Ephesians Pt2: A Glorious Blessing
Glorious: A Study Through Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:31
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3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
As we continue on in our Series in Ephesians, I want to bring your memory back to last Sunday morning, where I said that we would go through the entire letter together and it would take as long as it takes!
Well last Sunday we covered the first two verses, and I hope you have made use of the go deeper sheets.
Today we are covering the entirety of verses.... sorry I meant verse 3!
As I said this will take as long as it takes, and speaking of long...
Verses 3-14 are one long sentence in the greek, with over 200 words. One commentator states:
“this is the most monterous sentence conglomeration that I have ever found in the Greek language” E.Norden, in O’Brian, Ephesians, 90
Here is my comment - “It’s Glorious”
There is so much in these verses, Weirsbe among others reflects upon the trinitarian nature of the verses
According to Ephesians 1:3–14, the plan of salvation is Trinitarian: we are chosen by the Father (vv. 3–6), purchased by the Son (vv. 7–12), and sealed by the Spirit (vv. 13–14), and all of this is to the praise of God’s glory (vv. 6, 12, 14).8
Warren W. Wiersbe
So, we with so much in these verses, we don’t want to rush… So we won’t.
We begin with verse 3, as we read about a Glorious Blessing
3 things I want to draw out this morning, the order of blessing, the objects of blessing and the origin of blessing. Firstly then the order of blessing
The Order of Blessing
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Paul immediately focuses our heart on right worship or praise
Blessed be God
You see we where made for praise, but we must have the right object of worship
you will find expressions of praise and worship in all human beings
not the animal kingdom !
worship and praise that is not directed to the Lord is what the Bible calls Idolatry
In Ephesus the people had plenty of idols
Remember Demetrius?
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; 25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. 26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: 27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
Paul has no such trouble with identifying the one to be worship
he uses a very Jewish concept, known as the Berakah
A berakhah (blessing) is a special kind of prayer that is very common in Judaism. Berakhot are recited both as part of the synagogue services and as a response or prerequisite to a wide variety of daily occurrences.
All berakhot include the phrase "Barukh atah Ha-shem, Elokaynu, melekh ha-olam," Blessed art thou L-rd, our God, King of the Universe.
The words barukh and berakhah are both derived from the Hebrew root Beit-Reish-Kaf, meaning "knee," and refer to the practice of showing respect by bending the knee and bowing.
Who Blesses Whom?
Many English-speaking people find the idea of berakhot very confusing.
To them, the word "blessing" seems to imply that the person saying the blessing is conferring some benefit on the person he is speaking to. Yet in a berakhah, the person saying the blessing is speaking to God. How can the creation confer a benefit upon the Creator?
This confusion stems largely from difficulties in the translation.
The Hebrew word "barukh" is not a verb describing what we do to God; it is an adjective describing God as the source of all blessings. When Jews recite a berakhah, they are not blessing God; we are expressing wonder at how blessed God is.
As in the Berakah, Paul is laying out the order to blessing
God first....
moving on from the order, we have the objects of blessing
The Objects of Blessing
“who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places”
“blessed Us”
we are a blessed people, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
not earthly, but heavenly
as the Church our focus is heavily, our citizenship is in heaven
As opposed to Israel in their earthly blessings
on commentator has said that Ephesians is the counterpart to the book of Joshua in the OT
Exploring Ephesians & Philippians: An Expository Commentary (2) The Sphere of Our Blessings (1:3b)
Ephesians is the New Testament counterpart of the book of Joshua. Just as Israel’s blessings were found in Canaan, so ours are found in the heavenlies. Just as the Israelites had to battle many enemies in Canaan in order to possess all that God had promised them, so we have to battle Satan and his army in order to enter into all that is ours in heavenly places. Just as Israel’s inheritance in Canaan was fiercely contested by the foe, so our inheritance in the heavenlies is also strongly contested. Just as Joshua led God’s chosen people into victory, so Jesus leads us.
we are are a blessed people
we simply forget how much
Illustration - Casting crowns Song “Who Am I”
If I could sum up my wonder, a good bible verse would be
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Who are we
we are the objects of blessings
then finally, I want us to see the origing of all our blessing, and our claim to any blessing at all
The Origin of Blessing
“in Christ”
then finally, I want us to see the origin of all our blessing, and our claim to any blessing at all
Our blessings are in Him
positional truth that leads to practical realities
Only by our union with Christ do we have these blessings
In Christ or in Him appears a lot in this letter, and what a truth it is, that we have all spiritual blessings in Him
Osborne writes of this
Ephesians: Verse by Verse Introduction: Spiritual Blessings in the Heavenlies (1:3)
Moreover, we have all this “in Christ,” a major Pauline theme that expresses both union with Christ and the resulting membership in his body, the church. Some form of “in him” occurs in nearly every verse in this section, and this is a dominant theme throughout this letter. Everything we are and have is ours only “in Christ.”
Saved in Him
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
complete in Him
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
It all of Him..
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
What a glorious blessing
The order of blessing - God First
The Objects of Blessing - Us..
The Origin of Blessing - Him
What about application as we close:
Well, as we have looked at blessing this morning, I hope you have seen that we are a blessed people...
But also I hope we have picked up the orientation of our blessing points to the Lord..
Thats right praise - orthodoxy - but the problem is we live in a world of idols, which come in all shapes, sizes and guises...
and so often we give our hearts to whatever fad, folly or fortune which comes along..
Illustration - prime drink
So 2 point of application and this is meant to challenge us all this morning
We all worship.
Whom or what do you worship?
We should worship and praise the triune God.
We Should Praise him for what he has done
as the words doxology state
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below
Praise Him above the Heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Amen
Lets pray