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Back to the Series  To God Be The Glory

How many of you recognize this guy?  Humpty Dumpty.   Let’s say the rhyme together:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses
And all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!

The reality is that we live in a Humpty Dumpty world.  The world we live in is fallen.  Its definitely cracked - shattered.  Despite everything that humankind has tried to - everything - politically - militarily - economically - environmentally - sociologically - psychologically - whatever all the kings horses and all the kings men have tried to do - there is no way Humpty is getting put back together again.

Behind the fall - the insanity of sin and corruption - behind the fall is Satan - his minions - and the spiritual battle that we live in every day of our lives.  Humpty Dumpty was pushed. 

The Bible tells us that we live in a world at war - in conflict - Satan and God - demons and angels - sin and righteousness - a spiritual battle with eternal consequences - the gates of hell and the gates of heaven.  At stake is the eternal destiny of humankind.

The war rages spiritually.  But we see its effects around us.  The shadow of hell so many people live in - wounded - broken - hopeless - searching - empty - without purpose and meaning their lives.  Marriages are coming apart - people are addicted to just about everything - kids are killing kids.  People get wounded.  In war people die.  There are casualties.  We live in that reality with our own set of problems. 

This morning we’re beginning a study of the first three chapters of Paul’s letter of Ephesians.  Please turn with me to Ephesians - chapter 1 - starting at verse 1.  Ephesians is Paul writing - in a very practically way - Paul writing about how to live life in a Humpty Dumpty world. 

Ephesians 1 - starting at verse 1 - Paul’s greeting:  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s pause.  Notice three things.

First:  Where Paul is at.

Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus.  Paul didn’t come to believe the truth of the gospel by hearing it from someone else - Sabbath school with the other apostles.  He heard it straight from Jesus Himself - out on the road to Damascus. 

Paul writes that he’s commissioned “by the will of God.”  Paul leaves out his training as a Pharisee.  His Hebrew background.  His great skills and intellect.  It was the sovereign God who grabbed Paul on the road to Damascus - picked Him up and set Him down in a completely different course of life.

As he’s writing this letter - Paul is under arrest in Rome - a prisoner of the Roman Empire.  His apostleship isn’t over.  His commission hasn’t been revoked.  At present he’s a guest of the Roman government.  But in reality he’s a prisoner because of Jesus Christ - serving Jesus in Rome.

Grab this:  Where is Paul?  In Jail - serving God.  By who’s will?  God’s.

Second, notice who Paul is writing to.

Ephesus is on the coast of what’s now western Turkey.

It was the most prominent city in the Roman province of Asia.  It had a harbor - theaters - a library.  It was a major market place with trade from all over the world.  It was tourist mecca.  A major religious center for pagan and demonic religions.  It was a lot like our neighbor to west - San Francisco.

The Church in Ephesus was in the middle of all this.  A group of believers that Paul addresses as “saints.”  Not because they were so high and mighty “holy” people walking around with halos on their heads.  But because they were people called by God to serve Him - distinctly set aside by God for His purposes.

Paul calls them “faithful.”  The Ephesian church had gone out and lived for Jesus.  They’d stood up against the odds.  Not for themselves.  But for Jesus’ sake.  In the midst of Ephesus they were faithfully serving Jesus Christ.  Determined - faithful - enduring hardship.  These were not quitters.

Something else here that our English translations don’t quite pick up on.  In some of the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts the words “at Ephesus” are omitted.  Meaning that this letter was intended to be read and personally received by a larger number of other “saints” and  other “faithful” believers than just those in Ephesus.  Ephesians was a letter Paul intended to be circulated among other churches.

The Ephesians were people like us - with all the struggles and difficulties we face.  Issues at home and work and school and probably every place else.  Faithfully serving God - according to His will - in the same Humpty Dumpty world we live in.  What Paul encourages the Ephesian church with applies to us as well.

We are saints - like they were saints - people called by God to faithfully serve Him.  Distinctly set aside by a direct act of God’s will for His purposes

So grab this:  Who is Paul writing to?  Ephesian Christians - and us.  Serving God here in Merced.  By who’s will?  God’s.

Third, notice why Paul is writing.

Paul writes “grace to you and peace from God.” 

Grace is a word that wraps up all of what God offers us in Jesus Christ.  Peace is freedom from worry and fear and anxiety.  Not the absence of the crud of this world - but what comes to us as we trust God in the midst of all that crud.

Paul’s writing to help us grab onto the reality of God’s grace and peace in the midst of where we live our lives.

Paul - in this short greeting - reminds us that - in the midst of Humpty Dumpty-land God is sovereign.  That sovereign God has called us to serve Him according to His will.  As we faithfully serve Him - doggedly trust God - even in the midst of this shattered world - its possible for each of us to know God’s grace and peace in our lives.

Coming to verses 3 to 14 - Paul’s first section of his letter - Paul is writing about how the sovereign God of grace and peace has touched our lives - specifically how God has incredibly blessed us.

Verse 3 is Paul’s introduction to that blessing.

Verse 3:  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Notice two things.  First - Its God who blesses us. - the God and Father of Lord Jesus Christ.

God wills to bless us - to bestow His favor on us - for each of us to be the benefactors of His goodness.  Paul writes that it is God “who has blessed us.”  In the Greek the verb has the idea of continuous action.  Which means that God is continually blessing us.  Blessing happens.  Its happened.  Its happening.  It will happen.

God’s blessing doesn’t come to us because we deserve it - or earn it.  We can resist His blessing - even reject it.  God pouring down showers of blessings and we’re standing there with an open umbrella trying to stay dry.  But that doesn’t change God’s continually blessing us.

Second - notice that God’s blessings are spiritual.  Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.

Remember Elisha and his servant in the city of Dothan?  One morning they woke up the city was surrounded by the Aramean army - chariots and horses and soldiers - oh my.  The whole purpose of the Aramean army being there was to get Elisha.

Elisha’s servant looks out on this huge army and in fear turns to Elisha and says, “It’s hopeless.  We’re toast.  What are we going to do?”

Elisha tells him, “Don’t be afraid.  Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Elisha prays, “Lord open his eyes.”  God opens this servant’s eyes and he sees all around them - protecting them - the horses and chariots of fire of God - God’s army of angels.  (2 Kings 6:8-19)

We experiences physical blessings.  Most of us don’t go to bed hungry at night.  We have a bed to sleep on - a roof over our heads - clothing to wear.  Those are physical blessings.  We’re together on what physical blessings are?  Yes?

What Paul writes about are spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.   That’s different.  Heavenlies isn’t the idea of some place way out in space - planets and stars and cosmic stuff.  Heavenlies is what’s unseen - the invisible spiritual reality around us - the battle behind the scenes - the very real things that we can’t see or touch right now but effect us every day of our lives. 

The most important things in our lives are not things that we can see.  God’s spiritual blessings are the spiritual essentials of what we need to live in the physical world - what we need at the core of who we are.

Paul writes that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.  How many?  Every spiritual blessing.  

Its not like the program gets installed and then we find out later when desperately we need to use it - to rely on it working - that we suddenly need to download a bunch of applications.  With God’s continual flow of blessings on us we already have everything we need to do life.

Who is getting blessed by God?  Us.  By who’s will?  God’s.

Hang on to that reality as we go through verses 4 to 14.  Grab this:  God - right now - even in the midst of whatever circumstance you’re in - is continually pouring out on you - everything you need to do life - no matter what this life throws up against you.  That’s huge.  Isn’t it?

Going on in verses 4 to 14 - Paul is going to unpack God’s incredible blessings - to show us more specifically what he’s begun opening up to us in verse 3.  There are a ton of blessings here.  We’re focus on six.

Verse 4:  Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.    

First blessing - in verse 4 - God has chosen us.  Say with me, “God has chosen us.”

Before the foundation of the world - God chose you.  That’s a mind stretcher isn’t it?

Choosing teams - for me - was a near death experience.  Always I was one of the last chosen - just me and the other dweebs standing there begging.  “Please don’t let me be the last one chosen.”  What really hurt was that for some things - like basketball - I never got chosen.

Before anything in this universe was a universe God chose you to be His - to send Jesus to the cross for you - for you to have a relationship with Him - even - as Paul writes - that we should be holy and blameless before Him. 

Holiness has the idea of wholeness - restored to be who God has created us to be - able to serve God according to His purposes.  Sin messes us up.  God restores us.

Blameless is not sinless.  But “blameless” does mean that we’ve dealt honestly with our sin - owned up to it - confesses it - and in Jesus Christ its been forgiven and set behind us.

As you face life that reality should change your whole attitude towards yourself.

You are not a second class citizen in God’s creation.  You are not an accidental member of Jesus’ church.  You have the privilege of being chosen by the sovereign God of creation to be His - to be one in Christ - all of us together - to live out God’s great purposes for each one of us.  Hang on to that.

Second blessing - starting at the end of verse 4:  In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.         

Second blessing:  God has predestined us.  Let’s say that together, “God has predestined us.”  God - our Heavenly Father - because He loves us - God has determined that we should be His children.

The Greek word - here in verse 5 - for adoption is “uiothesis.”  Which has the idea of placing someone into the position of a son.

We saw this - back when we looked at Paul’s letter to the Romans - the Greek and the Roman understanding of “adoption” was much more that just a legality - placing a child into a home.  To the people Paul is writing to “adoption” means that you are made to be a son - without any distinction from those who are natural born sons.  Remember this?

The angel Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her that she’s going to be the mother of Jesus.  Mary asks, “How?  I’m a virgin.”  Gabriel explains, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”  (Luke 1:26-35). 

Notice the term.  Jesus is the natural born Son of God - the only begotten Son of God - conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus told Nicodemus - to enter the kingdom of God you have to be born again.  Which confused Nicodemus.  Confuses a lot of people.  Nicodemus asked, “How can someone who’s already been born reenter his mother’s womb and be born again?”  Jesus’ answer?  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  (John 3:1-6)

We’re born once - physically.  Born into flesh and sin and slavery - into fear.  When we come to salvation in Jesus - the same Holy Spirit present at the conception of Jesus - natural born Son of God - enters into us - giving us a new birth - a spiritual birth - as a child of God.

Physically its impossible to be born into a human family as an adopted child.  Just doesn’t work that way.  But spiritually - God makes it possible for us to be born - by the Spirit - into God’s family - adopted yes - but not in the legal sense - adopted in the spiritual sense - which is as if we were natural born children of God.

Hang on to that.  Because God - our Heavenly Father - loves you - He has determined that you should be his child.  Isn’t that incredible?

Third blessing - verse 7:  In Him - Jesus - we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.      

Third blessing:  God has redeemed us.  Let’s say that together, “God has redeemed us.”  Redeemed has the idea of being set free - liberated.

The idea behind the word is of a Roman slave market - humans - like cattle - being offered for sale to be used or abused to fulfill the purposes of whoever is willing to pay the price.  Us - in our natural human condition - bound by sin - living lives far from what God has created us for - dragged here and there at the whim of Satan.  Living in emptiness and fear and guilt - pursuing what never satisfies.

“Trespasses” literally means to blunder.  All those things that we’ve been doing - stumbling around with - trying to free ourselves - that actually lead us farther from God.  Our trespasses are forgiven - pardoned - no longer held against us. 

God - because He’s rich in Grace - lavishes - meaning God is over the top with His grace - God graciously sets aside our blunders.  Jesus comes - into that slave market - and with His death on the cross paying the price for our lives - purchasing us - redeeming us - liberating us - freeing us to live in God’s great purposes for us.

Do you ever see yourself that way?  Not as a blunderer - a failure.  But as someone set free.  Liberated by God to serve within in His great purposes.

Fourth blessing - going on in verse 8:  In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him - Jesus - with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. 

Blessing number 4 - God has made known to us.  Try that with me, “God has made known to us.”

In Scripture - a mystery is something that only God knows and only God understands.  We can take all the theology classes - earn umpteen degrees - philosophize and analyze and look crosswise - and yet we’ll never figure out what God knows unless God reveals to us what He knows.

Paul writes that God has made known to us - His people - God has made known to us His wisdom - His perspective on life - and His insight - how God’s wisdom applies to the circumstance of our lives - how life works and where God is going in life - all of which is a mystery to those who don’t know God.

Shakespeare wrote, “Life is....a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (1)  No purpose.  No hope.

Looking at this Humpty Dumpty world things seem to be falling apart - cracking up.  But as a believer we know that God is putting things together in Christ.  History is “His-story” - right? - Jesus’ story - God at work through history to bring together all the things in the heavens - what is unseen - with the things on earth - what is seen - to bring all that together in Jesus.

We may not know all the details but we do know that there’s purpose behind what’s happening.  Put another way if we’ve got Christ we get life.

Hang on to that.  Whatever the direction the stock market is heading - whatever evil is being unleashed in our community - whatever - whatever - we know - because God has revealed it to us - that God is sovereign over all of it and we do not need to fear anything.

Fifth blessing - going on in verse 10:  In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.   

Blessing number 5 - God inherits us.  Say that with me, “God inherits us.”  Obviously we get the better end of that deal.  With Jesus - we’re heirs of the riches of the kingdom of God.  

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 - that one day the perishable will put on the imperishable - mortal will put on immortality.  We - God’s children - will live forever in the presence of God - our Father.   There’ll be no pain - no sorrow - no crying - no death.  Whatever is empty - unfilled - lacking within us now - God will take care of the stuff deep within us.  (1 Corinthians 15:51-58)

And grab this:  What’s coming isn’t just about being set free from aches and pains - but being set free to live life as God created life to be lived.  To live out God’s great purposes for us as His children.  Heaven isn’t about sitting on clouds and playing harps - waiting for bells to ring so angels can get their wings.  Getting to heaven is only the beginning of what God has in store for us.

Hang on to that.  God has promised you a future incomparable to what we see today - an unimaginable eternity with Him.

Blessing six - verse 13:  In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Blessing number six:  God seals us.  Try that with me, “God seals us.”  Think a parchment document with a wax seal stamped with the king’s signet ring.  Are we together?

When we come to salvation in Jesus - God the Holy Spirit places a seal on us.  Two realities.  First:  Ownership.  That seal means that we’re owned by God.  We belong to Him.  We have His mark on our lives.

Second:  Preservation.  The sealed document gets to its destination without anyone messing with the contents.  Break the seal - mess with the document - and you have to answer to the owner - God.  God is going to preserve us and we will make it to heaven.

Hang on to that.  Trust God and God will get you to heaven.  Guaranteed.

Three brief - but important - thoughts of application before we close.  Stay with me.

First:  In these 14 verse Paul mentions Jesus Christ 15 times.  That’s not an accident.

(cartoon)  I hear you can put peoples’ lives back together again.

In the reality of a Humpty Dumpty world - we need Jesus.  The realty is that there is no way to experience the blessings of God apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Savior.  Our faith must always be grounded in the Person of Jesus.  Faith that goes beyond intellectual understanding.  Faith that’s lived out in personal commitment - a personal relationship with Jesus.

If you don’t know Jesus - you need to.

Second - remember this guy?  Alfred E. Neuman.  And his famous phrase, “What, me worry?”

If God has blessed us so incredibly why are we loosing sleep over the stuff of life?  These are incredible blessings.  Yes?  The sovereign God has blessed us - continues to bless us - will bless us - with everything we need to do life.  Not just physical stuff - but the deep stuff that we need deep down - to reassure us - to give us confidence - to strengthen us - to heal us - to preserve us - whatever we need - God has and is and will supply.  That’s huge.

Let’s hang on to that and stop stressing.

Third - three times Paul writes that all this is to the praise of His glory.

Like Paul - like the Ephesians - we’re here because God wills us to be here.  If what we have is because of Him.  If our confidence is because of Him.  Let’s give credit where credit is do.  To God be the glory - for what He has done - is doing - and will do in us and through us.  Let’s live lives that testify of Him.

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1. Shakespeare - Macbeth, Act V, Scene IV (Hamlet)