Count Your Blessings

Ephesians 1:4-6

Theme: a tremendous blessing God communicates to believers is the wonderful truth that we belong to Him; our heavenly Father brought us into an eternal relationship with Himself by His infinite grace towards us in Christ Jesus. We should reflect deeply upon these blessings and then “bless” or praise Him for the unmatched benefits of election, adoption, and acceptance in Christ.

Introduction:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

·        Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
*Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
[*And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.]

--Johnson Oatman, Jr., pub.1897

So familiar…so precious…and so true is this old hymn! Taking the time to reflect upon the blessings of God can literally fuel our praise, but it also improves the condition of our thoughts, brings balance to our perspective, and corrects our outlook on life. By counting our blessings we can become Christians whose praise is richly informed and deeply motivated in the right ways.

We all are naturally inclined to ponder the painful, fret over the threatening, and dwell on what went wrong. It’s a part of our innate desire to protect and preserve life. Honestly, we face a great deal of this kind of input every week and life can degrade into an existence marked by anxiety and discouragement if we only focus on these matters. God knows this also and he helps us by prescribing a Bible discipline called “counting your blessings.” If done correctly this will lead to praising God with an informed mind and heart for His involvement, nearness, and benefits towards us. This should lead to a round of appreciating Him for who He is and His great gracious heart towards us. Certainly, all of this is automatically beneficial to the believer mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.

Taking the opportunity to reflect on such information and messages from God is the key. In Ephesians 1:4-6, we discover blessings from God our heavenly Father; this is how He has been extremely gracious to us. There are three specific blessings in this text afforded to every genuine believer in Christ Jesus without a singular exception! Let us count them together….

A.                Blessing #1: God Has Chosen us (v. 4). This is the marvelous doctrine of election, a doctrine that has confused some and confounded others. A seminary professor once said, "Try to explain election and you may lose your mind. But try to explain it away and you may lose your soul!"

1.       That salvation begins with God, and not with man, all Christians will agree. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16 see also Matt 9:12-13). The lost sinner, left to his own ways, does not seek God (Rom 3:10-11; 1Cor. 2:14); God in His love seeks the sinner (Luke 19:10; John 6:44, 65).

2.       First election teaches that God does choose men to salvation (2Thess. 2:13-14). It addresses believers as those who are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God” (1Pet. 1:2).  It teaches that people can know whether they are elect by their response to the gospel: those who hear and believe are elect (1Thess. 1:4-7).

3.       On the other hand, the Bible never teaches that God chooses men to be lost.  The fact that He chooses some to be saved does not imply that He arbitrarily condemns all the rest.  He never condemns men who deserve to be saved (there are none), but He does save some who ought to be condemned.  Compare Rom. 9:23 to 9:22. God prepares vessels of mercy to glory, but He does not prepare men for destruction: they do this for themselves by their unbelief. God simply respects their decision.

i.        The doctrine of election lets God be God. He is sovereign, that is, He can do as He pleases, although He never pleases to do anything unjust. If left alone, all men would be lost. Does God then have the right to show mercy to some?

ii.      But there is another side to the story. The same Bible that teaches sovereign election also teaches human responsibility. No one can use the doctrine of election as an excuse for not being saved. God makes a bona fide offer of salvation to all people everywhere (John 3:16; 3:36; 5:24; Rom. 10:9, 13). Anyone can be saved by repenting of his sins, and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, if a person is lost, it is because he chooses to be lost, not because God desires it.

iii.    The fact is that the same Bible teaches election and free salvation to all who will receive it.  Both doctrines are found in a single verse: “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). The first half of the verse speaks of God’s sovereign choice; the last half extends the offer of mercy to all.

4.       This poses a difficulty for the human mind. How can God choose some and yet offer salvation freely to all men? Frankly, this is a mystery. But the mystery is on our side, not on God’s. The best policy for us is to believe both doctrines because the Bible teaches both. The truth is not found somewhere between election and man’s free will, but in both extremes. The blessing is we belong to Him who selected us.

5.       W. G. Blaikie summarizes:

Divine sovereignty, human responsibility and the free and universal offer of mercy are all found in Scripture, and though we are unable to harmonize them by our logic, they all ought to have a place in our minds. –MacDonald, William: Believer's Bible Commentary

B.                 Blessing #2: God Has Adopted us (v. 5).

1.       Here we meet that misunderstood word “predestination.”

i.        This word, as it is used in the Bible, refers primarily to what God does for saved people. Nowhere in the Bible are we taught that people are predestined to hell, because this word refers only to God’s people. The word simply means “to ordain beforehand, to predetermine.”

ii.      Election seems to refer to people, while predestination refers to purposes. The events connected with the crucifixion of Christ were predestined and not an accident (Acts 4:25-28; 1 Pet. 1:19-21; Rev. 13:8). God has predestined our adoption—sonship (Eph 1:5; Jn 1:12), and our conformity to Christ (Rom 8:29-30), as well as our future inheritance (Eph 1:11). God has great plans for the future and they include us as His children.

2.       “Adoption” has a dual meaning, both present and future.

i.        You do not get into God’s family by adoption. You get into His family by regeneration, the new birth (John 3:1-18; 1 Peter 1:22-25).

ii.      Adoption is the act of God by which He gives His “new born ones” an adult standing in the family. Why does He do this? So that we night immediately begin to claim our inheritance and enjoy our spiritual wealth! A baby cannot legally use this inheritance (Gal 4:1-7), but an adult son can - and should! This means that you do not have to wait until you are an old saint before you can claim your riches in Christ.

iii.    The future aspect of adoption is found in Rom 8:22-23, the glorified body we will have when Jesus comes for us. We already have our adult standing before God, but the world cannot see this. When Christ returns to earth, this “private adoption” will be made public for everyone to see (Rom. 8:17-19)!

3.       What are the results of this adoption into the Family of God?

i.        We have the Spirit of adoption, we have lost the spirit of bondage and fear.  This occurred at the moment of the new birth through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

ii.      We have been given the spirit of liberty. The fear of condemnation by the law and the liberty from the law is senses (Rom. 8:15).

iii.    We are entitled to bare His name; we are a part of the household and Family of God (Lev. 26:12; 1Pet. 2:9-10).

iv.     We enjoy the present protection and consolation, which only God can give along with perfect provision for all our needs (Luke 12:7; Heb. 13:5).

v.       The Father’s love and chastening for our spiritual good—maturity/holiness/peace—and His glory (Heb. 12:6, 11).

vi.     We are also heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:17).

vii.   Then lastly we have eternal security as a part of God’s family and our inheritance is reserved for us in heaven (1Pet. 1:4; Rom. 8:38-39).

4.       God predestinated us to be adopted into His family in accordance with His will and to His praise—that His grace may be glorified (Eph 1:5, 6).

i.        Praise means celebrating God. Undoubtedly you have seen, and probably participated in, celebrations like Fourth of July fireworks displays and Memorial Day parades. The purpose of such festivities is not simply to set off firecrackers and Roman candles or to watch graying veterans march down city streets. The events are held to remember and honor the sacrifices of men and women who went before and paid the price for freedom.

ii.      As Christians, our lives are living tributes to God’s grace. God selected us as believers so that we might give Him praise. When others look at our lives, what kinds of “tributes” do they see? Liberated, engaging individuals, full of gratitude for all God has done for us? Or shriveled, sullen, embittered shells that feel as though we’ve been cheated out of life’s good things? Let your prayer life and worship express your gratitude to God. –The Life Application Commentary Series 

C.                Blessing #3: God Has Accepted us (v. 6).

1.       We cannot make ourselves acceptable to God; but He, by His free grace, makes us accepted in Christ.  The phrase “hath made us accepted” means to ‘endue with special honor’ or ‘to highly favor’ and thus ‘make acceptable.’ There is not only the imparting of God’s grace, but also the adoption into God’s family in giving special kindness, which is different from forgiveness.

2.       We are not trying to make ourselves acceptable to God so that we can be saved or to avoid losing our salvation.  No, we are presently fully acceptable to God because of trust in Christ, “the Beloved.”

i.        This Greek word for “love” is the same one found in John 3:16, Romans 5:5, 8, Gal. 5:22, I John 4:8. It speaks of the love that God is, and with which He loves the lost, the love which is the product of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the yielded believer. The perfect tense speaks of an action completed in past time having present, and in a context like this one, permanent results. It speaks of the fact that God the Father has always loved God the Son with an absolute love which is a permanent attitude on His part.

ii.      The words “in the Beloved” are indicative of a sphere. That is, God the Father freely bestowed on us the grace which saved us, and did so in the sphere of the Lord Jesus, His Person and His work on the Cross. His grace could not operate in our salvation apart from the atoning death of our Lord, for God is not only a loving God, but a righteous and just God who cannot pass by sin, but must require that it be paid for. Only thus can He manifest His grace. The word “Beloved” is a perfect participle, the perfect tense being used by Paul to show the degree of the love with which the Father loves the Son. Vincent says: “Beloved par excellence.” He refers us to Col. 1:13 and the expression, “the Son of His love.” –Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament

3.       Acceptance is one facet of our eternal position; it will never change, “He hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Col. 1:13; Matt. 3:17; 17:5).

i.        We are received by God through the substitutionary death and imputed righteousness provided by Jesus Christ (Rom 3:24; 5:15). The glorious truth is that we are accepted by God and before God, thus because we are accepted in Christ, then we, like Him, are beloved of God.

ii.      Christ receiveth sinful men, even me with all my sin; purged from ev’ry spot and stain, heav’n with Him I enter in.  Sing it o’er and o’er again: Christ receiveth sinful men; make the message clear and plain: Christ receiveth sinful men. –Osbeck, K. W.  Amazing Grace

Sometimes we struggle through life longing for someone to accept us for who we are and the way we are. Not someone we have to pretend to be in order for them to like us and then finally accept us. What strengthens this impulse to “fit in” is the reality that none of us likes rejection or feeling like we don’t belong. If we sense we don’t measure up in some way, we will even resort to living someone else’s life to impress others. We seem to be convinced that our associates would not like us if they really knew the real version of us. As a result, life becomes one long episode of dishonesty, hypocrisy, shame, guilt, more lies, and struggles with who we really are and what we have become. The fear of rejection…the fear of being alone…the fear of being perceived as unworthy…this is what drives such insecurities and relational struggles. It is part of what drives some into sin and holds them there. Such folks are convinced they cannot do any better and do not deserve any better….

But God frees us from the need to live to impress Him or anyone else in order for us to finally be accepted. By His infinite grace He places us “in Christ” and there we are most wanted, loved, and accepted by God Himself. This frees us form the temptation to compromise our values, beliefs, and lifestyle to be acceptable to mere men.  Since we know to whom we belong and where we belong, we do not have to try to belong!

Finally beloved, it is right, helpful, holy, and good to focus on such messages from God your heavenly Father. Remember, He has chosen you in Christ Jesus. Reflect often on the truth that He has adopted you as His own and given you status as an adult child before Him. Recall the wonder that He currently and forever has accepted you in Jesus Christ. Believe these truths my friend. Drink deep from this well. Repeat these truths to yourself until they sink deep into your perspective. They will transform your praise towards God because He intentionally provided a place “in Christ” for you. Go ahead and praise Him for such a meaningful provision. Clear off a moment to bless His Name and exalt in His grace. Shout if you must, but certainly rejoice in Him. He is a merciful and gracious Lord. Beautiful and excellent is He. How magnanimous and generous He is! Who can match such thoughtfulness and kindness to us who are so underserving? God is communicating to you and me that He wants us, and He has planned the best for us. In fact, He planned forever with us! You matter because you matter to your heavenly Father.

So, make it a habit to count your blessings. Schedule it and write is down in a journal or a note book once a twice a week. Ponder what God has done and then think about what His actions reveal about His character and motive. Reflect on it and write it down. We will learns so much more about our God by reflecting on His blessings towards us. It will fuel your worship. Such disciplines will inspire your praise. Fall deeply in love with your Father in heaven. This habit will transform the climate inside of you. It could potentially improve your relationships. Every believer enjoys being around a grateful person with unwavering confidence in our heavenly Father. Start today…count your blessings name them one by one. It will surprise you what the Lord has done.