“Right Living in a World Gone Wrong”
Studies in the Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians
“Who Do You Think You Are?”
Ephesians 1:3-14
I meet with two guys from the church here each week for a beginning discipleship class. Mike Coffee and Otto Pavelka have been doing this study with me for about three months, and it has been great to watch. One of the first concepts in the class is how to read and mark your Bible. Otto had a real hesitation about marking in his Bible – he just didn’t feel comfortable writing in, or marking in his Bible – and that is cool – I had no problem with that, I just encouraged him to make notes on a separate sheet of paper as he read. This week he came in and said, “Hey, check this out!” and showed me two passages of scritpure that he had highlighted – one of them was from Ephesians – chapter 3, verses 14-21. Let me read it to you.
Paul wanted the recipients of this letter of Ephesians to understand the incredible riches they had in Jesus. He wanted them to know just Who They Are In Christ – their True Identity in Jesus – and that’s what we are going to be talking about today.
Hetty Green ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it. Her son had to suffer a leg amputation, because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable. She lived a life of poverty and suffering, but when she died in 1916 her estate was valued at over $100 million. She was called “American’s Greatest Miser.” She was incredibly wealthy but chose to live like a pauper.
Her incredible sense of poverty no only cost her son his leg, it cost Hetty her life. She got into such a heated discussion arguing the value of drinking skim milk that she suffered a stroke and died!
We would say that she was a few fries short of a happy meal, wouldn’t we? Why would someone with all that wealth choose to live like that?
The fact of the matter is that Hetty Green is an illustration of far too many Christians, who have limitless resources at their disposal, but live like they are homeless. Why would we, considering all the spiritual wealth that we have, live like spiritual paupers? In many cases, it is because of a lack of awareness. Many people who are followers of Jesus are simply not aware of the riches that are theirs.[i]
Over the weeks to come, we are going to be discovering just how amazing and blessed the life of a believer is. Last week we began a study through the book of Ephesians. In the first part of this study, we are going to learn about Our Reality in Christ. We are going to get a realistic view of the new life we have through faith in Jesus. The second half of the study will be Our Responsibility in Christ. How we should live in light of that reality.
We start today by asking the question, “Who do you think you are?” Most of the time that question is asked when somebody is acting a little too big for their britches – they assume too much. But today we are going to ask that question because as Christisans we often think too small. Do you recognize the reality of your position and possession in Jesus Christ?
Imagine receiving an envelope in the mail tomorrow from your bank. You can tell by the appearance and bulkiness of it that it is your bank statement. It’s time again for the monthly horror of balancing the checkbook! Were you able to keep all the balls in the air this month as you juggled your limited resources? Time will tell. You sit down with your calculator, a sharp pencil, and a bottle of Tylenol to do the monthly chore of balancing the books. The first thing you look at when you open the envelope is the ending balance, and you are shocked to see that it’s just a few dollars in excess of $100,000!
You call the bank – it’s no mistake. You set up a meeting with the branch manager, and she assures you that a deposit was made into your account on the 15th of the previous month by an anonymous individual, and that the money is yours. You think about how for the last three weeks you have been going crazy trying to keep your head above water. All the bologna sandwiches and macaroni and cheese dinners to cut corners! All the sleepless nights, and stress worried about bouncing a check! And all the while there was more than enough in the account! If you had only known!
The sad fact is that many Christians live their lives from spiritual check to check – barely keeping their head above water – desperately hanging on – the feel nearly overwhelmed by the rising pressures of the world, and their lives are defeated and depressed.
That’s not the life Christ died to give us!
Now before we go any futher, let me make something perfectly clear. I am not preaching a heretical doctrine of prosperity theology that you may hear from some TV preachers. They will tell you that God wants you, and all His children, to be rich! He wants all His children to drive Mercedes Benz cars, and live in mansions, and have all the money they need! They tell us to “name it and claim it!” To not only ask for it, but to demand it from God! That if we are not wealthy, then we don’t have enough faith to trust God for more!
The problem with that teaching is that it simply does not line up with Scripture! God does not provide untold wealth for His children simply because they ask for it – or demand it from Him. They fail to look at the Biblical examples of God’s people. Abraham was called to leave his home, and become a foreigner in a strange land that he did not know. Isaac faced such desperate conditions that he sent his sons off to Egypt to get supplies during a draught. The children of Israel, as they wandered in the dessert for 40 years, ate the same bland food every day. David lived in caves, and was once so hungry that he had his men eat the holy sacrificial food from the temple. Jesus was a man who had no place to lay his head, was so poor he had to once borrow a coin from a member of the audience to use as an object lesson, and when He was crucified, his only possession to be divided among the Roman guards was his one change of clothing!
The problem with these “prosperity preachers” is that they distort Scripture to serve only themselves. They promise riches, but it is only they who get wealthy. The promise that your every need will be met, yet they are the only ones driving the Rolls-Royces or Mercedes-Benzes. Do you see the problem? It’s all “me” centered! It’s about what I need! About what I think is in my best interest! Why doesn’t God give me what I want?
In the opening words of the letter Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus, Paul gets it right. Let me read for you those opening words.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Christ Jesus, in accordance with His pleasure and will – to the praise of His glorious grace, which he has freely given to us in the One He loves.
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. And He made known to us the mystery of his will according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head – even Christ.
In Him we were also chose having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 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, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.
That passage, in fact this whole letter, overflows with the amazing benefits of being a child of God – just look at a few of the phrases that are found here:
Ø “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing” (vs. 3)
Ø “which he has freely given us…” (vs. 6)
Ø “the riches of his God’s grace that he lavished on us…” (vs. 8)
I love that last one – “lavished on us…” Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Sounds like prosperity, doesn’t it? It sure does – but don’t miss the realm of this prosperity. These are “spiritual blessings” – identified as such in verse 3. Listen to that verse again – I want you to remember this verse through the week to come:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
That is talking about you – if you are a believer in Christ – if you have placed your faith in Him, then you have been blessed in the heavenly realms with “every spiritual blessing in Christ!” Let me ask you – WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??? YOU ARE CHILD OF GOD - BLESSED IN EVERY WAY!!!
Hey! You just opened up your statement and found out that a huge deposit has been made into your account! Now, let’s take a look at the details of that deposit.
Paul’s statement is followed by no less than 10 incredible examples of the spiritual blessings we have from God. They are:
That is a lot to be thankful for, and I would encourage you to do a study on your own in the days to come, to meditate on these amazing blessings. Last week I asked you to read through this letter to the Ephesians once a week – a chapter a day 6 days a week. When you do that, as you read chapter 1 in these days ahead, meditate on these 10 things. Take the time to list them and give thanks for them. They are amazing and you will find yourself filled with a sense of worship as you meditate on them. In fact, that’s exactly what Paul did – look at your Scritpures…see how verse three begins? It says “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Then he begins to outline WHY that praise is due the Lord – and he has an explosion of praise – put your finger at the beginning of verse 3 – now put your finger at the end of verse 14…see that? In the original Greek – that was one long sentence! Paul is bursting with praise to God over the blessings we have in Jesus Christ! And I believe that if we will just meditate on these things, and review them in our minds, and recognize the spiritual blessings we have, we will have the same type of response – and we won’t have to come to a church service to worship – we will worship spontaneously! We will worship as we write a letter like Paul did – or on the phone to our friends, or as we pound out an email to a family member – we will be amazed by the blessings God has given us!
But you know what? I’m not going to spoon feed you this – you need to experience it – you need to immerse yourself in it – you need to allow the reality of your position and blessing in Christ to grow from your own thinking – not mine.
What I will do, as we wrap up our talk about our blessings in Christ – is put our eyes where they belong. You see, those prosperity preachers have their eyes on themselves – what they need, what they want – what they demand. Paul has his focus right where it belongs. Three times in this run on sentence, he uses a phrase that should catch your attention. In verse 6, verse 12 and verse 14, he uses an almost identical phrase – “to the praise of his glory.” You see, it’s not about me, and about my needs – its about God, and His glory. It’s all about Him.
If we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ, then we have all we need. That means that we no longer have the right to grumble about our lack. This verse doesn’t say that He will bless us, it says he has blessed us. It doesn’t say he has given us a blessing, it says he has given us spiritual blessings. It doesn’t say he has given us some spiritual blessings, but every spiritual blessing! Every Spiritual Blessing In The Heavenly Places!
It may not feel like you have every blessing – but you do. Who do you think you are? You are a child of the king! You have everything you need in Christ!
Warren Wiersbe writes, “The Christian really operates in two spheres: the human and the divine, the visible and the invisible. Physically, he is on the earth in a human body, but spiritually he is seated with Christ in the heavenly places--and it is this heavenly sphere that provides the power and direction for the earthly walk.
The President of the United States is not always seated at his desk in the White House, but that executive chair represents the sphere of his life and power. No matter where he is, he is the President, because only he has the privilege of sitting at that desk. Likewise with the Christian: no matter where he may be on this earth, he is seated in the heavenlies with Jesus Christ, and this is the basis of his life and power.” Isn’t that great? Positionally, our heavenly Father sees His children as in the Son and therefore all the blessings He set aside for the Son, because we are seated in Christ, are ours to claim and live in the power of.
No matter what our circumstance – you are a child of God. No matter how you feel – you are blessed in Him. The mundane, the plain the ordinary, the difficult, the troubles, the bank account, the personal problems, they are all temporary – your position in Christ is eternal! In Him we have all we need – TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY!
Verse 4 says, “For He chose us…” God chose you. You did not choose Him. “He chose you before the foundations of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.” You might have several questions about that verse…”No, I chose Him – I can tell you the day and the circumstances when I prayed and asked Him to forgive me of my sins…” Yes, you had a response to his call – but it was He who chose you. Left to our own devices, none of us would seek God – it is He who seeks us first, and has chosen us. There is an interplay between the sovereign choice of God and the free will of man that we can never fully understand – they are like the two rails of a train track that never meet, but are necessary for the train to get anywhere. But it all starts and ends with God.
You might be thinking, “Well, I’m certainly not holy and blameless in His sight…” Your deeds may not be blameless and holy – but your position before God is. When God looks at you, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and He sees a holy and blameless child of God. You are positionally holy before God, even if you are not yet practically holy in your life. The practical holiness in this life is what Paul addresses in the second half of the letter when he talks about our Responsibility in Christ. It is in Christ that we have significance.
So much of the trouble we have in our lives comes from feelings of inadequacy. We feel like losers – like no one could really love us. We wear masks to cover up the “real” us because we are afraid that if people really knew us, they would reject us.
Here.s the truth – God knows you better than anyone. He knows all those secrets that nobody else knows but you – he knows the motives behind your every action – He knows you – and he loves you – he died for you – and he chose you!
He chose that you would be here today! He chose that you would hear these words today! He chose that you would be exposed to the truth of His word – He knows you – He loves you, and He chose you. How much more significance could you have? The God of the universe chose you!
Not only do we have our sufficiency and our significance in Christ – we also have our security in Him. Over the last few months there has been a lot of talk about security. Social Security. If you watch TV, read the paper, etc you can not escape talk about your future security in retirement.
Let me tell you – my security does not come from my retirement accout – thank God! Or my investments, or the US Government. Ultimately every one of those sources of security are pretty shaky – just ask the people who worked for United Airlines – who lost all their retirement – or listen to the politicians who tell us that Social Security will be broke in 50 years.
My security is far more secure than that – Paul says in vs 13 – “Having believed you were marked with a seal – the promised Holy Spirit – who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.”
When I place my faith in Jesus the Holy Spirit was deposited in my soul. I have fellowship with God – one to one – I can pray to him, I can pray through Him, and He even prays for me when I am unable to do so myself. Isn’t it amazing to think that God Himself lives within me?
The fellowship we have with God on this earth is NOTHING compared to what it will be one day in heaven. Paul talks about our fellowship now being like a “a poor reflection” of what will come one day – this is just a down payment. When I give someone $100 down on a used car – it is just a sign of the hundreds more that are to come. The fellowship we have with God now is just a tiny bit of the incredible life we will have with him one day!
One day we will be with Jesus! We will see him face to face – we will have a glorious, wonderful fellowship with God – perfect, unhindered by sin – TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY!
All of this is ours – if we have made a decision to respond to his calling.
If your life is feeling a bit insufficient – if you feel a little insignificant, if you feel a bit insecure – then let me ask you – WHODO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
If you are a child of God – if you have asked Jesus to forgive your sins, and be the Lord of your life, then I’ll tell you who you are – you are blessed beyond measure! You are a child of royalty! And you should respond in worship TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY!
If you have not responded to god’s sovereign choice today – to bring you to this place, to hear these words – to have this opportunity – then let me ask you to do so today – find real supply, real significance, and real security in Christ today.