And You Also Were Included

 

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13)

There’s a very personal message here for each one of us: “And you also were included in Christ.” Why do you think Paul chose the words and you also? Because as the average Christian was listening to the grand vision unfolding in Ephesians chapter 1, he was probably thinking, “Wow, this is great stuff, Paul. But…I’m not worthy!”

Wrong. Paul says you are worthy, because you are made worthy in Christ. “You also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” All the spiritual blessings that heaven has to offer are yours by virtue of your relationship with Jesus (Eph. 1:3). Don’t ever feel left out. Don’t ever feel second-best. Don’t feel like you just barely skidded into the kingdom of God. Christ has saved you fully and completely. We’re all in this together. We're God's redeemed family--each with an important part to play.

And to help us fulfill our role, God has given us an incredible gift. Look again at the end of verse 13, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” Don’t pass by those words too casually. You and I have been given the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God (Acts 2:38). Paul says, “You have been marked with a seal.” A seal is essentially a mark of ownership. Official decrees from the Roman emperor were sealed with a unique wax seal of royalty, so that everyone who saw the seal would know who it belonged to. God—try and fathom this—God has put his seal of ownership on you, by virtue of the presense of the Holy Spirit.

You could also look at it as the wedding ring that the husband gives to the wife as a sign of his love and devotion. This is how we know that Christ is serious about the marriage: he has given his bride—the church—the "ring" of the Holy Spirit. When we are saved, his Spirit comes to join our spirit. We now have the ever-abiding presense of the Helper (John 16) to be with us and in us.

And look at what he says next. The Holy Spirit, verse 14, “is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” What’s that all about? If you have ever purchased a house, you know exactly what it means. In fact, some of the older translations say that the Holy Spirit is the “earnest of our inheritance.” The Spirit is like the down-payment on our heavenly home. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:5, “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

In a very real sense, we can say that we have eternity dwelling in us at this very moment—eternal life through the Spirit of God. Yes, our bodies will die because of the curse of sin, but our spirits will live forever because they are joined with God’s spirit. On the day of Christ’s returned, our spirits will be rejoined with a resurrected body with capabilities beyond our wildest comprehension (1 Cor. 15).

In the meantime, we can live our lives to the fullest in the here and now by yielding to Spirit in every inch, every area, of our lives. As we yield to the Spirit's work, he will be constantly at work refining us, sifting us, sanding us, smoothing off our rough edges—so that we become more like Christ every day.

--William Sherman--