Intro to Eph. 1:3-6a

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/19/2018 10:05 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Eph. 1:3-6a

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 1:3-6a

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 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, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, (NASB-95).”  3 Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for giving us through Christ every spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven! 4 For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to be, in Christ, his children, holy and blameless in his sight. 5 He planned, in his love, that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ—this was his will and pleasure 6 that we might praise that glorious generosity, (Phillips).” 

 

            I mentioned in an earlier SD that the first few verses in the Greek comprised one sentence, and actually it is verses 3-14 of Ephesians chapter one that comprise a full sentence in the Greek language.  We see in verse three the words “in Christ” and then in verse four we see “in Him,” which is speaking of Jesus Christ.  “In Christ” is seen 13 times in the book of Ephesians, and “in Him” is seen a total of seven times.  We will see that this is talking about what believers have because we are in Christ, and this is something that is amazing to each and every believer.

 

            Verses 3-14 comprise one sentence as we have noted and they encompass the past, present, and future of God’s eternal purpose for the church.  Now we also mentioned that the book of Ephesians is about the church, and this is why I believe that it was a circuit letter that went to the churches in Asia Minor so that they could understand what the function of the church was all about.  John MacArthur writes “In 3-6a we are shown the past aspect, election; in 6b-11 we are shown the present aspect, redemption; and in 12-14 we are shown the future aspect, in heritance.  Within God’s master plan of salvation is every believer who has or will ever trust in God and be saved.  As it is sometimes expressed, history is simply the outworking of ‘His story,’ which has already been planned and prewritten in eternity.” 

 

            He goes on to write “This passage can also be divided into three sections, each of which focuses on a different Person of the Trinity.  Verses 3-6 centers on the Father, verses 6b-12 center on the Son, and verses 13-14 center on the Holy Spirit.  Paul takes us to the very throne room of the Godhead to show the greatness and vastness of the blessings and treasures that belong to those who are in Jesus Christ.” 

 

            As I think about what Paul is writing about here, I have to admit that there have been other things in the past that I have looked at to bring fulfillment to my life, and what I am mostly referring to is things from before I came to know Jesus Christ.  I can’t remember a day since I have been saved when I have not thought about God, and I suppose that is because the Holy Spirit lives within me since I have become a believer.  I suppose that there have been many times that my thoughts of God are because of my need for forgiveness, but none the less God is and has been at the forefront of my mind since He saved me in January of 1974.  With that said I still have a hunger and thirst to know Him better and when I read the verses that I am previewing here and better understand that as MacArthur stated that Paul takes us to the very throne room of God that I desire to understand this better and to care about it more than things that are here on planet earth which will one day be burned up.

 

            If someone is reading this SD and wonders how it is that they can achieve a true sense of self-worth, meaning, and significance in their life they must understand that they have to have a right relationship with their Creator.  A person without Christ has no spiritual value, no standing before God and no purpose or meaning in the world.  There is a song that was written in the 1970’s and was sung by a man who had gone to the top of the corporate latter only to fall to the bottom very fast.  He ended up living in a one room cabin and was told that he only had six months to sing, for he was a singer.  Christ invaded his life as he says in the song “He saved me, He saved me,” and then life had real meaning for him, meaning that could only come from the God who saved him. 

 

            I have mentioned the many times we read “in Christ” or “in Him” that are found in this book and as a child of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ we have to understand what we have in Him in order to live a life that is pleasing to our Lord.  Paul wants those who read this letter to have the right understanding of their position and possession and this is the foundational thrust of his letter that we are beginning to study.

 

            I want to close with another important quote from John MacArthur and that will give us the outline that we will look at for these verses.  He entitles this chapter “The Body Formed in Eternity Past,” and this quote will help explain that title.

 

“If we belong to Christ, Paul says, we can be sure that God put our name down as part of His church even before the world began.  Out of grace and in divine sovereignty, He chose each one of us to belong to Him.  It was not because we were more worthy than anyone else or more deserving or meritorious—but simply because God willed to chose us.”

 

“Paul gives us a glimpse of eternity past.  He lets us eavesdrop as God planned to save us—not only long before we were born but long before the earth was born.”  We will begin by looking at “The Aspects of Blessing” which has several sub-sections in it, and then move onto “The Elements of the Eternal Forming of the Body” which also has some sub-sections in it, and that is basically the outline of this short section from the first chapter of Ephesians.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “Upon finishing his message to the multitude, Jesus ask Peter to do something, what was that?

 

Answer in our next SD.  10/19/2018 10:51 AM