This week I am starting a series on the benefits we receive when we believe in Jesus Christ.  I hope to cover some of them from Ephesians 1.

                    I will be talking about what some of you understand as “positional truth.”  I prefer the Biblical word “blessings” or the contemporary word, “benefits” as they are easier for me to understand.  They are called positional truths by some because every blessing mentioned here comes because we are in Christ. 

                    God is so good!  He has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

                    A blessing is something that comes from someone or something outside ourselves.  The Greek word literally means “good word”.  As evangelism is a “good message” so a blessing is a “good word”.   We have received a “good word” from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In the heavenly realm, we have this good word, this blessing.

                    When I say “we”, I am referring to those who believe in Jesus, I am referring to the saints.

                    Do you know what the blessings are, what the good words that God speaks to us in the heavenly realm, in the spiritual world?

A man who had been a drunkard on Chicago's Skid Row for many years came to a mission one night. He heard the message, ate the meal, and went to bed. That was his last night on earth. He died poverty-stricken and friendless, never to see another day.  What he did not know was that he had an inheritance of over four million dollars waiting for him in England.  The authorities had searched for him but were unalbe to find him because he had no address.  Here was a man who had all the material wealth he could want, but he lived and died in poverty.

In this sense he was jsut like many Christians and non-Christians alike, who live is spiritual poverty because they are not fully aware of their wealth in Christ. (Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Michael Green, Editor, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989, pg. 428)

                    Listen to this verse, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

                    If we simplify the sentence we would read it this way: “He chose us in Him…to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

                    The first point I want to make is that this is a blessing.  Paul has already said that he is thankful for the blessings God has given us in Christ Jesus.  So this is the first blessing he talks about. 

                    The second point I want to make is that this blessing is found “in Christ.”  The term “in him” or “in Christ” is used several times in Ephesians. 

                    I look at it like this.  I go out and buy a car.  When I get the car, I not only get a car, but I get all that the car has.  I not only get the car, engine, but I may get bucket seats….with heaters in them.  I get a cd player or a gps unit.  They all come with the car.

                    So the blessings all come with Christ.  When we receive Christ, these blessings come with Him.

                    Google is an internet company that is one of the top benefit giving companies in the United States.  If you worked for them you would receive: medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, counseling, childcare, Retirement, holidays, maternity benefits, $500 for takeout meals the first four weeks they are home with the new baby, tuition reimbursement, a $2000 bonus if your lead is used to hire a new employee.  They also match contributions of up to $3000 to any non-profit organization you gift to, $5000 to use for assistance in adoption a child, free lunch and dinner and snacks, an onsite doctor, shuttle service, financial planning classes, onsite-oilchange, car wash, dry cleaning, massage therapy, gym, hair stylist, fitness classes and bike repair.

They also offer Ski trip, company movie day, summer picnic, Halloween & holiday party, health fair, quarterly group offsites, credit union, sauna, roller hockey, outdoor volleyball court, discounts for products and local attractions.

As wonderful at those benefits are, and they are wonderful, they do not go as deep nor do they last as long as the benefits we receive in Christ.

                    You receive Christ, you receive the blessings. 

                    These blessings are for every Christian. 

                    So what are the blessings?  The first blessing is that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

                    These two blessing come out of Jewish understanding of life.

                    Holiness is a term that most of us equate with sinlessness.  A holy person is someone who is good.  The only truly holy person is God for God is good all the time and all the time God is good. 

                    But as the second word, “blameless” seems to me to talk more about the sin issue, I believe that a second meaning that is much more common to the Jewish mind, is what Paul has in mind here.  Holy not only means sinless, but also holy means something set apart to be used by God.

                    Exodus 30:22 and following give us this sense.  In this passage, God tells Israel to make some oil.  The oil is to anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it.  Why?  When the oil touches something, it will be set apart to be used for God’s purposes.  It will take ordinary furniture and consecrate it to God.

                    “22 Then the LORD said to Moses, 23 “Take the following fine spices: 500 shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much (that is, 250 shekels) of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of fragrant cane, 24 500 shekels of cassia--all according to the sanctuary shekel--and a hin of olive oil. 25 Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil. 26 Then use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, 27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, 28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them so they will be most holy, and whatever touches them will be holy. 30 “Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. 31 Say to the Israelites, ‘This is to be my sacred anointing oil for the generations to come. 32 Do not pour it on men’s bodies and do not make any oil with the same formula. It is sacred, and you are to consider it sacred. 33 Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.’”” Exodus 30:22-33, NIV.

                    Notice that no one was to make the same perfume nor was anyone to use it except a priest.  Why?  Because this was holy oil and was used for a special purpose, to set people and things aside to be used for God’s purpose.

                    That is the blessing we get from God through Jesus Christ.  Before the foundation of the world, God decided to bless us by making us holy, set apart for his purpose.

                    I find it interesting what Paul says in 1 Cor. 6. “9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

                    Here is the blessing.  Before these people became Christians, they were sexually immoral.  Now that they know Christ,  God set these sexually immoral people apart to serve him.

                    Here were prostitutes before they came to Christ.  One might ask, Can God use former prostitutes in his service?  The answer is, “Yes!”  In Christ, you are set apart in the eyes of God to serve Him.

                    Here were homosexual offenders.  Can God use someone who was practicing homosexuality?  When a person comes to Christ, God is telling you, “I am setting you apart to serve me.”

                    And the list goes on.

                    What I want you to wrap your arms around is this blessing.  Whatever your past may be,  now that you know Jesus,  God himself says, “You are set apart to serve me.” 

                    That is why Peter calls all of us a priest.  Say this.  In Christ, I am a priest.  In Christ, I am a minister.  In Christ, I am a servant of God.

                    Why?  Because before the foundation of the world, God chose those in Christ to be blameless.

                    “9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” Genesis 6:9

 “5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” Exodus 12:5, NIV.

The word “blameless” and “without defect” are the same word in the Hebrew. 

What would happen is this.  A man would bring a lamb without visible defect to the priest.  It’s legs wouldn’t be broken, it would have use of both eyes, there would be no sign of disease of the skin or any other defect.

The lamb would be placed on an altar.  The person would place their hands on this lamb without defect.  The lamb would be killed.  Why?  It is like the sin of the man flowed down to the lamb, and the lamb was punished for the mans sin.  The man walks away blameless because the lamb was blamed and punished for his sin.

You say, “How unfair for the lamb.”  I understand your sentiment, but God was using a picture to communicate to us an important lesson. 

The lesson is, “Our sin is bad.”  God doesn’t overlook it, nor does he flippantly say to us, “It’s ok.”  An innocent lamb died every time a person sinned.

This lamb had no real power to forgive sin.  The real power came from God who looked to see the true faith of the person coming to offer the sacrifice.  When a person, by faith, believed that their sin was paid for by the lamb, God counted it to them as righteousness.  They walked away blameless.

But this lamb was just a symbol.  It was a symbol of Jesus Christ, who is the lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.

Just as the person laid their hands on the head of the lamb, so we come to Jesus who is dying on the cross, innocent of any wrongdoing and lay our hands of faith on Him.

When we do, our sin flows from us to Jesus.  It comes off our shoulders on to his.  Because our sin is on Jesus,  God looks at us and says, “I see no defect, I have nothing to hold against you, you are blameless in my sight.”

This is why God can say to the sexually immoral, the prostitutes and homosexual, “I have set you apart to serve me…”  because when by faith they trusted in Jesus, all their sin flowed off them on to the cross. 

Some of you don’t think you are worthy to be used by God.  But it is not an issue of worthiness.  When you trust Jesus, this is one of the benefits, one of the blessings that come as part of the package.  God looks at you and he does not see your sin, you are blameless, he sees you as a priest, a minister, a holy person that is useable in his service.

Paul put it this way, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.  Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.”

You say, “But when I become a Christian I bring some baggage with me.”  That’s right.  And that baggage does not disqualify you from being set apart to be used by God for God chose, before the foundations of the world, to use you in holy service to him.  So there may be some training involved, some things that will have to change in your everyday life.  But if you have received Jesus and put your faith in Him, you are holy and without blame in his sight.

Let go of the notion that you are just too bad a person to be used by God.  When you put your faith in Jesus, that changed.  Just as it would be too bad to work at Google and not eat the free lunch, so it would be too bad to trust in Jesus and not enjoy the blessing of knowing that God holds nothing against you and wants to use you in His service.

God is so good!  Embrace the blessing!