Ephesians 1:1-14
When reading today’s NT passage, the introduction from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, I was struck by how full of hope it is. I started counting the promises contained in just these 14 verses, then realised they aren’t really promises.
Many are statements of fact about what has already been fulfilled in Christ, and the others are fulfilled already in the eternal Kingdom of God, but not yet on earth. Not so much promises, but a reality yet to be unfolded for us.
Unfortunately, even these 14 verses are too deep and dense to be able to be preached on in a single session. It would take many! So I am focussing on only one verse, v.3, which serves as a sort of summary for the teachings of the whole letter, I think.
Just a short comment on whom the letter is addressed to. It’s addressed to the saints of a church, who “are faithful in Christ Jesus” (v.1). That’s who we are too. The Saints who are in Drayton parish.
Notice Paul writes “faithful in Christ Jesus,” not “faithful to Christ Jesus.” Our very faithfulness comes from our abiding in Jesus’ faithfulness to the Father, so that none given to him by the Father shall be lost.
And the main characteristic of a saint is they are faithful.
So let’s look at v.3, which is a wonderful summary of the teachings of the whole letter; “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.” (v:3)
Firstly, Paul begins with the One who is behind all these blessings, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is his starting point.
My problem can sometimes be that I don't start my thinking with God; I tend to start it with myself.
But our experience, what we feel, is only a partial view of truth. Our vision narrows and focuses on ourselves and what we are going through. Sometimes we don't see this in relationship to the whole Godly reality of life around us.
This is the difference between what the Bible calls “natural" thinking, as done by "the natural person," and the "spiritual" thinking of "the spiritual person."
Natural thinking is always limited, therefore always wrong to some degree. It isn't large enough and broad enough to handle the mind-blowing capacity of God.
But spiritual thinking is always God-centred, and, therefore, true, and to the extent that it is spiritual, it is true in every way. We need to learn to be spiritual thinkers about ourselves.
Only God is great enough to encompass all truth, and only the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth.
This is where Paul begins and we also begin all things, in the one who is our all in all.
Next in this verse Paul notes the aim of the work of God. He sums it up in the twice-repeated word blessed. Blessed be God, and blessed are we with every spiritual blessing. That is what God is aiming to do.
His goal is to bring about a world, a universe, filled with blessing. Frequently throughout this letter you find the repeated phrase that everything occurs "to the praise of God's glory."
That is, in order that God should be praised, in order that his people should be so struck by the wonder of what has happened to them that their hearts reflect this back to God without limit and without their being able to prevent it.
The praise and the glory and the blessing of God. As I say many times (sorry, but I haven’t found a better example yet), God doesn’t demand praise in the way of a dictator, but the way a beautiful sunset demands praise – we are simply moved to do so.
This is how we bless God.
It is saying that God has done such remarkable deeds that, if we once understand them, if it once breaks upon the shores of our imaginations what it is that God has already done for us, what is already true of us right now, there will be nothing that we can do but stand in absolute awe and amazement, and say, "You mean that is true of me, Lord?
I am overwhelmed! My God, how great thou art!" The Holy Spirit produces in us a sense of awe and amazement which causes us to stop and give thanks to a great and glorious God who has given us every spiritual blessing.
The spiritual blessings are listed in the verses that follow, but it is too rich a banquet for a single sitting!
In this 3rd verse though, Paul then points out that all this blessing is "in Christ." All this comes to us in Christ, in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus himself. This fact is going to be stressed again and again in this letter to the Ephesian.
No two words appear in it more frequently than "in Christ," or "in him." Over and over it is emphasised that everything comes to us through him.
The only spiritual blessing that can ever come to us from God must always come in Christ. There is no other way that it can come. For God accomplishes spiritual blessing only in Christ.
Physical blessings are available "to the just and the unjust alike," just like the rain. But the inner spirit of a person can be healed and cured only in Christ, there is just no other way.
Finally, look at where all this happens - "in the heavenly places”. Now, that doesn't mean heaven, as we usually conceive it. Paul is talking here about the present experience of these blessings. We are involved with the "heavenly places" right now.
We live in a world where most of the important things of our lives are not visible. They can't be touched or seen or tasted or weighed or otherwise measured. Just like the love of your family, and just like the work of the Holy Spirit.
We receive blessing from the heavenly places by the Holy Spirit to bring the love of Christ to the world. We must recognize that fact. And it is in this realm that these great spiritual blessings are to be found.
It is here that our life can be changed, and we can become different people, by God's grace. God great movement in our lives as individuals and as a parish is to bring all things together in Christ, to restore harmony once again in his universe.
The exciting thing about that, according to this letter to the Ephesians, is that it has begun already. It has begun in us. We are the ones to set it forth. We, the church, have felt the force of this great movement of God.
The great force of the powerful movement of God is that we would be one as the Father and the Son are one. This is what God is doing so powerfully in many churches all round the world. Nearly all of them little churches like us!
And the more visibly it is evident, the more the world will see God at work. That is what this letter is all about; how to allow this healing flow from the great God behind and before all things, through his Son Jesus Christ, to touch individual lives and churches, and to so heal all wounds.
No wonder Paul cries out, "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." Let me pray ...