Emptying the Spiritual Toy Box

I have a confession to make.  Christmas at our house is disgusting.  The load of presents under our tree alone would Santa's sleigh from lifting off.  

Each year, my wife and I pinkie swear and spit shake that this year is going to be different.  I've lost count of how many times we tell our family, "We're cutting back this year!"  

There's just one problem.  We love giving gifts to our kids and grandkids.  Lots of gifts.  We don't hold back.

Here in his letter to his friends in Ephesus, Paul describes how God doesn't hold back either.  He gives.  It's just Who He is and what He does. 

He's a Giver (Jn 3:16).  And He doesn't just toss us a little something that He picked up at the Dollar Store.  

"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" (v3).  

For those who are adopted into His family, He gives the good stuff.  The best stuff.  And He gives all of it.  He doesn't hold back.  He empties the spiritual toy box for His kids.

This verse is just the beginning of an avalanche of praise (Eph 1:3-14).  Paul will describe a lot of God's blessings in the following verses in one long sentence in the original language.  

Some might consider it bad writing.  But in reality it's just an explosion of worship on Paul's part.  A tsunami of praise.  Once he gets going, he just can't stop.  He can't help himself.  

When he thinks of how God has blessed us, the apostle cuts loose with this freight train of thanksgiving.  Bad writing.  GREAT theology.  That's what happens when God empties the spiritual toy box.

Three times in this verse, Paul uses a form of the word "bless."  First, "blessed (Gr. ευλογετος/eulogetos) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."  It's a noun that means someone praised or one who is blessed.  

Second, God "has blessed" His saints (Gr. ευλογεω/eulogeo).  This verb describes bestowing a blessing or acting graciously toward someone else in order to make them happy or cause them to prosper.  

Third, we are on the receiving end of "every spiritual blessing" (Gr. ευλογια/eulogia), a noun which means a gift, contribution or even a word of praise.  

All three of these are a variation of the same root from which we get our word "eulogy."  It literally means "good words."  

The apostle is letting the Ephesians know that when we realize how good God has been to us, we can't help but say great things about Him.  

That certainly makes sense.  The Bible makes is pretty darn clear that God is all about His glory which just happens to be for our good.  

When He dumps out the spiritual toy box for us, we can't help but tell everyone just how good He is.

Our Heavenly Father doesn't worry about spoiling his kids.  He's "blessed us with every spiritual blessing" (v3).  He's unloaded the heavenly toy box of blessing on us.  

Not some of His blessings.  Not part of His blessings.  Not even most of His blessings.  Every last stinkin' one of them.  

Paul tells the folks in Rome that if God's willing to give up His Son to save us, there's nothing to stop Him from giving "us all things" (Rom 8:32).  

Jesus' half brother James wants us to know that "Every good gift and every perfect gift" has our Heavenly Dad's fingerprints all over it (James 1:17).  

And the Apostle Peter says that God didn't leave us hanging when it comes to following Jesus.  "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (1Pet 1:3).  All things.  Every perfect gift.  All things.  

God has emptied the spiritual toy box.

So does God drench every living soul with all of His blessings?  Well, He does give freely of what folks in neckties call "common grace."  

This is the good stuff that He gives to everybody.  The air in our lungs.  The beat of the heart in our chest.  Food on our table.  Jesus talked about how it rains on both the just and unjust (Mt 5:45).  

But then there's "special grace."  This is God's crazy gift to save.  We won't go into some long, drawn out treatise on predestination and election here.  But it's safe to say that God saves His most special blessings for those He saves.

Paul calls those recipients of God's blessing as "in Christ" (v3).  It's easy to fly right past these two words.  Don't.  Pump your breaks.  Back up a bit and read them again.  "In Christ."  

This is such a big deal that the apostle is going to talk about it 28 times in this letter in one form or another.  The big idea here is union with Christ.  

It begins when we place our faith in Jesus.  We trust that He's accomplished what we could never, ever do.  

He lived the perfect life that we failed to live.  He died the brutal death that we should have died.  He rose to new life that we don't deserve.  We trust in what He's done when He yelled, "It is finished!" (Jn 19:30).  

As a result, God no longer sees my sin.  He no longer needs to punish my lifelong failure to obey.  He sees His Son.  I am "in Christ."  

When I place my faith in what Jesus has done, an mind bending exchange occurs.  "For our sake He (God) make Him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2Cor 5:21).  

For those of us who are "in Christ," the greatest blessing is Jesus Himself (Jn 3:16).

That's what happens when God empties the spiritual toy box.

©2013

Jay Jennings