Ephesians 1:1-14 | To the Praise of God's Glory | Nathan Walter

Ephesians chapter 1, verses 1 to 14, page 1173 of the Pew Bibles.

Ephesians 1:1–14

So Ephesians 1, verses 1 to 14.

Ephesians 1:1–14

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us.

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reached their fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to be to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession.

To the praise of his glory.

Here ends the reading.

This morning, this is the second of three weeks that I have to spend with you, and it's um it's been a very encouraging time for me so far.

Really appreciated people's welcome.

Back in 2009, there was a man called Sean Usher who began a blog.

That was what we all did back in 2009.

It was called Letters of Note.

It was a digital archive of what he thought was correspondence deserving of a wider audience.

And it was wildly popular.

In 2013, a book was published.

It had letter writers such as Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Annie Oakley, to say just three of the ones who began with the letter A.

At least ten other books have followed in the time since.

I really don't recommend you do this with your neighbours, but it seems that people quite enjoy to read someone else's mail.

And that's really what we're doing as we read a New Testament book like Ephesians, which is actually the New Testament letter to the Ephesians from Paul the Apostle.

One person has said of this letter that among the Pauline writings, that's the letters written by the Apostle Paul, among the Pauline writings, only Romans can match Ephesians as a candidate for exercising the most influence on Christian thought and spirituality.

Of course, if that's true, then when we consider the influence that Christian thought and spirituality have had on the world for the last 2,000 years, then I reckon we would need to say that even though it probably will never appear in a book by Sean Usher, surely Ephesians has to rank as one of the most noteworthy letters that has ever been written.

And here at St.

Albans, we've got these three weeks to wrestle through Ephesians 1.

And we began last week with verses 3 to 10.

We're continuing today with verses 11 to 14.

We asked Ben to start back at the beginning.

So if you're sitting there going, hang on, this is deja vu.

We read this last week.

We did, but this week we continued with that final paragraph that is our focus today.

And uh, if you're here last week, you might remember that verses 3 to 14 in the original Greek, that's all one sentence, this mega sentence.

It's wonderfully full of important ideas as Paul joyfully praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Although I admit that for a long time I've actually found verses 11 to 14 something of a challenge.

And I've never really been as confident in my understanding of these verses as I felt about verses 3 to 10.

Possibly in the past I've been able to get away with that little a little bit because I've normally done the whole first 14 verses all as one sermon, whereas today we've got nowhere to hide.

We're just dealing with verses 11 to 14.

I think there's probably two things that have caused me trouble in these verses.

The first is the problem of repetition, uh, because at least on the surface of things, it it does feel a little bit as if Paul is already beginning to recycle some of his material.

For example, in verse 11 last week, we read this in him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

But back in verse 4, Paul has already said, For he chose us in him before the creation of the world, and in verse 5 he's already said, in love he predestined us to adoption as sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will, and so all these ideas are starting to repeat, and maybe it's just repetition for the sake of emphasis, but then why are these ideas repeated and not any of the others?

That's been a question for me.

The second question I've had on these verses is about the changing pronouns.

I don't know if you noticed this, but if we get the whole passage up on the screen and we just highlight the pronouns, you can see that in verses 12 and 13 it's we, then in verse 13 it's you, and then finally in verse 14 it's our.

And I'm sure that our starting assumption needs to be that Paul is far too careful a writer for these changes to be by accident, but then what is their significance?

Now, with those two questions in mind, uh let me give you three just kind of starting observations that I hope will help us understand what Paul is trying to say here and how it fits with everything else.

The first thing is we just need to remember that these verses are all part of that big sentence that began at verse 3.

And so, kind of whatever else we say about them, their final contribution has to be to make us more ready to praise God for the boundless riches of Christ that He has lavished on us.

Because that's what this sentence is about.

Second, uh, although these verses are part of that same mega sentence that began at verse 3, I think they do seem to reflect a kind of reversal in perspective.

Um did any of you, you know, as little kids, did any of you have uh like kaleidoscopes?

You know, those like little telescopes you look down and they had like a prism, and uh there'd be all these amazing patterns formed by the light as you kind of rolled it around.

Now, you could turn the kaleidoscope around and you could look down it and you'd see the same patterns, but all of a sudden they were shrunk to a very small ball in and there was this black space all around it.

It same kind of reality but a different orientation.

I think that's what's going on here.

Because in verses three to ten that we looked at last week, it was all about what God has done.

So verse three, God has blessed us, verse four, God has chosen us, verse five, God predestined us, um, verse seven, God redeemed us, verse nine, God made known to us the mystery of his will.

It's all about what God has done.

Whereas in verses 11 to 14, it's as if Paul has turned the kaleidoscope around and he's looking at things kind of from the human perspective of all this.

So in verse 11, we were also chosen.

In verse 13, you also were included.

And so, in some ways, if you wanted to summarize, in verses 3 to 10, the focus is really on what God has done through Christ for us, and in verses 11 to 15, the focus is really on what has been done for us through Christ by God.

It's the same underlying gospel reality, but it's just been turned around to look at from the other end.

And then third, notice how our four verses are really two sets of two, uh, both of which have the same top and tail.

I think I must have given the wrong numbers on the slide.

So can we just jump forward maybe two slides?

I think we'll see the whole passage again.

Is that all right if we can jump forward two slides?

I'm sorry, I think I've put the wrong numbers on there.

One more.

Uh yeah, sorry, uh, one more again.

We'll see the whole passage.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

That's my error.

Always assume it's my error.

That's the rule.

Um, so here's our whole passage, and you can see that the two sections, they they're top and tail the same way.

They both begin within him, and they both end with for the praise of his glory.

And so I think really, even with all those changes of pronouns, that tells us there's two groups of people he's talking about here, and it's the same kind of gospel reality that both groups have experienced.

So that's just some kind of starting orientation.

Let's try and work through some of the details.

Uh, in verse 11, it kicks off.

In him we were also chosen.

That word chosen, it's a little bit tricky.

It does sound like the word from verse 4, although here in verse 11 the word for chosen is a different word to the one that was used in verse 4, and it's the only time this word is used in the New Testament.

But we can find words that were closely related to it, and they all have to do with the idea of inheritance, the idea of being an heir.

Um, and so another translation, if you if you read something like the ESV translation, it will have, in him we have obtained an inheritance.

I think Paul's point is that in Christ, because remember from last week, Christ is the focus of all of God's plans.

In Christ, believers have come into a position of such grace before God that they have now gained access to an inheritance, which is the eternal kingdom of God that will be given to those who belong to Christ.

It's not deserved, it can't be repaid.

That's why Paul goes on to say, in him we've had obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

For a long time, the cosmetics company L'Oreal, I think we've got a picture of this one, they've run a campaign with this slogan on it.

Because you're worth it.

Somewhat unbelievably, uh, I have heard of a church that once did a promotional poster for their Easter services using this campaign.

They had a picture of Jesus on the cross and underneath the words, because you're worth it.

And I say unbelievably, because, of course, that is not an understanding that we will find anywhere in the Bible.

We certainly won't find it here in Ephesians 1.

The salvation God gives, he gives out of the lavish generosity of his goodness and grace.

It's an act of tender, loving mercy.

The inheritance Paul is talking about here is entirely the product of God's predestining purpose and plan.

And by the way, if you're hoping I'll dig into predestination, I'm really not going to talk much about that today.

We did it a little bit last week, but I had some people at the early service who missed last week and they came and said to me, You avoided everything about predestination.

That's just because we talked about it last week.

So you can go and listen to that if you want to.

But it's difficult to think how Paul could have made things clearer than what he says here in Ephesians 1.11.

It's just these pile up of phrases, one after another, to point us away from ourselves and back to God.

And that's why Paul says that this inheritance has the goal that it does at the end of verse 12.

It's for the praise of his glory.

Now it isn't L'Oreal, but I remember back in the late 80s, there was an Australian insurance company, National Mutual, that had uh a TV commercial that used to finish with words that were just as flattering.

Uh, for the most important person in the world.

You.

Again, though, we just won't find this idea anywhere in Ephesians 1, uh, nor anywhere in the Bible.

For the praise that our inheritance should rightly bring forth is not for our glory, but for God's glory.

We benefit from it so richly.

But the one whose power has made it all happen is the one who deserves all of the praise.

Well, let's now think about the pronouns.

Who who is the we that Paul is talking about here?

We've kind of avoided it until now.

Who is he talking about?

There's a clue in verse 12.

In him we were also chosen, verse 12, in order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory.

Well, which group of Christians put their hope in Christ first before any others?

Just as a simple matter of history, he has to be speaking about Jewish believers, doesn't he?

Because yes, by the time Paul was writing this letter, the message about Jesus had gone out across so much of the ancient Roman world.

But it started among the Jews.

People like Paul himself and like the other apostles, and like the 3,000 who were baptized on the day of Pentecost.

They were the first to put their hope in Christ.

But by the riches of God's grace, Paul says they've obtained an inheritance that is eternal by God's powerful predestining purpose and plan.

They have come into that situation where they have an inheritance so that it is all to the glory of God.

But it isn't as if this kind of firstness of the Jewish believers means that Gentile believers, that is non-Jewish believers, are kind of second-class citizens.

No, not at all.

Because look at what Paul says next in verse 13.

And you also were included in Christ.

In other words, in exactly as much as Jewish believers have been generously included in the salvation plans of God, so too, Gentile believers have been generously included in the salvation plans of God.

How grateful to God we must be, because just about all of us, if not all of us, that's us.

We are Gentile believers, not Jewish by birth.

How extraordinary that God has included people like us in Christ.

So, yes, of course, historically there is a particular order to it.

Jewish believers came first, but there is also a profound equality by the way that God has welcomed alongside those Jewish believers those who've trusted in Christ from the nations.

And you see, I think that's why Paul takes them back in their mind to the moment of their conversion.

Verse 13, you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

If you can think of the book of Acts, as the news about Jesus began to spread from Jerusalem out across the Roman Empire, it is unmistakably clear that the mark of salvation that all believers share alike and have in common is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And that's why, whenever the gospel breaks into new areas through the book of Acts, it breaks into new cultures, it breaks across boundaries.

There are always dramatic signs that the Holy Spirit has indeed been poured out by God in ways that the believers would recognize.

Sometimes, though, it was still so unexpected to the early believers that that actually send in the apostles to go and verify what had happened.

And whenever they saw evidence of God's Spirit having been poured out, they knew exactly what it meant.

That God was publicly demonstrating his acceptance of people, yes, even from among the nations.

There is no person anywhere who has put their trust in Christ who has failed to receive God's gift of his Holy Spirit.

And they have not failed to receive God's gift of the Holy Spirit as a sign of God's acceptance.

But it's stronger than that, isn't it?

That's Paul is saying something more than just God's acceptance.

The Holy Spirit, according to Paul, is also a sign of God's ownership, a seal of God's ownership.

I've been speaking this week at a year 11 study camp, and uh what tends to happen on camps like this is that as the days go by, uh more and more people leave behind more and more things in more and more places.

And so you get to the end of camp and everyone's kind of scurrying around the campsite trying to collect, you know, my lost water bottle or my lost Bible or my missing jumper, and kind of guilty as charged on Thursday afternoon.

I was wandering around the campsite looking for my water bottle.

Um, I spied it at one point.

It was on a table, and there were some kids sitting there having their lunch, and I wandered over to get it.

But as I turned up to the spot and I was around the side of the water bottle, I could see in big uh black texture, Holly.

And I thought, well, that's not me, I'm Wally, not Holly.

So it's not my water bottle.

And good on Holly, she'd written a name on it, and it's her seal of ownership, and I couldn't take it as mine, and I had to keep looking.

Well, this is what the Holy Spirit is for those who have heard and believed the good news about Jesus.

He is a seal, God's own seal of ownership.

We belong to Him.

Actually, even that is not the sum total of what Paul's saying here.

But the Holy Spirit is also God's down payment of what is to come for us.

Because verse 14, you are marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, verse 14, who is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession.

One more time, Paul is speaking about inheritance.

Although now he he speaks about our inheritance, which I think combines the we of Verses 11 and 12 with the U of verse 13.

All believers are in together here, Jewish and Gentile.

Is that not just extraordinary to you that God's gift of his spirit is but the first instalment, the down payment, the deposit of what is to come?

It really ought to get us wondering, shouldn't it?

How lavish must be the things to come if God's own Holy Spirit is but the down payment?

That is a remarkable gift God has given, and yet it's just the first part of everything to come.

Can we see that extraordinary reality that Paul is drawing our attention to here?

And again, all of it has been done to the praise of God's glory.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, we've got to hold multiple things in place here.

Our salvation is sublime, and is there any better place to show us that than Ephesians 1, 3 to 14?

But even so, it's not ultimately for our sake.

We do benefit from it so greatly, but it's not ultimately for our sake.

One of the most beautiful Psalms, 115, begins with the words, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be glory because of your love and faithfulness.

And that's really what Paul is saying here in Ephesians 1.

Well, we we've had our head kind of nitty-gritty in some of the um, you know, the tight grammar of these verses and trying to understand exactly what Paul's saying.

I wonder how you're going with it.

Maybe you're sitting there going, look, uh, all well and good, uh, we can understand what Paul's saying.

What difference does it make?

Uh let me try and show you.

A couple of years ago, British actor Daniel Craig of uh 007 fame went on public record saying that he wasn't planning on leaving any of his estate, which is apparently well north of 100 million pounds, to his children.

Uh why?

Because he thinks inheritance is distasteful.

In the wash up to that kind of revelation, the Guardian went out and interviewed six other wealthy Britons to find out what they were planning to do with their estate.

One said, We have four children, and while I support my family where I can, there comes a point where they need to support themselves.

It's about mine and my wife's quality of life and making sure we have a good life to do the things we want to do.

Inheritance is a problem as it leads us further away from the meritocracy the UK tried to build since the war.

Another one said, My son doesn't need the money, and there are much more important uses for it.

If I do leave him anything, it will be a token gift only.

Still another.

I've always ensured that my four sons are encouraged to stand on their own two feet.

They've all stumbled occasionally, and I've been able to provide some support.

They're always on a I'll help those who help themselves basis.

We will leave our inheritance to UK and overseas charities.

Now, I'm not sharing these quotes to take us down the rabbit hole of human inheritance and the rights and wrongs of leaving wealth to the next generation.

But it does strike me that inheritance is kind of the gospel category that is new in these verses compared to what we saw last week.

Verse 11, in him we have obtained an inheritance.

Verse 14, the Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.

Are you not deeply struck by just how differently God gives his inheritance to the people who were interviewed by the Guardian?

There's no meritocracy.

God's inheritance is by grace for both Jewish and Gentile believers.

There's no sense of, well, you gotta stand on your own two feet.

God's inheritance is a gift that depends entirely on Christ.

There's no expectation that, look, I'll help those who help themselves.

No, no, God's inheritance is for those who have heard about Christ and then believed what they've heard with the open, outstretched hand of faith.

Bringing nothing, receiving everything.

And this isn't a token gift, is it?

For in the person of the Holy Spirit, God has given us even of Himself.

And even this is merely the first installment of what is to come.

Daniel Craig may have decided that he thinks inheritance is distasteful.

But as we've heard about this morning, the inheritance that we've received from God by grace, through faith in Christ.

I hope we have found it delightful.

I think it's true to say that we live in a time and place where people have many anxieties about the future.

Sadly, I think as Christians, we can often be every bit as anxious about the future as our unbelieving neighbors.

I actually think that this is one of the ways we got a little bit caught out during the COVID years.

On the whole, I think we were just as fearful as anyone else.

And we shouldn't have been.

Because our future is not uncertain, but sure.

It's not merely hoped for.

It is cast iron guaranteed.

It's not pie in the sky when we die by and by.

As we constantly remember how certain and sure our inheritance is in Christ.

Oh, how it should transform our joyful confidence in the present.

What God has prepared cannot be taken away.

It was planned from long ago, even before the creation of the world.

And it will resound to the very end of the ages to the glory of God who has so richly given it.

Even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Let me lead us in prayer.

Will you join me?

Our gracious God and loving Heavenly Father, thank you that in Christ you have given to us an inheritance.

And not only that, but you have sealed us with your ownership.

And not only that, you have given the deposit of what is to come.

And so help us always to remember how certain and secure our future in Christ is, that we might not be anxious for our future, but instead joyfully confident as we continue to live by faith in the one who died and rose again for us.

Amen.