Sermon preached by Pastor Larry C. Brincefield on Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Title: Why Praise?
Text: Ephesians 1:1-6
Introduction
1. If you remember from our study of Philippians some time ago…
Even in the midst of being in prison…
Facing a potential death penalty…
Paul was able to be joyful…
We see the same optimism here in our study of Ephesians…
As we study this next passage of Scripture, we find…
2. 3 reasons why we praise the Lord
Body
1. He has blessed us v. 3
A. We praise the Lord because He blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing”
We are entering that time of year when our hearts turn toward thanksgiving…
Preachers are always quick to point out that we should ALWAYS be thankful…
Not just at Thanksgiving time…
And this verse certainly gives us good cause to praise the Lord…
He has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing.
Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
Of course, we are quick to recognize that God blesses us with financial blessings…
The choir is practicing a song that talks about some of the blessings that we have…food, home, shoes, etc.
We physical blessings…
But this verse specifically mentions SPIRITUAL blessing…
And, as we consider our SPIRITUAL blessing…
We think of God’s gift of GRACE…
The gift of SALVATION…
The gift of on-going spiritual blessing…
Simply enjoying His presence, day in and day out…
Is a great spiritual blessing.
EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING IS OURS!!!
Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow! (Ken Thomas)
B. An important point that bears mentioning here…
God blesses US with spiritual blessing…
We are unable to bless GOD with spiritual blessing…
We cannot give God salvation…grace…
Those things only come from God…
But what we CAN do is give God our praise…
We can bless God with our lips…
We can bless God with the song of praise in our hearts…
We can bless God by obeying Him…
We can bless God by serving others…
2. We praise the Lord because He chose us v 4.
A. Scripture says, “before the creation of the world”
“Our salvation is not an afterthought…
But
It is not something that God stumbled upon at some point in history…
And thought…”hey that’s a pretty good idea”…
It was His plan from before the beginning…
He has chosen us to be in an intimate relationship with Him…
It is His desire for ALL people come to repentance…
Now, you might think that that word “us” is kind of a generic, all inclusive “us”…
As in “us, the whole human race”…
But I think we would do well to make that more personal…
God has chosen ME…
God picked ME to be in a special relationship with Him….
God loves ME
“Yes, Jesus love me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves, the Bible tells me so”
He loves me and He loves you…
Repeat after me, “Jesus chose me”…
“Jesus picked me”…
“Jesus loves me”
B. Verse 4 goes on to say that we were chosen for a purpose…
“to be holy and blameless in His sight”…
He has chosen us to be “sanctified”…
He has chosen us to be “set apart” for His use…
He has chosen us to be clean and pure…
He hasn’t chosen us so that we can go out and embrace the world…
He hasn’t chosen us so that we will just go our own way…
He has chosen us to be holy…
3. We praise God because He predestined us v 5
A. Here’s that word “predestination” that has so many people uptight…
Theologians by the hundreds have written millions of pages trying to explain predestination.
I could spend many sermons trying to explain it…
But instead let me try to so in a few words
This is a restatement from the previous verse…
He chose us”
Predestination found throughout Scripture…
It emphasizes the fact that God initiates salvation…
We don’t come to God on our own…
When we start to ask spiritual questions…
When our conscience starts to bother us…
That is the work of God drawing us to Him…
Theologians call it “prevenient grace”…
“grace that goes before”…
Grace that reaches out to us before we even know what God is doing.
John 15:16 Jesus says, “you did not choose me, but I chose you”
B. God’s election is not arbitrary…
God does not randomly choose some to go to heaven…
And others to go to hell…
Without regard to our individual choices…
“for God so loved the ‘select few’ that He gave His only begotten Son, so that ‘it doesn’t matter who believes or doesn’t believe’, because if you didn’t get picked you will perish…and if you are one of the lucky ones, you will have eternal life”?
No…”for God so loved THE WORLD…that He gave His only begotten Son…so that WHOS0EVER believes on Him will not perish but have everlasting life”
D. L. Moody says, “The elect are the whosoever wills, the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts.”
Romans 10:13 says, “EVERYONE who calls upon the Name of the Lord WILL BE SAVED”.
C. What some call predestination is simply God’s foreknowledge…
God is All-Powerful…
God is All-Knowing…
And certainly God can KNOW who will respond to the Gospel and who will not…
Just because He KNOWS it…
Doesn’t mean that He CAUSES it…
D. Those who DO respond…
They are the “elect”…
They are the “chosen”…
They are Church…
The “ekklesia”…the call-out ones” ( Beacon vol 9. 146, 147)
I liked one of my professor’s definitions better…
“the called forth ones”… (Dr. J. Otis Sayes)
Called forth for service…
E. In fact, this verse becomes even clearer when you read on…
“He predestined us TO BE ADOPTED AS HIS SONS, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST”
When we are born, we can’t really claim to be a child of God…
We are born in sin…
We are destined for hell…
But when God begins to reach out for us…
And those of us that respond to that reaching…
We invite Jesus into our hearts…
And He ADOPTS us into His family…
A lady named Nancy tells the following story, “My husband and I have three children: one son (whom is adopted) and two natural born daughters, One Sunday when we were leaving the church, a woman came up to me and said, "You have the most adorable children, which one is adopted?" I looked at her and smiled and said, “I don’t remember."
When we become adopted into God’s family…
We become full heirs…
Co-heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17)
Conclusion
1. We have so much to be thankful for…
And as we contemplate these things…
Let our voices ring out with praise to God…
Why?...
Because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing…
Because He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless…
Because He predestined us to be adopted as His child…
And verse 6 concludes our text for tonight…
And it certainly serves wonderfully as a benediction…
“to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”
