Title: All blessings in Christ are yours!
Text: Eph 1:3-14
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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
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, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
At age 16 Andor Foldes was already a skilled pianist, but he was experiencing a troubled year. In the midst of the young Hungarian's personal struggles, one of the most renowned pianists of the day came to Budapest. Emil von Sauer was famous not only for his abilities; he was also the last surviving pupil of the great Franz Liszt. Von Sauer requested that Foldes play for him. Foldes obliged with some of the most difficult works of Bach, Beethoven, and Schumann.
When he finished, von Sauer walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead. "My son," he said, "when I was your age I became a student of Liszt. He kissed me on the forehead after my first lesson, saying, 'Take good care of this kiss--it comes from Beethoven, who gave it to me after hearing me play.' I have waited for years to pass on this sacred heritage, but now I feel you deserve it."
Source Unknown.
Dear friends the sacred heritage that has been passed on to you is not something you deserve but something you are given even though you don’t deserve it. You are given what Christ deserves … God’s favor. This has been given to you as a blessing before the foundation of the world!
All blessings in Christ are yours!
You have it all! Paul tells the Ephesian church. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places – is yours in Christ! Certainly this is good news; certainly this is something to be celebrated; certainly this is a joy?
Paul continues, He chose us … you and me … and this happened even before the foundations of the world. You are known, you are blessed … you are his. And being his - you are holy, you are set apart – to be the Father’s child just as Christ, who is his only begotten son, and you as his child, are blameless in his sight.
But how did this happen? Well, because of his great love for you, he determined that you would be his. “Yes dear Ephesian,” Paul says, you were adopted because it was his will to make you his - not your will to make him yours.
Because by your will you would only reject him … you could only reject him. You are bound to disobedience brought forth in sin and iniquity. It is this will that you are bound to, the will of sin, and this will only brings death, it only destroys, it only kills, and it is what you deserve … you Ephesian church … it is what … we both deserve.
Ill.
A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake's glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan.
What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem.
The solution, however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage. No matter how hard we try to cover or deny our sinful nature, it's fool's work. Sin will eventually awake from sleep and shake off its cover. Were it not for the saving grace of the Master's hand, sin would eat us alive.
Unknown.
But God’s will - to the praise of his glorious grace is to bless us, and to call us to be his beloved – to redeem us. This too comes from the outside! By Christ’s death, by his blood – your sins are forgiven. I know this is hard to believe but it is true. It is the richness of his grace that he has given you and not just a gift but a continual giving. His gifts are lavished upon you just like a doting father that gets continual joy in giving, and giving, and giving … gifts to his child.
But, why you might ask? Why me, what is special about me? Why was I called and why do others resist and fight against this loving father? It is a mystery to be sure but his purpose, God’s purpose, is to bring all things together, in heaven and on earth, together in his son our Lord Jesus Christ.
That unity and peace would be found in Christ Jesus.
Ill.
A.W. Tozer in his book “The Pursuit of God” writes:
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ['unity' conscious] and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God.
Many fight against it; both outside and inside the church. There are many fools who look to themselves for peace and comfort. They look inward … and so do you. But trusting anything outside of Jesus only brings the weight of the law. It only brings what it means to try to measure up to God’s standards on your own merit. And one little failure … fails it all. And the wrath of God is the price that you then must pay for trusting yourself.
All blessings in Christ are yours!
In Christ you have it all! Because God wills your adoption into his family he sees to it that your adoption is secure. He predestines that you would believe and he give the means for that to occur. The proclamation of the Good News … the Gospel … goes out and then the Holy Spirit works to create faith and you believe! And though the Ephesians, were the first to hope in Christ and have this joy of knowing Jesus, and that salvation in his name was a gift … that same gift is at work today in you and in your life to believe.
And just like them … those first believers … who heard the word of truth, when you heard that same word of truth … the gospel. You believed and were sealed with the Holy Spirit in you who will continue to point to the blessed reality of Christ’s merits on your behalf. And because of the Holy Spirit you need not fear but trust that God in Christ has made you his and will see it through until the Lord’s return of until he calls you to your heavenly home.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit
Amen
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