A WORKERâS ETHIC OR A DEBTORâS ETHIC
So, I usually carry some extra money in my wallet because I like to give. So, donât hit me up. Thatâs not the point of the story. But I like to carry extra money, and then if somebody needs something, I like to give it to them. And weâve sort of learned this in our family: always carry a little extra on you in case somebody needs something and then you can be generous, or help, or give, and itâs something we like to do as a family.
I was talking to somebody recently, a guy, and he needed money for something, and I said, âWell, I carry extra money and Iâm gonna give it to you.â He literally backed away like I was trying to hand Superman kryptonite. He didnât want anything to do with it. Heâs like, âNo, I didnât earn it.â I said, âNo, I know. Iâm not going to say you did. I just want to give you some money. You said you need money and Iâm going to give you some money.â He was a non-Christian guy.
I said, âSo here, let me help you out.â He said, âNo, I donât want to owe anybody anything.â I said, âOh, you donât have to owe me anything.â He said, âNo, I know how it works. You give me money and then I owe you. Iâve got to do something for you, Iâve got to do a favor for you, Iâve got to pay you back.â I said, âNo, thatâs not how it works.â I said, âThatâs not how it works at all.â He was a non-Christian.
It gave me an opportunity to talk to him about Jesus, and what the Bible says, and in the Bible, it refutes something insofar as we experience in the world, and thatâs a workerâs ethic, that you only get what you deserve. You know, in sports, you only get the points you make; in school, you only get the grade point you earn; in work, you only make as much money as you have coming.
Or a debtorâs ethic: if youâre to get anything, then youâve got to give something, youâve got to pay back, youâve got to earn it, youâve got to make it even. And the Bible talks about that with this word called âwage,â and Jesus uses that word a lot in a lot of his parables.
The opposite of that is blessing. Itâs the opposite of the workerâs ethic; you get something you didnât work for. Itâs the opposite of the debtorâs ethic; you get something you donât have to pay back. And so when we come to the Bible and we hear that God blesses us, it runs counter to the way we live the rest of our life. It simply runs counter to the way we live the rest of our life.
And when it works itself out spiritually in our life, I think what oftentimes happens is we come to God either with a workerâs ethic or a debtorâs ethic. We assume that God doesnât want to bless us, or if he does, weâre going to have to pay him back. And so what we end up doing, then, is trying to manipulate God, trying to get God to be good to us, to bless us, to be kind to us, to give to us, to do something for us, and thatâs what leads to religion, itâs what leads to spirituality, itâs what leads to superstition.
I AM BLESSED
What see as we open the book of Ephesians is the fact that I am blessed, in Ephesians 1:3â14. Heâs writing to the church at Ephesus, and Ephesus was a city of about a quarter million people, highly spiritual. There were literally dozens of gods and goddesses that were worshiped there. People would come in for enormous holidays and events around the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven great wonders of the world. And this was a highly religious, highly spiritual area, and when Paul first pulled into town and he preached the gospel, people got rid of all of their witchcraft, sorcery, divination, and they burned the equivalent of fifty thousand daysâ wages of various pagan things.
And all of those things had this one thing in common: they were an effort to get God to bless them. And we might look like C. S. Lewis says, with chronological snobbery and look back and say, âWhat primitive people who thought that they needed to manipulate the gods, or the goddesses, or God to bless them,â but we do the same thing. We do the same thing. Sometime weâll call it karma, which is basically the workerâs ethic. You get what you deserve. Or weâll call it feng shui. I probably pronounced it wrong, but itâs trying to get all of the energy lined up in your house so that blessing will come to you through the organization of physical items in your home. Some athletes are highly superstitious. Some of you are very superstitious.
It works itself out with religion. âIf I suffer, then God will bless me; if I give, then God will bless me; if I have a quiet time every morning, then God will bless me. What can I do to make God good?â Hereâs the good news: Godâs good, amen? Godâs good. You donât have to make God bless you, God blesses people.
One of the first things we learned about God in Genesis 1:8, after he makes the man and the woman, before sin enters the world, it says, âAnd God blessed them.â Thatâs what it says in Genesis 1. God is a God who likes to bless. God is a God who delights in blessing. God is a Father who doesnât withhold good gifts from his children. He loves and cares for them and heâs generous toward them. So, thatâs the big idea. God likes to bless his people.
Now, as we enter into Ephesians 1:3â14, we are going to unpack the densest verse in the whole Bible. In the original Greek text that it was written, this is one sentence. So, all of you English majors, just calm down. Itâs one sentence in the Greek text. And itâs an amazing explosion of joy is what it is. Itâs 202 words, one sentence, and the big idea that holds it all together is that we are blessed.
BLESSED IN CHRIST
He starts by telling us that weâre blessed in Christ. So, Ephesians 1:3: âBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ.â Thereâs our identity. âIn Christ.â For those who are in Christ. Blessing is in Christ and it is for those who are in Christ. âWith every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.â
First heâs going to talk about the Trinity. He says, âFather, Son,â and then at the very end, verse 13âthis is all, again, one section of Scripture. Verses 13â14, at the end, he talks about the Holy Spirit. So, weâre blessed from God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit. Number two, heâs going to talk about Jesus a lot. In the first fourteen verses, he talks about Jesus fourteen times, and so itâs all about Jesus, and our blessing is in Christ. Heâs also going to talk about us being in Christ eleven times in the first fourteen verses.
As youâre reading and studying Ephesians for yourself, and we spend some months examining it together, just continually make note in your Bible, âin Christ, in Christ, in Christ, in him, in the Beloved.â Heâs starting really strong right out of the beginning of the letter. Itâs all about Jesus. Are you in Christ? Then you assume, in the grace of God, the position of Christ. And this is where the cross gets important. Jesus goes to the cross, takes our place, so that we could take his place. And weâre blessed in Christ, because if we have faith in Christ, we have salvation in Christ, we have new life in Christ, we stand in the position of Christ, and we receive the blessings of Christ.
As well, he tells us that God has given us God. He says, âBlessed be the God who has given himself to us.â God has given himself to us, and I canât overstate this. I know sometimes when we come to God, weâre like, âI want a car that runs. I want a spouse that doesnât. God, here are all the things that I want from you. I want all these blessings from you.â A car is great, a spouse is great, health is great, a job is great, but hereâs the greatest gift thatâs ever been given. Whatâs the greatest gift you could give someone? Yourself, your love, your life, your heart, your devotion, your commitment, your affection. To give yourself.
Itâs why at a wedding, you know what happens? A husband and a wife, a bride and a groom, theyâll come together on an altar. Everyone brings gifts except for the bride and groom. They donât bring gifts because they are the gift. A man is giving himself to a woman. A woman is giving herself to the man. The greatest gift we have to give is ourselves. God gave us God! Thatâs amazing. A carâs great; Godâs better. Health is great; God is better. Friends are great; God is better. A job is great, but God is better, and God gives us God.
And this is where Paul gets so excitedâso excited. He said, âLetâs bless the God whoâs blessed us.â You get that? âLetâs bless the God whoâs blessed us. The God whoâs given us himself, letâs give ourselves to him.â And this is the explosion of joy that he begins with.
Now some of you say, âI have not seen this blessing of which you speak at the unemployment office, my dumpy condo, and on the bus. I even looked under the seat, I found gum, not blessing. I donât see the blessing of which you speak.â He says that the blessing is in the heavenly places. Some of the blessing comes here in this life, and there is blessing, to be sure, from God in this life, but much of it is stored up in heavenly places. And itâs not because God is withholding it from us; he wants us to enjoy the blessings he has for us forever. So, for the believer, this is as close to hell as youâll ever get. For the unbeliever, this is as close to heaven as youâll ever get. For the believer, your blessing awaits you forever, and for the unbeliever, there is no blessing awaiting you forever.
In addition, this is written by Paul, where is he when he writes this letter? Prison. I would not write a letter from prison starting off very excited about all of my blessing, would you? âDay one sucks. Day two, guess what? Still sucks. Day three, never guess what. Still sucks.â Thatâs how we tend to see our life on the earth. How many of you in prison would get excited and say, âI want us all to bless the God whoâs blessed usâ?
Now, whatâs happening is the church is hearing this read by one of their pastors as their lead pastor is in jail. And Iâm sure the people sitting in the congregation, like you and me, some are sick, some are poor, some are suffering, some are unemployed, some have a relationship complexity, some of them their life is falling apart, and theyâre wondering, âMan, does God love me? Is God blessing me?â And then they get a letter from a guy in prison whoâs really excited about all of his blessing.
You see what youâre looking for. Have you noticed this? How many of you are married? If you want to see your spouseâs love for you, and youâre looking for it, youâll see it. If you want to find reasons to be angry at them or bitter against them, youâll find what youâre looking for. So it is in our relationship with God. You will see what youâre looking for. If you take God at his word that he has blessed you, and then you start looking for the ways that he has blessed you, you will see ways that he has blessed you.
And what I would encourage you to do is then take an account of them and write them down so that you can remind yourself and you can remind others of the blessings of God in your life. And thatâs exactly what Paul is doing. Heâs recording it, and thatâs how we get the letter to the Ephesians from a man in prison, so excited about Godâs blessing on his life that he doesnât even have time for punctuation. Thatâs how excited he is.
THE BLESSING OF HOLINESS
So, we are blessed in Christ. And then heâs going to unpack various blessings that come to us in Christ. The blessing of holiness, Ephesians 1:4. âEven as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.â This is important. âHoly and blameless before him.â
Ultimately, the world may not understand you as a Christian. Your unbelieving family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, they may not praise you, they may criticize you. They may not see you as living a life that is holy and good, but ultimately, we live for an audience of one. We need to take counsel from godly people, but at the end of the day, we should be holy and blameless before him. It is ultimately what the Lord Jesus says regarding our life at the end that utterly matters, and everything else is insignificant and pales in comparison.
But, Jesus is holy, he is without sin. God becomes a man, lives without any sin. And we are unholy, and Jesus goes to the cross and he dies in our place for our sin, and he trades places with us so that he has condemnation, we have salvation. He takes upon himself all of our unholiness and he places upon us all of his holiness. Hereâs what this means: you donât need to be perfect, Christ is your perfection. You donât need to live a perfect life, Christ already has in your place.
And you are now, in Christ, if you are a Christian, positionally holy. God sees you in the place of Christ, and out of your positional holiness, you can live practical holiness. Because you are holy, you can live holy. Because Christ has made you holy, you can live holy like Christ. And Iâm not saying that weâre perfect and weâll never sin, and Iâm not saying that this is something that we will ultimately perfect in this life, but itâs something we can make progress in in this life. Christ is your holiness and he makes you holy.
And hereâs how this changes everything: if your identity is in Christ and that he has made you holy, that changes your activity and the decisions you make in your life. So, letâs say you are a teenager, and if your identity is teenager, youâre probably going to rebel against your parents because thatâs what teenagers do. But if youâre a teenager in Christ, Christ has made you holy, you should be one who is compelled by the love of God to act in a way that is holy.
Letâs say you are one who is a college student. If your identity is in, âIâm a college student,â well then, youâre going to get drunk, and break commandments, and act foolishly, because thatâs what college kids do. They all minor in folly. But if you say, âNo, Iâm a college student in Christ, and Christ has made me holy, and I love him and want to live holy,â then out of that positional holiness will come practical holiness. Because of who you are, that changes what you do.
Similarly, if youâre someone whoâs single, if your identity is âIâm single,â youâre probably going to fornicate, and cohabitate, and all kinds of other âates. Youâre going to do things you shouldnât do. But if you say, âNo, Iâm a single person in Christ. And Christ was single, and Iâm single, and heâs made me positionally holy, and I want to live in a way that is practically holy,â that identity will change your activity.
Similarly, youâre someone who is married but you reach your midlife and you get a free midlifeâsay the wordâcrisis. Weâve even made this up. âOh yeah, Iâm freaking out. Iâm going to go get a car and a couple of boyfriends, girlfriends, or maybe a combination thereof, and Iâm just going to live a very foolish, rebellious, youthful life.â Why? âItâs a midlife crisis. Itâs midlifeâitâs a thing. We have a word for it.â If your identity is in midlife instead of Christ, youâre going to give yourself permission to commit all kinds of sins. But if you realize, âMy identityâs in Christ, not my age. Iâm positionally holy in Christ, this means I can be practically holy in Christ. I will not do what others do because Iâm not who others are. Iâm Christâs.â
Does this make sense? So oftentimes our identity is in, âAm I a student? Am I in college? Am I single? Am I married? Am I divorced? Am I widowed? Am I middle-aged?â Identity is in Christ, and that identity carries us through all the seasons in life, and because Christ has made us holy, those who are in Christ want to live holy lives out of love for him. What change has Jesus made in your life? What things you used to enjoy that now youâre ashamed of? What sinful activities you used to live for and now you mourn over? In Christ, youâre holy.
THE BLESSING OF PREDESTINATION
He goes on to sayâthis is going to be fun, at least for me. The blessing of predestination. I said the âpâ word. Ephesians 1:4â5. âIn love he predestined us.â Now, oftentimes when it comes to this issue of election, choosing, predestination, the Bible uses a number of words to explain God picking us. Sometimes people think this is like God playing âDuck, duck, damned.â You know, like friend, friend, kindling, kindling, friend, friend, kindling, kindling. It can sound kind of capricious, and mean, and cruel.
But here, it says he predestined us in what? Love. So, whatever you do, connect predestination and love, and donât let it go into a wrong view of a capricious God whoâs unloving, and cold-hearted, and cruel. âIn love he predestined us.â
Now, what weâre getting into here is a huge debate on theology, and there are some who are calledâweâll call them Calvinists, and they believe that God chooses us. There are those who are ArminiansâI know Iâm simplifying thisâand they would say, âNo, we choose God.â He predestined us. It said previously, âbefore the foundation of the world.â Some would say, âWell, he picked us because he saw we were trying hard.â Nope, no one seeks God. Thatâs what it says. Before we did anything good or evil, before the foundation of the world, before a star got hung in the sky, God chose those who are his to be his. Thatâs predestination.
What that means is that your destiny is predetermined in love. You chose hell, God chose heaven. You chose damnation, God chose salvation. You chose to run from God, and God chose to run after you, so he came as Jesus Christ. In love he predestined us. At we have a variance of opinion on this. We hold the Reformed position and that is this: God chooses us first and then we choose God second, that God puts the Holy Spirit in us and then the Holy Spirit gives us the faith to cry out to God.
Rather than debate this, how about we celebrate this? Look back on your own life. Would you tell the story of your salvation, if you are a Christian, âHereâs how I was seeking God, and pursuing God, and finally after all of my efforts, I found himâ? Paul would not say that. Paul, who was writing this, was a man who hated Christians and was participating in the murder of one named Steven early in the book of Acts. Steven prayed and God later answered his prayers because Jesus himself came down from heaven, blinded Paul, knocked him off a horse, and converted him. Thatâs election, okay? Like, if Jesus comes down from heaven, blinds you, knocks you off a horse, youâre predestined, okay?
Look back at your own story. My story is I was religious, moral, not a Christian, I got a Bible from the pastorâs daughter that I was dating and shouldnât have been. I finally started reading it for some reason in college, and Iâm reading Romans 1, and it says, âAnd you are called to belong to Jesus Christ.â Calling, election, predestination, all language of God reaching down to save us, and boom, itâs like a switch flipped in my soul. âOh, Iâm called to belong to Jesus,â and Iâm in. Iâve been in every day since.
I was thinking about it this week. When I hear peopleâs testimony of how Jesus saved them, it always sounds like Godâs the one who did the work if they tell the story right. So, I posted it online and I asked for peopleâs stories, and Iâll share a few with you. This could be sort of like the redneck comedy tour. âYou might be a redneck if,â right? This will be our version, alright? âYou might be predestined if.â This will be our version.
So, Russell says, âI was busted with a shank in prison.â If you just start there, you know youâre not a good person on a spiritual quest to find the Lord. âI was busted with a shank in prison. In lockdown, I was given a bedroll and my choice of religious literature. I didnât believe in any of them, but I asked for a Bible. Within the next year in the hole, God revealed himself to me and broke my heart. I was prison gang related, and through me renouncing that part of my life, Jesus was faithful to keep me safe until my release. Iâm sitting at Re:Train now.â This guyâs in our school, hopefully without the shank.
âGod is amazing. That he chose me first is so amazing to think about and rejoice in.â I love that line. I think that predestination is something that we should not necessarily argue with non-Christians about, but we should celebrate as Christians. We should share the gospel of Jesus Christ with non-Christians, but when we share our testimony with one another, we should make sure that weâre telling it in such a way that weâre not the hero of the story and weâre not the savior of our soul.
Manvere: âI grew up in a Sikh home and was Sikh. When I was fourteen, I was in bed and saw five demons running around my bed, so I prayed and nothing happened. I then called out to Buddha and nothing happened,â because heâs dead. âThen I tried Allah and nothing happened,â because heâs a demon god. âAnd then I heard a still, calm voice in the back of my head âwhisper, âJesus Christ,â so I said aloud, âJesus save me,â and the demons were instantly gone.â Predestined. I mean, heâs running through his options. âHello, Mohammed? No. âHello, Buddha? Jesus? Hey, that one worked. Iâll go with that.â
How about this one? Jen: âI was an atheist at ten, started doing drugs at twelve, perfected the âgood girls secretly gone badâ pretty early. I dabbled in the occult and I overdosed, and God audiblyâyes, audibly, pretty terrifying for an atheistâcalled me.â Let me say, if you are a high atheist who doesnât believe in God until he talks to you, youâre predestined. Yeah.
How about this one? David: âMy wife and I were having scary, crazy stuff happening at our house through dabbling in the occult. One night, a book flew off my bookshelf and landed in front of my wife late during the night.â Anyone else freaked out? âIn the morning, she tells me what happens and says, âIt opened on this page. Read it.â I read, âArm yourselves with the armor of God.ââ Ephesians. It was a Bible. If youâre in the occult, and demons are running around your house, and the Bible flies off the shelf and opens to Ephesians, you are predestined. Even the Arminians are like, âIâll give you that one. Iâll give you that one. You can have that one.â
ââWow,â I said. âThis is telling us how to defend ourselves. We need to become Christians.â My wife agreed, then she said, âIs this your Bible?â I said, âYes, I got it nine years before when I moved out of my previous flat and the landlord told me to throw out his ex-wifeâs stuff, but I didnât have the heart to throw out the old Bible.ââ This thing had been on the shelf for nine years, and he stole it from some guy, and it flew off the shelf and opened to Ephesians.
âMy wife then showed me the first page of the Bible, read out the inscription. It was her grandparentsâ names with the date 1961 and a Scripture. âWow,â I said. âThatâs the Scripture.â I askedâthumbing through it, it was Ephesians 6:12. I read, âArm yourselves with the armor of God.â Our whole house got saved. Praise God.â Let me just say this: if youâre worshiping demons and the Bible flies off the shelf that you took from somebody nine years earlier and it opens to the book of Ephesians, and then you open to the very front and it has the exact same verse listed, you are predestined, yeah.
Okay, one more. This oneâs fun. âI hated God.â You know this guyâs predestined. Tell me about yourâ âI hated God.â Oh. âI have 666 tattooed on my butt, the Virgin Mary with devil hornsââ He has a tattoo of the Virgin Mary with devil horns. Alright, if you are saved, thatâs weird. You go to Jesus, youâre like, âHey, good to see you.â âWhat about that thing with my mom?â Maryâs sitting there shaking her head like, âThat was uncalled for.â ââa goatee and a tail on my leg, and an angel hanging herself on my arm. One night, just me and my girlfriend were hanging out, drunk of course. We got bored. Well, when she moved into my house, I made her throw out all of her God stuff unless it was Mormon-bashing.â So, the only religious stuff he would allow was Mormon-bashing.
âAnyway, we were so bored I told her to put in one of the anti-Mormon movies. She did and my life was changed forever. I found out that Jesus was a real historical figure and not just the main character for the worldâs oldest novel. I picked up the Bible. I was going to read it so I could tell people why I hated God and how stupid it was. Before I got done with Matthew, I was a believer, started going to church, and was saved.â Like, if you have 666 tattooed onto your butt, if you have a tattoo of the Virgin Mary with horns, and an angel hanging herself tattooed on your body, and you get saved, you are predestined, okay?
Let me say this: predestined is a wonderful doctrine. What it means is it doesnât matter how bad you are, God could save you. It doesnât matter where you live, God could save you. It doesnât matter who you are, or what youâve done, or what youâve failed to do. It doesnât matter how rebellious you are, how religious you are, how ridiculous you are. God could love you, save you, pick you, bless you in Christ. Amen? Thatâs good news. Thatâs good news.
THE BLESSING OF ADOPTION
He goes on to say that we have the blessing of adoption. Ephesians 1:4â5. âIn love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.â Heâs saying that God has adopted us, and the language here is really important.
Forty percent of kids tonight go to bed without a father. For the first time in the nationâs history, the majority of children born to women ages thirty and under are born out of wedlock. Kids never have a dad. Kids never have a dad. And some of you had a dad, but he was a horrible dad, and he was a man who abused you, heâs a man who abandoned you.
This whole concept of God being a Father is incredibly important. About fourteen times in the Old Testament, God is referred to as a Father, but itâs always nationally. Itâs never individually, itâs never personally. Everything changes when Jesus comes along, and Jesus starts teaching us how to pray. And he says, âWhen you pray, pray like this: âOur Father.ââ What? This sort of intimate, personal, affectionate language for a relationship with God. Heâs like a Dad who loves us? My kids call me Papa Daddy. Itâs like that. Abba Father is like Papa Daddy. Thatâs how Jesus tells us to pray. And more than sixty times in the New Testament, Jesus refers to God as âFatherâ and teaches us to refer to God as âFather.â
Some of youâve wrongly been told, because of spirituality, that God is a force. Godâs not a force, Godâs a Father. Heâs not impersonal, heâs personal. He doesnât just give you power, he gives you himself. And the language here is that Jesus is like a big brother, and that God adopts us into his family. So, to become a Christian is to have a new FatherâGodâs your Fatherâand to have a new familyâChristians are family. This is incredibly important. Some of you donât have family. We want church to be your family. Some of you donât have a father. We want God to be your Father. Some of you, your birth and the family you were born into, itâs discouraging. We want you to be born again into the family of God.
This language is incredibly personal and it changes the way we pray. Thatâs why Jesus often teaches us that God is Father in the context of prayer. If you know who your Father is, youâre going to talk to him. If you know how much he loves you, youâre going to talk to him. If you know how gracious he is toward you, youâre going to talk to him.
So he talks about this great blessing of being adopted. You ever seen a kid get adopted? Doesnât something just ring true in your soul like, âThatâs beautiful. That kid didnât have a family, now they have a family. Didnât have a father, now they have a father. Nobody was looking after them, now somebody is looking after them. Nobody was loving them, now somebody is loving them.â Thatâs beautiful, amen?
Thatâs why Christians have always had a heart for adoption. In the early church, oftentimes children were literally thrown out with the trash, and the boys would be picked up to become slaves or gladiators, and the girls would be picked up to be servants or prostitutes. And the Christians went out and picked up the abandoned children and adopted them because itâs a picture of the gospel of Jesus. All who are in Christ are adopted in Christ, and when we adopt and we love children that are not our biological children, but we treat them with the same affection, and the same inheritance, and the same blessing, weâre showing something of the heart of the Father and the truth of the gospel by welcoming them into the family.
âIn love he predestined us for adoption as sons.â And that language there of âsons,â it includes sons and daughters, but in that day the family line, and the inheritance, and all the blessing, it came through the male line, and so men and women are in that position as sons, full rights of inheritance, full family blessing.
âThrough Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.â Let me say this: youâre adopted. If youâre in Christ, youâre adopted. You have a Father named God who loves you. You have a Father named God who listens to you. You have a Father named God who blesses you. And I want you to relate to him in that way. Thatâs why he starts off Ephesians talking about God our Father, and then here he talks about this blessing of adoption.
THE BLESSING OF REDEMPTION
He then proceeds forward to talk about the blessing of redemption. And again, when he talks about blessing, itâs just one thing after another. It just keeps exploding. Itâs almost like a great fireworks display. It just gets bigger, and more glorious, and just continues. And here, he adds the blessing of redemption. Ephesians 1:7: âIn him we have redemption through his blood.â
Now, in our culture, we use the language of addiction. In the Bible, it uses the language of slavery, that something has mastered us, enslaved us, is harming us and destroying us, and we need redemption. We need to be freed, delivered, released. And the language, if you look at redemption, redeeming, and all the derivatives thereofâIâve studied it. It appears hundreds of times in the Bible. It traces all the way back to the Exodus.
In the Exodus, Godâs people were in Egypt, and they were ruled over by a pharaoh, and he was a mean, cruel man. He thought he was God and wanted to be worshiped as God, and he really harmed Godâs people. He mistreated and abused Godâs people. He enslaved them and he made their life very difficult. God came, through Moses, and spoke to the pharaoh telling him to repent and let the people go so they might be free to worship him, otherwise there would be consequences, judgments. And what happened was these various judgments came in the form of plagues.
And over, and over, and over, Pharaohâs heart was hardened. Sometimes it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart, other times it says that God hardened Pharaohâs heart. God hardened Pharaohâs heart with grace. âPharaoh, hereâs an opportunity to repent. Hereâs an opportunity to stop pretending youâre god. The real God says you need to repent, that you need to let his people go, that you need to stop mistreating people and acting like youâre god. Youâre not.â The Puritans used to say, âThe same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay.â God was very gracious, very patient, very honest through Moses with Pharaoh, and his heart got harder, and harder, and harder, and he hardened his own heart.
The final conflict was the promise that if you donât let Godâs people go, death will come to the firstborn son in every household that does not belong to the Lord. And so death was promised to come to every house in the nation of Egypt, with the exception of those families that in faith took a lamb without spot or blemish, showing the sinlessness of that substitute, in faith, slaughtered the animal, took its blood, and used it to paint the doorpost of the home. So that when death came to the city, it would literally pass over every home that had faith in the blood of the lamb.
This is all very much connected to Jesus. He shows up, John the Baptizer, his cousin, says, âBehold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.â Paul tells the Corinthians, âBehold, our Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been slain.â And so death came to every home with the exception of those who had faith in the blood of the lamb, a substitute to die in their place for their sins, so that the wrath of God and the death of a son would pass over them.
And then Godâs people were given redemption. They were liberated, they were freed. They got to walk out of Egypt, and God went with them, and God parted the sea for them, and God provided for them, and blessed them in the wilderness despite their grumbling.
Hereâs the big idea: when he says that we have redemption through his blood, that our faith is to be in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world. And if we are in Christ and we have trusted in Christâs death in our place for our sins, the wrath of God passes over us, and we are redeemed from our addictions and slaveries to worship him in freedom with a new life. What this means is how we interact with our sin is very different. It means that we no longer have to accept certain sin in our life, that because Jesus has redeemed us, we can walk with him away from our slavery.
I donât know what it is that enslaves you. For some itâs food, for some itâs sex, for some itâs money, for some itâs fame, for some itâs power, for some itâs glory, for some itâs control, for some itâs possessions, for some it is comfort. I know not what your thing is, but whatever has mastered you, whatever rules over you, Jesus has come to free you, and by the grace of God, you can walk with him in a brand-new life. And thatâs the blessing of redemption.
Let me say this too before I move on. We deal with this very concept in great detail in something called Redemption Groups, and itâs all based on the storyline of the Exodus, and it really works out the entirety of the blessing of redemption. Itâs for those who are struggling with sin that theyâve committed, or sin thatâs been committed against them, or suffering that has come upon them. And these intensive Redemption Groups go through a curriculum produced by Pastor Mike Wilkerson in his book, Redemption, and itâs our way of explaining to people the blessing of redemption and how to walk together as Godâs people in the blessing of redemption. And if you would like to consider that, we would like to invite you into a Redemption Group, and thereâs more information to be had regarding that.
THE BLESSING OF FORGIVENESS
He then proceeds to the blessing of forgiveness. And I can feel it in the room; some of you are already tired. Youâre like, âMan, this is a lot.â This is amazing, though. Blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing, blessing. And heâs trying to unpack all of these blessings so that you and I would know how blessed we are, amen? So hang in there with me.
The blessing of forgiveness, Ephesians 1:7. âIn him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.â What haunts you? What do you regret? Looking back in your life, if I said, âOne thing you could do over,â what would it be? Most of us know immediately, right? Because we feel that shame, we feel that condemnation. Maybe weâre even still living in light of some of the implications and complications that came through that sin. If a biography was written of your entire life and it was told truthfully, you couldnât read it. I couldnât read mine.
We need to be forgiven. It says that weâre forgiven for our trespasses. Itâs talking there about our sin. When God draws a line and we step over it. When God says no and we do it. And sometimes we think that God is wrong, or God is withholding. And then when we sin, we realize that ours is a good Father, and when he tells us to do something, itâs good, and when he tells us not to do something itâs because itâs bad. And then we regret being so foolish and rebellious.
Now, hereâs what happens when you sin. Youâve got to decide what to do with it. Iâll give you a couple options. You can deny it. âI didnât do it.â You can blame somebody else. âItâs their fault.â You can excuse it. âWell, there are extenuating circumstances.â You can diminish it. âWell, itâs not that big of a deal. I know people that have done a lot worse than me.â You can hide it. âWell, I hope I donât get caught.â You can punish yourself. âI need to suffer and pay God back.â Or, you could just be forgiven.
One of Jesusâ final words from the cross is, âFather, forgive them.â If you are in Christ, youâre forgiven. Youâre forgiven. Youâre forgiven for everything youâve done in your past, and youâre forgiven for anything youâll do in your future. Youâre forgiven. Youâre forgiven. I want you to feel that. I want the Holy Spirit to enable and empower you to feel that. Have you ever sinned against somebody? Met with them, looked them in the eye, said youâre sorry, and they said, âI forgive you,â and they meant it?
See, today, the Lord Jesus wants you to know that he forgives you. He means it. Youâre forgiven. Youâre forgiven. Itâs a blessing, right? It means we donât need to pay God back. It means we donât need to suffer. It means we donât need to do anything because Christ has done everything. When he died on the cross, he paid the full debt for our sin. And when he says that weâre forgiven, weâre forgiven. Youâre forgiven.
THE BLESSING OF GRACE
He goes on to talk about the blessing of grace, and in some ways, this could be an explanation of all of the blessings and their source. Ephesians 1:7â10: âAccording to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us.â You ever been with somebody whoâs really generous? They give more than you even thought they would give. You know, you went out with your grandpa, he was the âfourth scoop of ice creamâ grandpa. Heâs lavish, like grace upon grace. Godâs like that. Godâs lavish with his grace. Godâs not stingy with his grace. Godâs a giver, thatâs who he is.
âAccording to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth,â whatâs it say? âIn Christ.â All of this is in Christ. If you are in Christ, you receive all the blessings. If youâre not in Christ, you donât receive any of the blessings. He goes on to say, âAs a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.â
Let me explain the grace of God to you. There is common grace, and this is God giving a measure of grace to everyone, believer and unbeliever. The Bible says that the sun rises on the believer and the unbeliever, that the crops grow to feed the believer and the unbeliever. Does God love the whole world? Yes, he does. Does God pour out love, unmerited favor, generosity, kindness, provision on all people? Yes, he does. Yes, he does.
And then there is a special grace, a unique grace, a saving grace for Godâs people. We get common grace and special grace. Common grace helps in this life, but itâs only special grace that is of any help after this life. Common grace is for all people, but special grace is exclusively for Godâs people. And so if you are in Christ, you are doubly blessed. Heâs lavished grace upon grace on you. Heâs lavished common grace and special grace upon you.
I think sometimes in Christianity, we become so familiar with words that we cease to be astounded by them. God isnât asking you to give to him. Heâs asking you to receive him, and he gives himself to you as a gift. And then he takes up life in you, and he changes you, and then his grace starts to come through you so that his grace might be through you to others. Itâs an amazing life. Itâs a supernatural life.
See again, when we have a workerâs ethic, we only get what we deserve. When we have a debtorâs ethic, we have to pay them back for what we receive. Grace is different than that. Grace is not just to those of us who are undeserving. Itâs to those of us who are ill-deserving.
Let me ask you this: where are the evidences of Godâs grace in your life? How has God been gracious to you? Where has God been gracious to you? What things has he provided for you? What things has he saved you from? In what ways has he informed you? And if you look at this: holiness, predestination, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, itâs all of what? Grace. And then thereâs this empowering grace that makes you strong to live a new life like Christ, and with Christ, and for Christ, and through Christ. What this means is the way we treat one another has to be seated, and sourced, and summed in grace. In grace.
THE BLESSING OF BEING SEALED
He continues. Itâs quite a sentence, huh? The blessing of being sealed, Ephesians 1:11â14. âIn him we have obtained an inheritance.â How many of you would like an inheritance? See, God has an inheritance. Godâs a Father, weâre his children. Weâve been adopted into his family, he loves all of his kids, and he gives them an inheritance.
âIn him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined,â thereâs the word again, âaccording to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.â
He talks about the blessing of being sealed. Now, in that day, if you had a possession, youâd put your seal on it. Some people still do this. Theyâll put their name on something or theyâll tag something as identified with their possessions. In that day, you would put your seal on something and that was to denote, âThat belongs to me.â He says that, for the believer, weâre Godâs possession. We belong to the Lord, we belong to God. If youâre a Christian, you belong to God. Your life is not your own. Youâve been bought with a price. You belong to the Lord.
And he has put his seal upon you as his possession, and that seal is the Holy Spirit. So, it starts with God the Father, and then God the Son, and here itâs God the Holy Spirit. The whole Trinityâs involved. So our blessing is from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, and then the Holy Spirit, he comes and he marks us as Godâs possession.
And what that is, that is a guarantee of our inheritance. Now again, there is blessing in this life to be sure, but much of our blessing is awaiting us in the kingdom of God. And friends, God is not storing up our blessing there because he is withholding from us, but because he wants us to enjoy the blessing forever. If God were to give us all of the blessing today, it would only be for this life. If we store it up for eternal life, we enjoy it every day forevermore. And the Holy Spirit is our blessing.
Now, let me ask you a question. How many of you want to live for God? How many of you want to live for God? Donât. All the hands went down fast. âThat soundedâhe yelled. It seemed like he wasâbut, hmm.â The Holy Spirit is God. He empowered the earthly life of the Lord Jesus. And before Jesus returned to heaven he said, âI will not leave you as orphans. Iâll send the Holy Spirit.â When Godâs people gathered early in the book of Acts, they were ready to go do ministry and Jesus said, âNot yet. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and youâll receive power,â and then the Holy Spirit came upon Godâs people to give them the power of Jesus to live a life in Christ.
Hereâs what I want you to know about the Christian life: itâs not the life you live for God, itâs the life of God lived through you. Itâs Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to cause you to become a new person in Christ, and to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. That doesnât mean there wonât be effort on your behalf, but itâs Holy Spirit-enabled, grace-empowered effort. And itâs Godâs life for you, itâs Godâs life in you, itâs Godâs life through you by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let me say this: this means that a Christian cannot lose their salvation. Some would ask, âCan you lose your salvation?â No. Thatâs the wrong question. The question is, âCan Christ lose a Christian?â Itâs not my salvation. The Bible says salvation is of the Lord. I donât save myself, I canât unsave myself. I didnât elect myself, I canât unelect myself. I didnât adopt myself, I canât unadopt myself. I didnât seal myself, I canât unseal myself.
And what he says here is: âHe is the guarantee of our inheritance.â The what? Guarantee. âUntil we acquire possession of it.â What he says is, once you receive the Holy Spirit, you are marked and sealed as Godâs possession. He causes you to be born again with a new nature, as a new person, with a new heart, and a new mind, and a new identity to live by a new power, to live for a new Lord. And thatâs only the beginning, and he will keep you to the end. A Christian does not lose their salvation because Christ does not lose a Christian. The Holy Spirit keeps you. Thatâs the blessing.
TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
Lastly, he says why. Now let me ask you, why would God do all of this? This is a lot of blessing. Blessed in Christ with holiness, predestination, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, grace, and sealed by the presence and power of the person of the Holy Spirit. Why would God do this? He tells us three times: âTo the praise of his glory.â
Ephesians 1:6, âTo the praise of his glorious grace.â That weâd sing, and shout, and cheer. Weâd repent of being indie rockers and having our hands in our pockets. Ephesians 1:12 says, âTo the praise of his glory.â Paulâs really excited in prison praising God for all of his blessing. And he says in Ephesians 1:14 again, âTo the praise of his glory.â So, what we do is bless the God whoâs blessed us. We bless the God whoâs blessed us.
Let me close with an illustration that I borrowed from one of our residents here at the church. All theology is cat theology or dog theology. Let me make this simple for you, okay? Cat theology or dog theology. Letâs say there is a cat and letâs say thereâs a dog, and they both have the same owner, and they have the best master ever. They sleep in comfortable beds, they eat very good food, they are groomed at the best vet or spa, they are petted, they are spoken to, they are well treated and cared for in every way. These are spoiled pets. The cat thinks, âI must be an amazing and valuable cat.â The dog thinks, âI must have an amazing and valuable master.â Do you get the difference?
We have dog theology. And so oftentimes in our world, itâs cat theology. âGod loves you, God died for you, God blessed you, God has eternity for you, God has a new nature for you, God has an eternal home for you. Look at how amazing you are! Look at how valuable you are! Look at how important you are!â Cat theology.
Look at how great God is. Look at all that God has done. Look at all that God still promises to do. To live for the praise of his glorious grace is not to think God does all of this so that people could see me as glorious. God does all of this so that I might tell everyone how glorious he is, how loving he is, how generous he is, how compassionate he is, how merciful he is, how kind he is, how long-suffering he is, how affectionate he is, how wonderful my master is. Amen?
So Father God, as we transition now, I pray for those who are not yet Christians. They want blessings, but not Jesus. And I pray that they would see that the greatest blessing of all is Jesus, and all other blessings are found exclusively in Christ. God, I pray for those of us who are Christians, that we would never cease to be astounded and amazed at the blessings that we receive in Christ. And I thank you, Lord God, that those blessings are not just for this life but theyâre for eternal life. I thank you, Lord God, that even when we find ourselves in circumstances as the Apostle Paul did, suffering, lonely, isolated, scared, hurting, struggling, we will see what weâre looking for. And if we take your Word as truth, that you are a God whoâs blessed us, and we start to recount the blessings in our life, we will find our mourning turn into praising. And Lord God, for some of us who are today feeling exceedingly blessed, life is filled with obvious blessing, I pray that we would know that it is for the praise of his glorious grace. Itâs so that we could tell others about how wonderful our master is, and how loving he has been, and how generous he has been, and how kind he has been, and how he is not done, and weâll be with him together forever. And Lord Jesus, in closing, I thank you that it says over and over here, eleven times in the first fourteen verses, all of this blessing is in Christ. And so Christ, we thank you for being our blessing and we thank you for being the source of all of our blessings. And we thank you in Christâs name, amen.
Note: This sermon transcript has been edited for readability.