Church Worth Thanking God For by Dr. Abidan Shah

October 8, 2026

CHURCH WORTH THANKING GOD FOR by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: What are you grateful for? Some people are thankful for their family. Some people are thankful for their job. Others are thankful for their doctors, teachers, coaches, even pets etc. In today’s message, we will see that the Apostle Paul was thankful for the Ephesian church. We are in our series through the Book of Ephesians, and our message is titled: “Church Worth Thanking God For.” Are you thankful for our church? Are you thankful for Clearview? I am. If many of us were truly honest, we would not be in a good place if it weren’t for our church. Do you only see the negative or do you also see the positives because of the impact of this place?

Ephesians 1 (page #1795) 13 “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.”

Context: Last weekend, we concluded our miniseries on how the Triune God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We saw the blessings from God the Father, then God the Son, and then God the Holy Spirit. Now Paul adds a key detail regarding the work of the Holy Spirit in verse 14 “who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” The word for guarantee in Greek is “arrabon,” which is actually a Hebrew word. It carries the idea of a “pledge” and “down payment.” So, the Holy Spirit is the pledge/deposit of our “inheritance.” What is our inheritance? This refers to all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-13). Paul talks about this inheritance in other of his books as well:

Galatians 4:7 “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
1 Corinthians 6:9 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?”
Romans 8 16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…”

The downpayment of the inheritance has been given as the Holy Spirit, but more is coming. When? “until the redemption” – a better translation for “until” (eis) is “for” or “toward” the redemption. Translated: “You and I are guaranteed a spiritual inheritance in the heavenly places in Christ, with the pledge and downpayment of the Holy Spirit, but it will not come to fruition until our ultimate redemption, which is after death, at Jesus’ Second Coming.

We know what an earthly inheritance looks like. What if someone says, “You are guaranteed an inheritance but after you die!” Sure! As they used to say, “If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you.” Isn’t that what Paul is saying here but about spiritual blessings? That requires a special kind of faith! In fact, Paul even commends the Ephesians for this kind of a faith in verse 15 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you…”

Let’s pause here. This is where lost people shake their heads at us. Some call our faith nothing more than a “pie in the sky,” no different than the food fight in the Peter Pan movie. Some have called the Christian faith fit for the weak and psychologically disabled (for more information on this, see Jeffrey Burton Russell). Sigmund Freud called Christianity a “fairy tale.” Friedrich Nietzsche said that God was dead and Christian faith was a religion of the weak, nothing more than a slave morality. Karl Marx claimed that Christianity was just a clever way to distract people from the real problems, chief being the economic ones. He also called religion the “opium of the masses.” Lenin called Christianity a drug that helped people to tolerate oppression.

Application: Do you know people who believe that about your faith? How about you? Is faith just “roll your eyes to the back of your head” stuff? Anytime a question gets too difficult to answer, do we run under a shelter? Sharks and Minnows, capture the flag game. Some even say, “Even if nothing, the cross is worth it.” Is that your approach to the struggles and complexities of life?

Let’s back and try to understand what the faith is that Paul is commending the Ephesians for. If were not careful, we will make it a requirement for salvation. Listen again to 15 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus…” The phrase “in Him” is found about 165 times in all of Paul’s letters, about 36 times in Ephesians, and about 20 times in the first two chapters of Ephesians.

To understand the kind of faith that Paul was commending, we need to first understand that there are 2 kinds of faiths:

1. Intellectual Assent – Proposition or statement (the Gospel)

2. Inward Assent – personal trust (Commitment to Jesus)

Here Paul is referring more to the second type without ignoring the first. Constantine Campbell explains in his commentary that there are 4 words that are under this umbrella – union, participation, identification, and incorporation. He explains: “Union gathers up faith union with Christ, mutual indwelling, trinitarian and nuptial notions. Participation conveys partaking the events of Christ’s narrative. Identification refers to believers’ location in the realm of Christ and their allegiance to his lordship. Incorporation encapsulates the corporate dimensions of memberships in Christ’s body.”

Having said that, it is the first one that is essential for salvation. To understand how it works, listen to Paul’s definition of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 1 “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once…” And on and on.

Declaration:

Jesus brought God’s kingdom into the world.
He is Christ, God’s Anointed King.
He died on the cross for our sins, according to Scriptures.
He was buried but rose again on the third day, according to Scriptures and was seen by many.

What’s the response? Romans 10 9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” The word “Lord” is the Greek word “kurios.” From very ancient times, it meant “someone who had authority or control over.” It implied a superior position. It’s in the Greek Old Testament (LXX) that we find it get a whole new meaning. That word “kurios” is found over 8000 times in the Greek OT, over 6000 times for the Hebrew word “Yahweh,” the name of God and some even for “Adonai,” the substitute name for God. The Jewish people did not like to use God’s name (Yahweh), so they substituted Adonai for it by using the vowels in between. Either way, the word “kurios” is used as God’s name in Greek. In the New Testament, the word “kurios” is found about 700 times. Although it is used at times for kings and masters, it’s main use is as a designation for God.

Demand:

Repent – change of thinking about sin, self, and Savior.
Believe – trust that Jesus is God’s Son who has paid the penalty of our sins and he can remove the guilt of sin and give eternal life.
Follow – as our King, we are to obey and follow him no matter the cost. Without this element, the gospel is not the true gospel. First, the decision and then, one day, the test.

True Repentance is a “change of mind.” In Greek, the noun form is “metanoia,” which is found 24 times; the verbal form is “metanoeo,” which is found 34 times; then, there is “metamelomai,” which is found 6 times. There is a reason I’m giving you all these statistics. The core idea behind all these words is a “change of mind” or a “change of thinking.” For some reason, we have inserted the idea of sorrow or regret. It may have come in through the Roman Catholic translation of “penance” and “penitence” but this was not part of the original biblical understanding. Don’t misunderstand. There may be some tears involved in repentance, but they are the right kind of tears. 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” There’s a big difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Godly sorrow feels personal guilt against the holiness of God, but worldly sorrow only feels regret and remorse. Godly sorrow leads to salvation but worldly sorrow only leads to death. Crying or feeling sorry or feeling ashamed do not guarantee salvation. The key thing is that there’s a change of thinking regarding sin, self, and Savior.

After Repent, it is Believe in Him and Follow our Master/King. Altogether, 3 responses – Repent, Believe, and Follow.

Application: Do you understand the declaration of the gospel? Have you responded to the demand of the gospel?

How about the Inward Assent? There may be some of it at the moment of salvation, but much of it is a deeper work that comes with spiritual growth and sanctification.

Because of concerns regarding lack of change after salvation, people have tended to emphasize the “Inward Assent” at the beginning far more lately:

True Faith = Salvation ® Obedience. This is fine until Obedience is made the test of True Faith. Now, it is no longer just “By Grace thru Faith.” It becomes Faith plus Works, albeit the proponents will deny this vehemently.
True Faith = Loyalty/Allegiance ® Salvation. This is just another way of adding Works to Faith, albeit the proponents will deny this vehemently.
It must remain the Reformation doctrine of “justification by faith alone” in order to maintain the forensic nature of salvation – We were condemned sinners under the wrath of a holy and righteous God. Jesus took the penalty of God’s wrath upon himself so we could go free.
The metaphor of salvation is not a slave/bond servant or a covenant relationship like marriage. It is prisoner being set free.

Can children understand this? Actually, yes they can. At their level, without having been tainted by the influence of the world, they are able to receive the Intellectual Assent and even some of the Inward Assent much quicker than we can.

Matthew 18 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

How about you? Are you saved?

Are you thankful for a church that has this kind of faith and love for the saints (each other)?