Second Sunday after Christmas (B)

January 5, 2003

Understanding Our Position

Leads to Praise

Ephesians 1:3-14

Understanding our identity is vital to our eternal purpose -- glorifying God. In our depravity, we've fooled ourselves into thinking that we're autonomous, self-sufficient, free to do as we please. We see man at the center of the universe, and even many of our churches see man at the center of God's purposes.

God has always been about His own fame and glory, and rightfully so, because He is the center of the universe. As John Piper suggests in The Pleasures of God, for Him to see anything as more important than Himself would be idolatry.

This doesn't mean that God doesn't love us. It's quite the contrary. The scriptures say that God loved the world so much that He gave His only son. It is because God is the center of all things (Rom. 11:36) that relationship with Him is the best thing for us and a life of worship, the most appropriate response.

Human selfishness is a detrimental illusion. Discovering and believing in the reality of who God is and who we are in light of Him will drastically change our behavior.

This is evident in the very order of Paul's epistle. The apostle begins with doctrine, and our response to the truths of God's word overflow from the truth. This eulogy in verses 3-14 caught to move us to praise the most high God. Understanding our position leads to praise.

I. Praise God for Every Spiritual Blessing (v. 3)

Paul starts His letter with a glorious tribute to the triune God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Paul understood the purpose and extent of our salvation in Christ, and that led to this long sentence of praise.

Paul reveals that God the Father has chosen us in eternity past to the praise of the glory of His grace (vv. 4-6); God the Son has provided redemption in the historical past at the cross to the praise of His glory (vv. 7-12); and God the Spirit has sealed us in our personal past at the point of conversion (vv. 13-14) to the praise of His glory.

In the verses to follow, we observe some of those eternal, spiritual blessings.

II. Praise God for Election and Adoption (vv. 4-6)

We've been chosen by God and predestined to adoption as sons and daughters. God's election was determined before the very foundation of the world was laid, and, therefore, was not dependant on "temporal circumstances or human merit".1

III. Praise God for Redemption and Forgiveness (vv. 7-8a)

We've been redeemed -- bought out of the marketplace of sin and rescued from slavery. Our sin is forgiven in Christ. The debt has been payed by the very blood of our Lord Jesus.

IV. Praise God for Revealing the Mystery (vv. 9-10)

The mystery is the cosmic reconciliation of Christ. There are both present (Col. 1:25-27) and future (Col. 1:19-20) elements of this reconciliation. As Gentiles, we can praise God that we were grafted into His glorious plan and can experience the blessing of being called His children.