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Wonderful. We’re on a series together in the book of Ephesians. If you brought your Bible, I’ll feel free to turn to that book of the Bible. If you want to follow along, make notes in your Bible. It’s it can be a good thing to make notes in your Bible, right? And helps us in our study. You’ve, uh, it’s kind of a joke, but maybe I should say you’ve heard the joke before, right? Miss America pageant comes up, you get to the all important round. We need to know what she’s thinking. If she becomes Miss America, how is Miss America going to change the world? Right? Miss America, if you had. I don’t know how I know this, but if you had, if you had just one wish to to to have to to have answered, what would that wish be? I tell you, if you guys ever compete for that position, the answer is always world peace, right? I want I want world peace. You’re going to have to you get that right. It’s going a little bit. The answer is always world peace. And the premise of her idea is there’s there’s something wrong with the world and the solution to all of it is if we just could be just more peaceful people, we can. Can we all just get along right? And I think some of us long for opportunities for a world to become better for us. I think we all have that longing within us.
I like sometimes in my life when maybe things aren’t going perfect as planned or circumstances aren’t always the best. There’s a there’s a song I always put on. My wife knows this very well. It’s it’s the the Louis Armstrong song. Right. So great in our house because I sing it. I want to turn this off. It’s not. I listen to the song? Is that on? Test, test, test. There we go. The Louis Armstrong song. You guys ever heard of it? Right, I. Okay. Thank you. The song of Louis Armstrong starts off right in our home. Always sing it like Louis I see trees of blue, right? So it just makes my circumstances so much red. Robin I don’t even know what he says. I just get so happy when I sing that song right. It’s a wonderful world between Louis Armstrong and the wish of Miss America. This world is so much better, isn’t it? And I consider questions like this. I think it’s wonderful that, you know, if you want to win Miss America, you got to also want world peace. And I think it’s great that Louis Armstrong sings songs about about a world that that is, um, could be so much better. And he thinks about what a wonderful world it could be. Can I switch back to this? Okay. Thank you. And and then I consider the question because I follow Jesus. Um. What is it Jesus desires? What is it Jesus craves and wants? And and I wonder that same question if God were just to tell us.
One thing about his heart’s desire for this world. What? What would that be and what would that look like? And it tells us in Ephesians chapter one and verse 14, this is when we look at the text of Scripture today. This is what we are all motivating and moving towards together. This is the goal. I’m going to go and show you the goal in the beginning. It says in verse 14, we have a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory. God’s goes a little bit different than Miss America. It could have Miss America in mind, Louis Armstrong. But but the thought of God is that he could redeem this world to his own possession and for his own glory. When God thinks about his desire, his one wish. God’s desire involves all of us being gathered together for his great name. And when you consider the scope of this thought of God, it’s not just us. We’re the crowning glory of God’s creation, but it involves really the world. Because it tells us that one day Jesus will return and Jesus will establish his kingdom, and Jesus will take away all pain, all suffering, all sickness, and he’ll rule on the throne as King of kings and Lord of lords. And the Bible tells us the sermon on the Mount that Jesus gave in chapter five, six, and seven, that kingdom that he describes will will happen perfectly on this planet as he recreates it.
God’s desire is to redeem this world for his own possession. We’re driving towards that motivation today to consider that we’re we’re looking at what the apostle Paul tells us about that in his his complete desire as he shares this portion of Scripture in, in this with us is to motivate us in greater worship of who God is. Because if I if I were to ask you the question this morning. What is your plan for life? Do you remember? We started with that last week? What is what? What would be your dream or your wish? New year’s resolution. In verse two, it told us that we can see wonderful things in our lives happen if we are faithful in Christ. And so I ask the question, what? What is your dream? Or what is your motivation for life? And I got to say, if if we begin our desire for living in this world with the wrong perspective on what life is about. Your life will settle for less than its purpose. And I believe your soul will never be satisfied. If we we begin that question in life without God involved in it at all, and we seek the desire within ourselves of how we want to live, we will find temporary things that satisfy who we are. But within the end, in the end, they don’t fulfill us.
And so we, we look, we crave for more, more opportunity, more things, more possessions that can satisfy us, at least for a temporary period of time until I get tired of it and move on. What about if we pursue God in our lives? You think about this. What if our pursuit of God can be a good thing, but it’s not a great thing? Let me give you an example. Sometimes we come to church because we have needs, right? And that’s good. I come to church because I have a need, and I want to see how the Lord fulfills it, right? What if what if you come to church to worship and the reason you come is because your marriage is a wreck and you feel like it’s just hopeless. And so you come to church and you desire for God to just fix your marriage. And we begin to really treat God. It’s a good thing to allow God to have the opportunity to do that. God is glorified in that because we’re recognizing before God, God, you’re capable of doing this. But the problem is, if our pursuit is just for that reason, that the moment that God begins to answer that request within our lives, if that’s the motivation behind why we’re praising the Lord, the minute that God answers that, we’re done with him. We use them like a tool, we use them and lose them. Is there a motivation within our lives, the reason for which we seek after God that can propel us just beyond a circumstance? Do you see what I’m saying? As there’s something about God and our relationship with him that is greater than just a simplistic need.
Think about this for a minute. What? What if I walk into church and I come in and I say, God, I have this need, and I want you to answer it. What about this? What if God doesn’t answer it? What if I come in to worship the Lord because my marriage is struggling? And my marriage doesn’t get fixed. Or what if I come in because my my life is with my children is difficult. And my relationship with my kids don’t get stronger. What if I what if I come into church because I’m facing an ailment or a a sickness, and I want God to take care of it? God, I’m just praying you heal this. And and God continues to allow me to endure cancer. What if? Would we continue to worship? So the motivation for what we drive behind as we worship God can dictate whether or not we continue to praise his name. We think about this for just a moment. What if our motivation is never to come before God? Because I want him to answer questions? What if my motivation in coming before God is simply because he’s worthy? You think about this regardless of what God ever does in my life, I come to worship him because he is worthy of praise.
He is of infinite worth and I can worship him in his holy name. When you look at the life of the Apostle Paul or Jesus. Or even Timothy. When Paul worshipped the Lord and Paul served the Lord, Paul saw lots of great things that God did within his life. But we also find that there were prayers that Paul never had answered. Paul prayed, God, would you heal me from this thorn in the flesh? And the thorn in the flesh never went away. He told Timothy, Timothy, take some wine to help settle your stomach, because there’s an ailment in which God is just not going to take care of it is what you are to endure in life. Jesus himself suffered on the cross. You think of the disciples and the apostles, all of them dying a martyr’s death, but one. When we follow Jesus, it doesn’t dictate that life always goes perfectly. So how do we praise God in the midst of even the storms? The good benefit to that and thinking about praising God for his worth. Because as we focus on his kingdom, we focus on his goodness. We focus on his glory and who he is in our lives. Bible tells us, as we do that God begins to transform us. And God can move in the hearts of the lives of other people. You see in Ephesians chapter one through three, the way, the way that the Bible starts in the first three chapters is it shares with us the beauty of who God is.
It talks to us about understanding the worth of our worship towards God, apart from anything that God would ever do for us. And what we find is as we live for his kingdom. God then begins to strengthen our lives here on earth. Doesn’t necessitate that things always get better, but that they could. So when we talk about living for God’s kingdom, God’s God isn’t interested in always taking care of circumstances in a in an earth that is failing. The earth is passing away. This earth is sinful. He doesn’t desire for our hope to be here. He desires for our hope to be in a place in which all things will be perfected in his Kingdom for his glory. And so we talk about verse 14. What’s God’s picture for us? It says that God has a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory. That regardless of whatever happens in our lives, God is worthy of our praise. God is worthy of our worship, that God desires for us to place our hope in his goodness. And so what Paul does in this passage of Scripture. Paul has this pervading thought for us that God’s desires to collect those of us who desire to be a part of his kingdom, to to focus on the redemption that’s to come in his glory, for his goodness.
And he just wants to excite you about that worship of that great God. Paul is so excited to tell you about why God is so worthy of our worship, apart from any circumstance we endure in this world, that he does this in one sentence, in a prayer. That’s all we’re going to look at today. I’m coming to church, and you’re going to look at a sentence and a prayer and then. Amazing, right? God desires for us to have a godly perspective. It starts in verse three. Here’s the interesting thing. When I talk about one sentence, I talk about one sentence within the Bible. Uh, you don’t know this in English. Run on sentences are a bad thing. You do that in 12th grade grammar and your teacher flunks you right? In the Greek culture, run on sentences were beautiful. And in verse three Paul starts a sentence that doesn’t end till verse 14. You can imagine about that’s an F in college today, right? What Paul’s thinking. But in his time they considered that he’s so smart. Right. And what he does as he begins to list this for us in our worship for him, Paul just lists for us five things that he wants us to understand as to why we gather together. It’s not about what God’s necessarily going to do for us, but it’s about who he is. And in focusing on who he is, God then begins to transform our lives.
God works in us and through us. The goodness of his kingdom can can be seen in the life in which we live. But we we don’t do it for that pursuit. We do it for for knowing him. And so Paul starts his story this way. He says in verse three, blessed be the God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Paul’s literally saying in the Greek text it says, blessed be in the very beginning for us. And this word means it’s a word of adoration. It’s a word of worship. He’s saying to us, listen, adore God, worship God. I’m about to tell you the reasons why and recognizing for us that your worship becomes the echo of God’s glory in this world. I love the way that God works. He’s he’s given nothing else in creation, really a mouth to express his goodness. You can look out in the mountains and see the goodness of God. You can look into the valleys and see the goodness of God, but you as a creature. He’s created with a voice to echo his goodness into this world. And he’s saying to us as people, listen, this is something you need to get excited about for what I’m about to tell you, this is something that you need to adore. That you need to worship him because God has blessed you.
This is a different word for blessed. It literally means he’s blessed you. You know, you hear the old lady in the supermarket, you ask her how her life’s going. I’m just so blessed, you know it’s. And you’re blessed. That’s what it means. Adore God because you’re blessed with every spiritual blessing. And what in the world is he talking about with these spiritual blessings? Well, Paul’s about to list every reason in these spiritual blessings for which we can praise God. The good thing about the Bible is if you’ve got a question about a passage of Scripture, just read the next verse and it begins to open itself up. Right? And so when we think about what is the spiritual blessing that God has given us, we don’t have to invent it because he tells us in verse four it says this. Just as he chose us in him. Before the foundation of the world. That we would be holy and blameless before him and love. First reason that Paul gives us that we should desire to praise God. It’s because we have the the privilege. Of experiencing him and love. Do you seek God so that you can be loved? Or do you seek after God because you are loved? You see what it says in verse four? This passage of Scripture, God has chosen you in the foundations of the world to experience life with him in love. It tells us at the end of the verse that we should be walking in him, holy and blameless.
A picture for us is that our relationship would be perfect. I love what he says before the foundation of the world. If you consider this for just a moment, do you do you come to God so that you or do you live for God so that you can be loved? Or do you live for God because you are loved? Do you come to God so you can be loved? Or do you come to God because you are loved? The Bible says before the foundation of the world, before you did anything to even be lovable, before you thought that you were just so lovely or anything to not be loved. God desired to love you anyway. Isn’t that a wonderful thought to consider? You do nothing to earn the love of God, but God within his nature chooses to love you despite anything you’ve done. Or because of anything that you’ve done. He didn’t do this based on you. He did this. Based on him. God doesn’t love you because you’re lovable. God loved you before you even existed. Because God is love. You read first John chapter four and verse eight, it says that very simplistically, God is love. And the expression of love is always about giving itself away, isn’t it? Love is selfless. And within the nature of God and His selfless identity. Being love, God desired to give that away towards a creature.
And he created you in his image that he could lavish his love upon you. I love when you think about the expression or the statement. The theological thought of God is love. It doesn’t say that God loves. When we say something about I love you, it’s a determination of my will to place my affections towards that thing for which I love. Right. I made a decision, a conscious decision, that I would love something. But when you say something, you say something like this God is love rather than God. God does love. It totally changes the identity of and the scope of what it’s communicating to us in love. It’s saying to us, God doesn’t choose to love, but the very nature of his character is love. If you cut God up, what you see within the inside of God is nothing but love. God is love. It’s it’s his character. It’s who he is. It’s his being. God desires to love. God loves. God is love. And before the foundation of the world, no matter what you’ve done and who cares what you’ve done? God is love. It doesn’t matter what you do from this day forward, God loves. He’s working all things to the redemption, calling all people in verse 14 because God loves you. A thought along with that is. In addition to that, God is lovely. Not only is God expressing his love towards you, he’s expressing it in such a way that it makes him lovely and appealing towards us.
I thought about this this week. What? What is the number one reason or the number one thing I love about my wife? If I were to ask you that question, what would you maybe answer? I love my wife. Number one thing I love about my wife is she cooks good, right? Or ladies. What would you say about your husband? He’s got big muscles. I love that, right. That’s Stacy’s for me. I feel like you’re laughing at me. Not with me. All right. What is it that you love about your spouse? Do you love the way that they give you a back rub? Do you love the way that they speak good thoughts towards you? What is it that you love about your spouse? Can I tell you what I think the biblical answer should be? The thing that I love about my spouse is that she’s giving given herself to me. You realize the the gift of what marriage is about when you go before the altar to the person that you love to join in union with them. The picture of that identity that God has created for us is about giving yourself away. That two would become one. And the experiences that you receive, the reason that you love the particular things about your spouse or the things that they do for you, is because first and foremost, they’ve given themselves for you and towards you.
And not only is it loving that God loves us, but it’s also lovely that we can look back at God and we see that he’s given us the greatest expression of love towards us as people. He’s given us himself. And how far has he demonstrated the love for which he’s given himself by coming to this earth and becoming flesh and dying for you on a cross? The greatest extent for which someone could express love in this world is by laying themselves down and offering themselves towards you, and God has done that. Not only are you loved because God is love and he’s loved you, but God also looks lovely to us because what he’s done in demonstrating that. And Paul says, Praise God because we have the privilege of experiencing him and love. Some people had asked the question for those who are Calvinist, what does it mean that God chose us before the foundation of the world? I would just simply say this we follow Jesus in our lives because Jesus has been passionately pursuing us with his life. I love God because he first loved me. And because Jesus has demonstrated himself, because Jesus has been pursuing me with everything that he is, at some point in my life, God has awakened my dead spirit from not understanding the beauty of God and allowed me to see the beauty of who God is. And my response to this lovely God is to praise or adore and bless him for all that he is.
Verse five says this. Oh, excuse me, I have to click. He predestined us while he’s loving you towards a relationship with him in holiness and blamelessness. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. Paul saying, Praise God because we are adopted in his kingdom. You think about the word adoption. If you need to be adopted, does that mean you have a home? No. Right? The answer is no. That was not a rhetorical question. Let’s try that one more time. If you need to be adopted, does that mean you have a home? No. You have nowhere to belong. You’re orphaned. And God is using this word adopted to say to us, we have no kingdom for which we should be belonging to, or we could be belonging to. And it tells us in this verse that Jesus Christ has come to save us. Now, we’ve said this many times in our life. You’ve. You’ve said the word Jesus Christ, but the name Jesus Christ and the word adoption means something particular and specific and special to us as people. The word Jesus Christ literally means Yeshua Messiah. Or translated saving. King. Jesus is adopting you as a saving king. Why does he need to save us? Well, you have no home. You are in a place of despair. God needs to come into your life and rescue you.
And so the saving king comes to you. And we talk about a king. There’s always a kingdom. There’s got to be a kingdom. You can’t be a king without a kingdom. I know some of you guys call yourself kings in your little castles at home, right? Well, the same is true with God. God owns everything and he is the king. The saving king has come to this world to adopt you. Into a place for which you did not belong, accepting you into a kingdom for which he has called you to belong. We ask the question that begs the question. What keeps us from that kingdom. The answer to that is sin. We have a theological problem in our lives when we hear the response of that. God wants to adopt us for his kingdom. He’s a saving king. What he’s saving us from is sin. Because right now, I’m a slave to sin. I need him to adopt me. But when we hear the word sin in our lives, we we tend to have a theological problem with the way that we think about that. Because when I often say, or when someone says to you that’s sinful, the immediate response that we have within our mind is that, oh, I need to do better, right? Oh, I’m bad. I need to do better. When we talk about sin, I’m bad and I need to do better. And and if I do better enough, then maybe I’ll be good enough for the king that’s supposed to save me.
To allow me to come into his kingdom. The problem with that is that we’re we’re not identifying what this verse says. We’re not doing the saving, and we’re not living the good enough to get into this kingdom. The verse tells us that we didn’t adopt ourselves to God’s kingdom. God has adopted us to his kingdom, and we think about the word sin. It’s not about you need to do better. The Bible doesn’t describe it in that way. When the Bible talks about sin, it’s not saying you’re bad. When the Bible talks about sin, it’s saying you’re dead. In a matter of fact, if you turn to Ephesians chapter two and verse one and you look at that, it says, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, meaning it doesn’t matter how good you do for the rest of your life, you can’t bring dead back to life. Dead is dead. Bible tells us in Romans 623, the wages of sin is what? Death. When we talk about sin, dead is dead. Sin means death. It doesn’t mean you’re bad. It doesn’t mean try better. It means you’re dead. And so what Paul is saying to us is the beauty of who Jesus is, is that he’s coming to a dead man’s world, of a kingdom in which you did not. You did not belong. And he’s offered you his kingdom as a saving king.
God has brought the dead back to life. And he’s made all things new. Praise God because we are adopted. In this kingdom. And God is loving you with a relentless love. I love how he says it at the end of verse five, according to the kind intention of his will. Can I tell you before you want to humbly submit to a king that’s offering such a glorious kingdom, you’ve got to believe that last part. According to the kind intention of his will as it works within our lives. So I’ve seen a lot of people in this world fight against the goodness that God offers them, not really believing that God’s will is good for them, but their will is better for themselves. I’m going to say in some respects they’ve got a very good reason, because growing up in religious systems that have just robbed you of the joy of understanding a great relationship for God and with God. But God has called you to something better than any misrepresentation of any religious system that exists. God’s called you before his goodness. He loves you. And he’s called you into his kingdom. He’s adopted you. Meaning the goodness of his kingdom you get the opportunity to possess. But you’ve got to believe that it’s according to the kind intention of his will. This is the way we rebel against them. I just want to be free. I don’t want to be. I don’t want anything to do with God.
I just want to be free. And you know when when God hears us express ourselves in that way. I got to be thinking from God’s perspective. And I have to believe that God would just consider that really suicide. Because what we’re saying to God is, God, I’ve got this. I’m just going to be good. Dad can come back to life, I can I can do good enough and resurrect myself. Right? It’s like this as a child, as a parent, you think about your children going outside and they say, you know, mom, I’m listening to what you have to say, but today I just want to be free. I’m running around my skippy’s out in the road, right? I am free, and you look out the window and your kid’s just running down the street like arms spread wide. I’m free, I’m free, I’m free. Right. And you’re thinking, kid, that is crazy. That is suicide. Here’s what I want for you. I want you to be free. But. But I want you to be free in my kingdom where I can protect you. I want you to be free. Where I’m. I’m bringing my life upon you. I want you to be free in the yard that I’ve created for you and the kingdom for which I possess. The one that I’ve called you to out in the street. Run around naked. That is not free. That’s anarchy. That’s chaos. But God has called you to be free.
According to the kind intention of his will. Praise God because we are adopted into his kingdom. Gives us another reason. In verse six he says to praise to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. We ask the question we see in verse 345, God has bestowed his blessing upon us, that we are to worship him, that God has called us to so much more, even in this world doesn’t go the way that we desire. We just focus on his goodness and glory because he has loved us before the foundation of the world. Someone loves you more than anything that you could ever imagine, and he’s adopting you. He’s called you to something so much better than any freedom that you might want to express in any other avenue in this world, and we call the word for that grace. God has extended his free gift to you. Verse six, you’ve done nothing to earn it, but he’s given it anyway because he loves you regardless of what you’ve done or not done. God loves you. And so he begins to explain what that grace really means for us in verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. Saying to us, Jesus has come. Jesus has become that sacrifice for you. Jesus has laid himself down to pay for your sin because you couldn’t afford to pay for it.
You were a dead man. And in verse eight, which he lavished on us. In all wisdom. An insight. I love the way it says it in verse seven. Some translations, I think, do a poor job of this. The Greek word is better translated rather than redemption as ransomed. You think about the two images that God has given us about who we are as people. He he has adopted us because we didn’t belong and he has ransomed us. And a few years ago, more than a decade ago now, there was a movie called ransomed, right? Mel Gibson made it. His kid got stolen. Saw the way. If you’ve seen the movie how he behaves towards getting his kid back, he is recklessly abandonment. Just going towards that goal of finding his child and purchasing him out of the darkness of the people who’ve kidnapped him and bringing them back into the home in which he’s he’s loved. And Mel Gibson is willing to pay whatever the cost is just to have that child back with him. And saying to us in the same verse that God desires to ransom you, that he’s created you for his kingdom, to experience a relationship with him, that we’ve been kidnapped from his presence, and God is going to this world paying whatever the cost would be that you may come to know Him in His Kingdom. And he has ransomed you. In verse 911, it goes on, we’re going to go a little bit faster here.
But it says, and 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 in the earth. God is saying to us as people that he’s been working throughout history, revealing his will to us. And throughout the Old Testament, people have longed for the coming of this Messiah who would rescue us, who would offer himself for us, who would invite us to his kingdom, been longing to see this Messiah in the flesh? And now we’ve been able to see him. I love the beauty of what Christianity is for me, because not only not only spiritually does it satisfy my soul, but logically it makes so much sense. I was reading this week about a man named Anthony Flew. Anthony Flew served in World War two. He he was a philosopher and he was also an atheist. Anthony flew hated God. And I think a lot of that came from seeing the destruction that existed within World War Two. And so he literally lived his life in England, traveling around the world as a philosopher and ecologist, teaching as a professor, proclaiming how God isn’t real. And towards the end of his life. As Antony flew got closer to going to eternity.
He began to question his own theories. At the end of his life, Antony Flew finally came out and stated, out of all these years that I’ve taught against God, I’ve come to realize that God is real. And as we begin to study about God, he then said to all the people that he had taught for centuries that not only is he real. But I’m pretty sure it’s it’s the Christian God that I’m to follow. It’s the Christian god out of anything that makes sense. It’s a Christian God. And the reason Antony Flew was able to see that in his life. It’s because of what verse 9 to 11 says. God has been culminating throughout history working his plan, redemptive, redemptive plan for us as people to adopt us, to create us as his own possession, to the glory of his praise, that we may experience the goodness of his Kingdom. And we’ve seen that Jesus has come. Prophetically fulfilling the Cummings hundreds of years before Jesus walked on the earth. Prophecy dictated what he would do, where he would live, how he would die, what it would look like, specific things that would happen, where he would live. Where he would be born. And we have copies of manuscripts of Jesus’s coming. The prophecy fulfilled hundreds of years older than Christ, prophesying that Jesus would die on a cross before the cross even existed. It’s mind blowing, unless you consider that God has been working this out from the beginning of creation, that we may see it fulfilled.
Praise him because we have seen the joy of his hand at work. And finally Paul says this. Praise him. Because we have the eternal promise that cannot be broken. It says in him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to his purpose, who works all things out 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 this is important. You were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who he has given us a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory. I want to point out one thing somewhat related to this text. If you pick up in verse three and you read, it begins to tell us according to God the Father. And then it says, working itself out in Jesus Christ. And you get to verse 13, of which you were sealed in the Holy Spirit. I love this about God, because what it’s saying to us is the Trinity. I won’t get into the theology of that today, right. But the idea of what the Trinity is, is working itself together, collectively within you. God and the Triune God.
He’s working himself in your life. You talk about love for just a moment. God is love. And the way that we know that God is love is that God has been able to express his love before the foundation of the world. God lives in community. Father, son and spirit. And before anything ever existed, God was love. Loving itself in community. And you were created in his image. And in being created in God’s image. You also desire to be a part of community. Ever think within your soul how you just want to be close to people? Sometimes. You want to be a part of something bigger than yourself? God created you in his image and God created you for community. And so it tells us that the Holy Spirit has sealed us. I’m going to do this quickly. He sealed us. And sealing literally means it’s a king’s stamp. When a king would make a law during the Old Testament New Testament time, he would seal it. And the law stated that when a king sealed something, the the seal could never be broken unless someone of higher authority than the king would break it. And no one was of higher authority than the king. Today it’s like a stamp on an envelope. Today you go to mail a letter, you address it to someone and you put your name on there and it’s stamped. That’s sealed according to our laws. And no one can open that envelope unless it’s the person who’s it’s addressed to, or the person who wrote the letter and addressed their name on the outside.
Binding it’s law. And what God is saying to us that God has stamped you. God has sealed you by His Spirit, promising you that you belong to him, and nothing is ever going to take you away from that kingdom. Your Christ. And Paul gives us. Five reasons to praise him. And so he says in verse 14. Your pledge of the inheritance, and this with a view to the redemption of God’s own purpose, to the praise of his glory. Won’t stop. And I’m going to close with just a prayer. Paul writes for us, but I’m just going to say this as a church. If you’ve been if you’ve been in Churchianity long enough. You’ve probably at least heard some of these points that we’ve talked about today, right? Matter of fact, there could be a place in our lives that we’re so calloused to everything that was stated today that you’re saying to yourself, you know, this is nothing new, homie, right? You did not tell me anything I didn’t already know. Give me something to get excited about, Paul. Tell me. Get excited. How am I going to get excited about something I don’t already know? All right, I got to tell you, this is the goodness of who God is. This is the reason he’s called us to adore him. There’s no where else you’re going to go in your life and be able to experience what God has talked about.
And if this doesn’t excite you for what God has done. We say it here sometimes, but your wood is wet, right? You need something to light your fire. Because this is what I believe the world is craving. Everything that we just stated and all of these verses that Paul said in one sentence, believe it or not. Every thing that he just said. The world wants to see that it’s real. Jesus. I would think within our own hearts desires to see that this is real in our own lives. That we really believe this, that in a place where people are desperate for hope, a place where we feel dead, a place where we just want to be loved and we’re trying to so tired of trying to be accepted that we just want to find a place to just gather in something and be loved and feel community and know that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves and have a hope that lasts forever. And regardless of what happens to this world, to know that everything is going to be okay. If we could just see that. And to that I say, man, if God’s people could just live it. If we stop coming to church because we’re treating God like he’s a tool to be used and say, God, I need this, you fix it, and now I’m done.
And we just start saying, God, I’m coming here because you’re worth it. I’m coming here because I want me myself to echo the praise of your glory in this world. Then the world is going to see the goodness of who God is. I have to believe that if we just focus on what Paul is talking about here in the goodness of God. Guys even going to begin to transform our own lives. I love the way Paul started it in verse two, writing it to those who are faithful in Christ. You’re just faithful. To Christ. God transforms you for a kingdom whose glory will not end, and a King whose glory will not fade away. And in doing that, God can even make this life better to. He shows us in the first three chapters the goodness of who God is and the last three chapters how it makes our world such a better place. The world aches to see this as real. So here’s my prayer for us this morning. It’s the same as the Apostle Paul. We’ll just close with this. Paul is saying to us, listen, I’m going to tell you all this, and sometimes it’s going to fall on deaf ears and sometimes it’s going to fall on calloused hearts. But I want you to know that this is my prayer for you. And so he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of his calling it so much better than any hope we put anywhere else.
What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us, who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and all authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fits all in all. Jesus is worth it. Is worth it regardless of what happens. And I want you to focus on the hope of that calling. And so I conclude with this thought. Miss America wants world peace, right? And Louis Armstrong wants a more beautiful world. And who cares? That is not the solution. I mean, you get peace. What does it offer you beyond this? And the world gets okay. What does it offer you beyond this? But if you can get Jesus, not only does it give you a hope for the kingdom to come, but it also gives us an opportunity to see a better world in which we live. Miss America, take your peace. I take Jesus right? I want Jesus and to adore him and allow my worship to echo his glory.