Introduction

·        Illustration: An American Indian legend tells about an eagle that was raised by turkeys, and never got to soar.

·        Illustration: Over the last few hundred years, there have been 53 documented cases of “feral children”—children raised in the wild by animals.

·        Big Idea: Many Christians have been so “imprinted” by the world that they don’t know who they really are in Christ.

      -     Isaiah 40:31

·        The book of Ephesians is divided into two sections: chapters 1-3 tells us who we are, and chapters 4-6 teach how to live.

Transition: The opening six verses give us four great truths about every believer.

We are all saints.

·        Ephesians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 15:9

·        Everyone who is born again is a saint, holy and set apart.

·        As Christians, we are “in Christ”, not in the world.

·        In verse 3, Paul uses a Gentile greeting (grace) to remind them of God’s undeserved goodness in their lives, and a Hebrew greeting (peace) to remind them of their position in Jesus.

We are all blessed.

·        In verse 3, Paul uses the word “blessed,” which is a message of praise, declaring a person’s goodness.

      -     Matthew 19:17; Psalm 37:25

·        God promises not just material blessings, but “every spiritual blessing.”

      -     Romans 5:5; John 14:27; John 15:11; 2 Peter 1:3

·        Because we are “in Christ”, we are not of this world; we are spiritual extra-terrestrials.

We are all chosen.

·        God chose us in Christ.

      -     Romans 10:13; Mark 16:15; John 6:44; Isaiah 45:4; Deuteronomy 7:78

·        God’s angels were chosen; Jesus was chosen; the apostles were chosen.

      -     1 Timothy 5:21; 1 Peter 2:6; John 15:16

·        Here is a great mystery that we must accept by faith: God has sovereignly chosen those who will be saved; but mankind must choose God in order to be saved.

·        God chose us to be holy, like him.

We are all adopted.

·        We are adopted because of his love.

      -     Ephesians 1: 4–6; Psalm 22

·        We are adopted through his predetermined plan.

Illustration: An adopted daughter is blessed when her mother forgets about the adoption.

·        We are adopted for his pleasure (Ephesians 1:5).

·        We are adopted for his praise (Ephesians 1:6).