Elements City Church
The Apostle Paul wrote Ephesians not to counter any heresy or issues in the church, but to encourage and STRENGTHEN the followers of Jesus. He spent years investing in these people and sending others to do the same. He loves them. He's writing this letter to STRENGTHEN them deeper into their new identity in Christ and living out the calling of the Church in their day. It's still true today for us.
Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV
In the Greek text, 1:3–14 …considered by some scholars to be the most cumbersome sentence in the Greek language! It's really one run-on sentence. packed full with theology and meaning around our identity in Christ!
Basically all Paul does in the first 3 chapters of Ephesians is say:
“Remember who you are, remember who you are, remember who you are.”
Remember how God loves you, remember how he poured his mercy on you, remember how he stepped into your life when you were spiritually dead and gave you CPR of the soul - he revived you to life through His Son.
And through His Son - he has gifted you a brand new identity!
One you didn’t have to create or work to achieve - you received it from Him.
The image of adoption:
As he’s called the Ephesians to remember their true identity, he says, V.5 “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons (daughters) through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will.”
When Paul writes to the churches in and around Ephesus and says that in love God adopted them, he is writing to an abandonment culture - a cancel culture. He is writing to a culture where babies were routinely abandoned.
Paul is saying: If you have come to know Jesus, your most defining moment isn’t who threw you out, but who took you in. God picked you out, he picked you up, and he took you home to be with Him.
As a Christian:
Your most defining moment is not who threw you out — but WHO brought you in.
The image of redemption:
The term redemption sounds like a weighty theological term, but it was also a trade word. To redeem something meant to buy it…
Paul uses this in Ephesians 1:7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
We’ve been bought by God himself - redeemed to be his now, welcomed into his family through adoption and fully redeemed so we’re no longer available to anyone else and we don’t wait on their bidding for our loyalty, we’ve been purchased by God’s grace.
Christianity is not about “paying your way / working your way to God” - doing enough for God so that he finally likes you. No, God buys us—he redeems us—through Jesus on the cross: “In him we have redemption through his blood—the forgiveness of sins.”
The image of sealing:
Slaves in that culture/time - would get tattooed with the family seal of the estate they’re serving. That’s another image that Paul points to—the image of sealing.
Ephesians 1:13 says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”
Paul is telling the Ephesians their history. He is saying to them, “Remember when I came here and spoke to you of the goodness of God in sending Jesus” - God’s means of rescuing them. ...Remember that you believed the gospel. It was then that you were "marked with a seal.”
The seal is a mark of ownership.
Paul is saying, 'Do you realize that when you came to believe in Jesus, you received God’s seal upon your life?' And the seal is a promise; the seal is God whispering, “You’re mine. You’re mine. I’ve adopted you, and you are mine.”
When I remember who I am & whose I am = I live differently.
As one who is saved by Jesus, and his follower:
*my truest identity has been received, not achieved and I can rest in that securely.
Have a blessed week everyone. We're right back here next Sunday at 5pm. In person or online. We love you friends.