Sunday morning at Sovereign Grace Church of
Lagrange we considered what it ACTUALLY means to be blessed and how our understanding of blessedness impacts our life. Ephesians 1:3
reveals that Father God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places…”
This is a declarative and determinative
statement. It isn’t a sarcastic open ended remark that is intended to leave us
uncertain or ambivalent. Paul is sure of
this as we should be. This verse reveals that we need to always be aware of our
blessedness. It also reveals how
we should understand our blessed estate in Christ as Father God “has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (vs.3b)
We are indubitably and overwhelmingly
blessed SGC!! The challenge in our day and age relates to how being
‘blessed’ is understood.
Present secular culture imposes a category
of ‘blessedness’ that is alien to Scripture and thus Christian spirituality and
life. Within the church is commonly known as the ‘health & wealth gospel’.
Our blessings are ‘spiritual’ and ‘in the heavenly places’ (vs.3b).
This world or ‘earthly places’ (I John
2:15-17) is not where we are to derive or locate our blessedness from. As John
also writes the Ephesians in I John the ‘things’, ‘desires’ & ‘possessions’
of ‘this world’ are passing away or dying. In other-words, if we locate our
blessedness in this world or according to the priorities of earthly places our
perception and experience of blessedness will die along with it.
Throughout Ephesians Paul deliberately
contrasts ‘heavenly places’ with ‘earthly places’ as a way to properly locate
and understand our ‘blessedness’. The truly blessed
life is wrapped up in spiritual blessings not material wealth or physical well
being. While the latter certainly plays
a role…without the former we are most certainly not ‘ALIVE and WELL’.
The language of blessing in relation to Christians
within Scripture is directly associated with spiritual blessing/s not material
blessing. Material blessing is better understood scripturally as God’s
provision and, of course, provision is an expression of His grace and love.
However, we are well served not to confuse provision with blessing. I wonder if
we have become to earthly minded as opposed to being heavenly minded
(Col.3:1-5).
~Understanding that we have been made ALIVE and WELL
according to the will
of God located in
Christ Jesus (Ch.1-2:10). Christ as the center of salvation not
us.
~Realizing that being ALIVE and WELL involves
participation in the “household
of God” or the
local church (2:11-22). The exchange of life amongst the church is essential to
being ALIVE.
~Participating
in the local church by contributing to the local church according
to the
‘giftedness’ that Christ has bestowed upon you. (4:7-16). This
promotes
LIFE and WELLBEING amongst the church including yourself as part of the church.
When and how are you contributing to local church LIFE and
WELLBEING?
~Praying for LIFE and WELL BEING (3:14:21;
6:10-20). It is incumbent upon us to
pray regularly as
a way of sustaining LIFE and WELL BEING. Solving problems
logically, as
important as this is, isn’t the same as
asking God to create LIFE or
to sustain WELL BEING.
~Separating our ‘old self’ from the ‘new self’ (4:17-5:21). The new LIFE in Christ
promotes a New
manner of LIVING. We will not LIVE according to old, sinful
customs or
practices.
and
businesses/jobs.
Being ALIVE and WELL is not defined according
to ‘401k’s’, ‘date night’ (and I love date night with m’lady), ‘neon parties’, ‘graphic promotional imagery’,
‘old-self culture’, ‘flashy Sunday productions’ and the like. According to
Ephesians ‘being ALIVE and WELL’ is a matter of locating our salvific
blessedness in Christ, as Father God has willed (1:3-2:10), while LIVING out
our NEW LIVES amongst the CHURCH as contributing participants (2:11-4:8-16) and
our respective FAMILIES who LIVE according to that NEW LIFE while leaving the
OLD LIFE of sin behind us (4:17-21).
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