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. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Ephesians 1:3-4)
The Apostle Paul wrote Ephesians to address cultural chaos. With the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, it was a temptation-laden culture. The flesh was catered to and those who had converted to Christianity were fighting an intense battle. The first three chapters are concentrated on doctrine, while the final three chapters are focused on application.
In v.3, Paul begins with the vantage point of God from the heavenly realms. When we begin with God we know that what He says is in line with reality. Our problem is we don't start our thinking with God; we tend to start it with ourselves, which is only a partial view of truth.
So often I have thought something to be a curse when in reality it was a blessing.
Did you notice the twice-repeated word in v.3? The believer in Christ is blessed by God with every spiritual blessing. Frequently throughout this letter we find the repeated phrase that everything occurs "to the praise of God's glory." He has blessed His people so that our hearts should be captured by Him and nothing else.
In v.4, we read, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight." Paul takes us back before the beginning of time, before the foundation of all created things.
What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed-up people could be godly.
Yaconelli
in v.4, Paul reminds us that we are "blameless in his sight." Did you get that? "In His sight." It is His opinion that matters, and when it does, we will be defined by Him. When we see ourselves as He does through the lens of His Son, we will be freed to daringly move into His will for our lives. It is then that we will be motivated aright, not by our insecurities but by our completedness in Christ.
In order to lead the orchestra, you must turn your back on the crowd.
Notice where all this occurs -- "in the heavenly realms." Paul means that we are involved with the "heavenly realms" right now. These heavenly realms are really the realm of invisible reality, of things which are true about life in the world, but which we can't see or touch right now. And yet they are very real, and they play an important part in our lives now.
We live in a world where most of the important things of our lives are not visible. They can't be touched or seen or tasted or weighed or otherwise measured. They are not subject to the scrutiny of science, nor are they available to the philosophies of men, but they are there. We must recognize that fact. And it is in this realm that these great spiritual blessings are to be found. It is here that our life can be changed and we can become different people, by God's grace. All this will be developed in fuller detail as we go on into the letter.
All progress in the spiritual life comes by understanding a truth which is already true. It is not something that God is going to do, but something He has already done. Therefore it is available to us the minute we grasp it.
Finally, as we go through this epistle, you will notice that your new life is really about what God is doing. God chose us, He predestined us, He is making His will known to us.
