1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
1:4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and
blameless before him in love.
1:5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the
good pleasure of his will,
1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace
1:8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
1:9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
that he set forth in Christ,
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in
heaven and things on earth.
1:11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to
the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
1:12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the
praise of his glory.
1:13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
1:14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to
the praise of his glory.
I'm thinking about what it means to be part of a family. What does it mean when we're adopted? I recall the family which had 2 adopted and 2 natural children. They made no bones about it. When one of the children asked their father: "which of us is adopted" the father replied, "I don't remember."
Thoughts on adoption: adoption is permanent.
I recall the story of a man who came every day to the trial of a young man accused of a horrible homicide. The court reported noticed him there day after day and approached him saying, "Who is he to you?"
The father, a local pastor, replied, "He's my son. He'll always be my son."
Blessings,
Rev. LHS
What It Means to Be Adopted: Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had different color hair than the other family members. One child suggested that he was adopted and a little girl said, "I know all about adoptions because I was adopted." "What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child. "It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy."
This concept of adoption might fit in the sense that through faith in Christ we grow in the heart of God and are adopted.
Rev. Dave in Green Bay
What it means to be adopted?
Here's one thought that I had in mind. A bit trite, I suppose, but it may work in a sermon.
The one who is adopted is part of the family. All others are just guests. The guest is welcome in the front room of the house and treated with polite manners and cordial hospitality. Yet the relationship is limited. Love tends to be conditional and often is extended with a certain degree of expected return. The guest is not welcome into the intimate conversations and interactions of the family.
On the otherhand, being part of the family changes all that. Like the guest, the one 'adopted' is not 'biologically' a family member, but unlike the guest, the one adoped is welcome into the intimate conversations and interactions of the family. They are welcome with unconditional love and never limited only to polite company in the front room of the house.
The difference is in relationship.
Hope this helps.
God bless to you all and peace!
DWR
Hello from N.C.
I think I would title this sermon "What's IN it for Me ? Paul decsribes some sort of major payoff for belivers here Eph.1:3-14 In 1-11 he mentions an inheritance that is coming to us. What is it that we are going to receive "in Christ"?
simply this ; all that God has prepared for Christ in the "fullness of the times " is going to be ours as well. This includes salvation fron sin, everlasting life, and the kingdom of God. In fact we will inherit God himself.
Is this wishful thinking ? No ! God is already giving us glimpses of that inconceivable future. The Holy Spirit lives inside all of us as a Guarantee of things to come .
Does it not gripe you, when you ask a "child of God" to do something for him and in reply they said "What do I Get out of it ?
Remind them!
Patti in N.C.
Someone recently talked to me about her view of God. She heard someone refer to God as mother and was surprised. I replied that some women and men who had abusive fathers may find it difficult to relate to God as a loving father. She replied that her own father was abusive. She looks to God to fill all of the voids in her relationship with her own father....She finds in God true and everlasting love.
I am reminded of a wonderful song by George Strait "Forever and Ever Amen" which talks about a father's love and ends with reference to our heavenly father's love and forgiveness...definitely worth a listen!!! (and worth playing in church)
also, does anyone remember a song from the sixties/seventies that goes like this "My love is deeper than the deepest ocean, wider than the sky. my love is...... And it closes with the words: And there is nothing in this world that can ever change my love? Describes what I want to say in this sermon perfectly
Blessings,
Rev. LHS
Rev. LHS,
I am almost positive the song you are looking for is by Petula Clark and I believe the title is My Love. You should be able to get a copy at a good music store.
Janel in ND
With all wisdom and insight
1:9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
I am planning, hopefully, to focus on this "secret plan" (make known to us the mystery of his will)
... I think all too often even as Christians we think that God's will IS still a mystery and hope I can address this in the sermon context. If anyone has helpful thoughts, I'd appreciate it. It's early in the week and I'm still pondering where I will go with this.
I do like the notion that God's WILL for us IS mystery...
I am also thinking through the relationship of God's abundant GRACE and SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS... are these the "same"...and if not, how do they differ... *thinking out loud here* *S* bear with me....
Peace and Joy,
Pastor Pam'la
Aston PCUSA (PA)
I like the idea of God setting God's seal upon us. As several commentaries point out, a seal was used to mark a document or letter as being authentic. It was the indication that the contents were reliably the words of the one whose imprint was upon the seal. Kind of like a high-class notary! God's seal is set on us. We are real! Authentically God's! Ken in WV
In reading this passage I am struck by the variety of messages, saying in different ways, we are "counted in"! By adoption, by long forthought, by a seal on us, by inheritance, by blessing, by riches of grace lavished upon us. And in the midst of it all, we are so often inclined to "count ourselves out" (not worthy...etc. how boring) and worse still, we humans are inclined to "count others out". Thinking aloud...don't quite know what will happen between now and Sunday. Blessings. Pastor Sarah
I am going to approach this passage from the concept of "Choosing Up Sides" with the analogy of how we chose sides in school games/PE. Plan to contrast not getting selected (or selected late) as opposed to getting picked first.
God had us picked from the very first. What a comfort!
Bless you all.
R in Bama
Hi all. Like Ken, I am thinking about the seal and have given my sermon the title "sealed in the faith" Simple, but true. At our baptism we were marked on our forhead with drops of water which not only cleansed our sin, but marked us as one of the family of God. Our baptism has been sealed by the Holy Spirit in verse 13. I don't know, just a thought. Elise in nc
Wonderful comments, all! Another angle might put an edge to the concept of being an heir. I get a bit comfy as an heir with Christ, knowing the secrets and receiving the rewards. But the story that kept tugging at my sleeve was Matt. 21:33-44; the owner of the vinyard (God) whose servants (prophets) and son (you know who) were killed in the collection of the harvest. To be an heir is to not only be in the inner circle and stand to inherit, but to take the risks and put your life on the line. The harvest is that important, and we are called to aflict the comfortable, remembering that the comfortable folks may respond badly.
Blessings,
Bootheel Rick
I love preaching from this passage! I am the parent of three special needs children who were a.dopted at ages 8, 9, and 16. Each of them has s pent a few years getting comfortable in the family. Trusting that the adoption is really permanent is a long process. My oldest (who is now 32)finally "got it" when she was in college. She had a very traumatic experience that resulted in a lot of past anger, fear and pain resurfacing. As we stood in the hallway shouting at one another :), I finally said in exasparation: "Don't you get it? You're my family. We're stuck with each other." She later told me that was the time she finally accepted her acceptance (apologies to Paul Tillich).
I think our relationship with God is similar -- so difficult for us to believe we have a "forever family". The wonderful poem "The Hound of Heaven" by Francis Thompson expresses it well, I think.
RevEv in Kansas
My friend's husband decided he wanted a divorce. A complete shock to her and her 14 year old daughter. This man had adopted the girl just a few years before. The girl asked her Mom, "Why did he adopt me if he was going to leave me?" How profound! How fortunate we are to have a heavenly Father who will never leave us. How blessed we are when we realize He will never leave us and He continues to love us, no matter how many times we leave Him!
It takes us so long to get that we are God's own children, that He knew us before He made us and loved us enough to make a plan for salvation anyway. Then we finally get it and when we know that He has saved us "to be" holy, not because we are holy, we then yearn to be holy.
Only thing is, we can't measure up to that holy yardstick we hold up. Then comes all the unworthy thinking. How often do we keep visiting that unworthy-pity-party place? This passage speaks to me of God gently reminding us, yes we are unworthy, we are totally incapable of going it alone. He has chosen us for one thing and we keep trying to do others. God's blessings are so grand, His love so deep, patience so long that He is constantly there to pick us up, dust us off and set us on our way again. When we fail and feel unworthy, He reminds us that's why we need Him.
Please forgive the lack of sentence structure - it's so good to ramble! :-)
wanapreech, PA
