Ephesians; 1:5 – In love He predestined us to adoption as sons, part 2

Friday March 29, 2019

 

EPH 1:3 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,

 

EPH 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love

 

EPH 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

 

EPH 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

 

Our election is to be like Christ, reflecting His character, holy and blameless, and our predestination is also like Him as sons, reflecting His position.

 

To be chosen in Christ and adopted by means of Christ involves both wearing His image and sharing His holiness.

 

It is lovely to know that I am a son forever through predestination and faith in Christ.

 

We are all born into this world slaves to sin, but Christ’s death makes every slave who believes in Him a son, and the son is free and the son remains in the house forever.

 

The son must give his whole life, his whole self to his Father and to his King. Yet, the self that he is giving, his starting point, his foundation is not the old self trying to be good and please God, but the new self, the risen self, the son of God saved eternally, this is his starting point, his foundation.

 

Giving our whole life to God may seem harder at first but in the long run it is far easier. The other way, holding on to our old self and trying to give something to God in some form of appeasement is far harder because it is impossible.

 

Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole outfit. God has given you a new self. In fact, He has given you Himself: His own will shall become yours.

 

LUK 6:43 "For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit; nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.

 

LUK 6:44 "For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush.

 

LUK 6:45 "The good man [the son of God] out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

 

More fruit in our lives comes from growth to maturity, to completeness, to the fullness of the stature that belongs to Christ.

 

As we closed with last night, more fruit comes from patient expectation.

 

Patient expectation - while we resist temptation from the flesh and the world, we wait for God’s strength and character to overcome, and as His sons, we know it is coming.

 

Abraham and Sarah had to wait for a son. Jacob had to wait for Rachel and for his inheritance. Joseph had to wait in captivity and prison before his promotion. The Jews had to wait 400 years for redemption. Moses had to wait for the Promised Land. Israel under Joshua had to wait to take the Promised Land. David, after being anointed king, had to wait ten years to become king. All of the prophets had to watch their message fall on so many deaf ears and wait for the destruction of the people they loved. Daniel had to wait in prison. Ezekiel and Jeremiah would not see Judah return to Jerusalem. The returning captives had to wait and be alert to surrounding enemies while the walls of the city and the new temple were rebuilt. Even Jesus had to wait for His hour to come. The disciples had to wait to see His resurrection, wait in Jerusalem to see the baptism of the Holy Spirit and wait for the church to arise in the world. There’s a lot of waiting for God evidenced in the lives of God’s people in the scripture.

 

It is easy to start with faith, but most trying to endure patiently until the end. We cannot but study God’s ways and be reminded to be patiently expectant.

 

Our sufferings in this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory revealed to us if we stay the course of God’s will and God’s way (God’s road, HEB 10:19-20) and patiently wait upon Him.

 

ROM 8:12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 

 

ROM 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

 

ROM 8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

 

ROM 8:15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

 

ROM 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

 

ROM 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

 

ROM 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

EPH 1:3 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,

 

EPH 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love

 

EPH 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

 

EPH 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

 

We have the aorist active participle of proorizo. Pro = before + horizo = a boundary or limit. It means to predetermine, to decide beforehand, or to foreordain.

 

This verb is used six times in the NT. Significantly, Paul uses it again in this chapter in verse 11.

 

EPH 1:11 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,

 

EPH 1:12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

 

In verse 5, the Father predestined us to adoption as sons and in vs. 11, He predestined us in general, meaning as His sons. And as sons, we have also obtained an inheritance.

 

We will see more of this when we get there, but this is all according to the purpose of His will. He determined it and we are the beneficiaries by our faith and His grace.

 

JER 1:4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

 

JER 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

And before you were born I consecrated you;

I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."

 

Because of the position you have received in Christ, there is a plan for your life that your Father in heaven has determined.

 

However, we do not find the word “predestined” referring to the day to day planning of your life by God. Rather, we read of God’s will, His pleasure, His commands, and His desire for your character. He does not tell us what job to take, what time to wake up, how many hours of sleep, what to eat, what to wear, who to marry or not marry, etc.

 

God gives us His will, His commands, His good pleasure, and we apply that to our day to day decisions. He doesn’t tell us what to wear, but He tells us not to dress for the purpose of ostentatiousness. He doesn’t tell us what to eat, but He does tell us not to eat or drink in a way that would hurt another’s conscience and commands that we are not gluttonous or drunkards. He doesn’t tell us who to marry, but He commands us on how we should be as married, which narrows our field. He doesn’t tell us our profession, but does tell us to work as unto Him.

 

Someone told me a story about a pastor who was about to make a fairly big decision financially, but then thought better of it and he said that God somehow spoke to him. I don’t deny that he might have honestly thought that. I also don’t deny that it was simply good intuition by a very learned man. But then someone asked, “Why haven’t I ever heard God talk to me in that way?” I would say to that person that God didn’t talk to the pastor in the way that you think. God certainly has a supernatural way of steering or leading us, but we would never be able to empirically determine how He does it. We can only guess. If someone takes what the pastor said in the wrong way, they find themselves looking around, almost spookily, for signs from God. Diviners like Balaam did that in the OT, we do not, even though God directly spoke to Balaam. Maybe we should all ride around on an ass and see where God takes us.