Wow!

When was the last time you saw something and said,”Wow!”

I’m a sports fan, so I tend to say “Wow” a lot when I’m watching a game. A player makes a spectacular play, and I go “Wow!” or “Whoa!” I drive my wife and daughter crazy sometimes with all my wows and whoas.

Another time I’ll say “wow” is when I’m looking at something beautiful God has made. A beautiful sunset. A starry sky. A huge, bright rainbow. I’m always impressed when Hama-chan posts these pictures he takes of nature on Instagram. I’m sure he’s saying “Wow!” a lot too.

Well, what makes you say wow? Talk to your neighbor for a moment and ask them.

There are many things that can make us say “Wow!” But when was the last time you thought about your relationship with God, and said, “Wow”?

It’s not something I reflect on every day, but when I do, my relationship with God does make me say wow. And I think that’s important, especially when we talk about maintaining our first love for God.

We talked several weeks ago about being a first love church. And one thing we said was that maintaining our first love was not about reading our Bible more, or praying more, or serving more.

Rather, maintaining our first love is about rejoicing in God’s love for us, that we are 5s in his sight, and joyously responding to that love. But I think that in order to have that kind of heart, we need a “Wow” attitude towards God. I think the apostle Paul knew that. And so he wrote this to one of the churches he had ministered at. It was in fact the same church that Jesus would later rebuke for losing their love for him: the church at Ephesus. Look at what Paul says.

I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17–19)

What is Paul praying? He’s praying that our roots would go deep down into God’s love for us. That his love would nourish us spiritually and emotionally and make us strong. He’s praying that as we explore together the vastness and depth of his love for us, that we would be totally blown away by it.

That depth and vastness is something we will never reach the outer limits of. We will never be able to say, “I’ve now got a complete understanding of Christ’s love,” because Paul says Christ’s love surpasses all knowledge. But the more we explore those depths, the more we’re filled with all the fullness of God. What does that mean, to be filled with all the fullness of God?

His love, his joy, his life pours out from every fiber of us.

But here’s the thing: we cannot be rooted and established in something, and we will never explore the depths of something we take for granted. We need to take the time to regularly ponder it.

And so that’s what I want to do today. More than give a sermon, I want to give a reflection. And I want us to ponder together God’s love for us, our “5-ness” so to speak. Now we don’t have the time to explore every aspect of God’s love for us in the short time we have. But I want to point back to three things Paul himself was talking to the Ephesian church about. Because it was these things Paul was praying we would be rooted and grounded in.

Let’s take a look at chapter 1 verses 4-6.

For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. (Ephesians 1:4–6)

It says here before the foundation of the world, God chose us. Think about that for a moment. The world was not even created yet, but God was already laying out his plans. In his mind, he saw the first humans he created, Adam and Eve. He knew that they would eventually reject him and throw this whole world into sin and chaos. And he saw what he would do about it.

He saw how he would choose Abraham to start a nation. We talked about this in our “Into the unknown” series. God saw how he would use Israel to bring his Son Jesus into the world to die for our sins and reconcile us to himself. He saw how he would send his apostles out to spread his gospel to the whole world.

And as he looked through the portal of time, he saw you. He saw me. And for some reason, as he saw us, in love, he said, “I choose you.”

There’s an English saying that “love is blind.” But God’s love isn’t blind. Before he even established this world, he saw us. He saw all of our flaws. He saw all our sins. He saw the things we hate about ourselves. He saw the sins that we struggle so much to overcome. He saw all our failures. He saw all the times we would hurt those around us. He saw all the times we would grieve him.

And yet he looked at us in love and said, “I choose you. And by my Son’s death on the cross and the price he pays for your sin, I will see you as holy and blameless in my sight.”

How in the world is that possible? Like with most guys, I’ve struggled in the past to keep my eyes and my thoughts pure when it comes to sexual sin. I’m a lot better now, but I’d hate to have anyone pore through the past records of my mind, because it got ugly at times. Really ugly. And God has access to every single one of those records.

Yet, somehow, God looks at me and says, “Because of Jesus, Bruce, you are holy. You are blameless before me. Your record of sin has been wiped clean, and Jesus’ record of perfect righteousness is now yours.”

I don’t know about you, but when I think about that, I have to say, “Wow! I don’t get it. How can this be?”

What things are you ashamed of in your life? What sins haunt you? Fix this in your mind: Before the foundation of the world, God saw and chose you in Jesus to be holy and blameless in his sight.

But that’s not all. Paul says that before the foundation of the world, God predestined us to be his children. The English translation uses the word “son” instead of “children”, because back in Paul’s day, Romans would adopt boys, and those boys would receive the full rights and privileges of a child related by blood. The Romans didn’t do that for girls.

But Paul takes that practice and says, “This a picture of what God has done for all of you, both men and women. God has adopted you, and you now have all the rights and privileges of a child of God.” Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that when it comes to being God’s children, there is no distinction between men and women. We are all one in Christ. We are all equally his beloved heirs. (Galatians 3:25-29)

And Paul says, “God predestined you for that.”

“Predestined.” That’s a heavy word. What does Paul mean by “predestined”? Lots of Christians argue about predestination, and while I have my thoughts on it, I’m not going to explore it deeply here. But here’s what I will say:

There can be no doubt that God predestines people to be his children. That means if you’re a Christian, God predestined you to that from the beginning.

This does not mean, though, that if you are not a Christian, God actively predestines you to hell. God does not say to anyone, “I see you love me and are seeking me. But it doesn’t matter. I didn’t choose you. Off to hell with you.” Everybody has a choice on whether to seek God or not. And God will never reject anyone who softens their heart and seeks him.

God’s choice is not random or capricious. That said, God never tells us how he decides who he chooses. What the Bible is clear on is that it is not because you were somehow better morally than another person (Romans 9:11-16). Nor was it because you were intrinsically more talented or qualified than others (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). God wasn’t saying, “This person can do more for my kingdom, so I’ll choose her but not him.” But God, in his love and grace, in wisdom, and with purpose, looks at us and predestines us to be his children.

Think about what that looked like practically. For some of us, he had to do relatively little to bring us to himself. For people like me, God put us in a Christian home and had us raised in church where we swiftly encountered Jesus and embraced him.

For others of us, God had to do a lot more. Think about the apostle Paul. Jesus had to appear to him in a great light and shake his world in order to bring Paul to himself.

But whether God did a lot or a little, when you look back at your life, ultimately you have to say, “He was at work. He was pursuing me. And that’s why I’m here now.” And that should make you say, “Wow!”

It makes me say, “wow.” Like I said, my story is pretty simple. I grew up in church and became a Christian. But there’s a lot more than that. My parents weren’t Christians when my older brother Brian was born. But for some reason, my dad had a desire to raise his kids in church. So 7 years before I was born, God was already working.

God continued the process with my mom. Somehow she sensed something lacking in our church, but she didn’t know what. And so by her influence, God brought us to a church that actually preached the good news of Jesus. Amazingly that was missing in our other church. We never really heard the gospel. But we did in our new church. And our whole family became Christians as a result.

All through the years, I see God working. Bringing people in my life to speak a timely word. Bringing books, bringing music that all shaped the way I thought, that helped ground me in my faith in Jesus. Things that are my foundation to this day.

And this despite the fact that I was far from being an ideal Christian. At times I was ashamed of my faith. I practically denied Jesus to my friends at times. I struggled with sins. There was a time when I would have been perfectly happy to quit going to church altogether. But through it all God kept working. He kept pursuing me.

What’s your story? Look back and ponder it. What are the situations that brought you to church? Who are the people that God brought in your life to say exactly the thing you needed to hear when you needed to hear it? And then think of the reason why it all happened: God predestined you to be his child. To be his heir. That makes me say, “Wow.” Does it make you say wow?

Some of you may have grown up in church. And you don’t see so much the “wow” of your journey. Can I make a suggestion? Talk to your parents. Talk about what brought them to Jesus. And as you think about their journey, remember that it’s your journey too. God worked through them, to reach you. The apostle Paul once said this:

[God] has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26–27)

Think about that. Where you were born was no accident. The parents you were born to were no accident. The time when you were born was no accident. You were born where you were, when you were, to the parents you had for one purpose: that you might seek and find God. And to ultimately find out that he was the one who orchestrated everything so that you would come to him.

You were predestined to be his child. To be his heir.

There’s one more thing I want you to think about. You were chosen to be part of his plan in this world. Look at Ephesians 2:10.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

God didn’t predestine us to be his children with no purpose. From the beginning, he said, “I have a plan for you. I want you to be part of this grand masterplan I’m creating.” What grand masterplan? Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:9-10.

He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. (Ephesians 1:9–10)

God’s plan is to bring this whole broken world under Christ’s kingship, and to heal and renew all things, especially the broken lives of those you love. Paul tells us we are God’s workmanship, his masterpiece. When he saved us, God took our broken lives and made us new creations. Not only that, when God made us new creations, he did so in order for us to do works that he planned for us ahead of time, before the world even began.

God has work for you to do. Not worthless, meaningless work. But work that has great value. That has meaning. When I was living in Hawaii, I never imagined life in Japan. I never imagined the work God would have me do here. I never thought I’d be preaching in a church or encouraging Japanese people to follow Jesus. But God knew it all. And he brought me here.

I still don’t know why. I don’t consider myself the ideal missionary. I don’t like traveling. I don’t speak great Japanese. I’m not particularly outgoing. And I’m still far from being a perfect Christian. But God planned out this work for me, he equipped me, and he sent me.

I think of my mom. She passed away recently in July, and I went back to Hawaii last month for her memorial service. She loved the Lord. But she was no super-Christian. She struggled. A lot. She struggled with depression much of her life. She struggled with concepts we’ve talked a lot about over the past few years: being a child of God, leading her heart, reminding herself of God’s truth when her feelings threatened to overwhelm her.

And yet, despite it all, God chose her. He predestined her to be his child, his heir. And he gave her work to do. She touched people in her neighborhood with God’s love. She gave people food, blessed them with her flower garden. She read the Bible with people and prayed with them. So many were telling my sister about how much they loved her. She also touched people in her church and was even able to touch people in Japan. One Japanese woman I know called my mother her mother. And when I look at my mom, flawed as she was, and I see how God used her, I say wow.

God has work planned out for you too. You may feel inadequate. You may feel like you’re not a good enough Christian. You may feel like you have nothing to give. But God doesn’t think so. He made you. You’re his masterpiece. And he has useful, meaningful work planned out for you. All you have to do is look around you and ask, “God, who do you want me to touch? Who are you putting in my life?” And as you begin to see God using you to touch others, you will start saying, “Wow.”

So where do we go from here?

I gave you all a challenge a few weeks ago when I talked about first love. To not just read passages like we looked at today and say, “I know, I know, I know.” But to think about it. Ponder it. Soak yourself in it. Do you do that in your Bible reading? Or do you just kind of read it and say, “Well that’s my Christian duty for the day,” and almost immediately forget what you read?

How about the Sunday messages? When you heard about this “5” series, did you automatically think, “Again? We’ve heard this already!” Are you just letting the messages in this series go in one ear and out the other? Or are you taking the time to ponder them? Are you letting yourself feel the “Wow!” of it all?

These things are the foundation of our walk with Jesus. And if we lose our wow, we lose our joy. And if we lose our joy, we lose our first love. So pray what we read at the beginning. Read Ephesians 3:17-19 this week, and pray it. Pray that you would be rooted and established in God’s love. Pray that you can start to grasp how long, wide, high, and deep God’s love for you is. And with that heart, ponder again the things in this series. Ponder the things you read in God’s word. Let them soak into your heart and mind to the point where you start saying, “Wow.”

Some of you, though, don’t know Jesus yet. And you might be thinking, “This isn’t for me. I don’t think God has predestined or chosen me.” Can I ask you a simple question? How do you know?

You’re here. Or you’re watching this message on youtube. To me that greatly increases the chances that you are chosen. Because it looks like God is pursuing you already. Remember what I said earlier. God never turns away anyone who comes to him. He never tells anyone, “I don’t care if you’re seeking me. I didn’t choose you. Get lost!”

Jesus said anyone who comes to him, he will never turn away (John 6:37). So if your heart is being touched by what you’re hearing today, if you’re wanting to know more, please talk to us. The best thing is to talk to your Christian friend who brought you to church, or who told you about this youtube channel or podcast. Or you can talk to me, Miko, Kazue, or Hide, or one of the other people you see serving in the church. Or you can write a message to us on our webpage. We’d love to talk to you.

The apostle John wrote this. Fumi read it last week too, and I’ll close with this:

But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name. (John 1:12)