(Ephesians 1:1-14)
Reverend Nick Cheek,
This summer, we are beginning a series called Summer School, and our curriculum is the book of Ephesians. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote a lot of letters—letters to churches facing conflict, false teaching, or internal division. And while Paul is writing from prison, this letter feels different. There’s no major controversy here. There’s no strong word of correction or rebuke. There’s no pressing conflict to resolve. Instead, this is a thoughtful, reflective letter about what it means to be the Church. In many ways, it is a letter written to a Church that is doing well. And so in it, Paul paints a rich theological vision of what it means to belong to Jesus and what it means to be a part of his body.
Throughout the letter, three major themes will rise to the surface: first, the heart of the Christian faith; second, the call of discipleship; and third, the purpose of the church. In other words, it’s about what God has done, what we’re called to do, and how we live that out together in community. It’s bold. It’s theological. It’s a good introduction for new believers and a good reminder for those who have followed Jesus for a long time.
Paul opens the letter by identifying himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” There’s some debate about whether this letter was written by Paul himself or by one of his close companions, writing in Paul’s name. But even if it was written by someone else, the letter reflects the language, thought, and authority of Paul—and so for the purposes of this series, we’ll refer to the author as Paul.
Scripture and Prayer
Story: In 2018 the NBA planned their annual all-star game, but with a bit of a change. Instead of a West verse East formant, they selected two team captains; LeBron James and Steph Curry. The captains could then choose anyone they wanted from the entire NBA. It mirrored the old pick-up schoolyard basketball model that we all grew up with – when you would wait and hope to be selected… and avoid being last. After they picked their players, the rosters of Team LeBron and Team Curry were posted. No one voiced any concerns with LeBron’s roster expect former NBA MVP Point guard from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Russel Westbrook. Westbrook noticed when looking at the Roster, that he was the very last on the list. And so, as any competitor might do, Westbrook wondered how in the world could that have happened? I mean who picks Russell Westbrook last? He was the mvp… a triple double phenom.. … he plays with a chip on his shoulder… on the court he can treat you like you just insulted his mother. No one picks Russel Westbrook last
For a couple of days after receiving this heartbreaking news, Westbrook’s fellow teammates noticed he was sulking and so they did what any good friends and teammates would do – they messed with him. “Hey Westbrook… I’m sorry, but you’re last to enter the locker room today man. Hey, Westbrook… see that very last water bottle on the table… yeah that’s yours. Westbrook you’re ordering last for dinner man… and your last on the bus, and on the plane. I bet, they may have even tried to get his name announced last for the pre-game introductions.
Well, it just so turns out that Westbrook missed something about that printed roster that everyone else knew about. Even the reporters seemed to know. After an evening game in Oklahoma City, a member of the sports news media asked Westbrook how he felt about being selected for team LeBron. One of his teammates yelled out over the conversation, “Hey Westbrook, tell them how you really feel.” “Well,” Westbrook said, “I just saw that I was last on the list and you know, I’m just trying to figure out why…” just then, a reporter interrupted him and told him the truth – the roster wasn’t printed in the order players were picked… it was printed in alphabetical order… Westbrook with a ‘W’ was last.
To that news, Westbrook’s, demeanor completely changed… he brightened up, lifted his head, stood tall and shared an uncontrollable smile while breathing a happy sigh of relief. As it turns out, Westbrook wasn’t picked last after all… he was picked first by LeBron James. The very next day Westbrook dropped 46 points against the wizards.
It feels good to be wanted, doesn’t it…to be chosen. All of us can point to a time in our lives when we were chosen for something… chosen for a team, chosen to sing or act in a performance, chosen for a job or a promotion. Being chosen means that someone values you and what you have to offer – your talents, your gifts, your personality. In our first section of the Letter to the Ephesians, Paul reiterates this idea of choseness. He tells us that we have been… chosen… from the beginning of time, he says. And this choseness is something that we should rejoice in. Most of this first section of Ephesians is one long sentence from Paul. A sentence that poetically lists all the reasons why we should praise God for this choseness in Christ. He reminds us that in Christ, we are the beloved of God – cherished…adored and adopted children – Praise the Lord! In Christ, we find forgiveness… a glorious grace that lavishly washes over us. We have been blessed with the redemption of our souls – Praise the Lord! In Christ, we are claimed and sealed through the Holy Spirit… predestined to be a member of God’s house now and forever – Praise the Lord. In Christ, we are promised an inheritance… a birthright as a people of God – a birthright with all the spiritual and heavenly blessings that come with it – Praise the Lord!
Are you starting to feel a little special, church?
You and I… we are chosen by God. And because of that—we are blessed. Can you think of the ways you are blessed, Church? If you were to take an inventory of blessings, what would be on the list?
We are blessed—with family and friends.
Blessed with food on the table… and a roof overhead.
We’re blessed with education, with medicine, with access to healthcare.
We have the blessing of peace, of relative safety—more than many in this world ever know.
We have the blessing of freedom—the freedom to gather here today and worship in the name of Jesus without fear.
Church… we are blessed. And yet Paul says—right here in Ephesians 1—that to be chosen in Christ is to be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. In other words, we’re not just blessed with things—we’re blessed with identity.
We are blessed not because our lives are always easy or full of good things—but because we are God’s own.
Chosen. Claimed. Loved.
I want to be clear for a moment about what kind of blessing Paul is talking about. He doesn’t mention riches. He doesn’t say comfort. He doesn’t point to material success or worldly status. Paul says we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
It sounds like relatively thick theology, so I want you to hang with me for a second, Church—because this is where the Greek gets interesting. That phrase… “spiritual blessing”… it’s not just saying we’ve received spiritual things. A more literal reading of the Greek suggests that our very spirits have been blessed.
In other words—this blessing isn’t external. It’s not about what we hold in our hands. It’s about what God is doing deep in our souls.
Through our chosenness, Paul says, our spirits are being touched by God’s Spirit. We are being shaped, molded, transformed—not to desire the things of the world, but to desire the will of God.
So this brings a whole new meaning to chosenness. For Paul, being chosen doesn’t mean God has picked us to win. It means God has picked us to love.
[SLOW]
We’ve been blessed… with a spirit of wisdom. We’ve been blessed… with a spirit of understanding.
We’ve been blessed… to be caught up in the mystery of God’s will— a will that is redeeming the world, healing creation, restoring the broken.
And that’s the real blessing. That’s what chosenness means.
We are not chosen to be God’s favorites.
We are chosen to be God’s partners.
being chosen doesn’t mean we get more than others.
It means we carry more responsibility for others.
It means we reflect the Spirit that’s been placed in us—
a Spirit not of greed or pride, but of grace…
of mercy…
of mission.
Church, we are not chosen so we can be lifted higher. We are chosen so we can go lower— to serve, to love, to bless the world that God so loves. This is what it means to be in Christ. This is what it means to be chosen
The Late Lesslie Newbigin was a British Contemporary theologian and missionary in the mid 1900’s. Newbigin had a bold take on being chosen. For him, being chosen didn’t just come with a blessing… it came with an imperative… an imperative that calls us to be Christ’s ambassadors and witnesses to the ends of the earth. He writes, “Wherever we think that the purpose of election (of being chosen) is our own salvation rather than the salvation of the world; then God’s people have betrayed their trust.” The purpose to redeem the world he says is built on “the operation of a love which works on the plane of human history, mediated by the concern of [human] for [human]… knitting [all of us] into a visible community… This can only be by the way of election, by the choosing of one to be the channel of grace to his/her neighbor until all people are knit together in one redeemed fellowship.”
Newbigin reminds us that if we treat God’s choosing as if it’s just about our own salvation, or our own security, or our own freedoms, then we’ve missed the point entirely. We’ve taken a gift meant to bless the world and turned it inward.
That matters—especially now.
We’re living in a time when fear is easy and grace is rare. When political tension shapes how we see one another. When even in the church, it’s tempting to draw lines, pick sides, and protect ourselves from people who think differently, vote differently, or live differently. But that’s not the way of the gospel. That’s not why we’ve been chosen.
That’s exactly what Paul is getting at in Ephesians 1. God has chosen us in Christ—not so we can sit secure in our spiritual status, but so we might live “for the praise of his glory,” which is another way of saying: for the good of the world. Grace always moves outward. It always seeks the neighbor.
To be chosen by God is not to be pulled out of the world, but to be sent into it. Through relationships. Through concern for our neighbor. Through showing up in a fractured world with a different kind of posture—not hostility, but humility.
God has entrusted us with something. That’s what election really means. And if that’s true, then our lives—the way we speak, the way we act, the way we love—ought to bear witness to the one who called us. Chosen people live as channels of grace. Not walls. Not tribes. Not winners and losers. But Witnesses.
Church, are you feeling special this morning? I wonder what would happen to the church if we were able to embrace that spiritual and heavenly blessing that Paul tells about this morning? Maybe that’s the real blessing of being chosen… that we are chosen to follow after Jesus, chosen to take up our cross… chosen to embrace the same spirit as Christ… who was chosen from the very begging of time… to be a blessing to the world. [Pause] It sounds like a burden… and in some ways it is… church. But we don’t share it alone. We share it with one another. And we don’t walk forward into this this grand invitation without something else. Paul reminds us at the very beginning of his letter to the Ephesians of something we need at all times… He writes, “To the saints who are faithful[a] in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That is our calling.
That is the mission of the chosen.
It’s not flashy.
It won’t get us on stage.
But it will get us close to Jesus.
And it will lead us closer to one another.
Remember Russell Westbrook?
He thought he was picked last.
His head dropped. His confidence cracked.
But the truth—that he had actually been picked first—
lifted him up, put fire in his soul, and changed the way he played the game.
And Church—when we realize the truth…
That we have been chosen, not last, not by accident,
but chosen by the living God on purpose and for a purpose—
It ought to put fire in our spirits, and love in our hands.
We were not chosen to sit on the sidelines.
We were not blessed just to be comfortable.
We are chosen to love boldly.
To live justly.
To walk humbly.
And to give ourselves for the sake of the world.
So lift your head.
Take a breath.
And go live like someone who’s been picked—
not because you earned it,
but because God believes you have what it takes.
In the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.