Compass Point Church

Date: October 1st, 2017
Title: The Riches We Have In Salvation
Bible Text: Ephesians 1:1-6

Intro:
Have you ever felt like you are coming up short in your journey of Faith? Like maybe there is more if I just had the energy or time or something extra I could have it all.

Like some secret formula that I haven’t figured out yet. But when I do, then I will have it all!
Unfortunately too many Christians live in spiritual poverty when they have been given everything they need to be spiritually rich!

This morning we are beginning a study through the Book of Ephesians.
The book of Ephesians is written to Christians who needed encouragement and a reminder of all that they have in Christ. What exactly does it mean to call oneself a Christian? To be a follower of Jesus?

ILL. You have probably never heard of Hetty Green. She died in 1916 and left an estate with an estimated value of $100 Million Dollars back in 1916 when a million dollars was just tremendous wealth.
The problem was that Hetty regularly ate cold oatmeal because it cost too much to heat it.
Her son had to have his leg amputated because she took so long to get him adequate care because she was looking for a free clinic. Hetty died of a heart attack in the midst of an argument over milk, she was arguing that skim was best because it was the cheapest.
She was wealthy but she lived like a PAUPER. She never enjoyed nor benefited from the riches that were hers.

A second person I read about lived out on the West Coast living in poverty until one day he found out that he was the only living heir to a British Nobleman. What do you think this guy did when he found out? Went to the clothing store and bought the best suit he could find, bought a 1st class ticket to London and returned to England in style!
HE BELIEVED WHAT HE HAD BEEN TOLD WAS TRUE AND HE BEGAN TO ACT UPON IT!!!
Which illustration best describes your spiritual life?

Background:
How to be in Christ is the subject of the first three chapters of Ephesians. And over the weeks to come we will be digging into this Scripture to learn together what God says about what we have as Christians and whether it makes any difference or not?
Along with Paul, my prayer is that while we work our way through Ephesians, "God . . . may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him . . . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." (Eph. 1:17-19)

Now, let me ask you an important question: Do you really know who you are in Christ? Are you taking advantage of all the blessings and resources you have available to you?
Are you living enjoying His richness for you?

I. Living In Christ’s Riches Requires Knowing Who We Are In Christ. (vs. 1)
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

A. Real spiritual life begins with Jesus.
Paul knew of Christ’s riches in his own life. This is quite amazing when you consider who Paul was. He was named Saul and was an arch enemy to the Church of Jesus Christ.
He was a zealot for the ways of legalism and religious laws and rules in an attempt to win the approval of his peers and God. One day God miraculously literally blinded his eyes so he could finally see!

Paul’s life is an amazing example of the power of God’s grace to change even the most aggressive antagonist of the gospel.

Once Paul encountered Jesus on the Damascus road and saw the light of truth and reality and chose to submit Himself to Jesus as His Lord and Savior and was filled by the HS, we meet a different Paul who now is zealous for Jesus.

Before this he was zealous for himself first and God second. He was pursuing the applause of man and acclaim from his fellow Pharisees. He was a rising star. The young buck who had a bright future! Surely he would lead a mega – synagogue and write books and travel the speaking circuit with book signings and such.
Instead, Paul met Jesus and that changed everything!

This experience made Paul qualified to speak and write about the power of God’s riches made available to him and to all those who, like him, have become followers of Jesus. Paul’s significance no longer came from man’s praise and acclaim. Now He identifies himself not just as a follower of Jesus, but as an apostle – a “sent one”. A person on a mission for Jesus.

And all this was the will of God! Part of understanding this all is to submit to the truth that God is in control. His will shall be done. What a relief, what freedom, what joy is knowing God’s will and submitting yourself to it.

Paul understood that all he was doing was according to God’s will for His life and not of him. He could obviously see that he was no longer in control of his life trajectory.
That is part of what it means to be surrendered to Jesus. Opening yourself up to His will for your life.

All of us, like Paul, have a mission. Jesus gave it to all of us when He declared in Matt. 28:19 – go and make disciples! It may be in Taiwan or in your back yard or your dorm? And notice the mission is making disciples, not converts! Making disciples can be sharing the Gospel with someone who hasn’t heard it yet in a way that resonates with their soul or it can be gathering together with other disciples and building one another up in Bible study, discussion, and prayer. It can be a mom and dad teaching and discipling their child. Mentoring someone…

Are you somehow, someway making disciples? Helping disciples to grow and mature? That is what this first verse is alluding to in referring to these saints as “Faithful in Christ”. If your not faithful in living out this purpose to make disciples, you will fail to experience the riches of all that Jesus has for you.

TRANS: Once we can submit ourselves to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we are prepared to experience the riches of Christ. Our passage indicates this readiness by calling us “Saints”

B. We can experience the riches of Christ only if we are “Saints”.
This is a good biblical term commonly applied to all believers.
It comes from the Greek word hagios, which literally means "holy." To be a saint, in the New Testament sense of the word, is to be a "holy one." And that's who we are in Christ.
Don't be misled by the mistaken idea that sainthood is something which can only be conferred upon certain dead people by some church body.
According to God's Word, all believers are already saints.
From God's perspective, we are saints, not because of who men say we are, but because of what Christ did for us.
We are not holy because of our own good works or righteousness. The Bible tells us that "all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." (Isaiah 64:6)
We are righteous because Jesus died on the Cross so that He could give us His righteousness.
We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He {God} made Him {Christ} who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

To be a saint means to be one who has trusted Jesus to be all that He says He is. That He is God’s Son, that He died for your sins, That He was raised from the dead and now intercedes for you as your Savior and Lord. All who have made that decision to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior are Saints!

Trans: Once we, like Paul, have become followers and disciples of Jesus, and become Saints, the next thing we need is better understand this new identity.

II. Saints Are Rich In Grace and Peace. (vs. 2)
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. We are beneficiaries of His Grace.
Too often we think of “riches” in monetary terms alone. Of course we know there is much more to “riches”. The entire Master Card marketing emphasis pointed to this truth – “Time spent with children?... “priceless!”

Grace was especially meaningful to Paul who was the self-proclaimed most wicked of all sinners.

Here, in the typical greeting of Paul we find this wonderful gift of grace. Down in verse 6 we see that Paul cannot praise God enough for His grace to him. Ephesians 1:6 (NIV)
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Grace is unmerited mercy. Getting mercy and forgiveness even though you deserve punishment and wrath. We have all received grace from God! The fact that we are now saints is proof alone of God’s wonderful grace given to us!

And if that were not enough, we also …

B. We are given His perfect peace.
Because we have grace from God we have peace with God and the peace of God, "which surpasses all comprehension" (Phil. 4:7). Peace is the equivalent of the Hebrew shālôm, which, in its highest connotation, signifies spiritual prosperity and completeness.

People are hungering for peace today. Grace might be hard to fully comprehend, but peace. Most every heart hungers for peace in the midst of life’s crazy ride!


This combination of Grace and peace speaks of the Gospel and how by grace, we can have peace with God and others through salvation.

III. Christ’s Riches Include Every Spiritual Blessing. (3-6)
A. God’s Blessings are ours in Christ. (vs.3)
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,”
As we begin to experience the truth of God’s blessing we must be people who rightly give praise to the initiator and purveyor of these blessings.
Do you know where all your blessings come from? Is it coincidence? Destiny? Happenstance? Dumb luck? Or is there a loving, gracious and merciful God who is sovereign who is pouring out His blessings on you each and every moment of each and every day?
Tell Him! Praise Him! Acknowledge His blessings in your life.

Note, this is not that He will bless us. He has blessed us. It's a done deal that we can decide to continue to enjoy.
And what has He blessed us with? He has not just given us a blessing; He has given us spiritual blessing.
But look further. He has not just given us spiritual blessing; he has given us every spiritual blessing.

And finally, we are told that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

What does this mean for us? Are you living this way? Are you experiencing this as a Christ follower?

Paul could say in his own life, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Phil. 4:13)

Paul’s life was a hard one! Physical, emotional, mental beatings again and again! Prison, mocked, slandered, shipwrecked, stoned and left for dead. Yet, he understood these blessings and celebrated them in the midst of all he went through.

Paul could keep going and doing as God instructed him as He remembered the grace and peace that comes from the blessing of know God through Christ. Is that true for you?

B. God chose to bless us with salvation before we existed. (4-6)
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

We were chosen by God.
In Jer. 1:5 tells us that God knows us before He formed us in the womb.
Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

He chose us who are today Christians to be His before Adam and Eve ever took a step on this planet.
This choosing by God is called election – He elected us to the position of being His children.

John 6:37 (NIV)
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

We will look at election more intently as we turn our attentions next week to predestination.
For today, just know that part of our spiritual blessing is that we who believe are the chosen ones who have had our hearts and minds open to receive God. God draws people to Himself -

John 6:44 (NIV)
44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

All those who believe have been chosen before time to be adopted as His children. “Holy and Blameless” before Him!

Quick review of the Gospel - Adam and Eve – Sin – God’s plan for Redeeming that relationship back – send His Son to pay the penalty for our sinful state.

God sees us as Holy and Blameless because of what Jesus has done, the Gospel! That is the richness of God’s great love for us!

We were predestined to be adopted children through Jesus Christ.
The Greek word here is proorisas and it can be translated as “marked out beforehand.”
It is simply another word that expresses the fact that God’s plan for His people is from eternity. According to His plan from the beginning.
The word adoption here is a Roman concept and not Jewish and Paul uses it well to indicate that an adopted son has his position by grace and not by right.

TRANS: How can this be?

C. We have received amazing Grace. (6)
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

I mentioned earlier that we are right in continually praising God for everything we have. We have all the blessings of God’s inheritance given to us!

We also see that we are rich because God has freely bestowed His grace on us.
The Greek word for grace, Charis, is found 156 times in the New Testament, and 102 times it is the Apostle Paul who uses it. It makes sense as he is the one who had no concept of grace before his conversion. He was a ruthless, merciless persecutor of the church and all things Jesus. Till he met Jesus!
It is a common word with an uncommon meaning.

What stood out in Paul's mind is that God treated him with incredible kindness and mercy, even though he in no way deserved it.

Perhaps Paul could have stopped writing about the rich blessings we Christians have inherited before time began right here. End of the letter! Enough said – God’s rich blessing of amazing grace!

We do, however, have more to learn about what our blessings are in Christ. But for today, let’s end by enjoying this amazing gift we have received.

Conclusion: A couple weeks ago I was with some fellow believers and one of the people there asked, “What difference does it really make that we are Christians? We still have the same struggles, the same effects of sin on our lives, the pain and suffering? Does it really make a difference?

That is a fair question. One all of us should ask and seek an honest answer for. Today, just like in the days of the early church, many people aren’t experiencing anything new or different or better because they are Christians. Perhaps part of the reason starts because they have begun to take their salvation for granted. They have become “entitled” and haven’t considered lately the amazing gift of our very salvation given by grace.

Lets take a moment this morning to remember this precious gift we have received by grace. This peace with God!