Praise God for His Story (Eph 1:9-14)

Praise God for His Story: Eph. 1:9-14 [Foot-shaped mouth] Christians, let’s not act like life is all roses when you have Jesus or that in difficulties or mistakes Jesus followers must always come out smelling like roses. (We are messy, broken people living in a messy, broken world.) • God’s grace is sufficient when you’ve botched everything miserably and need forgiveness. • His grace is sufficient for you when your heart is broken. • His grace is sufficient when don’t have answers and don’t know your next plan of attack. • God’s grace to you in Jesus is sufficient when you are insufficient to help those around you.  Do you know why? B/c this is His story in which he has a perfect plan to sum up (to restore) all things in Christ. He has a purpose to praise his glory in which our insufficiency is not a detriment but an asset.  He has promised that he’ll finish what he has started and gives his people the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance.  READ vv. 7-14 [Intro] We are living a cosmic play in which the final act has been written. What is our role? (Do you embrace your role as the supporting cast, drawing attention to the hero?) When we see ourselves as God’s people in God’s story, we praise him for and submit to his plan, his purpose, and his promise. I. Plan – summing up all things in Christ (unifying – restoring harmony through & under Christ) A. I learned yet another version of an amazing grace song with the youth on the mission trip: “Broken Vessels” – All these pieces, broken and scattered; in mercy gathered, mended… B. The mystery – God’s plan to sum up all things in Christ  One supreme mystery with various implications 1. He has made it known to us! (wisdom and insight)  another result of God’s redeeming and forgiving us by his grace (paid for dearly by the blood of Christ) a. I try to imagine being blind for a time and then receiving sight b. Would I live the same? – Rom. 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 2. According to his good pleasure (according to the counsel of his will) – Why did God do it?  a creative expression of the beauty and glory of the character of God 3. He set forth a plan in Christ that will finish in his timing. – We live each day of our lives knowing that God has a timetable that he plans to keep. (Theological depth for today!) C. Can those who know you well tell that you believe the day is coming when God will sum up all things in Christ, renewing all the broken pieces and reconciling all the dislocated parts under the Lordship of Jesus? II. Purpose – the praise of His glory A. [Review] Why is God saving you to adoption as his child? (for the praise of His glorious grace) Why does God have a perfect plan to reunite all things under the Lordship of Jesus? B. Why did God choose as a portion for himself from among the peoples of the earth the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham? Why use them to bless all the nations? (Deut. 7:6-8… & 9!  Why save a remnant of them for himself when they nationally rejected Jesus? (so that they who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory) 1. Just in case we don’t catch it readily, I need to point out that the structure of the passage here speaks of two different people groups: vv. 11-12 speak of the apostles and the believing remnant of Jews who became the first to hope in Christ. V. 13 speaks of believing Gentiles being added to the body of Christ through hearing and believing the gospel and being sealed with the Spirit. V. 14 then joins the two groups as having the Holy Spirit as a down payment of our promised inheritance until God redeems his possession (finishes/completes it). C. And why has God chosen as well to rescue people for himself from all the peoples of the earth (Gentile nations)? Why does God seal all those who trust Christ with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee? (B/c said guarantee ensures that our redemption for his possession is completed… you guessed it, to the praise of his glory!) III. Promise – An inheritance, of which God himself is the guarantee A. Promised inheritance – your inheritance has begun but is not yet complete B. For those who hear the truth and believe the gospel – exclusivity. C. Secured by God himself – signed, sealed, delivered. He paid the dept. The Holy Spirit himself is the first installment, the deposit securing our promised inheritance. (He protects and preserves.) D. Implications of comprehending your hope in Christ: 1. The knowledge of this hope should move you to worship: Living like you’ve seen the big picture…  “If we shared the apostle’s perspective, we would also share his praise. For doctrine leads to doxology as well as to duty. Life would become worship, and we would bless God constantly for having blessed us so richly in Christ.” (Stott, p. 45) 2. Does this knowledge of God move you to worship God? Does worshipping God move you to make God known? – To have hope is to share hope.  As the story of your life unfolds, do you see the grand scope of his plan, grasp the beauty of his purpose, and set your focus on the hope of his promise? (Your job is to draw attention to the hero of the story!) 3. B/c the ultimate goal of grace is God’s glory, the goal of grace in your life is godliness. He has set us apart to live set apart to him.  1 John 2:28-3:3 [Back around… theological depth for today for you] I understand God’s plan. I trust God’s plan. I love God’s plan and worship him for it. I understand God’s purpose. I trust God’s purpose. I love God’s purpose and worship him for it. I understand God’s promise. I trust God’s promise. I love God’s promise and worship him for it. It gives me true, pure, unlimited joy to worship God and live my life according to his plan and his purpose, clinging to his promise. “Glorious Unfolding” (SCC) – The God of creativity, the God of beauty, the God of inspiration and invention, the God of story… is crafting a narrative of cosmic and glorious proportions, infinitely beautiful in its plan, and its purpose, and its promise b/c they emanate straight from the mind and character of God… with Christ as its hero and all creation at his disposal, to complete the story as he has seen fit. What’s more, He has made it known to us!  Do you see it? Will you accept his invitation to be in it on the side of its hero? To reap the reward of being loved by him and belonging to him, of loving him and promoting him? To let him weave the story of your life into his grand narrative? People, do we repent of our pride and our own ways to turn and embrace the glory and grace of God? May it be so for you today.  Do you see it? His plan to sum up all things in Christ. His purpose to overwhelmingly bring glory to himself? His promise to finish it and give an inheritance to those he has chosen? Do you love him for it with self-abandon? Will you praise him and submit to him more each time you seek him in prayer and in His Word and he pricks your heart with the truth and beauty of his grace and glory?