A Glorious Inheritance

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

You can turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 1, and we will get there in just a few moments after a few introductory comments. Nobody earns an inheritance. By nature of what it is, an inheritance is bestowed on a person of privilege who does not earn it. The giving out of an inheritance is exclusively at the discretion of the giver, not the recipient. And even the term birthright can carry with it sort of connotations of entitlement. And that is not the case. The one who is giving has all of the authority to give or not to give. And the recipient does not earn it any more than he controls when or where or to whom he is born.

Yet the book of Ephesians is a book about a rich spiritual inheritance that we have in Christ. and then what to do with it. This reality builds up our gratitude while at the same time crushing flat our pride, reducing it to stubble. Our inheritance though in Christ far surpasses the legacy of the richest billionaire or the most noteworthy philanthropist. It outlasts any dynasty and makes old money of the Kennedys and the Kardashians look like the stuff of board games. It actually cannot be rightly compared with anything in this world because it is in fact infinitely greater. And we inherit it along with Christ. And that would be remarkable for begotten sons, for those who are actually flesh and blood of their parents, of the flesh and blood sons of an earthly king.

But our inheritance is actually greater while our worthiness is lesser than human princes. Because we inherit all of these things having been predestined by God before we’ve done anything good or evil, to adoption. So if you’re given to pride or arrogance, this book is for you. If you’re given to despairing, because this life is actually hard, this book is for you as well. We may not know necessarily how we are to live or what decisions we are to make, but it is important along the way that we rehearse the promises of God. Now how many of you would say that you’re actually pretty familiar with Ephesians? The book?

Like a number of Pauline letters, it’s pretty cleanly divided into theology and behavior. So the lessons and then how to apply those lessons. And six chapters is divided right in half along those lines. But what I want for us to get is that there is an inheritance that we have in Christ and it comes in the form of, well, it’s actually not very easy to describe, but part Part of it are a bunch of promises that Paul points his readers to and then the application of that inheritance takes us into the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters. This is a very relevant book for us and for a host of reasons. As we consider the Ephesian church and its context, the readers of this letter were first generation Christians.

Many of them had a lot of behavioral baggage that they were bringing into the church. If you consider, for instance, why did Paul find it necessary to write the mandates that are in the back half of chapter 4? If you were to look at like chapter 4 verses 21 to 31, there had to have been some reason why he felt compelled to tell his readers things like, don’t lie but speak the truth, or don’t steal, but do honest work, and those sorts of things. That’s actually understandable given the context. And it’d be nice to say that now, nearly 2,000 years later, we are a fully mature church, and completely impervious, no longer susceptible to those sorts of temptations or dangers, and that we would never think of dragging the world’s behavior or thought patterns into the church in our context.

But of course that’s not the case. But we’ll explore that more when we get to Lord willing chapter four. Ephesus was also very proud of the temple of Artemis, great as Artemis of the Ephesians. And you can read about that in Acts chapter 19, quite the hubbub that Paul created when actually turning the hearts of people away from the worship of Artemis or Diana and two, the worship of the true God. That temple served as a destination for pagan pilgrims who brought with them a lot of revenue into the city. But I am pretty sure that the pagan Ephesians would have kicked Artemis to the curb if they could have had two casinos and an outlet mall to bring with it travelers and their dollars.

But this isn’t for us though, we can’t relate. What’s more, this letter provides all sorts of principles, as I’ve already stated, that are relevant today as they were in the first century. And that’s one of the great things about principles is that they transcend the practical, they transcend the details and the different variables of the situations that we’re looking to apply those principles. So as we are studying the book of Ephesians, we can look for principles that we can apply even now as they are transcendent. So I wanna encourage us, well first of all, The resolution here is actually not that great. I have another map later on.

But as you look at Ephesians, you see that this is Asia Minor, it’s now modern day Turkey. And this is Paul’s second missionary journey. And right at the dead center of it was the church at Ephesus. So just to help orient, but I’ll return to another map later on that’s perhaps more beneficial. I wanna help us to orient our thinking a little bit. There’s lots of things to look for, but I would encourage us to look in particular for two things, theological riches and principled helps. There are gonna be lots of other things to look for, of course, you can look at the Book of Ephesians, I’ll talk about this later on, as an unfolding or an articulation of the work of the Holy Spirit.

It’s also kind of fun to keep your eyes peeled for unanticipated surprises. But in particular, I want us to zero in on theological riches and principled helps. So first, theological riches. Paul’s letter, and this is not an exclusive list, but this letter includes some things like the doctrine of divine election, chapter one, verses three through seven, the preserving seal of the Holy Spirit in chapter one, verses 13 and 14, and we’ll talk about that a little bit tonight. Our station in Christ, that phrase is used more than a dozen times in this letter. All that we have as our inheritance is rich and spiritual, we have because of the work of Christ and our imputed righteousness from Him.

It carries with it, or it includes the theological lessons related to spiritual death and new life in chapter two, verses one through seven. Or salvation by grace through faith in chapter two, verses eight and nine. The mystery of the church in chapter three, verses one to 13. I’m just gonna stop there because there are things like that really, really glorious truths that we would do well to take to heart and submit to, and then of course look to apply them, and there’s more and more and more. The glories of Christ in the church and the husband-wife relationship pointing to that. Also, I would encourage us to look for principled helps.

For instance, when we are given to despair, when you are sad, you can recall your identity in Christ and the spirit’s seal of our inheritance. We’re going to see that before we even get out of chapter one, that Paul just wants for his readers to, his prayer for them is to understand who and what they really are. And when you think about what we have in Christ, that’s a great prayer. When you’re tempted to live like the world, we can recall that that is inconsistent with how we have learned Christ, chapter four. You did not learn Christ in this way. When we are given to discouragement by our spiritual progress or lack thereof, We can recall that in as much as we individually comprise part of the body of Christ, that is the bride of Christ, he is personally invested in presenting us to him pure and spotless.

I found encouragement in that for years that Christ has taken a personal investment in making sure that I get there. So when I can’t do it on my own, I can remember that he is at work for me. When you are tempted as a parent, perhaps, to discipline your child in anger, you can remember that that is what Paul says not to do. He actually gives some help with that and says instead of disciplining your children in anger, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. So there’s the discipline of men and the discipline of the Lord and they are at odds with one another. When we are tempted to become prideful in our own privileged position, we can recall that we were dead men given new life and we did nothing to earn that, and so on.

Our blessings, our blessings have implications and our blessings have application. And Paul would have us to live like what we are in Christ and in Christ we are royalty though we are born as peasants. So as we study tonight, we should look for reasons, new reasons to be grateful. Let’s talk about Ephesians for just a moment here about the background and context. I showed you a map just a moment ago of Paul’s second missionary journey. Let’s go back to that. As we look at Paul’s second missionary journey, on the first missionary journey he had a very brief pit stop in Ephesus and things apparently went really well.

They begged him to stay. He couldn’t really alter his travel plans but he promised to come back and come back he did. And between approximately, in the middle 50s, he stayed there for about three years, so probably about 54 to 57 or so. And to give you some context, he was there from about 54 to 57 and Nero was a teenager and an emperor at that point. So Paul labored for three years to establish the Ephesian Christians in the faith. So he knew from first hand experience the sorts of troubles that they experienced at that location in Asia Minor.

So if you’re at all familiar with like the well this is Asia Minor and in the opening, the greeting that Paul gives in First Peter, Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia are five provinces in Asia Minor. And so this was a very vibrant and highly populated area. And in Asia Minor there were over 200 independent communities. And in effect Ephesus was the capital and Paul realized that Ephesus occupied a strategic role in Asia Minor. You can see that it’s also a port city, really close to the water right there. That’s why it was a popular place for travelers. It’s also highly likely that this was a letter that Paul sent to be read by not just the Ephesian church, but other churches.

All this is by way of background and context. A gospel influence in Ephesus could actually have a significant leavening effect on that whole peninsula. So you can read about it after Acts chapter 19 comes Acts chapter 20 and that is the tearful farewell to the Ephesian elders and he left the fledgling church in the capable hands of those godly men. And that was again about AD 57. Some six years later or so, 62, 63, from Rome in prison, there’s a strong case to be made that that’s where this letter was penned. Paul wrote this letter and probably two others, we think Colossians and Philemon, he also sent with Tychicus.

So with that orienting background, let’s spend the remainder of our time tonight looking at chapter one. So as soon as Paul greets the Ephesian Christians, it’s a really fantastic way to start. As soon as he says hello, he backs up the dump truck and starts unloading blessings upon blessings to those promises to the Ephesians. And although this book doesn’t really address the matter directly of bearing up under persecution, it’s important to remember that these were hard times to be a Christian. There was not an abundance of solid teaching to cling to. There wasn’t actually an abundance of godly teachers, although the number was growing.

The church was expanding like wildfire, it really was. Nero was just hitting his stride. And he’s known in some circles as the great persecutor of believers in infamy. But he became emperor when he was still a teenager, so he actually really, really was prolific in a bad way. but he only was an emperor until 68. So if this is written between 62 and 63, then there’s good reason to suspect that outside of Rome, but clearly in the Roman Empire, he was giving his approval to the persecution of those Christians who were scattered about. The church had a good deal of attempted syncretism trying to drag into the church some of the old habits.

And like today, so that’s worshiping two different things at the same time. Like today, there was a lot of reason to be excited and there was also a lot of reason to be discouraged. And with that being the case, the glorious promises of God in Christ are precisely what Paul prescribes to help orient the Christians at Ephesus and us. So these promises are for us too and they have implications regarding how we are to live. So this letter written to the church at Ephesus, it was a good church, Paul knew the church, It also was probably intended to be read beyond Ephesus as well. And these principles apply to us too.

Ephesus was decadent, the culture called evil good and good evil. And there’s all sorts of overlap with what we experienced in 21st century America today. So I think now is a good time. I’m going to go ahead and read it beginning to end. It’s only 23 verses and there are three major sections that we’re going to zero in on. And they are the three paragraphs that are outlined in at least the English Standard Version translation, although that is certainly not the case in the original Greek. I understand verses three through 14 are one sentence, for instance, but let’s read it. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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, 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 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. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

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, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard of the truth, heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and 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. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints?

And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” I’ve roughly outlined chapter one by paragraph emphasizing these three promises. Promised blessings in Christ in chapter one, verses three through 10.

Promised inheritance through Christ, verses 11 to 14, and promised victory with Christ in 15 through 23. That’s actually not accurate. It’s hope in Christ. Hope in Christ. I forgot to change the slide. Christ is victorious, but that’s not the promise right there. It’s assumed.

So you can correct that type of form if you want. Hope in Christ. First, promise blessings in Christ. In the first full paragraph, Paul gives his readers a mountain of reasons to marvel at their privileged position in Christ Jesus. And this comes in the form of a litany of blessings. So right off in verse three he says, we’re blessed, he says, 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. And then he goes on to catalog these different types of blessings. So this introduces the matter of blessings to God, from God to the believers, and then he begins to delineate them in the next verse.

First, we have the blessing of divine election. Even as Paul says, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. Now in some circles, the doctrine of election’s a big deal. I mean, I think it’s a big deal. It is, and a lot of times, Calvinism is reduced in some people’s thinking to just the teaching of divine election or all those other soteriological implications. But in reality, if we talk about, to use the word again, Calvinism, as God is sovereign overall, well then of course divine election is one piece of that. And it is interesting that this is one thing on a long list of things that we have to be thankful for.

So this is nevertheless one of the passages that you do need to carve out of your Bible if you want to reject that doctrine. It is one of the classic passages on divine election. The sovereign God of Scripture and the universe has chosen certain souls for salvation, for adoption as His children long before they ever do right or wrong. And Paul would have a pretty great list of blessings if he were just to stop here, but he’s just getting warmed up. So the doctrine of divine election kills any sense of pride because he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, before we had opportunity to do right or wrong, which we could not do apart from Him anyway, long before we were even born.

He continues then, the blessing of adoption, in verse 5, In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. So once again, before having done anything good or evil, God predestined us for adoption. God the Father has one begotten Son, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has many adopted sons and we are numbered among them. And it is only possible that we can be adopted because of Christ’s work for us. It is by the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and by our being given His righteousness and by Him taking on our sin and its punishment, being sin for us, that we were able to then stand before God as blameless, let alone as sons.

Where in this equation does our own work or our own righteousness factor into our worthiness to be recipients of a spiritual inheritance? Nowhere in here. We see in verses 6 and then he comes back to it in verse 8. In fact, I’ll just read those three verses. To the praise of his glorious grace with which he blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his, grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.” I’ve heard it described before that some people think of grace as actually a substance that can run out. But grace is favor.

And there is one truly gracious favored one, and that is the son. And then as we are given his righteousness, the father looks on us with favor. And Paul is building a case here that he’ll, it escalates and kind of ramps up and he sort of gets carried away by the end of the chapter when he begins praying for the Ephesian Christians to cling to these hopes. In the beloved, in Christ, God has blessed us with his favor.

The blessings of redemption and forgiveness, I just read that in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. Now, Paul is laying it on pretty thick now. It’s really starting to, the dump truck is starting to empty out, but redemption and forgiveness are also themselves graces from God. What else does he say? Verses nine and 10, the blessing of the knowledge of his will, making known to us, says Paul, the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Now one of the great riches of Ephesians is that in it, we learn some truths from the mind of God. The mystery of the church was revealed by God to Paul and then Paul wrote it down for us in chapter three. And we all know now because Paul has said it, of God’s intention to showcase his genius through the church in chapter three, verse 10. We learned in chapter five, the example for husbands to follow and shepherding their wives is actually Christ himself with relation to his church, how he initiated for her, how he sacrifices for her, and how he redeemed her when she did not want it. All of these things defy human intuition.

So it’s a really good thing they’re written down in the pages of scripture, or else we would be inclined to not believe them. And so this is God peeling back the curtain a little bit and letting us see some of his ways. God is under no obligation to make his ways known to us. He does not answer to us. Sovereignty by nature means answering to no one, and there is one who is sovereign, and that is God the Father. So he does not answer to us. And yet, from time to time, he does help us to know what is his will, decreed and desired, and that, says Paul, is itself a blessing. So in Christ, God has not only set forth, set in motion, a plan, a big redemptive plan, But he has made some of it known to us.

Of course there remain many things that are still secret in the councils of the Trinity, but the revelation that God has given to us is gracious. And now God has set in motion this plan to unite all in Christ. And this is the comprehensive work of the spirit and it dovetails well into the next section. And that’s promised inheritance through Christ. This is as good a time as I need to point to. the better map because of even the color contrast, you can see things a little bit better, but Ephesus is right there. And you also get this cool little key right here because there’s other parts from the first missionary journey as well.

Verses 11 through 14, and lots of work of the Spirit, but promised inheritance through Christ. Paul says that in Christ we have obtained an inheritance. We’re starting to understand what this inheritance is. And this fact helps us to understand it further. If it’s something that we have received, it’s stated in the past here, it’s a done deal, then we can know what it is not. It is not earthly riches, it is not fame, it is not a guarantee of safety. Rather, this inheritance comprises spiritual blessings in Christ that come with our sonship. According to verse 13, the Holy Spirit is the guarantor and the guarantee of our inheritance.

He is the seal of our inheritance. He is actually the one making all of this happen. And as we examine this great inheritance through the first half of the letter, we see the unfolding of the work of the Holy Spirit. Teachers like Stott and Boyce, they actually thought that that’s a great way to describe the book of Ephesians is Paul’s articulation of the work of the Spirit. You can make a pretty strong case for that. It is the Spirit who effectually calls us. It is the Spirit who glorifies Christ as He grows in us a love for the Son. It is the Spirit who unites Jew and Gentile in Christ, and that’s in chapter 2. It’s the Spirit who reveals to us the mysteries of God in like the church, for instance, and we see that in chapter It’s the spirit who generates our behavior in church body life. You see that in chapter 4.

It’s the spirit who enables us to walk with discretion in the world and with harmony and marriage. We see that in chapter 5. It’s the spirit who protects us from spiritual attack, giving any sort of effectiveness to the armor of God. And the spirit who also counterintuitively directs us how to submit enslaved master relationships or in husband-wife relationships. We see that in chapter 5 too. So, we’re in good hands if the Spirit who brings all this about is Himself the guarantor of our inheritance in Christ. We have been sealed, says Paul, with the promised Holy Spirit. Other translations, the Holy Spirit of Promise.

And it’s not unlike a king’s signet ring, stamped in wax, if broken was punishable by death unless it was done by the recipient. If God seals us with God, who can break the seal? In verses 15 through 23, we see promised hope in Christ. Promised hope in Christ.

Now as we had mentioned before, Paul had been separated from the church at Ephesus and the surrounding area for some five years or so when he penned this letter. But he had evidently gotten wind of their love for all the saints and their faithfulness to Christ. And that was cause for great rejoicing. “‘For this reason,’ says Paul, “‘because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus “‘and your love toward all the saints, “‘I do not cease to give thanks for you,’ and so on.” So he says there in verse 16, I don’t cease to give thanks to you, remembering you in my prayers, because he had heard that they were walking faithfully.”

If you’re wondering how to pray for someone, actually before I even get to that, think about the joy that Paul must have experienced. John talks about this. It is a great joy to faithful men to hear that their children in the faith are walking in the truth. It is a great delight to parents to know that their children are walking virtuously, that they are loving Christ and being faithful. It was ahead to have been a tremendous source of encouragement and joy for Paul to hear that the congregation that he had invested in for three years was loving Christ and loving the saints. So he says their testimony made him thankful to God and that was cause for his prayers.

And so he was thankful in his prayers but he went further as well. Look at verses 17 and 18. He prays for them to have wisdom and understanding that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. And so we’ve learned about the inheritance for the saints and the inheritance of Christ that is shared with the saints. If you’re wondering how to pray for somebody, take cues from Paul here.

Pray that if you want to know how to pray for somebody, pray that he would understand who he is in Christ and live accordingly. Man, what could that not ameliorate? What could that not address? Doesn’t that put a lot of things into perspective? So your life is terrible right now. Think about your identity in Christ and live like it. The Christian life, it’s said, is about becoming what you already are. Positional and practical sanctification. Positionally, we’re set apart for Christ. We’re identified with Him already. We’re given His righteousness. We’re actually seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ.

Practically, we battle flesh and the sin and the temptations of the world on a day by day basis. And through worship and through means of grace, little by little, Christ effectively changes us into His image and likeness. So it’s quite a simple prayer and a potent one for the Christian Ephesians for whom life was probably not easy. If they could but remember who they were in Christ, then they’d be just fine.

Take a look at the second half of verse 18 through 23. And allow this to blow your mind. I’ll give a few comments and then we’ll read it. There are a lot of glorious aspects in this chapter. I do, I do like this chapter, but this is probably my personal favorite, that Paul’s prayer is that the power that God the Father worked in Christ’s resurrection and elevation of Christ to a position of glory alongside of the Father, his right hand, and over all of creation has been likewise put into use in us believers. That ought to be mind-blowing. That same power that God used in redemption is at work in us now. That’s how potent the work of the Spirit is.

Read it again with me, starting in the second half of verse 18. What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and this is what He wants them to know. He’s praying that God would reveal this information to the Ephesians that you guys may know. What are the glorious riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, verse 19. And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also the one to come.” And then he states a fact of Christ’s elevation.

and He put all things under His feet.” We can trust that. It’s God the Father put all things under the Son’s feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. God the Father exercised great power in the glorification of the Son. Now, according to this great power, He has worked in us and we don’t even know it. So it’d be fitting for that to be our prayer as well. This book is full of lessons and their implications. And if we were to stop there, that would be worth meditating on for a month. If Paul would have us to think about who we are in Christ, our identity in him, and to act in a way that is consistent with it.

Paul might’ve gotten carried away there a bit at the end, And that’s good. But the end that he punctuates the chapter with is a bit of a doxology. And it’s a fitting reminder for us too that there are a great number of wonderful things that work for us which have been promised to us. And indeed they are already ours in Christ.

You have a guaranteed spiritual inheritance. You are, as adopted sons, spiritual royalty, and it’s a gift. It is a gift for you in Christ because of his work, and you’re having been adopted. You didn’t choose it, at least not of yourself. You didn’t work it, and it’s a good thing that Christ has done it because we couldn’t. He’s done it all, and we are recipients with him. So may Paul’s prayer apply to us as well. That’s kind of my hope for you all and may he grant us a spirit of wisdom and understanding to know what is the hope to which he has called us. Let’s pray.

Father, we do ask for your spirit’s help to understand what we are in Christ, what is the inheritance that awaits us in glory. And when we are given to pride, we pray that we would remember that we have not earned this. we have been given it. And as those who have been given much and who are grateful allow us to boast in you with tremendous humility. Give us humble boldness to speak these things without blushing and help us to walk in light of these principles. We do pray that you’d help us to understand the rest of the book in light of these things as well. As we continue to learn lessons and then look for ways to apply them in the world and in our homes and our communities, we ask for your grace to do that too.

We thank you for the promises of your word, and we pray that you’d help us to carry these things into the week, and we pray these things now in your Son’s name. Amen.