Well hey, everybody, and welcome to Highlands Fellowship, where our mission is to help people experience life with Jesus as we fulfill the mission and vision that God has for us. That vision is to make disciples, love our communities, and change the world. We're so excited to be together today. If you're here with us for the very first time, you are our special guest—our honored guest—and we want you to make yourself at home. Highlands is home; it's a place of belonging and purpose, a place that I believe can help change your life if you'll allow God to speak into it and transform you.
Today, we're beginning a brand-new message series, walking through the New Testament book of Ephesians. What better way to start a new year than by diving into God's Word and seeing what He has for us? This book covers quite a few topics, and we'll address them as we go through it together. It's made up of six chapters, and we'll focus on one chapter each week. If you have your Bibles or a Bible app, go ahead and open to Ephesians chapter 1, where we’ll start today. We’ll also have it for you on the screen.
I don’t know exactly where you are right now. Some people are excited about the new year and ready to take on the world, while others feel a little worn out from all the holiday activities. We've just come through the busiest, most stressful, and most wonderful time of the year. No matter where you find yourself today, we're going to look at the content of Ephesians to get a fresh take on the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.
Ephesians gives us a renewed understanding of who God is and the message and purpose He has for our lives. Many of us may read through this passage and think, “I didn’t know that’s who God was. I didn’t know that was His purpose for my life.” The content of Ephesians can help us with this, so I want to start by introducing the first couple of verses in this book. Ephesians 1:1-2 says this:
This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Paul writes this letter to encourage his friends living in the world-class city of Ephesus. Ephesus was an impressive yet intimidating city. It had a lot of scholars, thanks to its renowned library, and it was strategically located. The Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, was there. However, it was also a corrupt city, with common practices like sex trafficking and prostitution. Ephesus was open to spirituality, boasting 50 temples dedicated to different pagan gods, but it wasn’t necessarily open to Jesus.
Paul writes to friends living in this fast-paced, pressure-filled, and hostile world to encourage them to keep moving in the direction God had for them. It’s important to understand the context of Ephesus and who this letter was written to because it reminds us that the majority of the New Testament was written to people like you and me. These letters give us messages about God and His purpose, written in the context of high-pressure, fast-paced environments—similar to our world today.
The Question of Identity
Every one of us is faced with the question of identity: Who am I? How do you answer that question? Often, we look in the mirror, to a relationship, or to our achievements for an answer. But those things are unstable because they can change. Whatever you build your identity on can slide out from under you. Paul wants us to find and build our identity on something more substantial and long-lasting than our circumstances.
In Ephesians 1:4, Paul says, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes.” Let this truth wash over you: You were chosen in advance. God loved you before you could prove yourself worthy. His love is unconditional and came before your existence.
Adopted into God’s Family
Ephesians 1:5 says, “God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure.” Adoption means we were not part of the family, but God brought us in with all the rights, responsibilities, and inheritance that come with it. You are His child, and your identity in Christ is secure.
Living in Christ
Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people.” God’s Spirit is His deposit, guaranteeing His promises.
Your identity in Christ means you are a new creation, holy, and without fault. God loves you not because of what you’ve done but because of who He is. He chose you in advance, loves you unconditionally, and offers you a place in His family. Let this truth transform your heart and guide your life.
Closing Prayer
Lord, thank You for showing us in Your Word that we are Your children in Christ. Thank You for loving us without condition, choosing us before the creation of the world, and giving us a new identity in You. Help us to live in that truth and follow You with all that we have. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.