Lesson 2 - Why Am I Responsible to God?
Read: Ephesians 1 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/eph.1.esv
The greatest reason in the world to be thankful to someone is because you know what you’re thankful for. In this next section of Ephesians 1, Paul tells us exactly what God has done for us – giving us the reasons for thankfulness and therefore the reason we are responsible to God for how we live our lives. Let’s just make a list:
He blesses us
He chose us to be His
He has a wonderful plan for our lives
He redeemed us from our fate of death
He forgives us our sins
He lavishes grace on us
He tells us His purpose for our lives
He shows us His plan for eternity
He gives us an inheritance in His kingdom
He gives us a part of His own glory
He has given us a seal of His promises
He gives us the privilege of praising Him
He gives us wisdom
He gives us understanding
He gives us hope
He gives us His own power
He places us under the protection of His might
He shares with us His victory.
Such a list of benefits would mean nothing if the person who promised it didn’t have the ability to deliver. If I were to promise you a large amount of money every year for the rest of your life, you would naturally want to see my bank account to see if I had the ability to pay you that much. You’d find my bank account woefully unable to keep that promise. But God’s bank account is filled to the brim with what it takes to fulfill His every promise. In it you find the limitless power that raised Christ from the dead – and if God has the ability to do that, He can also keep every promise on this list.
Jesus is no longer in the grave. His borrowed tomb was only a temporary holding place for Him. He is now at God’s right hand – the position of authority. “Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” we find in verse 21. This means nothing of evil can ever touch Him again. The worst thing someone else can ever do to us is kill our body – but death no longer has any power or ability to touch Jesus, ever again.
That power and authority is what guarantees every promise made in this list will be kept perfectly and completely for every child of God.
This list, with its promise of completion is also the highest reason anyone could ever have for being thankful to God for what He has given us. It makes us responsible to Him to do as He asks – not a responsibility of unwilling service, but that glad heart which says, “I’ll do anything you ask of me!”
*Jesus is at God’s right hand. It is the _____
*What has no power to touch Jesus?
*Why should we be thankful to God?