Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. - Ephesians 1:1-2

These first verses of Ephesians is often overlooked but it's crucial to understanding the context of what follows. Paul who was not only a Jew but a well known, high-ranking Jew, known by Jews and Gentiles alike, is now, contrary to his previous zeal, writing a message of grace and peace to the church of Ephesus which is not a Jewish synagogue but rather a church outside Jewish territory composed of Gentiles. The audience Paul has in minds are the "saints" who are "faithful in Christ Jesus". In otherwords, Paul has in mind gentiles who believed. The fact that a Jew is calling a gentile a saint (rightfully) is a big deal. Up until Christ incarnate the Jews were God's chosen people..sort of, God always had a plan for the gentiles but the culture did not view it as such. For Paul, a Jew, to be greeting a gentile church addressing them as saints is a BIG deal. It's a big deal to the Jews causing many of them hard feelings and it's a big deal to the gentiles letting them know they are included inasmuch as the Jews were considered to be. Even more so Paul now begins to list all the blessings for those who are in Christ giving new revelation to spiritual blessings in heavenly places for us in who are in Christ according to our faith.

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, - Ephesians 1:3

What amazing word for us who believe. What hope such a blessed message gives to us! Notice "every spiritual blessing", let that sink in, God is so gracious! But let me take a moment to also point out the condition for said blessing, that is "in Christ". This is the condition this blessing and the many that follow require of us in order to be partakers of it. At least 10 times we see "in Him", "in Christ", "in the Beloved", and the like as Paul lists such wonderful, gracious, and amazing things in store for those 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 - Ephesians 1:4

This is where many have to be careful not to add their presuppositions into the text. It does NOT say "just as He chose us to be in Him..." Rather it's talking specifically to those of us who are "in Him" and speaks of them with such an esteemed position as being chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him.

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. - Ephesians 1:5-6

Question: Do you believe in predestination?

I hope you answered yes as the bible here and many other places teaches it! Unfortunately many look at this word, this verse with the wrong lens. They see the word predestined or predestination and liken it to God choosing who will be saved and who will not be and in misquoting this passage, claim that such choices were made before the world was. That is NOT what is being said here.

Yes I believe in predestination but not as many do today who misrepresent what the bible teaches. Remember Paul is writing to Christians, to "saints...who are faithful in Christ Jesus" (v1). He is saying to believers, to those who are "in the Beloved" that such persons, because of the condition of being "in Christ" are therefore predestined to "every spiritual blessing" that God chose before the foundation of the world for all those who are in Christ.

For example. We have some friends who are cruise ship junkies. My wife and I have considered it many times but have never gone. Many times we've been excited about what our friends shared about the benefits of these cruise ships and their amazing itineraries. On those itineraries is everything that cruise ship is predestined to do. The ship will stop at this tropical place and that, this foreign country, that island, this theme park, that port, and so on and so on. All of which the cruise ship boasts about hoping you will decide to buy a ticket. The cruise ship promises all these blessings on all of those who board the vessel. God promises all the blessings on all those who are in Christ. Does the cruise ship pick and choose who will board? No, but they have a condition - purchase a ticket. Does God pick and choose who will be in Christ? No but He has a condition - faith (Rom. 4:16, Heb. 11:6). Both invite and will bestow their blessing on whosoever will come (Matt. 11:28, 22:9, Rev. 22:17).

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 - Ephesians 1:7-8

"Redemption", "forgiveness", "adoption", don't get so hung up on verse 4 as many do debating predestination that you fail to see the love letter God is sending you through this entire section. It's beautiful. The enemy would not want your heart touched by the beautiful amazing blessings God so desires not only to to give you in the time to come but wants to tell you about it in the time now. This is a love letter to you, from Him. God loves you and He wants you to know that. Not only was this demonstrated for you on the cross (Rom. 5:8) but He continues to lavish (accurate use of that word) the gifts of His grace on us for all eternity! Why do you think Paul so easily gave up all his status, prestige, his reputation, his money, his health, his well being..everything? I'll tell you why! Nope, I'll have Paul tell you why:

⁴ although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

⁷ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, - Philippians 3:4-8

When you properly know what it means to be in Christ you find it much easier to count the rest of life as rubbish. Even hard sufferings do not compare to the value of Christ. As one missionary, Jim Elliot said "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

⁹ He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him - Ephesians 1:9

"Mystery of His will" the Gospel, the good news, the revelation of Jesus Christ! (Eph 6:19; Ro 16:25; Col 1:26, 27). "...kind intention which He purposed in Him". Paul alluded to something similar already at the end of verse 5 and will again at the end of verse 11. These blessings God does because He wants too. Not out of obligation, nor out of us earning them or meriting them in anyway, but because God purposed it in Himself to do so because He is a kind God and therefore it pleased Him too.

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 - Ephesians 1:10

"summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth". The plan from before the world began was focused on Christ. Christ is the Chosen One (Matt. 12:18) in whom all things would be summed up in. As Paul also wrote to the Galatians and explained how the old testament promise of God was not to Abraham's seeds (plural) but rather it was to Abraham's Seed (singular) meaning Christ (Gal. 3:16).

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. - Ephesians 1:11-12

Again that word predestined is referring to a predetermined plan by God that all in Christ are predestined to these blessings (including being conformed to the image of His Son, Rom. 8:29) which are and have always been according to God's purpose who works these out on the basis of Himself, the condition of His kindness and therefore are according to the counsel of His will. Blessing for those in Christ  who existed in ages past, ages present, and in future times which was known before the foundation of the world but put into action now (1 Pet. 1:20-21).

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. - Ephesians 1:13-14

This is the order of salvation. Number one, "after listening" (cf Rom. 10:17). Number two "having also believed" (past tense), and Number three, "sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit" (the present), and number four, "inheritance" (the future). Number four is yet to transpire but as Peter says, God is not slow about His promise but is patient toward us not wishing any to perish but that all would come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). If you are a Christian, the first three have transpired and you are hoping for that which you do not see (Rom. 8:24-25) recognizing that the Holy Spirit in you is your pledge--God's promise of what He predestined for you in Him ages ago! This should propel us to worship Christ. The promise was made to Him and to those in Him by the sole purpose of His kindness by the sole reason of His pleasure. That's good news. You neither earned it by works, nor can you lose it by works! In Christ, it's yours, period. Which should equal to the praise of His glory!

In the next section we'll expand on "God's own possession".

¹⁵ For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, Ephesians 1:15-18

One thing I like about Paul's prayers is they are very direct and get to the heart of the matter. So many times we pray for the symptoms rather then getting to the core issue. We hear that Bill, a non-believer, has a drinking problem and it's destroying his life so we pray things like "God, help Bill not to drink." So Bill becomes a sober sinner instead of a drunk sinner and gains nothing. What Bill needs is salvation, he needs Jesus. Without that we're just praying for the symptoms but not for the core issue. If we went to a doctor who only treated the symptoms we'd call him a Quack! If Bill went to the doctor and said doc, I have this dizziness and reoccurring headaches in my head and the doc said "here, take some aspirin" maybe the pressure goes away. But then Bill returns to the doc a few months later and say "doc, the pressure is back" and the doc says, "ok, let's up our game, here is some Demerol" meanwhile the tumor in Bill's head is growing...

It's like a man who comes to fellowship and confessed how this week he was running strong but then he got entangled in the web of sin and he's here to confess it, and week after week this man comes back and shares the same testimony about how he's entangled in this web of sin and he's here to confess, then after a few weeks of this, a gentlemen near him puts his arm around him and prays, "Oh God, kill the spider."

That's getting to the heart of the issue! We deal so much with the peripherals of the issue not getting down to the heart of the issue. Paul, when he prays, gets right to the heart of the issue.

So in this first of two prayers that Paul offers on behalf of the Ephesians (the 2nd is Eph. 3:14-19) what does Paul pray?

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. - Ephesians 1:17-19a

"that...God...may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation". To understand the things of God requires an act of God. Agnostics believe there is a God but they likewise believe He cannot be known. Zopher says to Job in 11:7 "Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?"

¹⁴ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. - 1 Corinthians 2:14

²⁷ All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. - Matthew 11:27

So Paul is praying properly, going to the heart of the issue praying for God to make God known to the Ephesians and to us!

"knowledge of Him." One of the most important things we can possess is the true knowledge of God. There are so many false theology, concepts, and doctrines of God, even of Jesus, which was combated heavily even as early as biblical times which is recorded in scripture so we would be naive to think we are free from such a battle. Billy Graham once said that the ordering around faith is this. Fact > Faith > Feeling. If you remove any or rearrange any you'll be in trouble. Well, with fact being what our faith is resting on, it's no wonder the enemy sends out lies and deceptions. Take a look at v13, it's only after listening we believe, and it's only after listening to the message of truth which is the gospel of our salvation and then believing in that we are sealed in the Holy Spirit. So it's no wonder the enemy seeks to pervert the gospel. If the enemy can change what you believe to be true about God he can get your faith and feeling to fall into line with a false doctrine.

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, - 1 Timothy 4:1

Why did they fall away? Because they were "paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." These are out there now. Pray like Paul that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus.

¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, - Ephesians 1:18

I've heard it said that you can have knowledge of God in the mind without having knowledge of God in the heart but you cannot have knowledge of God in the heart without first having knowledge of God in the mind. Billy Graham said faith comes after fact, and feeling comes after faith. Paul seems to be following that same ordering. So next on his prayer for us moves beyond that of wisdom, revelation, and knowledge on the level of the mind to that of the heart. "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened". Specifically that we would "know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,"

Have you ever got to witness the glory of God at a heart level? David writes in Psalm 34:8 "O taste and see that the Lord is good". When the eyes of your heart are enlightened you experience something that leaves you driven, compelled for more. Not only this, but like Paul, when you grow in the knowledge of what is the hope of His calling and the riches of His glory everything else in this life, it's tribulations, it's difficulties, pain, and even death become trivial in comparison. You start saying things like "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21) and mean it! To know God at a heart level is to traverse this life without concern for it, both it's struggles and it's riches become rubbish in comparison.

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  - Romans 8:18

⁷ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, - Philippians 3:7-8

"I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus My Lord." Do you know how huge this statement is. This isn't just a nice saying we carve pretty into wood and hang above the fireplace, it's the very reality of those who at a heart level are enlightened to the very real understanding of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus!

We often pray that God would reveal Himself in a hand-out, we pray things like "Lord we pray for this person's healing and that you would show yourself mighty this way". I'm not saying that's a bad prayer, I'm saying such a hand-out is insignificant when you are faced with the presence of the Lord. Everything is insignificant when you are faced with the presence of the Lord. Moses realized this when he exuberantly prayed to God "show me Your glory!" (Exo. 33:18). Moses got a taste of God and he wanted more. With all that was going on, what Moses wanted the most was more of God revealed. Like Paul, Moses got a taste of the surpassing value of knowing God that makes everything else trivial.

Alexander the great was moving over the Himalayas as he was moving to conquer India, having conquered the Persian empire and all of it's wealth and he saw this one young fellow who's horse was heavy laden and the horse was weakening under the load and the horse was beginning to stumble along and he was doing his best to help the horse until finally the horse just collapsed. So this young boy took the load that was on this horse and put it on his shoulders and he began to strain and struggle with that load. Alexander the great became curious and wondered what in the world does he have in those sacks that he is trying so hard to carry them on, why doesn't he just leave them along the path, and he went up to him and said "young man what in the world do you have in those sacks that you are trying so hard to get to camp with them". And he looked at him and said "sir, I bear in these sacks the treasure of Alexander the great". Alexander shook his head and said "when we make camp, take them to your tent, they now belong to you."

Don't you know they got a lot lighter? All the sudden it wasn't nearly as heavy. "Woooo! it's mine!! Wow!!"

Similarly the Lord says to us "Hey, when we make camp, it's all yours" (Luke 18:30).

When I realize the hope of his calling, the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ it gives me overwhelming strength to endure, to go on, to fight the good fight.

Similarly consider these two parables of Jesus.

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. - Matthew 13:44

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. - Matthew 13:45-46

Question: In the parable of the hidden treasure why did the man sell all he has and what was his motivation?

Question: In the parable of the costly pearl why did the man sell all he had and what was his motivation?

The burden (and joy!) of a teacher is not to compel a man to sell out for God, it's to make known the joy and the value of Him and the rest will take care of itself. The Apostle Paul through all his tribulations said it is "the love of Christ compels us" (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

"His inheritance in the saints" I hope this gives you goosebumps. Earlier Paul talked about our inheritance in Christ now He is talking about His inheritance. In other words, Paul is praying that we would know how valuable God views us! The NLT puts it this way:

¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. - Ephesians 1:18 (NLT, cf. Isa 53:10)

Part of Paul's prayer is that we would learn how much God values us! The most well known verse, John 3:16, is the most well known verse because it is letting us all in this world know that "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!"

Question: Many times God uses things within our realm of thinking to compare how much He values us. Many people easily deprecate themselves but God here wants us to know how much He values us! We should pray and take time to reflect on that since He Himself encourages it so. He challenges us to take a look around us and reason with Him to discover our own worth to Him. The lilies (Luke 12:27), the sparrows (Matt. 10:31), numbering the hairs of our head (Luke 12:7), our own parenting (Luke 11:13, Matt. 7:11) and our regard for our own nursing children (Isa. 49:15), and in the ultimate demonstration (Rom. 5:8) the crucifixion (1 Cor. 7:23, 1 Pet. 1:18-19, Heb. 12:2, Isa. 53:10). In what ways do you know you are valued by God?

For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
    With his love, he will calm all your fears.
    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” - Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)