Rejoice Highly Favored One

The Book of Ephesians Chapter 1 Part 1

There was once a 8 year old young girl, who had just won a $5.00 prize for a scripture memory verse in Children’s Church at Calvary Chapel

As she was leaving the sanctuary with her parents, they were met by the pastor and his wife. The pastors wife congratulated her on her award.

The young lady promptly responded, “And I put it all in the morning offering!” “Well, that is wonderful”, the Pastors wife replied. “I am sure the Lord will be pleased”.

“Yes”, the young girl replied, “Now maybe the Lord will let me do some of the things that I want to do!”

Sometimes, this is the thought process that we go through with the Lord, we think that we have to be “Good Enough” before the Lord will bless us. We have to be “worthy” enough for the Lord to bless us. We have to somehow “earn his favor” or we need to “appease him” with a sacrifice as if he was the rain god that needs a sacrifice before he will give us rain.

The reality is that you are “highly favored by the Lord” right now if you have given your life to Jesus Christ.

In fact, no other creation under heaven is as highly favored as you! To which of the angels did the Father ever give his Son to die? To which of the angels did the Son ever humble himself and become a servant to? To which of the angels did the Holy Spirit ever speak to so softly and sweetly of the love that God has for the sinner.

Your purpose in this life has nothing to do with your achievements, your goals or how well you are known. Your worth comes from the fact that the Creator of the Universe loves you so much that He was willing to die for you.

Robert Baker Said: “As I grow older, I care less what people think about me and more what God thinks of me. I expect to be with him much longer than with any of you”. — in Country Road 13. Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 11.

This was the purpose of the Holy Spirit in writing the things contained in this letter to the Ephesians. That you might read this Book and know about all the things that are yours right now, “Oh highly favored of the Lord!”

The interesting thing about Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is that he most likely did not write it just to the Ephesians church. In three earlier manuscripts that were discovered that contained this letter to the Ephesians, the words “In Ephesus” do not exist. This is evidence that this letter written by Paul while he was in prison, was most likely written to all of the churches in that area.

As the letter from Paul was distributed to each of the churches, the first church would fill in THEIR NAME at the top, then the next church that received the letter, would fill in their name.

The Idea was that as each church received their copy of this letter and added their name to it, that they were taking ownership of the promises of this letter for themselves It is possible that the letter that we have in our New Testament, was just the first one that went out to The Church n Ephesus.

It is the Holy Spirits intention this morning that you would attach your name to this letter, having understood all that you have right now “in Christ Jesus”. Ephesus was the FIRST church in this area, so most likely it was the first church to receive this letter from Paul.

This letter to the “Ephesians” also contains a unique item, not present in any other book of the Bible. Ephesians contains the longest sentence ever found in a Greek manuscript. From verse 3 to verse 14, in the original Greek, it was one long sentence without any breaks or periods. Today we would call that a “Run on Sentence”, Paul would have gotten into serious trouble today with all of you teachers if he wrote a long sentence like that!

Let me read this text to you the way it was originally written and you will get a fell for what the Holy Spirit was trying to express to you. This is in the New Living Translation:

How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. God’s secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ–everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. God’s purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious God.

It is interesting to me that as the Holy Spirit creates “The longest sentence in the bible”, that it is all about how the Lord has “blessed you with every spiritual blessing in heaven because you belong to Jesus…”

It is written as a sort of “Praise” to the Lord for all He has given us. It is important to remember that no matter what you might be going through personally, as you just begin to really praise and thank the Lord for all that He has already done so far in your life… that your heart will become encouraged.

As you begin to thank Him for all that you already have and acknowledge that it all came from him…that your heart will be blessed. Then we begin to realize that Jesus will also carry us through the things that you are going through right now. It is then that we have peace.

This kind of writing style that Paul uses, in the Hebrew language is called “The Berakah”, or “Praise”. It is similar in style to the way The psalms of the Old Testament are written. All of these blessings in the Book of Ephesians are YOURS RIGHT NOW, just because you belong to Jesus.

Ephesians contains the long list of all of those things that already belong to you who belong to Jesus. When you exercised your freedom of choice and chose Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, the Father had already seen you make that choice before He made the world, therefore He could say “HE HAS CHOSEN YOU”. You were chosen by the Father, “Before the world was made”.

This is why you can know for sure this morning that your salvation is secure, as long as you abide in Jesus. Even before you were born: The lord knew who you were going to be. He knew everything about your life, and on one particular day that you heard about Jesus, and believe that he had died for you, and that you would choose to give your life to Jesus…

The Lord made you HOLY, without any blame before him in love…” And nothing in all of heaven or the earth can ever change that!

Greetings from Paul 1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is written to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

The evidence of “The Grace of the Lord” is all over the Bible. Every place that you look we see people like Paul who were the worst human beings on the earth, that the Lord loved and changed into new Creations.

At one point Paul described himself as “The chief of all sinners” because he had hated Christians and saw to it that they were killed or imprisoned.

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Galatians 1:13For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it

Acts 22:4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women

But here at the beginning of the Book of Ephesians, Paul says that in spite of all of this, the Lord still loved him and chose Him…

Jesus didn’t chose you because you are so good. He does not chose you because you are so worthy. He chose you because you chose Jesus.

Because Jesus is God, He knows everything. This means that he knew in advance of making the world how it was all going to turn out, that we would all turn away from him. Despite this knowledge the Father formed a plan where His Son Jesus would satisfy the penalty that we deserved for breaking Gods law. He also knew who would believe that Jesus death saves them…

Based on this advance knowledge, because He knew that you would chose Jesus as your Savior He chose you and predestined you to receive all of the Blessings that are listed here in the Book of Ephesians.

Paul is not just writing this letter to the Christians in Ephesus he is also writing this to you this morning. He also calls you “A faithful follower of Jesus”, what is a “faithful follower”?

It is a person who never gives up. It is a person who very often wants to give up. It is a person who very often gets discouraged. It is a person who struggles with sin, sometimes every day.

But they never completely quit, and even if they were to give up it doesn’t last too long, they recover and then come back to Jesus. Jesus response to them when they come back to Him is that He welcomes them back and restores them.

2 Corinthians 4:1-10 1 And so, since God in his mercy has given us this wonderful ministry, we never give up. 7 But this precious treasure–this light and power that now shine within us–is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit.

9 We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. NLT

How can we do this?….because…

Psalms 23:1 1 The LORD is OUR shepherd; 3 He restores OUR soul; He leads US in the paths of righteousness NKJV

Job 33:26-29 26 When WE pray to God, WE will be accepted. And God will receive US with joy and restore US to good standing. 27 WE will declare to OUR friends, `I sinned, but it was not worth it. 28 God rescued me from the grave, and now my life is filled with light.’ 29 “Yes, God often does these things for people. …NLT …Twice, in fact, three times with a man, 30 To bring back his soul from the Pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life.

The Lord is the one that leads you into all righteousness. He will shepherd you, He will lead you, and when you fail and then return to Him, you will be accepted. He will receive you with joy and restore your good standing. The Lord does this for you, two, three times, as many times as it takes to bring your soul back from the pit so that you can be enlightened with the light of life.

Jesus never gives up on you!

John 6:39 And this is the will of the father, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day.

Ephesians 1:2 May grace and peace be yours, sent to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

This is the fathers desire for all; that whoever you are, you will call upon the name of Jesus. Whatever circumstance you find yourself in, He will give you his Grace And Peace. Peace even in the storm, peace that passes any natural understanding, peace to calm your soul and mind.

Ephesians 1:3 How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. 4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

The book of Ephesians is an amazing Book: beginning in verse 4, we see “THE TRINITY” working together to give us “Every Spiritual Blessing”.

The father:

  • Choosing us—verse 4
  • Accepting us—verse 6
  • Giving us a knowledge of his will—verses 8-9
  • Preparing us right now—to receive all of the things that god has prepared for us—from the foundation of the world—verses 10-11.

The Son:

  • Saving us—verse 7.
  • Creating us—to know him—verse 10

The Holy Spirit:

  • Making us secure—by sealing us—verse 13
  • Becoming the guarantee—that we have eternal life—and an inheritance waiting.

The point is that in Jesus” you have every spiritual blessing” already in your possession.

The Following is a list of those “Spiritual Blessings that are yours right now!

Romans 3:24 We are justified (declared “not guilty” of sin). “ That Is: “Just—As—If—I—Had—Never—Sinned!”

Romans 8:1We await no condemnation. “There is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:2 We are set free from the law of sin and death.

1 Corinthians 1:2 We are sanctified and made acceptable in Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:30 We are righteous and holy in Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:22 We will be made alive at the Resurrection.

2 Corinthians 5:17We are a new creation. The Old Things Are Passed Away—Behold All Things Are Becoming New.

2 Corinthians 5:21 We receive God’s righteousness.

Galatians 3:28 We are one in Christ with all other believers.

Ephesians 1:3 We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians 1:4 We are holy, blameless, and the objects of God’s love.

Ephesians 1:5-6 We are adopted as God’s children.

Ephesians 1:7 We are forgiven–our sins are taken away.

Ephesians 1:10-11 We will be brought under God’s headship.

Ephesians 1:13 We are marked as belonging to God by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:6 We have been raised up to sit with Christ in glory.

Ephesians 2:10 We are God’s work of art.

Ephesians 2:13 We have been brought near to God.

Ephesians 3:6 We share in the promise of the gospel.

Ephesians 3:12 We can come with freedom and confidence into God’s presence.

Ephesians 5:29-30 We are members of Christ’s body, the church.

Colossians 2:10 We have been given fullness in Christ.

Colossians 2:11 We are set free from our sinful nature.

2 Timothy 2:10 We will have eternal glory.

And as verse 4 declares to you; “All of these things were prepared for you before the world was created”

Do you know how excited you get at Christmas time? You just can’t wait to give those presents to those you love and watch their eyes and their faces as they open the gifts. Imagine how excited the Father is having prepared your gifts perhaps hundreds and thousands of years ago—to finally be able to give you these things!

It is interesting that every New Testament book has it’s counterpart in an old testament book.

The companion to the book of Ephesians is the book of Joshua. When Joshua leads God’s people finally across the Jordan river, it will be into the land of Canaan. By the way did you know that Joshua is the Greek name for Jesus?. So who is leading the people into all that the Father wants to give them: Jesus!

At the beginning the Lord tells Joshua:

Joshua 1:3-6:3 I promise you what I promised Moses: `Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you—4 from the Negev Desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will lead my people to possess all the land I swore to give their ancestors. NLT

The Lord is telling Joshua “Look around you, everything as far as you can see is yours, just go in and take it….”

This is the way that we are to view all of these spiritual blessings that the Lord has prepared for us once we come to an understanding of what they are here in the book of Ephesians. We are to look at them and then go and take them because they are ours.

When the Lord led his people into the land, it was then their choice whether to go in and take what was given then, as it is your choice today. You can either take hold of these spiritual blessings and realize who you really are, or you can chose not to take hold of them.

Sometimes even though we are the children of the King and posses all the wealth of these spiritual blessings, we continue to live “on the street” like we are “poor miserable and naked”.

Many years ago, in a great city in America, there was an article about a man who the authorities were looking for, not to question and arrest, but to give something to.

It seems that there was a man who had graduated from college, but then gave up on life, and went down to skid row to live.

The authorities were seeking this same man, because he was the heir to a wealthy businessman and his 8 million dollar estate!

They posted flyers on every light pole and in every building they could find, in hopes of locating this man who was highly favored, and highly blessed.

They searched every broken down hotel and bar, talking to every one they met along the way, asking them if they knew this man, or where he was located.

If he had ever heard from the street what was his then apparently, he couldn’t believe it enough to respond because They never found him!

Imagine, somewhere, sleeping under a box, or a bridge, was a broken down man, who was the heir to 8 million dollars!

In a related story, another man, an heir also to a wealthy estate was also living in poverty, out on the other side of the United states.

They did find this man, and when they told him of all that was his, he got up, went downtown to the finest tailor shop in the city, and had a new, custom made, fully tailored suit.

He cleaned himself up, put on new clothes, and began to live like who he really was, “The highly favored and blessed heir to a powerful and wealthy man”.

So you also have the same choices- today. You are also “The highly favored and blessed son or daughter of a great king”, in fact the greatest of all kings.

You and I live down here in the streets of this word. We can choose to remain here, wretched, miserable, and naked. Or we can get up and realize who we really are, what is ours already. We can put on the garments of Jesus righteousness, and claim the things that are our “in Christ Jesus”. Then begin to live our life like we are his blessed and highly favored sons and daughters.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Bible Studies, Encouragement, Rob Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.