I hope you have been enjoying our study of Ephesians 1. It blows my mind to think about the immense love the Father had for us, even before we were born. So far we have talked about how the Father chose us to be sons before the foundation of the world was laid. Last week we saw not only were we chosen but we were predestined to be sons of God. Today, we are going to continue in our study of the blessings the Father has given to us, as sons of God.
The next spiritual blessing we are going to look at comes from Ephesians 1:7-8:
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight” Ephesians 1:7-8 (ESV)
We have been given redemption through the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus allows for us to have forgiveness for all of our sins, because of the grace of the Father given to us, his sons. It’s because of the wisdom of Jesus that we can be given his grace.
We Have Been Ransomed
We have been redeemed or ransomed, delivered, and liberated by the blood of Jesus. Jesus paid the payment to ransom us from the bondage of sin and death. He delivered us from the control of sin in our lives. Sin no longer has power over our lives, once we surrender our lives to Jesus. Jesus liberated us from being forced to pay the payment of sin on our own. This is a debt we could never afford to pay.
This passage declares our trespasses are forgiven through the blood of Jesus. The word trespass can also be translated to offence. This means that both our sins and offenses are forgiven because of the payment Jesus paid with his own blood.
What Happens When Someone is Offended
This reminds me of a verse in Proverbs that says, “A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.” Proverbs 18:19 (ESV) Have you ever offended a friend and faced the consequences of offense? I know I have seen this happen in my life. A few years ago two friends of ours got into an argument. One friend said something was not well thought out in execution, nor in timing. The other friend became offended and fireworks flew. There were meetings and all sorts of crazy things that the offended friend initiated.
You see, all three of our families were close, and in ministry together. We loved both families, and honestly could see both sides of this fight. One friend was truly trying to help the other, but just chose a really, really bad time and method to deliver the message. Meanwhile, the other friend chose to stew in this bad timing and bad delivery. Something definitely needed to be done. Brett and I prayed that the offended friend would forgive the other, and we could all remain friends and ministry partners. Sadly, that is NOT what happened.
The End Result
Brett went alone to this meeting with the two friends. (Both the offended and the offender were men so it made sense that only the men met to solve the argument). Brett was gone for hours. In my spirit I knew things weren’t going well. Actually, in my spirit I knew things had a great chance of going out of control before this meeting ever happened. I tried my best to prepare and warn Brett, but I’m not sure I did the best job at this.
When Brett got home, I instantly knew things didn’t go well. Brett has since called this meeting, “The meeting from Hell.” Let me just say Brett doesn’t talk like that often. It was bad. At the end of this meeting it became clear that we had to cut ties with the man who was offended. You see, he chose to remain like the person described in Proverbs. He was offended and it became impossible to penetrate that wall of offense to show him his need to forgive the words spoken by the other friend. When Brett refused to side with the offended friend, this man chose to become offended by Brett (and me).
In truth, the only thing “wrong” we did was to stand firm in the message of forgiveness. It still makes me sad that this friend chose to remain stuck in his offense. Brett and I still pray often for this man to learn to forgive and become free of this bondage.
Grace is Lavishly Given to Us
Although each of us have done and said things that could cause Jesus to become offended, he chose instead to not only forgive us but to actually pay the debt left from those offenses and outright defiances.
Why did Jesus choose to pay our payment? Because of the “riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight” Jesus is rich in grace and chooses to lavish us with this grace. Why? Because of his wisdom and insight.
What comes to mind when you hear the word lavish? I think of someone living a lavish life. A life of abundance and even flashy. It is this image we should have when we think of the grace of Jesus being given to us. He has so much grace he can give it in abundance and even in flashy ways. It’s no biggie for Jesus to give you all the grace you need and more. There is always more grace where that came from. Just when you think there can’t possibly be any grace leftover, Jesus shows up flashing more grace and handing it out like candy. I, for one, am thankful for this truth.
The Effects of Grace
What are the effects of all this grace being lavishly poured out to us? In his wisdom and insight, Jesus gives us even more. We find out in the next verse that he makes known to us the mystery of his will.
“making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:9-10 (ESV)
In his great wisdom and insight, Jesus sees fit to make known to us the mystery of his will. Why? In order to unite all things in him – things in heaven and on the earth. This indicates that not just humans are reconciled to the Father through the blood of Jesus. There are other beings that can be reconciled to the Father and united with him. This is indeed a mystery that can not be fully understood. However, because we have a relationship with Jesus, we can ask questions. Guess what?! Jesus is excited to answer these questions we have. We simply have to listen.
Reconciling the Earth to Jesus
Do you recall in the first lesson we talked about a perk of being a son of God is that we get to be instruments to reconcile all of creation to God? I believe this verse in Ephesians is echoing this sentiment. God desires for all of creation to fulfill its purpose, the purpose he created it for in the beginning. It is up to us, as sons of God, to seek out how to work with God to steward the earth and bring healing and fruitfulness back to creation. While we are not to worship the earth, we are called to steward the earth. In our day and age there is a fine line between worshiping the earth and taking care of it. We are to nurture and use the resources available to live our lives.
As a family there have been times when we rented a home. Our goal was always to leave that house in better shape than what we found it when we first moved in. We would care for the yard and plants. We would look for opportunities to bless our landlord. This same principle should be for wherever we live. We are told in Proverbs 13:22 (ESV), tells us, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Could this verse be talking about leaving an inheritance of a prosperous land as well as money and other things?
How do we leave an inheritance of a prosperous land to our children’s children? Honestly, I’m still learning this principle.
Gardening is Simple…Right
A few years ago I got into gardening. I had a vision of growing all sorts of vegetables. It seemed simple. Get soil and an area ready for seeds, plant seeds, water them, pull weeds, and harvest a bountiful crop. Boy was I ever wrong! There were some things I failed to understand before beginning my garden.
One is that there are pests that come into gardens and reap the fruit of all my hard work. I tried growing squash only to have these worms come in and eat my plant from the inside. I had no clue anything was wrong until my plant stopped flourishing. After some research, I learned what was going on and how to solve this problem. The only problem now was that I discovered all of this after it was too late. I couldn’t save the plants. Next came aphids. Those things are terrible! It seemed that the whole summer I was constantly learning how to battle the pests that came into my garden to destroy all my hard work.
The Spiritual Principle
How can we apply this to the principle of leaving the land in a better condition than when we first arrived? How do we leave an inheritance for our children when it comes to the land? It is through the relationship we have with Jesus. As we live and work in the places the Lord has placed us, and as we have constant communion with Jesus, he will start to show us where the spiritual pests are. We can work with Jesus to clean out those spiritual aphids and worms.
When we do, we are working with Jesus to not only clean out the spiritual atmosphere, but we are making a way for his creation to become free and be exactly what Jesus created them to be. No longer are there spiritual pests in the way, preventing creation to fully embrace the plans Jesus had for them when he created them.
Then, after we physically die, we can leave a place for our children and grandchildren to thrive. They will also be free to be exactly who Jesus created them to be. They won’t have to fight the spiritual pests like we did. We leave them an inheritance of freedom to discover more about who they are and how to work with creation to leave an even better place for their kids. It’s an overflowing effect. One generation does work to clear the way for the next.
Don’t Take my Word
I encourage you to seek the Lord on this. Don’t take my word for it. You have a relationship with Jesus too. You can ask him all about this idea of land deliverance, and I promise he will direct you on how and why this is so important.
Let me leave you with one caution. Before doing land deliverance, you MUST ensure you have the authority to do so. If you are the owner or renter of a place, you have been given authority to pray for the cleansing of those places. We can not and should not ever just go someplace and start doing land deliverance. There are spiritual legalities that can backfire big time on you if you haven’t been given the authority to do so. While land deliverance can be and is in fact a great thing, it can also become an entanglement if done incorrectly or without permission from the Lord.
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