You've Got A Lot Going For You, Part 1: God The Father

In any church you’ll find some members who sit on the sidelines, feeling like they don’t really belong on the team. They have heard a number of times that God loves them, but in their hearts, they wonder. They feel a little lonely at church, a little on the sidelines. And they’d like to get to know people more. They have good friends in other places. But in the church, well, who would want to get to know them? They don’t measure up. And when they hear that the church needs people to help with different projects, they really do want to be helpful. But “What do I have to contribute?” they ask. And they sit on the sidelines. They would really like to do more. But they figure they just don’t have much going for them, much to contribute. Does anybody here recognize that feeling? It’s all too common.

Last week we started learning about the church in Ephesus. Or, we could say the churches in Ephesus because probably there were many little churches meeting in people’s homes. And I can picture some people in those little house churches feeling like they didn’t measure up.

Many of them had grown up in families that worshipped other gods, so they knew nothing about the great stories of the Old Testament that had prepared the people of Israel for their Messiah. When Paul had been there teaching them about the Bible, he might have started talking about something that God said to Abraham. And maybe several of them would lean over and whisper to the person sitting beside them, “Hey, who was Abraham, again? I’ve heard that name but I don’t know what he did.”

Maybe Paul would tell a joke about the animals in Noah’s ark and everybody else laughed, but they didn’t get it. They had a lot of background information to catch up on. And that is very doable, but it takes a while.

And some of them grew up participating in some pretty wild things in those temples that served other gods. Some of the temples maintained temple prostitutes who were used by the men as a part of the worship. It took a while to get that out of your mind. Maybe that’s part of the strict rules about men and women that Paul had for the Christian churches in those cities. Some of them would have wild drinking parties as part of their worship of one of the gods. Some of them had been focused on manipulating the gods to give you what you want by bringing them presents. And deep down inside somewhere they knew all along that there was a real God who shouldn’t be treated like that, but somehow it took a long time for that to come to the surface. And now they are worshipping Jesus Christ and the more they learn the more they say to themselves, ‘How could I have been so dumb? I’m ashamed of myself. I’m afraid there isn’t much hope for someone like me.”

Last week we looked at just the first verse of Paul’s letter to that church in Ephesus and I gave you some background to what was going on when Paul wrote it. Today we get into the real body of the letter. And it seems to me that Paul may well have had some borderline people in mind right from the start of his letter, people who felt like they didn’t have much going for them at all. And he started out, right up front with words of encouragement for them. May it be an encouragement to you. You have a lot going for you. Our text for this morning is Ephesians 1:3-14.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.