Christmas 2

(NIV): 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

(NIV): 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

A common question that is asked of children about their future is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Choosing a Career

Choosing a Career

Is it best to follow my dreams or is it best to be practical?When should I decide?Can I change my mind or will I be locked into my career choice?

Now, for most of here today, this question has been answered a long time ago. But it presupposes an important freedom that we have in our nation. We do have options. We are not governed to such an extent that it is dictated to us what career or careers we have to choose.

Not only do we get to choose our own careers, we also get to choose with whom we are going to relate to. One of the biggest choice of a young person is whom they will marry. But we also get to choose who are friends are going to be, with whom we will hang out, with whom we will be closer to than others. Although we cannot choose our relatives, we can choose with whom we will relate.

This is also true in the local congregation. Most of our members were “born into” the congregation. But others have chosen to be a part of this fellowship and to worship God together.

We are so used to making choices, that sometimes we may forget that we are the objects of other person’s choices.

Remember those playground games during recess. The teacher chooses two students to be captains for a softball game or some other team game. You wait expectantly until you are chosen to be on the team. Sometimes you are chosen first. Some of use were invariably chosen last.

Or that dance at school. How delighted you were when the person you liked chose you to be their dance partner even if it was for only one dance?

Several years ago (or more already), the eighth grade student for whom I was a baptismal sponsor, chose me to preach at her graduation. I was honored. (It was only later that I found out the others chosen ahead of me had all declined.) So I wasn’t the school’s first choice.

And sometimes we aren’t chosen. We end up on the team only because we were the last person there. Prom comes and goes and we have no date. The company that is hiring doesn’t hire us. The people who once chose us don’t want anything to do with us anymore.

St. Paul teaches us that when it comes to our relationship with Jesus Christ, it was a matter of choice. But not a choice that we made. It was a choice that God the Father made even before creation.

(NIV): 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

This short passage teaches us some very important truths.

The relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Our God blesses us with every spiritual blessing: (list)

God created the world.

Even though we have sinned against God, he chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight.

He predestined us to be his adopted children.

God has voted for us!

God has ‘elected’ us. He has chosen us not just to exist, but to become his children. Just as he chose Israel out of all the nations to be his special people, so he has chosen us out of all nations and cultures to be his saints—his holy or special people.

God is mending the rift between earth and heaven which came through the fall. He is bringing heaven and earth together again—choosing us who are on earth and blessing us in heaven. God’s purpose in all this is that we should live holy lives and be a credit to him.

The grand thing God did in love was he predestinated us. The root of proorisas is oros, boundary. The picture which it evokes is that of being held within limits so that we do not veer to the right or left but head straight for a goal. With the prefix pro it tells us that God’s plan concerning us was formed in advance, before we had set foot upon this earth.

The goal God set for us in advance was adoption to himself thorugh Jesus CHrist. Paul says the same thing in . Eis outon expresses the idea that when a child is adopted he is handed over to the care of the one adopting. The term adotpion implies that we are not by birth children of God. The world supposes that we are born as children of God when it speaks about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and believes that natural birth makes us dear children of God who have claim upon is favor. Paul, to the contrary, teaches that we are under the wrath of God when we are born. Ephesians 2:3 (NIV): 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Still God’s eternal purpose was to adopt us, to make us members of his family (2:19) who share in all the blessings referred to in the discussion of verse 2. All this was made possible thorugh Jesus Chirst. Paul included the details in Galatians 4:4–5 (NIV): 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

God predestinated us acccording to the good pleasure of his will. While the will of God is sovereign, there was nothing cold or severe about it when he preedestined us. Rather it seemed good to him when he formed his plan and carried it out. God did not predestine anyone to damnation. If some are damned, they have only themselves to blame.

Luke 12:32 | “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

Romans 8:15 | The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:29 | For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Romans 8:30 | And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

| For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Children come into families in two major ways: birth and adoption. Many couples decide when they will have their children and how many. Others just let “nature take its course”. Those who adopt travel a much more complicated road. I know a family from Dodge County that traveled all the way to Russia to adopt a little boy originally named Ivan Ivanovic. They chose him to be their son and chose the name by which he his now known.

Children come into families in two major ways: birth and adoption. Many couples decide when they will have their children and how many. Others just let “nature take its course”. Those who adopt travel a much more complicated road. I know a family from Dodge County that traveled all the way to Russia to adopt a little boy originally named Ivan Ivanovic. They chose him to be their son and chose the name by which he his now known.

The wonderful thing about our relationship with God is that he chose us to be his own inspite of what we were like by nature. . . and how we sometimes display our sinful nature in our actions.

(NIV): 26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

(NIV): 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Illustration I’ve recently begun to listen to audio books again. The first two both deal with American soldiers during World War II. It is a testimony to our military that it can chose (or accept as volunteers) men of various backgrounds and train them to be effective soldiers. In the second book, it also emphasizes how women entered the man sections of the work force and helped build the machines of war including the great ships of the navy.

I’ve recently begun to listen to audio books again. The first two both deal with American soldiers during World War II. It is a testimony to our military that it can chose (or accept as volunteers) men of various backgrounds and train them to be effective soldiers. In the second book, it also emphasizes how women entered the man sections of the work force and helped build the machines of war including the great ships of the navy.

An even more remarkable thing happened when God chose you to be his child through faith in Jesus.

Transition After reassuring the Ephesians of their wonderful relationship with God the Father through Jesus, Paul tells them that he is praying for them that they may know Jesus better and the hope to which they were called.

(NIV): 15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

How do we get to know Jesus better? Well, when you meet someone for the first time and one of you decides to have a closer relationship than that of strangers (see examples above), what do you do to get to now them better? One way is through social media and the internet. You can Google their name and find a certain amount of information on them. For an additional fee and subscriptions to certain sites, you can get official records on them. If they have a presence on social media, you can “stalk them”. In extreme cases you can hire a private eye to survail them.

Or you could just talk to them! Through dialogue we can gain a wealth of useful information and relate on a more personal level.

In our relationship with Jesus, our Triune God already knows us as well as we can be known.

(NIV): 14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

(NIV): 1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

God wants us to know him too. For this reason he has revealed himself to us in his Word — the Bible. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is God’s plan for us. Get to know Jesus better. We know him through the Spirit who comes to us in the Word of God.

Our text ends with getting to know the hope to which we have been called. It is not the end of Paul’s prayer but it is the end of our text. So what his this hope?

Question: "What is the Christian's hope?"

Answer: Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, as in "I hope something will happen." This is not what the Bible means by hope. The biblical definition of hope is "confident expectation." Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown (Romans 8:24-25; Hebrews 11:1, 7). Hope is a fundamental component of the life of the righteous (Proverbs 23:18). Without hope, life loses its meaning (Lamentations 3:18; Job 7:6) and in death there is no hope (Isaiah 38:18; Job 17:15). The righteous who trust or put their hope in God will be helped (Psalm 28:7), and they will not be confounded, put to shame, or disappointed (Isaiah 49:23). The righteous, who have this trustful hope in God, have a general confidence in God's protection and help (Jeremiah 29:11) and are free from fear and anxiety (Psalm 46:2-3).

The New Testament idea of hope is the recognition that in Christ is found the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises (Matthew 12:21, 1 Peter 1:3). Christian hope is rooted in faith in the divine salvation in Christ (Galatians 5:5). Hope of Christians is brought into being through the presence of the promised Holy Spirit (Romans 8:24-25). It is the future hope of the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6), the promises given to Israel (Acts 26:6-7), the redemption of the body and of the whole creation (Romans 8:23-25), eternal glory (Colossians 1:27), eternal life and the inheritance of the saints (Titus 3:5-7), the return of Christ (Titus 2:11-14), transformation into the likeness of Christ (1 John 3:2-3), the salvation of God (1 Timothy 4:10) or simply Christ Himself (1 Timothy 1:1).

The certainty of this blessed future is guaranteed through the indwelling of the Spirit (Romans 8:23-25), Christ in us (Colossians 1:27), and the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:26). Hope is produced by endurance through suffering (Romans 5:2-5) and is the inspiration behind endurance (1 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 6:11). Those who hope in Christ will see Christ exalted in life and in death (Philippians 1:20). Trustworthy promises from God give us hope (Hebrews 6:18-19), and we may boast in this hope (Hebrews 3:6) and exhibit great boldness in our faith (2 Corinthians 3:12). By contrast, those who do not place their trust in God are said to be without hope (Ephesians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Along with faith and love, hope is an enduring virtue of the Christian life (1 Corinthians 13:13), and love springs from hope (Colossians 1:4-5). Hope produces joy and peace in believers through the power of the Spirit (Romans 12:12; 15:13). Paul attributes his apostolic calling to the hope of eternal glory (Titus 1:1-2). Hope in the return of Christ is the basis for believers to purify themselves in this life (Titus 2:11-14, 1 John 3:3).