Exploring Ephesians - The Purpose of Praise

[Music] [Applause] [Music] well welcome once again to kings cliff church this week we're so glad that you've joined us today uh here at church uh you may have noticed if you joined us early enough that you would have seen some announcements in our countdown video we'd love you to check in with that each week because we are moving a lot of our announcements from the introduction into that uh countdown video so make sure that you check in from 10 50 onwards and you'll be able to get a lot of that information there don't forget we also have the church e news and you can subscribe to that by going to the webpage so just google kings cliff church and you'll come up with our website and at the very top there you'll see a link to our e-news that's where you will get the most of information about what's happening at kingscliff but you know as i walked into church this morning i couldn't help but notice how beautiful it looked here today the birds were singing the paths were clean and wet with the recent rain the flowers were blooming the lawns were mowed and edged the place just looked fantastic the only thing is you weren't here to enjoy it with us and we know that that could be the situation for a while but in the meantime we hope that you are enjoying what we're putting together for you each week over the years kings cliff church has instituted a program called compassion sunday and what that is about is collecting food and grocery items to give out to those in need in our local community so we've been doing this program for about five years now and this year has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works with covert restrictions but we are determined to find a way to give those baskets out again this year last year i believe it was over 100 baskets that we made up through donations from people from kings cliff church or affiliated with us here at kings cliff church we would love you to be involved once again this year so start stockpiling those grocery items at home we'll give you more information in the e-news as we get towards december and when you can drop it off or when we can come and pick it up from you but we are committed to making compassion sunday work again this year it's a really important ministry that we do and we want it to be a success again this year now i just have a bit of a message to read to you today from first john so let's turn to there shall we so in first john it says in chapter 3 it says how great is the love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of god and that is what we are the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him dear friends now we are children of god and what will we and what we will be has not yet been made known but we will know that when he appears and we shall be made like him tomorrow is father's day now that can be both a beautiful day and it can be a sad day it can be a blessing for those who have a fantastic relationship or good memories of their father but it can be a sad day for those who do not this week we've asked you to send us some photos of uh of your family or of your father and so we've been managed to put together a slideshow and we hope you enjoy it [Music] hmm [Music] he'll do anything a father he shows you what love is so your dreams before you did you give everything like your heavenly father i see god in my father's hands i see god our father's like the [Music] i am my father's [Music] my [Music] you give anything a father feels your pain [Music] [Music] when it carries my [Music] so [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] the [Music] my [Music] [Laughter] [Music] my that was a beautiful presentation and you know something that we can all share is that we have a heavenly father that is beyond anything we can imagine i'm kylie and this is brendan and lily and we're here to lead you in praise and worship now one thing about lockdown is that it's okay you can sing as loud as you like and no one's really listening but we know that jesus will receive any any praise that we have to offer so sing with us jesus messiah [Music] he became sin who knew no sin that we might become his righteousness he humbled himself and carried the cross so amazing [Applause] [Music] jesus manuel jesus [Music] jesus manual from hope is to you god jesus messiah [Music] [Music] the rescue jesus messiah jesus messiah [Music] that's a beautiful song and this next one is probably the most famous australian worship song praise and worship song so i know you know it sing along with us shout to the lord [Music] my jesus my savior lord there is none like you all of my days i want to praise the wonders [Applause] [Music] let every breath all that i shout to am lord of the earth nothing compares the my shelter [Music] never cease to majesty prays to the king mountains forever is [Music] is [Music] normally at this time we would have our children's story but we're having a few technical difficulties this morning so that's one of the things we'll have to forgo today we ask that you spare with us and that you continue to follow us this morning but now it's come time for our offering our offering this week is for local church budget now local church budget as many of you may know goes for the operating costs of the local church so in every church that's taking up that offering today those funds are going to their local church so what does that mean for us here at king's cliff well that means keeping our programs running it means keeping the facility looking good and in good repair it also means making sure that cyber schools have the resources that they have it pays our electricity bills our water bills and so on so that's what our church offering goes to local church today i ask that you give well today and you'll also notice on your screen the link and the qr code for e-giving so you can either scan that code with your smartphone or you can go google kingscliff church e-giving and it will take you to the e-giving website so please give well today it enables us to do the things that we are doing here i ask now that you bow your heads with me as we pray over the offering dear heavenly father we thank you that you have given us the opportunity to give whether it be a small amount or a large amount we know that that is not important the important thing is the heart behind the giving lord we thank you for kings cliff church for the facility that it is but more so the people that it is and the programs that we can run that bring praise to your name i urge today that we give faithfully and that the money that we use is multiplied to further your work and we ask all of this in jesus name amen [Music] vietnam is one of the most visited countries for tourism in southeast asia it offers so many exciting things for its visitors from the breathtaking vistas of halong bay to promising business opportunities in the city hanoi is the place to be for tourists and locals alike with a population of 9 million living in the city there is only a small number of adventists yet this is an opportunity for the church to reach more people for christ the adventists here constructed a seven-story building as an urban center of influence in hanoi to meet the needs of the local community on our first floor we have a bookstore that is open to the community where people can come in and purchase books that can help them to grow in their walk with the lord we have english language school that we are able to build relationships with individuals we are reaching out to the community by ministering to children that are needing help with their education the church meets here in the building on a regular basis from healthy cooking classes to a running club that meets every sunday morning they have a lot of fun with their community the center's activities have allowed them to build strong partnerships and even friendships with government officials an opportunity has arisen for us to partner with the religious affairs committee of vietnam and we are teaching english there on in their building to 28 of their staff members all the way from receptionist secretaries to the top of the religious affairs committee through these activities the center's workers and volunteers hope to be a shining example of christ's method of ministry they want to share and introduce christ's love to everyone without this purpose this building is only a building like any other the center of influence is just that it's a it's a place to to provide influence a place that influences the community it's a place that provides space and opportunity for the church to to meet and mingle with people to build relationships friendships to to build trust and to win their confidence and when the opportunity arises to offer them a relationship with jesus christ with growing demand for their services this ministry is also facing some serious challenges but the challenges are are real it's a city of nine million people the church here in the hanoi area is small so we don't have a lot of manpower to to draw from in working the center of influence here we need volunteers to fulfill the calls that we have out we need volunteers from the local church to partner with us in the ministry we have calls out for international volunteers to come we have not had a lot of response from that yet and so we're still needing people to come and do ministry here from abroad despite challenges and setbacks god is still using his workers to bless others some of the students in the center's english class have gotten a glimpse of christ's character through their teachers they are all really patient yeah really really patient that's what i cannot see in some other you know language center or something oh i feel refreshed because the teacher here you know that they is friendly generous and they try to close their students here to see people come to the language classes and then they they start coming to church and you know that god is at work that he is doing things god can work miracles so we're looking forward to seeing what he has in store for us please pray for this urban center of influence in vietnam pray so that the lord of the harvest will open hearts and send more laborers to this place if you feel impressed to serve visit vividfaith.org to browse open calls from around the world please support projects like this through global mission [Music] with this next song we're just reminded of the beautiful truth that jesus is our everything and way before we even knew we needed saving he had a plan he was ready to make a huge sacrifice for us before we were even a twinkle in anyone's eye and so let's sing about that beautiful name of jesus [Music] one with god [Music] now revealed in you oh christ what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a beautiful name it is nothing compares to this what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus [Music] you didn't want heaven without us so jesus [Music] my sin was great your love what a wonderful name it is what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a wonderful name it is what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus death could not hold you the filter before you the silence the praise of your glory for you are reign yours is the kingdom your sister glory your sister what a powerful name it is what a powerful name it is the name of jesus christ my king what a powerful name it is nothing can stand against what a powerful name it is the name of jesus what a wonderful name it is the name of jesus what a beautiful name it is the name of jesus [Music] the sun rose and work began word of a better day spread throughout the people a day free from bondage this hope carried them through their labor they knew their god was faithful that he had a plan one to set them free to a land promised by god to his people for his people a plan of redemption but they lost focus turned away from the god who was faithful worshiped false idols turned back to the very culture god was rescuing them from turn back to their past to bondage so they wandered and wandered they began to grumble and curse the god who rescued them they would never set foot in the land they were promised they would never be unleashed but god's plan perseveres despite the disobedience of his people he waited for a new generation to rise up from the dust when they would step out from their wandering and into the purpose for which god was calling them to be a nation set apart that would bring glory to him he continues to call those courageous followers out of the desert away from our wanderings to be god's representatives here on earth to be unleased from the bondage of our past unleashed from being brainwashed by culture unleashed with the backbone to lead the church unleash with the boldness to serve the world unleash for the gospel he calls his people to be unleashed [Music] good morning and welcome to king's cliff church online we're so glad that you have joined us we hope that you've enjoyed the worship that we've had so far um it's such a beautiful blessing to come and sing even if we have to sing at our houses and people have to listen to us but it's a blessing to be here we glad that you've joined us we're going to continue our series this week on the book of ephesians and i hope that you've spent a bit of time this week kind of going through the book of ephesians this week was such a beautiful week and if you live in the north uh northern new south wales ariel here in the uh kind of gold coast i hope you take a bit of time go to nature go sit at the beach or wherever and just go through these beautiful verses together we live in such a beautiful place where we can enjoy nature just this week my wife and i took a beautiful walk on monday and i was just once again reminded of how beautiful this place is and how lucky we are to live here and so we're going to jump in uh in our first passage for basically the book of ephesians last week we just looked at the first two verses and now we're actually getting into the book of ephesians into the uh the first section or the first pericope and i want to read it to you ephesians chapter one verse through three to fourteen so it's a quite a lengthy passage and it is quite complicated so if you don't get it the first time going through it don't worry i'm gonna try and explain it a little bit but let's read it together ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 to 14. so start in verse 3 it says blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in 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 which we has which which with which he has blessed us in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our trespasses 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 of 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 his counsel of his will so that we do so that we who were the first to hope in christ might be to the praise of his glory in him you also when you have heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him was sealed with the promise of the holy spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire the positions of it to the praise of his glory let's just close our eyes for a prayer gracious father we come to you lord and we say thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace lord thank you that we can open your scriptures and read these words lord words that will fuel our faith lord words that will propel us forward lord to remind us of the great covenant that you have with us lord i pray that as we as we articulate or as i articulate lord that you would be able to use me to uh to convey the message of what paul wanted to for us to understand in this passage lord that we would be able to get into these words lord and that it won't just mean something to us in terms of just understanding it but that we would truly mean something to us existentially to our lives to our hearts to our faith bless us now bless everybody watching in jesus name i pray amen so today's sermon today's topic is basically speaking about this idea of what fuels your faith what is the thing the why behind your faith the why you believe and it reminded me of a story that i read quite a few years ago that happened in 1966 at the university of wisconsin there was this experiment that one of the psychologists did there he took five monkeys and put them in a cage and then in the middle of the cage there was this ladder that went up to these really delicious hanging bananas that were there and so the the monkeys were hungry they wanted to do do something to get the food so the first monkey got up and he kind of walked on and he he as he got to the bananas the the researcher sprayed that monkey with ice cold water but not just that monkey all the other monkeys the five other or the four other monkeys that were there so all the five monkeys ran to a corner and kind of shivered after a while they kind of dried off they kind of got relaxed again and and then the second monkey felt a bit hungry and thought man there's these beautiful bananas there i need to do something so again he went climbed up the the ladder and as you almost grabbed him once again the researchers sprayed him with ice cold water and sprayed the next uh or the others with water as well and so once again they all huddled together and then a while after that they dried off again and a while after that they started to become hungry and so the third monkey started to move towards the ladder trying to get to the bananas but this time something dramatic happened the monkeys started to attack this this monkey and this was quite interesting obviously they they knew what was coming he gets up there tries to get the bananas cold water is going to come we don't want that so they attacked this monkey and eventually he left it now what makes this more interesting is the second part of the experiment when they've been conditioned that there's cold water that comes with getting on the ladder he started to remove monkey one of the one of the monkeys and put a new monkey in there that wasn't aware of the experiment he wasn't aware of what was going on and so this monkey doesn't know what's going on so he goes and he's looking for this banana he goes and he tries to climb up what happens these four monkeys go and they attack him they beat him up and so he's obviously a bit stunned so now the researcher takes another monkey out one of the original monkeys takes it out and puts in a new monkey and so another monkey comes in and removes a monkey and puts a monkey eventually all five monkeys in the cage are none of them that they've experienced the wet water the the wet water the water that was cold right they've never experienced this but yet they knew that they didn't climb up the ladder they don't know why but they know you don't climb up the ladder now that's sometimes how we experience faith we sometimes don't really know why we do certain things why we believe certain things sometimes start stuff is just we just do it because we do it right and so today you might be a a non-believer somebody that just stumbled across this maybe you're watching this and and you've just kind of stumbled on this on on facebook or youtube or maybe you are part of our faith community but but you don't really know why we believe today i want to kind of delineate and explain what is at the root of the christian christian movement why why do we worship why do we praise right because this section that paul is talking about from chapter 3 chapter 14 actually the whole whole first section the first three chapters it's just laden with praise and prayer prayer and and worship is somehow we must ask ourselves why do we praise why do we worship why do we pray why do we do all of these things so for you if you're not a sure if you're unaware of if you're one of those monkeys that knows stuff is happening but you're not sure you know why it's happening today this will be for you it's almost like exploring a new country going in there and seeing things afresh seeing things new and saying ah this is beautiful i've never really understood this i've never really seen this i've never really heard it this way but maybe you're a christian that already know these things you've already committed yourself to jesus and for you it will be like going and looking over old photographs and remembering the beautiful places where you've been remembering those beautiful memories and solidifies your faith in a way in in one sense in one way paul is trying to in this first section trying to show us what detonates our devotion what propels us forward what is the reason for all of this the why of everything and so that's what we'll get into and the the portion of scripture that we're looking at today kind of is broken up in these three main sections and it's pretty easy to remember if you're thinking oh how how's it broken up if you read it this week coming it's very easy it's broken around the idea of the trinity god the father god the son and god the holy spirit and these there's a verse that is used or a phrase rather that is used in in each of these sections that in that shows the ending of when it moves from the father to the son and from the son to the spirit the the phrase is to the praise because this is what it is this is a prayer or a doxology a a hymn of praise to the to god right and so in verse six we read the section which says to the praise of his glorious grace which he has blessed us in the beloved so in the first section it speaks about the father and what the father does and what the father does is that he chooses us he chooses us right and so we praise him that he is the one that chose us and he chooses us in christ and christ is the one that reconciles us and so we worship him and that's what we read in verse 12 which is so that we who were forced first to hope in christ might be to the praise of his glory and then at the end it says in verse 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possessions of it to the praise of his glory that speaks about the inheritance that we receive as adopted sons and daughters because we are chosen in christ we receive this inheritance and what is this inheritance the holy spirit that comes to us and so now the holy spirit moves and moves us and so all of this is the reason why paul is saying this is the reason why we worship this is the reason the purpose is to the glory of god because the father has chosen us the son has redeemed and reconciled us and the spirit has has given us purpose and it has sealed us so that's kind of the way that this section is built around and paul is thinking about but let's kind of delve into it get a bit more into the flesh of this so let's start ephesians chapter three uh ephesians chapter one sorry verse three and four and and these two verses basically if you understand these two verses you understand the whole book of ephesians because these these two verses is what they would call a thesis statement what paul is doing is that he is saying this is what i want to say and the rest of the book is basically just explaining more of that thesis statement so this is what he says now after he has introduced himself and spoken about who he is and why he's there and then he says blessed be god the father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us so he speaks about god the father who needs to be blessed and he is the one that blesses us now the word they blessed in the greek there's two words for that the first one is the word that jesus uses in matthew chapter five where he says blessed are the poor blessed are the meek that word is the word makarios which basically just means happy or more specifically human flourishing happy are those who flourishing are those that are you know poor in spirit and so jesus is speaking there about human flourishing about human joy and happiness this word that paul is using blessed is not the same word this word is where we get the word eulogy from the good word from and so the word is a juxtaposition actually of two words you meaning good and logos word so this blessed is actually the word to give praise to say a good word and then because we we praise god give him good words give him adulation give him our praise because he has done something for us he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and so paul is saying there is now he's going to unpack that for us maybe today you're saying but i don't really know if this god is a god that is worthy to be blessed i don't know if this god is worthy to be praised i don't know if this god is worthy for our my devotion that's okay that's what paul is going to explain to us so it says blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing that's important every spiritual blessing not some not just you know a part of it every spiritual blessing in heavenly places now you might think to yourself well that makes sense yeah yeah he's god and he's a spiritual god and so he blesses me with spiritual things but that's not actually what is meant here the idea of spiritual blessings is not necessarily that it's spiritual in the sense that it's not secular or not material it basically means that that's the source that it comes from and the median that it comes through meaning and we'll see that at the end he specifically means that the holy spirit the holy spirit is the one that gives us these blessings not just spiritual blessings but material blessings as well and all of it is encaptured in jesus and what's beautiful about this passage even though it seems a bit confusing to us is that the trinity works together the father sends the sun and the sun sends the spirit and together the spirit leads to the sun and the sun shows to the father they're all moving around and again and for each other they're always other centered right and so this idea of spiritual blessings in heavenly places speaks to more not just ethereal blessings but more specifically the source and the medium of the blessings even heavenly places is not someplace way beyond us that it doesn't have any impact on this earthly world it merely means the one that sends it from the heavenly places meaning who's that god god is the one that sits in heavenly places so what paul is saying blessed be god the father and blessed be the son because they send us everything from them from their throne room from their own throne from them comes all the blessings jesus the blessings of everything the holy spirit that is the mediator that helps us understand it like everything that is good every good gift with a material spiritual or whatever comes from god the father and god the son and god the holy spirit and that's what paul is summing up there and then he says this even as he chose us god the father chose us in him in jesus before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him here we see a purpose already tucked into that verse we bless the father because he has chosen us but there is a purpose for this choosing there's a reason that he had chosen us and we'll unpack that a little bit more right and so i want to speak about this idea of being chosen by the father right this idea then is something that would have been really intriguing to the individuals that were sitting there and he expands more on that in verse 4. paul says in verse 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world and then in verse 5 he says this he predestined us for the adoption to himself as sons through jesus christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace so god the father chooses us for his own glory and these two ways two words that paul uses here that would have would have been very interesting for the original hearers the first one is this idea of chosen now if you're a jew you knew about being chosen because god had chosen your people you were the chosen people you understood that god had come and he had made a covenant with your your forefather abraham and isaac and jacob and israel he is the one that chose you amongst all the nations to be the nation that would lead people to know who god is so it speaks about this idea of the exodus it speaks about this the idea of the covenant right it speaks about this idea of this people of god that was chosen by god and then he is the one that redeemed them he is the one that brought them out of egypt why because they were the chosen people why is he the one that worked through them because they were the chosen people constantly paul bringing us back to the old testament narrative bringing us back to the old story and saying this new story that jesus had begun isn't an old isn't a story that is disconnected from the old no no no it continues the old it has its roots in genesis one and two and three and four and five it moves from the beginning and god is the god that is always been the same god doing the same thing choosing his people for a purpose but another word another metaphor that he uses there is this idea of of adoption to himself as sons through jesus christ now the interesting thing before i get there i want to read this quote from into wright in his book paul to everyone he says god chose abraham isaac and jacob to be the bearers of the promised salvation for the world the rescue of the whole cosmos humankind especially from the sin and the death that had come through the human rebellion when paul says that god chose us in christ the us here being the whole company of christians the jews and the gentiles alike he is saying that those who believe in jesus are now part of a fulfillment of that ancient purpose that is what paul is going he's saying that there is a purpose that god had in his mind he's not just merely saying yeah i want you no no god is calling you toward something he calls us from something our sin towards something his purpose the purpose of reconciliation of the whole universe now he mentions paul goes on and he speaks about this idea of adoption it's another metaphor of this idea idea of chosen now the way that adoption worked in the ancient world is very different than the way that it works today today most people if they want to adopt they generally want to adopt a little baby and the process is a bit different um it still may be costly but in the olden times in in the ancient world you never really adopted a baby firstly babies didn't live that long most children died before the age of five those that did live beyond that weren't really adopted until maybe their teens or even in their adulthood so adoption was a thing that was very very strong in the ancient roman and greek world and it meant something very specific meaning if you were if you were legally adopted by somebody you had greater standing than the biological son or daughter of that individual for instance if a roman citizen could could beat and kill and sell and do whatever with his child and nobody would bat an eye eyelid but if you were legally adopted by this individual he couldn't do that to you you had more more standing as an adopted son now the interesting thing is as well as that they they didn't adopt adopt daughters they only adopt sons because there was obviously a patriarchal system and women didn't have much worth in that society people adopted individuals that they thought would be beneficial for them if if somebody was wealthy and you never no poor person adopted somebody obviously the wealthy that adopted somebody and when they adopted somebody they made sure that they wanted to adopt somebody that had skill and something that was worthy that they wanted and then when they adopted them that person that was adopted then had certain privileges they took the name of that individual they had certain rights and privileges but they also had responsibilities so say for instance you were an old man that had lots of wealth and you didn't trust your children because they trying to kill you or they're trying to do something something that wasn't very odd in the ancient world you would adopt somebody maybe even a slave you would adopt them because they've been so faithful to you you would adopt them and they would become your legal child and then they would have the rights and privileges and all of these things but then they also have a a right to to look after you or a a responsibility to look after you when you become sick now this is quite famous even to the point where the caesars used to do this all the time one of the most famous caesars julius caesar didn't have any children and so he adopted a person gaius octavius and he became caesar augustus that we know today he adopted him and he didn't adopt him in his lifetime he actually adopted him in his death julius caesar said this guy i want him to rule my in my absence when i'm gone i want him to rule so he had a letter drawn up that he would be adopted he had what he wanted and so when julius caesar died and we know the history of that brutus that killed him and all of that when he died there was a new caesar that came in that wasn't his biological child but his legally adopted child and he came in and now he became caesar he took on the family and now he has all of this rights right he has all these privileges of this of the caesar but now he also has the responsibility that's why caesar augustus then went on to look and and find the people that assassinated julius caesar he had the the the responsibility to do that so the hearers in ephesians and the in the churches in the surrounding area that would read and listen to this letter when they heard this this was a great privilege to be chosen and now he says this paul comes to them and says hey guys let me tell you something let me tell you about the the the posture that god has towards you it is not like all these pagan gods that we you must do something out of your merit for him to like you or love you or do something no no this god comes and he chooses you what a blessing what a privilege to be chosen by god himself you see that's the thing about adoption is that it's never the child that initiates adoption it is the parent that takes the responsibility to adopt it is god coming towards you and saying i want to adopt you i want to you to be part of my family right that speaks of a great idea of belonging richard writes a a theologian was once on an airplane speaking to a rabbi and they were talking about faith in church and young people and and richard rice says he spoke to this uh rabbi and said to him can you explain to me how how do you keep your young people in your faith like how do you how do you um teach them about your faith and get them to stay because we have so many young people leaving our church and he said the rabbi said to him there's three things that you need to teach your young people believing behaving and belonging they need to know what to believe they need to know what they what they need to believe in the scriptures right but they also need to know how to behave what to do what is what is what is required of them but the most important thing is belonging they need to know that they belong you see many times religion has this idea that we have to teach people first what they need to believe and then we need to tell them how they need to behave and then when they jump through those two hoops then they will know that they belong and paul says no no that's not how it goes yes believing is important yes behaving is important but the the core the beginning of all of this is belonging god is the one that chooses you if you think back at the old story what what started adam and eve they rebelled they went against god they turned transgressed and what did they do they went and they hid from god they went to hit and who was the one that sought them it was god it is always him that comes and seeks us out he is the one that chooses us he is the one that adopts us and he does that in christ now i want to show you a slide if we can have the first slide up there the first slide um if we can go back to that slide now that that's a lot of text up there there's a lot of text up there i want you to read it i just want to see you i want you to look at the yellow parts in there the yellow parts speak about in christ in him in the beloved that's just replete throughout the whole section this concept this idea of in him in him this idea is that god chose us before the foundations of the world just imagine that before the before the cosmos was set in place before the galaxies were created before and this world was even formed before the mountains were created before the the stars were set in place before the the the birds were put and graced the earth or the the heavens before anything was created god had four ordained god had chosen god had said i want to choose you i want to choose you he had already thought of you he had already thought of you he had his sights on you and said i choose you i want you to belong to my family i want you to be a part of my fellowship and i'm gonna do it in christ and so paul is constantly speaking about this idea of in christ in christ in christ this idea of being in christ and we see this in verse seven of ephesians chapter 1 verse verse 7 says in him in christ we have redemption through his blood this idea of redemption through our blood and it goes on it says in the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace mean it speaks to this idea that we are redeemed we are forgiven not because of our good works but of his good grace gives the idea of wanted once again an old testament story the passover the passover with the angel of death passed over the house why because the blood of the lamb was over the lentils of the of the doorpost the idea that paul is speaking to you is that in christ because of christ we are chosen we had rebelled but because of in christ we are now we are now back together with god in christ we are reconciled again to everything that was broken that's the point of of this passage and then we read on it it says there in verse 8 which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose he set forth in christ as a plan of the fullness of time to unite all things things in heaven and things on earth so what paul is saying is very very astounding very profound it's this idea that the universe everything is fragmented and broken but somehow in christ everything came together again he is the source and the nexus points he is the he is the fulcrum of where all of these things center around now i want to show you a slide here if you can go to the to the slide there the word there for uniting is this word um ana kefaleo ana meaning up and cafeleo meaning head so this idea of uniting summarizing putting together this idea means that jesus is the nexus point he's the one that heads everything up everything comes together on him and through him and for him right and so i want you to go through just kind of the story of of the world of our world right we have this idea where god created humanity very beautiful everything is happy um adam and eve are kings and priests they are serving god but we know that something happened and this chaos that happened fragmentation that happened a broken relationship transgression right there's this idea where we were all united everything was in in order in cosmos and shalom and all of these things but somehow because of sin something happened chaos happened and because of that resultant of that is this idea that everything and everybody went their own ways and we see this profoundly in genesis chapter 11 this idea that everybody now has their own language and everybody just does their own thing goes their own way but paul is saying to us that that god chose us he chose a specific people right he chose a specific people group abraham isaac jacob and eventually that became day israel and david and eventually it came together to jesus christ jesus christ who is this this this uniting force this thing that brings everything together where there was fragmentation where there was chaos where there was all of these things this moving around they were reconciling their reconciliation needed to happen all of that came together in jesus that's what paul is saying this is a remarkable thing that you don't just say to anybody or everybody you don't go around and say oh everything kind of finds their nexus points in this person no no there's only one person that has the power and the ability and the grace and the wisdom to do all of this to bring everything in the universe together again everything that's been fragmented and broken and and distorted he is the one that can bring everything together again jesus christ in him we have that so when we think about the father choosing us giving us belonging when we think about the son we think of reconciliation we think of redemption we think of justification we think of bringing and setting everything a right again is this world messed up 100 do we see chaos in the world 100 do we need reconciliation yes please how do we get that only through jesus like your world might be messed up today man you just have to put on the news and you will know that the world is messed up we live more in a more fragmented world ever than ever before wherever you go this fragmentation and division no matter what the topic is there is fragmentation there is this there is dissension there is uh chaos and destruction all over the place and we start looking for places and looking for people that will be our savior who will be the next prime minister who will be the the next president who will be the next whatever that will be able to lead us out of this and redeem us and save us and bring everything together i'll tell you who jesus christ there is no other except him and him alone and paul knew this paul says the trinity has been working together to get everything together to bring everything to together so that we can get back to this place of shalom and so we see that's that's how the book unfolds basically is that now he says in christ and then we move together we will have these this idea of unity and holiness and love that's the purpose that we've been creating for created for if you read this section that is what paul is saying he says that this is the purpose that god has done this is his will his will and his purpose for god that's the reason that we worship is that this god is a good god that is on a mission to make everything good again to unite everything again to make people come together and fellowship again to to move people to holiness and to love the whole book of ephesians is built around this the first three chapters speaks about this idea how this god in christ will move everything from fragmentation to to unity again and then he will continue from chapter four to chapter six to this idea of how we who are now adopted sons and daughters chosen for the same purpose how we can have a part in all of this that's the point of the gospel the reason that we worship the reason why we do all of these things is because god has called you he says you come you belong but lord i've messed up lord i've done all of these things there's no way that i'm worthy yeah 100 you're not worthy but i have done everything to make you worthy i have come to reconcile you and to redeem you and to justify you to forgive you of your transgressions not because you're good because i'm good and then when we do that he seals us with the spirit and that's what that's what the next verse talks about in verse 11 it says in him we have obtained an inheritance in jesus because what he has done we now receive that inheritance that inheritance that is strong not maybe we're not biological jews maybe you know we're not biological um of the biological descendants of abraham and isaac and jacob that's fine because now we're legally adopted that means something more it means that we now have this inheritance because of our brother jesus in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will so that so that we who were the first to hope in christ might be to the praise of his glory in him also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him you were sealed with the promise of the holy spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory you see he speaks you about this ideal idea of a seal a seal is a as a mark of authenticity a mark of ownership if you buy something and it has the seal of approval on it or when you post something they will see that yeah yeah we can move this along because it has a specific seal it's been paid for so we received that seal but what he speaks here is that the holy spirit is our inheritance it's a kind of a down payment already for what is coming we live in this world in the already and the not yet the bible is full of these paradoxes and these tensions that we have right we see a strong tension in this verse where it speaks about predestination and free will right now we get all all uh flustered and we're like oh which one is it free will or predestination god's sovereignity or god's love which one is it both which one is it is it faith or is it works well it's both right it's the same the same thing here we live in the already and the not yet we already live as children of god we already live as adopted sons and daughters and that's the beautiful thing in in god's kingdom it's not only the the wealthy that gets adopted it's not only the good that gets adopted it's not only the males that get adopted in in in ephesians in galatians and in romans and in the whole new testament in the old testament it is both sons and daughters that get adopted and they are adopted into this idea where we are now living in this kingdom we already live under the rule and reign of jesus yes it might not seem that he is fully ruling and reigning yet we still see sin and we still see this uh chaos and all of these things but we live in the already and the not yet and while we are waiting for the full consummation of his coming we will live in this kingdom now which is his already with the down payment of the holy spirit that has sealed us and later on the book paul explains that more and more to us what that means what does it mean to live in the spirit how is the spirit working towards unity within the church how does it give us gifts and and and how does it help us to to have warfare against the principalities and powers that we don't see paul is laying out the walk of this of the christian and saying this is how you will do it through the power of the holy spirit it kind of connects to this idea in ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 and 4 that we've read already where it says blessed be god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before who's the one that that makes you holy who is the one that makes you blameless is it not the holy spirit working in you applying the merits of christ to you what paul is saying is like what fuels your faith what is the thing that drives you what detonate what detonates your your devotion that propels you forward to say this is the god that i want to worship this is the one well he says it's the trinity that's who it is it is god himself because he is the only one that is worthy of worship he is the one that comes and chooses you and says i give you a place of belonging now that you belong now who am i well i'll give you an identity you are in christ you are not one of his you are now my sons and my daughters okay now that i'm adopted now that i'm here now that i have a place of belonging now what will i have a purpose for you i have a purpose for you to go into the whole world and show them the goodness of the kingdom that's the point of the christian to live out his purposes to be the united people the people the alternative community of love that lives in this upside down world with the true knowledge of the true god and how this world is supposed to work today we live in a world that is just so antithetical almost to the christian walk where we live for ourselves and we just think for ourselves and even our christianity has become so consumerist focus it gives the idea of a battleship versus a a cruise ship if you think about a cruise ship a cruise ship majority of the people that go on a cruise ship go for the pleasure and entertainment for themselves i i read up this week on the statistics or the ratios between staff and people that work there and majority of them is like one to two or one two three so there's two or three crew members that work for the people that come there oh sorry sorry one crew member for three people that are there so majority of the people on this on the on the cruise ship are there for pleasure right they choose oh what kind of show is on tonight oh i don't like that kind of music i'm not gonna go oh what's on the buffet today what's what are we going to eat oh i just choose this and choose that everything is about my pleasure i do what i want to do when i want to do it i get up what time i want i got to sleep what time i want i eat what i want i i go to the entertainment that i want i basically live on this cruise ship the opposite of that is a battleship where battleship you don't have this ratio between those that work and those that don't work everybody works everybody has a reason for being there there's a clear distinct purpose for the battleship there's a clear distinct ranking where you know who's in charge and why they're in charge and what's the purpose of this each one has an identity each one has a privilege and a responsibility i think today we have become accustomed to this idea that the church is this cruise ship where we waltz in we sit down or watch online and then we say yeah we believe we're christians but the question that paul wants to say to us is that when you're a christian you need to know that there's a place of belonging for you there is a identity for you and there is a purpose for you that god himself has orchestrated and thought about and is equipping you in helping you and assisting you today our culture is at the the opposite side of that and we we're becoming closer and closer with this this epitome the epitome of the individualized self is seeing their its realization something that had its roots in modernity already that we see it more and more evolved into this idea that everything is around me i want to read you a quote from a french politician who was a foreign affair minister that lived in america his name is uh alexis talkful and uh he wrote this um observing america he went to america and he was uh kind of from europe obviously and um interested in this american experiment this idea of of the individual that gets to do and say and whatever that they want and he read this or he wrote this in his book um democracy in america he says this the first thing about america that strikes observation is the innumerable multitude of men all equal and alike incessantly endeavoring to obtain the petty and the paltry pleasures in which they glut their lives each of them living apart is as a stranger to the fate of the rest his children and his private friends constitute to him the whole of mankind as of the rest of his fellow citizens he touches them but he does not feel them we have this idea of alexis who he says he goes around in america and he sees this new phenomena where suddenly they are all of these individuals and all that they live for is their own pleasures and even the the things that's happening in the world they're not too concerned about unless it's their world their companions their family and then they're interested and then they care and for him that was so so strange because where he came from in at that point majority of the world worked like this where there was community and fellowship of mankind of human kind and somehow i think when he wrote this in the mid 1800s this was only the beginning of the experiment today we look at this we're like yeah this is just natural this is just the way that society operates but then paul would step into the story and says but that's not how it's supposed to operate the book of ephesians is a is a handbook to understand to us what the kingdom is about what the gospel is about it speaks to the deepest existential angst of us where it says that do i belong if i look at the world everybody just goes around and cares for themselves everybody just goes about their own business where do i fit in where do i belong what's my identity what is my purpose all clamoring and searching for these things and paul says i have a word for you i have good news for you god the father loves you so much that even before anything created he gave you a call he he he called you and and pre-ordained you to come be a part of his family he adopted you as a son and a daughter in christ he did this through god himself coming down to this earth taking the garb of humanity dying on the cross resurrecting for us living today mediating for our sins he comes in christ reconciling anything that was broken that needs to be reconciled between us and god and between us and each other and then he says and then he sends the spirit who is god himself between all of us so that we can be this community that is that is a community that cares about humanity and cares about mankind and cares about everybody else because that's what we have been made for that's what we've been created for as humans to love humans to love god so the reason that we praise the reason that we worship the reason why we do this is because god is worthy of that he is the one that's sitting this world right he is the one that brings us back to our true humanity brings us back to true truly who we are who we've been created for who have been called for so today if you're a christian if you know this praise god even more and go out and tell more people so that they can praise so that they can worship so that they can understand that because that's what we've been called for if you're a non-christian or non-believer or somebody that is on the edge you're not sure listen to this beautiful beautiful thought that you are loved more than anything else more than you even realize you are loved by god he cares for you he he had you on his mind even before you were even a figment of imagination in your parents mind he knew you he formed you he wanted you to be in his full knowledge and then yes we messed up and and we've done stuff that we shouldn't have done and and the story was messed up but he took it on himself he covenanted and said i will be faithful i will do something i will come up and i will set the story right in christ we can be made right which means that in christ now whatever is true of christ is true of us he is the son so we are the son he is holy we are holy he he he everything that is his is ours all the rights and responsibilities and all of those things we can call god father now abba because of jesus when god looks at us he sees jesus's good works he sees his blameless character and then he says but i i don't only see jesus in you i want to make you like jesus i have a purpose for you you want to change you want to be the best version of yourself this is how you do it through the holy spirit i will give you the power of god himself creative power holy spirit power the power that was there in genesis one that made the universe that kind of power the power that can do something out of nothing that kind of power comes into you and he says i will change you i will mold you i will fix you i will be there for you you need comfort i will give you comfort you need an advocate i'll give you an advocate whatever you need i will be there for you because this is my purpose i am a good god that will make this universe good again he is extending that invitation to you today it says all that you need to do say yes jesus i want to believe i want to follow please come if you today feel that that that the desire and you want to do something i'm going to i'm going to invite you to pray if like i pray now but then if you want to get in contact with us go onto our website find us there is a little link at the bottom there where you can email us contact us get in contact with us so that you can we can share some bible studies with you we can share something where you can grow in this journey of faith we don't want you to just stay at home and be like oh but what's the next step we want to have next steps for you so get in contact with us type it in the in the chat box type in the comment section that you want bible studies that you want to have a postural visit a zoo meeting whatever it is we want to connect with you and share this beautiful gospel of jesus with you and now let's pray together will you make that commitment to jesus let's pray together gracious father we pray for those lord that are seeking that want to make that commitment to you lord we pray lord that they would say yes to you now that they would say yes lord please i want to belong i want to have that identity lord that i'm seeking for i want to to have a purpose in my life i want to follow you and i don't know how to do that please show me lead me guide me lord we pray for those that have already committed themselves thank you jesus bless them even more use them even more show them this beautiful beautiful story in deeper depths lord and then we pray lord that you would help us to praise you more in everything that we do not just with our singing not just with our praying but the way that we live our lives as paul says lord whatever we do whether we eat or drink whatever we do let's do it to the honor and the praise of the father and of the son and the holy spirit in jesus name i pray amen we want to thank you for joining us here at king's cliff church today and if anything that quinton has said has sparked something in you that you want to know more of we encourage you to reach out he mentioned contacting us through our website so just google kingscliff church there you'll find a whole manner of ways that you can keep in touch with us we would love to connect with you we would love to send you resources we would love you to be part of our community so don't forget join us here kings cliff church next week

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Length: 76min 52sec (4612 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 03 2021