Sunday, June 7, 2015,
7:18 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “The Party’s Over,” which is from the musical production, “Bells Are Ringing.”
The Party’s Over
Betty Comden &
Adolph Green / Jule Styne
Artist: Judy Holliday
The party's over, it's time to call it a day
No matter how you pretend
You knew it would end this way
It's time to wind up the masquerade
Just make your mind up
The piper must be paid…
Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Ephesians 1:1-14 (NASB).
Predestination and
Free Will (vv. 1-8)
Paul,
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To
the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before
Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the
glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according
to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
Because I am a human being, I have a finite (limited) mind. I
think in terms of beginning and end. So, when I think of God as having always
existed, although I accept that by faith, it is difficult, at times, for me to “wrap
my mind” around that concept. Yet, in reality, God – Father, Son and Holy
Spirit – has always existed. He (they) created the world, and they (he) created
humankind. Jesus Christ, God the Son, when on the earth, in human flesh, was
fully God and yet fully man. He was God incarnate, and yet sinless, which is
why he was able to be our perfect (spotless) Lamb sacrifice to take away the
sins of the entire world.
Another difficult concept for some of us, as humans, is this
idea of predestination, especially in light of scriptures which seem to suggest
we have free will to receive Christ or to not receive him; to turn from our sin
or to not turn from our sin. Many Christians are conflicted between the
teachings in scripture on predestination and what appears to be free will. I
admit that I do not have total understanding on either of those subjects, but I
accept both, by faith, and believe that they coexist, and that they harmonize
one with the other.
I believe that God chose us in Christ, even before he
created the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight and to be adopted as
his sons and daughters. And, I believe the chosen of God in Christ will come to
Christ, if they have not already done so (See: Jn. 6:37). Yet, I also believe
the scripture that says that God is not willing that any should perish but that
all should come to repentance (See: 2 Pet. 3:9), and the one where it says
Jesus died, not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world (See: 1
Jn. 2:2), and the one that says that God so loves the world that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever is believing in him will not perish, but will
have everlasting life (See: Jn. 3:16).
Yet, I don’t believe God would have me try to resolve
predestination and free will right now. What I believe he would have me focus
on in this passage today is what we were chosen to and for, and how that
ultimately affects our future.
To and For
He chose us to be holy. “Holy” means to be set apart
(different) from the world because we are becoming like Christ. He chose us to
be blameless in his sight. When Jesus Christ died on the cross he took upon
himself the sins of the entire world. Our sins died with him and were buried
with him, and when he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over
sin, hell, Satan and death. By his stripes we are healed. When we believe in
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we die with Christ to sin, and we
are resurrected to new lives in Christ Jesus, by God’s grace, through faith, in
order that we might live to righteousness. All this is the working of the Holy
Spirit of God in our lives, as we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ in
repentance and faith. By faith in Jesus Christ we are made righteous in God’s
sight, because Christ’s righteousness is credited to our accounts. Yet, faith
in Jesus Christ also means we walk in Christ’s righteousness and holiness,
empowered by the Spirit.
He predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters
through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the pleasure of his will – to the
praise of his glorious grace. So, what is the pleasure of his will? It is that
we be adopted, yet it doesn’t end there. We are not saved (past), and then life
goes by, and then we go to heaven (future). There is an in-between. He didn’t
save us just so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die. He saved us
so we would die to sin and live to righteousness (See: 1 Pet. 2:24). It is his
will that we no longer walk according to the flesh, but that we walk according
to the Spirit. These are those in whom the righteous requirements of the law
will be fully met (See: Ro. 8:3-14).
It is his will that we walk in his love, and in his truth,
and that we abide in him, and his words abide in us. It is his will that we
follow (obey) him, and that we be his servants and witnesses. And, all this and
more is for the praise of his glorious grace, because his grace which brings
salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to
life self-controlled, godly and upright lives while we wait for Christ’s
return. This is true grace!
The Party’s Over (vv.
9-10)
In
all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according
to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration
suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in
Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
I read several different plot summaries for the musical production,
“Bells are Ringing.” They varied, one
from the other, so I will share generally what I picked up from them
collectively.
The lead role in the play (1956) was that of a woman named
Ella who worked for Sue’s answering service, and as a switchboard operator. As
best as I can surmise, Ella used her position in this company to listen in on
her client’s phone conversations – to spy on them - in order to gather
information about them, which she then used to meet them in person, but without
revealing to them who she really was. As well, on the job she used fake identities
with each of these people (clients), pretending to be someone different with
each one. So, she was living a lie.
One of the clients was a man named Jeff. She fell in love
with Jeff, and he with her. He invited her to a party. The people at the party
were all pretentious and snubbed her, evidently, and she felt out of place. She
realized her relationship with Jeff was founded on a lie, and so she left him.
I believe that is when she sang the song, “The
Party’s Over,” which is about stopping the masquerade, realizing she knew
it would end this way, and that there would be consequences to pay for her
deceit.
This reminds me much of all that is going on within our
nation and with our government (nationally and globally) in the area of spying
on the citizens of nations without them knowing, by listening in on their phone
conversations, and reading their emails, text messages, social media or other
chat messages in order to collect data on them which is to be used to classify
people in various groups, particularly for the purpose of determining which
ones they consider a threat to national security, or who might be
anti-government, or who might be a religious “extremist,” etc.
Yet, it also reminds me of what I have read about the
government engaging citizens to spy on their neighbors and to report things
about them back to the government. One day all this information is going to be
used against the people in this nation, and truly the party will be over then.
What has been hidden behind closed doors will come out in the open. And, all
hell will literally break loose. Yet, I also see that these who are the targets
of the spying will not be the only ones to have their private lives on display
for all to see. I also see that those who are doing these acts will also have
to “pay the piper,” i.e. there will be consequences for their actions, too. One
day all the lies will be exposed, and the party will be over.
One day, when the times will have reached their fulfillment,
God is going to do some housecleaning, and he will put all things back in the
order they were supposed to be. The church will not be excluded from this. He
will cleanse his body of all its impurities, and he will revive his adulterous church,
and he will expose all the lies and all the liars for what they are, and the
church will no longer serve man as her head, or the government as her head, but
she will truly serve only Jesus Christ as her only true head. When this
happens, the party will truly be over. No more fun and games and role playing
and pretending and wearing masks and spying and cheating and stealing. All will
come crashing down. And there will be consequences to pay. And, then, life as
we now know it will be over.
God made his will known to us, with a view in mind of this
time at the end when he will judge the world, and “every knee will bow before
me; every tongue will acknowledge God” (Ro. 14:11; cf. Phil. 2:10-11). His will
for us, his chosen, is for us to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be
adopted as his children, in accordance (agreement; harmony) with his pleasure
(what brings him pleasure) and will – to the praise of his glorious grace. It
is his will that we be for the praise of his glory (v. 12). So, he works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (v. 11). So, God will do
what is necessary to bring us, his chosen, into conformity to his will and to his
purposes for our lives. And, I believe he will do it in judgment before the end
in order to purify his bride so she is ready to meet her husband. And, what he
is showing me today, I believe, is one of the ways in which he will purify her.
He will allow spies to be used against her, and she will be severely
persecuted, and via that persecution he will make his bride ready for the
wedding banquet.
Much of the church in America has been living like church is
a party where we are supposed to have fun and be entertained, etc. I believe
the Lord is saying one day the party will be over, and all the masquerades will
cease, and there will be consequences to be paid, but through it all God will
accomplish his purposes and his will for his chosen ones who have been marked
in Christ with a seal, “the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing
our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the
praise of his glory” (vv. 13-14).
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