Gratitude
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”
Here is a prayer of gratitude…for we find Paul’s thoughts fully absorbed in the subject of the exceeding riches of God’s grace to His people.
Paul’s heart is so overflowing with love and praise to God…that practically the first thing he writes to these Ephesians (with whom he had spent three years)…is adoration of God the Father.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
(And Jesus taught us that the first thing we should do in prayer is adore and worship Him….”Our Father which art in heaven….Hallowed be Thy Name”.)
What does it mean to “bless God”? . Only God can bless…as all blessings come from HIm. But for us to be said to bless God….is to acknowledge HIs goodness and show our highest gratitude to Him for all He has, is and will do.
In this prayer, Paul is seeking to unite the church in Ephesus,…and all believers through this letter…to magnify the Lord with him….and see and praise Him, that He is the Source of all spiritual blessings.
Paul is not asking for anything….He is not petitioning God for these blessings. He is bursting forth with adoration and gratitude for the blessings God has already given in Christ!
God alone can bless…or give of His bounty…His largeness of mercy, grace, power in the Spirit, personal sanctification, forgiveness, hope and love.
“Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings”. Each word is chosen with the Spirit’s anointing.
It is not just “all blessings”…..
It is not “all gifts”….but “all spiritual blessings” because Paul is stressing His new covenant title: God our Father….the Father of Jesus Christ our Lord. (John 20:17)
(The last thing Jesus did before He ascended back to heaven was to bless His own:
Luke 24:50-51 “And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”
And in the last day, when the Son shall sit on His throne and judge the nations, He will say:
Matthew 25:34 “Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:”
Our blessings are part of our eternal inheritance…these blessings are universally for His own. They are not just for the strong and courageous….or the weak and feeble….but for all Who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ….
…for they are “in heavenly places in Christ.”
In Christ we are completely blessed….for there are “all spiritual blessings”.)
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”
When the love of God is “shed abroad” in the heart by the Holy Spirit, our hearts can not be silent.
The One being blessed by Paul (and he is calling us to bless Him as well)….is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When God is said to be the God of any person, what this means is that He is their covenant God.
(In the Old Testament, Israel’s God was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But God promised a “new covenant” Jeremiah 31:31-34.
In the New Testament, God is seen as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”….and He is to be seen and praised, adored as such. Hebrews 10:9)
This grand title also manifests that He is the God of our accomplished redemption.
Surely He Purposed it and Ordained it (John 6:27,37, 44,)..sent His Son to purchase it…
….and has now given us this heritage as His children, His sons:
Romans 8:1,14-15 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
As He has redeemed us through Christ, we are no longer our own….we belong to Him. It is in yielded obedience to this fact in our lives, as we make Him our King, that we truly begin to enjoy these blessings as we should.
As we are in Christ, He is our Father and it is this precious relationship that is our confidence:
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,…
(that is the Father’s throne, and it is a throne of grace to us who believe, because we are in Christ Jesus)
…that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Again we want to say: only God can bless. We simply return His blessings to Him, in the form of praise, and worship.
I started this with the word: Gratitude.
It means an acknowledgement of what has been given to us….through words or actions.
Paul’s adoration of gratitude to God…for Paul saw and experienced the blessings God had for him…overflowed from his heart and lips.
Paul was in prison when he wrote this….but the circumstances we are in….cannot stop the blessings of God to us as we yield ourselves to Christ Jesus our Lord and King.
Spiritual blessings….all spiritual blessings….how many have we taken from the hands of our God? For they are in Christ Jesus….let us reach out and submit ourselves to His Will, and surely we, too will know the gratitude….overflowing gratitude to God for all we have in Christ.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 