Good morning, Watermark. The scripture reading comes from Ephesians chapter 1.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus,
grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace,
with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespassers,
according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us,
in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time,
to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
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,
so that we, who are the first to hope in Christ,
might be to the praise of his glory.
In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,
were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,
to the praise of his glory.
This is the word of God.
Great, Iris. You read that so well. Well done. Thank you.
Okay, let's look at this passage.
And we're going to dive right in.
It's a very meaty, meaty passage.
Let's see if we can try and make sense of it.
He starts off, Paul, verse 1,
Paul, that's the guy who's writing this letter.
And he writes to a bunch of Christians.
He says, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.
Okay, we're going to talk a lot about the will of God
in a few minutes' time. Hold on to that thought.
And he says,
To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Last week, we spoke a little bit about the word saints.
Saints doesn't mean super religious people or super holy ones.
It just means those that are in Christ,
those that are followers of Jesus.
And he says,
To those who are in Ephesus.
Paul is this apostle who is writing this letter
to this small church in the ancient city of Ephesus.
Now, let's talk a little bit about Ephesus.
Ephesus was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire.
It was the fifth largest city in the Roman Empire.
It was the capital of the province of Asia in the Roman Empire.
It was given this title,
The First and Greatest Metropolis of Asia.
That was the title,
which sounds a lot to me like Asia's First World City.
Right?
Is that Asia's World City?
That's our title.
Okay, Ephesus, Asia's World City.
But that's not the only place where connections with Hong Kong end.
It was also a major port city.
It was built.
It had a major harbor.
It was built on a port.
It was a major trading city
because it was built on the trading routes in that region.
And so all the trade and the shipping routes that came past
would stop in Ephesus and do their trade.
So it was a very economically important and powerful city.
It was also a very well-educated city.
There was a big library called the Library of Celsus.
It was actually built a few years after this letter.
The third biggest library in the whole Roman Empire
had 12,000 manuscripts and documents.
So it was a very well-educated city.
It was also a very religious city.
Just outside of the city of Ephesus
was this great temple called the Temple of Artemis,
one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Ephesians were very proud of their Temple of Artemis.
But it was also a very superstitious city.
Everywhere you walked,
there would be these little shrines
and people offering offerings to Artemis,
to the goddess of Artemis.
There's actually a great story in Acts chapter 19.
There's a silversmith called Demetrius,
and he makes silver shrines of the goddess Artemis
that people buy and then, you know,
worship and carry around in their pockets.
And he gets upset because the apostle Paul
comes to Ephesus
and is telling people about Jesus,
and now people aren't buying his silver shrines
because they're following Jesus.
And so he gets this mob together
to try and kill Paul and the apostles
or at least drive them out.
And this is what he says.
He says,
this guy Paul is persuading people
to turn away from gods made with hands,
saying that they're not actually gods.
Which that's an interesting thought, right?
Anyway, we can talk about that another time.
He says,
there's a danger not only to this business of ours,
but also the great goddess Artemis,
causing her to be deposed from her magnificence,
she whom all Asia and the whole world worship.
So they're getting upset
because now these Ephesians are hearing about Jesus,
who they say is the one true God,
not Artemis,
and now people are no longer buying his shrines
or worshiping there at their temple.
And so here is this great big world city,
this trading city,
this port city,
this harbor city,
an economically important city,
a religious and superstitious city,
lots of magic and spiritualists in the city.
And in the middle of the city
is this small little church.
It's not very impressive,
not very fancy.
They maybe met in somebody's house,
a house church,
10 people,
maybe 15 people.
And they're facing opposition and persecution
for following Jesus.
And the apostle Paul writes this letter
to encourage them in their faith
and to encourage them to follow Jesus.
And so that's kind of what the letter is
and where it's going.
So verse two,
he says,
grace to you and peace from God,
our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now,
the next 12 verses
from verse three to 14
are a tsunami
of information
and doctrine
and theology.
Okay?
It's kind of like drinking
from a fire hydrant.
It's just you,
the point is to be blown away.
Okay?
And in the Greek Bible,
these 200 words
are one sentence.
It's probably the most complex sentence
in the whole Bible.
Paul goes all over the place
without a full stop.
And Iris did such a great job
of reading it,
but even our English,
we've broken down
to various sections.
Paul just is overwhelming us
with the tsunami of doctrine.
Okay?
And so let's try
and see if we can pull out the threads
and see something
of the big idea
of what Paul is saying
and what God is wanting to say to us.
And I think there's two big ideas here.
Okay?
The first one is this,
the blessings of being in Christ
and secondly,
the cosmic purpose of God in Christ.
Okay?
The blessings of being in Christ
for us individuals
and the cosmic plan of God
for the whole world in Christ.
Okay?
Let's see if we can try
and make sense of that.
So let's look at the first one,
the blessings of being in Christ.
Look at how Paul starts off.
He says,
blessed be
or praise be
or glory be
to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So it's a statement of praise.
He's worshiping God.
All glory to you, God.
And why is he doing that?
Well, look what he says.
For he has blessed us
in Christ
with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places.
So he writes this declaration of praise.
Paul is doing
what we did earlier.
We sang.
Nate and Cynthia
and Jeremy
led us in songs of worship
and he's worshiping God.
Why?
Because of the multitude
of blessings
that God the Father
has given
or bestowed
on those who are in Christ.
Now, of course,
he's not talking about
material blessings
like this great job I got
or this house I've got
or my great wife
that I've got.
Those are wonderful blessings as well.
He's talking about
the spiritual blessings,
those that come
from the Holy Spirit
that pertain to
my relationship with God.
Praise be
the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places.
Okay,
well,
what are those blessings?
Well,
the rest of the passage
is jam-packed full of them.
Okay,
let's look at a couple of them.
Firstly,
look at the blessings
in the past.
He says here
in verse 3 and 4
how God has blessed us
in Christ
even before time began.
Okay,
he says here,
blessed be God
who has blessed us
in Christ
even as He chose us,
verse 4,
in Him
before the foundation
of the world.
So,
I mean,
that's a little mysterious.
I'll give it to you.
Okay,
I don't fully understand
how that all works.
But something is saying
before time began,
before the foundations
of the world,
God chose
to set His love
on His people.
Now,
I may say
that sounds a lot like
election,
predestination,
and that whole
big thing,
right?
And you're right.
That's exactly
what it sounds like.
And how does that work?
Well,
I'm not exactly sure.
But all we know
is what the Bible
says about it.
The Bible says
it's true.
God and His sovereignty
somehow arranged it
like that.
But Paul's point here
is that God's blessings
on His people
didn't originate
with me.
God didn't look at me
and say,
now,
Kevin,
there's a good guy.
There's a guy
I can really bless.
Not actually,
before I'd done
a single thing,
good or bad,
but before I'd done
anything,
God somehow
in His mind
chose to set
His love
on His people.
And if you're in Christ,
that's true
for you as well.
Christians aren't
the instigators
of God's blessing
and a favor
in our lives.
We're the recipients
of it.
God is the instigator.
It begins with Him.
God set His love
on His people.
Now,
one way you may
think about this
is if you're
a parent here,
when did you
first decide
to love your child?
Was it when they
started to make
their bed?
Right?
Or they started
to obey you
or listen to you?
Or maybe when
they were finally
potty trained,
no more diapers,
now I'm going
to love my child.
No, no, no,
before they were
even born, right?
You love them.
I remember when
Claire and I
went to have a scan.
Claire was pregnant
with Sierra,
our first child,
12 weeks pregnant.
And you go and
have the scan
to see if there's
any medical conditions,
right?
If there's Down syndrome
and they look at
the nose and the flesh
behind the neck,
and when you go,
the doctor says,
now listen,
these are the odds
of a Down syndrome
baby at your age
and everything.
And if the scan
reveals that there's
something wrong,
well, these are
your options,
right?
This is how we
can terminate
the pregnancy.
And Claire and I
said, no, no,
no, we've set our
hearts, we will
love this child.
Okay, there may be
some medical
challenges, okay,
we'll live with that.
No, we've decided
before this child's
even born,
before we've met
this child,
we will love
this child.
Well, think about
adoption, right?
You go and you want
to adopt a child,
the agency doesn't
say, okay,
here's five pictures,
choose which one's
got the same nose as
you and the same ears
and which one looks
cuddly.
No, they don't give
you a picture.
And the agency says,
we've got to tell you,
there may be some
medical challenges
with this child,
we don't know,
right?
And what do you say?
we have decided in
our heart,
we will love this
child as if it's our
own flesh and blood.
We have set our love
on this child.
Well, that's actually
Paul's argument.
Look what he says in
verse five.
He says,
in love,
he predestined us
for adoption
to himself
as sons
through Jesus Christ.
Praise be to God
and Father
who in eternity
past
chose to set
his love on us.
That's in the past.
Well, what about
the present blessings?
Well, look what he says.
In Christ,
we've been adopted
as sons
through Jesus Christ.
Verse five.
Adopted as sons,
welcomed into his family.
Now, you may say,
why does Paul
use the word of sons?
Why not sons
and daughters, right?
Is Paul being chauvinistic?
What's wrong with daughters?
Well, in the ancient world,
it was very common
for sons
to be adopted
by high-ranking
members of society,
senators,
and other officials
in order to ensure
that they had an heir
to pass on their name
and their inheritance.
You may remember
Caesar Augustus,
the first emperor
of the Roman Empire,
was actually not
the son of Julius Caesar.
He was adopted,
his adopted son.
And yet,
he was the heir
of Julius Caesar.
All his money,
all his wealth,
his status,
everything was passed
on to him.
In the ancient Roman world,
sons,
adopted children,
like in our day and age,
have full legal rights
and standing
as natural children
and is.
There's no difference.
Do you see what Paul's saying here?
For those who have come to Christ
in faith and repentance,
you've been given
the full legal standing
and rights
as if you are
a legitimate child
or son of God.
In Romans 8,
Paul writes this,
In Christ you've received
the spirit of your adoption
as sons,
through whom we cry,
Abba,
Father.
The spirit himself
bears witness
with our spirit
that we are children of God
and if children then heirs,
heirs of God,
and listen up,
fellow heirs with Christ,
co-heirs with Christ.
Now,
in some ways,
that sounds almost sacrilegious.
I mean,
Paul's almost saying
if you're in Christ,
you are equal
with Christ
before God the Father.
Now,
he's not saying
you're divine,
okay,
I'm sorry to break it to you,
you are not God.
He's not saying
that you're holy like Jesus,
but he's almost saying
there's something
of equality
that what Christ,
the Son of God is,
you as a son of God
or daughter of God
are a co-heir with Christ.
I mean,
it sounds ridiculous,
right,
that me,
sinful,
broken,
messed up me,
with all my issues
and all my idols
that I go and worship
and all my insecurities
and my fears,
God looks on me
and says,
my son,
I love you
like I love my son Jesus.
I mean,
that's incredible.
It almost feels wrong
to say that.
Oh,
but we've been adopted
as legal sons
and daughters of God.
And look at what he says
in verse 7.
In him you have redemption
through his blood.
Redemption means
you once were a slave,
you were under bondage,
a price was being paid
and now you're set free.
So think about
the ancient world,
right?
Someone's a slave,
they've got the slave master
that's cruel to them,
always telling them
what to do
and somehow
they are redeemed
from slavery.
Somebody pays
the ransom price
and they're set free.
Well,
the next day
the slave goes
into the marketplace
and their previous
slave owner comes
and says,
hey slave,
come to me,
I've got a job
for you to do.
And what does he say?
You've got no claim on me.
I've been set free.
Whatever you say
is meaningless.
Well,
Paul says here
we have been redeemed
through Christ.
In other words,
the bondage
of our shame,
the bondage
of our guilt,
the bondage
of our debt
that we owe
as a result of our sin
has no claim on us.
You know
that wonderful song
we often sing?
When Satan
tempts me
to despair
and tells me
of the guilt within,
up where I look
and see him there
who made an end
to all my sin.
Friends,
maybe this week
you messed up,
you did something wrong
and Satan comes
and says,
you're such a sinner.
How could God
ever love you?
Do you really think
God the Father
accepts you
after all the things
you've done wrong?
How could God love you?
Do you know
what you say?
I've been redeemed
by the blood of Christ.
Your accusations
have no claim on me.
We've been redeemed
by His blood.
He also says,
in Christ
we've been forgiven
of our sins,
washed,
cleansed,
justified,
treated as if
we'd never sinned.
In Christ,
the record of sin
has been nailed
to the cross.
It's been torn up.
It's been destroyed.
To justify
means
just as if
I had never sinned.
Friends,
look what he says
in verse 4.
God has chosen us
to be holy
and blameless
in His sight.
All of this
is the blessings
for those
who are in Christ.
Chosen before
the world began.
Redeemed,
adopted,
forgiven,
cleansed,
holy and blameless.
Friends,
we've been welcomed
into God's family.
Praise be
to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us
in Christ
with every
spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places.
It's amazing.
It really is amazing.
Oh,
but that's just
the past blessing.
That's just
the present blessings.
We haven't even got
to the future blessings.
Look at
verse 11 to 14.
Skip over 9 and 10.
We'll come to that
a little bit later.
He says,
in Him,
we,
he's talking about the Jews,
okay,
Paul's a Jew.
In Him,
we Jews,
have obtained
or been allocated
an inheritance.
That means a future blessing.
Having been predestined
according to the purpose
of Him
who works all things
according to the counsel
of His will.
Okay,
I told you he's very wordy.
Nobody taught Paul
to write short sentences.
Zoe,
he needs to go back
to your grade 5 classes.
You can teach Paul
how to write,
okay.
In Him,
you also,
Gentiles,
when you heard
the word of truth,
the gospel,
we're sealed
with the Holy Spirit,
a guarantee
of our inheritance
until we acquire it.
All that,
what Paul is saying is,
there's a future blessing
that is coming
for those who are in Christ.
An inheritance.
What's an inheritance?
Maybe you've got
inheritance coming your way,
okay,
one day.
Some great uncle
in the Bahamas,
you get a phone call
from a lawyer one day
saying,
your great uncle
passed away,
he left you an inheritance.
What's an inheritance?
It's a future blessing,
it's a gift of grace
that comes to you
not having earned it.
It's not a wage,
it's not a salary,
it's not a consultancy fee,
you haven't earned it,
it's just a gift of grace
that comes to you
by the kindness
of some person.
Paul says here,
we've got an inheritance,
an eternal inheritance
that will never perish,
it'll never spoil,
it'll never fade,
it won't lose its value
on the stock market,
okay,
many people have lost
a lot of money
on the stock market,
you'll never lose
your inheritance,
it cannot be taken from you,
no one's got to break
into your cryptocurrency account
and steal it from you,
the algorithms,
you've got an inheritance
in Christ
that is coming,
an eternal inheritance
that can never be taken
away from you.
praise be to the God
and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us
in Christ
with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places.
Now,
why is that?
Why is it
that you,
or I,
should be blessed
with all these great blessings?
I mean,
I'm not a very nice guy,
there's nothing special
about me,
sorry to reveal to you,
there's nothing particularly
special about you,
I know your parents
told you that you're special,
but,
but why not everyone?
Why,
why not the bus driver?
Why,
what's,
what's different?
Well,
there's one little phrase
that appears
about 15 times
in this passage.
I wonder if you noticed it
when Iris was reading,
I just couldn't hear,
I couldn't help but smile
at the repetition.
Did you see it
in your passage?
Look at how many times
he says the phrase
in Christ,
in Him,
in the Beloved,
in Christ Jesus.
Look at verse 3,
He has blessed us
in Christ.
Verse 4,
chosen in Christ.
Verse 4,
made holy and blameless
before Him.
Verse 5,
adopted as heirs
through Jesus Christ.
Verse 6,
blessed in the Beloved.
Verse 7,
in the Beloved
we have redemption.
Through His blood
we have forgiveness
of sins.
Verse 11,
in Him we have obtained
an inheritance.
In Him you are sealed
with the promised Holy Spirit.
Do we get the message?
The point is,
it's all in Jesus.
Every spiritual blessing,
every gift of grace,
everything that you want
and desire
and need in life
is found in Christ,
in Jesus.
And apart from Him,
you have nothing
of eternal significance.
Oh, you may be a billionaire,
you may have houses
all over the world
and accolades
and have your name
in lights,
but you'll have nothing
of eternal significance,
nothing that's going to last,
nothing that a thousand years
from now
anybody's going to actually
give any rocks about.
Okay?
Nobody's going to care.
But in Christ,
you have everything
you need
both now
and for all eternity.
Praise be
to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us
in Christ
with everything we need
in the heavenly places.
All this is because of Jesus.
Okay,
that's the first point,
the blessings
of being in Christ.
Now, to be honest,
we've only just
scratched the surface.
I mean,
there's so much more here,
right?
And there's so much more
that the New Testament
talks about.
Now, all that we said
is good and true.
I hope you can see
it's in the Bible.
I didn't make it up.
But actually,
that's not the main point
of the passage.
Everything we've just said
is secondary
to the main point
of the passage.
The main point
is actually found
in verse 9 and 10.
We skipped over it.
Look at how often
Paul talks about
God's plan
or His purpose
or His will.
Okay?
The main point here
is God has a cosmic plan
for the whole of creation
that He is working towards.
Look at verse 5.
In love He predestined us
according to the purpose
of His will.
Verse 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.
In verse 9,
the great climax
in the gospel
He has made known to us
the mystery of His will
according to His purpose
which He set forth in Christ
as a plan
for the fullness of time.
What Paul is telling us here
is there is a great
big cosmic
universal plan,
a purpose
that will be revealed
at the fullness of time,
the end of time,
to which the whole
of creation
is moving towards.
There is a cosmic arc
for the whole
of the universe
that God is orchestrating
together.
So just recently
we looked at the book
of Ecclesiastes,
right?
If you remember that.
And we meet this guy
called Kohelet,
the teacher.
And remember his worldview?
What does Kohelet say?
Anybody?
Meaningless,
meaningless.
Everything is meaningless,
right?
You wake up,
you go to work,
you eat,
you sleep,
tomorrow you're going
to do the same thing.
The sun rises,
the sun sets,
tomorrow it's going
to do the same thing.
Meaningless,
meaningless.
Everything is meaningless.
Well,
Paul here
looks Kohelet in the eye
and says,
you've lost your marbles.
It's not meaningless.
There is a great big purpose
and a plan
for all of creation.
Nothing
is meaningless.
The problem,
of course,
is that we can't see it.
We're blind to it.
Which is why
in verse 18,
in the next page,
we're going to look at it
next week,
Paul prays this great prayer
and he says,
God,
I pray that the eyes
of their hearts
will be opened
to see the hope
of the gospel.
The problem is
we can't see the great plan
which is why
we need our Bibles
because we'll never
discover it on our own.
But Paul's point here
is that God
is not just this
watch keeper God.
He,
you know,
dialed up the watch
and then he put it aside
and said,
let me just sit back
and let life happen
on its own.
No,
God is working
all things.
There's a plan,
there's a purpose,
there's a narrative arc
to which the whole world
is ended.
There's a teleos,
an end point
for all of creation.
And what is that
great end point?
What is that great big plan?
Well,
look at verse 9 and 10.
The point of the entire passage
and actually the point
of the whole of Ephesians
is here in verse 9 and 10.
It says,
God in the gospel
is making known to us
the mystery of his will.
So there's this will
that's been hidden
for generations.
And now he's made it known
in the gospel,
according to his purpose,
which he set forth
in Christ,
a plan
for the fullness
of time.
That means when time
reaches its fulfillment,
and here it is,
to unite
all things
in Christ,
things in heaven
and on earth.
Okay,
there it is.
Paul has just revealed
the grand purpose
of the whole of creation.
There is coming
a time
when God
will unite
together
in Christ
all things
in heaven
and on earth
under the headship
of Christ.
The word unite
there means
to sum up
or to bring
a summary statement,
right,
under the headship
of something.
So,
if you've got your Bible,
there's a heading.
It's a summary statement,
right,
the supremacy of Christ
or the spiritual blessings
of Christ.
Paul says that
God has set forth,
he's enacted
some plan,
some purpose
that will be realized
at the fulfillment
of time.
And what is that plan?
That in Christ
all things
in heaven and earth
will be brought together
under his headship,
his rule,
his leadership.
Okay,
now I know this
sounds a little bit
philosophical,
but we'll get
to the applications
in a minute.
So,
at the moment,
the world,
the universe,
is in disconnect.
There is a discord
in the universe.
Do you remember
in the Garden of Eden,
God and man
dwell together,
right?
And in the book
of Revelation,
at the end of the Bible,
it says the dwelling place
of God is with man.
There's going to be
this unity together.
But we don't see
this unity at the moment.
The heavens and earth
are separated.
There's a discord.
C.S. Lewis called it
the great divorce.
There's like a breakdown
in the relationship
between heaven and earth,
God and mankind.
In fact,
all the discord
that we see in the world,
racism,
sexism,
wars,
animosity,
that's just a mirror
of the breakdown
that's happened
between God and man.
It's a picture
of what's happened.
But it won't always
be like this.
God is going to restore
heaven and earth together.
There's going to be
a unity.
That's why in Revelation
it says,
the dwelling place
of God is with man.
It's like a marriage.
The two are going
to become one again.
They're going to be reunited.
Heaven and earth
are going to be
joined together
in the one new
heaven and earth.
Reunited.
And Christ is going
to be the head.
Christ is going
to be Lord of all.
Heaven and earth
are going to be
brought together
in Christ,
under Christ,
in His leadership.
Look at how
Colossians 1 says it.
For by Him,
Jesus,
all things were created
in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
thrones,
dominions,
rulers,
and authorities.
All things were created
through Him
and for Him.
And through Jesus,
He will reconcile
to Himself
all things,
whether on earth
or in heaven.
Right now,
Jesus is the head
of this church.
One day,
He will be the head
of all the cosmos,
all creation.
For all eternity,
things will be united
under the heavens
and earth
with Christ
as the head
and the Lord.
And why is God
doing this?
What is His motivation
for it?
Well,
there's one more phrase
that Paul repeats
three times
in this passage.
I wonder if you
picked it up.
Look at verse 6.
He says,
In love,
He predestined us
for adoption,
according to purpose
of His will,
to the praise
of His glory.
Okay,
we sang about that
earlier.
Jeremy introduced
that song,
to the praise
of His glory.
Verse 11.
We have obtained
an inheritance
in Christ,
being predestined,
coined the purpose
of His will,
to the praise
of His glory.
Look at verse 14.
The Holy Spirit
is our guarantee
to the praise
of His glory.
Friends,
sometimes we feel
like life is so arbitrary,
so meaningless,
so random,
right?
And Ephesians
is meant to arrest
the futility
and the randomness
of life
and say,
it's not random
at all.
God has a plan
and a purpose.
He is working
the whole of creation
together
to an end point
to unite things
all under Christ
to the praise
of His glory.
Sometimes we get
so focused
on our little lives,
our problems,
our challenges,
what's in front of us,
right?
Oh,
that job promotion.
I really need
that job promotion.
Or,
the soccer scores.
What's happening
with my team?
Or,
that social media post.
Oh,
I only got 300 likes
and last time
I got 400
and what's wrong with me?
Or,
maybe that text message
somebody sends you
that's not very nice
and you get all worked up
and you can't sleep at night
and then you get all worked up
and we get consumed
with our little things
and Paul wants to
blow open
our mindset
and see,
just take a step back
and seeing
the world
is not about you.
That's Paul's point here.
He says,
there is a great
cosmic purpose
and design
for all creation
and it's not about you.
Yes,
you are very blessed.
We read about
all the amazing blessings.
Yes,
it has implications for you
but actually
it's not about you.
God is uniting
all things together
in Christ
for the praise
of His glory.
Now,
we're coming into land.
John Stott,
look at how John Stott said it.
I think we should have it up here.
John Stott says this,
How did we become God's people?
The answer,
according to the pleasure
of His will.
And why did He make us His people?
Answer,
for the praise
of the glory
of His grace.
Everything we have
and everything we are
in Christ
comes both from God
and returns to God.
It begins with His will
and it ends in His glory.
For this is where
everything begins
and ends.
Friends,
what's really going on
in the world?
What's the narrative arc
of all of history?
That one day
all things
will either be
banished to hell
or united
under Christ
and His Lordship
for the praise
of His glory.
and so what that means
is that
our little things
in life
don't need to consume
us anymore.
You know,
sometimes we get so,
I said fixated
in the little things
in life.
It's like
you're missing
the birth of your child
because you're scrolling
on Instagram,
right?
that's a really
dumb thing to do.
Don't do that.
Nobody would do that.
Oh,
but we all do it
all the time.
We miss the great
big cosmic plan
of God
because we're so fixated
on our little things
and our little problems.
Friends,
God's great cosmic plan
is to unite
all things
under Christ
to the praise
of His glory.
And so as we come
to close,
let me ask you
this question.
what is the connection
between the first point,
the multitude of blessings
in Christ,
and the second point,
the purposes of God
in Christ?
And the answer is this.
Let me see how I wrote here.
As you pick up your cross
and follow Jesus,
as you give your life
to what God is doing
in the world,
all the blessings of God
will be given to you
not as an end
of themselves
but as a foretaste
of what will be
your eternal reality
forever.
Okay,
does that make sense?
You know,
sometimes we look
at the blessings
and we say,
oh,
isn't it wonderful
I'm adopted
into God's family.
Praise God,
isn't it wonderful
my sins have been forgiven?
Isn't it wonderful
that I've got an inheritance
with my name in it?
Wonderful.
But actually,
all those
are secondary
to those
come as a byproduct
of what God
is doing in the world.
He is uniting things
under Christ.
So let me give you
this analogy.
In the Ukraine
there's been this terrible war
at the moment,
right?
We all know about it.
Absolutely disastrous.
Just terrible.
And millions of people
are needing to be evacuated
out of Ukraine.
And so imagine this,
at the south of Ukraine
they say,
there are all these children
and women and children,
we've got a great big ship
that is going to come
and evacuate you
out of Ukraine.
All you've got to do
is get to this port town,
this harbor front
and you will get on the ship
and be evacuated out.
And so these women
and children,
they leave
and they get to the harbor
and there in front of them
is this great big cruise liner.
I mean,
the best cruise liner
you've ever seen.
And there's water slides
and there's basketball courts
and there's golf simulators
and there's endless food
and there's movie theaters
and there's like the greatest
cruise liner
you've ever seen
in your life.
And they get on the cruise ship
to be taken away
and while they're there
for three weeks
they have the time
of their life, right?
But the point of the cruise liner
isn't just to have a holiday.
The point isn't just to enjoy
all the benefits
and then turn around
and say,
well that was fun,
let's go back to Ukraine now.
Best of luck.
The point is to take them
to a new home
and there they're going
to be established
and they're going to be
given new passports
and a new home
and the new home
is going to be set up.
A place where there is
no more war
and there is no more suffering
and there are no more tears
and their family
will be taken there
and a whole new life
awaits them there.
And for them to stay
on the cruise ship
and say,
I want to stay here
because this is so fun
is not the point
of being evacuated.
It's a pretty bad analogy
but the point is this,
in this life
God has blessed us
amazingly,
wonderfully,
all these blessings
in Christ.
But that's not
the end of the story.
The end of the story
is God is orchestrating
all things.
He's making a new heavens
and a new earth.
There is a cosmic
great big plan
that God has got in store
for the whole world
and He plans for you
to be a part of it
if you are in Christ.
And the blessings
that God gives you
are not an end
in themselves,
they're a foretaste
of what will be true
for you
for all eternity.
And so we end off
where we started.
Praise be the God
and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us
in Christ
with every spiritual blessing
according to the purpose
of His will
with which He set forth
in Christ
for a fullness of time
to unite all things
in Him,
things in heaven
and on earth
to the praise
of His glorious grace.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father,
as we've looked
at this very complex passage
with a multitude
of threads
and truths
and doctrinal statements,
God,
the end result
is that we get on our knees
and we join
the Apostle Paul
and we say all praise to You,
all glory to You
for what You've done.
God,
thank You for the
infinite blessings
that we have in Christ.
God,
for those of us
that are not in Christ,
I pray that You
open the eyes
of our hearts
to see You
and to know You,
to know the hope
of the gospel
and to join You,
God,
in Your great big cosmic plan
for all creation.
God,
I pray that we won't
be consumed
with small,
pithy things in our lives,
that our lives
won't be consumed
with Instagram posts
and other meaningless things,
that God,
You'll open the eyes
of our hearts.
You'll give us a window
into what You're doing
that we will
spend our lives,
pouring out our lives
according to Your plan
and that therein
we will be blessed.
God,
we pray this
in Your great
and Your gracious name.
Amen.