Praise Be To God (Eph 1:3)

Praise Be to God: Eph. 1:3 Pray & Intro: Eulogized is the first word in our text this morning. εὐλογητός (eulogētos) • Eulogize – The word’s use and meaning. • Beautiful Eulogy – hip-hop, rap underpinnings, with creative blend of various other musical traditions – They have been praised/eulogized for their creativity and uniqueness as well as for their theologically rich lyrics. • Paul uses the term to speak of the exceeding praise belonging to and ascribed to God. – God is praiseworthy for what he has done and will do. And here Paul ascribes praise to God. To personalize it for us… As recipients of his favor, ascribe praise to God because he is praiseworthy! Read passage, explanation and implication: (Today’s emphasis is on the thrust of the eulogy as a whole and on v. 3 – No, I’m not trying to outdo John MacArthur for slowness of pace through verses. Yes, it does mean that those of you whose middle name is “combative theology” will have to sharpen your teeth for next week.) I. Vv. 3-14 are one unit of eulogy, extoling the praiseworthiness of God in three ways: for our past election, our current redemption, and future completion of our promised inheritance. (one sentence ) A. The description of praise to God spans from eternity to eternity, and is at once theocentric, Christological, and ecclesiological. (That’s seminary speak for doctrine about the church; and that meaning what we believe about Christians who together make up the church.) B. It also expresses various activity and involvement of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (end of v. 13 into 14) C. What we can’t forget with all this grand doctrine and sweeping language of the goodness and grandeur of God is that it is far from a simple intellectual exercise. – Paul not only expresses the worthiness of God to be praised, but also is actually praising God. And you can be certain that Paul’s rich praise is also designed to instruct and inspire praise in his hearers for the glory of God in their salvation. II. The God who is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory… has blessed us! – He has highly favored us! (Gk verb form of same first adjective, in this context clearly means to invoke or enact divine favor.) A. Theocentric activity: [looking through the verses]  God is the source and the goal of divine blessing. 1. Without his plan, purpose, activity, and continued direction, there would be no blessing to mankind. (Obviously, there would be no humanity, there would be no redemption for rebellious sinners, and so on.) a. Speaking of God as the source, see vv. 9-10 again. – God has a purpose and plan according to his will, which he initiated, enacts, and will complete… to bring about cosmic redemption and reconciliation (In his great story, God has brought about the climax, the critical turning point… in the work of Christ in his perfect life, his sacrificial death for sin, and his defeat of sin and death in rising again to his rightful place in glory at the right hand of the Father, where he mediates in this age for those who by faith belong to God.) [See, Paul isn’t the only one who can overload his sentences.] b. God is the initiator of all things, and the initiator of truth and life in the hearts of men. The Gospel begins with God. (In the beginning, God…)  God’s initiation means that grace is really grace and God is really God and the glory really belongs to him. – I couldn’t merit salvation and can’t take credit for any part of it. c. Even in our response to God (and man is held accountable), the activity of God is prominent in scripture. (We’ll compare more passages next week, but soak in the truth that we who have believed were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.) Who sealed us? Who is protector and enforcer of that seal to the day of complete restoration? 2. God is also the goal—the end, the aim, the ambition, the objective, the purpose, the target of this blessing. – The favor God pours out on individual recipients of his grace returns to him as glory for his eulogetos, his praiseworthiness. a. This matters! If you don’t accept God’s glory as the goal of all things, then you’ve put a lid on your worship of God. If you keep whining about God’s fairness or so-called self-centeredness, you’ve limited your theological depth. Putting a cap on your understanding of God based on what your reason and sensibilities prefer will hamper your worship in every aspect of life. God is God, and he is to be embraced and loved on his terms. We are HIS! b. Notice again… vv.5-6a, 12, (Holy Spirit) 14  He chose us and predestined us to the praise of his glorious grace. He redeemed us that we might be to the praise of His glory. He has guaranteed our inheritance—all to the praise of His glory. – To not get this is to be an architect who doesn’t know what she’s building, an artist who doesn’t know what he’s sculpting or painting, a teacher who doesn’t know what or whom he’s teaching, a doctor who doesn’t have the goal of getting people well that are place in her care…. It’s to miss the whole point for which you exist, the whole point for which you have been brought from spiritual death to life. God has lavished his love upon you not for your glory but for His. B. God is the source and goal of divine blessing. Christ is the sphere, the mediator and means of God’s blessing.  God has blessed us IN CHRIST (the term Christ or a personal pronoun or other designation are used 14 times, while he is more explicitly the agent of God’s blessing 11 times (in, through, etc.). – The cross of Christ is the crossroads of history for all created beings. The person and work of Christ is the final nail in the judgment coffin for those who reject God and remain separated from him, and He is the only key to the freedom gate for those who receive him and enter into reconciliation with God.  Man must understand that there is no other path, not other conduit, no other sphere for God’s favor. Christ is mediator and means of every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. (google map route options versus taking the river to the ocean) C. Believers are the recipients of God’s divine blessing.  He has favored us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (now eulogia, noun form of SAME word, means a generous gift, a present joyfully and generously given as a sign of gracious kindness). 1. Spiritual here is not meant to emphasize immaterial as opposed to material, but the realm of activity of the Spirit of God on the souls of men. His personal presence here and now is the guarantee of future completion of our heavenly blessings. 2. Heavenly places then is meant to reflect the full supernatural and eternal realm of God from which these blessings come. They are not earthly blessings in nature and could not come from earthly, created beings.  Furthermore, the heavenlies is now where the true citizenship and promised inheritance of the people of God resides, when and where God will call us to be with him in imperishable glory. 3. As we’ve seen, this first verse serves like a thesis (if the whole thing weren’t ONE SENTENCE) for the verses that follow. It describes the blessing of God that returns to him as praise for his free and gracious choosing of people for the praise of his glory, for the work of Christ in redeeming men to God (to the glory of God), and for his activity to keep us for the promised hope of our inheritance. III. Get on board with God’s glory: The aim of my life ought to be… a beautiful eulogy. Make it your life goal to extol God in your desires, thoughts, words, and actions.  He is and will be praised. Are you on board with that to the fullest extent that you can be? Pray for and seek God’s transformation in your mind and heart, that your life may be a beautiful eulogy.