Ephesians 1:3-14 - The Inevitable Question

Ephesians 1:3-14
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight ⁹ He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him ¹⁰ with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him ¹¹ also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, ¹² to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. ¹³ In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
 
Message: The Inevitable Question

Time: Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians sometime in AD 60–61, around the same time he wrote Colossians and Philemon. Ephesians deals with topics at the core of being a Christian - faith and practice, no matter the situation.

What the Lord is Saying:

My Prayer based upon the passage
Lord, I have been blessed by You God, my Father and blessed with every spiritual blessing, in the heavens, in Christ. I am blessed because of being in Christ. God, you chose me to be in Christ before you laid the foundation of this world and you destined me to be holy (set apart) and blameless (without sin) before God. You destined me before hand to be your children through the work and life of Jesus Christ, because of your kindness, the kindness of Your will. Your grace or your gift despite my condition as a sinner, which is a gift from Christ to me. In Christ I have been redeemed through his cleansing blood. You have cleaned me, you have forgiven my sins, simply because of the riches of Your grace which you poor on us. It cost so much and yet you shower that costly gift on us. And even after giving us this gift, in your wise way and in the special knowledge that you have, you have made known to us the mystery of your eternal plan and will, once again according to your kind plan purposed in Christ. This purpose saw the future and saw that all things in Christ, seeing all things in the heavens and on the earth. In Christ, I have an inheritance in my life because of the pre-determined purpose of God. You will work all things after the counsel of His will. In Christ, I am the first to have hope and this praises Him and lifts up His glory. And being in Christ, I, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of being set free, and after listening, believed, I have been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit promised to me. The Holy Spirit is given to me as a pledge of a future inheritance, giving me a view to being completely redeemed or saved of being God's own possession. I praise Him and His glory is to be praised for all of this.

My summary of this passage
This is a great prayer and a great passage. There is so much meat to this prayer. God has blessed us. That is a done deal. We have received every spiritual blessing possible. That is a done deal. My position in Christ will never be better or worse than it is now. I have been pardoned, my sins simple excused. I have been redeemed; I've been made right with God. I've been adopted; I am not simply called, but I have been grafted in to be with God. I am a branch, not merely a stick; I am connected with God. I have peace in Christ. There is nothing better than peace.

All of these blessings have been conferred upon me because of one thing: being in Christ. Being in Christ was the result of God choosing me before God laid the foundation of this world. Before the foundation of the world it was determined I would be holy or set apart; I would be blameless or without sin, before God. But, never does this happen because of my works or effort, but because of the work and life of Jesus Christ. My condition of being a sinner is completely irrelevant to my position before Christ. My worth and acceptance before God is based upon Christ, not me. In Christ I have been redeemed through his cleansing blood. Because of Christ I am forgiven. Because of Christ I am clean.

But I am not finished. My work is not done on this earth nor is Christ's work in me done on this earth. In Christ, my purpose is to be for the praise of His Glory. God works all things, in my life, after the counsel of His will. I am never alone here. I have the Holy Spirit in me, working through me, living in me, and still that work points to His Glory. 

TableTalk's assessment
This passage mentions predestination and they want to argue that the doctrine of predestination is central to the Bible. It is not simply a Pauline doctrine, but it is a Bible doctrine. Whether Calvinist, Arminian, Presbyterian, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, there is a teaching on predestination. "The difference has to do with the basis of predestination (God's simple foreknowledge or His eternal decree), whether predestination extends to the salvation of individuals, and so forth."

Promise: My position in Christ is because of Christ.