Your Father Loves You
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3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Prayer
The main point of what I want you to understand is
- God deeply loves you and really, really, REALLY wants for you to be His child and for Him to be your Father.
As you will see, with this relationship God desires for you and me also comes benefits and privileges!
"Most of us get about knee-deep in the Christian life, discover that the water feels fine, and stop there. We never swim in the depths of the divine intimacy Jesus won for us." -Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools
When Paul started writing about this amazing thing, he couldn’t help but praise this God who loved him so much!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
“Blessed (praised be) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We have a triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit… and Paul here is singling out the Father. Praise the Father!
“who has blessed us”
Blessed is the same Greek word here as it is the beginning, but the meaning of it is interpreted differently based on the noun or pronoun it is attached to. For a deity, its a word of praise. For mortals, it describes a benefit or gain.
Our benefit or gain comes from being
“in Christ”
Jesus Christ is the one you have been put into.
“with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”
The Father has given us everything that was reserved for Christ because we are in Christ.
“in Christ”, “in Him”, “in the beloved” appears 11 times. This is the basis by which our Father makes us His children.
When God looks at you he now sees Christ!
Now that you are in Christ, you are considered God’s child and are now the rightful heir of every spiritual blessing that is Jesus’ and unlocked by Jesus.
#1
Because our Father loves us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Chose Us to Be Holy
and blameless
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Before time, space, and all of creation, we were chosen.
Not like school sports.
We definitely don’t feel holy or blameless most of the time. But, our opinion is not the one that matters most. It is His opinion. And, you Father, didn’t just choose you, when he thinks of you, or looks at you, he sees holiness. He sees ZERO blame. He sees Christ. Because when He looked at Christ at Calvary, he saw your sin.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
#2
through Jesus our Father…
Created Us With Intent
Created Us With Intent
of adoption
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Ephesians 1:4b (ESV)
In love
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Your purpose for being created was to be an object of the Father’s love.
Your purpose for existing is to be a son or daughter.
“to himself…” = very important
Think of our experience as children. Some do not have fond memories of their parents. Even the best parent fails in some way. And, pretty much all of us leave home eventually.
Your Father didn’t create you for the purpose of moving out when you turn 18. He intends for you to be in the house forever.
He also doesn’t plan to disown you if you mess up. And you will mess up…
Roman law prevented all adopted children from being disowned or disinherited.
Your Father intends to keep you. To keep you in the house.
HE LOVES YOU.
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
#3
Through Jesus our Father…
Paid for Our Redemption
Paid for Our Redemption
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Paid for Our Redemption
to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Grace: unmerited underserved favor.
Your Father paid for you with the most valuable payment in all of the universe: The blood of Christ.
The blood of Christ, shed for you, so that you might not shed your blood. You deserved to have your blood shed. But your Father shed his only begotten (born of) Son’s blood for you.
Remember, you are adopted. Jesus is blood born. And its that blood that was shed.
Thats why we sing song like this:
There is a fountain, filled with blood, drawn from Emanuel’s veins. And sinners plunged beneath that flood, loose all their guilty stains.
Because we know this is undeserved. By grace. We sing songs like this:
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt
Yonder on Calvary's mount outpoured
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt
Grace, grace, God's grace
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God's grace
Grace that is greater than all our sin
What value you squandered, sin squandered, has been restored.
He wants to do this. He loves to do this. He is rich in grace.
Aren’t you glad your father is rich in grace?
I’d rather receive the riches of His grace than the riches of this earth.
We will talk a little bit about this more when we look at the 5th thing God is doing because He loves us.
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Paid for Our Redemption
#4
Through Jesus our Father…
Revealed His Gracious Will
Revealed His Gracious Will
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Paid for Our Redemption
Revealed His Gracious Will
Ephesians 1:7b (ESV)
…according to the riches of his grace,
which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Knowing God’s will, the purpose of His will, and the plan for His will is a gift of grace!! Lavished grace!!!
Do you realize just how big of a deal it is for us to…
Have His book revealing His will.
To see in it how He planned and is planning to fulfill His will.
To understand it in such a way that we see the purpose for all of it
The purpose of His will is the key to knowing His purpose for you!
This makes all pain, suffering, pleasure, and joy make sense!
All of this, He planned, at the costly expense of His Son Jesus, for the purpose of bringing all things into subjection (obedience) and unity under Christ.
That’s purpose #1.
All things in every moment of your life. All pain, suffering, pleasure, and joy are under the subjection of Christ and are working to unify you more fully with Christ.
Christian, Your Father will not allow anything into your life that does not serve the purpose of bringing you into a more deeper unity “with” and “under” Christ.
But purpose #1 has always been intended to bring about purpose #2.
That our Father, might get immense glory for it all!
#5
Through Jesus our Father…
Made Us His Inheritance
Made Us His Inheritance
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Paid for Our Redemption
Revealed His Gracious Will
Made Us His Inheritance
In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
“have been made” = chosen by the will of God (when you throw dice or cast a lot. But every lot is directed by the will of God)
We are His treasured possession.
We were always going to be His treasured possession. It wasn’t an accident!
So many of us do what we do just to be recognized as valuable: as children, as employees, as friends, as parents. We hate the idea of not being valued. What ends up happening is that we unintentionally imprison ourselves within shame and guilt, and even hurt the ones we are so desperately want to love us.
We turn all of life into a competition of value and worth.
We operate from a false sense of deficiency instead of from the truth of God’s love for us.
We have to be honest, this side of glory, we will be a hot mess. We do need to change.
Beloved, your Father doesn’t want you to try to be, be seen as, or become someone worthy of love.
He wants you to recognize that you are loved. And that that love is what transforms you now, and will perfect you in glory.
#6
Through Jesus, Our Father
Lets Us Experience Him Now
Lets Us Experience Him Now
Because Our Father Loves Us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Paid for Our Redemption
Revealed His Gracious Will
Made Us His Inheritance
Lets Us Experience Him Now
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Just a moment ago, Paul spoke of us being God’s inheritance.
We were made to be an inheritance and made to obtain an inheritance.
Now he is speaking of God being our inheritance.
This shows how we can know that all of this is guaranteed to be fulfilled by God: the gift of the Holy Spirit (sealing).
The Holy Spirit is our here and now access to our promised inheritance in Christ. God Himself.
The Holy Spirit is both our current experience of our future inheritance and our current protection unto our future inheritance.
The Holy Spirit…
Preserves our confident faith in Christ
Protects our souls from the evil one
Caries the authority of Christ and His gospel
Communicates to us for God
Communicates to God for us
Produces godliness in our lives
Manifests “super”natural giftings within the church
Helps us in our weakness
Comforts us with God’s presence as God’s presence
What’s so amazing about these things that our Father has done for us is that these are all things he wants manifested here and now for us. He knows it will all be completed at glory. But he has given us a here and now guarantee of it in His Spirit.
Say NOW. 1. 2. 3. NOW.
You can experience Holiness NOW.
You can experience His intentions of adoption NOW - as a son or daughter.
You can experience redemption NOW - appreciating the blood payment made for you.
You can know His will NOW - and have more and more revealed.
You can live from your imputed value NOW - as His inheritance.
You can do it now because you have been given and sealed by the Spirit NOW
Because our Father loves us, He…
Chose Us to Be Holy
Created Us With Intent
Paid for Our Redemption
Revealed His Gracious Will
Made Us His Inheritance
Lets Us Experience Him Now
He wants to give you the very very best thing. The ultimate “good thing”.
Himself
Applications
Right now, I want you to think deeply about what kind of relationship you have with God? Do you feel loved by Him?
Do you think about Him as a cruel slave driver?
Do you treat Him as if He only wants to get something from you?
Do you think of Him as a generous Father?
Do you treat him as if He wants to give you the world?
This week, I want you to think about ways you can better relate to Him as your Father who loves you?
What will it take for you to have a smile on your face when you think about Him?
