BROADCASTS.com

b'

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation (Ephesians 1:11-13a).

Thanks to Pastor Anthony for providing extra devotions while I was on vacation. He left on Tuesday to attend meetings in New Jersey. Our plan was that he would do last week, and I would do this week. However, once he got started on the opening verbs, his wanted to finish them.

So, while out walking this morning, I listened to all his devotions on Ephesians 1:1-10. About half-way through, I felt like I was swimming in the oceans of God\\u2019s grace. These oceans are perfectly safe: one cannot drown in them, but neither can one find the bottom. Once drawn into them, we can no longer find the shore, yet we never get tired of swimming in them, nor do experience any feeling of being lost. These waters of God\\u2019s mercy are endlessly refreshing and ceaselessly life giving and every dive into their depth offers new vistas of wonder.

In our text, which is still the same sentence, Paul continues exploring this grace while introducing a theme that runs through many of his letters. The theme is: the mercy of the cross is poured out to all peoples: Jews and non-Jews. Paul, a Jew, wrote as a Jew. But the Holy Spirit enabled him to perceive that, though Jews were the first to believe the gospel, God\\u2019s plan in Christ was to draw all peoples into his great reconciliation project of the cross. All nations are drawn into the glories of his kingdom.

He begins with first person pronouns, \\u2018we\\u2019, by which he means the Jews. Then he continues, \\u201cand you also were included in Christ\\u201d. This \\u2018you\\u2019 refers to non-Jews, who largely made up the church in Ephesus. His burden is to re-assure them that they are full members of Christ\\u2019s church. But equally, he needs to convince Jewish Christians that they no longer have preferential status. All the blessings elucidated in the opening verses are poured out on Jewish and non-Jewish believers alike.

He borrows Old Testament language to do this. \\u201cFor the Lord\\u2019s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance\\u201d (Deuteronomy 32:9). \\u201cBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance\\u201d (Psalm 33:12). \\u201cThe Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession\\u201d (Deuteronomy 7:6).

These phrases, \\u2018the Lord\\u2019s portion\\u2019, \\u2018allotted inheritance\\u2019, and \\u2018treasured possession\\u2019, are background to Ephesians 1. The words used to describe Israel belonging to God in the Old Testament are now used to describe how the church belongs to God in Christ. As much as God chose Israel, now God choses the church as his possession.

Eugene Peterson explains what this means. We live in a \\u201ccosmos in which God starts everything. Everything. There is not a single verb commanding us to do something, not so much as a hint or suggestion that we are to do anything at all. No requirements, no laws, no chores, no assignments, no lessons. We are born into a cosmos in which all the requirements and conditions for growing up are not only in place but in action. Once we get this through our heads and assimilated into our imaginations, we are out of the driver\\u2019s seat forever. The practice of resurrection is not a do-it-yourself self-help project. It is God\\u2019s project, and he is engaged full-time in carrying it out. This rescues us from small-mindedness, from thinking too small about our lives. This salvation-resurrection world is large. Anything we can come up with for ourselves in terms of goal or purpose is puny alongside of what is already in motion in the cosmos \\u2018to the praise of his glory\\u2019\\u201d (Practice Resurrection).

We belong to God. Period! He chose us! But we rebel against this. We demand independence, self-autonomy, self-actualization. But that is self-destructive. Walker Percy wrote novels about this. His name for the condition is \\u201clost in the cosmos.\\u201d We don\\u2019t know who we are or where we are. We don\\u2019t know where we came from or where we are going.

But when we are drawn into the oceans of God\\u2019s grace, we know! And we are finally free to dive in and explore the wonders of knowing. And knowing, we declare with Paul,

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).