Wednesday, October 26, 2022

           Ephesians is Paul’s letter to the church located in the city of Ephesus.  You may recall that Jesus sent a letter to the same church as part of the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3.  This church in Ephesus had been blessed by the influences of Paul, Timothy and John.  In his opening chapter, Paul wrote the following message, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).  Imagine being a Christian in Ephesus who received such a message.  The grandeur and confidence of this message would have been hugely inspiring to anyone receiving it in the first century.  Paul made a few lessons abundantly clear.
            First, note that Paul wrote in the past tense, “who has blessed us.”  He wrote about an accomplished reality.  These Ephesian believers already possessed these blessings or gifts.  They were custodians of them.  We often have to take inventory of what God has already given or provided.  We might find ourselves longing or wanting a blessing only to realize that God has already blessed us and He has done so in ways far, far greater than we could have asked or imagined and greater than our longings could have secured.  Remember the confidence with which Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”  God is able to grant blessings that we cannot even begin to imagine or expect.
            Second, Paul wrote that we have already received every spiritual blessing.  He has provided all that is necessary for us to live as followers of Jesus Christ.  Nothing is lacking.  Jesus described His death on the cross with these words, “It is finished.”  And it was.  The Son of God had done everything that needed to be done for our salvation and eternal life with Him.  We cannot add anything to the gospel events that Jesus carried out on our behalf.  Likewise, God has available all that we could ever need to be His people and to live as His people.  Every spiritual blessing we could need, want or crave is abundantly available to us.  There is nothing that we could want or desire that we do not already possess.
            Third, Paul reminded us about our new identity.  We are “in Christ.”  We are grounded, rooted, situated and identified in Him and by Him.  We belong to Him.  Our old identity and old ways of thinking have died with Christ.  We now live for Him and by His power.  We are new people and we have let go of the old ways and the old lifestyles.  To be “in Christ” means we are never alone and we are never without His presence with us.  He promised His disciples (and us too) that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age.  We should live and act like we believe that promise.
            Have a great Wednesday as you enjoy the blessings that God has prepared for you to enjoy.  Walk confidently with Him.  Remember you can worship anytime at youtube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.