Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:2). Amen.
There are some things you can scan quickly—like a postcard mailed from a boy at camp, others you have to scour slowly—like a textbook printed by a scholar about physics.
Why? You want to make sure that you don’t miss anything.
It is not hard to get a scribbled note: “You wish you were here.” You can glance at that casually and go on.
It is not so simple to grasp a complicated formula: E=mc2. (In case you forgot: “Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.” Thanks, Mr. Einstein.) You have to pour over that carefully and go over it again.
It is just a paragraph from the apostle Paul which stretches from eternity to eternity—something God planned and performed. It is not necessarily light reading. But it is very comforting reading. We join him in this thought. Praise God for his glorious grace. You are selected by the Father, saved through the Son, and sealed with the Spirit. We read from …
Ephesians 1:3-14
Dear People of our Glorious God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
A doxology is a hymn of praise. Paul is no stranger to them when it comes to God. In his letters, he breaks out in song in the middle of them (Ro 11:33-36). He busts out at the end of them (Php 4:20). It is the same at the start of them like the section before us.
He couldn’t help singing God’s praise. No matter when or where. Even from prison in Rome when he writes to the Christians gathered in the city of Ephesus (Acts 25:11; 28:30 [along with the letters of Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon]).
It is relatively brief, but really beautiful. We don’t want to overlook the meaning, but look over the message. And when we do, Paul’s encouragement is easy (Eph 1:6,12,14).
Praise God for his Glorious Grace
1. You are selected by the Father (3-6)
2. You are saved through the Son (7-13)
3. You are sealed with the Spirit (13,14)
1. You are selected by the Father (3-6)
This morning we confessed: “I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty” (CW p. 31). The Father is the first person of the Trinity. Paul has us think about that. Praise God for his glorious grace. You are selected by the Father.
God certainly is worthy of words which call him good: “Praise be to [or “blessed be”] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:3). Why? “Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph 1:3). There is nothing missing or lacking—whatever fits into the category of a blessing—every sort of and every kind of. That all comes from heaven and culminates in heaven (Ja 1:17). And all through Christ. Without him we have nothing. With him we have everything. And we do. (More on that, or better—more on him in a minute.)
Consider what the Father has done: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph 1:4). Let that sink in. He picked us. And it wasn’t a notion that he threw together at the last moment—on a wish or a whim. Before he laid the foundation of the universe. Long before we were even born. And it was not like Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Those representatives from the National League and the American League are the best of the best in baseball. (I didn’t even get one vote, if you are curious.) They have a high batting average or on-base percentage. They can hit home runs and field fly balls. No. It wasn’t who we would be or what we would do. But who Jesus was and what he would do. It is based entirely on the mercy of God and totally on the merits of Christ. Praise God for his glorious grace.
And there was a purpose behind it: “to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph 1:4). Not because we were holy and blameless—we weren’t, but to be …
“holy” (Eph 1:4)—free from sin and far from it. That makes us “saints” (Eph 1:2).
“blameless” (Eph 1:4)—without fault or blemish (Eph 5:27).
That is how we stand in front of him. Our conscience can make accusations. The devil can make allegations. But God elected us to be holy and blameless. Praise God for his glorious grace.
The Father acted in our best interest. He had to and did. “In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Eph 1:4,5). Once outside of his family, now inside. God puts us there—sons and daughters with the full rights and privileges that come from the Father (Ga 3:26,27; 1 Jn 3:1). All because he wanted to, not forced to. It was exciting to him and executed by him. “To the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves” (Eph 1:6). Look around to see your spiritual siblings. The Father was well pleased with his Son (Mt 3:17). With us too. That undeserved kindness God gives to us. Praise God for his glorious grace. You are selected by the Father to be his own from eternity.
2. You are saved through the Son (7-13)
And then we continued: “I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God” (CW p. 31). The Son is the second person of the Trinity. Paul has us think through that. Praise God for his glorious grace. You are saved by the Christ.
Paul’s pen now points to the One who makes everything possible—our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3). “In him we have …” (Eph 1:7)
“redemption through his blood” (Eph 1:7). To “redeem” is to set free through the payment of a price. We might use the illustration of the ransom for the release of a prisoner of war. And it came at a high and heavy cost (1 Co 6:20)—not money from a bank, but blood from Jesus’ body (1 Pe 1:18,19). He suffered on the cross and died in our place. Praise God for his glorious grace.
“the forgiveness of sins” (Eph 1:7). That has the idea of sending off or sending away—like canceling a debt or an obligation. Gone. All the times that we have stepped to the side like a gymnast falling off the balance beam. But that didn’t result in a deduction, but damnation. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12). Praise God for his glorious grace.
Speaking that Paul highlights that: “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Eph 1:7,8). There is not just a bit of grace—like the drip of a leaky faucet splashing in the sink, but a bunch of it—like cold water running over the sides of a glass. We wouldn’t complain about that on a hot and humid day. But not an advisory about the heat, but the admittance into heaven. God knew what had to be done and acted on that. We have that knowledge and appreciation.
But we would have never come up with any of this. Again, God took care of that. “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ” (Eph 1:9). It is not as if we could sniff out some clues to figure it out. A “mystery” is something that God has to reveal to us like when someone hands you a present. You have to open it to know what is inside. God explains that his desire is to save us in Christ. And he has. Praise God for his glorious grace.
And God has a goal—“to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Eph 1:10). Jesus is above all and over all. At the right moment, he came into the world to take care of our sin and shame (Ga 4:4). And again, this wasn’t a haphazard happenstance—nothing accidental: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:11,12). Everything occurs just as God had determined—from the promise to Adam and Eve of a Savior for them to the guarantee to Abraham of a Savior from him. And God is faithful. He carried it out. Jesus finished it (Jn 19:30). Praise God for his glorious grace.
And not just for Jews, but for Gentiles. For us too. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13). We are in Christ. We see that in God’s true Word (Jn 17:17). That fact that he has saved us—rescued us from an impossible situation—is good news. It might be similar to the happy story that took place this week in Thailand. There was no way that the soccer coach and his 12 players were going to get out of that cave by themselves. The 17 days that they were trapped in that cave are proof of that. Plus the expert divers sent in after them. They needed someone to save them. And so did we. That is why the Lord sent his prophet Amos: “Go, prophesy to my people Israel” (Amos 7:15). And that is why Jesus sent the 12 “two by two” (Mk 6:7). It was so that the people would see their sin and their Savior (Mk 7:12). That is the responsibility of fathers to children, generation after generation. The upshot of that is: “Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands” (Ps 78:7). Praise God for his glorious grace. You are saved through the Son, Jesus Christ, to be his own to eternity.
3. You are sealed with the Spirit (13,14)
And finally we concluded: “I believe in the Holy Spirit” (CW p. 31). The Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Paul has us think over that. Praise God for his glorious grace. You are sealed by the Spirit.
It was the Holy Spirit who created faith in our hearts by calling us to faith with the Word. That gives us a present blessing: “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit” (Eph 1:13). In Paul’s day, a letter would be rolled up and closed with wax. A person would push a ring on the hot material signifying that the contents were genuine. But a seal also was an indicator of ownership. We belong to God. The Holy Spirit comes and makes that clear (Acts 2:33; 2 Co 1:21,22). He does it as he dwells in our hearts.
But there is more—a future blessing. “[The Holy Spirit] is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph 1:14). That is a technical term like our down payment. When you purchase a new/used black vehicle, you hand over a certain amount and pledge that the rest will follow—every month for 72 of them, for example. By granting the Holy Spirit, more is on the way. That is when Jesus will come again to take us to his side in heaven (Lk 21:28). That is when we will receive our full inheritance (Mt 25:34). Praise God for his glorious grace. You are sealed by the Spirit to be his own for eternity.
I am not sure of the rule of thumb for how many times you read a postcard or textbook before it makes its way into the recycle bin. More than one time. Is that fair? It is with Paul’s introduction to the Ephesians. And when we do it leads us to praise him. Praise God for his glorious grace. You were selected by the Father, saved through the Son, and sealed with the Spirit. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love (Eph 6:24). Amen.
July 15, 2018
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