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Isaiah 25:6-9 6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Ephesians 1:3-23 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that 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 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. 15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The Inheritance of the Saints
Paul wrote many letters to the various churches. He wrote to churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi and more.
I have a question for you today. If Paul were to write a letter to our church what would he say? First off he would address it to the saints who are in Aston and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Did you know you were a saint? Most of us are probably more familiar with the Catholic idea of saint. For Catholics, saints are persons who are canonized by the pope. That is not what Paul means. Paul means anyone who confesses faith in Jesus Christ is a saint, a far older meaning than the Catholic one. Saints are members of the holy community—the community of God.
Friday was All Saints Day. This day has been celebrated since at least the 600s AD. For Protestants it is a day to commemorate those who have recently died such as we did this morning. For Presbyterians we focus on the on-going sanctification of the whole people of God. Sanctification is the process where God sets us apart for God’s purpose, where God makes us holy. It is not a one time event in our lives but an ongoing process that will last throughout our entire lives. As we celebrate All Saints Day we give thanks to God for the ordinary, holy lives of believers in this and every age.
Let us turn to Ephesians where Paul tells us that God has blessed us and chosen us. Think of times when you have been chosen. How did it make you feel? Chosen means someone wanted you, picked you out of other choices. Those of us who were good athletically know what it is like to be chosen first for a team. Feels good, doesn’t it? And those of us who were not athletic know what it is like to not be chosen. When it came to baseball in grammar school I was the one the teams fought over. They fought over who got stuck with me since I was so bad at baseball.
If any of you were ever adopted you were specifically chosen by your parents. Those of us who married were chosen by our spouses. Now think of what it means that you are chosen by God. The God who called the universe into being chose you. God wants you. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? . Long before we knew God, Paul says before the foundation of the world, God knew us and chose us. God knew about us long before any of us were even conceived and God chose us. On our own we have no ability to choose God. We are only able to choose God because He first chose us. Why did God chose us? Since He chose us before we were even born it certainly wasn’t because of anything we’ve done. God chose us to be saints.
What were we chosen for? We were chosen to be holy and blameless. For us to be holy means that we are set apart by God. As Christians we are to be distinctly different, set apart by God for His purposes. Our separation is not from the world but it means that we are to be different in the world.
Why? Why were we chosen? Because of God’s love. God loved us and chose us. We were destined for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ. And all this is by grace. God’s grace extended to us in love. We are redeemed and forgiven through the blood of Jesus by God’s overwhelming grace that was lavished on us. Lavished. That’s a rich word. God’s grace was lavished on us. We didn’t get a drop of grace or a dollop of grace. No. Grace was poured down upon us so we are completely soaked in grace.
Paul tells us God has made known to us the mystery of His will. God has taken us into His confidence. There is a plan, God has a plan for the fullness of time to gather up all things in Him. We know Christ will return and all things will be under Him.
We have obtained an inheritance so we might live for the praise of God’s glory.
When we heard and believed we were marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit, the pledge of our inheritance. We don’t use seals much today. But they were commonplace throughout the ancient world. A seal would be a stamp which would be pressed into a soft surface like wax in order to leave an indelible impression. Seals served a variety of purposes. They were used on invoices to authenticate them and establish them as genuine. A seal Indicated ownership. It ratified a covenant or contract. It served as a guarantee. It was designed to preserve and protect.
The Holy Spirit accomplishes each of these functions. The Spirit’s seal upon us identifies us as genuine members of God’s kingdom. It is an indication that we are the prized possession of God. It is the ratification of the New Covenant in Christ. It is a pledge to guarantee all that we have in Christ. The Spirit of God preserves and protects us from the prince of this world. God has given a guarantee that all of His promises will be granted to us. His guarantee of His pledge is His own Spirit.
Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus that he has heard of their faith and their love for all the saints. Two marks of a saint are their faith and their love towards others. Earlier we heard that we have obtained an inheritance so we might live for the praise of God’s glory. This is how we do that, through faith and love. Paul prays for them, that God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation as they come to know Him. Can you see this is an ongoing process? The wisdom and revelation that comes only from God will increase and grow over time as we come to know Him. We know God through prayer and worship; through a sustained relationship with Him. The more time we spend with God the more wisdom and revelation we will experience.
What Paul is praying for the Ephesians is for something that only the Holy Spirit of God can give.
He is not praying for them to have an attitude, or a strength of determination, or any other thing that can be conjured up, mustered up within a person; he is praying and asking God for spiritual wisdom and revelation and that can only come from God. What he is praying for simply, is the Holy Spirit’s help and continued anointing in bringing to these faithful believers ever greater wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. That God would take them deeper and deeper into an intimate knowledge of Himself. According to the Westminster Catechism our chief end is to know God and to enjoy Him forever.
It is not enough to have just a head-knowledge of Jesus. To examine Him and study His word and His actions and think to understand Him that way. Our relationship to Him must be based on the revelation of Himself through His Spirit to our spirits; it will only be in our spirit through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we will begin to understand His mission in the world, His purpose in us; only by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation will we begin to know the Father. Then the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened. We will know the hope to which God has called us. We will know the riches of His glorious inheritance among the saints and we will know the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe.
What is the hope to which we have been called? What are the riches of our inheritance and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power? The promise that God will love us and sustain us through all eternity. Isaiah gives us the image of a feast with the best food and wine. He tells us God will destroy the shroud that is over all people. God will destroy death and God will wipe away all our tears. This is our inheritance in Christ Jesus.
We are described as God’s own special possession. A trophy of His grace. We are God’s, not only because He created us in the first place, but especially because He purchased us through the blood of Christ shed on the cross.
The story is told of a little boy who built a toy sailboat. He loved that sailboat. It held a special place in his bedroom and he would imagine sailing on exciting adventures with his toy boat. One day, he was down at the lake and put the boat in the water when the wind changed and, much to his dismay, his boat was swept away.
It was a few months later when he was walking down the street and saw the same sailboat in the window of a pawn shop. “That’s my boat!” he told the pawn shop owner. “It may have been your boat,” replied the owner, “but it’s mine now and it will cost you twenty dollars.” The little boy went home and collected and saved until he had $20.00 and then he went back to the pawn shop and purchased the boat. “Little sailboat,” he said, “You are mine. I made you and then I bought you back. You’re twice mine.”
The Lord is our Maker. He not only made us, He also bought us and paid for us. We are twice His. This is our glorious inheritance; because of Jesus we are redeemed and forgiven, we are adopted as sons and daughters of God and together with all the saints we will live with God for all eternity.
What does it mean to be a saint? It means we have been chosen by God, redeemed by Jesus and sealed with the Holy Spirit. It means we are people loved by God who love God in return. And because we love God we want to share God’s love with others. We want to be like Jesus. Being a saint isn’t a duty, it is a joy.
A little girl was asked what a saint is. Looking up at the stained glass windows of her church she said, “a saint is a person the light shines through.” Isn’t that a wonderful idea? A saint is someone that the light of Christ shines through. May the light of Christ shine through each of us. Let us pray.