“Jesus Changes Our Inheritance (Eph 1:7-14)”, Will DuVal | 9/1/24
Ephesians 1:7-14 | 9/1/24 | Will DuVal
A death occurs, and is grieved. A funeral is planned, and performed. Then the family gathers, and listens, as the deceased’s last will and testament is dramatically (and sometimes divisively) read aloud.
At least that’s how it works in the movies. Having never personally taken part in the distribution of an inheritance, I was a little disappointed this week to find out the actual process in real life is much more anti-climatic. Nevertheless, the question still remains, for the benefactors of that will: “What is my INHERITANCE?”
Last week we kicked off our new sermon series in the Book of EPHESIANS, and we discovered that the overarching message of this letter is that “Jesus Changes Everything”. First and foremost, we saw that Jesus changes our IDENTITY. The two words that BEST define me now, at the very CORE of who I am, are not “Will DuVal” or “Abandoned son” or “Polly’s husband” or “Elder-Pastor”, or “Condemned SINNER”, but RATHER, “IN CHRIST”. That is who I am, who YOU are, if you too have by grace through faith been SAVED BY Christ, and been radically TRANSFORMED into a “new creation in HIM” - the old has gone, the new has come. And just as it means something to be a DUVAL, to be “IN” our family, so too, it means something - means infinitely MORE - that we are now members of GOD’S family, if we are in Christ. Specifically, in vv1-6, we saw that it means we are now “commissioned, blessed, holy, chosen, beloved children of God.”
SONS & DAUGHTERS - that is the most profound, astonishing, consequential, defining marker of our new identity in Christ: “Behold what manner of LOVE the Father has given unto us: that WE (wretched, rebel sinners like us) should be called the CHILDREN of God; and so we ARE!” (1 Jn3:1).
And that means, Romans 8 declares: that “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons… The Spirit himself bears witness… that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (vv15-17).
So AS God’s children, we can now gather together this morning for the reading of the family WILL - the will of our perfect heavenly FATHER - to discover what spiritual RICHES He has now LEFT us, in Christ.
But it must be reiterated and re-emphasized right up FRONT (and again at the END of the sermon… and maybe a few times in the MIDDLE as well) - there’s a reason that Paul repeats those two all-important words - “IN CHRIST” - TWELVE TIMES in these opening 14 verses of Ephesians; TWO reasons, actually:
First, so that none of us who ARE in Christ ever forget the source of our spiritual blessings. Why do WE get grace, peace, purpose, holiness, election, love, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, insight, hope, salvation, the Spirit, an eternal inheritance, “EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”?! Why do we get ANY of it? Because of ANYTHING that you have done, Christian? Or because of EVERYTHING that CHRIST has done FOR you? So it’s a REMINDER to those of us ARE in Christ.
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But it’s ALSO a WAKE UP call to everyone who is NOT “in Christ” this morning. Listen: the rest of this sermon is NOT for you. Until you REPENT, and turn to JESUS for your salvation, you inherit NONE of these blessings. That may sound offensive, just like it may offend you later when we ask you NOT to take communion along with us, if you are NOT “in CHRIST” - it’s not for YOU. It’s a FAMILY meal, reserved for the children of God. And vv7-14 of Ephesians 1 is a record of God’s FAMILY will; relevant only for those who belong to HIM… those “IN CHRIST”.
So my greatest hope and prayer this morning is that as we REVIEW this inheritance together, God might stir within you a new desire, FOR his grace and hope and love and mercy, to be your OWN; that He’d give you a desire for HIM! For CHRIST! And that as God reveals your NEED, and arouses your affections, I pray that someone here might become this very morning (or at least be REVEALED to be, since the beginning of TIME) a brand new child of God and a “CO-HEIR” with Christ.
I invite you to STAND… Ephesians 1:7-14: Quick reminder for context: remember that all of vv1-14 really belong together; we just split it up for the sake of time. In fact, I mentioned last week that all of vv3-14 form a SINGLE long sentence in the Greek. So we pick that sentence back up now in v7… Hear the word…
“In him [in Christ] 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.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
[This is the word of the Lord… Seated…]
Paul has been listing our “spiritual blessings” in Christ for 4 verses already now, but now he specifically employs the word “INHERITANCE”. So what IS our “inheritance”, then, as God’s children? Paul mentions FOUR GIFTS here, that God has bequeathed to us, in Christ.
#1) In Christ, we inherit INDEMNITY. (7-8)
Now, I’ll confess, as you’ll soon see, that I did need an “I” word for my alliteration. However, I think this term “indemnity” HIGHLIGHTS something very important for us about the GRACE that God has “lavished upon us”, the FORGIVENESS that we have received in Christ.
Sometimes we envision God’s forgiveness of sins in this way, maybe you’ve even heard a pastor use this illustration before: that sin is the spiritual DEBT that we owed God, but we can imagine God opening his ledger book, and beside our name, where there was this really big NUMBER, of all the sins we’ve ever committed against God, God takes out his giant ERASER and ERASES that number and writes a big “0” instead; he just CANCELS OUT our sin. And to be sure, Colossians 2:14 DOES explain that God has “forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us”. But the SECOND half of that verse goes on to explain HOW our debt was “wiped out” - it says: “this [Christ] TOOK UP, nailing it to the cross”.
See, friends, God is too JUST to simply pull out his eraser and fudge the numbers. A debt is a DEBT. The only way it gets “CANCELED” is by getting “PAID”. So if you and I don’t have the spiritual CASHFLOW to be able to pay OFF our debt, which we DON’T, then the ONLY way we can be forgiven is by someone ELSE “taking UP” our debt, picking up our TAB, as it were, that we can’t afford. And that’s exactly what JESUS did, when he NAILED our debt to the CROSS. He didn’t just CANCEL it; he PAID it.
How? Verse 7 of Ephesians 1 answers: “through his BLOOD”.
Think back to LEVITICUS from last spring: God deserves and demands our entire LIVES - heart, mind, soul, strength. We give him far LESS than that. So we OWE him a “life DEBT”. But God graciously instituted for his people Israel, in the OT, this system of sacrifices as a means of them paying BACK that debt, the life they OWED him. Life for life. “Without the shedding of BLOOD, there is NO forgiveness of sins.” The debt MUST be PAID.
But friends, in Jesus Christ, our debt is now paid once and for all, IN FULL. No more need for bulls and goats, which only temporarily covered OVER sin until we messed up again. Jesus’ blood actually REMOVES our sin. “as far as the east is from the west, so far does [JESUS] remove our [sins] from us.” (Ps 103:12)
And this word “INDEMNITY” actually conveys that idea really well. Listen to how it’s defined: “Indemnity is compensation to a party for a loss or damage that has already occurred or to guarantee through a contractual clause to repay another party for loss or damage that might occur in the future.” (IRMI Risk Management, https://www.irmi.com/term/insurance-definitions/indemnity)
Friends: that is EXACTLY what Jesus Christ offers you and me this morning: SPIRITUAL INDEMNITY. “Compensation for damages”. By the way, the word “trespasses” here in v7 contains within it the idea of “DAMAGE”. Other versions of the Bible translate “the forgiveness of our OFFENSES”; our SIN OFFENDS God. Sin is NOT impersonal. For God, it is VERY personal; we’re all guilty of committing spiritual DAMAGE against a holy God. Which MUST be REPAID.
Which is WHY, by the way, so many people who THINK they’ve forgiven an offense, still battle resentment and bitterness toward their offender. Because they have the wrong conception of forgiveness. They think it means “canceling” a debt when it REALLY means “PAYING”. We are WIRED - in God’s image - for JUSTICE. Debts MUST be paid. So forgiveness doesn’t mean you say, “You know what, it wasn’t that big of a deal; let’s just forget it ever happened.” No, FORGIVENESS means saying, “Actually, it WAS a big deal, big enough that in order to move PAST it, there’s gonna have to be PAYMENT - both on YOUR part (the offender): I need to see REMORSE (hear “I’m sorry”) and I need to see REPENTANCE (to be able to believe you, when you tell me it’s not gonna happen again); but even THEN, I know part of the payment has gotta come from ME, the OFFEN-DED - because your “sorry” doesn’t CHANGE the fact that you still HURT me. So I am making the decision - not to DIMINISH the effect of your offense (“no big deal”) but rather to ABSORB the cost myself, and at least emotionally speaking, to PAY YOUR cost, on YOUR behalf. Because forgiveness - TRUE forgiveness - isn’t CHEAP.
And friends: GOD’S forgiveness of US… CERTAINLY wasn’t! It could ONLY be purchased “through Christ’s BLOOD”. The word “REDEMPTION” here in v7 is telling as well. It means to “BUY BACK”. You may recall the news from a few weeks ago about the U.S. - Russia PRISONER swap. Neither side was just gonna RELEASE the prisoners for FREE; President Biden had to BUY BACK those American journalists who’d been locked up for saying mean things about Vladimir Putin, and the COST was a few Russian spies and terrorists. You say, “Well THAT’S not a fair trade!” Fortunately for US, neither was the deal that GOD struck with HIMSELF to secure OUR release from our imprisonment to SIN - it cost him his PERFECT, ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. Listen: I’ve got TWO sons - neither ONE of which is even CLOSE to being perfect - but I wouldn’t trade either ONE of them for every person sitting in this room. If that makes me a bad pastor… sorry. But if this was a Russian jail, and the only way to get y’all out was to send one of MY boys in, to serve your life sentence in your place… I’m sorry, but y’all are rotting in here!
But friends, that is EXACTLY what our heavenly father did for us… and while we were yet SINNERS to boot! We were the SPIES and TERRORISTS, guilty of treason against our own KING, when God said, “I’m paying to get THEM out of prison!”
Now do you see what v7 calls it the “RICHES of his grace”. Grace is a free gift you don’t deserve. And that’s where this idea of “indemnity” kind of breaks down. Because with INSURANCE, I PAY every month, to get that coverage. But what does CHRIST’S “compensation for spiritual damages” cost us?
Paul will tell us in ch2: “it is by GRACE that you have been saved…” through WHAT? What is YOUR monthly payment? “Through FAITH”. You must TRUST in Christ. But then Paul will go ON to explain that even the faith to BELIEVE in the gospel has to come from God as well - he pays the premiums, the deductible, AND the indemnity on our behalf… according to the RICHES of his grace.
Someone this morning is thinking, “Yeah, Pastor, but you don’t know MY sin… If you only knew… God could NEVER forgive what I’VE done.”
Listen: don’t sit there and ADD to your sin by FURTHER offending God - don’t INSULT God, by presuming that you actually have the ability to OUT-SIN His grace. You CAN’T DO IT! “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). What’s the worst thing you can even imagine? Being the one who literally drove the nails into Jesus’s hands and killed him? Guess what: God forgave that Roman centurion in Mark 15:39; Jesus prayed, “Father FORGIVE them, for they know not what they do,” and God DID it, when the centurion cried out in FAITH - “Truly this man was the Son of GOD!”
How about murdering someone BECAUSE they love Jesus? Paul did that. God not only forgave him; God chose him to write half the New Testament. I wonder how he might use YOU, if you would but SURRENDER to the RICHES of his LAVISH grace, in humble faith.
“Our sins they are MANY, but HIS MERCY is more.”
I know I need to move on, but one last thing to point out quickly about the INDEMNITY that we now have in Christ: notice the VERB TENSE Paul uses here. Earlier, he said God “CHOSE” us, “PREDESTINED” us - past tense. Later, in v14, he’ll say that we WILL acquire possession of our full inheritance, on the other side of eternity. But here, in v7, Paul writes, “we HAVE redemption… we HAVE the forgiveness of sins”.
Brothers and sisters: it would be good news if we got to look forward to ONE day, finally receiving our inheritance, and being forgiven… but the gospel is BETTER.
It would be GOOD news if salvation was ONLY past tense, and we could always remember BACK, all those years, to when we received our inheritance… but the gospel is BETTER.
Do you realize that every single DAY, you get the JOY - think of the EXCITEMENT of opening that letter, and discovering how much you have inherited, ESPECIALLY when GOD is your father - but we get that joy, as his children, EVERY SINGLE DAY! His mercies are NEW every morning! And it’s a good thing, because so too is our SIN. But in Christ, we have redemption TODAY, forgiveness TODAY, lavish grace to enjoy and EMPLOY TODAY.
Okay, #2) In Christ, we inherit INSIGHT. (9-10)
Now, commentators are divided on whether this phrase that concludes v8 - “in all wisdom and insight” - whether it should go with God’s lavishing of the grace, or our receiving it. Does God use “all wisdom and insight” in SHOWERING his grace on us, or does the shower of grace to US include “all wisdom and insight”?
And whenever there’s an interpretive decision like that to make in studying the Bible, and when we know that BOTH options are true ANYWAY - that God used “all wisdom and insight” in his plan of redemption… AND that he now offers US “all wisdom and insight” if we are in CHRIST (because remember: v3 already TOLD us he “has blessed us… with every spiritual blessing”, which would include wisdom and insight), then MY assumption is usually that God purposely left the grammar here AMBIGUOUS, to remind us that BOTH are true: HE has “all wisdom”, and he now OFFERS US “all wisdom” - “If any of you lacks wisdom,” James 1:5 invites us, “let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
But the real PUNCH of this promise - that in Christ, we’ve inherited INSIGHT - comes in v9, where we hear that in Christ, God was “making known to us the mystery of his will”. So we get INSIGHT into God’s WILL, his “purpose” as v9 later says; God’s PLAN, v10 says. We get to KNOW it.
Now, when you hear “mystery” here, don’t think “MURDER mystery”, like some creepy “whodunit”; think “SECRET SANTA”, with an office full of co-workers who know you really well and LOVE you. So you KNOW you’re gonna get something good that you’re gonna like; you just don’t yet know who’s gonna be BEHIND it. That’s how the Bible uses the word “mystery” in referring to God’s plan of SALVATION: he had REVEALED bits and pieces of it to His people, Israel, in the OT… enough that they KNEW God was bringing them something really good, SALVATION. But for thousands of YEARS, they just didn’t know who would be BEHIND it, the IDENTITY of the Messiah, their Savior.
Paul is saying: the wait is UP, the mystery is OVER, it is SOLVED: God has made KNOWN to us that it was his “WILL”, his “PURPOSE”, his “PLAN” to ransom and redeem us… “IN CHRIST”. There’s those 2 words again, at the end of v9: God’s purpose was “set forth” in Christ. The verb there - pro-TI-the-mai - means, etymologically, to “put forward”. It’s only used a couple other times in Scripture, including Romans 3:25, where we “and are justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God PUT FORWARD as a propitiation by his blood”.
We were in prison, and God’s PLAN, to redeem us, to buy us back, was to “put forward”, to “hand over”, his son JESUS, as a substitutionary sacrifice, to die in our place. Jesus said, “the Son of Man came… to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45).
That was God’s plan. But not the WHOLE plan. Because God ALSO planned, 3 days later, to RAISE Christ from the dead, and triumph OVER Sin and Hell and grave! And not only that, but according to v10 here now, God’s got a plan for the “FULLNESS of time” too - the CLIMAX, and culmination, of all of history; what is it? “to unite ALL things in [Christ]”.
That word - “unite”; ana-kephalai-O-sasthai (say THAT 3x fast!) - the word is only used one other time in the NT, in Romans 13:9, where Paul explains that all the horizontal commandments - “don’t murder”, “don’t steal”, “don’t covet” - they are all “ana-kephalai-O-sasthai”; they’re all SUMMED UP in God’s singular commandment that we “love our neighbor as ourself.” THAT’S what this word really means; not “unite”, so much as “SUM UP”. Here’s how John Piper explains it: “Christ answers the question, “What is the sum of all things?” …What do all things add up to? …What does history add up to? What does salvation add up to? What does American culture add up to? What does the fall and the cross add up to? …What’s it all about? And the answer is, it’s all about Christ.”
There’s a REASON that “Jesus” is the Sunday School answer you always fall back on, when you’re not sure. Because JESUS is the ULTIMATE answer to ALL of our heart’s greatest questions and our world’s greatest problems.
My Discipleship group was meeting at Panera this week, and when we were done, as I was walking out, this RIVAL men’s Bible study, who apparently don’t like us because we accidentally sat at “THEIR table” one Wednesday morning - aren’t Christians the WORST?! - anyway, the LEADER calls me over to their table. He says, “We need your help, Pastor. We’re reading Titus 2:11, and I just asked the guys here, in what WAY has “the grace of God [now] appeared, bringing salvation for all people”; that’s what Titus 2:11 says, but HOW?
And I’m looking around the table like, “Is this some kind of JOKE, or TRICK, to try and make me look STUPID for even bothering to ANSWER?! Cuz I’m pretty sure I could Facetime my FOUR-year old right now and ask him, “Elijah, what does the Bible mean when it says the “grace of God appeared bringing SALVATION” - who’s that TALKING about?” and HE could answer it for you!
So I say, “JESUS.”
And the Bible study leader says, “Yeah, that’s how THEY tried to answer, but I told them those 1-word Sunday School answers aren’t gonna CUT it here! It’s time to grow up and put on your big-boy theology pants…” And he launched into this long lecture filled with lots of 50-cent churchy words that I’m sure made him feel very SMART, but left me feeling very SAD. So I waited another 2 or 3 minutes, to see if he’d pause and give me an opportunity to remind him that JESUS said, “Unless you become like a CHILD, you’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven”. But he didn’t, so I left.
Friends, according to Ephesians 1:10, Jesus IS the answer; it really is that simple. Martin Luther King famously said, ““the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” v10 here is saying, “the arc of the ENTIRE universe is long, but it BENDS toward JESUS.” He is the telos - the end, the goal, the fulfillment - of EVERYTHING.
JESUS sums it all UP. Commentator Clinton Arnold notes (88): “In [Greek] philosophical writings… this word - ana-kephalai-O-sasthai - is used to refer to a summar[y] of the main points of [an] argument… In fact, a chapter title in a book is a “heading” (kephalaion)” – that is the ROOT of the word: kephale; it’s the Greek word for “HEAD”. So Arnold concludes: “Christ is the solution to the problem of rampant rebellion against God... He has begun to exercise his headship… but there will come a time when all of CREATION will submit to his authority as sovereign Lord.” When ALL THINGS will be “headed up” by Christ. THAT is God’s plan for redeeming all of CREATION.
And this MYSTERY into which the prophets of old LONGED to see, God has now REVEALED to us, in CHRIST - He’s given us INSIGHT; the spiritually EYES to see his will, his purpose, his plan.
My daughter is a PLANNER. She wants to know the plan - ALL the time. We’ll be sitting at the breakfast table, first thing in the morning, “Dad, what are we gonna do after dinner tonight?” - she’s already planning, scheming… trying to convince me it’d be FUN to watch a movie together. At the VERY least, she’s gotta know what’s coming NEXT.
We’re reading Harry Potter 4 right now, The Goblet of Fire. She’s 8 ½ ; in hindsight, it’s probably a little too intense for her. But we were way too far in when I realized that. So Harry gets transported to the creepy cemetery, and Lord Voldemort is reborn, and he KILLS Cedric Diggory, and Ellery interrupts me, “Dad, I don’t know if I want to FINISH the book! Is Harry gonna DIE?!”
And it reminded me: those of us who read ‘em back as they were coming out didn’t KNOW, did we?! We didn’t know there was gonna be a fifth book!
But I got to lovingly reassure MY daughter that there was a fifth book. Harry can’t die… YET.
How GRACIOUS of God, how “lovingly reassuring” of Him, to give us INSIGHT into his plan - to let us KNOW how it’s all gonna end; Spoiler Alert: JESUS WINS! And every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that HE is Lord, and he will reign supremely as the HEAD over ALL things.
#3) In Christ, we inherit INCLUSION. (11-12)
V11 declares that “In CHRIST, we have obtained an INHERITANCE”; in other words: we’re now INCLUDED in God’s family WILL.
And speaking of wills, Paul says we were “predestined according to the purpose of him (GOD) who works all things according to the counsel of his will”.
It’s almost like Paul is trying to see how many different words he can use here, how many different WAYS he can COMMUNICATE this vital TRUTH that “GOD HAD A PLAN” for our salvation. At NO point in time was God just “figuring it out as he went”.
Polly and I like games. And whenever we’re trying out a new game, I will read and RE-read the instructions until I understand the game WELL enough to actually form a STRATEGY - maybe Ellery gets it from ME; cuz I like a plan, at least before I go into BATTLE.
But Polly, on the other hand, after I’m done reading and I try to “sum up” the game for HER, SHE says, “Eh, it’s alright, I’ll just learn it as I GO.”
To which I respond, “You mean learn it as you LOSE?!” Cuz you don’t even know how to PLAY it, much less GAMEPLAN, for VICTORY.
Friends, our God had a GAMEPLAN for victory from the very start - BEFORE the start! He “chose us before the foundation of the WORLD”, v4 declared; he “predestined us… according to the purpose of his WILL”. And according to v11, God works ALL THINGS according to His PLAN. Not JUST our salvation; ALL THINGS.
Did you know God PLANNED for Adam & Eve to eat the fruit, and bring SIN into the world?
That God planned for sin to RETURN, even after he sent the Flood to purge it.
Did you know God planned for sin to get SO bad that He’d have to send his own SON to die on the cross to SAVE us!? Acts 2:23 says that “Jesus [was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Peter, preaching to the very religious leaders who had crucified Jesus, says, “I know y’all were the ones who riled up the crowd and had him killed, but guess what: it was GOD’S plan all along!” You were just instruments in His hands.
Friends, I don’t know about you, but God’s absolute sovereignty over ALL things - that brings me such COMFORT. If His plan could include the CROSS! - the death of his perfect SON! - then what CAN’T God redeem, and use for his own good purposes?
My parents’ divorce? Part of the plan.
Your abusive past? Part of the plan.
Death, War, Disease, Injustice…
God works ALL THINGS “according to the counsel of his will”.
Doesn’t mean every distinct PART of the plan along the way is GOOD. In God’s MERCY, he even makes ALLOWANCE in his plan for SIN - otherwise you and I would be DOOMED; WE couldn’t be “included” in the plan, if SIN was excluded.
So we can’t always see HOW God is weaving the UGLY strands together to MAKE the beautiful tapestry that he is - to MAKE the plan GOOD, to WORK “ALL things together for GOOD for those who LOVE him and are called according to his purpose”. But that is his good PROMISE to us, Church.
And the very BEST part of the plan is that WE get to be INCLUDED in it - that **THIS ugly thread got woven in!
“We have obtained an INHERITANCE” – WHY? Because we were so great? Such beautiful threads? Quite the opposite!
When God chose ISRAEL to be his people in the OT, he made sure to explain WHY so they wouldn’t get big heads. He said, “Listen: I didn’t pick you because you were the STRONGEST nation, or the most RIGHTEOUS nation; actually, I picked you cuz you were the WEAKEST and VILEST!” (Dt 7-9) That way when the OTHER nations see the wonders I work FOR you and THROUGH you, they’ll know for CERTAIN that it wasn’t because YOU’RE so great, but because I - YAHWEH - am so great!”
“To the praise of HIS glory” and grace - that’s how v12 explains God’s purpose in choosing and using the weakest and WORST of sinners, like US, to include in His plan. Only a really powerful and good GOD could make a thread like **this… beautiful.
Last note about God’s GLORIOUS INCLUSION of us, in his plan of redemption: notice the pronouns that form the SUBJECT of the phrases in vv11-12: “WE have obtained an inheritance… so that WE who were the first to hope in Christ…”
Now look ahead to v13, where Paul SHIFTS and says, “In Christ, YOU ALSO, when YOU heard the word of truth…” – who’s Paul REFERRING to here? Why “we” vs. “you”?
Some scholars think the “we” are the original apostles - the “FIRST to hope in Christ” - and the “you” is every believer AFTER them. But MOST think that Paul is alluding here to the Jew-Gentile distinction; God’s TWO-part plan of redemption, and the reason our Bibles don’t just SKIP straight from Genesis 3 to Matthew chapter ONE. Because 2 millennia before Jesus ever came to earth, God was ALREADY working his plan, by graciously CHOOSING an ugly thread named ABRAM. We don’t have time to rehash the whole OT, but quickly: WHY does Paul bring the Jew-Gentile dynamic in AT ALL here? 3 reasons:
First, we’ll learn a few weeks from now in the second half of chapter 2 that there was apparently some racial tension within the Ephesian church. So Paul is planting the seed now, up front, so he can circle back and address the issue later.
Second, Paul uses God’s totally sovereign, unmerited choice of ISRAEL in the OLD Testament as a paradigm for the Church to understand just how un-deserved and God-ordained our OWN election is, now under the NEW Covenant, in Christ.
But third, and most to-the-point, the whole “Jew-Gentile” divide that the 1st c. church was wrestling with - it was all ABOUT inclusion… vs. EX-clusion. Insider vs. Outsider. That was how the Jews had come to view everything - everyONE - for 2,000 years.
But Paul wants them to see that JESUS changes EVERYTHING! He wants them to be blown AWAY by the GRACE of God - that He would now include GENTILES in his plan as well. And that God would have ever included the JEWS to BEGIN with!
You almost have to LAUGH when people today try and critique God’s plan of redemption as being “too NARROW”.
Cuz I’ll just tell ya: if I was the king, and there was a prison full of traitors who were guilty of treason, plotting to try and assassinate me and usurp MY throne, guess how many of them I would choose to “buy back”, to ransom?
But not OUR God, Church. According to the RICHES of his GRACE, he chose Abram and said, “I’m gonna transform and redeem this whole PRISON through you!” And when Abraham’s descendants FAILED to - they EXCLUDED everyone else, even chained themselves INSIDE the prison while God was trying to set THEM free! - God said, “Now I’m sending JESUS. JAILBREAK!” And you’re gonna see just how radically INCLUSIVE my plan is - people from EVERY nation, tribe, and tongue… to the PRAISE of MY glorious GRACE.
Lastly, #4) In Christ, we inherit INDWELLING. (13-14)
“In CHRIST… when you heard the word of truth, the [GOOD NEWS] of your salvation, and believed in him, you were…” - WHAT? “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit”.
Kent Hughes explains (43): “In the ancient world, the owner announced his ownership by attaching his seal to his possessions. That is what God has done for us. He has tagged us, left his mark on us, in our hearts. (Rom 8:16-17).”
Remember Romans 8: “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons… The Spirit himself bears witness… that we are children [the HEIRS] of God” (15-17).
But God’s indwelling Holy Spirit isn’t just a “seal”, a SIGN of belonging; the Spirit is the “guarantee”, or “DOWN payment” or “EARNEST money” of our inheritance until we acquire FULL possession of ALL of it. See, if we are “in Christ”, we are bound for ETERNAL glory, grace, peace, hope, joy, love… when at last this life is over and NEW life - TRUE life - begins, in God’s very presence, where there are “pleasures forevermore”.
But until we GET there, God doesn’t make us WAIT with empty pockets… empty HEARTS. Church: He FILLS us with HIMSELF!
But in closing, let’s not forget why God does it, why we stand to inherit ANY and EVERY one of these glorious “spiritual blessings” that Paul has outlined for us in vv3-14. Warren Wiersbe outlines the passage into three sections, and asks: “WHY has God the Father chosen us, adopted us, and accepted us? “To the praise of the glory of HIS grace (that was v6). WHY has the Son redeemed us, forgiven us, revealed God’s will to us, and made us part of God’s inheritance? “That we should be to the praise of HIS glory” (v12). And WHY has God the Spirit sealed us and become the guarantee of our future blessing? “Unto the praise of HIS glory (v14 concludes).” (NT Commentary, 588) So Wiersbe notes: “We often have the idea that God saves sinners mainly because He pities them, or wants to rescue them from eternal judgment, but God’s MAIN purpose is that HE might be glorified!”
And so he IS, Church. God gets GLORY from granting unworthy rebels like us INDEMNITY from the penalty of our sin, INSIGHT into the mystery of his perfect plan, INCLUSION into the plan personally - WE get written into His WILL! - and the INDWELLING of his very own SPIRIT to seal us and SECURE us until we receive our inheritance in FULL. And we get ALL of it… ONLY… “in Christ”. To the praise of HIS glory. Amen.