We begin a new book today - The letter to the Ephesians. Paul begins a lengthy passage that praises God for what he has done for us in Jesus Christ.Paul first praised God. God alone is worthy of praise and worship. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because believers belong to Christ, God has blessed us. God has blessed us by allowing us to receive the benefits of Christ’s redemption and resurrection. God blessed us through Christ’s death on the cross on our behalf.
Because by faith we belong to Christ, we have every spiritual blessing—that is, every benefit of knowing God and everything we need to grow spiritually. These are spiritual blessings, not material ones. Because God has already blessed believers, we need not ask for these blessings but simply accept them and apply them to our lives. Because we have an intimate relationship with Christ, we can enjoy these blessings now and will enjoy them for eternity.
And why were we given these blessings? One, because we are now heirs of God. Galatians 4:6-7 says this - “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, everything He has belongs to you.”
God took us in and he made us his own. We’re not just second class citizens. We’re not slaves. We’re not servants. We’re children. We belong to his family.
Sometimes when children are taken into other families around the world and even here in the United States, some of you, this may have happened to you – they’re taken into a family. Somebody in your family died and you had to go live with a relative. Sometimes what happens is, children like that become second class members of the family. They’re the last to get the food. They’re the last to get the education. They’re the last to get the allowance. They’re the ones who sometimes have to sleep in different places other than where the rest of the family lives because they’re not really a part of the family.
But that didn’t happen to us. When God adopted us into his family, he made us full heirs just like his Son, Jesus Christ. And everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to us. We are first class citizens in God’s family. We are his sons and his daughters. He truly is our Father. Jesus truly is our older brother. And you and I have billions of other brothers and sisters in a forever family that will go way beyond this life. What a relief that is to not have to look for a spiritual home any more. I have it. I’m a part of God’s family.
Sometimes when children are taken into other families around the world and even here in the United States, some of you, this may have happened to you – they’re taken into a family. Somebody in your family died and you had to go live with a relative. Sometimes what happens is, children like that become second class members of the family. They’re the last to get the food. They’re the last to get the education. They’re the last to get the allowance. They’re the ones who sometimes have to sleep in different places other than where the rest of the family lives because they’re not really a part of the family.
But that didn’t happen to us. When God adopted us into his family, he made us full heirs just like his Son, Jesus Christ. And everything that belongs to Jesus belongs to us. We are first class citizens in God’s family. We are his sons and his daughters. He truly is our Father. Jesus truly is our older brother. And you and I have billions of other brothers and sisters in a forever family that will go way beyond this life. What a relief that is to not have to look for a spiritual home any more. I have it. I’m a part of God’s family.
The second reason this passage tells (v.11) we were given these blessings is to give Glory back to God. We are to praise God for His glory. Whatever honor and praise we receive is to be directed back to God. He is the one who gave us the minds to think, the will to achieve, the strength to endure, the bodies to work and the creativity to dream.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)
I love what Hebrews 2:11 says - it talks about how Jesus feels about us. It says “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy [that’s those of us who’ve accepted him as our Savior] have the same Father. That’s why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and his sisters.”
There’s something a little whimsical to me about this. Because in families it’s not unusual for there to be somebody in the family that everybody else is a little bit embarrassed about. You’ve got a brother or a sister that kind of does this or did that or they’ve said this. Everybody’s a little bit embarrassed. Maybe you were the brother or sister that everybody was a little bit embarrassed about.
But when we come into God’s family it says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and his sisters. This is a true family and that’s the way God looks at us.
If you can begin to grasp what it is that God has done for you spiritually, how he took you. You didn’t have to earn your way into his family. You couldn’t earn his favor. No child ever earns their way into being adopted because they’re good enough or because they do something right. No, it’s out of the mercy of the parents who adopt the child. God in his mercy has adopted us and made us his own.
When you begin to really grasp that it will go a long way in dealing with those moments of struggle that we all have of wondering where do we really fit in this universe, whether we really do matter, whether God really does love us, whether we really are of any value.
The truth about spiritual adoption is absolutely mind-boggling. Lord, thank you for loving us. Thank you for blessing us. Thank you for redeeming us.
There’s something a little whimsical to me about this. Because in families it’s not unusual for there to be somebody in the family that everybody else is a little bit embarrassed about. You’ve got a brother or a sister that kind of does this or did that or they’ve said this. Everybody’s a little bit embarrassed. Maybe you were the brother or sister that everybody was a little bit embarrassed about.
But when we come into God’s family it says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers and his sisters. This is a true family and that’s the way God looks at us.
If you can begin to grasp what it is that God has done for you spiritually, how he took you. You didn’t have to earn your way into his family. You couldn’t earn his favor. No child ever earns their way into being adopted because they’re good enough or because they do something right. No, it’s out of the mercy of the parents who adopt the child. God in his mercy has adopted us and made us his own.
When you begin to really grasp that it will go a long way in dealing with those moments of struggle that we all have of wondering where do we really fit in this universe, whether we really do matter, whether God really does love us, whether we really are of any value.
The truth about spiritual adoption is absolutely mind-boggling. Lord, thank you for loving us. Thank you for blessing us. Thank you for redeeming us.
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