Reasons to Praise the Father
The purpose of the book of Ephesians is to encourage the body of Christ to live in a manner consistent with their calling to unity. If First Baptist Church is going to fulfill God’s plan and purpose it must preserve the unity produced by the Spirit. Turn with me to Ephesians 1.
The first half of Ephesians is doctrinal teaching and the second half of the book is practical application. Some today avoid doctrinal teaching because they say it’s divisive. Folks, nothing should be further from the truth, doctrine should bind us together. Undoubtedly there will be some difference of opinion when it comes to non-essentials. We must agree on the essential doctrines of the faith. Since we all possess the same Holy Spirit this should not be a problem for us if we are diligent students of the Word.
Ephesians like all of Paul’s’ epistles has a controlling metaphor that helps unpack the book. To understand the metaphor it would be helpful to know a little something about Ephesus. Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the Ancient world. It was known for its magnificent temple to Artemis. Acts 19 gives some background.
Paul uses the picture of an organic living temple being built by God in Ephesians. Ephesians is full of construction terms. We will make note of these as we study the book.
This morning we are going to look at verses 1:1-6. These verses are part of one long sentence 1:3-14. These verses are a call to worship! They give us reason to praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This morning we will focus on reasons to praise the Father.
I. We Must Praise God because He’s Worthy!
A. God is the blessed one… From eulogeoō (blessed) we get eulogy, a message of praise and commendation, the declaration of a person’s goodness. Because no one is truly good but God (Matt. 19:17), our supreme eulogy, our supreme praise should be for Him alone. Goodness is God’s nature. God the Father not only does good things, He is good in a way and to a degree that no human being except His own incarnate Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, can be. Consequently from Genesis to Revelation, godly men, recognizing the surpassing goodness of God, have proclaimed blessing upon Him. Melchizedek declared, “Blessed be God Most High” (Gen. 14:20). In the great acclamatory assembly in heaven in Rev. 5:13 we read, “every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them” will be “heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever’ ” (Rev. 5:13). Nothing is more appropriate for God’s people than to bless Him for His inexhaustible goodness. In all things—whether pain, struggle, trials, frustration, opposition, or adversity — we are to praise God, because He is good in the midst of it all. For that we praise and bless Him.
B. God is the blesser… Consistent with His perfection and praiseworthiness, the One who is to be supremely blessed for His goodness is Himself the supreme Blesser who bestows goodness. It is He who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift,” James reminds us, “is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Paul assures us “that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). God blesses because He is the source of all blessing, of every good thing. Goodness can only come from God because there is no source of goodness outside of God.
II. We Must Praise God because He has Blessed Us! That is individually & corporately…with every spiritual blessing…in the heavenly realms, which we experience now in part…in Christ…in Christ alone God blessed men & women from eternity to eternity…What are these blessings?
A. He chose us!
1. What does this mean…He picked us out for Himself! That God chose us forms the basis of the doctrine of election—defined as God’s choice of an individual or group for a specific purpose or destiny. The doctrine of election teaches that we are saved only because of God’s grace and mercy; as believers we are not saved by our own merit. It focuses on God’s purpose or will (1:5, 9, 11), not on ours. God does not save us because we deserve it but because he graciously and freely gives salvation. We did not influence God’s decision to save us; he saved us according to his plan. Therefore, we cannot take credit for our salvation or take pride in our wise choice. The doctrine of election runs through the Bible, beginning with God’s choosing Abraham’s descendants as his special people. Through them, God would fulfill his promise to Abraham that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3 NKJV). Listen to the words of Moses: For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt …. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8, 11 NIV) Why would God choose some and not others? A better question is, Why would God choose anyone at all? None seek after God…for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God…for we all have rebelled against God and proven ourselves unworthy of His love and grace. Some say the doctrine of election makes God unfair…unfair according to whose standards? Humanities! No, God is never to be measured by any human standard, certainly not by the human standard of fairness which is also a reflection of man's fallenness. Are we so foolish as to assume that we who are fallen sinful creatures have a higher standard of what is right than an unfallen and infinitely and eternally holy God? What kind of pride would that be?
2. When…before he built the world!..
3. Why…that we should be holy and blameless…Here are two great words. Holy is the Greek word hagios, which always has in it the idea of difference and of separation. A temple is holy because it is different from other buildings; a priest is holy because he is different from ordinary men; a sacrifice is holy because it is different from other animals; God is supremely holy because he is different from men; the Sabbath is holy because it is different from other days. So, then, God chose us that we would be different from other men. Here is the challenge that the contemporary Church has been very slow to face. In the early Church Christians never had any doubt that they must be different from the world; in fact, they knew that they must be so different that the probability was that the world would kill then and the certainty was that the world would hate them. But the tendency in today’s Church has been to play down the difference between the Church and the world. We have, in effect, often said to people: “So long as you live a decent, respectable life, it is quite all right to become a Church member and to call yourself a Christian. You don’t need to be so very different from other people.” In fact a Christian should be identifiable in the world. It must always be remembered that this difference on which Christ insists is not one which takes a man out of the world; it makes him different within the world. It should be possible to identify the Christian in the school, the factory, the office, everywhere. Blameless is the Greek word amōmos. It is a sacrificial word. Under Jewish law before an animal could be offered as a sacrifice it must be inspected; and if any blemish was found it must be rejected as unfit for an offering to God. Only the best was fit to offer to God. Amōmos thinks of the whole man as an offering to God. It thinks of taking every part of our life, work, home life and personal relationships, and making them all such that they can be offered to God. This word does not mean that the Christian must be respectable; it means that he must be perfect. To say that the Christian must be amōmos is to banish contentment with second bests; it means that the Christian standard is nothing less than perfection.…purpose is to make as like the Lamb of God see Romans 8:28-29
4. What does this mean for us today?
a) We need to cooperate with God in this process…
b) We need to live holy and blameless lives now…Paul will make this clear in the second half of the letter…
c) The fact that God has chosen us should move us to worship Him!
B. He predestined us! Since God chose us he predetermined to adopt us into His family as the sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ…
1. What…He marked us out beforehand…it’s a word used only of God…it’s a word used to emphasize His sole initiative and authority in salvation…what God purposes comes to pass folks!
2. For what purpose…adoption…in the 1st century Roman law adoption was for those who were not sons by birth and it enabled them to enter into a privileged position…What does this mean? It means that before time began God chose to adopt men and women into a personal and intimate relationship with himself.
3. Why…
a) Because it pleased Him to do so…
b) Because it would bring Him praise for His glorious grace...which came to us through Christ
Why should we praise the Father? Because of whom He is and What He has done! What has he done? He chose us to be holy and blameless. He predestines us to adoption!