[Machine transcription]
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Dear Everly and all the baptized,
Paul in this epistle lesson has a list of seven blessings,
and the last one refers to you today.
In him also you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
That means that the Lord Jesus has marked you as one redeemed
by his death and resurrection, has covered you with his blood,
has washed away your sins,
Christians, has appointed you for everlasting life in the fellowship of His glory and His
peace as He has with all the baptized, with all of us who rejoice in this great gift.
In fact, Paul, it seems, cannot extol enough the great gifts that the Lord gives to His
people, and that’s what we’re going to consider today in the Epistle lesson as we work through
it together. In fact, I’d like to encourage all of you to take a look at the Epistle
lesson on page five, because especially, Vicar Davis was working on this epistle sermon,
and we’re talking about how difficult it is to preach on an epistle lesson, because it’s
like eating very thick cheesecake. It’s so rich with the Lord’s blessing, so I want to
put your eyes on the words. But in fact, I want to put your eyes on the words for more
than one reason, because not only are we going to look at the epistle lesson today
from Ephesians chapter 1, but I think we’re going to work on this epistle to the Ephesians
for the next seven weeks. We have readings one after another in Ephesians, and so we’re
going to consider them together. In fact, it’s just one of the ways⦠we use the three-year
lectionary. I think most of you know that. So there’s a series of readings that repeat
every three years, and the people who⦠who put together the lectionary, I think what
they did is they’re working their way through the Gospels. So we’re in year B, and so
we’re working our way through Mark, and then they look for Old Testament passages to match
the New Testament. So we had the wild story from Mark 6 of John the Baptist losing his
head to Herod, and then they look and they found a parallel passage in Amos. When Amos
was the prophet down in Jerusalem, and he goes up to Bethel to preach in the belly of
the beast and Jeroboam’s, you know, getting after him. So they make those parallels.
But for the epistle lessons, they like to sort of pick an epistle, especially during
the summer, and stick with it. So we’ll have readings from Ephesians today and through
the end of July and to the end of August and we’ll work our way through. It’ll be quite
a wonderful thing.
But we want to see how Paul begins this epistle today, and I think it might be helpful to
get a little bit of background. So, a couple of things about Ephesus and the letter of
the Ephesians. Number one, Ephesus was a fantastic city, a beautiful city. It was in⦠it was
in western Turkey, now Turkey, then they called that Asia, and it was at the end of
this really rich, wonderful river that went into a bay, into the Aegean Sea there, and
So it was a very wealthy town.
It had all the riches of land and sea
and everything else like this.
In fact, it was the capital of the region.
And it was very,
so it was kind of the center of all of these,
it was the provincial capital,
so all the towns around it were also connected to Ephesus
and they kind of governed in that place.
It was also a very technological town.
In fact, the more I thought about Ephesus,
the more I thought of the parallels
between Ephesus and Austin.
Ephesus really embraced technology, although they called it magic back in those days.
And all the people in Ephesus, they had all these magic books and all these spell books
and everything.
In fact, when a bunch of the Ephesians were becoming Christians, they were leaving behind
their witchcraft and they brought together all these books in the middle of town and
they burned all their spell books and actually found out this sort of invaluable amount of
wealth that they had in these spell books. Ephesus was also a center of learning. There
was a huge university in the middle of town and a huge library. One of these great wonders
of this library of Celsus in Ephesus. And Ephesus was also strange. Keep Ephesus weird.
It was the center of the worship of Artemis, who was a strange goddess in Greece, but even
stranger as they worshipped her in Asia, there was this huge, big, massive temple to Artemis
in Ephesus that was one of the great seven wonders of the ancient world. It’s not there
anymore. It’s probably in a⦠like a museum in Germany, like all this stuff is. But they
had this great, huge⦠it was bigger than the temples in Athens, this huge, big temple.
And they worshipped in that temple the image that fell from heaven, they said. So maybe
like a meteorite or we don’t know what it was, but something fell out of heaven and
And they put it in there with all these statues of Artemis, huge big statues.
In fact, you can visit the ruins of Ephesus now, and all over the walls of everything,
the side of the streets and in the bathrooms and everything, there’s just⦠they carve
into the walls these pictures of Artemis, this false god.
So they would come every year to⦠or all the time to worship, but especially on the
feast days, they would come and worship Artemis.
And all of the silversmiths in Ephesus were rich because they would make all these little
idols, these little Artemis idols, and the people would take them home. That’s what got
Paul in such great trouble because the people stopped worshipping Artemis. They started
worshipping Jesus. So they didn’t need all these silver, little silver medallions and
so the, the Idol Makers Guild started a riot to try to drive Paul out of town. That was
all part of the background of Ephesus.
Now Paul’s, when Paul was in Ephesus, a lot of wild stuff was happening in Ephesus. I
But Paul, he wanted to get to Ephesus.
Remember St. Paul had three missionary journeys.
The first one was a little one in southwestern Asia.
And then it seems like that second missionary journey, Paul has his eyes on Ephesus.
He wants, he’s trying to get to that place, but the Holy Spirit prevents him.
The Holy Spirit was preventing him from going to Asia.
So he ends up skipping over Asia, going into Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, on into Athens
and Corinth, staying in Corinth for a couple of years, and then he just visits Athens
for a quick, sorry, Ephesus, for a quick visit on the end of the second missionary journey,
goes back to Jerusalem and then whammo, straight back to Ephesus on the third missionary journey.
And he gets to Ephesus and he stays there for three years. Paul didn’t stay anywhere
for three years. I had a professor at the seminary who thought that Paul must have been
thrown in jail in Ephesus, because that would be the only reason he would stay there for
so long, because Paul was moving, you know. But I think the better explanation is this,
that Paul recognized the strategic importance of this town,
and so Paul not only sets up a church in Ephesus,
but sets up a seminary in Ephesus,
and works through the seminary
to set up churches all around the region.
Remember when Jesus wrote the letters
to the seven churches in Revelation?
The first letter he wrote was to Ephesus,
and then the next six were to the letters,
the cities right around Ephesus.
So it became the epicenter of the evangelism
of the whole region.
So it was of strategic importance, and I want us as kind of as an application of this introduction,
as we think about like the parallels between the godlessness and the paganism of Ephesus
and the godlessness and the paganism of Austin, and maybe I could be wrong about this, but
I think our instinct is to sort of see that secular move and to kind of pull away from
it, to want to be removed from it, and Paul does not have that instinct. Paul just plunges
towards it.
It’s just one of the dangers that we face in our own day as we see the world becoming
less Christian, we see our neighbors becoming less Christian, we see the Christian faith
having less sway in our public conversation, and that we’re tempted to sort of back away
from it like the gospel is losing or like the church is losing or like Jesus is losing
and Paul, he knows better than that and so he just, he heads right into it. He sees Ephesus
as a target. He knows that the devil is not safe. In fact, one of the great stories out
of Ephesus is remember there were some Jewish exorcists and there was some, there was a
guy with a bunch of demons and they went into this guy with a bunch of demons and they tried
to kick the demons out and the demons said, Jesus we’ve heard of and Paul we’ve heard
of but who are you? And they beat the guys up and they run through the town naked, stripped
naked and beaten up by this demon possessed guy. It’s one of the, I mean Ephesus is wild
things happening in Ephesus. But this is the point, Paul is not afraid of that. He’s going
straight into it. Because he knows that Jesus sits on the throne. Because he knows that
Jesus does the work of uniting heaven and earth, that Jesus redeems sinners, that Jesus
brings us who are far from God near to God so that we might be blessed in the heavenly
places with Him. So Paul stays there for three years and establishes this church.
I think this is also one of the reasons why Paul, who⦠and we’re about to look at
these words and this is how he starts his epistle, these first 11 verses. Paul is right
out of the box with this very intense theology because he was with them for so long and taught
them so many of the Lord’s truths. But Paul launches right into this epistle, and we’ll
turn our attention to the words now, and he begins with basically a list of seven blessings
that the Christian has in Christ. I remember one time when I was a kid, and I
was, I don’t remember what I was upset about, but I was upset about something at
school. And I remember my teacher sat me down and talked to me for a little bit
to see what I was upset about, and then she said, Brian, I want you to do this. I
want you to just take out a piece of paper, and I want you to write a list of
all of the things that you’re thankful for. Now that was a beautiful exercise. You
You know, it’s a nice kind of piece of advice, and I remember I started writing, I sat there
for a long time, and I couldn’t think of anything.
But then I thought of something, like, oh, I’m alive or something, I don’t know.
And then I thought of something else, and I thought of something, and the more you start
to think about, the more things you have on the list.
And by the time, I don’t know, the recess was done, I was just one thing after another
after another after another.
There’s so many blessings, but you have to remember to think about them.
Well, that’s what Paul does in this letter.
He says, there’s so many blessings that you have, that I have, that we Christians have
in Christ, but we don’t often think about them.
And he’s going to list them for us here.
The key way to see it in the text is that Paul uses this phrase over and over again,
in him, in Christ, in him, in him, in him, and he gives us these blessings.
is. So, number one, verse three, in Him you are blessed with every spiritual blessing.
Look at the verse. 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. Notice how Paul doesn’t
say, if I was writing this letter, I would probably say, blessed be Jesus who has blessed
us with some spiritual blessings, with a few spiritual blessings, with spiritual blessings.
No, Paul knows better though. He sees how rich the Christian church is with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places. That heavenly places is going to come back up in a few chapters
as well because it’s going to say we’re seated with Jesus already in the heavenly places.
But look at what it says here.
You have already every blessing.
And what are those blessings?
Number two, in Him you are chosen.
It’s the fear of every person
that we would not be picked.
You remember this from when you were a kid in school
and you had to go play kickball?
And they get the two biggest guys there to pick the teams
and you’re worried that you’re gonna be picked last
or that you’re gonna be picked first
and mess everything up?
If you’re not going to be chosen, Jesus has chosen you.
Look at what it says in verse 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 He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according
to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed
us in the Beloved.” You’re chosen. Now, this doctrine is particularly helpful when
you begin to doubt your own salvation, when you begin to doubt that God loves you, when
you begin to doubt that the Lord is going to see it through to the end. Paul wants us
to remember, Jesus wants us to remember that we are chosen, that the Lord has picked us,
that He’s written our name in the Book of Life, which is Jesus Christ. And how do you
know it. Everly, He’s baptized you. That’s how you know you’re in the book of life.
The Lord brings it right to you in His Word preached and in His sacraments.
Number three, so in Christ you’re blessed, every spiritual blessing. Number two, in Christ
you’re chosen. Number three, in Christ you are redeemed. To redeem means to purchase
back. Redeem has an old, Old Testament story. Remember how in the Old Testament if you went
to such profound debt that you couldn’t pay your debts, that you would become a slave
to the person who you owed the debt to, and you would have to work for them until you
paid off your debt, unless someone related to you, a brother or a cousin or a kinsman,
would come and pay your debt for you, and then you would be redeemed and set free.
This is what Jesus has done.
He became your brother in His incarnation, and He paid the price to set you free by His
death on the cross.
In Him you are redeemed.
Look at verse 7, in Him we have redemption, and not with gold or silver, but with His
holy precious blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His
grace which He has lavished upon us.
We should use that word more often in our conversations with one another, lavish, but
especially when it comes to the grace of God.
He’s given you more than you could possibly need.
He’s lavished His grace upon you.
He’s given it to you overflowing and abundant in wisdom and insight, making known to us
the mystery of His will.
And what is the mystery of His will?
That He, Jesus, loves us.
That He’s found us, grabbed ahold of us, made us part of His body, the church.
That He’s forgiven our sins and made us holy.
This is what it says here, the fourth thing in Him, all things are united.
Verse 10, he set these things forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite
all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Part of your homework this week is to read the rest of Ephesians chapter 1 and the beginning
of Ephesians chapter 2.
And at the end of Ephesians chapter 1, you’ll see how Paul talks about how the church is
the body of Christ, and Christ is the head of the church, that all things are united
to Him.
And that’s what it’s talking about.
We are one with Christ.
We are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh.
He is the head, we are the body.
We have no life apart from Him, but we are not apart from Him.
We are bound up to Him.
Number four, in Him you have an inheritance.
Have you ever met someone who was about to get a huge inheritance?
It was on the way, they didn’t have it yet, but it was coming, and you wondered how they
could get along without going to work, without worrying about anything. They just knew everything
was going to be all right. Or I suppose this is the problem with like royalty over in England.
They don’t have to work at all. They just have this great inheritance. Well, this is
what Paul is talking about for you. You have an inheritance. It’s on the way. And that
inheritance is life eternal, the resurrection of the body, standing before Jesus in glory.
It belongs to you. And because you don’t have it yet, the Lord has given you a down payment
of that inheritance, and that has to do with the last two blessings. In Him you are sealed,
and in Him you believe.
I’ll take it from 11 all the way through to the end, verse 14. In Him we have attained
and inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things
according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might
be to the praise of his glory. In him also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of salvation, believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.”
The Lord does not⦠here’s the point.
The Lord Jesus does not want us to wonder if we will make it to eternal life.
He does not want us to doubt if we will be saved.
He does not want us to question if we’ll be part of the resurrection to stand before
Him in glory.
The devil wants us to wonder about those things, to doubt those things, to question those things,
But Jesus wants us to be absolutely sure, and so what has He done?
He’s given us the Holy Spirit, poured it into our hearts, poured Him into our hearts
by the gift of baptism and in the hearing of the Word.
He’s given us faith to trust in His promises.
He’s put His body and blood into our mouths, on our lips, so that we would know that we
are the ones chosen to inherit this great glory.
It is quite amazing that Jesus says, so that you would know that you’re going to inherit
eternal life, I’m going to give you a down payment, and it turns out that the down payment
is in fact bigger than the whole inheritance because He gives us His Holy Spirit who lives
with us and in us, and we live through Him.
So Paul says that you have more to be thankful for than you could even imagine.
you. In Christ, you are blessed. In Christ, you are chosen. In Christ, you are redeemed.
In Christ, you are united to God. In Christ, you have a glorious inheritance. In Christ,
you believe, and in Christ you are marked, sealed for His redemption. May this also overflow
in our own hearts to the praise of His glorious mercy. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
