Workers on God's Building Site (Ephesians 1:7-10)

Introduction

The series on the letter to the Ephesians continues. After meditating on the Father’s work the previous week, this Ascension Sunday leads the preacher to pause on the work of the Son, in verses 7 to 10 of chapter 1. Only four verses, yet they unfold before you an immense project: God’s plan of salvation, decided in advance, revealed in Christ, and destined to sum up all things.

The passage opens and closes with the same small words: in Christ. Two short words, almost unremarkable, yet they keep recurring throughout Ephesians 1. They point to the place where you can stand, the space of belonging, the union through which you receive every grace of salvation. It is not in yourself, in your own strength, but in him that you find the assurance that this great plan also works for your good.

Message outline

1. In Christ: a place of belonging

• The phrase “in him” or “in Christ” keeps coming back throughout Ephesians 1. You could preach an entire sermon on those words alone. They point to a place, a space of belonging, a union.
• It is in your relationship with Christ, in your union with him, that you can enjoy the graces of salvation. Not in your own strength, not in your merits, not in your religiosity.
• This union is also the foundation of your assurance. You can look at this cosmic project and know that it works for your good, because you are in Christ.

2. Redemption and forgiveness (v. 7)

• The word “redemption” translates a term meaning liberation obtained through the payment of a price. In Paul’s Greco-Roman world, this immediately called to mind the buying back of slaves: for a slave to become free, someone else had to pay their ransom.
• A second echo comes from the Old Testament: the exodus from Egypt, Israel freed from slavery. Once a slave, now free.
• In Christ, you have experienced something similar: a deliverance from an oppression, thanks to the intervention of another who came to your rescue. But this deliverance is of a different order. The slavery in view is worse, more insidious, than human oppression. You were a slave to sin: something stronger than you, that bends you, that alienates you sometimes without your even realizing it, that drags you into evil.
• The price paid is also of far greater worth than all the gold in the world. The price paid for your deliverance is the life of Jesus Christ. “He offered himself as a sacrifice”: given up freely, willingly, in keeping with the Father’s good will.
• Paul immediately speaks of the forgiveness of sins. Deliverance and forgiveness are placed side by side like two sides of the same coin. Jesus delivers you from sin and its consequences, and he truly wipes away your guilt.

3. A grace lavished in all wisdom (v. 8)

• “God has shown us the riches of his grace, which he has lavished upon us.” Your deliverance cost dearly, and yet it is free. That is grace.
• Paul does not simply say “rich.” He specifies that God lavished it upon us. As if it were more, and still more. God does not give sparingly: “a little here, a little there, that’ll do.” His generosity seems almost excessive when you consider who you are and who Jesus is.
• This grace is also filled with wisdom and understanding. These two words echo Proverbs 3:19: “By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.” God’s plan of salvation is not an improvised act, not a last-minute reaction to struggling human beings. It is thought out, structured, intentional.
• Salvation by grace reflects the wisdom of the Creator.
• Perhaps you tell yourself: “If God really knew what I’ve done, he couldn’t accept me.” Or: “What if I tried to redeem myself instead?” Grace answers that forgiveness is already offered. The Creator already knows what you would like to hide from him, and yet he lavishes it in abundance on those who desperately need it.

4. The secret revealed: God's plan unveiled in Christ (v. 9)

• “God made known to us the mystery of his plan.” The word can also be translated “mystery.” But you shouldn’t hear something obscure, opaque, esoteric here, or a knowledge reserved for a few initiates.
• The secret in question concerns a plan shaped by God in his kindness. This plan has existed for a long time, from the beginning; but until now it was hidden. It couldn’t be seen. That’s the sense in which it was secret.
• Today, this plan is unveiled. In his grace, God has even made it known to you. In Jesus Christ, God’s plan has been revealed. Christ represents everything God had prepared since the foundation of the world and everything he plans until the end. Christ clears away the fog surrounding God’s will for history.

5. All things summed up in Christ: a cosmic project (v. 10)

• Verse 10 unveils the content of this plan: that everything be brought together harmoniously in Christ. Everything: you, me, every Parisian, every living being, all creation, the whole universe, even everything spiritual.
• The Greek term translated “brought together harmoniously” literally means to sum up. Everything is to be gathered, brought back, recentered around one capital point: Jesus Christ. Christ becomes the absolute point of reference for all things, the center of gravity of a new world, through whom everything will find meaning, purpose, and coherence.
• This implies that today there is a break, a division in heaven and on earth. In the spiritual world, hostile powers work against God and against his plan. To go further, the preacher recommends reading C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters: an illuminating, even humorous, satire on the powers that work against God.
• On earth too, the break is evident. Humanity is expert at building walls: between nations, between families, between couples, between relationships. The break even touches all living things: climate disruption, the state of forests, the suffering of creation. You experience it yourself as well.
• In Jesus Christ, you have the assurance that all things will be reconciled in him. Everything that resists, everything that opposes, every hostile power will be brought under his feet. This is what you celebrate on this Ascension Sunday: Christ was raised up beside the Father to reign with him over all things. This plan is your hope and your consolation.

6. The Sagrada Familia: a picture of the work in progress

• The preacher offers an illustration: the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, under construction since 1882. The building is magnificent, its interior breathtaking; and yet it remains an unfinished building site, with scaffolding and workers.
• From the outset, the architect Antoni Gaudí had a clear vision of the finished work. He died long ago, and everything continues to move forward according to that plan. Today’s architects and craftsmen do not build according to their own ideas, even good ones; they strive to stay faithful to the vision Gaudí left behind, working from his plans, his models, his intentions. During a visit, you are even invited to imagine the finished work in order to appreciate it more fully.
• God’s project resembles this basilica under construction. The plan has been revealed: it is Christ. Christ is the model, the beginning, the end, the result of what God’s kingdom will look like. He is also its initiator.
• God’s kingdom has already been inaugurated. Today, you already benefit from grace, forgiveness, and deliverance — just as you can already visit the basilica. And at the same time, the full completion is still to come. You live in the middle of the scaffolding, with the certainty that the master architect knows exactly what he is doing, and that he will bring his work to completion.

7. Workers on God's building site

• Isn’t this cosmic project too distant to touch your everyday life? The preacher shares that she asked herself the same question. The temptation was to reduce the cosmic project down to the down-to-earth level of our lives. But God invites you to make the opposite journey: how can my everyday life rise up to this cosmic project?
• How can your down-to-earth life take part in this project of summing up all things in Christ? How, starting today, does Christ become the center of gravity of your life?
• God does not invite you to build your own projects, your own kingdoms. He invites you to take part in a work far greater than yourself. You are a worker on God’s building site.
• The local church, too, should be able to ask whether its vision, its activities, its way of serving truly sum up Christ. Your everyday life is called to be reoriented toward this cosmic project. Like the visitor invited to imagine the finished basilica in order to marvel at it, you are invited to keep this project in mind and to picture it so that it feeds your walk with God.
• Paul writes these words from prison. And yet, as you read him, you see a man whose spirit already dwells in eternity. Like him, let the vision of eternity widen your small personal horizons and turn your life into praise and living hope.

Key takeaways

• The two small words “in Christ” open and close the passage. It is not in yourself, but in Christ, that you receive every grace of salvation.
• Your deliverance and forgiveness were obtained at the cost of the Son’s life, given freely and in keeping with the Father’s good will.
• God’s grace is lavished in abundance and full of wisdom: salvation is not an improvisation, it is a reflection of the Creator’s wisdom.
• God’s plan, long kept secret, is now revealed in Christ: everything, in heaven and on earth, is to be summed up in him.
• You live in the middle of the scaffolding, but the architect knows where he is going. You are a worker on his building site, not on your own.

Personal application

1. In which areas of your life are you still seeking your assurance “in yourself”, in your own strength or merits, rather than “in Christ”?
2. Is there a failure, a past, a shame you keep trying to “redeem” yourself instead of receiving the forgiveness already offered at the price of Christ’s blood?
3. Does God’s grace seem almost excessive to you when you look at who you are? How does that shape your prayer this week?
4. What concrete walls are you contributing to — in your family, your marriage, at work, in your church? What would it take for them to start coming down in Christ?
5. Concretely this week, how can your everyday life “rise up” to God’s cosmic project? What action, what decision, what relationship will you recenter on Christ?

Scriptures cited

• Ephesians 1:7-10 — Today’s text, God’s plan of salvation revealed in Christ.
• Ephesians 1:3-14 — The long introductory praise of the triune God’s work.
• Proverbs 3:19 — “By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.”
• Exodus 12 — The Passover and the exodus from Egypt, the Old Testament background of redemption.
• Romans 8:19-23 — Creation groaning as it waits for the revealing of the children of God.

Further reading

• Home Group Themes: 30 Ideas
• Welcoming New Participants in a Small Group
• How to Lead a Bible Discussion

FAQ

What exactly does the phrase “in Christ” mean in Ephesians 1?

“In Christ” or “in him” points to a place of belonging, a space where you can stand. It is in your union with Christ that you receive every grace of salvation: deliverance, forgiveness, adoption, inheritance. It is not thanks to you or thanks to your efforts, but because you belong to Christ, that these blessings become yours.

What does it mean to “sum up all things in Christ”?

The Greek verb Paul uses literally means “to bring under one head,” to sum up, to recenter around one capital point. God’s plan is that everything — the spiritual world, humanity, all creation — be brought back to its center of gravity: Jesus Christ. Everything will then find its meaning, its purpose, its coherence in him.

What should I do when this cosmic project feels too distant from my everyday life?

Don’t try to reduce the cosmic project down to the down-to-earth level of your life: make the opposite journey instead. Ask yourself how your everyday life can rise up to this project. How Christ can become, today, the center of gravity of your choices, your relationships, your service. You are a worker on God’s building site: every small act done in Christ, however humble, takes part in a work far greater than yourself.