Sermon Tone Analysis

Adopted Into God’s Family

*Ephesians 1:1-6*

May 6, 2007

 

We’re going to start something different today.

We’re going to begin working our way through the book of Ephesians, probably the most eloquent of Paul’s epistles.

There’s a lot of meat in these six chapters, so we’ll be in this book for quite a while.

But first let me tell you about Hetty Green.

You don’t know who Hetty Green is?

She had gone down in history as “America’s Greatest Miser,” yet when she died in 1916, “Hetty” Green left an estate valued at over 100 million.

She ate cold oatmeal because it cost to heat it.

Her son had to suffer a leg amputation, because she delayed so long in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable.

She was wealthy, yet she chose to live like a pauper.

Eccentric?

Certainly!

Crazy?

Perhaps—but nobody could prove it.

She was so foolish that she hastened her own death by bringing on an attack of apoplexy while arguing about the value of drinking skimmed milk!

But Hetty Green is an illustration of too many Christian believers today.

They have limitless wealth at their disposal, and yet they live like paupers.

It was to this kind of Christian that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Let’s start with some background information on this book we are about to study.

Let’s read today’s passage.

If you have your Bible with you please turn to Ephesians, chapter 1 and we’ll read verse 1 through 6. I’m reading from the New American Standard: /“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are 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 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, \\ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

In love \\ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, \\ to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

/

 

 

Some names in history we identify immediately, and “Paul” is one of them.

His name was originally* *“Saul” ; and, since he was from the tribe of Benjamin, it is likely he was named after the first king of Israel.

Unlike his namesake, however, Paul was obedient, and faithfully served God.

As a devoted rabbi, Saul became the leader of the antichristian movement in Jerusalem.

But in the midst of this activity, Saul was “arrested” by Jesus Christ and was converted.

That is when

Saul of Tarsus became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.

About the year 53, Paul first ministered in Ephesus but did not remain there.

Two years later, while on his third missionary journey, Paul stayed in Ephesus for at least two years and saw that whole vast area evangelized.

During these years, he founded a strong Christian church in a city that was dedicated to the worship of the goddess Diana.

For a description of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, read Acts19 and  20.

It was nearly ten years later when Paul wrote the letter we call the epistle of Ephesians to his beloved friends in Ephesus.

Paul was a prisoner in Rome, and he wanted to share with these believers in Ephesus the great truths the Lord had taught him about Christ and the church.

The letter was written from Rome about the year a.d.

62.

Though Paul was on trial for his life, he was concerned about the spiritual needs of the churches he had founded.

As an /apostle /he felt an obligation to teach them the Word of God and to seek to build them up in the faith.

Let’s look at verse one.

Are you surprised to find Paul addressing his letter to /saints?/

After all, saints are dead people who have achieved such spiritual eminence that they have been given that special title, /saints/.

Or are they?

No word in the New Testament has suffered more misinterpretation than this word /saint/.

Even the dictionary defines a /saint/ as a “person officially recognized for holiness of life.”

Who makes this official recognition?

Usually some religious body, and the process is known as /canonization/.

The deceased person’s life is examined carefully.

If the candidate’s character and conduct are found to be above reproach, if he has been responsible for working at least two miracles and then he is qualified to be made a saint.

As interesting as this procedure is, it is not biblical.

Nine times in this brief letter, Paul addresses his readers as saints.

These saints were alive.

They had never performed any miracles.

Their only miracle by trusting Christ as Savior.

The word /saint/ in the New Testament describes “one who has trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.”

We are saints if we have trusted Jesus as our Savior.

Can you call yourself a saint?

If you have accepted Jesus death and resurrection as your ticket to heaven, you are a saint.

Paul addresses his letter to faithful saints.

The faithful, biblical /saint/ is “one who has been set apart.”

The word is rooted to the word /sanctified,/ which means “set apart.”

Saints are /in/ the world, but not /of/ the world.

Like a scuba diver, he exists in an alien environment because he possesses special equipment—in this case, the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

Every true saint possesses the indwelling Holy Spirit, and it is through the Spirit’s power that the Christian is able to function in the world.

So answer my question again.

Are you a saint?

If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have been set apart – set apart for His purposes and you can call yourself a saint.

How did these people at Ephesus become saints?

The answer is found in two words found in the first two verses.

See if you can spot them as I read verses 1 and 2. They are “faithful” and “grace”.

When Paul addresses his letter to the “saints … and faithful in Christ Jesus” he is not addressing two different groups of people.

The word /faithful/ carries the meaning of “believers in Christ Jesus.”

These saints were not saved by living faithful lives; rather they put their faith in Christ and were saved.

If you skip forward to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8, you will find a key principle of sainthood, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.

The word /grace/ is used twelve times in Ephesians, and refers to “the kindness of God toward undeserving people.”

Grace is getting what we do not deserve; mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

Grace and mercy often are found together in the Bible, and they certainly belong together in the experience of salvation.

/Grace/ and /faith/ go together too because the only way to experience the grace of salvation is through faith.

Let’s look at another phrase in verse 1 – “in Christ.”The

phrase “in Christ Jesus” describes the spiritual position of the believer: We are with Christ, he is in Christ, and therefore we are able to draw on the wealth of Christ for our daily living.

Each book in the Bible has its own special theme and the theme of the book of Ephesians is found in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3: “/the/ /Christian’s/ /riches/ /in/ /Christ/.”

Let’s look at verse 3 now.

/“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”/

God the Father has made us rich in Jesus Christ!

When you were born again into God’s family, you were born rich.

Through Christ, you share in the riches of God’s grace, God’s glory, God’s mercy, and “the unsearchable riches of Christ”.

Our Heavenly Father is not poor; He is rich—and He has made us rich in His Son.

Have you appropriated God’s riches or are you living as Hetty Green lived, as a miser?

J.

Paul Getty, one of the richest men in the world, was worth  billions.

The weekly income of some of the “oil sheiks” runs into the millions.

Yet all of this wealth is but “pennies” when compared with the spiritual wealth we have in Christ.

In this letter, Paul explains to us what these riches are and how we may draw on them for effective Christian living.

Let’s look at the second part of verse3 again: /“who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” /We have “all spiritual blessings.”

This can be translated “all ~/the blessings of the Spirit,” referring to the Holy Spirit of God.

God promises to supply all our spiritual needs “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”, but He does not promise to shield us from either poverty or pain.

The Father has given us every blessing of the Spirit, everything we need for a successful, satisfying Christian life.

/The/ /spiritual/ /is/ /far/ /more/ /important/ /than/ /the/ /physicall/.