“Wanted: YOU! Chosen for God’s Praiseworthy Purpose”

Sept.23/18 Eph.1:3-14 Play AUDIO (32 kbps mp3)

EPHESIANS – WHY? (INTRODUCTION)

•    Corinth church: divisions instead of agreement 1Cor.1:10-13
•    forgetting we belong to and are saved by Christ
•    Ephesus important city but pagan goddess cult, magic practised Acts 19:19

DUST OFF YOUR GLASSES: CLASHING WORLDVIEWS

•    more than just products of time+chance+matter (naturalism)
•    matter: blessed in the heavenly realms 1:3; Ac 1:9, 7:55f
•    time: chosen before creation of the world 1:4
•    chance: God’s predestining & purpose / plan 1:5,11

CHOSEN TO BE HIS

•    digital communication hyperspeed but interpersonal distance
•    chosen to be God’s possession / sons & daughters 1:4f,11,13f
•    “seal” signifies security, authenticity, ownership, authority
•    chosen to be God’s holy people: submit our choices/thoughts to His scanning 1Pet 2:9, 2Cor 10:5

BLESSED OUT OF OUR BOOTS

•    already seated with Christ in the heavenlies 1:3, 2:6
•    holy & blameless in His sight 1:4, 2Cor 5:21, Col 1:22
•    love 1:4, Rom 5:8
•    redemption / forgiveness / grace lavished – so forgive others 1:7, Mt 18:21ff, 6:15
•    wisdom, understanding, God’s will made known 1:8f, 1Cor 2:12, 16
•    hope in Christ - vs. despair / cynicism of materialism 1:12, 1Cor 15:32, 1Pet 1:21
•    Holy Spirit ‘earnest’/deposit on heavenly inheritance 1:13f

AGENDA: ADVANCING GOD’S ULTIMATE AIM

•    internally predisposed for one purpose: God most glorified in us when we most satisfied in Him
•    God’s pleasure & will directed toward praise of His grace, summing all up in Christ 1:5,9f
•    we’re meant to be for the praise of God’s glory: it’s not about us! 1:12,14,6

BELIEVING IS THE KEY

•    to be included in Christ, must hear the gospel and believe 1:13
•    election/salvation’s mysterious archway: “Whosoever will may come” / “Chosen in Him before world’s creation” Ac 2:21, Joel 2:32, Eph 1:4
•    Solzhenitsyn’s hardships brought to point of abandonment to God: a path through despair