Intro
Eph. 1:8 -10 In all wisdom & understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed beforehand in Christ, into a management plan for the fullness of time – to gather up all things into Christ from both heaven and earth
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In the introduction to his book, A History of Europe, H. Fisher writes: “One intellectual excitement, however, has been denied to me. Men wiser and more learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following another, as wave follows upon wave...
- Let me ask you a question...
Q. Has the general population lost hope in the purpose of our world?
- Of course they have! They have been indoctrinated in the evolutionary dogma that there is no purpose to the world
- That the cosmos is only a matter of time + chance (it is purposeless)
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- There is a philosophy called “Nihilism” which expresses an utmost pessimism regarding the meaning of life
- In fact, the word “Nihilism” means “nothing”
- There is nothing in life, no values to hold to, no meaning
- They are the ultimate sceptics
- They are anti-institution & anti-authority
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- Wikipedia (an Internet Encyclopaedia) says that much of the modren punk rock music incorporates Nihilist themes – a “live fast, die young” attitude with a self-destructive lifestyle
- It goes on to say this about a band called Nine Inch Nails...
“Nine Inch Nails, fronted by Trent Reznor,...have several nihilistic lyrics...[the song]..."Every Day is Exactly the Same," for example, states: "I believe I can see the future, ’cause I repeat the same routine. I think I used to have a purpose, but then again, it might have been a dream."
- Trent Reznor, they state, also owns a record label called “Nothing Records”.
- They also claim that many gothic bands have lyrics with nihilistic undertones – something young people need to be careful about!
- That sort of music will drag you away from the truth of God
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The French Philosopher Andre Maurois says: “The universe is indifferent. Who created it? Why are we here on this puny mud-heap spinning in infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am quite convinced that no one has the least idea.”
- Well I’m convinced we have the very idea because one of the great blessings that God has given to us is that He has made known to us His master plan for the universe
- Which means you know the future & where you are headed & therefore everything in the present IS meaningful & has purpose
1. God has made known to us His master plan
- No doubt everyone here has made plans at some time or another
Q. Have your plans always gone to plan? Not always!
- Sometimes things go to plan & sometimes they don’t
- We have to admit the fact that our plans are never set in concrete no matter how resolved we are in fulfilling them
- There are reasons for this & they should help us to greatly appreciate this blessing from God
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1. We are Fallible
- We make mistakes & err
- We all exhibit something we share in common - weaknesses
- We are at times forgetful; we are often times selfish; and at the best of times, we are fickle & like to change our mind
- Our wisdom & plans are fallible because as humans we are fallible
2. We have limited Control
- We cannot control our environment – the unforeseen things that arise that we can do nothing about, can throw our plans into chaos
- We have limited control over ourselves
- We are limited by our health, our environment AND our responses are to a large degree governed by those factors
- So what I’m suggesting is that when it comes to seeing OUR plans through, there are no guarantees
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- However, this is not the case with God
- At the moment, we have a meaningless world based on a purposeless set of evolutionary principles
- To me, it sort of resembles people in boats heading for, say, Niagara Falls
- There is not the slightest hope – it is a matter of waiting for the inevitable – death - what a terrible existence!
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- But God does not give us this sense of hopelessness because...
1. He is infallible
- God does not make mistakes
- The dictionary meaning of infallible is... “incapable of error”, “not liable to mislead, deceive, or disappoint”
- Satan is the one who deceives & misleads – God does not do this
Je 23:32 ..... 32 “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.
2. He is not fickle
- God does not change His mind to suit His fancy
- When God made a decision to appoint David as king & to dismiss Saul, Samuel the prophet said these words to Saul...
1 Sam 15:29 “...the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
3. He is all powerful
- He is not subject to weakness – His plans are never under threat because there is no weakness in God
- He is El-Shaddai – “God almighty”, the One who said to Abraham...
Gen. 17:1 “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless”
4. He has limitless sovereignty
- This means that God is in control of everything!
- Jesus said...
Mt 10:29-30 ..... 29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 “But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Job 42:1-2 ..... 1 Then Job answered the Lord and said, 2 “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
- For these reasons, God’s master plan will come about
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- It is awful to be “kept in the dark”, or be “out of the loop”
- But the blessing is that He has made known to us His plan for the universe
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v. 9 “He has made known to us the mystery of His will”
- In ancient Greek culture, mystery meant secret knowledge – a divine knowledge for some religious initiates
- Only certain elite members of a religious community could obtain this secret knowledge of the gods – these mysteries were not available to all
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- Paul says, however, that what was a mystery God has now revealed to those in Christ
- We are not in a purposeless or meaningless situation
- Knowing God’s master plan for history IS a real blessing
History is neither meaningless or purposeless. It is moving towards a future goal (John Stott, Ephesians, 41)
2. Jesus is the Key to God’s Plan
- ECC has a number of documents that we wish to lock away in a safe
- We are actually in the throws of finding a secure safe that can be bolted down onto concrete
- Some safes have a combination lock, but others come only with keys
Q. What happens if you lose all the keys to the safe?
- You’re in trouble aren’t you?
- The key is able to unlock the safe so the contents can be used
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- In one sense, Jesus is the key to God’s purposes – He is the One who is able to unlock & complete the purposes of God
Gal 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
- In the fullness of time – when the time was right – God’s purposes were revealed in His Son
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- Also in the book of Revelation we see Jesus as the One who is worthy to unlock the seals on the heavenly scroll
- This scroll represents God’s eternal purpose to bring His Kingdom into the world of men & women
- As Jesus unlocks the 7 seven seals, God’s everlasting kingdom is finally revealed
Re 5:1-5 ..... I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. 4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it; 5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
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- Jesus is the key to it all
- He is not just part of the plan – He is the plan!
- Here, Psalm 2 comes into play
Ps 2:7-9 ..... 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’ ”
- And as the apostle Paul says of Jesus...
1 Co 15:25-27 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet
3. God will unite all things under Christ
Eph. 1:8 -10 In all wisdom & understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed beforehand in Christ, into a management plan for the fullness of time – to gather up all things into Christ from both heaven and earth
- Here God is going to perform a “gathering”
- F. F. Bruce says to “gather up the fragmented & alienated universe”
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- There has been a time when humanity started to “gather together” in unity, but God came down & separated them by confusing their language
Q. If God wants people gathered, then what was wrong with the gathering at the Tower of Babel?
- In fact, we have a modern “gathering” that is happening right now around the world
- The emphasis of this movement is to unite the world on the basis that there is no one “truth” that should be universally applied – no single morality, no single ethic, no single God
- They use anti-discrimination legislation to prevent the dominance of any one group over others
- Christianity is especially targeted because it is the dominant religious group in Australia
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- God confused the language of the gathering at the tower of Babel because it was an expression of man’s independence from God
- It was that same expression of rebellion that occurred in the Garden of Eden when the man & woman refused to live under the Lordship of the one true God
- At Babel, men wanted to “make a name” for themselves
- It seems that their sin was paganism
- They were wanting to build a tower so that the gods would come down & be worshipped by them & to bring their blessings with them
- Well, God did “come down” alright & was not pleased with this act of paganism & confused their language to stop this form of unified rebellion
Some ancient philosophers argued that the whole universe was permeated by God and would be absorbed back into him. The apostle Paul tells us that history moves toward a climax of subordination to God, not absorption into him
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- Here then, we have at root, both the problem of mankind & the purpose of God
- The problem being an unwillingness to submit to the true God / & God’s purpose, to overturn that rebellion, so that they would come to submit & honour Him for who He is – their Creator
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- The present unity that the world seeks is not what God has in mind here in Eph. 1
- What God has in mind is His coming Kingdom
- The Kingdom of God simply put means the “rule of God”
- Christians are part of the Kingdom of God, because they submit to God’s rule
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- God has designated, that a true act of submission to Him will occur when a person turns in faith to Jesus Christ
- Listen to how Paul expresses the ideal response to Jesus
Php 2:8-11 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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- God has created this new community headed up by Christ / & this new community will permeate the world until the time is right for God’s purposes to be fulfilled
- Jesus teaches this in His Kingdom parables
Mt 13:31-33 ..... 31 He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” 33 He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.”
- Jesus is talking about how the Kingdom (rule of God) will permeate the world
- There may be a small beginning & there may be bumpy rides along the way
- There may be 3 steps forward & 2 steps backward (which is where the western church is today) but it will continue to grow
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- This means we should never despair over a slump in Christianity – God is Lord of history & His plan will continue
- In fact, the church has been in this state many times & it has had times of revival in the past
- It is a bit like the weather – droughts come & droughts go(don’t they)
- But have a look at China where the Kingdom of God is rapidly growing
- Therefore, we should be encouraged to persevere in Christ because God is at the helm & has a plan that He will not fail to complete
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- This plan has, in particular, a focus on reconciliation & unity
- Isn’t it interesting to observe how this process begun
- Jew & Gentile, male & female, slave & free are united together under Christ
Gal 3:27-29 ..... 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
- Christ is already head of His body (the Church), but one day “all things” will acknowledge His headship – this is God’s plan
Conclusion
This is a story about Oliver Wendell Holmes. Holmes was a doctor. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself.
As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember what the insight was.
Because of the great importance this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given ether again. This time he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The ether was administered, and sure enough, just before passing out the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to sleep confident in the knowledge that he had succeeded.
Upon awakening, he turned eagerly to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had uttered. This is what she read: "The entire universe is permeated with a strong odour of turpentine." (very profound!)
- Men & women have long pondered the mysteries of the universe, but to the Christian, there’s no mystery
- Paul writes that it was God’s good pleasure to make known His master plan for the universe to the Church
- And that is to unite all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ
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- However, if we are too preoccupied with our own petty little affairs OR our horizons are too narrow, our vision obscured by blinkers, then we will fail to understand the significance of this blessing
- That, in fact, we can be a part of / & play a part in, the unfolding of God’s great plan, for the uniting of all things under Christ
