Ephesians 1:3-6 (2)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Last week I mentioned that we would run head first into some things that are just hard to grapple with. Here we go. Today we will witness the Sovereignty of our God…primarily seen in God’s election and predestination.
As we do so, I would want to remind us all that what we are studying is shrouded in mystery and some might have a different take on what is discussed today and we much welcome one another. After being inspired by the Holy Spirit to elaborate on God’s sovereign plans in Romans 9-11, Paul himself experienced a humbling, human moment of ignorance when he realized his own lack of understanding of what he just wrote. Do you his concluding thoughts on God’s sovereignty.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
When we run up to some of these weighty matters (election, predestination, mercy and grace), and we are left with the massively complex, existential question, “WHY?” it is important that we do what we have been exhorted to do by the hymn writer Louisa M R Stead.
Do you know who that is? Do you know what she exhorts us to do when faced with that question of “Why?”Louisa M R Stead was born in 1850 in Dover, England and died in 1917 here in the United States. She was converted at the age of 9 and felt a call to full time missions. She married at the age of 25 and had numerous health issues that hindered her call to the mission field…but you will see that her ministry continues on to this day. Her and her husband had a daughter and at four years of age, (one author writes)
“the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York. While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter.
This was her “why God?” moment. Some of you have had “why God?” moments.
Some of you will be getting your “why God?” moment soon.
We all get them. Sometimes they come from moments of crisis, but sometimes they come from just moments of realizing that we are not God.
Out of Louisa’s “why God” moment, she wrote these words...
Tis’ So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word,
just to rest upon His promise, just to know thus saith the Lord.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I’ve proved Him over and over.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more.
We need that as our guiding prayer as we move forward seeking to find the truth in this epistle, in this ‘infinities and immensities’.
What are some things about God that mystify you?
This is a book of mysteries:
“Sometimes Christians approach these great truths and doctrines as if they could comprehend them with their understanding. We should never do so. If you start imagining that you can understand the mind and will of God you are doomed to failure, for these are mysteries with which no mind of man can ever cope. ‘Great is the mystery of godliness’; no one can understand it. And if you try to understand God’s ways with respect to man and the world I assure you that you will find yourself so overwhelmed that you will become miserable and unhappy. Indeed you may end by almost losing your faith and having a sense of grudge against God. ‘The mystery of his will’! He is infinite and eternal, and we are finite and sinful, and cannot see and understand.
If ever you feel tempted to say that God is not fair, I advise you to put your hand, with Job, on your mouth, and to try to realize of whom you are speaking.” - Martin Lloyd Jones
With that exhortation fresh in our minds, lets READ THE TEXT
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Textual Idea: God is to be praised for what He has done for us.
Textual Idea: God is to be praised for what He has done for us.
You are like…wait a minute. I have heard this sermon before. This guy is just reusing textual ideas from other sermons. And I say…yup! This is one long run on 202 word sentence remember? We talked about it last week...
Verse three is the equivalent of the moment the MVP of your favorite sports team is handed a bottle of Champaign after winning the championship. In great triumph and celebration he starts violently shaking it and then he pops the top. There is an exuberant explosion of celebration that follows.
Verse three is Paul shaking the bottle…Verses 4-14 are the exuberant explosion of celebration that follows.
What we see is in verse 3 is that God is to be praised…and 4-14 are the reasons why.
And what we find in verses 4-14 are the three members of the God Head blessing those of us who believe.
In verses 4-6 we see, God the Father blessing us.
In verses 7-12 we see, God the Son blessing us.
In verses 13-14 we see, God the Spirit blessing us.
Each of these segments end with a similar refrain. - To the praise of His Glory.
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Do you think we should be people filled with praise. God’s glory is going to be on display in this text…and it will be baffling and mysterious…we already witness Paul calling it “inscrutable” to the Romans…this should lead us down the pathway of praise. Today let’s look at what the Father has done for us.
Notice the repeated phrase “to the praise of His glory.” What does this tell you about why God created us?
What do you think it means to live your life, “for the praise of His glory? What do you need to stop doing or start doing to make that a reality?
How can you influence someone else to live for “the praise of God’s glory?”
God, the Father, is to be praised for what He has done for us. (4-6)
God, the Father, is to be praised for what He has done for us. (4-6)
1. God, the Father chose us to be holy and blameless (v. 4)
1. God, the Father chose us to be holy and blameless (v. 4)
How does it affect you when you realize that God had a plan for you even before you were created?
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
The bible obviously mentions God’s election and His pre-determining, so we have to deal with it. It doesn’t “mention” it but rather it presents the subject matter as a “statement of fact.” We will grapple with these truths, and never quite get the traction on them that we want to get, but just because we can’t wrap our minds around it, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
FALLEN CONDITION FOCUS - So often, I myself, or those who I am counseling ask the question, “Why?”
Guess what…I have a perfect response for that question. Ready…I will answer it for you once and for all. “I don’t know.”
I simply don’t know…I am not God. I am not the Almighty.
The best thing to do when you are stuck on the “Why Treadmill” is to stop and get off that treadmill and get on the “Cross Country Trail called What Now.”
This is a much more appropriate and productive jog to be on if you are a human.
What is God teaching me? What would God have me do when I am in over my head with these questions? What should I do to display my trust in Him more with these weighty matters?”
Do you labor on the “Why Treadmill” often? Do you see that you will go no where on it?
So instead of going nowhere fast by asking “Why?” let’s put our feet to the earth and progress down the straight and narrow way by asking, “In light of these great truths, what should I do in response.”
Ok let’s get into it.
God chose us... (and it wasn’t based off of anything we had done.)
We see this glorious truth all throughout the bible.
God chose Israel.
6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
Jesus chose the disciples.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
God chooses us to be His called out ones to declare His excellencies.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Ya…your right He chose me…of course He chose me. Who wouldn’t choose me. I’m always picked first on the play ground. I got some good things going for me. I got a lot to offer.
Your right…you do have a lot to offer…you do have a lot going for you…you were exactly what God was looking for to come get the last three outs of the ballgame.
Imagine God as the manager and Jesus a the bullpen coach.
God, picks up the phone and gets Jesus on the line… “hey…we need to close this thing out…who you got ready?
Jesus: Well…I got ______ _______…you know…he’s perfect for this situation.
God: “What does he got going for him?
Jesus: “oh he is great he actually has two things you see…He is foolish and weak.
God: “Ok got get him and bring him in.”
Kind of silly right? It is silly, but it’s also true.
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chosen because you were foolish / weak. - We were perfect for the job.
Name caller: Ragtags / Strange / Weak / Fools (aren’t I such a loving pastor?)
God chose us…
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
What does that mean? Well, don’t overcomplicate it.
We know what choosing is right? Think of it like an all you can eat buffet. There are your options…you have the power within you to choose what you want. If it is a place you have been to before you, you may have predetermined what you want to get. You, (the elector) have all the power within you to accept, or include, or pick what you want on your plate... based off of your pleasures.
It’s kind of like that with God, but the illustration breaks down at this point because we might elect to grab certain items based off of how they taste. Meaning there is something good in the (meat, or potato, or vegetable that we like) and so we choose it. God didn’t choose us because of some inherit goodness in us. He chose us because we were helpless.
Some people would say, God “looked down the corridors of time and with illumination He saw those who would eventual choose Him and so He chose them.” But that is not what Paul is saying here. If that is what Paul is saying then we have a God who is responding to and reacting to…being in subordination to “our purposes our pleasures our wills.” If that were the case…then we are all the Almighty. God serves at the pleasure of our desires and will.
But what Paul is saying here is that, “He chose us.”
Do you like all-you-can-eat buffets? If so, what is your go to food of choice?
ILLUSTRATION: LIFE PRESERVER
Some people say that it’s like were drowning in the ocean and going under at sea. We were sinking down and every part of us was going under and then God threw us a rope in hopes that we might grab it. Life preserver (Jesus hoisted up on a cross).
“It’s yours for the taking!”…you can take hold of it…and with your last bit of energy you curl your fingers over the edges and grip tightly the implement that can save you. and so you, as an act of your free will, express your faith by grasping the rope and then God pulls you back in the boat.
Sounds good…what’s wrong with that? Paul will tell you wants wrong with that.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
You weren’t barely alive…you were completely dead! How much hope does a corpse have at grabbing a rope? We weren’t barely staying afloat…in reality we were dead and at the bottom of the sea. Without God and without hope in the world. That is, until Jesus jumped into the chaotic waters of death, descended to where we were by dying Himself. and there at the bottom of the sea He united our swollen corpses to His himself and the was resurrected to the surface and ascended to the Right hand of God.
When was the last time you saw a corpse get up and walk? Paul says we were “dead in our sins.” Dead things don’t make choices. What are the ramifications for this reality?
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
and since we are “In Christ” because He chose to jump in and save us in our foolishness and weakness and deadness, we share in His resurrection.
Rather than debating this teaching…and questioning its fairness…we should be praising Him for His mercy. Remember whenever we learn something about God, we should be led down the pathway of praise.
But it’s not fair! Do you know what’s not fair?
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
The righteous dying for the unrighteous. We all deserve a lightning bolt to come annihilate us. But for some of us the lightning bolt was directed toward Jesus.
This is called mercy. To us, God has revealed Himself as merciful.
To others God has revealed His justice.
And you ask me “why”…and I say…”I am not getting on that treadmill. It won’t lead me anywhere.”
If you ask me,
“What is God revealing to you when you think on these things?”
I would say “He is worthy to be greatly praised with my every thought and deed.”
This is a hard teaching. Hard to understand. Hard to believe maybe. But let me add to it something even more difficult to take in…let’s be flabbergasted together by noticing what we have been chosen for...
We have been chosen to be “holy and blameless” before Him. Before HIM! Before, the true ALMIGHTY ONE. As you and I stand before Him, the one who knows the number of hairs on your head, the one who...
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
To what end did He choose us? Before HIM…you are are “HOLY” and “BLAMELESS”
Who me? Have you ever been in the situation where someone is waving at you, but you think they must be waving a the person behind you? Me? you want me? Ya you. That is what this is like.
Me? HOLY? - set apart in the sense of having “superior moral qualities” and “possessing certain essentially divine qualities in contrast with what is human.” (Wait a minute…I am human…I am not divine. Yes…that is true. But you are a “new human” you have had a rebirth… you are born again from above…and as a result you have a “new nature” imparted to you. You have become a temple, (a residing place) for the Holy Spirit. There is a new “divine quality” that has been implanted in you. No you haven’t become God, but you have become a dwelling place for His Spirit.
Me? BLAMELESS? - negative way (without fault) - positively stated - PERFECT
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In the sight of God you are a HOLY and BLAMELESS because He sees His Son in you. You have been acted upon by God. He chose you for this.
2. God, the Father adopted us to Himself (v. 5)
2. God, the Father adopted us to Himself (v. 5)
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Two words that stand out in this verse. They jump off of the page at us. “Predestined” and “Adoption.”
Predestined - to come to a decision beforehand—‘to decide beforehand, to determine ahead of time.”
This is what the text says…and remember there are two ways to go running…one is productive, one is exhausting and unproductive. Instead of asking “Why” while reading, let’s as “What?”
God is the one PREDESTINING OR PREDETERMINING. (Paul presents it as statement…not an argument that needs to be defended. It is a clear declarative statement. “He predestined us...” and it was according to the “purpose” or the “pleasure of His will.” If you insist on running on the “Why Treadmill” here is the only answer that you will find…Why did God do this? Because He felt like it.
Do you know of anyone who has undergone the process of adoption? If so, does the process shed any light on the idea of what it means to be adopted into the family of God?
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Now let’s attach that word “predestined” to the phrase, “for adoption” and muse on it for a bit while asking the question, “What should I do in response to this truth.”
Adoption - there is inherit within adoption the thought of choosing (we saw that in verse 4 we are chosen. Chosen to be holy and blameless and (v.5) in love he predestined us for adoption.
When a little baby is adopted…they are selected…they are chosen. (That one…there might be a million babies out there, but I want one or those two or 6. (JANSMA)
I think adoption is one of the most beautiful metaphors in all the world to tangibly display the love of the Father for us.
I interacted with a friend a few weeks back about adoption. He and his wife have gone through the process of adoption, multiple times.
In one case, the process of adopting a child from China started before their daughter was even born. Ha ha…think about that biblical parallel!
They started praying and filling out paperwork and fundraising before this little girl was even conceived. In fact he and his wife used to wonder sometimes if she was here yet. Do you know they already had a named picked out for her? She was real and existed in their mind before she was ever cradled in their arms.
They purposed (were pleased with) the idea of bringing her into their loving family....but they didn’t just intend to do so....they actually did all the costly work to bring it about…to make it move from concept to reality.
They paid the cost. 35k
They bought the plane tickets for themselves to go there and and plane tickets to bring her back here with them. Think of that biblical parallelism primarily in the incarnation, crucifixion, burial, resurrection and ascension.
They, wanted to take all the babies but they elected to take one.
Well that is unfair…no it isn’t…not for that one…it was MERCY.
It was the best thing in the world that could have happened for her. Do you know when they picked her up and held her they noticed a flat spot on the back of her head. It was formed there because the only thing that ever held this precious little girl was hardened mattress in a crib.
The love this little girl felt was so foreign to her at first. Kisses and hugs were blocked by kicking and screaming. What kind of love is this? These feel like everlasting arms that I am being supported by. Behold what manner of love is this…that i should be treated like this mans child?
What happened to that little girl, is what happened to us.
We were thought of before the foundations of the world. We were identified and chosen before we existed. A price was paid long before we were conceived by our birth mothers and before we were born again by the Spirit from above, the paperwork was taken care of for us…by the sacrifice of Himself, Jesus...
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
We have been given a true sonship...
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Adoption doesn’t work in reverse…it can’t be true. Babies in orphanages don’t decide or determine to get adopted. Especially those who are “unborn.” They don’t wake up one day and say…Hey i think i will get adopted today…and let’s see I am going to choose that family. No…they are helpless until they are acted upon. And this brings us to the motive of God’s choosing.
The text says...
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
All of this was done for us because “in love” and “on purpose.” He loves us…and that leads us to the glorious work of God in verse 6.
God, the Father has blessed us in the Beloved (v. 6)
God, the Father has blessed us in the Beloved (v. 6)
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Interesting turn of phrase here.
V1. Christ Jesus (2 times)
V2. Lord Jesus Christ
V. 3 Lord Jesus Christ
V. 5 Jesus Christ
V. 6 “in the Beloved”
Why the switch? Is Paul just getting bored of the name Jesus as he is penning Scripture…or is the Holy Spirit highlighting something. Let’s choose the less sacrilegious interpretation shall we?
What is the Holy Spirit getting at when He referred to Jesus Christ with with this word. (Beloved)
First of all notice it is a verb - it denotes action (love is being poured out)
Second, it is a passive verb - the action of love is being given to someone - Jesus (recipient of love)
Perfect Tense - The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe a completed action in the past that produces results which are still in effect all the way up to the present and reaches into the future.
So when you combine all those factors what you get is the idea that Jesus is the recipient of a completed love from the Father that results in a love that continues on to this day and past this day into eternity.
The Father has loved the Son “completely.” It is determined. it is finished. The Father has a sincere appreciation and high regard for the Son and what He has accomplished through His body on the cross. To the point that…Matthew records this... says...
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
that John testifies...
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
and one of those “things” is us...
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
We are blessed by God because we have been placed “in Christ.” What is true of Christ is true of us. And Christ is the Beloved of God. My dear brother and sister…you are the BELOVED OF GOD.
BELIEVE IT. TRUST IT. EXPRESS YOUR FAITH IN THIS…EVEN IF IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE.
He chose us to be holy and blameless. He adopted us into His family. He is happy with us because of Jesus and calls us His beloved.
God, the Father is to be praised for what He has done for us.
God, the Father is to be praised for what He has done for us.