One of the most amazing passages of Scripture is Ephesians 1:3-14. If you haven’t read it recently, I really encourage you to read it now (Click HERE). I could devote a sermon to each verse, each phrase, each word in some cases! In light of the amazing truth in that passage, allow me to make the following statement which I would encourage you to capture and keep in a prominent place to read often:
In the kingdom of God, the quality of my life depends firstly not on what I do for God or for others, but on what God has already done for me, and continues to do for me, in me and through me.
And what has God done for you? According to that Ephesians passage: everything! Everything you could ever imagine, plus some! Welcome to the Good News! Welcome to the Gospel! This is why our life in Christ is anything but religion! At the heart of religion you will find a list of things you have to do to honour and please God. At the heart of the Christian faith, you will find Christ, Who has already done everything that religion expects you to do. Jesus has effected everything that legalism says is your job – and He has given that to you as a free gift, once and for all time by His grace!
Jesus Christ did what no human had ever done before. He fully obeyed the perfect law of God. He scored all ‘A’s on his heavenly report card as a man and then He did the most amazing, outrageous thing imaginable: He paid the price for our inability to obey the law of God – He suffered and died on our behalf. Then he conquered sin, death and Satan once and for all time as He rose from the dead and became the first man in history to enter heaven as He ascended to the right hand of God the Father. But then … listen to this … then Jesus approached the throne of God and handed His perfect report card to the Father which now has your name and my name on it, and He declared, “Father, it is finished.”
This is love. This is God – a God Who has loved us with a love so deep and wide and high and strong that we could explore its riches in a thousand sermons and only then be skirting around the edges! The riches of God’s Truth in that one passage from Ephesians are enough to satisfy your spiritual appetite for years to come. If you want to make sure the foundation of your faith is rock solid and will never shift or move, then you should memorise those 12 verses on Ephesians 1.
In fact, let me issue you with a challenge. I want to encourage you to read Ephesians 1:3-14 every morning for a week before you embrace the challenges of each day – and preferably out loud. Then every night before you go to sleep, I want you to read Psalm 23. Do that for a week, or longer, and allow the Holy Spirit to burn the truth of God’s love for you deep into your spirit – and I promise you that your life will never be the same again.