One of the most famous tourist attractions in the US is the Empire State building in New York City. Each year, more than 4 million people from every region of the globe visit the Empire Sate building. Now the new 102nd floor observatory offers a 360-degree view. You can get the best possible view of Manhattan and see all of New York City’s iconic landmarks, from the Statue of Liberty to Central Park and far beyond. On the clearest days you can gaze up to 80 miles into the distance, far enough to see six states from a single vantage point, from a height of 1,250 feet.
The letter to the Ephesians is like the Empire State building. It offers a breathtaking, unobstructed view of the entire landscape. From here, you can get a bird’s-eye view of the entire scripture: God, the world, Jesus, the church, the means of salvation, Christian behavior, marriage and family, and spiritual warfare.[1] Nowadays I find myself so easily preoccupied with daily problems and concerns, from ongoing pandemic to recent political unrest. I need to learn to see the bigger picture and put things in perspective. So I need Ephesians. If you are like me, Ephesians is the right book for you. My prayer is that as we study this book together, we may get a bird’s-eye view of life and see things in the light of eternity, that we may always hope, always rejoice, always look for the best, never look back, but keep going to the end!
God Chose Us
Today’s passage is doxology, an expression of praise to God. But it’s not easy to grasp. For example, in the original Greek verses 3 to 14, these twelve verses are one single complex sentence. So it has to be unpacked. Here verse 3 is the key:
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ (NLT).
In this verse Paul declares that Christians are trinitarians, who believe in one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. That is, every blessing of the Holy Spirit has been given us by the Father if we are in the Son. So now we will explore this extremely important truth one by one.
First, God, the Father, is the source of every blessing we enjoy. It is God who has blessed us, who loved us and chose us. No matter how dreadful our past, no matter how self-centered our present, still God has chosen us out. The Bible says, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ” (v. 5 NLT). Let us pause for a moment and think about what it means to be adopted into God’s family. Theologian Robert Peterson beautifully articulates what this means this way:[2]
Adoption is a legal procedure which secures a child’s identity in a new family. . . . God didn’t choose to be our foster parent. We don’t get kicked out of the family because of our behavior. We don’t have to worry day to day whether or not we are good enough to be part of the family. In his infinite kindness, God made us a permanent part of his family. . . . Nothing can undo the legal procedure that binds me to Christ. He died to redeem me. He signed the adoption papers, so to speak, with his blood. Nothing can cancel the work he did for me. I am free from the fear of falling away. Hallelujah!
Recently, I had a chance to watch the film, titled the Ride. It’s a true story about a white supremacist child, John, who is fostered, then later adopted by an interracial couple, Eldridge and Marianna. John couldn’t understand why this couple was lavishing love and kindness on him, although they knew all about his past. So one day he asked, “Why are you doing this?” The adoptive father replied, “Because everyone deserves a second chance.” When God chose us, we were unholy and blameworthy, deserving not of adoption but of judgment. But even before we were born, before the world was created, God decided to adopt us into his family. God showed this great love through Jesus Christ.
In Christ
First, God is the source of every blessing. The second is this: Jesus is the sphere in which every blessing is received. In verse 7 Paul praises, “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins” (NLT). In today’s passage the phrase “in Christ” or “in him” occurs 11 times. In Christ we are blessed. In Christ we are loved and chosen. In Christ we are forgiven. In Christ we have new life!
This past week I found at least one shining, good news among all other sad, depressing news: A US doctor forgives $650,000 in medical bills for his cancer patients. This doctor recently closed his cancer treatment center after nearly 30 years in business. In this closing process he worked with a debt collection firm to gather outstanding payments, but then he realized many families had been hit hard financially by the pandemic. So he and his wife thought about it and looked at forgiving all the debt. In his Christmas greeting card to patients, he wrote, “We were proud to serve you as a patient… The clinic has decided to forego all balances owed to the clinic by its patients. Happy Holidays.”[3]
That is exactly what God did for us in Christ. We were slaves to sin. Our sinful self (nature) made us impossible to come to faith, come to know God and love God. But God himself purchased our freedom with the blood of Jesus. “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20 NRSV). Yes, God purchased our freedom with purpose – glorifying God. Paul, in today’s passage, proclaims this truth three times. God adopted us into his family, so that we might live for his glory (vv. 5-6). God chose us in advance and he makes everything work out according to his plan, so that we would bring praise and glory to him (vv. 11-12). God has purchased us to be his own people, so that we would praise and glorify him (v. 14). We are chosen, redeemed, forgiven in Christ. We are blessed when we are vitally united to Christ.
By the Holy Spirit
Thirdly, there is the Holy Spirit. God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. The blessing God gives us in Christ is spiritual. It is the blessing of the Holy Spirit. In verses 13 and 14 Paul says,
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
When we believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins to dwell in us. God gives us new heart, new nature, new will and affections by the Holy Spirit. And we – our mind and heart first, then our emotion – are transformed. Then, we come to know God intellectually, willfully, and emotionally. And the more we know God and his character, the more we praise him and become more like his children, more like his Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Bible says the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee, God’s down-payment, the deposit that assures us that God will fulfill all his promises to us. Suppose you put a hefty down payment on a house, certainly you would not want to lose that house or the money you already put down. In this analogy God himself, not we, is the one who puts a down payment. God gives us his Holy Spirit as the down payment, the guarantee that he will fulfill his promise. So today, whether we feel it or not, we trust that God chose us and has a plan for you and me before the world was created. We trust that God calls us, creates us, transforms us to live for his praise and glory.
God doesn’t promise us an easy life. In fact, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). Instead, God gives us blessed assurance that we feel secure in his love. Martin Luther describes the Holy Spirit as God’s guarantee, the Paraclete (literally, the “called-along-side One”) in his hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God:
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours, thru him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
the body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!
No matter what we go through today, God is faithful and trustworthy. So come, let us sing, let us live, let us be to the praise of God’s glory.
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well, with my soul!”
Amen.
[1] N.T. Wright, Ephesians (N. T. Wright for Everyone Bible Study Guides), InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. Location 44 of 1084.
[2] Robert A. Peterson, Adopted by God: From Wayward Sinners to Cherished Children (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2001), 76–78. quoted in Bryan Chapell, Ephesians (Reformed Expository Commentaries), 31.
[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55544496
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