Ephesians 1:3-14 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, 4 even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption
as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to
the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon
us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery
of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as
a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven
and things on earth. 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, 12 so that we who were
the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 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, 14 who
is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the
praise of his glory.
God
did not need to create us. He does not need us or the rest of the creation for
anything. At the same time we, and the rest of creation, do glorify him and
bring him joy. He did not create us because he was lonely — God did not need us
for any reason. Nevertheless, God created us for his own glory. Therefore, we
are to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Our lives are
significant because we were created to glorify God.
The
Bible gives many reasons for our existence. I want to look at a few of them
today and learn, from the word, what life is really all about. I suppose it is
a common thing to question how we got here and why we’re here. Well let’s look
at what the Bible says. First of all we are…
To live an abundant life. Jesus
himself put this forward and it is found in John 10:10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came
that they may have life and have it abundantly,
Of
course, “the thief” is Satan. And Jesus is very clear that Satan comes into our
lives only to steal and kill and destroy. However, Jesus came to earth that all
of God’s people should have “life”. Jesus certainly does not mean that we
should only exist but instead that we should have a good, full and rich life.
Abundant life is more than just breathing and responding. Abundant life includes
being content with where we are and who we are.
I
find myself from time to time experiencing depression. Then I might think to
myself, “Is this the abundant life?” And the answer to that question is, “No”!
We should never measure our life by our downtimes. Instead we should look at
what the Bible has to say and live by that. We are to live an abundant life and
we are…
To experience fullness of joy. Psalm
16 is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. It concludes with Psalm 16:11. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is
fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
This Psalm is a prayer of
David’s. In it he talks about how God has given him “pleasant places” and “a
beautiful inheritance”. God had given to David, and to us, plenty of reason to
be glad and rejoice. As David prayed he asked God to protect him and direct
him. Then he could see the sorrows of those who had missed God and he could
rejoice in God being his inheritance. He realized that God even instructed him
while he slept.
God answered his prayer by
showing him that the path of life included the fullness of joy. That joy is not
some kind of silly happiness it is a deep-seated rest caused by the awareness
of the fellowship he had with God. Pleasures forevermore come only because we
are in the presence of the living God. We are to live an abundant life and we
are to experience fullness of joy because we are able…
To
enjoy fellowship with God. Psalm
84:1-2, How lovely is your dwelling place,
O
Lord of hosts! 2 My
soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. And
verse 10. For a day in your courts is
better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house
of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Fullness
of joy is found in knowing God and delighting in the excellence of his
character. The greatest blessing we can imagine is to enjoy fellowship with
God. The normal attitude of a Christian is rejoicing in the Lord and the
lessons of life he gives to us. In order to have the fullness of joy that the
Bible promises we have to choose to enjoy fellowship with God.
In
Psalm 84 fellowship with God is definitely connected to worship. In fact, not
just worship that can be enjoyed alone but instead fellowship with God is
connected to corporate worship. The Old Testament choirmaster could see that
there is a need for our participation in the fellowship that can only be
provided within the dwelling place for God.
That
dwelling place in the wilderness and the early days in the Promised Land was a
tent. Later the dwelling place would be the temple of Solomon. Our fellowship
with God’s people allows us to participate in public prayer and public worship.
God’s intention for us is that we glorify him and, in the process of doing so,
live an abundant life as promised by our Lord Jesus. We are to experience
fullness of joy that is achieved in fellowship with God and God’s people. As we
experience the joy of fellowship we are also…
To rejoice in hope. Paul
wrote to the Romans about the joy that we have even when we suffer. Romans 5:2-5 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in
which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not
only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance. 4 and endurance produces character, and character
produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because
God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been
given to us.
As
I have told you before — and will tell you many times more — hope for a
Christian is not just a case of wishing it were so. Hope in the Christian sense
is a confidence that we have the promises of God even though we do not always
see them. In fact, much of the suffering we go through in life has as its
purpose our discipline, direction and spiritual growth.
The
Christian life is not all happiness and light. It is often accompanied by
suffering which is designed in our life to produce endurance. As we develop
endurance we gain godly character and that will give us HOPE! As we grow in
hope God’s love is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom God
has given us.
Not
only are we to enjoy an abundant life with fullness of joy and enjoy fellowship
with God we are enabled to rejoice even when suffering. That life of struggle
brings us to a place where we are able…
To
bring joy to God. Isaiah saw how God enjoyed us! Isaiah 62:5 For as a young man marries a
young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over
the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
The church universal is the
bride of Christ. When Christ returns in glory we will be ushered into the
marriage supper of the Lamb. We will see that God has always rejoiced in his
chosen people like a young man rejoices over his bride.
One of the things I have
enjoyed over the years is observing the face of the groom as the wife to be
walks down the aisle. Usually there is a look of awe and a growing joy. In the
same way God rejoices over his bride that he is preparing for eternity. As we
grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord our joy increases. We were created by
God to glorify him. God himself rejoices in our fellowship with him more than
we do. Not only does God rejoice over us he is exuberant in being in our midst.
Let’s look at Zephaniah 3:17. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty
one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by
his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
As
we grow in our ability to rejoice in God he is in our midst. He is the mighty
one who alone is able to save. He rejoices over his people with gladness. He
gives us peace by his love. He exults over us with a loud singing!
When
I first became aware of this truth some years ago I was surprised to find that
God happily sings over his people. That discovery led me to learn some things
that were quite unexpected. Let me read an article taken from desiringgod.org the
website of one of my favorite preachers, John Piper. The author is Matt Perman,
“So often we think of God as non-enthusiastic or even
gloomy. The exact opposite is true: He loves to be God, He takes great pleasure
in all that He does, and He is enthusiastic about serving His people and
working for their welfare. For example, God says in Jeremiah 32:41: "I
will rejoice in
doing them good." Jesus said in John 15:11, "These things I have
spoken to you, that my joy
may be in you." And Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:11 of "the glorious
gospel of the blessed God."
Blessed means happy. So Paul is saying: "the glorious gospel of the happy God."
God is infinitely happy because he is infinitely glorious. And, the good
news is that he invites us to enter into his happiness. Here is what Piper
writes in The Pleasures of God (p. 26): "It is
good news that God is gloriously happy. No one would want to spend eternity
with an unhappy God. If God is unhappy then the goal of the gospel is not a
happy goal, and that means it would be no gospel at all. But, in fact, Jesus
invites us to spend eternity with a happy God when he says, ‘Enter into the joy of your master' (Matthew 25:23). Jesus lived and died that his joy-God's joy-might be in us and our joy might be full (John 15:11; 17:13).
Therefore the gospel is ‘the gospel of the glory of the happy God.'"
And as we grow to understand that our God
is a happy God we are able…
To grow in our love for God. Let’s
go to 1 Peter 1:8-9. Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is
inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of
your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I
must remind you that love is not only a feeling it’s an act of the will! As we
recognize that God created us to have a love relationship with him our ability
to love him grows. As we “act out” our love relationship with God feelings will
follow. One of the problems that people have about loving God is a lack of
“feeling”.
There
is no question that love involves feelings. However, those feelings are the
result of rather than the proof of our love. It is possible to act in a loving
manner and have no love. According to 1 Corinthians chapter 13 it is possible
to be a powerful believer, understanding the mysteries of God and not have
love. It is possible to have faith that could move mountains and yet not have
love. It is possible to be a sacrificial giver and not have love. We were
created for the purpose of glorifying God. As we enjoy our relationship with
him it will grow as a love relationship.
When
Jesus was asked to teach his disciples to pray the first phrase in his Model
Prayer was “hallowed be your name.”
Peter tells us that in our hearts we are to honor Christ the Lord as holy. We
are to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks the reason for
our hope. (1 Peter 3:15) God is the creator, he made all things, and he
deserves all the glory. It is right in every way that God be glorified by his
creation. The testimony of the 24 elders in the Book of Revelation was, “Worthy are you our Lord and God, to
receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will
they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:11) Throughout the Bible we
are told that all the glory is to go to him. He deserves all praise in all
ways. The highest praise we can give is to confess Jesus as Lord and believe in
our hearts that God raised him from the dead. Today can be your day of
salvation.
All
scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version.
2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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