God at Work IN OUR LIVES!
God Adopts US! The Thesaurus Sermon
Ephesians 1:3-14

† In Jesus’ Name †

May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ assure you—that you are a child of God!

Double the praise!

As I read the passage that we are looking at this morning, I thought Paul was in what I call “Thesaurus Mode.”

He wasn’t just doing the ancient technique of repeating what he said twice, He repeated, then summarized it, then retaught it, then restated it, then he explained it, then he said it again!

I think that means he wanted us to get the point he was trying to make—

A really basic thought, but one so incredible that he has to surround it with the only thing that made sense.

Verse 3, “³  All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

And verse 14, “we would praise and glorify him.”

The anticipation and reaction of this incredible message begins with us in awe, worshipping God and ends with us praising and glorifying Him,

So what is the message? What is the word? What is the news?

His Plan, His Decision,  His Will, His Promise

Well, the first part of the message is to communicate that this was always what God wanted to happen.

In verse 4 it says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ.”

In verse 5 it repeats the idea , “God decided in advance”

And

“This is what he wanted to do”

He keeps the idea going,

Verse 9, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan”

and going,

verse 11, “for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

Verse 12, God’s purpose

And finally in verse 13, whom he promised long ago.

Seven times in 11 verses, Paul tries to reveal that this is not some last-minute reaction to do something about our brokenness, it is something that from before day 1 God determined to do.

I think we need to realize that, more importantly, I think God, who inspired St. Paul to write these words, knew that we would be broken, and that we needed to know how deliberate God was in dealing with that brokenness.

And how the sin of the world, the sin of our community and our own sin breaks us, for it certainly does.

We need to know God was always prepared to deal with this brokenness, this sin, and bring healing to us. He reveals that over and over in the Old Testament, as you see in the Psalms and the minor prophets.

God knew… and God planned to take care of us… even at our most broken.

Even if that is today… He’s loved and chosen, decided, wanted to, mysteriously planned, chose in advanced and promised to act in our lives….

DO you see what I mean by saying this is a message communicated using a thesaurus?

Blessed, United Brought, Adopted , identified, His inheritance, His purchase

But it’s not enough to tell us God’s intent… we have to know what God intended to do to us….

So, verse 3 blessed us with every spiritual blessing because we are united with Christ,

Verse 4, loved us and chose us in Christ, to be holy and without fault in His eyes

Verse 5, God, adopted us into His own family by bringing us through Jesus Christ,

Verse 6, we see God pouring out His glorious grace on us who belong to His dear Son.

Verse 7 He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins,

Verse 8 showered (baptized us ) with kindness and with all wisdom and understanding

Verse 10, God  brings us along with everything under the authority of Christ,

Verse 11, He gives us (the ones who were broken) an inheritance from God, and makes it all work according to His plan.

It goes on to describe this as being for all us, both Jewish people who were the first to trust in Christ, and the Gentiles who heard and believed, in verse 13 are saved and identified as His own…

It says there also that He gives us the Holy Spirit , and verse 14, He gives us that inheritance,  to all He has purchased to be His own people!

So to summarize, He blessed, united to Christ, loved, chose, made us holy and without fault, adopted us, bring us to Himself through Jesus, poured His glorious grace, purchased all of us with Christ’s blood, baptized us with kindness, wisdom and understanding as He places us in Christ, gives us His inheritance, saves us, identifies us as His own, gives us the Holy Spirit… and again purchased us—so that we can be HIS OWN PEOPLE!

Wowza….

Praise and Value

Seems like we should value and recognize all that work that God has done!

That is what it means to praise and glorify Him, as we recognize all of this!!! That is what it means to praise and glorify Him—because of what happened as Christ died on the cross, and rose from the dead, and what He does as He baptizes us, as He justifies and sanctifies us…..

This is our God, this is the message God wants to us to know, and what He communicates through St. Paul…

This is why we praise Him, not just because He is almighty, and all knowing… but because He reveals to us His love, and the action that love for us who are broken… and He makes us His own….

Amen!