Eulogy of Praise pt. 4
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Over the last three weeks we have been working our way through .
I have called these sermons a Eulogy of Praise because this passage begins and ends with Paul praising God.
And Paul is calling us to praise God for everything in between.
These verses all work together, as one long sentence in greek (the longest in the NT), to lead us to praise God for the work he has done.
Paul has given us this mountain top view of what God has done in Christ for us…
What do we have in Christ?
we have received Every Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
In Christ we are holy and blameless
able to come and stand before the throne of God
We have been predestined for Adoption
We are now all sons of God,
We are given all the benefits of sonship that belong to Christ, for we are in Christ.
We have been blessed in the Beloved
In Christ we have redemption through his blood
In Christ we have redemption through his blood
In Christ we have been given forgiveness.
In Christ we have been given forgiveness.
The sin that stood between us and God, those bricks of our depravity that has built a wall have been destoryed, removed. They have been thrown in the sea.
In Christ God poured out his grace lavishly upon us.
The high octane grace of God, has overflowed our cups.
We then come to verse 10, and verse 10 is goal, the telos, the purpose or reason for Christ’s salvific work.
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
This is the plan of God, this is the mystery of God, is to unite all things in heaven and on earth, in Christ.
is to unite all things in heaven
powers, principlaities, angels,
and on earth, in Christ.
He uniting all people Jew and gentile alike in Christ
He is uniting culture, music, art, poletics, education, hobbies
Now this verse is the main point of the entire eulogy of praise.
This is what its all for, This is God’s eternal plan, that in the fullness of time, when everything is is accomplished, to see heaven and earth fused together in Christ.
And this idea is not only what this passage is about, but it is what we see progressing throughout the pages of scripture and in church history.
Can you imagine this day?
When all things in heaven and earth are united in Christ...
Therefore, this uniting work is not done all at once, but rather it is a gradual process that begins in the mind of God and finds its consummation in the new heavens and new earth.
There will be no more sickness for our bodies will be glorified, for they will be united to the glorified Christ.
sickness for our bodies will be glorified, for they will be united to the glorified Christ.
There will be no more tears or mourning, for death, that thing that divides us from the living, that thing which was conquered in the death of Christ will finally be cast into the lake of fire.
Creation will no longer be groaning for redemption, but like Christ it too will be glorified.
When all things in heaven and earth are united in Christ...
heaven and earth will be fused together in the glory of Christ.
The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and he will reign forever and ever”
The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and he will reign forever and ever”
When we are brought out of the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Light, we were united to Christ.
The Bible tells us that through faith we have already been united to Christ, Which means, that His plan of uniting all things to Christ is not a future event only,
but it is a current reality that is being built into the future reality.
All things are being united, and one day all things will be united to Christ.
Example**
Think about it like baking a cake.
Everything from the recipe to the full belly after eating the cake is all according to the plan of God.
Recipe
Recipe
To bake a cake you first have to start with a recipe, a plan.
The recipe, or plan, to unite all things in Christ was decreed before the foundations of the world. This recipe was in the mind of God before he spoke creation into existence.
And every part of history is working to bring about this plan. God’s recipe to fuse heaven and earth together in Christ is what the bible is all about, from Genesis to Revelation.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Once you have the recipe, you then need to go to the store and buy the ingredients.
You buy eggs, milk, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and whatever else you need.
And as you buy these ingredients, you buy them knowing what they will become. You are buying everything you need for a cake. You are not making a casserole or scrambled eggs… the ingredients you buy are for the cake.
The OT is very much like the ingredients,
There is a hope and confidence even in the OT that all things will one day be united to Christ.
You have the covenants, the law, the promises, the priesthood, the kings, the prophets, all working together like ingredients in a cake, to bring about God’s plan
Even in the early stages of redemption
Directions/Mixing
Directions/Mixing
once you have all the ingredients before you, the next step is to follow the instructions on what to do with the ingredients.
It is here that you mix all the ingredients and together.
The ingredients mixed the right way form one substance,
You don’t have a bowl of eggs, flower, milk and sugar… No, you have something new… you now have batter
This is the part in the recipe where Jesus takes center stage.
Its not that Jesus has replaced the law and the prophets, but rather everything single ingredient has found its purpose in Christ.
He is the fulfillment, the consummation, or the purpose for the covenants, the law, the promises, the priesthood, the kings, the prophets.... all of these things are unified in Christ.
And for the recipe to come to completion, cake batter must go into the oven and bake.
And for all things in heaven and earth to be united to Christ, he had to die and be raised and ascend to the right hand of GOd.
Baking
Baking
And this is the final step in the process of baking a cake, its waiting for the fullness of time to be complete.
Now, comparing great things to small
When I find out that eggs in the fridge is designated for a cake, there is a part of me that rejoices...
When i see the recipe laying on the counter I am reminded of the goodness that is to come
Or when I smell the cake baking I know, with complete confidence that the feast is near.
Now, how are we to respond when see all of scripture pointing us toward the great feast of all things being united to Christ?
What does it look like to hope for the day when heaven and earth are fused together in Christ?
Being United to Christ Looks Like Worship
Being United to Christ Looks Like Worship
When all things in heaven and on earth are united in Christ, we will join millions in eating the Lords supper together and our chests will rattle with the sound of millions singing praises to the King!
We see all throughout the bible this united hope, this longing, and expectation for the day when all things, in heaven and earth will be united to Christ. And the people of God worshipping the Creator knowing that his recipe or plan will soon be fulfilled.
And this longing, this hope, so often walks through the pages of the bible hand in hand with worship.
For example:
Before David’s death in 1 Chronicles we see David praying to God right before he hands the kingdom over to Solomon,
And his prayer shows us that he knows the great plan of God, and he praises God for the work he has done in the process.
10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.
10 Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
Notice what he says here, “all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours”
He see’s God’s rule and reign both heaven and earth, and he also says that everything in heaven and everything in earth belongs to God.
Is this a pie in the sky (or cake in the sky) sort of statement?
1 chron 29
Maybe David does not understand how evil the world really is
maybe David has spent to much time in the Christian bubble and is ignorant of how messed up everything is.
David see’s building the temple as one step closer to seeing heaven and earth fuse together.
For how can you look around the world and see the sort of evil, suffering, pain and abuse that goes on and really think that God is at work.
David knew the wickedness of the world, and to be honest he saw and experienced things that you and I don’t even have categories for.
David saw and experienced the enemies surround God’s people.
David knew what it was like to be completely abandoned,
And he is praising God for the part he
He knew what betrayal felt like, his own son turned on him and wanted to kill him.
David saw the nations rage against God.
David was well aquatinted with the evil of the world, he experienced the spiritual warfare that is waged over the kingdoms of the earth.
David is not saying that all things, both in heaven and earth belong to God, just because it sounds good, or because if would make a hit psalm, or would look good christian t-shirt.
David actually believed, he had faith, that everything in heaven and earth belongs to and one day would be fully submitted to the kingship of Christ.
David see’s building the temple as one step closer to seeing heaven and earth fuse together.
And the hope that all things would one day be rightfully submitted to God leads him to praise.
12 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
13 And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.
You see, David knew the recipe, he knew the plan, and he knew that his life, and the building of the temple were on the ingredients list.
He knew that his life and building the temple would move history one step closer to seeing all things united in Christ.
Paul has the same hope as David in
Paul writing from a Roman prison to the church in Philippi,
Right after saying that we should suffer for Christ, and Christ has suffered for us… Paul says...
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Notice the same “heaven and earth” language in , as in , and ,
What does it look like for heaven and earth to be united to christ?
it looks like every knee in heaven and earth bowing and
every tongue in heaven and earth confessing the kingship of Christ to the glory of God the Father!
When all things are united in Christ, the people of God will join together in a cosmic eternal party rejoicing and praising God.
In the book of Revelation we see a snapshot of this great celebration when all things are united to Christ.
Look with me at starting in v.9
The book of Revelation is really a fascinating book, and it is made up of
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
In this verse we see people from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages united to Christ!
And notice where they are, they are standing before the throne. The throne room of God is the holy of holies in the temple. It is the dwelling place of God and his glory.
For these people to stand before the throne and before the Lamb everything that we have looked at in Eph chapter 1 must be true of them.
They are holy and blameless, for that is what it takes to stand in the presence of God.
Which means, they are holy.
To stand before the throne of God clothed in white these people were
Chosen, blessed, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and have received the lavish blessing of God’s grace.
chosen, redeemed,
Those gathered around the throne are the men and women throughout history who have been redeemed through the the blood of Christ.
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
A cool thought...
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As we read passages like this in revelation its an amazing thing to consider that we, you and I, are actually apart of this vision.
you see, this is one of the visions in Revelation that acts in proleptic form, meaning that its a vision of a future reality which is pulled from the future and revealed in the present.
So when we see people from every nation, tribe, and language gathered around the throne it includes all of the redeemed people throughout history, from Moses and Elijah, to Timothy and Titus, to Augustine, Luther, C.S. Lewis, you and me.
This is a vision of what it will look like when all things in heaven and on earth are united to Christ.
And what are they doing as they gather around the throne?
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
10
They are worshiping God for all that he has done.
If you would, the cake has come out of the oven and they are feasting together.
For this is a picture of what Paul is talking about in when he speaks of God’s plan at the “fullness of time”
Revelation, Vols. 1 & 2 Innumerable Multitude
At that point, the kingdom of the world has not yet become the kingdom of the Lord and his Christ. Dragons, beasts, and harlots are still at large. The celebration seems premature; in fact, it is proleptic, the intrusion of the end before the end, an intrusion that assures the saints that the end is sure
The Strange thing is that this vision shows up in Chapter 7
By the time we get to chapter 7 of Revelation, the kingdom of the world has not yet become the kingdom of the Lord and his Christ.
Dragons, beasts, and harlots are still at large.
We have yet to see the seven bowls or the seven trumpets.
So doesn’t this celebration, this worship, seem premature?
Why does God give John the revelation in this way? Why let us see a picture of the future reality before we even get there?
In fact, God gives John this vision at just the right time,
Its called proleptic, it introduces the end before the end has come.
God pulls a future reality into the presence and says this is true!
And this gives the saints hope that the end is sure.
It is a divine guarantee
It is a turning on the light in the oven and letting us see whats baking.
Its smelling the aroma of a fresh homemade cake in the oven.
When you smell, and see it, you are guaranteed of its reality, and it should only make your mouth water all the more.
And this aroma, this guarantee is what Paul wants to give us in the last few verses of this Eulogy of Praise.
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Here Paul talks about the inheritance we have obtained in Christ…
so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
And we receive this inheritance because we have been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the purpose of his will.
We saw in verse 5 that we are predestined to a particular privilege, which is to be adopted as sons.
And we have been adopted as sons in Christ.
Therefore, we share in the inheritance of Christ.
So what is this inheritance?
The inheritance Paul is speaking of, according to the this passage and the context of the whole chapter, is the whole world, when its been united to Christ in his glory.
Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters The Inheritance and the Spirit (Ephesians 1:11–14)
The inheritance he has in mind, so it appears from the present passage and the whole chapter, is the whole world, when it’s been renewed by a fresh act of God’s power and love
In Christ, we will be given the new heavens and new earth, we will share in his glorified creation for all eternity.
And this is way better than our typical idea of going to heaven when we die, and having 10k sq. ft. mansions in heaven.
Paul goes on...
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
To be sealed with the Holy Spirit is to have his mark upon you.
to seal something is to denote ownership, or approval.
This word for seal reffers to an engraved object
You have all seen wax seals on old documents.
you pour hot wax on something and you press the seal upon it, and when you do that the wax takes the form of the seal.
In this case, we are the wax and the spirit is the seal.
We have not only been sealed with the Spirit, but he is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.
Its interesting how we are to be signs to the rest of the world that this glorious future is on the way. As Christians we are to be united to christ in the same way that everything will one day be united to Christ. So when the world see us, they see a future reality that is to come.
likewise, the sign we have received which guarantees us of our future is the holy spirit.
the sign that they themselves have received which guarantees them their future is the holy spirit. The spirit is to the Christian and the church what the cloud and fire were in the wilderness: the powerful, personal presence of the living God, holy and not to be taken lightly, leading and guiding the often muddled and rebellious people to their inheritance.
As NT Wright says,
The spirit is to the Christian and the church what the cloud and fire were in the wilderness: the powerful, personal presence of the living God, holy and not to be taken lightly, leading and guiding the often muddled and rebellious people to their inheritance.
The Spirit of God is living and active, he ministers by leading us to our inheritance, day by day, moment by moment.
He is the aroma of the cake in the oven
He is the one who gives us future glories in the present to enjoy and be encouraged by.
The Spirit of God is working among us corporately to form and mold us as a church to be a light shining in the dark world proclaiming the the truth of the world that is to come.
And he does all of this in such a way that points our affections, and praise back to Christ.
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
To the praise of his glory.
Church, all that we have in Christ, all that we long for, all the promises, and everything he has given us in the present must lead us to worship God.
The best witness to a lost and dying world is not someone who knows all the right answers, its not an apologist, its not a bible translator or anything like that...
The best witness to the loss is a worshipper.
Its one who worships God in everything.
And when we see, when smell, and experience cosmic renewal God is doing in our world. when we see that everything is being or will be united to Christ, we should respond with worship and praise.
The Holy Spirit
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.