What Does Jesus Do For You - Edwin Bontrager

The Lord. We often call out the name of Jesus

as we introduce ourselves in a worship experience. And why

shouldn't we? Jesus said, I am the door. He also said,

no man or woman cometh unto the Father but by me.

So there's that access. And so we should acknowledge him

in our worship experience. And of course, We freely and

easily do that if we are used to doing it

in our private worship experiences and connections with Christ. Interesting

to think through the discussions we've had and the inspirations

we've already had. And so, connecting with Jesus are, am

I Am I satisfied with the ham? That's in the

same context as what our Sunday school lesson was about.

Am I feeling the enrichment that crumbs can serve me? Well,

we want all that Jesus has for us, and yet

that connection, whatever figure of speech... touches us or draws

us to him. Well, it's my privilege to participate in

a tradition that's been going on for, I think, at

least 40 years. I'm not quite sure, but I think

at least 40 years. It's interesting to have that preaching

exchange with our congregations. So, I'm happy to be a

part of that this morning. I would ask you, to

explore Ephesians 1 with me this morning. I'd like to

look at what all Jesus means to us, and my

title is, What Does Jesus Do for You? Of course,

a title like that really needs to climax with a

challenge of how do I respond to who Jesus is

and what he does. And I like the present tense

wording that I chose because The work of Christ is

an ongoing work. So yes, we think about salvation. We

think about coming to experience the new birth and what

that means to us. But that's only the beginning. That's

the first step. So we go on with our walk

with the Lord and we find him more precious. We

find him more familiar. We find him more adequate as

we walk on through life. And the book of Ephesians says,

It uses a phrase, in Christ, that occurs various times,

and it really calls us to a theme that the

book of Ephesians is about the invitation of God to

call people into his family. And that, of course, happens

by acknowledging Jesus as Savior, and then letting him be Lord,

and then experiencing the blessings of surrender, to serve him,

to obey him, and find all that in Ephesians. also

in the setting of Ephesians, we have God's call to

traditional Jews and heathen Gentiles. And the plan of God

was adequate, sufficient, and complete for any background of people.

But the needs to to connect with God, to come

to God, to receive the admittance into the family of God.

That's what Ephesians is about, and the results of that,

the responses to that. In Ephesians 1, we see the

work of the triune God. We see very definitely the

place that God the Father, God the Son, and God

the Holy Spirit contribute to our well-being in living godly lives,

both in this present life and, of course, in preparation

for eternity future. And so, by considering the work of Christ,

I don't want to isolate him out of this composite

picture that the chapter has, but yet I wish for

us to recognize that in the work of the triune God,

the three personalities, we see the prominence of Jesus in

every angle of that, every action of it, every touch

of it, every connection of it. We see Jesus. And

so I'd like for us to notice the things in

Ephesians 1, and probably can't get all the way through it,

but would like to make a study here and encourage

you to make your personal study about the person of

Jesus Christ as portrayed elsewhere in the scripture. But just

starting out in verse 1, we have the terms Jesus

Christ and Christ Jesus in verse 1. I find that

interesting because Jesus came to earth visibly, shall I say,

as a human, as a person. And he was a baby,

came as a baby. And grew to be a man.

So they heard him talk. He talked like a man.

He lived like a man. He ate like a man.

He had emotions like a man. And so that was recognizable.

They could sense it. And so from that, we might say,

introduction into humanity, yet it became evident pretty quickly as

an adult that there was divinity there too. And so...

In his talk, it says that the people were astonished.

There was something different, something beyond what they were accustomed to.

They were astonished. Of course, the Pharisees were looking for

ways to eliminate him, but they feared the people. And

so the common people heard him gladly. It reached their souls,

their hearts, their lives to lift and to give hope. Well,

So he was introduced to earth in a sense by

his human nature, but became evidently of divine nature. And

that's what it takes to make people saints. We have

the word saints there about right in the middle of

the verse. So it was to the saints that are

Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. So that

enlarges the picture to us right here in this room

on this day, faithful in Christ. We wish to have that.

identity don't we i do i believe you do too

want to want to be considered as faithful and so

that's the idea of being trustworthy and and that's a

personal challenge isn't it um can god trust me can

god trust me when he when he points and says

i'd like you to do this can he trust me

uh just in the everyday can i am i am

i trustworthy um Jesus is the one who enlists and assigns.

And we find that also in verse 1. Paul says

he's an apostle of Jesus Christ. And so what is

your assignment? What have you been enlisted for as a

person in the family of God, in the kingdom of God?

Something to think about, ponder, and to respond to sincerely

and genuinely, isn't it? I think so. Well, going on

to verse 2. Grace be to you and peace from

God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So

here we have specifically him placed in this, shall we say,

this action of the Father. And grace and peace are

the words. Grace has been defined about God's influence on

our hearts and the effects that it has in our lives.

As one of the definitions of grace. Grace is such

a broad substance, entity, commodity, what word fits there, so

broad that we sometimes sense it. We sense this side

or this facet or this dimension of it. Another time

we sense that. But grace, grace is from God the Father,

but it's from the Lord Jesus Christ. It comes to

us in a personal way through the work of Jesus Christ,

the presence of Jesus Christ. And so God, through the sun,

brings that influence to us. And it produces something. It

produces peace. Well, the word, as the Greek word that's

translated peace here, gives a couple of ideas. One is union.

So the connection, a peaceful relationship, a relationship that draws together.

And then there's also the idea of rest. And we

often think of that with peace, the rest of soul,

because things are taken care of in this relationship. So anyway, again,

Jesus is essential in that. Well, I guess back to grace.

Grace doesn't lift the the results. It doesn't excuse. That's

the word I want. Grace doesn't excuse our out of

kelter humanity. But it gives hope. It gives opportunity. Grace

gives opportunity. And it points to something. And so we

need that first, don't we? We need that first. And grace...

then brings gratitude and joy when we realize what has

taken place because of God's grace to us. All right,

going on to verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father,

our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all

spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Jesus, the incarnate God,

brought to humanity and carried to humanity God's provisions for

living in an elevated status. Elevated, in Christ, in heavenly places.

That's up higher than what we as humans find ourselves

without the work of Christ taking place in our lives.

And in 2 Peter 1.3 we read that phrase about,

or that expression about, all things that pertain to life

and godliness. All the things that it takes to live

a godly life. Jesus has brought to us and shows us.

Verse 4 goes right along with that. According as he

has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.

That we should be holy and without blame before him

in love. Connects there with verse 3. And a couple

of words there. Spiritual is one of the words that

I noticed there. And also chosen us. From these two verses.

Spiritual means supernatural. Something that's beyond what I could either

concoct or accomplish. Supernatural. Something that regenerates. Something that takes

us beyond earthly limits. That would go with the human tendencies.

Chosen us would be to select... alien Gentiles and favored

Jews to select, to point and say, I want you. Remember,

Jesus costed Peter and Andrew and James and John. Follow me.

I'm calling you. So we sense that personal call of

God to us. And that's what this chosen idea gives us.

alien Gentiles and favored Jews. Well, verse 5, having predestinated

us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to

himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Verse

5 and verse 12 both use this term predestinated and

we know that Bible scholars have probably, probably fair to

say have fought bitterly over just exactly what that means

and where that places people. But I find it easier

to focus on the plan of God instead of the

people of God. And I think that I'm safe by

considering how that God's plan was made way back there.

It was made correctly. It was made adequately. It was

made exactly with requirements. to work for anyone who would

come into that, who would submit to it. And so

that was established. Wasn't something that had to be doctored

up or revised or changed to fit this or that

or those or these or centuries ago or later in time. No,

it was planned before there were people that would work

for any people So I like to think about predestination

that way, and I think that helps me get away

from the arguing and the ideas and the debates on it.

But this word adoption, we know about adoption, we know

about the biological families, we know about adopted children and families,

and we have both of those kinds of of composition

of families mentioned in the Scripture, the birth part and

the adoption part. And so God wishes to help us

look at different aspects of getting into a family. And

so really, I think he's saying that God made a

provision for people who didn't have family to come into

a family. And so wherever we find ourselves as people,

Many generations behind us of people knowing the Lord or

whether we're first generation Christians. God has planned that we

could be placed into a real spiritual family. And Jesus

is essential in that. So God planned ahead before there

were people so that he could receive believers into his family.

And Jesus was the channel that that would take place.

Good pleasure. we have that in verse 5. According to

the good pleasure of his will and that also helps

me to think about this predestination thing because God's good

pleasure includes people, not excludes them. God's good pleasure receives

people and John 3.16, God so loved the world that

whosoever and Peter wrote about God's Not willing that any

should perish. Well, I'm thankful for that. That lets me

feel like there's an open door. And Jesus, of course,

is the one who brought that open door to reality.

Verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace,

wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Well,

who's the beloved? Well, that's Jesus, isn't it? Doesn't give

his name here, but the Father... God the Father spoke

that out audibly on a couple of occasions that we

have record of in the gospel stories. This is my

beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And once

he says, hear him, pay attention that way. This is

your guide. This is my beloved son. And so it's

the beloved. And God wishes to include us in the beloved.

He wishes that to be the characteristic of his family members.

Verse 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood,

the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

Three words that I noticed there are redemption, forgiveness, and riches.

So redemption, that's sort of a I think, more of

a general caption to this, to this salvation. Maybe the

act of our being saved. Forgiveness is what takes place

so we can be saved. And then riches would be

the result. So back again, a little bit longer definitions maybe. Redemption.

Have you ever been in a predicament? Have you ever

been in a desperate predicament? When it comes to our

standing before God, it's a desperate predicament. Desperate predicament. But

redemption gave riddance to the conditions or to our place

in that predicament. And it brought a ransom from both

the acts and the guilt of sin. That's what redemption accomplished.

And there had to be someone that could do that.

And there was that someone, that was Jesus. And Jesus

was the one who had the ability and the desire

to do it. Both those conditions are necessary for a redeemer.

To be able to and to want to. Jesus was

one who fulfilled those conditions. Forgiveness delivered me from the

debt and the guilt of sin. The fact of it

and the effect of it. Forgiveness delivered me from that.

And riches is the abundant spiritual bestowment in both quality

and quantity. We know what those words mean. Quality has

to do with what something is and quantity has to

do with how much it is. And both of those

words in their fullness apply to what Jesus made possible

of the riches of spiritually for your life and mine.

Your existence on earth during time that focuses us higher

on our status in Christ. Verse 8. Wherein he hath

abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. again, reference,

I think, to the plan that God devised and Christ

brought into our reception about a plan and arrangements so

that we could be redeemed, so we could experience that transformation,

that redemption. And we talk about creation, we talk about

intelligent design, certainly the had to be intelligent design for

the natural creation. Well, what about the spiritual creation? Doesn't

that confirm intelligent design? Certainly a higher level than just

the substance of the universe that we're accustomed to. But

the substance of the spiritual redemption, intelligent design, to have

a plan that could work for anyone, that could be

offered to anyone who would receive it. Verse 9, having

made known unto us the mystery of his will according

to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.

I believe that the person of Jesus enables us to

have both a timely and a progressive understanding of what

God's will is. We learn more about God's will. We

learn more. We learn what God is wanting to do.

We catch on to more of the way or the

manner or the purpose of his plan in general for

Christians and in particular for me, for you as an

individual in the kingdom of God. Jesus is an enabler

of that. Verse 10, that in the dispensation of the

fullness of times, he might gather together in one all

things in Christ, both which are in heaven and in

which are on earth, even in him. Now where do

you go with a verse like that? I'd like to

just keep it simple. And I think it's saying that

Christ has the ability and the assignment to make God's

plan for time and eternity work for the people of God.

Make it work. And probably more personally, can I sense,

do you sense, Jesus speaking to you and saying, let's

Let's do life together. Let's walk the journey of life

together so it'll come out right. Have you ever sensed

when Jesus is too far away? Doesn't go right. Doesn't

come out right. Doesn't make sense. I think Jesus says

over and over to me, let me in on these

things of your life. Let's do it together so it'll

come out right. So it'll feel right. So it'll look right.

So to meet the specifications, that's Jesus. That's the work

of Jesus to do that. I'm thankful for that. I

need that. But I need to choose to let him

do it. I need to choose to let him do it. Peter,

of course, in desperation, chose to ask for help. Chose

to ask for it. And interesting to me, how far

had Peter gotten out of the boat when he ran

into trouble? How far was Jesus away from him? Was

he halfway? I don't know. But Jesus was close enough

he could reach to him. And aren't we thankful that

no matter how far or how short we've walked into

troublesome times, Jesus is still close enough to reach us.

Still close enough to reach us. Still close enough to

hold his hand out and say, here, yes, I'll save you,

I'll lift you, I'll help you. What a blessing. What

Jesus does for us. Verse 11, And whom also we

have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose

of him who worketh All things after the counsel of

his own will. Everything's in agreement. His counsel had it

all right. And so that package, that plan of God,

that package for believers like you and me includes an

inheritance by Christ's work. It says we have obtained an inheritance.

There's something that stretches on. There's something future. There's something yet.

in store beyond the blessings of this life, the blessings

of my experience right now. There's more to it, more

to it that God is offering and supplying. Verse 12

and 13, that we should be to the praise of

his glory who first trusted in Christ and whom he

also trusted after that he heard the word of truth,

the gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that

he believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

And so here's the The Holy Spirit's work brought into

the picture, and yet verse 12 with verse 13 talks

about trusting in Christ. And so trusted here includes the

idea of continued or progressive confirmation to me, to you

as a Christian, that you're walking, walking with God. Confirmation's

that continue on, progressive. And that's, of course, because of

what Christ did and what he said that that can be.

What about the word of truth? I thought about that

as I was studying this. In whom ye also trusted

after ye heard the word of truth. How does truth

affect us? Well, the first truth is that I'm a sinner.

That's a big one. That's truth. But truth goes on

with that there's a Savior. There's a Savior. And then

there's more truth, that I can find freedom. Not freedom

to do what I want, what I'm inclined to do,

but freedom to do what's right. I don't have to

be bound to the life of a sinner. I can

find freedom from that. And then I think going on

maybe is surrender. The word of truth. What's truth in

the facts of spiritual life for me, for you? Well, finally, surrender. Yeah,

I'll give it all to you, God. I'll abandon my

will to have your will as foremost and predominant. That's the...

The truth. But then the gospel comes in here. The

gospel of your salvation. The good news. There's good news.

There's positive things. There's a way. And it's offered. It's expressed.

It's demonstrated. It's held out. It's offered by Jesus in

his part. So prominent in that. Verse 14. Which is

the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the

purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. Well, we...

Aren't we the purchased possession? But who did the purchasing?

Doesn't say here. But who did the purchasing? Jesus did it.

Jesus was the purchaser. He had the right currency. Have

you ever been in a store and didn't have the right,

maybe the right denominations of currency to pay for? Or

if you're in a foreign country, wrong currency. Well, Jesus

had the right currency. That was his blood. that could

purchase you and me from the way we were going,

from the consequences, from the life of sin, selfishness. Jesus

did the purchasing. Verse 15, Wherefore I also, after I

heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love

unto all the saints, I had taken that verse by itself, faith,

is a reliance. It's a reliance on who Jesus is.

It's an adherence to what he asks of us. Faith.

Adherence and reliance and trust to Christ, of course. And

that produces something, according to this verse. And these people,

it produced love. Your love unto all the saints. Well,

if it was If it was unto, well, something happened, something,

there was feelings and there was responses. And so compassion

enters in and service enters in. That's what it produced.

And that's because of faith in the Lord Jesus. Again,

the centrality in the work of God in people's lives

and hearts that brought results. Verse 16 talks about prayer.

Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of

you in my prayers. Prayer, and we participated in that

a little while ago. Prayer should be a comfortable and

easy activity. It should be a tendency. It should be common.

It should be usual. Prayer. And in this case, it

was intercessory prayer, I think. Um, Paul was thankful for

what he knew about the people in the church at Ephesus,

but making mention of you in my prayers probably was

interceding for them, that they could continue on and that

Jesus could be real in their lives. So Jesus wants

us to talk easily and comfortably to him about our needs,

our feelings, and about others, our friends. Verse 17, that

the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,

may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation

in the knowledge of him. It's interesting that word knowledge,

it's in the last of that verse, includes the idea

of relationship. And so it's not just a matter of

knowing the facts about God, but it's knowing how to

respond to his invitation to be in relationship that he

extends to all people. And the presence of Jesus in

our lives is what makes that possible, makes it real.

Makes us aware of God's purpose. Makes us sensitive to,

is there lessons that God wants me to learn? That

walking with Christ helps me to learn? Am I conscious

of God's personal touch? Often I ask the question in

relation to Experiences of life. Do we have a personal God? Well,

absolutely we do. And it shows up in little things

and big things. Maybe it's finding the keys. But maybe

it's a lot bigger than that. In victory over temptation.

Of recovery from failure. God's personal touch. We know that

God is doing things that are specifically designed to touch

me and to draw me, to lift me, to take me,

to refine me. I think that's what this verse is about.

Wisdom and revelation. I would get it. Sometimes I get

it when it's happening. Other times it's retrospect. I have

to look back. I know what that lesson was. But

however it is, We have Jesus' work here so that

we can understand better what relationship with God means in

a practical way. Well, spiritual discovery is a thrill, isn't it?

To catch on how God is working in my life.

To see what he did to take care of my predicament.

my failure, my love for him, the positives and the negatives.

And Jesus is the one, his presence is the one

that helps us with that. Well, in verses 18 and 19,

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, he says there's

three things I'd like you to know about. There's three

things I'd like for you to get clear, that get

it established in your mind, that it's settled. And so

he's wordy with those. First is the hope of your calling. Well,

I think that's all the things about salvation. And we've

discussed that somewhat. But is it clear in my mind?

Is it clear in your mind? What you've been saved from?

What you've been saved to? The miracles, the supernatural regeneration,

transformation that takes place. Is that settled in your mind?

The riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

You know, we're together in this. It's not just saint,

it's saints, plural. And so the fellowship, the blessings of fellowship,

of blending, of members in a body, I think comes

into the picture here, that God wishes us to get,

to get it, to be savvy about. The blessings of

walking together as a group to find God's blessing and

God's will together. And then finally, the third thing was

the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe.

Maybe that varies with persons, but what is it about

your life that you say it takes God's power to

keep me going? Well, I think one of the things

certainly is to live in victory. To live in victory.

We are earthy. We are made of earthy substance. We

are so conscious and so oriented to what's on earth

and what's going on. And that means that we're susceptible

to the work of Satan. But God's power wants me

to live in victory. And God's power, God has enough

power for me to live in victory. And I think

these three things are real to those who are serving Christ,

who are resting in him. Well, verse 20, which he

wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead

and set him in his own right hand in the

heavenly places. That word wrought to me portrays a big

picture of plan of in the human sense we'd say

a dream. Having a dream of something and then the design,

the plan, the design, the accumulation of Components to put

it together. The assembly. And finally the. Examination of something

that's finished. And then the. Resulting glory. In something that

turned out right. Well certainly the plan of salvation. Could

come in here. He wrought in Christ. The. The. The

word working in verse 19. Is from the same Greek

word as wrought. In verse 20. So it's. It's about

something that's going on. It's about something that had substance

to its purpose and its plan and its effect. And

so the definition from the Greek of rot would be

to energize. So in a way it's sort of like

plugging it in finally. And so that's what spiritual life

is about for you and me. to being plugged in

to this whole plan of God that brought us from

spiritual death to spiritual life, to hope instead of despair,

to a purpose instead of futility, and we could go

on with those contrasts. Verse 21 and 22, far above

all principality and power and might and dominion, every name

is named, not only in this world, but also in

that which is to come, and hath put all things

under his feet. I'll just stop there. But the elevated

position of Christ in completing his part on earth and

continuing his part in heaven for our sakes, that whole

process brought him to an elevated position that places him

as head of the church, going on in verse 22,

and gave him to be the head over all things,

To the church. So. Again. It's. It's. Pointing. To. God's.

Or the. The control. That Christ has been given. Over

the elements. And over. Earthly. Dominions. Of. Of. Of power.

Of nations. Of kings. Of rulers. And of angels. Good

and bad. That all comes into this picture. Of. That Christ. Is. Is. Above.

And is. is in control over. So that gives us security,

doesn't it? That helps us to feel safe because Christ

is in power, has greater power than all these other

powers that either appear to be legitimate or are obviously

not legitimate, are in opposition. Christ has power over all

of those, higher than all those. And so finally then

in verse 23, which is his body. Again, reference to Christ.

His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

So fullness. it's interesting fullness here it refers to the

container and to the contents it's a container that has

it all and then it's the contents that is or

are all so completeness Where does that place you and me,

at least if we're willing, if we're compliant, if we're surrendered? Well,

it places us as that high status of being a

member of the body of Christ. We think about what

we can see and feel, just like here where we

are now, the atmosphere of a local body. It includes that.

It means that. It also means, of course, the church,

the members of Christ's body of all ages and all time,

but fullness. So that allows you and me to say,

I am a member of the body of Christ. I'm

the member of a living spiritual body. I belong to

Jesus Christ. We're talking about this discussion here of the

chapter of what Jesus Christ does for you, for each

of us. And I think that I need to conclude

with the statement that I must let Jesus make Christ-likeness

my identifying feature. My identifying feature is that I am Christ-like.

That's a big job, isn't it? Big job. And yet

we have the Holy Spirit indwelling. Again, the work of

the triune God to make this possible, to make it real,

to make it precious, to make it exciting, if you please,

as to what we are because of what Jesus is doing.

So I need to let Jesus make Christ-likeness my identifying feature.

So I think the challenge to me is, what do

the facts mean that we've looked at this morning? What

does that mean to me? Does it mean enough to

me that I will put forth all of my effort

into a response? Yes. that I will do my part

in this arrangement of relationship with Almighty God that Jesus

made possible. I must do that. I must do that

when it, shall I say, when it feels good or

it doesn't feel good. I need to do that. I

need to choose to do it in the hard times

as well as the, oh, natural or easy. Maybe that's

not a good word, but I'm thankful that that That's

a possibility. It's a reality because of what Jesus is

doing now for me and for you. May God bless you.