Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Last Week… Greeting

New Name / New You

Grace and Peace

Faithful Saint in Christ

Praise and Blessings of being saints in Christ

Word Trinity is not in the Bible… But I believe it anyway

Blessing in the Past

Blessing in the Present

Blessing in the Future

In the original Greek these twelve verses constitute a single complex sentence.

As Paul dictates, his speech pours out of his mouth in a continuous cascade.

He neither pauses for breath, nor punctuates his words with full stops.

Commentators have searched for metaphors vivid enough to convey the impact of this opening outburst of adoration.

‘We enter this epistle through a magnificent gateway’, writes Findlay.

It is ‘a golden chain’ of many links,2 or ‘a kaleidoscope of dazzling lights and shifting colours’.

William Hendriksen likens it to ‘a snowball tumbling down a hill, picking up volume as it descends’,4 and E. K. Simpson—less felicitously perhaps—to ‘some long-winded racehorse … careering onward at full speed.’

More romantic is John Mackay’s musical simile: ‘This rhapsodic adoration is comparable to the overture of an opera which contains the successive melodies that are to follow’.6

And Armitage Robinson suggests that it is ‘like the preliminary flight of the eagle, rising and wheeling round, as though for a while uncertain what direction in his boundless freedom he shall take’.

John Stott

A gateway, a golden chain, a kaleidoscope, a snowball, a racehorse, an operatic overture and the flight of an eagle: all these metaphors in their different ways describe the impression of colour, movement and grandeur which the sentence makes on the reader’s mind.

PRAYER

Message

Chapell, Bryan.

Ephesians.

Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani.

Reformed Expository Commentary.

Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009.

[Ch 3, The Son’s Mission]

National Public Radio - interview

New York Subway

Reasonably dressed … seemingly disturbed man

walking though crowd… pointing finger… words of choosing

“You’re in, you’re out”… no rhyme / reason

rich / poor / black / white / male / female

Anxiety grew as he approached… but for what!?

you’re in… euphoria… chosen… for what?… silly pride

The Past Blessing of Election.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Two: How Rich You Are! (Ephesians 1:4–14))

Does the sinner respond to God’s grace against his own will?

No, he responds because God’s grace makes him willing to respond.

The mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility will never be solved in this life.

Both are taught in the Bible (John 6:37).

Both are true, and both are essential.

Warren Wiersbe

Eph 1.3-6 “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.”

He has chosen us

in Him

before the world

we should be holy and blameless

before Him

IN LOVE

He has adopted us

without any human merit or cause

He has loved us

Dan Fogelberg = 1979 = Album: Phoenix = Song: Longer

Longer than there’ve been fishes in the ocean,

Higher than any bird ever flew,

Longer than there’ve been stars up in the heavens,

I’ve been in love with you.…

Divine Revelation not Human Speculation

you may struggle but you may not deny

Incentive to Holiness not Excuse to Sin

you may rest in Him but you may not presume on Him

Stimulate Humility not Ground for Boasting

you may rejoice in this without finding rights in it

The Father Elected You!

The Present Blessing of Reclamation.

Ephesians (Christ’s Sonship (1:5))

The study of adoption has clarified the confusion I once felt.

Adoption is a legal procedure which secures a child’s identity in a new family.…

God didn’t choose to be our foster parent.

We don’t get kicked out of the family because of our behavior.

We don’t have to worry day to day whether or not we are good enough to be part of the family.

In his infinite kindness, God made us a permanent part of his family.…

Nothing can undo the legal procedure that binds me to Christ.

He died to redeem me.

He signed the adoption papers, so to speak, with his blood.

Nothing can cancel the work he did for me.

I am free from the fear of falling away.

Hallelujah!

Robert A. Peterson

Eph 1.7-12 “7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

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.”

He has redeemed us

He has given remission to us

He has revealed God’s will to us

He has made us an inheritance

Sonship imputes privileges

you may claim your rights as a co heir with christ

Sonship implies responsibility

you may not claim your rights without also accepting responsibilities

The Son Redeems You!

The Future Blessing of Unification.

Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians & Philemon (Commentary)

This seal of the Holy Spirit also serves as a deposit or down payment, providing a guarantee of more to come.

It is the initial installment of the believers’ future inheritance.

As ones adopted into God’s family with all the accompanying privileges, we have an inheritance from God that qualifies us to live eternally in his presence in heaven.

The initial installment of the Holy Spirit is a little bit of heaven in the believers’ lives—with a guarantee of much more yet to come.