EPHESIANS: Anchored and Adopted

EPHESIANS Number 29:

I recently spoke via livestream with a group of men in Indiana. They have built a fellowship that includes men from several churches in the area. They call themselves “The Anchormen.”

I really enjoy talking to and with these guys. Their name comes from Hebrews 6:19, which speaks of our hope in Christ as an anchor for our souls. Our mind will and emotions sure need an anchor, but even an anchor is no good if it has nothing to hold onto. It needs a firm foundation.

The passage in Hebrews tells us that “God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil” (Hebrews 6:17–19 - KJV).

The immutable, or unchangeable, God cannot lie and it is Him upon whom our hope is anchored.

Ephesians 2:19 (KJV)
“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”

We were once outsiders, separated from God and without hope, as we read in Ephesians 2:12 (KJV). There we are told “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”

But here in verse 19 we learn that we are no longer strangers and foreigners. Instead, our citizenship has changed. Colossians 1:13 (KJV) says that He “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”

It is this to which Jesus was pointing when He said in John 15:19 (KJV) “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” If that were not enough for us to be certain about this, He went on in John 17:14–16 (KJV) saying, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

The result of this change in citizenship is akin to that experienced by immigrants permanently relocating from one country to another. While some vestiges of their lifestyle from “the old country” may remain, their entire way of living changes. They have a new life in a new place with new and different ways. Philippians 3:20 (KJV) puts a spiritual Kingdom perspective on this saying, “For our conversation (our way of life) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verse 19 in our text also says that we are part of the household of God. We are in the family. We’re His children. Indeed later, in Ephesians 3:14-15 (KJV) we will see this referenced as Paul says, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.”

I really love this because one of the ways I know that I am a member of the Eiss family is that when I look at my birth certificate, I see that it bears the name Eiss. Holy Spirit said through Paul that we bear the family name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what scripture means when it speaks of us bearing the image of Christ, or that as He is, so are we in this world.

We are all in the family of God. That’s why Galatians 6:10 (KJV) encourages us, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

Of course, another wonderful benefit of being a member of God’s family is the one about which we’re told in Galatians 3:29 (KJV) “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Ephesians 3:6 (KJV) agrees, saying “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” To cap it off, Paul elaborates in Romans 8:17 (KJV) telling us that if we are “children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”