The Father's Purpose

We’re launching into a new sermon series through the book of Ephesians that we’re calling ‘New Creation.’ Ephesians unfolds a bold drama of the revelation/ apocalypse of the reconciliation of all things and the unification of Heaven and Earth through the work/person of Jesus. It’s a remarkable book and one that has long been heralded for its rich, deep theology.

The ESV Gospel Transformation Bible sums up Ephesians 1:3-10 nicely: “There may be no more glorious topic sentence in all the Bible than the one beginning this paragraph. Paul uses three prepositions to describe our great blessing. God has blessed us in the heavenly places with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Because we belong to Christ, we reside where he resides (heaven) and we receive what he deserves (unending blessing). All this is possible because of our union with Christ.

Paul uses the language of “in Christ” or “in him” or “in the Lord Jesus” roughly 40 times in Ephesians. The whole of our salvation can be summed up with reference to this reality. Union with Christ is not a single specific blessing we receive in our salvation. Rather it is the best phrase to describe all the blessings of salvation. We have unconditional election in Christ (v. 4), adoption in Christ (v. 5), redemption and forgiveness in Christ (v. 7), and the fulfillment of God’s plan in Christ (v. 9), until the final uniting of all things in Christ (v. 10).

Our entire blessedness—our victory, our happiness, our hope—is bound up in our being bound to Christ. How foolish, and ultimately disappointed, are those who stoop to drink from any other fountain.”

Give the sermon text a read and a listen and we hope to see you this week at a Family Meal and/or a DNA group to dive even deeper.