In Christ: A Sermon Based on Ephesians Chapter 1:1-14

A Love Works Daily Sermon

A 4-year-old was at the pediatrician for a check-up. As the doctor looked down her ears with an otoscope, he asked, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl stayed silent.
Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll find Cookie Monster down there?" Again, the little girl was silent.
Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heart beat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?"
"Oh, no!" the little girl replied. "Jesus is in my heart. Barney's on my underpants."

In the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he uses the words "in Christ," or their equivalent, fourteen times. He means for us to understand that all grace, all salvation, all blessedness is "in Christ." All that God has done for us, all that he gives us, and all that he requires of us is in Christ!

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.

I am writing to God's holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

12 God's purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also 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. 14 The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

All blessings are "In Christ"

And Paul calls for us to bless God, to give praise to God, because...

• He is "THE GOD," and there is none other.
• He is "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
• He "has blessed us!"

Today as we celebrate the risen Christ, we should not miss that little word "has." The work is already done.

• He " has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ."

A famous poem called "In The Beloved"

"In the Beloved" accepted am I,

Risen, ascended, and seated on high.

Saved from all sin through His infinite grace,

With the redeemed ones accorded a place.

"In the Beloved" - How safe my retreat!

"In the Beloved" - Accounted complete!

Who can condemn me? In Him I am free!

Savior and Keeper forever is He!

"In the Beloved" I went to the tree,

There in His person, by faith I now see

Infinite wrath rolling over His head,

Infinite grace, for He died in my stead!

"In the Beloved" - God's marvelous grace

Calls me to dwell in this wonderful place!

God sees my Savior, and then He sees me,

"In the Beloved" accepted and free!

These blessings of grace are heavenly blessings. They came down from heaven. They are of heavenly origin. They are of a heavenly nature. Yet, these spiritual blessings are ours already "in Christ".

Nothing we do has anything to do with these blessings! All that heaven can bestow upon us, and all that heaven can require of us is ours already in Christ!

Webster defines "Blessed" as, "Of or enjoying happiness. Specifically enjoying the bliss of Heaven." It carries the idea of that which "brings pleasure, contentment, or good fortune." Simply stated, it is that state of being that we all want to enjoy.

We all like blessings don't we? There isn't a person in this room that does not enjoy a blessing! And, certainly, we are a blessed people!

But, when it comes to this matter of blessings, we often view them in the wrong light. Most often, we think of blessings as being those things that are physical and material in nature. For instance, if everyone in our household is well, we consider ourselves blessed. If there is money in the bank and the bills are paid, we say we are blessed. If we are living in a nice home and driving a good car, we equate that with blessing. And, I would have to agree that those things are blessings from the Lord.

However, what happens when a loved one is stricken with disease? Did we cease to be blessed? What happens when we drive junk cars and our house is falling apart? Did we lose the blessing of God? What happens when there is no money and we can't pay the bills? Does that mean that somehow the Lord has stopped blessing us? The answer is no! Our problem is that we tend to look at blessings in regard to how they benefit us materially, and certainly God does bless that way.

But what we fail to remember is that these kinds of blessings are temporary at best! That car will die one day. That money will find a place to be spent. That home will rot and decay. Your health will eventually decline. What we need to know is that the real blessings of the Lord are not material or physical. The real blessings of God are spiritual in nature, and these spiritual blessings will never be taken away from us!

Even when everything else is gone, has broken down or has been spent, we will still possess the best of God blessings!

But in this world, people seem to want the blessings of God without the "in Christ."

I told this story recently, but I saw I short section of a television show in which a character had gone from a no-account loser in high school to a successful police officer with a nice home, car and family. And the really amazing thing, he said, was "I did it all without Jesus".

He didn't see, that if you take away the "in Christ," there are no blessings to be had! It is in Him we have been given "every spiritual blessing." Without Him, there is nothing at all. The hymn writer was right: "Without Him I could do nothing, Without Him I'd surely fail; Without him I would be drifting, Like a ship without a sail. Without Him, I would be dying, Without Him I'd be enslaved; Without Him, life would be hopeless, But with Jesus, thank God, I'm saved."

Without Christ, we are left to ourselves, enslaved in sin, dishonoring God.

Many years ago, Hugh Moorhead who taught Philosophy at Northeastern Illinois University, wrote together the book "The Meaning of Life according to our Century's Greatest Writers and Thinkers." In this book he asked 250 well-known authors, philosophers and scientists, "What is the meaning of Life?" Many of the responses that were returned confessed that when it came to this question they were ignorant, unable to come up with an answer, or they suggested best guesses, some even asked Moorhead if he had the answer.

In other words, put all the best philosophers and scientists together and what do they come up with?

What is the meaning of life? "I Don't Know!"

And that's one of the significant things to notice in today's reading from Ephesians. Paul does not answer with "I don't know" In every sentence there is one subject, one person acting, one person developing the plans and making the choices, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture pushes 'the meaning of life" back to God, back to the source of all existence and tells us that existence is a result of divine "intentionality."

That's a $5 word, but it means that whatever God has done, everything God has done, scripture tells us that God does it with purpose, with a design. All things that happen or will happen, happen "In Christ" From before the creation of the World, the creation of the universe, the creation of humanity, the progress of human history, our very lives with all their struggles, joy and pain, success and failure, the future, with all of its unknowns - it all has God's purpose, God's plans and intentions are coming to fulfillment. It all starts with God. History is not going in circles. History is not chance happenings. History from its very beginning to its conclusion is proceeding according to a plan, God's purpose.

The second thing we notice in this passage is that there is an object of every sentence. We are the object! We are the ones blessed, we are the ones chosen, we are the ones adopted, we are the ones freely given too, we are the ones who have redemption lavished on us, we are the ones included "in Christ", we are the ones who received the Spirit!

This is very profound. If we accept that God is the source of all existence, if we accept that existence was made and designed by God with purpose in mind, then this passage along with all the rest of scripture tells us that we are at the very heart of that purpose.

God made it all, when God acted throughout history, when Christ died on the cross, when he rose from the dead, when Christ returns, God has done and will do it all with us in mind.

Scripture tells us that it was the Word, In Christ, that created all things. If there is any beauty or majesty it comes from him. And then scripture tells us something quite amazing! It tells us that "in Christ, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and rose again. We are "in Christ" when we fully accept all that He has done for us.

Bishop William Willimon, who served as Dean of the Duke Chapel, tells the story of a pastor whose congregation became concerned about the plight of the homeless in their city. They could see the homeless, wandering the streets at night, sleeping in doorways, begging for food. The pastor of this church said to the congregation, "We've got this big fellowship hall downstairs. Why don't we simply invite these homeless men to come spend the night here?" And, why not? How nice of the church to do something for the homeless! The pastor goes on to tell, however, that it didn't turn out to be all that simple. It was described this way, "Now you take fifty-five homeless men off the streets and put them into a Methodist fellowship hall, you've got problems. First of all, we found out that there's a reason why many of them are homeless. Nobody wants them. Some of them are sick, offensive, malnourished, addicted. We had never actually met any homeless people. It was rough at first. Fights. A robbery. Somebody came down to distribute food one night and got roughed up. It was a mess. All we wanted to do was to be nice to some homeless men."

This congregation had two choices. Either throw the homeless men out or else do what was necessary. By the grace of God, the pastor says, they chose the latter. Medical care, food, counseling, support, hand-holding, listening were developed. And, they said, finally, that the congregation was converted from a friendly, ordinary, religious club -- protecting its club house -- to a committed, bold church. Cause when we opened our doors to fifty-five homeless men," she said, "guess who else came in with them?"

Guess who comes in with them. Christ came in, and with God's grace and provision, "in Christ" this Methodist congregation was prepared to do the next right thing on their path of discipleship.

As Christians, we are asked to do both the great things and the small things. And, often, the small acts, which we thought were the only acts we were capable of, become great acts of discipleship. They become great not because we become great, but because Christ has come into our midst.

What does it really mean for to be "in Christ"?

Members of one congregation were asked to write down some answers. Here's what they said:

"It means that Christ is in control. I cannot force solutions, but can only let God take control. It happens when the situation is surrendered to God."

"Having grown up in the church from the time I was a baby - I learned to know Jesus - so he has always been a part of my life. A memory I go to back to is of graduation from high school one day and traveling alone to another state to work for the summer. I realized at night how far away I was, and didn't know anyone. I remember praying and no longer feeling afraid."

"Christ living in me means that there is nothing that can happen to me that God and I cannot handle. I try to remember that God will never put on me more than I can bear. My faith will see me through."

"It is no longer living for only myself and my desires, choosing my direction, which later is learned to be a mistake. It is living a Christ-directed life. A better direction is followed, one that is more fulfilling in purpose, and much more wisely chosen. And because with Christ living in me, my direction is wisely chosen for me, I can step out in faith without fear, apprehension, and worry."

"Because Christ lives in me I have peace and comfort."

"Because Christ lives in me I have Joy in all seasons."

Christ the Lord is risen today! And "in Christ" We are risen with him. Or did the cross mean nothing?

I started with a story told from the experiences of a young child, and will end with one. I realize this next example is a Christmas story, but it relates to the question: Are we truly and honestly in Christ?

During a second grade Christmas pageant in some church, somewhere, the little innkeeper had rehearsed and rehearsed. His lines were simple; he just had to tell Joseph and Mary that there was no room and to be gone. On the night of the pageant, however, the innkeeper hesitated when it came his time to speak. Finally after numerous off-stage promptings, the second grade innkeeper said his line "Be gone." But, as he watched the forlorn Joseph and Mary walk away, the little innkeeper suddenly came up with his own lines. He hollered out to the departing couple, "No - don't go! Come back Joseph, bring Mary." And, a big smile filled his 8-year-old face, as he said to them, "You can have my room!"

I don't know about you, but do we not want to be just a little bit more like that 8-year-old innkeeper. Do we not want to be able to say a little more often in our every day lives, "Come, Jesus, you are welcome here, you can have my room."

The crowds shouted when they crucified our Lord. "Be Gone!" And for a few short days I think they thought had gotten their wish.

But on the third day, he rose, and he is risen.

In Christ, we are risen with him.

Unless you can say "Go away, I don't know him."

Unless you can say "Be Gone!"

Unless you can say the cross means nothing to you.

The tomb was, and remains empty, because He is risen. Yes, he is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen

©2008 Timothy Henry