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Benefits for Believers
Ephesians 1.1-23
Milford Baptist Church, 5 January 2003
We're rich!
It's the first Sunday of the
New Year, and the post-mortems on 2002 have already begun.
People are asking: who was the best sportsperson, or
musician, or politician of 2002?
Last weekend the Herald asked the question:
Which of our businesspeople made the greatest gains this
last year? (link)
Do you know who topped the
list? Rod Duke, Managing Director of Briscoe's. He made $178
million. Stephen Tindall of the Warehouse was second. He
increased his personal wealth by $54 million.
Not bad gains.
I can't think of a better way
to start the New Year than to review what we have gained -
we who believe in Jesus.
That's what Paul does here.
At the very start of his letter to the Ephesians, he
breathlessly recounts some of the gains - the riches - that
we have as believers.
Let's take a look at these
riches. But before we look at what we've got -
before we examine the bank statement to see the
extent of our riches - let's look
at how we got them. What's the source of our riches?
The source of our riches
Our material wealth is, in one
sense, the fruit of our own hard work and careful investment
- the result of our own human effort. But Paul says that our
spiritual wealth as believers in Christ are not the result
of human effort. They're the
result of divine grace. They're a gift.
Paul says in vv. 6-7 that we're rich because of the
"riches of God's grace that he has
lavished on us."
You may have heard about
Casey. Casey was my wife Lorraine's cat.
He was the most corpulent cat I have ever seen. He
was on ginger, but he had bizarre black marks all over him -
they looked like grease stains, like he had sat too
long under a car with a leaky gear box.
He had the unpleasant habit of dribbling and goobing
on guests. In personality he
tended to be somewhat irascible;
He was even known to viciously swat innocent little
children. By conventional standards, Casey was not an
attractive cat.
But Lorraine loved him anyway.
Why? Heaven knows! She just did.
That's how God loves us. He
just does, in spite of our many
blotches and imperfections - our "sins" (v. 7).
Paul says (vv. 4-5) that before you were born, before
the creation of the world, God had
his eyes on you, he'd set his love on you, and he'd chosen
to deposit a spiritual fortune into your account. Not
because of who you are or what you do,
but because of who God is and what he, through Jesus,
has graciously done.
The extent of our riches
So that's the source of our
riches. But what's the extent of
our spiritual wealth? What does
the balance sheet look like?
Let's look at three gifts
mentioned in this chapter.
1.
Adopted
First, as v. 5 says, God has
adopted us as his sons and daughters. He's made us his
children. Adoption is the best way to describe it
because adopted children have their position by grace, not
by right, and yet they receive all
the same privileges that birth children enjoy.
What are the privileges that we can enjoy as God's
children? For one thing, we are
safe in his loving care.
Has anyone ever been to
Whatipu? It's a very
turbulent, very dangerous beach at the entrance to the
Manukau Harbour. You'd have to be
a fool to swim there. Yet, for
some reason, mum and dad would often take us boys there to
swim. I remember swimming there
one day as a little five or six year old kid. I got into
trouble. I remember feeling the
drag of a current hauling me underneath the foaming surf.
I recall being tumbled around by the crashing waves
like dirty clothes in a heavy wash. I remember the fear that
gripped me. But I also remember
the strong hands of my dad taking hold of me and lifting me
back up the beach to safety. If dad hadn't been there, I
would have been in trouble. But he was there.
Even though I couldn't see him or hear him, dad was
there and dad was in control. I
had nothing to worry about.
When we feel that we are in
trouble, when we are buffeted by the waves of sickness or
tragedy, conflict or loneliness
when we are pulled under by fear or despair
or the temptation to forget about others and look
after ourselves even though we
can't see him or feel him, our
Father is with us, and he's in control. As Paul says in v
11, we have a God who "works out everything in conformity
with the purpose of his will."
We are safe in his care. We can trust him.
Because he has adopted us as his children.
2.
Freed
But in addition to adopting
us, Paul says that God has also freed us from our sin - a
second gift. Verse 7 says that,
in Jesus, "we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins." To redeem
something is to purchase its freedom by paying a ransom.
Anne Lamott writes about an 8 year old boy who had a
younger sister dying of leukaemia.
He was told that without a blood transfusion his sister
would die. His parents asked him
if they could test his blood to see if it was compatible
with hers. He said sure. So they tested, and it was a match.
Then they asked if he would give his sister some
blood, and they explained that it could be her only chance
of living. He said that he'd have
to think about it overnight. The next day he told his
parents that he would donate his blood. So they took him to
hospital. He and his sister were
hooked up to intravenous drips beside each other. The boy
lay there in silence as his life-giving blood flowed into
his sister. But when the doctor
came over to see how he was doing, the little boy opened his
eyes and asked, "How soon until I start to die?"
That little 8-year-old kid was
trying to redeem his sister, With
his blood, his life, he was trying to free her from the
disease that threatened her life. Jesus has redeemed us.
With his blood, his life, he has freed us from the disease
of sin. He's given us a
transfusion of his righteousness.
As v 4 says, he's made us acceptable and pleasing to God:
"Holy and blameless in his sight".
3.
Sealed
So God has adopted us as his
children. He's freed us from our sins. And, thirdly, he's
marked us or sealed us with the Holy Spirit (v. 13).
Paul describes the Holy
Spirit in v. 14 as "a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance."
This life is not all there is.
As God's children we have been given a glorious inheritance
(v. 18). Exactly what that future inheritance will be like
is beyond our capacity to imagine.
But we know from v. 10 that it will involve God bringing
everything together under the authority of Christ.
You and I, and all of this fractured world, will at
last be just the way God intended us to be. We will be
reunited with loved ones, restored to full health, released
from all sin. We will be like
Jesus.
And just as a deposit on a
house proves that the buyer is committed to the contract and
that she will pay the full purchase price later, the
presence of God's Spirit in our life - convicting us of sin,
convincing us of truth - is the proof that God will give us
this glorious inheritance.
Our responsibility
So God's adopted us as his
children, He's freed us from our sin
and he's marked us with the Holy Spirit. These are
some of the riches in our account; are there any
responsibilities?
In verse 12 Paul says that
God's given us these gifts in order that we, Christ's body,
might live "for the praise of his glory." God wants us, as
his children, to show his unconditional love, his grace,
to those who (like us) don't deserve it
that they might see something of God's nature in us
and be drawn to faith in Jesus.
"So, that friend who hurt you. That husband who frustrates
you. Those young people or old
people whose ideas differ so markedly from your own..."
Jesus says, "Love them as I have loved you. Be prepared to
die for them."
Have you died for any one
lately? Have you drawn anyone to
Jesus lately through your graciousness and selflessness?
We will only do that if there's someone bigger than
us looking out for us. And Paul
says that God's "incomparably great power" -
the power that could even raise Jesus from death and
enthrone him over the universe, a
power that can bring victory out of defeat - that power is
available "for us who believe" (v. 19).
Our friends, our family, any
who have not yet received Jesus - they may be beyond our
power to save; but they're not beyond God's power to save,
if we will just trust his power to save us.
Paul says God has credited this immeasurable power to
our account. It's available "for
us who believe" (v 19).
Hetty Green lived in the
United States. When she died in
1916, she left an estate valued at over $100 million. She
was rich. But how did she live?
She ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it. Her son had
to suffer an amputation, because
she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his
case became incurable. Hetty Green
was rich, but she chose to live like a beggar.
Let's not live like that.
God, in his love, has given
vast riches to those who will believe in Jesus (v. 13).
He's adopted each of us as his children; we are safe
in his love. He's freed us from
our sin; we're pleasing and
acceptable to him. And he's marked
us with his Holy Spirit; whatever
this life brings, we have a glorious inheritance waiting for
us - when everything will be made right.
So as we reflect on last year
and focus on the coming year, with Paul we can say,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the spiritual realms
with every spiritual blessing in Christ" (v. 3).
JOHN TUCKER
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