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Foundations: Ephesians 1
14th October 2026 • Springhouse Church Midweek • Springhouse Church
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Are you establishing your worth on unreliable foundations like circumstances, success, or public opinion? Ephesians 1 pierces through every false identity, confronting the struggle to find lasting belonging or rest in a world bent on defining us by performance or failure.

Chris Yeager unpacks Paul’s sweeping, unbroken doxology that centers every believer’s identity not in their achievements but in the eternal purposes of God. You are not chosen by accident, left to chance, or dependent on your own performance.

Instead, Paul reveals a breathtaking vision of being elected, redeemed, and adopted in Christ—secured not by effort but by God’s lavish grace and cosmic design. This is not abstract theology; it is the rock-solid foundation for facing any day, secure as an adopted child and sealed heir of promise.

Scriptures Referenced

Ephesians 1:1-23 (ESV), Acts 20:17-38

Key Insights

  • Grace-Filled Identity: What it means to be chosen in Christ before the world began, not individually but as part of God’s sweeping plan of redemption.
  • Adoption and Inclusion: How the Roman legal language of adoption guarantees believers—men and women alike—full inheritance and unbreakable family status.
  • Living the Truth: Why knowing you are sealed by the Spirit shapes your response to hardship and sends you to a world desperate for unshakable hope.

https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/foundations-ephesians-1

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Transcripts

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All right, we're going to be going through Ephesians chapter 1, Chosen in

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Christ, Destined for

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Glory. And I want to go ahead and read through that passage first.

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Nope, point that way. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus

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by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful

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in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and

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Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace

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from God our Father and Lord. Oh, that's— see, there it is.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us

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in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

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even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we

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should be holy and blameless before him. In love,

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grace to you and peace. I— okay, this is

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to be one of those?

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In love. All right, there. In love, he

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predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus

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Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious

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grace, which— with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

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In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,

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according to the riches of his grace.

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Which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to

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us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he

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set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time,

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to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on

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earth in him. For this reason,

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because I have heard— Oh, that went

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too, didn't it? In him

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we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of

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him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that

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we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his

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glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the

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gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the

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promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance

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until we acquire possession of it. to the praise of his glory.

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For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and

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your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you,

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remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

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Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of

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revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts

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enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called

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you, What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in saints,

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and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe,

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according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ

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when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in

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the heavenly places, far above all

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rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is

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named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. Amen.

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And he put all things under his feet and gave him as a head over

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all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him

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who fills all in all. Amen. Amen.

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Um, talk a little bit about

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Paul and the Ephesian church. This is someone that he

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had history with. So before we explore, explore the

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truths of Ephesians 1, it is helpful to remember Paul's

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relationship with the church in Ephesus and the larger Christian

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community in the surrounding region. Paul first

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came to Ephesus near the end of his second missionary journey, traveling with

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Priscilla and Aquila. His time there was brief, but it

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planted the earliest seeds of ministry before he continued on to

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Caesarea. A little over a year later, he

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returned, and what followed became the longest settled

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ministry of his entire apostolic career, almost 3 years.

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Paul began this season with 3 months of teaching in the

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synagogue. As opposition grew and the

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door among the Jewish community began to close, he shifted his

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ministry to the Hall of Tyrannus, where he broadened his work among

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the Gentiles. For 2 years, the Ephesian

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church experienced daily teaching, preaching, extraordinary miracles,

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and widespread repentance. Books of magic were

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burned publicly, idol worship was abandoned in large numbers,

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and the spiritual atmosphere of the city began to change.

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To appreciate the scale of this movement,

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consider the riot sparked by Demetrius the silversmith.

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In Acts. The crowd filled the Ephesian theater.

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This is a venue that seated roughly 25,000 people.

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A crowd of that size does not gather unless the gospel is

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disrupting the city in visible, undeniable ways.

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The church in Ephesus was not insignificant. It was growing, influential,

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and spiritually alive. During this period, Paul

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also wrote 1 Corinthians and sent Timothy and Titus on

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pastoral assignments throughout the region. After the riot,

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he finally decided to leave, traveling through Macedonia and Greece,

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but it would be another 4 to 6 years before he wrote them the

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letter— Scripture wrote them the letter in

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Ephesians 1. Scripture also tells us

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that this was a difficult place to leave, For Paul, in

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17-38, we read,

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now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to

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come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them, you

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yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that

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I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears

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and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.

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How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and

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teaching you in public and from house to house,

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testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of the repentance towards

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God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now

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behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit,

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not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit

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testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and

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afflictions await me. But I do not account my

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life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only I

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may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,

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to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now

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behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about

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proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

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Therefore I testify— Poof, man, that hits.

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Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of

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all, for I did not shrink from declaring to

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you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to

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yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you

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overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with

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his own blood. I know that after my departure, fierce

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wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your

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own selves will arise men speaking twisted things

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to draw away the disciples after them.

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Therefore, be alert, remembering that for 3 years I did not cease night or day

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to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to

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God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up

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and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

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I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that

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these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.

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In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we

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must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he

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himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

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And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

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And there was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and

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kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because the word he had spoken,

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that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

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So this is the church that Paul is writing to,

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and to the broader community shaped by the ministry that radiated out from Ephesus.

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Ephesians is not a letter of introduction, correction, or basic instruction.

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It is a letter from a pastor, a spiritual father, reminding his

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children who they are and who they belong to.

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And he begins this letter with a burst of praise and blessing.

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Can't praise with a dry mouth.

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So, after the initial greeting,

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Paul opens with a doxology, a single cascading sentence in Greek that

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stretches from eternity past to eternity future.

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It is as if Paul cannot pause for breath. He is overwhelmed by the

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sheer abundance of God's grace poured out on his people in Christ,

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and he wants the Ephesian believers and us to see the story we

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have been invited into. He writes, blessed be the

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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with

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every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

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Before Paul tells us anything about ourselves, he tells us everything about God.

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Salvation begins with God's initiative, God's generosity, and

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God's desire to bless. And every blessing we receive comes to

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us in Christ, not in our merit, not in our background,

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not in our spiritual performance. Christ is at the center of God's saving

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work. Ephesians chapter 1 has the

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second longest sentence in the original Greek in the New Testament.

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No periods. 3 through 14,

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one single sentence in Greek. I had the privilege of teaching on the

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longest sentence in the original Greek in the New Testament a few weeks ago in

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Colossians 1. Apparently, Paul likes

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starting off with long sentences, and Jonathan likes assigning them to me.

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Yeah. Not sure what to do with that.

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Paul's doxology in Ephesians 1:3-14 is not simply

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long, it is intentionally unbroken. In

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Greek, it is one single overflowing sentence of 202 words

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without pause. This is not grammatical carelessness.

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This is not the run-on sentence of a Gen Z text message.

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It is theological design. Paul is showing that salvation

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cannot be separated into parts because God's saving

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work is one unified story. This was a

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Greek rhetorical tool called hypotaxis, used by

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speakers and writers of Paul's day to communicate complex ideas

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as single expansive thoughts. In this one

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sentence,

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this is everything that Paul covers. Historically, he

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reaches back before the foundation of the world, moves through Christ's

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redemptive work, and arrives at the Ephesian believers' present

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experience of hearing and believing the gospel. Legally,

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he speaks of adoption, inheritance, redemption, and forgiveness, categories

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drawn from Roman family law, Jewish sacrificial

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law, and covenantal inheritance. I think I'm too close to that speaker.

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Sound guys are probably like, yeah, you are.

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Spiritually, he describes union with Christ, the

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blessing of the heavenly realm, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit.

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Prophetically, he unveils the mystery of God's will, the cosmic plan to

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unite all things in Christ and bring the entire creation to its

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appointed end to the praise of his glory. And

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theologically, he describes how each person of the Godhead acted in the

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work of salvation. God the Father is the architect,

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God the Son is the accomplisher, and God the Holy Spirit is the

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applier. God is not building a linear

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argument. He is opening a window in the entire saving work

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of God. In the Old Testament, the

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first fruits were, first fruits were the first portion of the harvest

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offered to God, consecrating the entire crop. The first

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portion belonged to him, represented the whole, and guaranteed the

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full harvest to come. In the New Testament, Paul applies the

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same pattern to salvation. Christ is the first fruits

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of the resurrection. the first to rise, guaranteeing the resurrection of all

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who belong to him. Believers receive the firstfruits of

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the Spirit, the initial experience of inheritance that will one day be

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ours in full. The early church is a

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kind of firstfruits of his creatures, the first portion of the

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redeemed humanity God is gathering from every nation.

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While not using the firstfruits term in this passage, it is

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describing the firstfruits of salvation and uses this

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extensively in his other writings.

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So first, we get to the election,

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not the one in November, sorry. Let's—

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different one. Paul's

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first theme is election. He chose us in him before the foundation

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of the world. Paul is not describing an abstract decree

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about individual destinies. He is describing God's eternal

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decision to choose Christ as the elect one,

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the one through whom he would redeem the world, and all who unite

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themselves to Christ by faith share in that election.

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Paul's point is not that God chose isolated

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individuals, but that he chose Christ, and all who

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are in Christ share his chosen status. Election

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is Christ-centered, not

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person-centered. It is relational, not

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mechanical. And its purpose is clear, that we might be

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holy and blameless before him. When Paul says,

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God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should

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be holy and blameless, he's using the exact vocabulary of

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the Old Testament sacrificial system. The words

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holy and blameless hagios kai amomos

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are the precise technical terms used in the Greek Old Testament to describe an

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animal sacrifice that was fit to be offered on God's altar.

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Let's think about what that means. In the ancient world, Israel

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knew that to be chosen by God meant you had to be clean

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enough to stand in his presence. If a priest walked into the

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Holy of Holies without the cleansing of the sacrificial blood, his

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chosen status wouldn't save him from the judgment of a holy God.

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The status required a sacrifice. Paul

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is showing the Ephesian believers, most of whom were Gentiles and

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outsiders to Israel's covenants, that they have been

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granted this identical high priestly status.

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But how? We are not naturally holy. We are not naturally

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blameless. We are chosen in him. Christ is the

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perfect sacrifice who cleanses the chosen people.

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Just as Israel was sprinkled with the blood to seal their identity as God's chosen

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nation, we are covered by the ultimate sacrifice of Christ.

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Our status as God's chosen people is legally locked in

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because the sacrifice that cleanses us is eternal.

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On to predestination. Another fun one.

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Paul then moves to predestination. He predestined us for adoption as

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sons through Jesus Christ. While the distinction of

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predestination has been argued for centuries, splitting the

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Protestant Church into 2 camps, the Reformed or Calvinist

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tradition or the Arminian tradition, we're not going to

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add to this tonight. Okay.

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Instead of continuing that argument, we will focus on the blessings

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of that predestination, which is what Paul talks about.

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Because— God determined before the foundations of the world

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to bless his children with is amazing.

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Predestination means God has already determined the destiny of his

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firstfruits people, the consecrated beginning of the worldwide

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family he's gathering. Long before

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we ever heard, you ever heard the gospel, God had already decided

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that he would give to all who— that what he would give to all who

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enter fellowship with Christ: adoption, holiness, inheritance,

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and conformity to his image.

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God— predestination is not about exclusion, it is about

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assurance. God chose a people in Christ before the

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foundation of the world. This pattern of choosing can be

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chased— traced through the lineage of Adam to Abraham,

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from Abraham to Joseph and Mary, linking the promise of

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one who would bruise his heel to crush the head of the serpent

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to the one who would bear the Son of God. That choosing

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reached imperfect humanity through the perfect man, Christ

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himself, the first fruits of the resurrection, and then through

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the apostles and the first generation believers who received the gospel.

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Those early believers were first fruits of a much larger harvest. The

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same election, the same predestination to adoption and holiness,

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and the same Spirit sealing now belong to everyone who is

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united to Christ by faith, whether they believed in the first century

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or the 21st century. Predestination is not a

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barrier. It is the guarantee that everyone who is in

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Christ will receive the full inheritance God has already

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determined for his people. Jesus

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himself gives us a picture of how divine purpose and

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human turning meet in the parable of the prodigal son.

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The son's decision to return is real and necessary, an

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act of repentance with a low bar for what he hopes to gain.

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The father did not drag the prodigal back from the foreign land

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he had tried to find satisfaction in. Yet the possibility

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of that return, the open road, the prodigal's familiarity with the father's

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character, the father patiently watching for the

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son, the undignified running embrace of the

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father towards the son, and the full restoration of sonship

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all flow from the father's prior heart and purpose.

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Election and predestination in the sense Paul uses them in Ephesians 1

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name that prior heart and purpose. God had planned

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on the way of bringing us into his family

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from the foundations of the world.

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Free will, in the sense the parable portrays it, names the real human turning

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that the Father has made possible and now joyfully receives.

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But the parable will not let us preach a Father who is passive until we

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make the first move. nor a Son who is a puppet.

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It gives us a running Father and a walking Son and a

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feast that is pure grace.

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So now we go to this adoption

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that is one of the blessings from this predestined

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Sabbath that we have. Paul introduces the language of adoption,

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one of the most beautiful images in the New Testament for the believer's

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relationship to God. In the Roman world, adoption was

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a legal act that conferred full family rights. An adopted

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child received a new name, a new inheritance, and a new identity.

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And adoption was permanent. It could not be undone.

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Paul says that in Christ, God has adopted us into his family.

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We have a new Father. We belong to a new family.

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We share in a new inheritance. And we live

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with new obligations, not as slaves trying to earn favor

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like the prodigal son thought he was going to have to do,

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but as children learning to reflect the character of their Father.

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Paul reinforces this family identity through his repeated use of the

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word brothers, or adelphoi, in his writings.

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Paul uses this term a lot in his letters. While

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Ephesians— while his writing of Ephesians emphasizes

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household and family language more than the term itself, Paul's

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broader usage of adoption illuminates how adoption and

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siblinghood function together across his letters.

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Nope. Oh, there we are. Okay. So,

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and Ephesians itself reinforces this pattern. In

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1:5, we are predestined To adoption as sons.

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In chapter 2, verse 19, we are members of God's household. In

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chapter 4, verses 1 through 6, we are called to live out our unity as

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one family under one Father. Paul's theology of adoption

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and his language of siblinghood work together. Adoption makes us

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sons, and fellowship makes us brothers.

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In the world of, uh, gender issues that are going on now in

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our society, There is

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just male and female, but this is interesting.

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In Paul's writing and in this view of family,

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there are only fathers and sons. All

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believers, men and women, are called sons

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because sonship is the ancient world— in the ancient world was tied to

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inheritance rights. In other words, Paul was

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calling women sons because he was elevating them to a

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new status. Yes,

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yes. I'm a dad-daughter, or daughter-dad, daughter-dad

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here, okay.

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Dad-daughter,

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daughter-dad. To

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call every believer a son is to declare that every believer is a co-heir with

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Christ, fully included in the family, and fully entitled to the

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inheritance. There is no need to change translations to

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brothers and sisters because you're missing the point.

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He's making us all equal in that

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status. At the same time, all believers are

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brothers with respect to membership in God's covenant family. The

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terms describe different aspects of the same new

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identity in Christ: sons in inheritance, brothers in community.

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Redemption. Paul continues, in him

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we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

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Redemption is liberation. It is God breaking the chains of sin and

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death through the sacrificial death of Christ. And forgiveness

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is not theoretical. It is applied personally to those who believe.

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Paul emphasizes that this redemption flows from the riches of his

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grace, which he has lavished upon us. God is not

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stingy with mercy. He is extravagant.

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Paul then speaks of revelation, the unveiling of the

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mystery of his will. God's plan hidden in ages past has

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now been revealed to unite all things in Christ, Jew and Gentile,

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heaven and earth, past and future, God's plan was never narrow.

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It was always expansive. And the Ephesian believers, once

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outsiders, are now part of that cosmic story.

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Finally, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit, the seal of our salvation.

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In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your

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salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

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The order here is important. You heard, you believed, and then you were

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sealed. The Spirit marks us as God's own

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possession and serves as the guarantee, the down payment

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of our inheritance until the day of full redemption. Assurance is not

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mechanical, it is relational. The Spirit himself bears witness that

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we belong to God.

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Paul's expansive explanation of the immensity of salvation is not meant to

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overwhelm us. It is meant to encourage us. He

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wants the church to see that every blessing he names— election,

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predestination, adoption, redemption, sealing— is

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not abstract theology, but identity.

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This is who we are in Christ. We are

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the elect. We are predestined. We are adopted. We are

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redeemed. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.

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Our identity as adopted sons sealed with Spirit and bearers of the

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mystery of his will is meant to anchor us each day, especially

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when the world treats us the way that it treated Christ.

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We are not defined by our circumstances. our failures,

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or the hostility of a sinful world. We are defined by the Father who

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chose us, the Son who redeemed us, and the Spirit who sealed us.

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And the assurance of these blessings should do 2 things in us.

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First— oh, nope.

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First, it should change our perspective on what a bad day is.

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A bad day can't undo adoption. It cannot

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unseal the Spirit. It cannot erase election.

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It cannot overturn predestination. It cannot silence redemption.

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Our identity in Christ is stronger than our worst day.

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Second, it should make us deeply aware that too many people around us are

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going through bad days without these blessings.

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Without adoption,

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without sealing, without hope,

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without the mystery of his will revealed in Christ.

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Their identity is fragile because it is not rooted in the one

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who holds us, holds eternity, and can make them whole. And all

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you have to do is scroll on social media for about 5 minutes.

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to see that.

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Paul wants the church to know who they are

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and then to live as people whose identity is secure, whose hope is

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unshakable, and whose calling is urgent. Our

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identity as adopted sons and sealed heirs is not merely a status, it

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is an invitation and a calling. And just as

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God sent his workers to invite us into his family, We are

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sent into a world full of people having bad days without these blessings,

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inviting them to be adopted sons in his kingdom family.

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Paul's doxology is not merely theological, it is worshipful.

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Every blessing— election, predestination, adoption, redemption, and

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sealing— is meant to draw the church into praise.

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And Paul ends this first chapter of the letter with thanksgiving.

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And so it is appropriate that we should as well. I'm

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going to ask you to stand for this last part.

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There's going to be 2 phrases. One will be marked leader and one

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will be marked congregation.

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Oh.

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Gotta go back one. Nope.

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I think the people are blind. God has chosen us in Christ, the

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firstfruits of his new creation. Praise the Lord.

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God has predestined us, destined for adoption, holiness, and

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inheritance. Praise the Lord.

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God has adopted us as his children, sons in inheritance,

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and brothers in his family. Praise the Lord.

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God has redeemed us through the blood of Christ, the firstfruits of the

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resurrection. Praise the Lord. God

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has sealed us with the Holy Spirit, the firstfruits of our future glory.

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Praise the Lord. All of salvation—

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election, predestination, adoption, redemption, and sealing— is a

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story meant to lead us to the praise of his glory. Praise

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the Lord. Go and be blessed. Amen.

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