Ephesians 1:3-6 - Praise the Father

Paul opens this letter differently than others—He opens by singing.

Ephesians 1:3-14 is 202 greek words/one sentence.

If you’re an english major, you’re going to hate that.

He opens this letter with a song to draw our hearts and mind to worship.

He opens up with 202 uninterrupted words to give us multiple reasons that God should be praised.

Paul widens the scope of salvation.

Infinite zoom

As we look at this image and continues to zoom in/zoom out, our capacity for the picture changes.

We are amazed at the new things we find as we continue to see the picture grow.

As our capacity of information expands, our sense of awe and wonder expands.

Christians have an immediate story of how God saved them, but Paul wants to widen our thinking and praise to the Father.

He takes us from our immediate understanding to an unseen, heavenly realm.

Our physical bodies temporarily live on earth/Spiritually we live in the heavenly places where Christ now is.

Paul calls us to immerse in this truth/celebrate—We are citizens of a new kingdom.

Trinitarian theology - 3 in 1.

Father/Son/Spirit

Over the next 3 sermons we’ll be breaking down the work of the triune God.

Order of salvation.

Paul is celebrating the work of the Triune God in our salvation.

He’s leading us in this worship song because of the God who saved us and how He did it.

Big Idea: Praise the Father

Stand to read

Ephesians 1:3–6 ESV

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.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

He praises the Father “Who has blessed us in Christ”

The blessings in the Old Testament were largely material

Fruitful wombs, crops, flocks, influence.

The blessings in the New Testament are more!

The flagship blessings of the New Covenant are spiritual blessings

Jesus tells us not to worry about our worldly needs.

“He that gives us heaven will surely give us all that is needed on the road thither” (Spurgeon).

The spiritual blessings that are in Christ pertain to life in the Spirit as a child of God.

We have the law of God written on our hearts, we have a personal relationship with the one true and living God!

We have also been forgiven of our sins!

All our evil has been washed away by the blood of Jesus!

These are the spiritual blessings!

Right now we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit

Giving us wisdom, convicting us of sin, reminding us of God’s love.

We have God in us!

In Christ, we are promised heaven—He will not starve us on the way there.

Paul wants you to know that the only way into the blessings is through the person and work of Jesus Christ having been chosen by God the Father.

So Paul has established that those who are in Christ are God’s people.

These things should leads us to praise the Father because…

Church,

God the Father initiated our salvation (vv. 3-4)

God’s sovereign election is an expression of His grace and love.

not a new concept to the Bible.

God chose to create the world for His glory.

God chose Abraham to bring a blessing to the nations.

I will provide people

I will provide the land

God chose Israel that they might be a light to the nations.

Jesus chose His disciples.

God chose Paul.

He is sovereign over all creation, and He can do as He pleases.

God chose us to belong to Him in Christ before time as we know it.

Before we existed, God chose us for eternal life in Christ!

Have you ever received a blessing and you thought “Who me? Are you sure you got the right guy?”

Amanda gift.

She could’ve given this to anyone! She knows a lot of people of loves books. But she chose me

In His grace, God has chosen to us this gift of grace!!

We are alive in Christ, just because God said so!

You did not choose God first, He chose you and then you responded to Him!

All of heaven with it’s blessings are ours!

This shouldn’t raise a doubt on if everyone is welcome to Jesus.

All may come.

Exalting Jesus in Ephesians The Nature of Election

God is not some metaphysical airport security screener, waving through the secretly pre-approved and sending the rest into a holding tank for questioning. God is not treating us like puppets made of meat, forcing us along by his capricious whim. Instead the doctrine of election tells us that all of us who have come to know Christ are here on purpose.

Our invitation to everyone should be “Come to Jesus! When you come, thank Him for drawing you!”

Before you existed, before you had need, God chose you to be “holy and blameless before Him”

Identity precedes activity.

Before the foundations of the world, God chose to give us a new identity.

Now, we have freedom to act in accordance with our new identity.

Before Christ, we could only sin because we were dead in it.

It was our nature to sin—We were free to sin.

Now, In Christ, we are free from sin.

Because God has given us a new identity in Christ, we can now live in a way that is consistent with our new identity.

God chose us in Christ for a purpose.

Ephesians 1:4 ESV

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Our identity is now in Christ, so that means

We were chosen to be holy in Christ (v. 4)

To be “holy” is to be set apart for God’s purposes.

“I don’t live a holy life.”

The important note is it is not because of our holiness that we get to stand before the Lord, rather because of Christ’s holiness given to us!

The God who chose us to be holy will make us holy in His Son!

If you’re concerned about being perfect/getting your act together before you come to Christ, you’ll never come.

This is super important: He chose you.

He wants you.

We love Him because He first loved us.

He chose you that in Christ we can be made righteous before God.

When Jesus took your sins on the cross, He gave you His righteous status before God.

This means that in Christ you are holy and blameless.

The Father now looks at us as He looks at Jesus because He looked at Jesus as He looked at us.

Double imputation: Our sin to Christ, His righteousness to us.

God the Father does not look at you in disappointment, because it’s because of Him you are who you are!

Transition

Since we are holy and blameless before God, we are made worthy of sonship, which is the next part of our passage.

Ephesians 1:5–6 ESV

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.

I believe God has a destiny for each of our lives.

The Bible says that we were

fearfully/wonderfully made—Knit together in my mothers womb

a city set on a hill

written in the Lamb’s book of Life.

The term “predestined” simply means “To determine something beforehand or before its occurrence.”

It’s not as if God looked through the corridors of time to see who would choose Him.

That’s not what happened.

God chose us in Christ to be holy

He predestined us through Christ for adoption.

God willed to adopt you as a child

God the Father planned our adoption (vv. 5-6)

Adoption is a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relationship.

A child who is not related by blood or born biologically become a child of another.

The adopted child has all the privileges as a natural child would.

The child has no say in the matter of adoption

The parents pick the kids, the parents pay the price, the parents change the kid’s name to their name.

The Parent comes to get the child.

Mike Williams story.

It is the parent who makes the first move and initiates the relationship.

Before the world began, God had predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ!

Gospel presentation

Before you ever sinned against Him, God chose to give you this invitation!

You don’t deserve it, you didn’t earn it!

We have all sinned against God, making us guilty.

But God, before the foundation of the world chose to send His Son Jesus, so that through Him, all who would be believe could be made holy and blameless before God!

Despite our sins, Jesus went to the cross and died for them.

He took our sins onto Himself to give us His righteousness!

That’s what makes us holy!

It’s not because of your good deeds or because you’re a good person.

What makes you holy is that you have been washed by the blood of Jesus through faith!

That when Jesus died on the cross you believe that somehow it counted for you!

Then, God the Father in power raised His Son from the dead securing your adoption as sons!

Now, when we put our trust in Jesus, we are not only forgiven of our sins, but we are given the family name!

Church,

We were chosen to be family through Christ (v. 5)

Jesus died and rose again because God the Father chose you before the foundation of the world to be His holy and blameless children!

You can be a child of God through faith today!

If you’re not a Christian, you have no rights to the kingdom of heaven.

If you have not surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus, you should not be fooled into believing your His child.

But John gives us this encouragement: John 1:12

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Do you want to be made holy and blameless by the blood of Christ today?

Do you want brought into His eternal family?

Receive Jesus, the eternal Son of God, and believe in His name and you will have the right to be a child of God and the right to the kingdom of God.

For those who trust in Christ, His children, He has given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

We have a reason to sing! to hope! to celebrate!

We’ve been saved by God the Father’s sovereign grace and election!

He chose us before the foundations of the world!

What a mighty, powerful, sovereign, kind, generous and gracious God we serve!

God doesn’t love you because of how awesome you are.

He loves you because before the world began He chose to pour out His love and blessing on you in Jesus Christ.

He loves you because He chose you and He will keep choosing you to the end.

This should lead us to worship.

With Paul, we should sing His praises. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Take the Next Step

Believe: God is good, even when we don’t fully understand.

Celebrate the work of the Father to call you a son.

Invite someone to become a child of God through faith in Christ.

If you have a friend who does not know the gospel—You need to make sure they’re here next week.

We’re simply addressing the work of the Son and how we can be forgiven.

If you have someone you’re praying for, they need to be here next week.

If you’re not praying for someone to be saved, you need to start.