Glory of God’s Inheritance in the Saints

Ephesian 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,   18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling,  and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints

What does all these words mean,  seems a little too heavenly for it to relate to me a sinner.  Don’t you know I’m just a sinner.  But think you and I a sinner, right, a dirty rotten sinner, no hope, only deserving of the fires of Hell, no eternal future, just NO HOPE.  God is holy, but I am a dirty sinner, so no contact no connection, and no hope.

BUT BUT God did something to make you rich, you and I sinners.  A Holy God whom we could not approach did something to make us rich, He sent his son,  The Son of God as a man, who lived on the  earth, Jesus who died on the cross for me a sinner so I could approach the Holy God.

The saints (all God’s redeemed regenerated believers who enjoy all that Christ did at the cross) are full of the riches of Christ. They have all had some experience of Christ they could share about what Christ did for them, even if just “He did it for me (a sinner) at the cross and removed all my sin. I (a sinner) can now approach the Holy God because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross almost 2000 years ago”  What Christ did made us sinners rich with Christ.

Some people title this section:  Our Resources in Christ.  “Paul in this section sets forth the amazing and unlimited blessings believers have in Jesus Christ, blessings that amount to our personal inheritance of all that belongs to Him.”

Notice the verse says “His Inheritance”  So after we inherit all that Christ is and all He did on the cross, He inherits us.  After we have received Christ  we become his special possession.  This also secures our eternal inheritance.

… Paul prays for God to give believers true comprehension and appreciation of who they are in Jesus Christ, in order that they might begin to have some idea of how magnificent and unlimited are the blessings that already belonged to them in their Lord and Savior….

In essence Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be spared from frantically searching for what was already theirs, but rather would see that the great God who is their God is the source of all they need and has it ready for them if they are open to receive it. Such a receptive attitude requires that God Himself give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him 

 It is tragic that many believers send their agents out looking for some priceless item and become entangled in a quest for something more in the Christian life, for something special, something extra that the “ordinary” Christian life does not possess. They talk of getting more of Jesus Christ, more of the Holy Spirit, more power, more blessings, a higher life, a deeper life—as if the resources of God were divinely doled out one at a time like so many prescriptions or were unlocked by some spiritual or software combination that only an initiated few can know.

Have you ever been away from home and lost your cell phone.  For me it always causes a panic, once I thought I lost it but turns out it was in my hand.  The point is something valuable is precious and when we don’t have it we eaisly panic.

Many christian panic, I have no power no feeling towards the Lord or the Bible, or Home group or Sunday Am and go weeks wondering what to do…

But Christ did it all on the cross and you possess him.  You are rich in Him.