Ephesians 1: Letter of Ephesians was written by Apostle Paul; the Bible made it
clear to us that Paul was chosen by the will of God.
1a) This book we are studying was written by someone who in quote does not
qualify to write about Christ. Why — He persecuted Christ and his followers and
did not know Him.
Meaning nobody can be a write off in the presence of God. God is interested in
you and the potentials you carry.
Don’t write off yourself as “you are not qualified”:
To serve God or preach d gospel
For a certain position
For certain benefit or treat
Certain things are kept for certain people
No sir, No ma: God qualified you, even as He qualified Paul who killed people for
following Christ; yet He chose him. What wrong have you done so far? That is
making you run from God as disqualified. Have you stolen, lied or killed before?
He qualifies the chosen.
1b) Apostle Paul was chosen by the will of God.
Question: What does it mean to be chosen by God?
Answer: It means God made the choice for something to happen according to His
perfect wisdom, foreknowledge or will knowing fully well from the foundation of
the world what our choice or stand will be in any situation. Therefore, He knows
how to achieve His perfect will while still allowing man to make choices.
(Question 1- Romans 8:28–30). God foreknew who would love Him. He knew
who would accept or forsake Jesus.
This brings us to Questions probably arising in your heart like:-
Question 1: So why do I have to strive to please God since he already has made
his choice? Romans 8:28–30;
vs 28: Those who love God
vs 29: God foreknew us
vs 30: God chose them based on knowing before earth those who will love him.
Question 2: Is God partial? Ask Congregation;
Yes – Tell me why;
No – Tell me why but we have a part to play. Remember Romans 8:28 talks about
those who love God.
Proverbs 8:17 also talks about God loving those who love him.
God does not start what he hasn’t first ended, so he knows us very well, the
very intent of our heart he knows. Sometimes he lets it play out so that people
around us will not say, ha! God is partial. What you do for God will be on
record to convince everyone that you truly love God or not. i.e. Abraham,
Ananias and Sapphira.
Is it safe to say God is to us what we are to him? Or is he more to us than we
are to him?
Question 3: Are there people chosen by God to do specific things?
Answer: There are and severally cited in the Bible.
God chose the children of Israel to be a special people (Deuteronomy 7:6–8)
God chose the tribe of Levi to be priests (Deuteronomy 18:5)
God chose Saul to be the First king of Israel (1 Samuel 10:24-27)
God chose David to replace Saul as the King of Israel (1 Samuel 16:10-12)
God chose Jerusalem as the place to reveal himself (2 Chronicles 6:6)
God chose Christ to be the savior of the world (Matthew 12:18)
God chose us who he knew would love him for salvation (2 Thessalonians
2:13–14 and Romans 8:28)
V2 – Only God gives grace and peace.
We quietly say grace is “unmerited favor” meaning we didn’t do anything to be
saved by God.
That’s why we say “Saved by Grace.” It is the grace of God upon our lives that
allows us to serve God and do all that we do each day. It is grace that keeps us
alive.
Peace of God is beyond explanation; it is a feeling of calmness in the middle of
a storm. It is only God who gives peace to us. Philippians 4:6–7.
(a) Don’t worry (instead) about anything
(b) Pray about everything
(c) Tell God what you need
(d) Thank Him for all He has done
(e) Then you will experience the peace of God which exceeds anything we can
understand.
Vs 3 – who has blessed us with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms”
because we are united with Christ.
- No unity with Christ, no spiritual blessing.
Questions:
- Are you united with Christ? Yes or No
- What does it mean to be united with Christ?
- What are spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms?
Means: –
- In Christ we have all the benefits of knowing God
- Being chosen for salvation
- Being adopted as his children
- Forgiveness of our sins (which are inborn)
- Insight into the spiritual realm
- The gift of the spirit
- Power to do God’s will
- The hope of living forever with Christ
We can enjoy these blessings because we have an intimate relationship with
Christ.
The heavenly realms mean: –
a) That these blessings are eternal not temporal
b) From Christ our Lord and not from some idol God
Vs 4: God loved us and chose us to be holy without fault in his eyes
Paul saying God “chose us” is emphasizes that salvation depends totally on
God not that we did anything special, he saved us according to his plan. So, we
had no influence on God’s decision about our salvation. If this is so, we need to
thank God constantly for his love for us.
Vs 5 God decided in advance to adopt us to his family through Jesus Christ.
Romans 8: 17 says we are heirs with Jesus.
- In Roman law adopted children had same rights and privileges as biological
children even if they had been slaves. - Paul uses adoption to show us how strong our relationship with God is – Have
you entered into this loving relationship?
Written By: Yetunde Oriolowo