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I Am Blessed By God

I Am Blessed By God
February 3, 2019

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-6

I. I am blessed with the persons and the presence of the triune God.

A. Disciples believe certain things. One of the things we believe in is that God is trinity. We believe in one God who exists in three persons. And we see the trinity at work in Ephesians 1:3: “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.” In this verse Paul praises God the Father for being the source of every blessing that we Christians have. And God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first 14 verses of Ephesians the name Christ or a pronoun for Christ is used 15 times.

B. Over and over again the apostle Paul is saying that because we are in Christ, because we are united to Him, that God has blessed us. And where is the Holy Spirit in verse 3? He is found in the word spiritual in verse 3. Some might think that the spiritual blessings in verse 3 are in contrast to material blessings. But the word spiritual actually is a reference to the Holy Spirit. The word spiritual means that these blessings belong to the Holy Spirit, and the person enjoying these blessings is someone who is living in unity with the Spirit.

II. I am blessed with the status of Jesus.

A. Once again in vs. 4 we see that we are united with Christ. God chose us in Christ. We were chosen not because of anything great about us. We were chosen because we are united with the great Jesus. We were chosen because we have the same status as Jesus. Christ’s status – and now our status – is holy and blameless. All that is sinful and dirty has been removed from us because of Christ. We are now blameless in the sight of God. And on the positive side we are now holy. Because we are in Christ we have received the righteousness of Jesus.

B. John the Baptist spoke in John 1:29: “The next day (John) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’” John was saying that Jesus is just like the holy and blameless sacrificial lambs. And because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us we are now holy and blameless. We also have the status in Christ of being a child of God. Yes, God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 3). But then in verse 5 we read God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. We too are children of God!

III. I am blessed through Christ alone.

A. Over and over again in Ephesians 1 Paul is making the point that it is because of Christ alone that we have been saved from sin and death. There is no human cause at all for the fact that we are saved by God. Verse 4 says God chose in Christ to be part of His family. And when did God choose us to be part of His family? Before the foundation of the world. Before we did anything good or bad. Then in verse 5 we read that God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. God had a destiny in mind for us through our union with Christ that had nothing to do with us and any good works we might do. And God chose us to be part of His family to the praise of his glorious grace. God is glorified, and His undeserved and unearned grace is glorified, when we simply trust in Christ alone – and not our works – to save us.

Application:
I am blessed by God at all times and in all circumstances. God has given me a treasure.

Sources:
The letter to the Ephesians
Commentaries on Ephesians by Peter O’Brien, Bryan Chapell, and Richard Coekin