Living as the "Inheritance of God"
by Pastor Moh | April 29, 2015
According to the Apostle Paul in Ephesians, living as the “inheritance of God” (Ephesians 1:18) has to do with BOTH our “Being” and our “Doing” in this world and in the world to come …Consider this...the Apostle Paul prayed that we would have better spiritual vision regarding three things:
1) the great “hope to which he has called” us — that we will share in his glory;
2) that our eyes would be opened to “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” — that we are his treasured inheritance;
3) that his all-surpassing power is on us and will continue on to our glorification. [1]
Paul prays that our eyes will be opened as to “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” What the Apostle Paul wants us to see is that we are God’s riches — “his possession,” as verse Eph.1:14 also previously mentioned! F. F. Bruce says regarding this: "Paul prays here that his readers will appreciate the value which God places on them, his plan to accomplish his eternal purpose through them as the first fruits of the reconciled universe of the future, in order that their lives may be in keeping with the high calling and that they may accept in grateful humility the grace and glory thus lavished on them."
Think of it: The Lord owns all the heavens and numberless worlds, but we are his treasures. The “redeemed” are worth more than the universe. Paul prays that we will see this with our heart’s eyes.[2]
This “inheritance of God” encompasses the life of God’s “church gathered” as well as the life of God’s “church scattered” in the world—in the marketplace, government, professional offices, schools and homes. This “inheritance of God” is realized on earth when the people of God discover that their lives are ontologically grounded in the being of Christ as they live and mature as the children of God in their homes and marketplace. As a result, the Disciples of Christ will experience being the inheritance of God through the personhood of Christ in the world.[3] In the process, the Church prepares the way for the Lord, and becomes vital, relevant and effective to any community at any given point in human history regardless of the complex societal and cultural transformations that could take place in the world.