160814 In Christ

Ephesians 1:3-10 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, 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, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Paul wants his beloved Ephesian Christians to understand something of what it means to be “in Christ”. He began speaking of God as being blessed in Himself and also as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The idea of our being “in Christ” spreads throughout the book of Ephesians and in fact throughout the whole New Testament. We certainly will not be able to look at all of it today but we will go through the door and began to look around.

Let’s look at what it means to be “in Christ”. First of all…

He has blessed us in Christ. Look at Galatians 3:13-14. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

I believe this to be one of the most powerful passages of Scripture. It explains why Christ died on the cross. Since we are among the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve we are in that category of “all have sinned” and, we are cursed with a curse — because the wages of sin is death. Therefore, we are in great need of someone who will lift the curse from us.

In that long ago time when God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit conceived a plan to create a universe, and place man in it. Knowing that men would fall into sin and would deserve to die because of that sin God determined to provide a substitute. That substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, allowed himself to be nailed to a wooden cross to bear our sin and shame. He did that so that in Christ Jesus the blessings of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. Not just for the Jews who had descended from Abraham but for all of those who by faith have become children of Abraham. It is absolutely impossible to conceive the richness of the gifts of grace that God has poured out on us “in Christ”! God not only has blessed us in Christ…

We are chosen in Him. See what 2 Timothy 1:8-9 has to say. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, ⁹ who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

Think of that! Before the times eternal God thought of us in agreement with Christ, the Son! Before He spoke everything into existence He saved us and called us to a holy calling. We need to be careful not to think that we deserve the grace of God. It was not given us due to our good works. Or, as Paul put it to Titus, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,” (Titus 3:5). God did not have to wait to see what we would do or how we would live. Before He created anything He wrote our names in the Book of Life. And He wrote those names there because of His own purpose and grace.

We are saved by grace through faith and it is a gift of God. We do good deeds because He has saved us not in order for Him to save us. We are made right with God and considered “not guilty” on all charges because of Christ’s work on the cross. He Himself bore our sins in His own body so that we could die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). We have nothing, in ourselves, to brag about. However, we can certainly brag about the Lord Jesus. And we should do so on a daily basis. We should be ashamed of how often we ignore Him in the presence of other people. He chose us in Him and as a result…

We are adopted into God’s family through Him. Turn to Galatians 3:23-27. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

This whole concept of adoption is a little hard for us to grasp in the world we live in. When we are saved we are declared “not guilty” and given a right legal standing before God. To be adopted into God’s family is more than being saved from our sins. Adoption is an act of God whereby He makes us members of His family. In the beginning of John’s Gospel we are told that all those who received Him and believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). On the other hand those who do not believe in Christ are not children of God. Instead they are “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Again, we need not pat ourselves on the back because…

Our adoption is according to His purpose. Look back at Titus 3:4-5. He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Dr. Wayne Grudem, in his Systematic Theology, pp 737-738, tells us, “Although the New Testament says that we are now God’s children (1 John 3:2), we should also note that there is another sense in which our adoption is still future because we will not receive the full benefits and privileges of adoption until Christ returns and we have new resurrection bodies. Paul speaks of this later, fuller sense of adoption when he says, “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). Here Paul sees the receiving of new resurrection bodies as the fulfillment of our privileges of adoption, so much so that he can refer to it as our “adoption as sons.”

The Bible connects adoption with saving faith. As a result of our trusting in Christ God has adopted us into his family. We are therefore sons of God through faith. There are many benefits and privileges that accompany adoption. One benefit is that we are able to speak directly to our Father. This is an evidence of how much He loves us. As a result of our adoption he understands us like a father has compassion on his children. He takes care of our needs and gives us many good gifts but most important, He gives us a great inheritance in heaven. Our adoption into the family of God makes us joint heirs with Jesus. Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a song about it and it goes like this: I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God.
You will notice we say "brother and sister" 'round here, It's because we're a family and these are so near; When one has a heartache, we all share the tears, And rejoice in each victory in this family so dear.
I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God.
From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King, No longer an outcast, a new song I sing; From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong, I'm not worthy to be here, but praise God I belong!
I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God.

A part of being “in Christ” is the fact that…

We have redemption through His blood. Look at Hebrews 9:12-14.  he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

The Old Testament system of sacrifice is an illustration of God’s plan to provide a perfect sacrifice. Mankind was sold in sin and without the perfect sacrifice of Jesus would have remained eternally separated from God in hell. Jesus was able to take our sins to the cross because he had no sin of his own. He was able to “buy us back” from our slavery and set us free by His own blood and His own sacrifice.

As Paul wrote to the Romans unsaved mankind are slaves of sin and as such are separated from God forever. That is until God sent his son to buy man back from the slave market. Until we came to believe in Jesus we were subject to sin and death. But God’s free gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Praise God He entered into the Holy Place with His own blood and presented it as the sacrifice for sin. Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He paid the price on the cross. The very last words that he said were “it is finished”! He said this, according to John, because He knew that the Scripture was fulfilled. Since He had paid the price for our sins He could, from the cross, give up His spirit.

As a result of his redemptive work…

He blesses us with His grace. Turn to Romans 3:23-24.  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

We don’t earn our salvation He gives it to us. We often emphasize the fact that all have sinned while overlooking the next verse. We are justified by his grace that is a gift from God. Some have turned the word grace into an acrostic: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. God’s grace means God’s goodness toward those who deserve only punishment. Or, as someone put it, Grace is a gift given finding its sole purpose in the need of the recipient and the free heartedness of the giver. It is a gift that is never deserved. And it includes for us more than we could ever imagine of the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Last of all…

In Him we know the mystery of His will. Look at Ephesians 3:8-9. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,

Paul characterized himself here as the very least of all the saints. At another point he called himself “the chief of sinners”! He did not mean that he sinned more than others on a day-to-day basis. He meant that he had set the bar at its highest notch and no one would ever break his record. He not only was born in sin he added to that the fact that he persecuted the church. He arrested people and brought them to trial for being Christian and he delivered them over to death.

The grace given to him was not just redemption it was more than that. Paul was granted the gift of being able to preach the gospel to the world. He was the one chosen to bring to light the plan of God that had been kept a mystery throughout history.

When Paul was allowed to preach the gospel to Jews and Gentiles he revealed God’s hidden mystery. It had always been God’s plan to provide salvation for every race and nation and ultimately some from every tribe, and family, will stand before the throne. This gospel must be preached to all the world before the end comes.

Today, we see this mystery being played out as people from different racial and cultural backgrounds are united in Christ in the church. The Christian church is to always be in the forefront of breaking down racial and social barriers in societies around the world. The Christian church is to be a visible evidence of God’s amazingly wise plan to bring unity out of great diversity and cause all creation to honor him.

In Christ we have what was promised so long ago. Now that we have been born, and born again, our unity becomes real. We are no longer part of God’s projection of the future we are instead His reality! In Christ we have died to the old way of living and been raised to newness of life. As a consequence we have a new way of living. The Holy Spirit begins to reshape us into the image of Christ. In Christ we have unity with all who are in union with Christ. Jesus enables us to be one with each other and with Him. In fact Jesus prayed for us that our unity will be like the unity between Him, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.