Ministry - The Work of God's People - 5 - Awakened to Praise

Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14, 5:15-20

Ephesians 1:3–14 (NIV)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 5:15–20 (NIV)

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

8/18/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Special Music

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 3: Special Music

Men’s Ensemble: Victor Shelton, Marty Padgett, Bob Gould

Opening Prayer:

Holy Wisdom,

you granted Solomon's request

for an understanding mind

and the knowledge to discern good from evil.

Fill us with such understanding and knowledge

that we may act as instruments

of your loving desire for creation,

working with you to transform

our conceit into concern for others,

our fear into love,

our violence into peace,

and our brokenness into wholeness. Amen.

Awakened to Praise

Praise to God

Last week, our passage from Paul in Ephesians encouraged us to take the parts of ourselves that led us to sin—our words, feelings, and hands—and turn them into instruments of righteousness. Take your hands that steal and instead make them work to build others up. Don’t use your words to deceive. Use them to lead people lovingly to the truth.

Have you ever wondered what the end goal is in all of this? When I began this series last month, I told you that Paul weaves two big points throughout this letter to the Ephesians. The first is that Christ is above everything in all creation. The second is that we, as his chosen ambassadors, have a crucial role in putting everything in line under Him, even as we put ourselves under Him. This is our mission, our purpose. The power to live a perfect life is not ours to use or take. It all belongs to Jesus. But He gives us his holy Spirit, working through and redeeming us, and something unmanageable happens when we draw close enough to Jesus to be in his presence, in his will, in Him, and find He is at work in us as well.

There has been a lot of ink spilled, a lot of jokes told, and a lot of wisdom shared about what Jesus will say to us when we get to heaven. There are things that we hope He will speak to us and things that we fear He might say to us, but a lot less thought goes into what we will say to Him. Some Bible experts and worship leaders say heaven will be an eternity singing praise to God.

Praise doesn’t always come out in music. But there is a particular posture and attitude, something even more than gratitude, that we take on when we find ourselves praising God, not just for what He has done, but for Who He is. This understanding of praise is crucial in our relationship with God. I don’t know exactly what heaven is like. But I know it involves praising God. I know it consists of living in a holy love with Him and each other. And I know it involves having access to a wisdom that ties that righteousness and praise of God together. We don’t often connect wisdom in praising God together, but our passages today in Ephesians do because Jesus teaches us to live with wisdom that awakens us to praise God.

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In Him

Today, we return briefly to the beginning of this letter. Paul begins his letter by writing about how powerful and transcendent Jesus is and how incredibly vast his plan of salvation for the world is. We couldn’t stop Him if we tried, and He doesn’t want us to. He plans to take our broken lives, redeem them, and allow them to be vessels of his grace. He transforms and redeems the world around us, through us, and sometimes despite us.

Redemption is a huge concept in our faith. Remember, when you come across the word chosen in the Scriptures, I told you to think of King David. Like him, we are not chosen because we are strong, smart, or good. We are chosen because God loves us and can make us into anything He wants. Whatever we were, whatever we are, doesn’t matter because Jesus, in his power, can take the worst parts of us and make them into instruments of praise.

At the very least, He can use us as a shining example of what not to do. There have been millions of people named Mary over the centuries. Many people have their children, Peter or Joseph or John. Once upon a time, Judas was a popular name as well. But one person separated himself from Christ, and God has used that memory, that story, as an example of what not to do for 2000 years. We still know the name Judas, and He still serves as a warning to us. That is one way God redeemed his life.

But that is not the way God wants to redeem our lives. He wants us to participate with Him. As Paul writes to the Ephesians, He wants us to be in Him, so close to Jesus relationally that it becomes hard to see where He begins and we end. That’s a bizarre concept because our world teaches us that we either remain separate and safe from everyone and everything around us, or we dive in over our heads and lose our identity in whatever person, group, or thing has swallowed us up.

But God chose us, has good plans for us, and has the power to accomplish those plans around and through us. He also knows some of those plans may take a lifetime to accomplish. Some of those works He has prepared for us may only bear fruit after we leave this world.

It is sad and sometimes almost sickening when we think about the tragedies that happen to people and the way it seems that good people are taken from us too soon in this life. Then, on the other hand, we hear about the lives of foolish people or evil people who endanger, harm, and kill others and yet somehow come through without suffering any harm themselves. Where is the justice? Why don’t people get what they deserve?

But that is the gospel message. None of us get what we deserve. Not ever. That is how God redeemed the lives of the foolish in the evil. In their stories, we see a grace they did not deserve and a God who spared them and gave them another chance to turn to Him, seek his strength and wisdom, and live a different life. And while we may still think that is not fair, Paul knew differently because he knew he was a murderer. He knew that before he met Jesus, he had faithful followers of Jesus killed. But because of the redeeming grace of Jesus, not only was Paul’s soul saved, but he was invited to join the very family whose brothers and sisters he had once hated and hunted.

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Holy Spirit

Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit tells us what side of redemption we are on. It tells us whether we are in Jesus and allowing him to work in and through us or whether we have turned against Him and decided that He will only work despite us. Paul says the Holy Spirit is like a seal or an official stamp that covers us and lets the whole world know that everything inside belongs to Jesus.

That seal protects us. When a letter or package was stamped with the king’s approval, that message and its contents were protected by the very lives of the servants who carried it. The Holy Spirit marks us for all creation to see that we belong to God. He claims us as His handiwork and anything that tries to misuse us will have eternal consequences to pay.

Paul says the Holy Spirit is also a deposit. It is like an initial payment of a greater inheritance to come. Money is not a helpful way to understand this kind of inheritance. It’s more like getting a key that unlocks a bedroom in an enormous mansion. It implies that you have a room there, with the promise that one that you will be there and have access to everything. Or better yet, an engagement ring. That is a deposit that declares we have a relationship now that comes with a promise and a hope that the relationship will grow into something that will change our lives forever — and it begins today as we prepare for that time.

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Vessels of Praise

And that may be it. God has chosen us. He has plans for us. Jesus has redeemed our past, and He has the power to redeem all of who we are. He has given us his Holy Spirit to mark us as His own and as a down payment to prove that He will make good on His promises. So now we live in preparation for that day that the work of redemption is completed and Christ is given the glory he deserves as Lord of all. Paul tells us:

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

This wise living goes far beyond staying out of trouble. It means living a life that praises God and returns the glory or spotlight to Him.

This means we praise Jesus with our words, whether we sing praise to Him or thank Jesus out loud in our words. Whether we write it or sign it, we use our words to praise Him. We let God turn our tongues, which so easily lead us into lies and cause harm to others, into instruments that praise Him in sincere love.

We also praise Jesus with our actions. Whether we are creating things, tearing things down, or making repairs with our hands, we allow God to redeem our workmanship in a way that brings Him praise. We serve one another with a love that puts the spotlight on Jesus, not on us as individuals or our church family. When we act, we act with wisdom that relies on direction and strength from the Holy Spirit, not our own understanding.

We praise Jesus on our good days when we feel blessed and excited. We praise Him when we feel like our work has finally been completed and are ready to see the fruit of our labor. We praise Him in the planting and harvesting seasons and on those days when the rain comes to nourish our crops.

We praise Jesus on our bad days, too. We praise Him that we do not get what we deserve. We praise Him when we remember He knows and understands the things that happen that we may never understand. Most of all, we praise Him during those terrible storms when we know He is redeeming us and the world around us, clearing out the things that may be good and making way for even better things.

Job, one of the oldest writings of our bible, tells the account of a man who had the worst of days and questioned everything in the middle of his tragedy. Yet God redeemed his life and his questions and showed thousands upon thousands of generations that although we may not understand why bad things happen in our world, there are three things that we can know for sure:

God has a plan.

God is in charge.

And we are never alone because God is with us, working in and through us, redeeming us because He loves us.

And we will give Him all the praise and glory for it.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, Your wisdom and power are beyond our comprehension. Sometimes, we wish we could see everything the way You do so we could understand it better. Other times, we feel the pain of our lives being slowly redeemed, renewed, and reborn, and we are afraid to look, to seek, to ask for anything. We want to hide away from the pain. We find ourselves without words when we want to pray for others. We don’t know how to praise You the way You deserve. But You never give up on us, and You change us, one small step at a time, if that is what it takes. Today, Lord, we offer ourselves to You as instruments of praise. Let our words, actions, thoughts, feelings, and every aspect of our life bring you praise for Who You are. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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