Blessed Beyond All Comprehension

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,  Ephesians 1:3

Ephesians 1:1–14 – Learning to Live Under the Reign of Christ
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: Life in the Spirit  – July 7, 2024 (am)    

We don’t think nearly enough about the glory of the gospel, not to mention the glory of God it displays. If it were possible to receive a gift of money or material blessings that approaches the value of our salvation, it would immediately change our whole lives. It would be the subject of our every waking thought day by day and it would fill our dreams every night as we sleep. Our name would immediately be known ahead of any other on this planet and we would be sought out as a marvel to observe, an interview to hear, as one whom it’s an honor just to see or to know.

And while this is true, even if we could combine the net worth of the ten (or hundred, or thousand) wealthiest people in the world, it still wouldn’t come close to matching the value of our treasure. In fact, we could take that whole sum and multiply it by infinity and it still wouldn’t match because the riches of our salvation aren’t shackled to or even limited by the lame categories of financial or material wealth.

Eternal reconciliation with God, adoption into His family, inheritance of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (3)—there’s just no way to assign a monetary or material value to all this. Yet, we have received them, in Christ, all of them, by faith in Jesus! And they can’t be taken away from us! Peter wrote: 1Pe.1:3 … According to [the Father’s] great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]. And that’s precisely where Paul begins here in Eph., the quintessence of Paulinism (Bruce 229) we might call this letter, his highest and most targeted expression of the nature and implications of the gospel understood and embedded in the life of the church, the body of Christ (4:12). Our theme for this brief study is: Paul proclaims the clear, pure gospel and calls all believers to live under the reign of Christ. And for today’s sermon: God’s salvation, with which He richly blesses His chosen ones, is accomplished for the praise of His glory. His opening comes in three parts.

Good News that Reveals the Glory of God – 3-6

V.3 gives us everything we need to understand why today’s title is: Blessed Beyond All Comprehension. 3 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! How would it be possible to be more blessed than this? By what scale would we even measure this blessing just to understand how great it truly is? Paul is saying every blessing that our all-powerful, all-knowing, creator God has available to Him even in the unseen realm of His abode—which is shorthand for the direct and unshielded presence of Almighty God with all the glory and blessing that exists there—is not just available to us, but is ours in Christ! God gifts it to us by faith in Jesus, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Some might ask: Didn’t I choose God? It surely seems like I did. And the answer is: Yes, indeed you did, and freely, but only because in eternity [past] God had first chosen you (Stott 37). That’s the only way it works. But Paul continues.

In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. So, God Himself established our destiny as His adopted children just because He purposed decided, wanted) to do so. That’s how salvation works! And God did it this way for a particular reason that’s central to all that He does. He did it this way so that His salvation would always and forever be understood, without even the slightest exception, to be entirely conceived of, accomplished, and delivered 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s good news that that reveals the glory of God. Now there’re…

Three Reasons This Good News Matters to Us – 7-12

Actually, there are many more than that. But three discernible categories of reasons here cover our past, present, and future.

Redemption from Past Estrangement – 7 We learned in Rom. that all have sinned (3:23), and that the wages of sin is death (6:23). So, we know we’ve been convicted before God, declared guilty, and that we’re under a death sentence, eternal punishment in separation from God. That’s our standing, each and every one of us, apart from God’s purpose being realized. But when it’s enacted, 7 … we have redemption through [Jesus’] blood; He pays the full penalty of our sin, laying down His life for ours, shedding his blood, dying the death we should’ve died, providing us the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. So, God’s forgiveness is granted in direct proportion to his grace, his favor. He purposed to redeem rebel sinners in order to magnify His glory, and all of that [great favor] sets the standard for how completely forgiven these chosen ones are for the sin that we’ll only understand fully in c.2. The inescapable sentence of their rebellious past is completely wiped out, and their hope of an eternal salvation is completely secured. Past offense is erased!

Richness in Present Relationship – 8-10 But that’s not all. This grace of God which forgives and redeems us rebel sinners is also 8 … lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, meaning, it enables our wisdom and insight. It brings us into the circle of God’s confidence such that He shares His secrets with us, 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, He clues us in on why He’s doing all this! 10 [He has] a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him (Christ), to bring all things under His rule, His reign as King of kings and Lord of lords (cf. Rev.19:16), things in heaven and things on earth—all things. And this begins to be worked out in this present age, relationship with God under Jesus’ reign here and now, in the church—life in him, intimacy with him, freedom from sin, family! But this plan isn’t just a salvation blessing for believers, it’s the purpose statement in this letter, the intended outcome of the great salvation God provides to the praise of his glory (14)—Jesus’ reign!

Reward of Future Inheritance – 11-12 And it comes with a future inheritance, not just a present relationship. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, he does all that he pleases (Psa.115:3), 12 so that we (Jews) who were the first to hope in Christ, might be to the praise of his glory. Paul is talking here about God’s fulfillment of His promises to His old covenant people—[they] who were the first to hope in Christ. But it’s a bit different than it sounds. Almost certainly (Stott 46) Paul is saying that believing Jews are made into God’s inheritance, His possession, in Christ, much as was described in the Song of Moses (Deu.32). There God assigned nations to various angelic beings (Bruce 263) but He retained Israel as His personal possession. Deu.32:9 …the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. Or Psa.33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! Here, Israel is His heritage to the praise of his glory (12). He’s kept His promises to her. And He’ll keep them to us as well. We can be sure of it. How?

How We Can Know This Good News Is True – 13-14

13 In him you (Gentiles) also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our (Jew and Gentile together) inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is given to all who believe in Jesus as a seal, marking their authenticity as God’s possession, His inheritance, assuring them of their own inheritance in Him (cf. 1Pe.1:3-5). Our salvation is as sure and secure as the promises of the Father, the saving, sanctifying sacrifice of the Son, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit. In short, it is utterly reliable, as good as done.

Conclusion

Truly we’re blessed beyond all comprehension by the salvation we receive from God by faith in Christ. How is it that it ever becomes commonplace to us, familiar, unimpressive, sometimes even embarrassing? This isn’t intended to serve as a rebuke, just as a reminder. I believe it’s only the letter of Ephesians, addressing new covenant faith, that can explain that to us—as it helps us understand the depth of our sin, the stubbornness of our will, and the sinister nature of our invisible, intractable enemy.

We need a refresher course on the glory of God revealed in His glorious gospel, on what it then means to live under the reign of Christ, and I believe looking into Eph. again, for the first time in nearly two decades, is the best way to do it. We’ve talked this year about what the church is and what the church does, now we’ll be looking at how the church lives. Let’s begin by remembering the death of Jesus, His cleansing, saving blood, at the Lord’s Table

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Resources

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                 , gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 3, Romans-Philemon. Ephesians, by Clinton E. Arnold, 300-340. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Ephesians, by Frank S. Thielman, 813-833. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Bruce, F. F., Gordon D. Fee, & Ned B. Stonehouse., gen. eds. 1984. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, by F. F. Bruce. Ephesians, 227-442. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Calvin, John. 1854. Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, trans, by William Pringle. Ephesians, 189-344. Logos.

Carson, D. A., ed. 1999. Pillar New Testament Commentary. The Letter to the Ephesians, by Peter T. O’Brien. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

                 , R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Ephesians, by Max Turner, 1222-1244. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 6, The Message of Ephesians: Grace, 235-257. Wheaton: Crossway.

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Gasque, W. Ward, NT ed. 1993, second printing. New International Biblical Commentary. Vol. 10. Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, by Arthur G. Patzia. Ephesians, 121-294. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Ephesians, 2257-2274, by S. M. Baugh. Wheaton: Crossway.

Hodge, Charles. 1991. Geneva Series of Commentaries. Ephesians. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth.

Hubbard, David A., & Glenn W. Barker. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 42, Ephesians, by Andrew T. Lincoln. Dallas: Word.

Hughes, R. Kent. 1990. Preaching the Word. Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, by R. Kent Hughes. Wheaton: Crossway.

Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn. 2003, third printing. Ephesians, eight volumes. Grand Rapids: Baker.

Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2006. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 12, Ephesians-Philemon. Ephesians, by William W. Klein, 19-173. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Morris, Leon, ed. 1989. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 10, Ephesians, by Francis Foulkes. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

Keskin, Nancy. 2004. Ephesus, trans. by Anita Gillett. Istanbul: Keskin Color Kartpostalcilik.

Moule, H. C. G. 1977. Studies in Ephesians. Grand Rapids: Kregel.

Osborne, Grant R. 2017. Osborne New Testament Commentaries. Ephesians: Verse by Verse. Bellingham, WA: Lexham.

Sproul. R. C. 1994. The Purpose of God: An Exposition of Ephesians. Fearn, Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus.

Stott, John, NT ed. 1979. The Bible Speaks Today. The Message of Ephesians, by John Stott. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

NEXT SUNDAY: Ephesians 1:15–23, Kipp Soncek