Happy Thanksgiving

3 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)

The believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ has much to be thankful for even if circumstantially everything seems to be falling apart. Ephesians says that we have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ, and then he goes on to outline these blessings. Let's take a look:

1. We have been made holy and blameless

We have been made holy and blameless in God's sight: "⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

We all have an idea in our minds of what it means to act holy, but what does it mean that we have been made holy? Hebrews 10 tells us that "we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." It would not be a spiritual blessing if we were told we have to act holy, but it is a spiritual blessing to be made holy. To be made holy means that you belong to God and you are important to His plan to build his Kingdom of Love. The word blameless in the Greek denotes "that which cannot be called to account". Jesus, at the cross, took away our sins once for all, and God will not call them to account! That is something to be thankful for indeed. Colossians 2 tells us that God forgave us all of our sins and nailed them to the cross in Christ, so our sins can't be called to account. God will not call us into account regarding our sins! My question then to some preachers is why are you taking that which God has nailed to the cross and can not call into account and beating His children over the head with them?" I know you are trying to help God out, but His ways are not our ways. Guilt is a fleshly, temporal motivator. When we believe that we are holy and blameless in God's sight, that faith produces hope which enables us to love others. That is what God produces in us supernaturally--we exercise faith and God supernaturally produces hope and love in us.

2. We have been adopted by God

Our second spiritual blessing to be thankful for is the fact that God has adopted us as His very own children. To bring on home personally, it means you are an adopted child of the Most High God: "In love ⁵he^{c]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[c]}predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." One reason this adoption is very good news is the fact that under the Roman Law of Paul's time, an adopted child could never, ever be disinherited. A natural child could be, but not an adopted child. Since we have been born into God's family by the Holy Spirit, there does not need to be a need for adoption, since God has birthed the New Creation Himself, so I believe Paul is using this language here to provide us insecure children with extra assurance of how secure we are in God's love.

3. Redemption

The third blessing listed is Redemption. "⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," Redemption means to purchase and the Greek and cultural denotation is to buy a slave for the purpose of setting him free. Because of the two ditches of legalism and licentiousness, very few Christians truly understand the nature of our freedom. We are more free than we will ever realize, but the freedom we have is only fully experience when we use it to love others. We have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ--we are eternally His, and He loves us freely and wants to express the freedom to love through us. There is noting more powerful and more satisfying to the human soul than divine love received and given freely.

4. Forgiveness of Sins

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," God's forgiveness is complete forgiveness. Note that this forgiveness is "In Him." It is not in our performance, our confessions, our rituals, our booths or our anything. We have God's complete forgiveness of our sins for one reason and one reason only. IN HIM we have forgiveness. The root of forgiveness means to send away. God has put our sins behind his back never to be brought to remembrance again. Our forgiveness is full, free and eternal; past, present and future sins have been forgiven on account of His name.

5. Wisdom and Understanding

"in accordance with the riches of God's grace⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

We need wisdom and guidance on a daily basis as we learn to walk in the Spirit in this often conflicted world. God's wisdom will cut through all the noise, fog, and confusion like a laser beam--it is only a matter of listening. We don't have to jump through any hoops, agonize or seek out a mystical mentor to find wisdom--God lavishes it on us through His grace. James tells us ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. God will not say to you, 'You don't get any wisdom today because of this sin or that fault. He gives generously without finding fault. God's wisdom is Him telling you what to do in your sticky situations. God's wisdom is God showing you how to apply the gospel of Christ to your life on a daily basis. It is knowing that in Him you live and move, and have your being. It is knowing your true identity in Him. It is a wonderful, exciting, dynamic relationship with the Creator of the universe. And it is all ours for free and for the taking.

6. Intimacy and Knowledge of His Sovereignty

⁹And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. The word known here is not head knowledge but heart knowledge--not intellectual knowledge but experiential knowledge. A knowing like a husband knows his wife. God gives us knowledge of His Sovereignty in an intimate way; This intimacy allows us to view the world's events, our circumstances and disappointments in light of God's sovereignty. He goes on to say, "¹¹In him we were also chosen,^{e]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[e]} having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory" He intimately whispers in our ears the comforting promise that we are wrapped in His arms and He is working all things towards our ultimate good in Christ.

7. A Guaranteed Inheritance

¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

We have been sealed in Christ. A seal makes something

impenetrable. We are made alive spiritually in Christ. The new creation is in Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, so the new creation is impervious to sin, the world, the flesh and the devil. Sealed in Christ, we can never be lost; our inheritance is in Him and our inheritance is guaranteed in Christ. We can't lose! Amen! Thank You Jesus!

So, that is our thanksgiving list in Ephesians and we've just scratched the surface.