The Spiritual Blessings on Our Identity
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Ephesians 1:1–4 ESV Read More
As we begin in Ephesians, keep in mind the context of this letter. Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, and maybe some other letters all traveled together from Paul who was in prison out to the cities that he had visited in the past. Remember everything we read in Colossians and the things that Bret continues to teach through in Phase 3. You’ll see Paul teaching truths about Jesus to transform us on the inside and directives and instructions for us to live it out on the outside.
In this opening, look at how Paul identifies himself compared to where he is. If you were watching and didn’t know him, you might refer to him as a prisoner locked in a Roman prison with no hope for release. You might see him as a beggar depending on the donations and help of several other people keeping him fed and protected in that prison. That’s not how Paul identifies himself. He is an “apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”
An apostle is one sent on a messaging mission. If the live feed goes down and Jason McCord has to drive a DVD of the sermon to Henderson and the West Side of Evansville on a Sunday morning at 9:05, he is an apostle because he is sent to carry a message. Your paperboy is an apostle of the newspaper company. Your child is an apostle when you tell him “Go tell mommy your diaper is full.”
Paul, by his lifestyle, shows us that we don’t have to be identified by our circumstances or our success. Paul was an apostle in the cities where nobody listened as much as he was an apostle when the whole city became Christian. He is sent by God and he knows it.
Paul also knows that God has blessed everyone in Christ beyond all comprehension. It was God’s plan before anything that whoever was in Christ would be fully fulfilled to the fullest with the fullness of God. He would make and has made all who believe in Him holy and blameless. Knowing that all of your sin has been taken away transforms the way you look at everything. Anxiousness, fear, greed, worry all get blown away when you really grasp the fact that God has taken care of the most complex and wonderful of all things.
Every spiritual blessing is in Christ. Just like kids don’t care about cake when the presents come out, whatever spiritual benefit we gain is secondary to the full knowledge and intimacy of Christ. Growing in Him beats all other things. That is what He wants for us. That is what He is working toward accomplishing in us.
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