At the beginning of this month we embarked on our spiritual basic training, which is taking us through our training manual, Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. One of the things that I’m encouraging us to do as part of our spiritual basic training is to work on memorizing the entire Book of Ephesians. So we’ve approached that challenging goal the same way one eats an elephant – one bite at a time. So far we’ve bitten off four bite-sized pieces of that goal. Let’s see how well we’ve done with the first three bites and see if we can recite together the first ten verses:
Paul, an 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 be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has 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 in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
Ephesians 1:1-10 (NIV)
When I challenged all of us to work on memorizing the Book of Ephesians, I knew that not all of us would even make an attempt to do that. But I think that it’s important to set some goals that challenge us. Even if we don’t reach those goals, our efforts will get us to a place we would have never reached if we hadn’t at least given the effort. I really like what Michelangelo wrote about aiming high:
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Or perhaps more of us can relate to the words of that great philosopher, Yogi Berra:
You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
I’m convinced that Scripture memory is one of the most important spiritual disciplines that we can make a part of our life. And I’m not alone in that opinion. Here’s what Chuck Swindoll wrote about that practice:
“I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified”
(Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).
So even if you haven’t started memorizing Ephesians yet, I want to encourage you to start now. I know that there may be a lot of reasons why many of you haven’t even made the effort. Maybe a whole book is just more that you can bite off. It may very well be that will be the case with many of us, including me, before we get to the end of the book. But I do know this – I know have memorized 12 new verses that I didn’t know at the beginning of the year. So why not start and just see how far you can get. Or if you know you can’t memorize the whole book, at least pick out a key passage or two in each chapter and memorize those. At a minimum, at least try to memorize one sentence – Ephesians 1:3-14. That one sentence contains a ton of spiritual riches, including almost every key doctrine in the Bible.
On the back of your prayer sheet in your bulletin, I’ve given you some suggestions that might help you in your efforts to memorize Scripture. Maybe you can find a few things there that will help you.
So now that we’ve spent a few minutes talking about Scripture memory, let’s see how well we remember our verses fro this week before Dave puts them up on the screen.
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, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:11, 12 (NIV)
When I first began to look at this passage this week, my first impression was that Paul was saying pretty much the same thing he had already written about in verses 4 and 5:
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…
It certainly wouldn’t be the first time in Paul’s writings or even in the entire Bible that repetition was used for emphasis. And the doctrines of election and predestination, as we’ve already seen, would certainly be important enough to warrant additional emphasis.
But in looking at the passage closely, I believe Paul has something else in mind here. The first observation that leads me to that conclusion is that the word “chosen” in verse 11 is a different Greek word than the one translated “chosen” in verse 4. We’ll look at that more closely in a moment. But even more important to me is that the “us” in verses 4 and 5 appears to refer to a different group of people than the “we” in verses 11 and 12.
In fact, you’ll notice that Paul gives us a further definition of who comprises the “we” in these verses. He further identifies this group of people as “we, who were the first to hope in Christ”. Although we’re not going to look at verse 13 in detail until next week, we need to take a brief look at the first part of that verse this morning because it helps us to identify the “we” in verses 11 and 12:
And you also were included in Christ…
Ephesians 1:13 (NIV)
There is very clearly a contrast between the “we” in verses 11 and 12 and the “you” in verse 13. As we continue to look at the Book of Ephesians in coming weeks, the identification of the “we” and the “you” is going to become even more apparent, but even from what we have read so far, we can get some pretty good clues as to who comprises both these groups. Remember that Paul is writing here to the church at Ephesus, which consists primarily of Gentile Christians. Paul and the other apostles, on the other hand, are all Jewish Christians. And certainly they were the ones who had first believed in Christ, and thus had hope in Him, before they and others brought the gospel message to Ephesus and the surrounding areas so that these Gentiles had an opportunity to enter into that hope themselves.
So in verse 11, when Paul writes about being chosen, he is clearly referring not to all Christians in general, but to those Jewish believers who had been chosen by God as His instruments to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. It was God’s plan and His will that these Jewish Christians would bring praise and glory to God by being the means through which the Gentiles were exposed to the Good News of Jesus Christ and had the opportunity to believe in Him.
On the other hand, verses 4 and 5, as we have already seen, apply to all believers. Every person who has ever accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has only done that because God has drawn them to Him because it is His plan to make them part of His family. And He does that through His grace which was poured out to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You’ll remember that my message from verses 4 and 5 was titled “Chosen for God’s Pleasure” because every believer has been chosen, or elected, by God because it gives Him pleasure to make us part of His family. But this morning, I’ve title the message “Chosen for God’s Purpose” because in this passage we learn that when God chose us to be part of His family, he also chose us to be part of the carrying out of His purpose here on earth.
After the message a couple of weeks ago, someone asked me a really great question. The essence of the question was this:
If God has already decided who is going to be saved, then why should I pray for unbelievers and share my faith with others?
That’s a really great question. The person that asked that question was really listening and thinking about what I shared in that message. And frankly, it’s a question that I’m sure many of us must be wondering about. But the good news is that the passage we’re looking at this morning helps us greatly in trying to answer that question. There are at least three reasons we find here in this passage and in the rest of the Scriptures that we are to pray for and share our faith with others:
• It’s God’s plan
The word translated “chosen” in verse 11 in the NIV, carries the idea that Paul and the other apostles had been claimed by God as his portion or inheritance. Taken together with the rest of the verse, Paul makes it clear that he and the other apostles had been chosen by God as part of a larger, overall plan. And that plan was that those men, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be the means by which God would spread the gospel to the elect, so that they could respond to that message through faith and become part of God’s family.
That really shouldn’t surprise us because from cover to cover the Bible is clear that God chose the Jews, His chosen people, to be the means by which he would bless all the peoples of the earth. Look at what He told Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12:
"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 12:2, 3 (NIV)
As we said a couple of weeks ago, God didn’t choose Abraham or the nation of Israel because they deserved it in any way. Neither Abraham nor his people were more talented, wealthy, mighty, righteous or holy than the people around them. But God chose them because they were part of His plan to redeem a people for Himself. Notice that even back in Genesis it was God’s plan to use Abraham and his descendents to be a blessing to “all peoples on earth.” And that was the plan that had been carried out by Paul and those other Jewish believers there in Ephesus and the surrounding area.
Jesus confirmed this plan of God as he spoke to the disciples as they walked through the vineyard the night before his death on the cross:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last…
John 15:16 (NIV)
What was the fruit they were to bear? Taking the gospel to others so that they would come to faith in Jesus Christ and become part of God’s family.
Because God is sovereign, He not only chooses those who will become part of His family, He also chooses the means, or the methods, or the plan by which people are redeemed and made fit to have a personal relationship with Him. And, as I’ve said before, God could have chosen any plan He wanted. But in His infinite wisdom, he made the death and resurrection of His Son to be the means of our redemption. And in order for people to be able to place their faith in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross, God’s plan is that His followers share the gospel message with the rest of the unbelieving world.
When Paul and his companions had first gone to Ephesus, that responsibility had been theirs. As those who had been the first to place their trust in Jesus, God had called them to share the gospel with others, particularly with the Gentiles in Ephesus. And what Paul is implying here, and he will make even clearer later in his letter, is that responsibility is now being passed on to the Gentile believers in Ephesus. And as the beneficiaries of those who have passed the gospel message on to generations of the elect over the past 2,000 years, that responsibility is now ours.
So the first reason that we share the gospel and pray with others is that it is God’s plan. In a sense, that seems illogical to us. If God has already decided before the creation of the world those who will become part of His family, then what difference does it make whether I share my faith and pray or not? But just because we can’t understand it with our limited human minds doesn’t mean that it’s not true.
Hopefully you’ve been keeping up with your Bible reading, and if you did, you read Romans 7-8 earlier this week. In that passage Paul confirms the principle of God’s election and our redemption through the blood of Christ. You’ll see that again this week as you read Chapters 9-10. But even though Paul stresses God’s sovereignty up through Chapter 9, when he gets to chapter 10, he very clearly writes about our responsibility:
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?...Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:14, 17 (NIV)
So even though God, in His sovereignty, chooses whomever He wishes, it is God’s plan that those whom He chooses will come to faith in Him as we share the gospel message and pray for others. In fact, praying for unbelievers is probably the best way that we acknowledge the sovereignty of God in the process of salvation. Since only God can change hearts and drawn people unto Himself, prayer is an essential element in sharing the gospel with others.
There is a second reason that we pray and share the good news:
• It’s God’s command
One of the things that has become really apparent to us as we’ve embarked on our basic training is that because God is God, there are just some things that are far beyond our understanding. We’ve seen that as we discussed the relationship between God’s election and sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Although those two concepts appear to be contradictory to our human mind, they are both very clearly taught in the Scriptures. Just because we can’t figure out how they fit together doesn’t mean they aren’t both true. It just means that we aren’t God.
But it is also true that God has chosen to reveal some things very clearly to us. And when He does that, it is our responsibility to obey what God has revealed. God made this really clear to Moses:
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV)
In other words, when God chooses to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways to us, we are responsible for being obedient to the instructions and commands that He gives to us, even when we don’t understand all the reasons behind them.
Those of you who are parents ought to be able to understand that. When our kids are young, we command them to do or not do certain things because we know that is in their best interest. And even if they don’t’ understand why to look both ways before they cross the street or to keep their hands off the hot stove or even keep their elbows off the table and chew with their mouths closed, they learn to do it because mom and dad said to do it. Eventually, they’ll come to understand the reasons behind those commands, but in the meantime hopefully they just learn to obey.
Paul and the other Jewish apostles shared the gospel message not only because they were part of God’s plan, but also because God had commanded them to do that. Right before he ascended into heaven, Jesus shared this familiar command with His followers:
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
That command very obviously applies to all of us who are followers of Jesus Christ. Even though only those who have been chosen by God are capable of placing their faith and trust in Jesus, we are commanded to take the gospel to the entire unbelieving world. It’s not like God’s elect are walking around with a great big “E” on their chest so that we can pick and choose those with whom we will share the gospel. So we share the message and pray for all unbelievers and trust that God will use us as part of His plan to draw at least some of those people to Himself.
Rather than discouraging us from obeying God’s command to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, the doctrine of election should be a great encouragement to us. As Dr. Michael Horton noted, without divine election, evangelism would be like a salesman trying to sell his products in a graveyard. As we’ll see in Chapter 2, all mankind is dead in their sin, and we’re not capable of convincing a dead person to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Only God can do that.
That takes all kinds of pressure off of us when we’re sharing the gospel, knowing that the results of our efforts are not based on our own ability or skill in sharing the gospel, but rather the results are totally up to God. In fact, the doctrine of election practically guarantees that, in spite of our inadequacies, we will have success in our evangelism efforts. If we share the gospel and pray for many people, we can be pretty well assured that at least some of those people have already been chosen by God and that God will use us as part of His plan to bring them into His family.
So we share our faith and pray for unbelievers because that is God’s plan and because it is God’s command, but we also do it because…
• It’s for God’s glory
This is the second time in this long sentence in Ephesians 1:3-14 that we’ve seen the phrase “the praise of his glory.” We saw it in verse 6 at the end of the section that focused on the role of God the Father in the process of pouring out spiritual blessings in our lives. We see it here again in verse 12 at the end of the section focusing on the role of God the Son in that process. And we’ll see it one last time next week in verse 14 at the end of the section that focuses on the role of God the Holy Spirit.
The third reason that we share the gospel and pray for unbelievers is that because when we do that God gets glory. You’ll remember that earlier we looked at a verse from John 15 where Jesus told His disciples that he had chosen them to bear fruit by sharing their faith with others. In that same discourse, Jesus also said this to His followers:
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:8 (NIV)
Since salvation is 100% based on the sovereignty of God, when I share my faith with others and pray for them and they come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it is God, not me, who gets all the glory.
Most of you know by now that I officiate basketball and volleyball. But as much I might hate to admit it, the fact is that no one comes to the games and matches to watch the referees. The spectators are there to see the players compete against each other. In fact, the best officiated games and matches are those in which nobody remembers the referees after the game. Probably the best compliment I ever received as a referee after a game was last year when the athletic director from the losing school came into the locker room to tell us what a good job we had done. And I’ll never forget his next comment: “It’s almost like you weren’t even out there on the court.”
That’s how it should be when it comes to sharing our faith with others. Because God planned it that way, we are an essential part of the process of someone coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. But when that happens, it is God, and not us, who is to receive the glory. In other words, what we want people to remember is not us, but the great and awesome God who has given us the privilege of being involved in the process.
We live in a culture today that seems to be obsessed with statistics. We measure the ability of our athletes with batting averages and shooting percentages. We measure our politicians by poll numbers. We gauge our economy based on the rate of inflation or the Dow Jones average. And unfortunately that obsession has even crept into the church. We measure the “success” of a church based on how many people attend, or the size of their budget, or how many people they baptized last year. And while some of those measures may have some benefit in helping us to see how we might be more effective in being witnesses for Jesus Christ, the problem is that they are used to focus on the glory or lack of glory of the local church instead of focusing on the glory of God.
For those of you who are believers, this passage should be a great encouragement for you to renew your efforts to pray for others and to share the gospel with them. It should also cause you to get down on your knees and thank God for the privilege of being part of His plan, for the ability to carry out His command and for the joy of bringing glory to Him.
And if you’re here this morning and you’ve never made Jesus your Forgiver and your Master, I want to encourage you to make that decision today. Maybe you’re here this morning because people have been praying for you or because someone has talked to you about what Jesus has done in his or her life and you want that same kind of relationship with God. And God wants to get glory as you commit your life to Him.
