Grow With Pastor Joe

The book of Ephesians serves as a masterpiece declaring God’s grace and glory. As the believer journeys through each verse of Ephesians we are met face to face with our wealth and walk in Christ. Chapter by chapter, verse by verse and word by word, the Lord reveals by His grace the infinite wealth of the believer found in Christ. This unimaginable wealth in Christ leads the believer to walk accordingly. As I dealt with in the article, “Identity Crisis” we see that when the believer doesn’t know who they are and what they have in Christ it will lead to a pitiful Christian life. Many Christians walk poorly because they don’t see the wealth that they have been given in Christ. Imagine this with me. You were given an inheritance that towers over the wealth of the richest individuals in the world, but you don’t know that you’ve been given it. You live unaware that you have a bank account with so much money that you could buy the bank. You live begging others for supply. Your residence is a cardboard box with a tarp roof situated down by the railroad tracks on the outskirts of town. Your life is a struggle. You lack supply, joy, peace, and hope. You live poorly because you don’t know that you are rich. So, it is with many Christians. Many saved people today live as though they have nothing because they don’t realize what wealth has been given to them the moment that they were placed into Christ by grace through faith in the glorious gospel of Jesus. Being in Christ means that your spiritual bank account had an infinite deposit placed into it by the grace of God. It is your name on the account and you now by faith have access to all that He has given you in Christ.

Ephesians 1:1-14 is one long sentence that reveals the glory of God to the reader. God’s grace reveals and reflects His glory. God’s grace reveals so that by faith we respond to the glories of God. As we respond by faith to His revealing grace, God receives His glory. This is the goal of redemptive history. This passage is the believer’s biography from grace to glory and back again. It is the declaration that God is graciously saving, sanctifying, and will one day glorify the believer in Christ. The Christian life as described in the book of Ephesians points to our wealth and walk or our position and practice. Doctrine is practical, not just theological or theoretical. We must see that doctrine leads to higher doxology (doxology means to praise or glorify from the Greek root word doxa) and deeper devotion to the glory of Christ. It is our wealth in Christ that empowers our walk in Christ. This glorious passage can be split up to show the infinite work of the triune God on behalf of sinful man. I believe that we see the “Will of the Father” in verses 3-6, the “Work of the Son” in verses 7-12, and the “Witness of the Spirit” in verses 13-14. All of this is “to the praise His glory” (V.6, 12, 14). As we look at Eph. 1:3-6, my prayer is that it would lead each of us to bless the blesser for His blessings.

First, let us look at the source of the blessings in Christ. Eph. 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” In Paul’s opening statements of the letter, he pauses to give praise to God. This doxology is filled with doctrine that empowers the believer to be devoted to Christ in our daily walk with Him. There is a wealth of doctrine so that there would be a walk filled with doxology and devotion. Paul proclaims that all blessings, specifically “all spiritual blessings” have a singular source. God is the source of all physical and spiritual life; therefore, God is the source of all physical and spiritual blessings. The one who bestows infinite blessings is worthy to be infinitely blessed by the recipients of “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Notice as well that He “hath blessed” us. Our spiritual blessings in Christ were planned in the past, provided for our present, and promised for our future in Christ. The blessings in Christ are eternal, everlasting, and infinite in their scope. They were planned in eternity past. They are gifted both now and throughout eternity future in Christ. Because our source of blessing is infinite, our blessing should be viewed as infinite. If we counted every blessing, then we would count through time and eternity. The source of all blessings in the life of the believer come from God the Father and our relationship to Him through His Son Jesus Christ by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the believer. God’s grace and glory must be seen as the source of every blessing in our life.

Second, let us now consider the sufficiency of the blessings that are found in Christ. The reason that many believers are not satisfied in and with Jesus in their walk is because they do not know the sufficiency of the wealth that is in Christ. We are so worldly. We are so fleshly minded. We are so focused on the temporary, not the eternal. We are rarely satisfied. There is rarely a time that we are satisfied with who we are or what we have. Driven by pride, we seek to gain more and more in this temporary life. Our lives have become saturated with vanity. That same pride that keeps us distracted with the temporary desires of worldly things is the same pride that wants to take credit for the good things in our life. We don’t view many blessings as blessings from God because we believe that we provided it. How often do we believe that it was our creativity, hard work, or perseverance that has provided for our needs? Pride makes us desire to be all sufficient in ourselves, but in ourselves we are not sufficient. Only Christ is sufficient as a provider and provision for believers. All blessings in the Christ that are experienced day-by-day and moment-by-moment in the believer’s life are sufficient because they are “in heavenly place in Christ.” The spiritual blessings in Christ do not change in value like the dollar. There is no threat of fluctuation, recession, or depression with the wealth of the believer in Christ. Every need and blessing in our life are provided in the sufficiency of Jesus. When we view all that Christ is, has done, is doing, and will do as insufficient, then we naturally will become unsettled, unsure, and unsatisfied in our Christian walk. What could we ever need that the all-sufficient love of God in Christ has not provided? Read Romans 8:31-35 to see the richness and sufficiency of the blessings bestowed upon the believer in Christ. All that God has blessed us with is more than enough. Every spiritual blessing that He has given is eternally secure and sufficient in Christ. Let us make sure that we aren’t trying to take the credit that goes to God alone. Make sure that you are not seeking to be all sufficient in yourself. You can’t be. I can’t be. No one can be. Only He is. Not only can He be that for you or has been that for you at times. No, God IS sufficient in all that He is and does for His people of faith. Take a minute now to praise God for His blessings in Christ and how infinitely sufficient they are.

Grow with me as we study the believer’s wealth and walk in Christ.

Grow deeper.

Grow higher.

Grow wider.