ephesians 1:13 14 (NIV84) 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. The Holy Spirit seals us. This sealing is like branding: it is permanent. It can t be rubbed off or rubbed away. All who put their trust in Christ receive as a gift, the Holy Spirit. Peter the Apostle received the Holy Spirit from Jesus as a gift because he believed Jesus is the Christ. And Peter wanted everyone to know the Holy Spirit is for all who believe in Jesus. In Acts he spoke and said: Slide 18 Acts 2:38 (NIV84) 38 Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus Paul reminds us in this passage in Ephesians: We have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Becausse Slide 19 By the Father we are adopted By the Son we are redeemed.

8 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 8 of 9 By the Holy Spirit we are sealed. My hope and prayer for each and everyone is you will be greatly encouraged by this truth, and that you would believe in Jesus and be saved. Slide 20 Acts 16:31 (NIV84) Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved you and your household. Because by faith in Jesus Christ, we are assured we have every spiritual blessing in Him! Thank You I want to conclude this morning with a thank you. Thank you to you Laurie. A pastor cannot make it one minute without the minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, year by year support of his wife. You have been so faithful in your love and support. I could not have reached today without you. And thankful for each of my children. Thank you for involving yourself feet first in the ministry of Lazy Mountain Bible Church as children and youth in camp, VBS and youth ministry. It has been wonderful working alongside you and seeing you grow. Thank you to you mom, for raising me as a believer in Jesus Christ and including faith in our upbringing. I m so thankful to you, Bryan, my brother for you faithful love and support as a colaborer in Christ and fellow pastor and missionary in ministry. And to this church. I am so thankful that my last church to pastor has been Lazy Mountain Bible Church. First, thank you for your faithful love and support through the years. You are a great church. You are great because you have a great mission: To know Christ and Make Him Known. You are great because you are sacrificial givers you give your time, your talent and your treasure to the Lord in love and service.

9 Every Blessing in Christ sermon v4.docx Page 9 of 9 You are great because you are great lovers you love the Lord and you love each other. And God says the greatest of these are love. You are a great church because you are great missionaries, you reach beyond these walls, to the community, to the world, through your support of your staff and ministries and missionaries. You are a great church because you stick together through tough times. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world Jesus says. You are a great church, and I speak for Laurie and my children and my family, we will greatly miss being a regular part of your worship, prayer and service. But you will never, never leave our hearts. We will always pray the best for you, and we will look forward to seeing you in the community as we make our home here in new way of service to the Lord. Blessings in Christ. Blessings in the Father. And blessings in the Spirit. Amen.