Friday, January 20, 2017, 4:04 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Trust Him.” Speak, Lord, your words to
my heart. I read Ephesians 1:1-14 (NASB).
To the Faithful
(vv. 1-2)
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.
Paul wrote here to the saints
of God, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. They are the loyal, true, trustworthy,
dedicated, committed, persistent and continuous followers of Jesus Christ, who
are full of and steadfast in faith and in allegiance to God, yet not yet perfect
(fully mature). Yet, all the glory goes to God, for only in Him, by his grace, and
in the power and working of His Holy Spirit within us, can any of us be found
faithful in Christ Jesus.
Holy and Blameless (vv. 3-8a)
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.
We who are in Christ Jesus,
by faith in him, have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. So, what are
some of those spiritual blessings we have been given? We have been granted
faith and repentance unto forgiveness of sins and salvation. We have been
delivered out of slavery to sin so that we can now become bond-servants (or
bond-slaves) of God and of his righteousness. Also, we have been provided with
new lives in Christ Jesus, free from bondage to sin, and free to now walk in
the Spirit in God’s holiness, as well as the promise and hope of eternal life
with God in heaven.
We, too, have been furnished
with the Holy Spirit of God to indwell us, and to empower, strengthen and keep
us in his love, as well as to teach, counsel, admonish, encourage, comfort and
help us to live godly and holy lives, pleasing unto God. We have been given
spiritual gifts of the Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ, and we
have been assigned, by God, roles and responsibilities (body parts) within the
church for the mutual edification of one another and for the furtherance of the
gospel of Christ. And, we have been granted all we need, in the Spirit, to
exercise these gifts and to fulfill these assigned roles, in love, and for the
benefit of others.
We were chosen before the
foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before God/Christ. What this
means is that, even before God/Jesus created the world, he chose us to be one
of his, and to be holy (set apart from the world because we are becoming like
Christ) and blameless (because of what Jesus did in dying on the cross for our
sins). He is the one who knit us together in our mother’s wombs, and who called
us into his service even before we were born. What this is saying is that our
God is absolutely sovereign over all that he has made, and that God even placed
us with the parents he gave us, and he allowed us to go through the things we
have gone through in our lives in order to make us into the people he wants us
to be for his purposes and for his glory. And, he didn’t make us to be self-serving
but to be God-honoring and obedient in all that we do.
According to His Purpose (vv. 8b-14)
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. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to
the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of
His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the
gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the
Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a
view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
Our God is eternal, i.e. he is without
beginning and without end. I, who am human, and finite, have difficulty with
this concept, and yet I accept it by faith. My human mind thinks in terms of
beginning and end, so eternity is something that is just difficult for my mind
to grasp, and yet I believe it because God said it. Yet, because our God is
eternal, and all knowing and all powerful, etc., he sees the whole big picture,
and he planned the whole big picture, too. Even before he created the world he
had us in mind, and who we should be, and what we should do, and what our
ultimate end would be. And, yet, I believe he has also given us the will to
choose him or to reject him, i.e. he didn’t make us puppets on a string and him
the puppet master, as though we have no choice in what we do or how we behave.
We do!
Anyway, the whole point of this is that
we were not placed on this planet earth by chance or by accident. God made us
for a purpose, and with eternity in mind. We are not here for our own will and
good pleasure, but for the glory of God, and to serve his purposes for our
lives. We are here on planet earth, in other words, to serve our Lord and to
love our fellow humans with god-like (agape) love. We are also here to love
God, and we love God by obeying Christ’s commandments (his Word).
When Jesus Christ died on a cross, he
became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. He died
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; that we might no longer
live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us. We are for the
praise of his glory! Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must
deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow
(obey) him. He said if we hold on to our old lives (of living for sin and self)
we will lose them (for eternity), but if we lose our lives (are crucified with
Christ in death to sin), we will gain eternal life (See: 2 Co. 5:15, 21; 1 Pet.
2:24; Lu. 9:23-25; cf. Ro. 8:1-14).
A lot of people are giving the
impression these days that God’s grace is a free license to continue in sin
without guilt and without remorse, but this is far from the truth. God’s grace,
which brings salvation, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait
for Christ’s return. In fact, Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to redeem
us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for
His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Tit. 2:11-14). Through Jesus’
death on a cross he redeemed us (bought us back for God) with his blood, not so
we could live however we want, but so we would be his very own possession and
he would be our Lord (owner-master).
When Jesus is truly our Lord, and we
are following him in obedience, and in surrender to his will for our lives, which
he had planned for us all along, not everyone will like us. Many will hate and
reject us, just as they hated and rejected Jesus Christ, and for many of the
same reasons. And, yet we are not to fear what humans may do to us, because God
has a plan for it all, to bring many to faith in Jesus Christ, and for the
growth and maturity of his followers. We often grow the deepest in our faith
with our Lord when our faith is being put to the test, i.e. when it is
challenged by opposition. So, don’t be afraid of persecution, because it must
come before times will have reached their fulfillment, and our Lord will return
for us, his bride. Be strong in the Lord and in his love, and keep sharing
Christ and love God fully.
Trust Him / An Original
Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be of courage;
Be strong and take heart today.
Do not fear when foes attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in times
Of trouble and distress,
He’ll comfort you in all ways
As you trust Him with your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll not leave you.
You can always count on Him.
He will fulfill all He promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for this life.
Let Him lead you. Open your heart;
Let his truth envelope you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins today.
Make Him your Lord and your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He leads you
In His service; be His witness,
Telling others about Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
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