Article for Sunday December 31, 2023
Ephesians 1:3–4 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
If you think you have received this message in error; please report to your nearest church and receive the gospel at once. We should realize we are blessed before we even come out of the womb. The problem is that we only look at what is going on now. If we are going through a bad or tough time, we only see our misery. Look, our blessings are far greater than our earthly blessings because our blessings are spiritual blessings. Realize these spiritual blessings we received before our world was made.
Seeing that we should be holy and blameless before our God who knows us, should make us think. Our God who created us did not create us to be a fleeting thought in His eternity. Rather God created us to be with Him for all eternity. Should we then lose heart because we know we are not holy or blameless? No, we should be grateful that God had a plan before the world was created to save us from our sin and death to be with Him forever and ever.
This life with God is a spiritual blessing, yet we can find these same blessings poured out to us even in our earthly lives. Yes, when we follow God, Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit interacts with us to give us God’s blessings. We do not always see or feel these blessings because we are too busy burring ourselves in our physical life. We fail most of the time to see God has worked in our lives to keep us according to His plan.
Ephesians 1:5–6 In love 5he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
We know we cannot become holy and blameless on our own. We all need help to overcome our sinful nature. No one can overcome their sinful nature on their own because we are all too weak. And it is our sinful nature that makes us weak. Our hope, our only hope, is in the words and promises of our God.
Sin separates us from God and with that separation we are no longer God’s children. However, God predestined us to become His adopted children through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of God’s will, to gather us from all ends of the earth and bless us with His grace and mercy. We have been blessed with God’s grace and mercy and this is because of the works of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ did the work that the Holy Father sent Him to do. These works of Jesus Christ are the works of salvation, which demanded one to die for our sins. Now these works also demanded the one who died for our sins would be resurrected. This work Jesus did on the cross, in the grave and in His resurrection is the will of God to save His creation. We are that creation whom God wants to save.
Ephesians 1:7–10 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
We are redeemed to be God’s children for all eternity. This is the mystery of God’s will; even though our sinful nature separated us from God, our God who loves us made sure there was a way to keep us as His children. This is great, we have a Father in heaven; what is greater is He has shown us His love in all that we have and in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
The mystery is why save such a sinful people who constantly turns their back on the one who created them, gives them life, and all they need. Many people blame God for all that happens to them. However, truthfully, we should blame the curse of our sinful nature. We should always remember; God did not put us through our troubles. We did. We should always know God got us through our troubles. He did, He does, and He will always, unless we stop Him to wallow more in our troubles we make.
Ephesians 1:11–12 11In 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, 12so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Let’s take note of this fact of God; He has a blessing waiting for us when we are resurrected into the gift of eternal life. That is not just a continuation of life, rather a life of eternal joy with our Lord and Savior. God wants us to know that life with Him is a joyful life without sadness, sin, illnesses, or anything that will harm us.
Think of it this way; we will experience the ultimate high of joy, happiness, and mountain top experience forever and ever. God’s will is for us to live and never die, though we will die in this earthly body we will be given a new body to live on a new earth under a new heaven in Heaven. And there will be wonders to see, wonders to meet, and wonders to experience.
Ephesians 1:13–14 13In 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, 14who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
We have this written guarantee, sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, that says we will acquire, obtain, and possess this gift of God’s glory. We praise and thank our creator that He created us to be forever, and that His son Jesus Christ died so that we would not lose God’s gift of life forever. We also praise our Lord Jesus Christ that He was resurrected and promises to come back and resurrect all of us into this new life of eternal joy. Amen.
Written by Pastor Curtis A. May
Comments