TRANSFORMED LIFEWeek 2:Eternally blessed
Welcome everyone as we continue our series on transformed life. Today, we are looking at being eternallyblessed or how amazinglyrich we are in Christ. In today’s world people are often fascinated and sometimes even obsessed with material riches. For example, The Timespublishes a Rich List – listing in order the wealthiest people in the country. Top of arecent list are the Hinduja brothers, who are ‘worth’ 11.9 billion; down at number 9 is Roman Abramovich with 8.5 billion –which dropped by a billion – that’s what you get for owning Chelsea FC!The glorious truth we are looking at today, is that in Christ, you and I are spiritually far richer than the richest billionaire outside of Christ. How do we know this? By looking at our spiritual bank balance.
Let me ask you a question. How often do you check your financial bank balance? Have you ever gone to an ATM or checked your bank account – only to find a figure and the letters DR next to the balance?Do you know what that means? Overdrawn! Or maybe you checked and you were in credit, but there was less than you hoped for? Any students ever experience that? Any non-students ever experience that? I read this week of how in 2012 a retired General Motors worker, Ronald Page, went to an ATM and had a big surprise. With only a few hundred dollars in his bank account, Page used the ATM at a Detroit casino only to find that his account had mistakenly been switched to a ‘PAY IT ALL’ account that allowed him to make unlimited withdrawals. 10, 20, 50,000 dollars - whatever he requested, the ATM delivered. He eventually withdrew 1.5 million. Sadly he went on gambled the lot and got put in prison.
Today, I’ve got a much better news than that. We are going to be looking at Ephesians 1:3–14 and checking our spiritual bank account. Let’s start in Ephesians 1:3, which is our memory verse for this next week:‘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’. Unlike going to an ATM, every time you read it – it’s always good news! This verse tells me that the overall balance on my heavenly bank account reads this:‘every spiritual blessing in Christ’. For those who are in Christ– a phrase that appears in verses 3 to 14 eleven times in the original language – not only are we never in debit, but we have limitless credit.
In verses 4 to14 we get a more detailed statement of what actually is behind this figure.[Balance sheet slide with blanks.]Just to say that this is not a ‘to do’ list, this is a ‘what God has done’ list – every single entry is on the income side. Here Paul, in the most marvellous fashion, unpacks what it means for us to be eternally blessed.He looks back in eternity past, looks at the present, and looks ahead to our eternal future. The tragedy is though, that it’s possible to be extremely wealthy and blessed in Christ, and yet not know it or not live in the light of this – but in effect to live like a spiritual pauper.
I want to personalise it with ‘I am’ statements. The first entry on my spiritual bank statement came into my life in eternity past. It reads like this…
I am CHOSEN in Christ
That means that I am not an accident. God wanted me, chose me, God had a purpose for my life that predated my birth. In fact,Ephesians 1:4 tells us,‘For he [God the Father]chose us[Christians] in him [that’s Christ]before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.’God’s plan for us to be saved didn’t start when we accepted Christ, but before the creation of the world, when He chose us to be in Christ –so that I might be holy and without blemish, that I might be like God Himself, who is holy.
Imagine for a moment that you are the owner of a very rare plant,but you need to put it in a vase to display it. You go to your cupboard and see a number of potentially beautiful but very dirty vases. Youchoose one, and then of course you don’t leave it dirty –you give it a total and thorough clean inside and out so that you can display your priceless flower.
This is something of what we enjoy in this first blessing. For all those ‘in Christ’, the Father chose to set us apart and then came and cleaned us up –washed us inside and out –so that we might be without dirt or blemish. A work that starts when we become Christians and continues for the rest of our lives in order that we might be fit vessels for his glorious presence to be revealed and displayed. Wow! So the first blessing is:‘I am chosen in Christ’–set apart and cleaned up for His glory. The second blessing from eternity past reads like this…
I am ADOPTED in Christ
If you know anything about adoption you’ll know that the child brought into the family becomes one of the family –just as much as son or daughter, just as much a brother or sister, sharing the ups and downs of family life, the privileges and responsibilities.
Something like this but far more wonderful happened to us in Christ.We read inEphesians 1:5, ‘In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will –to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One He loves.’I’ve got great news for you –whether your parents planned for you, wanted you, rejected or abandoned you –there is a Father who always wanted you.In fact He chose you, and planned for you to be His child and heir before the creation of the world. Not just any child but a child who is inChrist and therefore loved as much as the Father loves Christ. Wow!
Not only did He plan for you to be His child, but the adoptionin the Roman world carried with it the idea of a child becoming anheir to the father’s estate. Here’s the amazing truth - God not only planned for us to be his children but also His heirs. Can I say that if you are an heir of God and joint heirs with Christ, you have a massive spiritual inheritance coming to you –far greater than a ‘PAY IT ALL’bank account.
The next important statement is this:
I am FREE and FORGIVEN in Christ
In the ancient world, if you were a slave the only way you could be freed was if someone came and paid the price for you. Here in Ephesians 1:7–8 we read how Jesus Christ came to pay for us to be freed from slavery to sin and Satan: ‘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.’
Let me read you a story from the Transformed Life bookto illustrate:
‘Garra was a slave of the great African Chief, Libe. To evade his cruel owner’s anger he escaped, was pursued, captured and was being led back in chains, when an English trader offered gold for his ransom. Libe addressed the trader: “Man of the pale face, I seek not your gold. I need blood”. At Libe’s sign an archer prepared an arrow to shoot at the trembling Garra. The Englishman saw it, and thrust his arm between it and Garra and drew blood. Looking Libe full in the face, the trader said “You seek blood, there it flows. I claim your slave”. Then he said to the slave: “Garra, you have been bought by my blood, your life which belongs to me, I give to you.”’
When Paul talks about us being redeemed or freed by Jesus through His blood He is saying something similar but even more wonderful. Jesus did stand in the gap for us and He paid the greatest price possible, not just blood flowing temporarily from one part of His body, but blood flowing from His back, His head, His wrists, His feet, as He hung in indescribable agony, shamefully naked on a cross. Why? To buy us back and set us free. In particular, He paid the price for our sins –so that we might be forgiven for every sin that we have ever committed and will ever commit! This means that you and I never need to live in guilt, shame and condemnation –I am free and forgiven in Christ.
Blessings from eternity past –I am chosen and adopted in Christ; blessings in thepresent –I am forgiven and free in Christ.
There are two blessings that relate to our eternal future; the first is this:
I am EXPECTANT in Christ
I don’t know whether you ever feel depressed or hopeless about the future. You look at the world and feel like it is falling apart. Or maybe circumstances in your life may feel like they are falling apart. When Paul wrote Ephesians he was facing the most challenging of circumstances–He wasin prison for his faith, and yet He was full of hope and expectancy. Not because he was certain that his immediate circumstances were going to change, but because God revealed that He is ultimately going to come and bring restoration and harmony not just to the world but to the whole cosmos:‘he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment –to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ’(Eph. 1:9–10). Paul’s hope and expectancy is based on a revelation that God is going to win the day. That no matter how tough the immediate future may be, the ultimate future is going to be wonderful. Reminding us that when Christ comes back the whole of the cosmos is going to be united and restored in Him. We know from elsewhere in the New Testament that we are going to be resurrected, receive new bodies, and we are going to get to live in this perfect new heavens on a new earth with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and His whole redeemed family for ever!
It’s not enough just to be expectant that all things are going to be restored and reunited in Christ. I need to know that I am going to be part of this.
The final blessing is this:
I am SECURE in Christ
Parents want their children to know they are loved and secure. We can try to show this in a number of ways: with words and with actions. We could just say things like, ‘Do you know I love you so much?’ But we can also seek to reassure them with our presence –lots of hugs and kisses and playing together!
The wonderful news is that this Father, who in eternity past chose me and planned for to be His child and heir, and who sent Christ to free and forgive me, wants me to feel secure –He reassures us through His Word and through His presence in our lives by the Holy Spirit.‘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’(Eph. 1:13-14).Paul uses two pictures of the Spirit here to highlight how secure we are in Christ.
First, the Spirit comes into our lives as Christians as God’s seal – that is a mark of ownership and protection. God is saying,‘you now belong to me, and I am going to protect you and make sure you make it home’. The second picture of the Spirit is that of a downpayment or a deposit – if you put a deposit down for something it is both part of the actual payment, and guarantee that you are now the rightful owner, and also that you will pay the full sum at a later date. In the same way, Paul is saying that because we have the Spirit, we have a foretaste of the future, but also a guarantee that we will enter into the fullness of our eternal inheritance.
So, this is whatour spiritual bank account tell us:
Balance – Every spiritual blessing in Christ
Past– I am chosen and adopted in Christ
Present – I am forgiven and free in Christ
Future – I am expectant and forgiven in Christ
Does this almost seem too good to be true? How is this possible? How can this be about me? First, let’s make clear that you can do nothing to earn or deserve these eternal blessings, these amazing riches. Rather, they are a gift for all who are in Christ. How do we get in Christ? Simply through faith – by‘having believed’. It’s like you need to set up your account in Christ, in the bank of heaven. All we have to do is to receive that gift through faith, ‘having believed’. God has done it all; we don’t have to do anything other than believe and receive.
You can set up an account in the bank of heaven today. Simple believing or putting your trust in Christ – who He is and what He has done for – all this becomes yours.
Let’s finish by reading the memory verse together:‘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’ (Eph. 1:3).
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