In Christ, I Am...chosen For God's Glory Series

IN CHRIST, I AM…CHOSEN FOR GOD’S GLORY—Ephesians 1:1-14

(Series on Ephesians: In Christ, I Am…)

Did you hear about the woman in Iceland who spent half the night trying to find herself—literally? Her tour bus had stopped in the volcanic Eldgja region of Iceland, and she went into a rest area to change her dress and freshen up. The tour guide miscounted the people on the bus, and a search was begun for “an Asian woman, about 160 cm, in dark clothing, speaking English well.” The woman joined about 50 people of the search party, until finally, at 3 a.m., she realized that she was the woman everyone was searching for! She did not recognize herself in the description.

In this series of messages, we will be looking at how God describes us. We might hardly recognize his description. It begins in the very first verse of Ephesians, when he calls us “saints.” We are saints, not because we are especially good, but because God has set us apart as his special people.

Each week in our study of Ephesians, you will receive a card with a description of who we are, beginning with, “In Christ, I am…” Ephesians is all about who we are “in Christ.” In the first chapter alone, we find the words “in Christ” or “in him” ten times. God does not see us only as we are by nature, but as we are spiritually joined to Jesus Christ.

God’s description might surprise us, challenge us, or encourage us. It will cause us to say, “Yes, I want to be like that—like God says I can be.” As we study Ephesians, we will discover not only how God sees us, but also how God helps us become the saints we are meant to be, in Christ.

Read Ephesians 1:1-14.

Before the beginning of time, God decided to create the universe. Why did he do that?

Why do people create? When people create, something wonderful happens: Their abilities, their thoughts, their uniqueness is displayed in their creation. They create art or music, they build things, they cook or write clever phone apps, and others say, “I had no idea they had that in them. We might even say that their hidden “glory” takes shape in what they create.

There is another purpose to creation, however, which displays a more glorious aspect of humanity. People have children, not only to generate new life, but to express the love which is inside them. The love of a parent might be hidden until a child is born, and the parent can display the depth of their love in parenthood. It is not unusual for other people to say, “I see a different side of my friend, when they are with their child.”

Some people create for what they can get out of it, to fill a void of recognition or love. God doesn’t need to do that; his glory is great enough, and it is magnificently displayed in heaven. Yet God created the universe, and the people in it, to demonstrate his glory in new dimensions, and to share his glory with people like us!

Even atheists ask the question, “Why does the universe exist?” Psalm 19:1 answers, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” The immensity of the universe, with its finely-tuned structure, points to a God who is beyond human comprehension.

Yet when God created the universe, it was still, as Genesis 1 says, “formless and void,” God already had a special purpose in mind: The universe would bring forth life, and human beings would live on a planet known as the earth. God created people for his glory! In Isaiah 43, God says, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Humans display the glory of God’s creative activity, and they are glorious! Just look at you! Not only do you have an amazing body and mind, but God has given you creativity and spiritual awareness. Your love, compassion, faithfulness and commitment to others reflect the glory of God! Even more glorious, we humans, among all the animals on earth, have the ability to know and worship the God who made us. We can give God glory!

Yet not everything about humanity displays the glory of God. There is a lot of ugliness in the world. In fact, evil is quite evident in the world around us. Technology can destroy, art can degrade, and people can be cruel. Too often, the glory of God is not evident in human life.

We read in Genesis about sin and the Fall, and how humans chose to rebel against God. The essence of the sin of Adam and Eve was to live, not for the glory of God, but for their own glory. Satan tempted Eve by saying, “You will become like gods, knowing good and evil.” When they sought their own glory, they were no longer bringing glory to God, and they failed in the purpose for which they were created. As the Apostle Paul says,