God’s Plan Includes You! | Ephesians 1:3-14

INTRODUCTION

Do you know that history is heading somewhere? Does God have a grand plan for the universe? The good news is that God’s grand plan includes you. When we believe in the gospel, we are included in Christ and the love and mercy of God pull us into his master plan for the entire cosmos.

Have you ever thought:

• What is God up to?
• What my faith in Christ is all about?
• What we are Christians here for?
• Why did God create us, and redeem us and where is all this going?
• What are the blessings we have in God?

We will find some answers to this in our text today in a sermon titled:

God’s Plan Includes You | Ephesians 1:3-14

This is actually one long sentence in Greek, the longest sentence in the New Testament. This sentence has phrase upon phrase, in praise of God.

See how Paul begins and ends this long sentence:

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God….

Ephesians 1:14 … to the praise of his glory.

So in effect, the whole of v3-14 is a blessing in standard Jewish fashion, but in a trinitarian style. This is all about God and why he needs to be praised. The theme of this is God’s glorious purpose to form a people for himself.

Ephesians 1:3-14

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,

⁹he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

¹¹In 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, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

God’s Sovereignty and Our Responsibility

If you look at this section, there is clearly an emphasis on God’s sovereign action and our belief in Him: God’s will, God’s purpose, God’s counsel, God’s pleasure, God’s praise, election, redemption, predestination, inheritance all through the Father, Son and Spirit when we believed the gospel. Whatever God is doing is deliberate and thought about before the creation of this world.

ILLUSTRATION

Sheena Iyengar, Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, NY calculated that the average person makes about 70 decisions a day. That is over 25000 decisions a year. But I hate to say that most of our decisions are terribly faulty and error-prone.

ILLUSTRATION

A couple of years ago we as a family went for a drive. Some time into the drive, I noticed that I had no shoes on my feet. I was driving barefoot. I wondered what happened to my shoes. We went back in search of my shoes and found shoes on the road in front of my house. While boarding the car, I took off my shoes thinking that I am entering my home.

Our choices are not always right, not God, his plans are made before the foundation or creation of the world, v4.

What Was God’s Grand Design? To Unite All Things In Christ, v9-10

Ephesians 1:9-10 ⁹he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

The unity of all things in Christ. Right now everything is fragmented, broken and chaotic, it is like an untuned guitar producing discorded sounds. Violence, materialism, pride, racism, power struggles, breakdown of marriage and society; wars and chaos everywhere. But one day in God’s grand design everything is going to be harmonized, integrated, and united in Christ. The entire universe; the things in the heavens and the things on the earth will be united in Christ.

The Bible gives the scope for one united, intercultural entity led by Jesus, the son of God. But what the church currently reflects is only a distorted image. We need to come back to God’s healing and uniting influence through the shed blood of the Messiah.

God’s grand design has been revealed in Christ. The end has begun, and the clock is ticking. To that, all we can say is, “Praise God.”

But what has it got to do with us?

While this passage is focused on God and his grand design to consummate all things in Christ, this passage also tells us that God’s plan includes us. God’s grand plan is all about us in Christ.

We, believers, are included in God’s grand plan.

See how God has included us in this passage:

V3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

V4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

V5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ….

V6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

V7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸that he lavished on us.

V9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure…

V11 In him we were also chosen

V12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

V13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

V14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

“You, I, we, us, your.” God’s plan involves us. God’s plan for the world involves the church. God is actually involving us in his grand plan, grand design, to consummate all things in Christ. He has chosen us to be part of his plan. What a glorious privilege.

No one else has that privilege.

Without God, We Will Never Find Our Place, and We Will Never Find Our Purpose.

Nothing else will satisfy, nothing else will fulfil.

Transition: Then Paul moves on to the reasons why one must praise God or bless God. What God has done to include us in his plan.

Praise Be To God – Why? – Paul Lists A Rainbow Of Blessing In Christ:

• He Has Blessed Us. Eph. 1:3
• He Chosen Us. Eph. 1:4a &1:11a
• He Adopted Us. Eph. 1:5-6
• He Has Lavished Us With His Grace. Eph. 1:6
• He Redeemed Us. Eph. 1:7a
• He Sealed Us With The Holy Spirit. Eph. 1:13
• We Can Be Confident Of Our Future Redemption. Eph. 1:14

The Trinitarian Scope

• 1:3-6 – The Father’s Blessings.
• 1:7-12 – The Son’s Blessing.
• 1:13-14 – The Spirit’s Blessing.

God’s Plan – He Has Blessed Us.

Ephesians 1:3 ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every Spiritual blessing.

How does God bless us and what does this blessing look like?

When we think about the blessing that we see in Deuteronomy 28, the blessing for obedience for the children of Israel was indeed a material blessing: The promise of the land, the promise of cattle, and the promise of provision. But when we compare that to the blessings that we discover in the NT, under the new covenant, as a new humanity under the God-man Jesus, we discover that the blessing goes inward, internally and it is much, much deeper and much better than anything that we can receive from this fallen world. Our blessing is the promise of the gift of Christ himself.

A parallel to that in the OT.

The Levitical priesthood was told that they will have no inheritance in the land because the Lord himself would be their portion. We are told in the NT, that under Christ we are a royal priesthood. Therefore, their blessing, that is the gift that we receive from the good giver, which is our Father is the gift of his Son by the work of His Spirit.

I want you to take out the idea from your mind that God is here to give you everything you ever wanted because you don’t know what you really want until you have tasted Jesus. Then you will see that all that really matters is the Spiritual gift that enables us to live in the material world with a victory.

The blessing of God is this:

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

• The blessing that God brings to us is the incarnation which is the God-man Jesus, our King. Our King Jesus.
• The blessing is that God in Jesus has chosen to identify himself with broken, fragmented humanity now and forever.
• The blessing is that in the rebellious world, rebellious people have become the very focal point of God’s absolute perfect affection. It is revealed in Jesus.

Blessings in Christ

So God’s blessing toward us is God’s identification with us in Christ but it also is an incredible picture of the Trinity. Because here we see: The Father is the giver of the blessing. We see the Son as a reservoir of blessing, all the blessing is wrapped up in Christ. We see the Spirit is the communicator of the gift.

It is a Spiritual blessing. We who were once carnal are now spiritual people because we are now transformed through our faith in Christ in what he has done for us. The Holy Spirit communicates to us the truth of who Jesus is and the truth of who Jesus is, is a reflection of what the Father is like. Therefore, our knowledge of God, that is an intimate relational knowledge of God becomes available to us through the powerful gift that comes from the Triune God.

The Father blesses us with every spiritual blessing and spiritual gift.

The gift is the gift of Christ in you.

The Holy Spirit energizes that gift in us.

Notice where the blessing is?

It is a gift that is given to us in the heavenly realm.

If you lived in Ephesus by the first century, you will begin to realize that everything about life was interlinked with spiritual activity. The farmer needs spiritual powers to do well. The young girl needs spiritual power to get a great husband. Business people need spiritual assistance. Even the athletes use magical charms to try to win.

Look at Paul in Ephesus in his Third Missionary Journey: The spiritual state of Ephesus.

Acts 19:13-20 ¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery (Black magic) brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas (5000 thousand wages if Rs. 500 per day, it is 2 C, 50 Lakhs in today’s value). ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

BACKGROUND TO EPHESUS

Ephesus was a place of magic (power using mysterious supernatural forces), charms (control by magic), incantations (use of words as the magic spells), amulets (ornament to protect against evil, danger or disease), and divination (seeking knowledge of the unknown).

In a society where one feels that they need a spiritual power from the outside to excel, Paul said to a Church in Ephesus, “God has blessed us with spiritual blessing, but not some spiritual blessings, but he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.”

Paul looks at a city with almost 50 Pagan temples.

What they will otherwise need from the shrine of Artemis (goddess of wild animals, childbirth etc) he has blessed us with that. What we will otherwise need from the shrine of Demetri (god of earth or agriculture) he has blessed us with or the shrine of Zeus (god of the sky) was in Ephesus, you don’t need to go there because God has blessed you with all the spiritual blessings you need. If it is protection, he has blessed you. You need not live in fear.

In the heavenly places | In Christ

The concept of the heavenly realms is not a concept that is like a place or something. It is an understanding of the ancient world that says, “in the world, there is a spiritual dimension.” The spiritual dimension is in the heavenly realms. Sometimes this realm is thought of in terms of stages. In this realm are evil and good spiritual forces. It is the unseen realm of human reality.

What do you mean by heavenly realm?

It is not much of geography. Ephesians mentions heavenly realms in other places.

We learn that Christ’s physical resurrection and ascension are to the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 1:20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,..

Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,…

Ephesians 3:10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The Unseen Realms

Clearly, Paul is declaring a reality to us that most of us live without an awareness of the heavenly realms, but it is the place where the gifts of God are obtained but it is also a place where the child of God and the church of God engage in spiritual warfare.

So many of us live our Christian lives in the most basic and primal, refusing to get up out of our sinful lives. Christ contains within him the gifts of the heavenly realm, he gets down to us, and he takes our sin but he demands that we rise up to that heavenly living. We rise up and live and walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. When we rise up and keep our eyes fixed on Christ. The spiritual victory of Christ is already ours but we are not necessarily experiencing it because we are living too much in the world and not in the spiritual reality of what God has done for us in Christ.

Ephesus and the Unseen reality

To the Christians in Ephesus in the first century, there was another reality, the unseen reality has spiritual powers who are working and who can affect what we do on a daily basis. Paul says, “We are blessed in the unseen realms.” God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and he will show later on that God has the power to subject every spiritual power that will try to compete with or harm us. He has power over them. In fact, he has exalted Christ above them and therefore the Church can relax. Whatever is in the spiritual realm to be feared is no longer something to be feared. Let’s praise the name of God.

Blessed be God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Our blessing is Christ himself.

The Father is the giver of the gift. We see the Son is the reservoir, all the gift is wrapped up in Christ. We see the Spirit is the communicator of the gift.

God’s Plan – He Chose Us. Eph. 1:4a &1:11a

Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen…

“Us, we” – All believers including Paul and the readers.

He chose us, not everybody, but us referring to believers in Christ Jesus. He has blessed us believers in Christ and chose us not as an afterthought.

When Did Christ Choose Us?

Before the creation of the world.

It has always been God’s plan that he would choose us. This is not a coincidence. He chose us before the foundation of the world.

It is not also a scenario like God being on the shore on vacation and while at the beach relaxing he sees a child drowning and he just runs and says I have to do everything to try to save that child in that particular situation, no. It was part of God’s plan. He chose us before the foundation of the world. It has always been his intent and wishes to bring Jews and Gentiles together into the community of faith.

Motivation for choosing us: in love

God’s Plan – He Adopted Us. Eph. 1:5-6

Ephesians 1:5-6 ⁵he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Adoption was a very common practice in the ancient culture including Romans.

Adoption here is going through some legal proceedings so that the person becomes a legitimate heir to the one who has adopted them. It is normally used to refer to males who are adopted.

Adoption in the Greco-Roman World

The term was common, however, in the Greco-Roman world, where it referred to a legal practice by which the father of a family accepted as his heir a male child who was not his own. – F. Thielman

This child will have right to inheritance. This child will have the right to all the privileges that the father has for his children.

APPLICATION

Paul reminds them that not only are they adopted by believing in Christ Jesus to be the children of God, but they have also been partakers of an inheritance. Their inheritance is waiting for them to take hold on fully in the future in the second coming of Christ, but for now, they are so blessed. We have so many resources by just being these adopted children and it is the cause for which they should bless God and bless him for all the benefits he has given.

God’s Plan – He Redeemed Us. Eph 1:7a

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…

WE HAVE REDEMPTION IN HIM (Christ Jesus).

Means/Price: Through/by his blood

He redeemed us by paying a great price.

That means a ransom was paid for salvation. We are redeemed not by cheap means, it was costly. It cost God his only begotten son to make adoption possible.

In this redemption, he has offered something really great: Forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood (That is the price), the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

The forgiveness of our trespasses – God forgave us in Christ, through his blood.

At the beginning of chapter 2, Paul reminds his readers and perhaps us that we were once dead, lifeless in sin and trespasses before God intervened. But here, in the Spirit of praise, he wants them to rejoice over the fact that they have been forgiven. We have been forgiven through the great price Calvary paid for us.

What did we do to earn that? It is just by grace that we have this access. He forgave so that he could buy us back.

The language of redemption is the language sometimes for being able to use for buying a slave back to the original state. When they owe a whole lot and are given into slavery, to be able to pay what they owe, to be able to get them back.

It is also the language of restoration. It is a language that is used to explain when a beautiful piece of jewellery is actually lost in a dumpster, stay there for years getting rusty and dirty, smelly, and ugly and being able to pick it up, send it to the goldsmith. The process of restoring that jewellery to its original state is also the process that the language redemption is used to explain. Paul says blessed be God because he has redeemed us and forgiven us of our trespasses.

He has done this in what way, and by what motivation?

Motivation: According to the riches/bounty of his grace.

Ephesians 1:7b-8 in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding.

God has an abundance of grace to the extent that the degree and magnitude of your sin can still not even run out of grace.

APPLICATION

Perhaps Paul was thinking about all sorts of sins people have locked themselves in and said just in case you thought it was too much, it was not beyond God’s ability to pay. Yes, the price was costly, but he was ready to do it by grace. He did not do that through negotiation or through manipulation. He lavished his grace on us.

Paul is the kind of person that maybe if the worst sinner gave his life to Christ, accept him as his Lord and Saviour. Paul would say, there is enough grace of God to forgive him. There is so much blood on his hands, but he could be forgiven and he could be accepted into the family of God.

What you have done, what they have done in the context of Ephesus, is not something God cannot forgive. The guilt we hold is not bigger than God’s grace out of his riches.

One minister of God said, “In the death of Christ, God came powerfully to the rescue of his people just as he had done in former times when he rescued them from the Egyptians, Babylonians and other nations.”

No matter where you have gone, no matter how much sin you have found yourself in, no matter how much guilt your actions have imposed on you. God is able to forgive and redeem you by his grace.

“He Sealed Us With The Holy Spirit. Eph 1:13-14

Ephesians 1:13 ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory.

Who?

When you heard the message of Truth.

When you believed.

He sealed with/by the Holy Spirit.

He has sealed those who have heard the Word of Truth. Let us not take that word for granted. They heard the message of truth, not deception. To find the truth one must come into contact with the truth (Jesus Christ), through the word/message of truth.

Those who have believed

It is these people who have heard the word of truth and have believed the word of truth that has been sealed with or by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has sealed such people, with powerful imagery.

Sealed With The Spirit

Deposit – The Spirit is a deposit on our inheritance.

The Spirit is the deposit guaranteeing the believer’s inheritance.

Assurance– The Spirit is a seal that guarantees the redemption of our possession.

The Spirit is a seal that guarantees the redemption of the believer’s possession.

Promise – The Spirit is the promised Spirit. (prophetic fulfilment).

Joel 2:28-29 ²⁸“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

This is the passage Peter quoted in the book of Acts.

A similar one in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 11:19 I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

The promised Spirit has come into effect Paul argues that Spirit is a guarantee, it’s a pledge.

The Spirit then is the first instalment and guarantee of the salvation of the age to come with its mode of existence totally determined by the Spirit. – A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians WBC, 40

The Spirit’s Seal Identifies And Protect Against God’s Wrath

The Seal Of The Spirit Is The Down Payment Of Future Inheritance.

In this long sentence, its amazing if you are underling the word ‘in Christ and you see how many times the word ‘in Christ’ surfaces.

IN CHRIST OR IN HIM IN 1:3-14

The role of Christ is absolutely integral to the mystery of God’s will. Repeatedly employing the preposition “in” (en), Paul notes that God has blessed the Ephesians in Christ (1:3), and elected them in him (1:4). In his Beloved he bestowed grace upon them (1:6), and in him, they received redemption (1:7). In Christ, God has set forth his favour (1:9), for he had determined to sum up everything in Christ, whether in heaven or on earth (1:10). Therefore in Christ the Ephesians were chosen (1:11), for they first hoped in him (1:12), and in him, they heard the whole truth (1:13)

Look at how many times ‘in him’ ‘in Christ’ appears. Ask yourself how many times do you hear about Christ in a sermon in Christian conversation. Paul says to bless God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing is to understand that without Christ we have nothing, but it is in Christ that we have all.

Praise Be to God – WHY? In Christ:

• He Has Blessed Us. Eph. 1:3
• He Chose Us. Eph. 1:4a &1:11a
• He Adopted Us. Eph. 1:5-6
• He Redeemed Us. Eph 1:7a
• He Sealed Us With The Holy Spirit. Eph. 1:13

Goal: To Be Holy And Blameless Before Him.

Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

That is the part that gets dicey in today’s church. People don’t want to talk about holiness and blamelessness, but Paul says you need to know in verse 4 he chose us to be holy and blameless.

Let’s try to look at what that means.

He chose “us” to be holy and blameless.

Holy:

• To be set apart for God’s use.
• Separated by conduct in a corrupt society.

In the OT, to be holy reminds us that it means they should not be like the corrupt society. They should be set apart and being set apart means their conduct should be different:

Deuteronomy 7:1, 5-6 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you.

⁵This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. ⁶For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

In other words don’t mingle with all these pagan activities of Ephesus. He chose us to be holy.

BLAMELESS

• Unblemished, untainted (as an animal for sacrifice).
• Morally blameless
• Good social standing

Blameless is the imagery of an animal to be given for sacrifice. The animal must be blameless. The animal must be unblemished.

Blameless has moral connotation, to be morally blameless. We should live without blame in the society.

God chose us. He chose us from a place that was not so good, but he also chose us to be holy and blameless. So the purpose or goal of God calling us is to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Praise Be To God – Why? – Paul Lists A Rainbow Of Blessing In Christ:

• He Has Blessed Us. Eph. 1:3
• He Chosen Us. Eph. 1:4a &1:11a
• He Adopted Us. Eph. 1:5-6
• He Has Lavished Us With His Grace. Eph. 1:6
• He Redeemed Us. Eph. 1:7a
• He Sealed Us With The Holy Spirit. Eph. 1:13
• We Can Be Confident Of Our Future Redemption. Eph. 1:14

Goal: To Be Holy And Blameless Before Him.

CONCLUSION

The grand design of God involves us. God’s plan for the world involves the church, to consummate all things in Christ. He has chosen us to be part of his plan. What a glorious privilege. No one else has that privilege.

The only way we can ever be fulfilled is by taking our place in God’s grand design. Nothing else will delight, nothing else will satisfy, nothing else will fulfil. Without being involved in God’s grand purpose, we will never have a purpose, we will never find our rightful place.

ILLUSTRATION

At a racetrack several years ago, a greyhound dog race was about to begin. Sleek dogs were ready to go. The dogs are supposed to run behind a mechanical rabbit and finish the race. The gun went off and the mechanical rabbit began zipping down the tracks and the dogs were in hot pursuit. As the rabbit made the first turn, there was an electrical short in the system and the rabbit exploded and burst into flames. All that was left was a fire and a bit of ash.

Their prey having disappeared the perplexed dogs had no idea what to do. Some dogs stopped running and lay on the tracks tongues hanging out, panting heavily; another dog began chasing its tail, while the rest just hauled at the spectators; not one dog finished the race.

Hopeless, ruthless, worthless, and aimless we are when we don’t have a goal.

But we have a goal to align ourselves with what God has done, who is consummating all things in Christ and we are a part of God’s plan.

Life is not aimless. God has a grand plan for the world and he chose us before the foundation of the world to be a part of his grand plan. Consciously align yourself with God’s plan for your life. Will you align yourself with God’s plan?

ILLUSTRATION

Many years ago when Apple fell upon difficult days, Apple’s chair main, Steve Jobs travelled to NY to meet PepsiCo’s CEO John Sculley. Steve Jobs wanted to convince John to join Apple and run Apple. John Sculley began declining the job offer from Steve Jobs. At that time Steve Jobs issued a challenge to John Sculley, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugar water or come with me and change the world?”

God is issuing us a challenge? Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water? Building bigger homes, climbing up social ladders, planting big churches, having a big ministry, writing big books, finding the best in this world or do you want to join God in his grand plan for the entire cosmos which includes you?

Paul’s audience knew exactly what God has done. Paul shared that conviction and so he writes to them to start in this letter to bless God who has blessed them with every spiritual blessing.

Life Application Points

Without God, We Will Never Find Our Purpose.

We Need To Be United Individually And Collectively With God’s Wisdom And Love.

Our Blessing Is The Promise Of The Gift Of Christ Himself.

The Call to be Holy and Blameless.

Praise God, God’s Plan Includes Me.