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Ephesians 1:1-6 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 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: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

We all desperately need love. From the time we are born crying, our little arms reach out in the cold, seeking love. I am convinced that this is the reason why so many reach out and try to find love in all the wrong places. Am I loved? Am I appreciated?

Then the hard times come. We have good times, and we all have bad times. As we go through the hard times – times of suffering where we feel so very alone – we wonder. Am I loved? Is God there? Does He really care about me? The answer is a resounding YES. God does love us. He has proven that love for us in Christ.

As Paul – under the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit – wrote this letter to Christ’s beloved Church the Apostle was not writing from a beach front condominium. He was not sitting in a palace, nor writing from a comfortable bedroom or some wooded retreat. Paul was sitting in a Roman prison – a horrible place – waiting to literally lose his head for Christ. Author Brian Rapske wrote in his book “The Book of Acts and Paul in Roman Custody”:

“… the sun and the suffocating heat caused {the prisoners} distress, there being no roof, while the nights that followed were, on the contrary, autumnal and cold … they were so cramped for space that they had to do everything in the same place. … The dead were heaped together, one upon another … the stench was intolerable …”

The prison that the Apostle was in was horrid. Yet he did not complain. He did not even ask “Pray for me, that God would save me and remove me from this terrible place”. No, but the Apostle saw even the suffering and darkness of the prison as an opportunity to serve the Lord Who saved him. Paul knew who he was:

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God

His imprisonment did not change who he was. He was in this prison not because Rome imprisoned him, but because God had a purpose for his imprisonment. The Apostle wished the Church …

Grace be to you, and peace

because he himself was, even in this prison, experiencing the Grace of God and the peace of God:

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

What kept the Apostle warm on the freezing prison nights, and cool throughout those blistering days? What kept his heart light as he was fed rotted food? What kept joy in his heart as his body suffered?

Paul Understood Jesus Is The Beloved Of God

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Let us focus on this phrase He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. The Apostle said that He – a reference to God the Father – hath made us accepted. We who are believers in God are made acceptable – not by our efforts, but by our relationship to the Beloved. We are accepted in the Beloved. Who is this Beloved? It is Jesus Christ.

The world sees Jesus as a curse word in a sentence, or as a great teacher, or as a fine human being. The religious world often sees Jesus in a diminished manner. Jesus one day asked the Pharisees – the religious conservative party of His day:

Matthew 22:42 … What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?

Israel looked for the coming of Christ, the Messiah, the Savior that God promised. The Pharisees knew that the Promised Messiah would come of the line of David. God promised King David:

2 Samuel 7:12-16 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

and God told the Prophet:

Isaiah 11:1-2 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

and to the Prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 23:5-6 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our Righteousness.

The Pharisees knew that Christ would come of the line of David. So they replied “Of course Messiah is to be the son of David. Everyone knows that!” But then Jesus – quoting Psalm 110:1 asked:

Matthew 22:43-45 {Jesus} saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?

The point is that Jesus Christ is MUCH MORE than a Great Teacher – though He was and is a Great Teacher. Jesus Christ is much more than a Man, though He is the only Perfect and sinless Man. Jesus Christ is the Beloved Son of God. He is unique. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist He was not just another believer in a crowd of believers. As He came up out of the baptismal waters the Father spoke from Heaven:

Matthew 3:17 … This is My BELOVED Son, in Whom I am well pleased!

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Messianic Prophesies, the very Son of God. He is the Father’s Beloved Son.

On a certain Sabbath Day a man with a withered came to Church that day. The Pharisees watched Jesus to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. Oh, what a hardened heart mere religion makes! It is religion that tells us to bow down and worship statues. It is religion that tells us to arm ourselves to kill the infidel. It is religion that watches the Messiah, lest He heal a poor man on a Sabbath Day. Oh, how Satan uses religion! It is religion that professes love, and yet betrays a brother or a sister in need. It is religion that will get a cow out of a ditch on a Sabbath Day, but will not help the poor and hurting man. Jesus healed that man with the withered hand (Matthew 12:13-14) while …

“the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.”

Oh, there goes religion! Plotting and planning murder. But Jesus – how did Jesus Christ, the Beloved of God respond? Religion went out plotting, but Jesus went out healing!

Matthew 12:15 … great multitudes followed {Jesus}, and he healed them all;

When Matthew wrote of this he quoted Isaiah 42:1, saying:

Matthew 12:18 … Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.

Jesus Christ is the Beloved Son of God. It is He Whom the Father said:

Matthew 17:5 …  This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Jesus Christ is the Beloved Son of God. He is alone born of Mary, a virgin. Though descended from the line of David, Jesus did not come from David’s seed. That Holy Thing which was born of Mary shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ is ALL OF GOD in a fragile but Holy Human package. The Prophet said of Jesus:

Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Oh, how the Father loves His Son. And oh, how much Jesus loved and loves us. Pastor C.H. Spurgeon said:

“Jesus was a mass of love. He was love performing, and love suffering. Love made Him live as He did, and love still pervades His nature. He that lives on high is still loving {us}. Since God is love then, and Christ is full of love, His character is suitable to God. You shall not find anything in Christ Jesus that doth not consort with the God-like and the divine.”

Jesus is the Beloved of God – and He should be our Beloved.

The Beloved Lowered Himself So We Could Be Beloved

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Christ is the Beloved of God. But our text tells us also that God the Father hath made US accepted in the beloved.

2 Corinthians 8:9 …. ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Jesus had no need to lower Himself for His sake. He lowered Himself for our sakes. Jesus Christ is God-rich in Grace and Holiness. Yet He became a pauper on that Cross of Calvary so that we too could become the beloved of God. The Apostle uses two words to describe the Christian, both found in verse 1:

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

The words the Apostle uses is:

saints
faithful

The word translated saints is the Greek ἅγιος hagios. The same word is translated HOLY in verse 4:

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

To the Pharisee, the Sadducee, and the generally religious a person is holy because of what we do or what we wear. For the religious we are holy when we dress up in suit and tie. We are holy when we have titles and doctorates to our name. We are holy when we occupy a special position in the Church, such as Pastor, Priest, Deacon or Pontiff. The word holy means “to be set apart for God’s use”. God uses the word holy to describe Himself, and to establish a pattern for the believer. What has God said? In the Old Testament He told His Israel:

Leviticus 20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.

The Law said “holiness is something YOU do to yourself”. This is what the Law says. It said to Israel:

Leviticus 11:44 For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Under the Law man struggled with holiness. The Law “put a burden and a yoke on us that our forefathers could not bear” (Acts 15:10). Then Jesus came. In Christ the Lord did not remove our need to be holy. But what He has told us is this:

1 Peter 1:13-16 … Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

The Christian is called to holiness not to BE saved, but BECAUSE we are saved. We are not what we were. Before we were sons of this earth, this Adam, this fallen creation. But NOW, praise God, we are sons of the Highest because of Christ.

God hath chosen us in {Christ}
before the foundation of the world

When God made man in the Garden of Eden He, in His infinite knowledge, knew that we would be tempted and fall. But God loved us so much that He planned not only our Creation, but our re-Creation. God planned to send His Son to this earth – a earth the Christ helped build – so that we could be more than sons of Adam. Beloved, God sent His Beloved Son Jesus to die for you so that you could be adopted as sons of God. And as sons of God:

Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

You are called to be Holy for Christ gave Himself for you. You are called to be..

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

You are Children of the Most High (Psalms 82:6) because the Beloved gave Himself for you. You are saints, holy and separated unto God as His family. You have all this because of Jesus! Your identity is with Christ, and you are called to be faithful, loving, filled with all the power of God.

Let Us Then Live As Beloved Children Should Live

Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

You, precious believer, are to be filled with faith – that’s what the word faithful means. God has given us everything we need in Christ. We who have received Him as Lord and Savior are predestined to one day be the ADOPTED CHILDREN of God Almighty. This truth never varies. Though we experience both highs and lows as we go through this life, the child of God – that is YOU, dear Christ believer – is ALWAYS a child of God. God has a purpose for your life, and for my life.

We are to love the Beloved Son.
We are to heed the Beloved Son.
We are to be like the Beloved Son.
Because we ourselves are Beloved Sons.

Oh that the Church in America would grasp this great truth. Oh that I myself would fully grasp this truth, and let it hold me while the winds and storms of life blow around me. If you have tasted the Grace of God, do not walk away with just a taste. Feast on God’s Love. Be like Jesus our Rock. The Apostle Peter put it this way:

1 Peter 2:3-6 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

As Jesus is the Living Stone of God, we are to be lively Stones, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices to God our Savior. Everything we do and will be is because the Beloved gave Himself for us. We believe on Him, and in love serve Him – because He saved us when we were unsavable, and loved us when we were unlovable. And again as the Apostle wrote to Colosse:

Colossians 3:12-14 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Blessed be the name of the Lord! Thank You, Jesus, for giving yourself to us all! May God draw you to His side through this His Word!

May God touch your hearts with His Word!