Please open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. I kind of wanted to spend a little bit of time in this particular book. And it was one of those things where I was just reading through scripture and some of these scriptures kind of stood out to me and I wasn't really sure whether it's something I should share throughout the book and do a study on it.
The more I began to study and look at some of these things and just to sense there's some things we could communicate through the scriptures that just one of those things that seems like this is a direction we could go. So I'm not really sure the purpose. Other than it's God's word. And so after a few weeks we might send something else or whatever about this is the direction I feel we could go at this time.
So Ephesians chapter 1 we want to begin at the beginning and read down to verse 14. I realize there's a lot of deep concepts that are presented in these scriptures and what's interesting about this portion of scripture is starting with verse 3 all the way down to 14. It's said to be no one long sentence. No breaks.
No real stop and start and thought. It's one continuous flow of praise that is given to God pertaining to the greatness of our salvation. And so it's kind of one of those things that it can be so rich and almost overwhelming. But bear with me as we reach through these scriptures and we'll attempt to take a slice of it this morning.
And I trust that it might be meaningful, particularly preparing our hearts for communion today. Ephesians chapter 1 starting with verse 1 we go down to verse 14. Now Paul and Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints in Ephesus the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise me to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who's blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will. To the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves.
In him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment to bring all things and have an end on earth together under one head even Christ. 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. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation having believed you were marked in him with the seal the promise Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory.
Father we pause before you because we recognize that our understanding is rather limited compared to what you have desired to reveal to us. The mysteries are so profound and so great and your majesty is so high Lord and your splendor is so overwhelming to us. That's difficult to grasp the fullness of all that you've attended to accomplish and communicate to us. Yet we come humbly today to invite you Lord to teach to guide to fill our minds and certainly to change our hearts and we praise you for this all in Jesus name.
Amen. We note again in verses 6 and 12 and 14 that there's an emphasis upon a phrase to the praise of his glory. Notice in verse 6 we read literally to the praise of his glorious grace. Again in verse 12 it says in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory and the last part of verse 14 to the praise of his glory.
There's no doubt that every one of us knows that Connie and I were in on vacation and we kind of look at creation and we look at all that God has given to us as you know when you travel out west. You know everything that God has revealed to us on the east coast you kind of buried it with dirt and trees. You get out west. Everything's barren and everything's revealed.
And it's always interesting how you can look at creation and look at all that God has given to us just in America itself let alone the whole world. There's a lot you can learn about the Creator and we can see to the praise of God's glory. We know that whatever God has created he didn't have to use so many colors and he didn't have to use such extreme things. He could have made all the mountains look exactly like every other mountain.
He could have made every star that looks like every star. He could have really done a kind of boring job to still accomplish the same purpose. And yet the more you look at creation and you see the variety and that there's no two things exactly alike. It just kind of overwhelms you with the creativity of God and the enormous expression of what he was.
God said you know when you look at creation you wonder if God was showing off a little bit and you kind of chucked with that and you get humbly say no he just does this automatically. He is so fascinating with all that he does that the scriptures kind of teach us that the heavens declare his glory. It's to the praise of his glory. Creation ought to teach us about the greatness, the majesty, the beauty of a very creative God.
Yet when we look at Ephesians chapter 1 we realize that your salvation as simple as it might seem, as ordinary as it might appear, it's to the praise of God's glory. Everything that you see in this world that should cause your jaw to drop and say wow this is absolutely fascinating what God has given to us. When people see us they recognize whatever happened to you that is to the praise of God's glory. Whatever God is continuing to do in your life that is to the praise of God's glory.
That's what Ephesians is attempting to communicate that the glory of God is revealed in what he does in your life and mine. What God does among us is a people is to the praise of God's glory. And everything that we might see in the natural world certainly causes us to marvel over the beauty and the power of God but we also find that in the basis of our salvation there is much to be considered to the praise of God's glory. Now when we look at these scriptures we take a little bit closer look and observe several different things.
One of the things that really stands out to the praise of God's glory is what's noted particularly in even verse 1 to get us started. Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. You'll notice there are several times the will of God is mentioned throughout this is these first opening 14 verses and it's a canteen to communicate that though we might be challenged or led to believe in the world that you and I live in that the world sort of created itself. And over time things have happened and things have evolved and everything else but we who have a faith understand that there was a God who not only made all things beautiful and used such a variety but the scriptures also allude to many different phrases about how God he carved out the mountains or he weighed the mountains in the balance of his hands and when he spread out the heavens he did it with such detail and precision that the more that you and I understand the way life works you realize all those components as extravagant as beautiful are a lot of those have to be the way they are to make the world operate the way it's intended to be.
There's a reason and purpose and the way the world is is is is is God's will. He created the world to be that way because in his love and wisdom he saw it as a necessary thing for not only the world to operate but for you and I to be the kind of people that we ought to be. We need to take in a deep breath every so often at creation itself we need to take a deep breath every so often at the greatness of our salvation and that's the intent of Ephesians is you remember that when you get to the book of Revelation it talks about the church and Ephesus where they lost their what their first love. And so Ephesians is attempting at this stage to remind us of this love that Christ has for us and that love that we ought to have towards him.
It's it's the beauty of that love relationship and that is founded or originated in the will of God. Notice some of the scriptures that talk about the will of God to build upon this notice in verse five. It says he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and his will. The purpose of God the plan of God that is not only thinking in terms of all the creation ought to be and all that it represents and all that is intended to accomplish but his will was you and me.
His purpose and pleasure and will was that you and I at some point in history at some geographical location in this world in some family that you and I are a part of in some church that you're a part of is all part of the precious will of God where he has brought about you and so that you and I can be next to each other and that you and I can be joined together so that we have a purpose that brings out the will of God. It was God's plan and purpose that you and I would come to a place of sonship through adoption. He wanted to bring us into relationship with himself and this is part of his will. Verse nine again we notice and he may known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment.
And it goes on to talk about the will of God. It's humbling to think that God has operated and manifested the expression of his will in all the details of our life. Now we might struggle in some sense and say hey I got free will. If I want to do what's right I can do what's right.
If I got free will and I want to do what's wrong I can do what's wrong. The underlying and deeper message is you and I have been brought to a place of face because it was his plan. It was his purpose. It was his design.
He put together all the details. He brought us through all these experiences of life. He put us together with certain people in certain circumstances and certain events. This is his will that you and I would understand the mysteries the deep truths that seemingly are hidden and now become his will in revealing that.
We'll touch upon this a little bit more as we go on now. I want to read in verse 11 one more mention of the emphasis upon his will 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. Again our salvation was his idea really was an ours as much as again we we deal with the delegate balance of being responsible to believe and commit ourselves and trust to him.
But the underlying the beginning of this glorious grace of God and this glorious work of God is that you and I have come to be recipients of the faith we have because God is constantly at work in your life bringing you through all the twists of life. All the twists and turns and avenues of the means so that you and I most naturally would say Lord it's life is about you. It is his will and his purpose. Our love in Christ is rooted in knowing that he loved us first and we responded to that love.
He initiated his through his Holy Spirit an active ingredient in causing us to desire to know him to understand him to want him. He causes the compelling desire to humbly give ourselves to him and we walk away with so many benefits and so many blessings but it's his will. So that ultimately you and I will praise him unto his own glory and grace. It is God actively and consistently at work in our lives and that's the beginning introduction to that.
We certainly don't have time to exhaust all this as we look at it because I want to break it down into several different weeks. We want to look at some of these terms maybe next week Lord willing we think about the concepts of adoption we think of the concepts of redemption we think of the concepts of predestination election for deep concepts. But the more that you and I can understand the beauty of creation itself the more you can appreciate creation. The more that you can see how God put together this world in a way that is so rewarding and so encouraging and so much to God's glory.
The more you understand life the more you appreciate the one who gave life and the same thing as our salvation. If we can understand some of the concepts that have been presented to us and we can humbly realize that God brought us all to a place that we in wisdom know that he is the right answer to life. He's the most desirable answer in life. This is what causes our love relationship with Christ to begin to thrive and to grow and mature.
That salvation is not so much what I have done with Christ. Salvation is the Savior and he's not finished yet. And that's the joy and the confidence we have is what he began he's going to complete. Turn with me to chapter 2 of Ephesians.
I hope we don't spoil some of the things we want to look at later. But simply to touch upon a few scriptures to kind of point our minds in the right direction and kind of wet our hearts a little bit. Knowing that this God is so much for us that his will will accomplish its great work as Jerry referred to in 1 Corinthians 1 18. You know that there's this power of this love on the cross of Jesus Christ that has become the power of the gospel.
The message of life becomes so powerful it grips the heart and causes us to say I want Jesus. That's the purpose of this. But it comes out of grace and Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. What we're looking for is an emphasis not so much on the full explanation of the verse.
But what you want to see in these verses is how much in our salvation God has done on his own and we have benefited from it. If Ephesians 2, 8, we for it is by grace you have been saved. It's by grace you've been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves.
It's the gift of God. It's not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship. Create it in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Nothing like a setup. We're fortunate in us to know we've been set up to get saved. We're fortunate to know that all the details of life that God in his wisdom and his power has brought us to a place where the only logical conclusion is Lord you win. Isn't it great to know that you and I haven't created our own salvation?
Isn't it great to know that you and I haven't earned our way to heaven? Most of us would say, funny. Because we are well aware that if the earning is the way to get to heaven, most of us have come up a little bit short in whatever form or fashion it may be. The important thing to understand is this is the God we serve and his salvation is to bring glory and praise to him.
We continue to give that and we continue to tell others that this is the message of life. That what God has done for us is the key ingredient to have any relationship of meaning and value and hope and encouragement. There is a saving grace that has worked its way through all the details of a life and brought us to a place we cannot boast. We can't say I did it.
We can't say it's because of anything other than this love that simply will not quit. Let's turn to Philippians. Two books over, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and next book over. Chapter 1 and verse 6, these are some of the verses that are well worth getting your ink pen out and underlining.
Those are the ones you want to hold in your memory bank. Those are the ones that if you want to share your faith with someone else, these are powerful verses. They are simple, they are easy to understand and they summarize so much the beauty of a God at work in people's lives. And ultimately we come to the place we say, what else am I going to do?
But to simply trust and believe in Him. Philippians 1 and verse 6, the Apostle writes, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you, He will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It's one thing to acknowledge that Jesus somehow and His love on the cross has moved my heart. It's another thing to say, what He began, He still got more coming.
Aren't you glad your salvation is more than simply a day in which all of our sin is removed and paid for? We rejoice in the fact that all of our sin is continually paid for and He will continually change us and transform us. Our hope and security in Christ is knowing that the one who got to my heart at one occasion or point in my life, He's still getting to my heart. He's still at work in my life and He's going to commit Himself to completing that process.
Turn with me in chapter 2 in verse 12 and 13 of Philippians, Philippians chapter 2, and we look as well in verses 12 and 13. Again, we're trying to highlight what Christ does in comparison to what you and I ultimately will do. He is the driving force between behind our salvation. He is the compelling energy that causes us to want to love Him in response.
He is the one that is causing us to recognize the foolishness of throwing our hands up in life. Philippians chapter 2, 12 and 13, therefore my dear friends, as you've always obeyed not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence. Continue to work out your salvation with beer and trembling. Notice here in 13, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.
Aren't you glad that God has begun a great work in your life? Aren't you glad that you can be assured that what He started yesterday, He doesn't leave the job half finished? He doesn't leave us hanging. He doesn't leave us up for the grab of the world.
He is fully committed to fulfilling and completing this great work of salvation. I want to just briefly mention one of the thought pertaining to the initial verses in Ephesians. So we'll go back there to chapter 1 before we invite ourselves to come to partake in the Holy Sacrament. So then we'll break this down in the next couple weeks thinking about this and it's fuller extended.
But another thing that not only is about the will of God, the will of God is the driving force of your salvation. It's the driving energy that compels us to keep going. No doubt there's still times in which, if we're honest, we wonder is this really all true? I mean those are bad days and bad weeks that we run into the seasons of life.
We wonder about the truth about the whole big picture. It doesn't mean our fate is completely gone. It just means a circumstance of some type or another as rock your boat. We've all been through times where God hasn't necessarily given us what we wanted.
That's not always good for us, but we would like to think that God ought to give us everything we want. Or sometimes our needs, the time period of our needs get stretched a little bit. We wonder where is our healer, where is our comforter, where is our helper. We get stretched in life.
But ultimately the bottom line of our salvation is secure in a God who understands those limits. And even though we might get stretched to a point, he brings around an assurance or a confirmation of some point. And that's the way he validates and reinstates within us. But it's God constantly on work and that's our whole.
And that is his will and his purpose. But what drives that will, let me back up. It might seem as if God's this, this, and this, this. And we later on learn that his will on our part is to do this, this, and this.
And we might somewhat conclude that God really doesn't have a whole lot of feelings. Did we get that idea? That if God simply says obedience is important and commitment is bottom line and serving him is what it's all about. Sometimes we can become weary and wondering, where's this God of love?
He seemingly started out loving me in spite of who I am. But now here I am trying to push my way to life and I'm wondering where this love is. What's also noticed in the beginning of Ephesians is the concept of the character of God is he is loving and he is wise. Getting back to our little trip of going out there and seeing several national parks, you realize that love might not seem so evident in the world around us.
But you realize when you look at life that one way that it speaks love to me is what you see in creation, like I said, is God could have made all the mountains look alike. It could have been kind of a boring kind of thing. And you'll see that when homes are built. There was a season in the history of our world that homes had a lot of creative artistic ability.
And you go through some of the old towns and you'll notice the quality or the character and the building workmanship. God didn't have to do the elaborate stuff. He could have kind of slapped together and make a stick house. He could have made people look like stick figures.
I mean, think about that. He could have really made life pretty plain and boring. And yet you look at life and you see the love and the splendor. When you're hiking up in mountains and my son-in-law is great for this.
You know, regardless of how old I've become, he still would like to take me on a hiking trip that goes up and over and everything else. And I realized my body isn't quite, you know, go without much steam and everything else. Gaby and Noah, they kind of kept up with Tyler and Amber. But Connie and I said, we'll take the low path and check out the wild goats and stuff.
That's kind of more appealing to us. But you realize when you're out there and you're just checking out the goats and you realize that is so beautiful. I mean, he could have made all the goats ugly. He could have made them all look the same.
And so here I am fascinated with that and the little flowers. I mean, I cannot see colors technically because I'm colorblind. But I'm telling you, when you see a meadow that's lined up with what I would call yellow flowers, I'm not sure really sure exactly what color they were, or purple flowers. That's just fascinating to me.
I'm thinking if somebody's eyes weren't there to see it, I mean, what's the purpose of a meadow up at such high altitude covered with flowers? I mean, they're all going to be dead in a few days. God really goes into the extreme. And that's what our salvation ought to have a component to that is we see the beauty of how God has taken us wherever we've been.
And every one of us has a story. Every one of us has experience and circumstances. Every one of us has brought, has come to a place where we have humbly acknowledged the greatness of God. And the way that we know He's great is I was lost, but now I'm found.
I was blind. But now I see we have a story to tell about His transforming beauty and life. And that story goes from story to story we share with each other. And we share about the beauty of a changed life.
So God is actively involved in love, but He's also in wisdom. I thought about the wisdom of God's creation. And again, when you really look at the beauty of the world created, and you realize the wisdom of how He provides things. We went on a little rafting trip and went fishing.
And we're going down the stream. And one of the things that was obvious is the water is actually clean. You're not used to seeing clean water, clear water. And I'm thinking, wow, it's been a long time since I've been on one of these rivers that looks like I could tell.
That thing is loaded with fish. I mean, hungry, native trout. It wasn't stopped from the local market or the breeding company down here where they restocked the fish. I mean, this is loaded with fish that nobody just plugged them into the water.
And I'm thinking, yeah, I can sit here for a long time and get into this kind of stuff. But the beauty of that and everything else and the wisdom of God. But I was more fascinated with the amount of water that was coming down that river and it's just flowing and flowing. And I make a dumb comment to my son-in-law.
I'm just kind of wondering where all this water comes from. Well, that's why it's called Glacier National Park. It's as glaciers are feeding it. I'm thinking, that's a lot of water to keep just coming and coming and coming.
God has created the world that will constantly supply and care for itself. And he does this because of his wisdom. But the wisdom when it comes to your salvation is God knows how to get to your heart and he knows how to get to your head. And in that wisdom that God has put together life and circumstances, his will is to bring us to a saving knowledge of his son, Jesus Christ.
But in wisdom he has put together the details of life that not only will best move you and I in a broken world to a place of acknowledging the truth, but in wisdom he has so worked in your life so you can help somebody else. There's nothing like sharing your story to somebody else who will listen to you because of the details of your story. What you've been through, what you've experienced, what you've been exposed to, the horrors and the good side. God uses all those details together in wisdom to accomplish the greater beauty of his purpose.
We have no idea where God wants to take us. We have no idea where he wants to use us. But we know that the wisdom and the love that is given to us has a purpose in his plan. You'll notice in Ephesians chapter 1 if you drop down to verse 18, we're going to once again rob a little bit of what's coming ahead in verse 17 and 18.
The apostle is praying, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, nor that you may know the hope to which he has called you. The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. As we think in terms of God's wisdom and love, we don't always connect it with creation.
But if you study life, you study science, you explore and adventure and look at the beauty of how everything works, you realize we certainly have a God who is filled with wisdom and love and all that he has done. And the more that you and I understand the fullness of the richness of our salvation, that we're not just the people that believe a certain set of truths, we're people that that truth in wisdom and love has changed us. And so that's when we understand this a little bit more when we think in terms of the greatness of our salvation. I trust this kind of prepares us because we're communion, because we think about all that Christ has done for us.
Some of that we are welcome, I wish, some of it, it might be somewhat new to us, we may not fully understand that, but as we come to celebrate the holy sacraments, Jesus established an ordinance for us. An ordinance is, this is what I want you to do until I return, but an ordinance also is something that Christ has given for us to continue to do to remember him, but an ordinance by definition is something that comes with a blessing, as often as you take it, do it in remembrance of me. But he also promises a blessing that every time we partake in together, that his presence is there is a unique and powerful way, and that's what we hold dearly to. So he reminds us, he said, there's two symbols that go with the sacraments, and one is the cup and the other is the bread.
And the bread, certainly, I believe, were aware of that on the night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took one loaf, he ripped it an half, and he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. He visually gave them something that would not only stimulate their eyes, but it's certainly what touched their heart. Now at the time the disciples really didn't understand all that Jesus was intending to do, but he wanted them to remember at some point when all the pieces come together, that his broken body, his body on the cross, is the basis for our salvation. We put faith in trust in Christ, that the sacrifice he gave is what brings healing and hope and life to us.
The other thing he did was he took the cup after supper. He said, this cup is the blood of the new covenant. And the blood, in essence, is what seals the deal, it's what guarantees that when we hold the cup in faith, we believe that we've entered into a covenant agreement with Almighty God. His agreement was he will shed his blood for sins, and our agreement is we will love him all the way to the finish line.
At this time I'd invite the ushers to come forward as we prepare to celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Everyone, please hold the cracker till we're served, and I encourage you to think about the cross of Jesus Christ. Not so much to think about what maybe it was like, but maybe that might be helpful, but particularly to think, what does it mean to your heart? The cross of Jesus Christ, what he did on the cross, and how it personally applies in our relationship to him.
And at the same time, there's going to be a song projected up on the screen, they're going to play the song, you can follow along the words, and maybe that prepares us as well. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the reminder that you've given us of not only the significance of the cross, but what it means to us. That not only our sins are paid for, but we belong to you because you have given yourself to us.
We become the children of God as we think in terms of a relationship of faith. We thank you, Lord, that as you gave your life on that cross, your purpose and plan was to be raised from the dead and now live in our hearts, and therefore we become a people in which God lives in us. And we thank you for that. Allow that truth to be in our minds and in our hearts even today, and you be praised in Jesus name.
Amen.