God's Great Plan for Everything!

Good morning, Watermark. The scripture reading comes from Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 1, we read,

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus,

grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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,

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,

that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,

according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace,

with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespassers,

according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us,

in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will,

according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time,

to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him, we have obtained an inheritance,

having been predestined according to the purpose of him,

who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

so that we, who are the first to hope in Christ,

might be to the praise of his glory.

In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth,

the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,

were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,

to the praise of his glory.

This is the word of God.

Great, Iris. You read that so well. Well done. Thank you.

Okay, let's look at this passage.

And we're going to dive right in.

It's a very meaty, meaty passage.

Let's see if we can try and make sense of it.

He starts off, Paul, verse 1,

Paul, that's the guy who's writing this letter.

And he writes to a bunch of Christians.

He says, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

Okay, we're going to talk a lot about the will of God

in a few minutes' time. Hold on to that thought.

And he says,

To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

Last week, we spoke a little bit about the word saints.

Saints doesn't mean super religious people or super holy ones.

It just means those that are in Christ,

those that are followers of Jesus.

And he says,

To those who are in Ephesus.

Paul is this apostle who is writing this letter

to this small church in the ancient city of Ephesus.

Now, let's talk a little bit about Ephesus.

Ephesus was one of the most important cities in the Roman Empire.

It was the fifth largest city in the Roman Empire.

It was the capital of the province of Asia in the Roman Empire.

It was given this title,

The First and Greatest Metropolis of Asia.

That was the title,

which sounds a lot to me like Asia's First World City.

Right?

Is that Asia's World City?

That's our title.

Okay, Ephesus, Asia's World City.

But that's not the only place where connections with Hong Kong end.

It was also a major port city.

It was built.

It had a major harbor.

It was built on a port.

It was a major trading city

because it was built on the trading routes in that region.

And so all the trade and the shipping routes that came past

would stop in Ephesus and do their trade.

So it was a very economically important and powerful city.

It was also a very well-educated city.

There was a big library called the Library of Celsus.

It was actually built a few years after this letter.

The third biggest library in the whole Roman Empire

had 12,000 manuscripts and documents.

So it was a very well-educated city.

It was also a very religious city.

Just outside of the city of Ephesus

was this great temple called the Temple of Artemis,

one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Ephesians were very proud of their Temple of Artemis.

But it was also a very superstitious city.

Everywhere you walked,

there would be these little shrines

and people offering offerings to Artemis,

to the goddess of Artemis.

There's actually a great story in Acts chapter 19.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

There's a silversmith called Demetrius,

and he makes silver shrines of the goddess Artemis

that people buy and then, you know,

worship and carry around in their pockets.

And he gets upset because the apostle Paul

comes to Ephesus

and is telling people about Jesus,

and now people aren't buying his silver shrines

because they're following Jesus.

And so he gets this mob together

to try and kill Paul and the apostles

or at least drive them out.

And this is what he says.

He says,

this guy Paul is persuading people

to turn away from gods made with hands,

saying that they're not actually gods.

Which that's an interesting thought, right?

Anyway, we can talk about that another time.

He says,

there's a danger not only to this business of ours,

but also the great goddess Artemis,

causing her to be deposed from her magnificence,

she whom all Asia and the whole world worship.

So they're getting upset

because now these Ephesians are hearing about Jesus,

who they say is the one true God,

not Artemis,

and now people are no longer buying his shrines

or worshiping there at their temple.

And so here is this great big world city,

this trading city,

this port city,

this harbor city,

an economically important city,

a religious and superstitious city,

lots of magic and spiritualists in the city.

And in the middle of the city

is this small little church.

It's not very impressive,

not very fancy.

They maybe met in somebody's house,

a house church,

10 people,

maybe 15 people.

And they're facing opposition and persecution

for following Jesus.

And the apostle Paul writes this letter

to encourage them in their faith

and to encourage them to follow Jesus.

And so that's kind of what the letter is

and where it's going.

So verse two,

he says,

grace to you and peace from God,

our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now,

the next 12 verses

from verse three to 14

are a tsunami

of information

and doctrine

and theology.

Okay?

It's kind of like drinking

from a fire hydrant.

It's just you,

the point is to be blown away.

Okay?

And in the Greek Bible,

these 200 words

are one sentence.

It's probably the most complex sentence

in the whole Bible.

Paul goes all over the place

without a full stop.

And Iris did such a great job

of reading it,

but even our English,

we've broken down

to various sections.

Paul just is overwhelming us

with the tsunami of doctrine.

Okay?

And so let's try

and see if we can pull out the threads

and see something

of the big idea

of what Paul is saying

and what God is wanting to say to us.

And I think there's two big ideas here.

Okay?

The first one is this,

the blessings of being in Christ

and secondly,

the cosmic purpose of God in Christ.

Okay?

The blessings of being in Christ

for us individuals

and the cosmic plan of God

for the whole world in Christ.

Okay?

Let's see if we can try

and make sense of that.

So let's look at the first one,

the blessings of being in Christ.

Look at how Paul starts off.

He says,

blessed be

or praise be

or glory be

to the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So it's a statement of praise.

He's worshiping God.

All glory to you, God.

And why is he doing that?

Well, look what he says.

For he has blessed us

in Christ

with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places.

So he writes this declaration of praise.

Paul is doing

what we did earlier.

We sang.

Nate and Cynthia

and Jeremy

led us in songs of worship

and he's worshiping God.

Why?

Because of the multitude

of blessings

that God the Father

has given

or bestowed

on those who are in Christ.

Now, of course,

he's not talking about

material blessings

like this great job I got

or this house I've got

or my great wife

that I've got.

Those are wonderful blessings as well.

He's talking about

the spiritual blessings,

those that come

from the Holy Spirit

that pertain to

my relationship with God.

Praise be

the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us in Christ

with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places.

Okay,

well,

what are those blessings?

Well,

the rest of the passage

is jam-packed full of them.

Okay,

let's look at a couple of them.

Firstly,

look at the blessings

in the past.

He says here

in verse 3 and 4

how God has blessed us

in Christ

even before time began.

Okay,

he says here,

blessed be God

who has blessed us

in Christ

even as He chose us,

verse 4,

in Him

before the foundation

of the world.

So,

I mean,

that's a little mysterious.

I'll give it to you.

Okay,

I don't fully understand

how that all works.

But something is saying

before time began,

before the foundations

of the world,

God chose

to set His love

on His people.

Now,

I may say

that sounds a lot like

election,

predestination,

and that whole

big thing,

right?

And you're right.

That's exactly

what it sounds like.

And how does that work?

Well,

I'm not exactly sure.

But all we know

is what the Bible

says about it.

The Bible says

it's true.

God and His sovereignty

somehow arranged it

like that.

But Paul's point here

is that God's blessings

on His people

didn't originate

with me.

God didn't look at me

and say,

now,

Kevin,

there's a good guy.

There's a guy

I can really bless.

Not actually,

before I'd done

a single thing,

good or bad,

but before I'd done

anything,

God somehow

in His mind

chose to set

His love

on His people.

And if you're in Christ,

that's true

for you as well.

Christians aren't

the instigators

of God's blessing

and a favor

in our lives.

We're the recipients

of it.

God is the instigator.

It begins with Him.

God set His love

on His people.

Now,

one way you may

think about this

is if you're

a parent here,

when did you

first decide

to love your child?

Was it when they

started to make

their bed?

Right?

Or they started

to obey you

or listen to you?

Or maybe when

they were finally

potty trained,

no more diapers,

now I'm going

to love my child.

No, no, no,

before they were

even born, right?

You love them.

I remember when

Claire and I

went to have a scan.

Claire was pregnant

with Sierra,

our first child,

12 weeks pregnant.

And you go and

have the scan

to see if there's

any medical conditions,

right?

If there's Down syndrome

and they look at

the nose and the flesh

behind the neck,

and when you go,

the doctor says,

now listen,

these are the odds

of a Down syndrome

baby at your age

and everything.

And if the scan

reveals that there's

something wrong,

well, these are

your options,

right?

This is how we

can terminate

the pregnancy.

And Claire and I

said, no, no,

no, we've set our

hearts, we will

love this child.

Okay, there may be

some medical

challenges, okay,

we'll live with that.

No, we've decided

before this child's

even born,

before we've met

this child,

we will love

this child.

Well, think about

adoption, right?

You go and you want

to adopt a child,

the agency doesn't

say, okay,

here's five pictures,

choose which one's

got the same nose as

you and the same ears

and which one looks

cuddly.

No, they don't give

you a picture.

And the agency says,

we've got to tell you,

there may be some

medical challenges

with this child,

we don't know,

right?

And what do you say?

we have decided in

our heart,

we will love this

child as if it's our

own flesh and blood.

We have set our love

on this child.

Well, that's actually

Paul's argument.

Look what he says in

verse five.

He says,

in love,

he predestined us

for adoption

to himself

as sons

through Jesus Christ.

Praise be to God

and Father

who in eternity

past

chose to set

his love on us.

That's in the past.

Well, what about

the present blessings?

Well, look what he says.

In Christ,

we've been adopted

as sons

through Jesus Christ.

Verse five.

Adopted as sons,

welcomed into his family.

Now, you may say,

why does Paul

use the word of sons?

Why not sons

and daughters, right?

Is Paul being chauvinistic?

What's wrong with daughters?

Well, in the ancient world,

it was very common

for sons

to be adopted

by high-ranking

members of society,

senators,

and other officials

in order to ensure

that they had an heir

to pass on their name

and their inheritance.

You may remember

Caesar Augustus,

the first emperor

of the Roman Empire,

was actually not

the son of Julius Caesar.

He was adopted,

his adopted son.

And yet,

he was the heir

of Julius Caesar.

All his money,

all his wealth,

his status,

everything was passed

on to him.

In the ancient Roman world,

sons,

adopted children,

like in our day and age,

have full legal rights

and standing

as natural children

and is.

There's no difference.

Do you see what Paul's saying here?

For those who have come to Christ

in faith and repentance,

you've been given

the full legal standing

and rights

as if you are

a legitimate child

or son of God.

In Romans 8,

Paul writes this,

In Christ you've received

the spirit of your adoption

as sons,

through whom we cry,

Abba,

Father.

The spirit himself

bears witness

with our spirit

that we are children of God

and if children then heirs,

heirs of God,

and listen up,

fellow heirs with Christ,

co-heirs with Christ.

Now,

in some ways,

that sounds almost sacrilegious.

I mean,

Paul's almost saying

if you're in Christ,

you are equal

with Christ

before God the Father.

Now,

he's not saying

you're divine,

okay,

I'm sorry to break it to you,

you are not God.

He's not saying

that you're holy like Jesus,

but he's almost saying

there's something

of equality

that what Christ,

the Son of God is,

you as a son of God

or daughter of God

are a co-heir with Christ.

I mean,

it sounds ridiculous,

right,

that me,

sinful,

broken,

messed up me,

with all my issues

and all my idols

that I go and worship

and all my insecurities

and my fears,

God looks on me

and says,

my son,

I love you

like I love my son Jesus.

I mean,

that's incredible.

It almost feels wrong

to say that.

Oh,

but we've been adopted

as legal sons

and daughters of God.

And look at what he says

in verse 7.

In him you have redemption

through his blood.

Redemption means

you once were a slave,

you were under bondage,

a price was being paid

and now you're set free.

So think about

the ancient world,

right?

Someone's a slave,

they've got the slave master

that's cruel to them,

always telling them

what to do

and somehow

they are redeemed

from slavery.

Somebody pays

the ransom price

and they're set free.

Well,

the next day

the slave goes

into the marketplace

and their previous

slave owner comes

and says,

hey slave,

come to me,

I've got a job

for you to do.

And what does he say?

You've got no claim on me.

I've been set free.

Whatever you say

is meaningless.

Well,

Paul says here

we have been redeemed

through Christ.

In other words,

the bondage

of our shame,

the bondage

of our guilt,

the bondage

of our debt

that we owe

as a result of our sin

has no claim on us.

You know

that wonderful song

we often sing?

When Satan

tempts me

to despair

and tells me

of the guilt within,

up where I look

and see him there

who made an end

to all my sin.

Friends,

maybe this week

you messed up,

you did something wrong

and Satan comes

and says,

you're such a sinner.

How could God

ever love you?

Do you really think

God the Father

accepts you

after all the things

you've done wrong?

How could God love you?

Do you know

what you say?

I've been redeemed

by the blood of Christ.

Your accusations

have no claim on me.

We've been redeemed

by His blood.

He also says,

in Christ

we've been forgiven

of our sins,

washed,

cleansed,

justified,

treated as if

we'd never sinned.

In Christ,

the record of sin

has been nailed

to the cross.

It's been torn up.

It's been destroyed.

To justify

means

just as if

I had never sinned.

Friends,

look what he says

in verse 4.

God has chosen us

to be holy

and blameless

in His sight.

All of this

is the blessings

for those

who are in Christ.

Chosen before

the world began.

Redeemed,

adopted,

forgiven,

cleansed,

holy and blameless.

Friends,

we've been welcomed

into God's family.

Praise be

to the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us

in Christ

with every

spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places.

It's amazing.

It really is amazing.

Oh,

but that's just

the past blessing.

That's just

the present blessings.

We haven't even got

to the future blessings.

Look at

verse 11 to 14.

Skip over 9 and 10.

We'll come to that

a little bit later.

He says,

in Him,

we,

he's talking about the Jews,

okay,

Paul's a Jew.

In Him,

we Jews,

have obtained

or been allocated

an inheritance.

That means a future blessing.

Having been predestined

according to the purpose

of Him

who works all things

according to the counsel

of His will.

Okay,

I told you he's very wordy.

Nobody taught Paul

to write short sentences.

Zoe,

he needs to go back

to your grade 5 classes.

You can teach Paul

how to write,

okay.

In Him,

you also,

Gentiles,

when you heard

the word of truth,

the gospel,

we're sealed

with the Holy Spirit,

a guarantee

of our inheritance

until we acquire it.

All that,

what Paul is saying is,

there's a future blessing

that is coming

for those who are in Christ.

An inheritance.

What's an inheritance?

Maybe you've got

inheritance coming your way,

okay,

one day.

Some great uncle

in the Bahamas,

you get a phone call

from a lawyer one day

saying,

your great uncle

passed away,

he left you an inheritance.

What's an inheritance?

It's a future blessing,

it's a gift of grace

that comes to you

not having earned it.

It's not a wage,

it's not a salary,

it's not a consultancy fee,

you haven't earned it,

it's just a gift of grace

that comes to you

by the kindness

of some person.

Paul says here,

we've got an inheritance,

an eternal inheritance

that will never perish,

it'll never spoil,

it'll never fade,

it won't lose its value

on the stock market,

okay,

many people have lost

a lot of money

on the stock market,

you'll never lose

your inheritance,

it cannot be taken from you,

no one's got to break

into your cryptocurrency account

and steal it from you,

the algorithms,

you've got an inheritance

in Christ

that is coming,

an eternal inheritance

that can never be taken

away from you.

praise be to the God

and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us

in Christ

with every spiritual blessing

in the heavenly places.

Now,

why is that?

Why is it

that you,

or I,

should be blessed

with all these great blessings?

I mean,

I'm not a very nice guy,

there's nothing special

about me,

sorry to reveal to you,

there's nothing particularly

special about you,

I know your parents

told you that you're special,

but,

but,

but why not everyone?

Why,

why not the bus driver?

Why,

what's,

what's different?

Well,

there's one little phrase

that appears

about 15 times

in this passage.

I wonder if you noticed it

when Iris was reading,

I just couldn't hear,

I couldn't help but smile

at the repetition.

Did you see it

in your passage?

Look at how many times

he says the phrase

in Christ,

in Him,

in the Beloved,

in Christ Jesus.

Look at verse 3,

He has blessed us

in Christ.

Verse 4,

chosen in Christ.

Verse 4,

made holy and blameless

before Him.

Verse 5,

adopted as heirs

through Jesus Christ.

Verse 6,

blessed in the Beloved.

Verse 7,

in the Beloved

we have redemption.

Through His blood

we have forgiveness

of sins.

Verse 11,

in Him we have obtained

an inheritance.

In Him you are sealed

with the promised Holy Spirit.

Do we get the message?

The point is,

it's all in Jesus.

Every spiritual blessing,

every gift of grace,

everything that you want

and desire

and need in life

is found in Christ,

in Jesus.

And apart from Him,

you have nothing

of eternal significance.

Oh, you may be a billionaire,

you may have houses

all over the world

and accolades

and have your name

in lights,

but you'll have nothing

of eternal significance,

nothing that's going to last,

nothing that a thousand years

from now

anybody's going to actually

give any rocks about.

Okay?

Nobody's going to care.

But in Christ,

you have everything

you need

both now

and for all eternity.

Praise be

to the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us

in Christ

with everything we need

in the heavenly places.

All this is because of Jesus.

Okay,

that's the first point,

the blessings

of being in Christ.

Now, to be honest,

we've only just

scratched the surface.

I mean,

there's so much more here,

right?

And there's so much more

that the New Testament

talks about.

Now, all that we said

is good and true.

I hope you can see

it's in the Bible.

I didn't make it up.

But actually,

that's not the main point

of the passage.

Everything we've just said

is secondary

to the main point

of the passage.

The main point

is actually found

in verse 9 and 10.

We skipped over it.

Look at how often

Paul talks about

God's plan

or His purpose

or His will.

Okay?

The main point here

is God has a cosmic plan

for the whole of creation

that He is working towards.

Look at verse 5.

In love He predestined us

according to the purpose

of His will.

Verse 11.

In Him

we have obtained

an inheritance

having been predestined

according to the purpose

of Him

who works all things

according to the counsel

of His will.

In verse 9,

the great climax

in the gospel

He has made known to us

the mystery of His will

according to His purpose

which He set forth in Christ

as a plan

for the fullness of time.

What Paul is telling us here

is there is a great

big cosmic

universal plan,

a purpose

that will be revealed

at the fullness of time,

the end of time,

to which the whole

of creation

is moving towards.

There is a cosmic arc

for the whole

of the universe

that God is orchestrating

together.

So just recently

we looked at the book

of Ecclesiastes,

right?

If you remember that.

And we meet this guy

called Kohelet,

the teacher.

And remember his worldview?

What does Kohelet say?

Anybody?

Meaningless,

meaningless.

Everything is meaningless,

right?

You wake up,

you go to work,

you eat,

you sleep,

tomorrow you're going

to do the same thing.

The sun rises,

the sun sets,

tomorrow it's going

to do the same thing.

Meaningless,

meaningless.

Everything is meaningless.

Well,

Paul here

looks Kohelet in the eye

and says,

you've lost your marbles.

It's not meaningless.

There is a great big purpose

and a plan

for all of creation.

Nothing

is meaningless.

The problem,

of course,

is that we can't see it.

We're blind to it.

Which is why

in verse 18,

in the next page,

we're going to look at it

next week,

Paul prays this great prayer

and he says,

God,

I pray that the eyes

of their hearts

will be opened

to see the hope

of the gospel.

The problem is

we can't see the great plan

which is why

we need our Bibles

because we'll never

discover it on our own.

But Paul's point here

is that God

is not just this

watch keeper God.

He,

you know,

dialed up the watch

and then he put it aside

and said,

let me just sit back

and let life happen

on its own.

No,

God is working

all things.

There's a plan,

there's a purpose,

there's a narrative arc

to which the whole world

is ended.

There's a teleos,

an end point

for all of creation.

And what is that

great end point?

What is that great big plan?

Well,

look at verse 9 and 10.

The point of the entire passage

and actually the point

of the whole of Ephesians

is here in verse 9 and 10.

It says,

God in the gospel

is making known to us

the mystery of his will.

So there's this will

that's been hidden

for generations.

And now he's made it known

in the gospel,

according to his purpose,

which he set forth

in Christ,

a plan

for the fullness

of time.

That means when time

reaches its fulfillment,

and here it is,

to unite

all things

in Christ,

things in heaven

and on earth.

Okay,

there it is.

Paul has just revealed

the grand purpose

of the whole of creation.

There is coming

a time

when God

will unite

together

in Christ

all things

in heaven

and on earth

under the headship

of Christ.

The word unite

there means

to sum up

or to bring

a summary statement,

right,

under the headship

of something.

So,

if you've got your Bible,

there's a heading.

It's a summary statement,

right,

the supremacy of Christ

or the spiritual blessings

of Christ.

Paul says that

God has set forth,

he's enacted

some plan,

some purpose

that will be realized

at the fulfillment

of time.

And what is that plan?

That in Christ

all things

in heaven and earth

will be brought together

under his headship,

his rule,

his leadership.

Okay,

now I know this

sounds a little bit

philosophical,

but we'll get

to the applications

in a minute.

So,

at the moment,

the world,

the universe,

is in disconnect.

There is a discord

in the universe.

Do you remember

in the Garden of Eden,

God and man

dwell together,

right?

And in the book

of Revelation,

at the end of the Bible,

it says the dwelling place

of God is with man.

There's going to be

this unity together.

But we don't see

this unity at the moment.

The heavens and earth

are separated.

There's a discord.

C.S. Lewis called it

the great divorce.

There's like a breakdown

in the relationship

between heaven and earth,

God and mankind.

In fact,

all the discord

that we see in the world,

racism,

sexism,

wars,

animosity,

that's just a mirror

of the breakdown

that's happened

between God and man.

It's a picture

of what's happened.

But it won't always

be like this.

God is going to restore

heaven and earth together.

There's going to be

a unity.

That's why in Revelation

it says,

the dwelling place

of God is with man.

It's like a marriage.

The two are going

to become one again.

They're going to be reunited.

Heaven and earth

are going to be

joined together

in the one new

heaven and earth.

Reunited.

And Christ is going

to be the head.

Christ is going

to be Lord of all.

Heaven and earth

are going to be

brought together

in Christ,

under Christ,

in His leadership.

Look at how

Colossians 1 says it.

For by Him,

Jesus,

all things were created

in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

thrones,

dominions,

rulers,

and authorities.

All things were created

through Him

and for Him.

And through Jesus,

He will reconcile

to Himself

all things,

whether on earth

or in heaven.

Right now,

Jesus is the head

of this church.

One day,

He will be the head

of all the cosmos,

all creation.

For all eternity,

things will be united

under the heavens

and earth

with Christ

as the head

and the Lord.

And why is God

doing this?

What is His motivation

for it?

Well,

there's one more phrase

that Paul repeats

three times

in this passage.

I wonder if you

picked it up.

Look at verse 6.

He says,

In love,

He predestined us

for adoption,

according to purpose

of His will,

to the praise

of His glory.

Okay,

we sang about that

earlier.

Jeremy introduced

that song,

to the praise

of His glory.

Verse 11.

We have obtained

an inheritance

in Christ,

being predestined,

coined the purpose

of His will,

to the praise

of His glory.

Look at verse 14.

The Holy Spirit

is our guarantee

to the praise

of His glory.

Friends,

sometimes we feel

like life is so arbitrary,

so meaningless,

so random,

right?

And Ephesians

is meant to arrest

the futility

and the randomness

of life

and say,

it's not random

at all.

God has a plan

and a purpose.

He is working

the whole of creation

together

to an end point

to unite things

all under Christ

to the praise

of His glory.

Sometimes we get

so focused

on our little lives,

our problems,

our challenges,

what's in front of us,

right?

Oh,

that job promotion.

I really need

that job promotion.

Or,

the soccer scores.

What's happening

with my team?

Or,

that social media post.

Oh,

I only got 300 likes

and last time

I got 400

and what's wrong with me?

Or,

maybe that text message

somebody sends you

that's not very nice

and you get all worked up

and you can't sleep at night

and then you get all worked up

and we get consumed

with our little things

and Paul wants to

blow open

our mindset

and see,

just take a step back

and seeing

the world

is not about you.

That's Paul's point here.

He says,

there is a great

cosmic purpose

and design

for all creation

and it's not about you.

Yes,

you are very blessed.

We read about

all the amazing blessings.

Yes,

it has implications for you

but actually

it's not about you.

God is uniting

all things together

in Christ

for the praise

of His glory.

Now,

we're coming into land.

John Stott,

look at how John Stott said it.

I think we should have it up here.

John Stott says this,

How did we become God's people?

The answer,

according to the pleasure

of His will.

And why did He make us His people?

Answer,

for the praise

of the glory

of His grace.

Everything we have

and everything we are

in Christ

comes both from God

and returns to God.

It begins with His will

and it ends in His glory.

For this is where

everything begins

and ends.

Friends,

what's really going on

in the world?

What's the narrative arc

of all of history?

That one day

all things

will either be

banished to hell

or united

under Christ

and His Lordship

for the praise

of His glory.

and so what that means

is that

our little things

in life

don't need to consume

us anymore.

You know,

sometimes we get so,

I said fixated

in the little things

in life.

It's like

you're missing

the birth of your child

because you're scrolling

on Instagram,

right?

that's a really

dumb thing to do.

Don't do that.

Nobody would do that.

Oh,

but we all do it

all the time.

We miss the great

big cosmic plan

of God

because we're so fixated

on our little things

and our little problems.

Friends,

God's great cosmic plan

is to unite

all things

under Christ

to the praise

of His glory.

And so as we come

to close,

let me ask you

this question.

what is the connection

between the first point,

the multitude of blessings

in Christ,

and the second point,

the purposes of God

in Christ?

And the answer is this.

Let me see how I wrote here.

As you pick up your cross

and follow Jesus,

as you give your life

to what God is doing

in the world,

all the blessings of God

will be given to you

not as an end

of themselves

but as a foretaste

of what will be

your eternal reality

forever.

Okay,

does that make sense?

You know,

sometimes we look

at the blessings

and we say,

oh,

isn't it wonderful

I'm adopted

into God's family.

Praise God,

isn't it wonderful

my sins have been forgiven?

Isn't it wonderful

that I've got an inheritance

with my name in it?

Wonderful.

But actually,

all those

are secondary

to those

come as a byproduct

of what God

is doing in the world.

He is uniting things

under Christ.

So let me give you

this analogy.

In the Ukraine

there's been this terrible war

at the moment,

right?

We all know about it.

Absolutely disastrous.

Just terrible.

And millions of people

are needing to be evacuated

out of Ukraine.

And so imagine this,

at the south of Ukraine

they say,

there are all these children

and women and children,

we've got a great big ship

that is going to come

and evacuate you

out of Ukraine.

All you've got to do

is get to this port town,

this harbor front

and you will get on the ship

and be evacuated out.

And so these women

and children,

they leave

and they get to the harbor

and there in front of them

is this great big cruise liner.

I mean,

the best cruise liner

you've ever seen.

And there's water slides

and there's basketball courts

and there's golf simulators

and there's endless food

and there's movie theaters

and there's like the greatest

cruise liner

you've ever seen

in your life.

And they get on the cruise ship

to be taken away

and while they're there

for three weeks

they have the time

of their life, right?

But the point of the cruise liner

isn't just to have a holiday.

The point isn't just to enjoy

all the benefits

and then turn around

and say,

well that was fun,

let's go back to Ukraine now.

Best of luck.

The point is to take them

to a new home

and there they're going

to be established

and they're going to be

given new passports

and a new home

and the new home

is going to be set up.

A place where there is

no more war

and there is no more suffering

and there are no more tears

and their family

will be taken there

and a whole new life

awaits them there.

And for them to stay

on the cruise ship

and say,

I want to stay here

because this is so fun

is not the point

of being evacuated.

It's a pretty bad analogy

but the point is this,

in this life

God has blessed us

amazingly,

wonderfully,

all these blessings

in Christ.

But that's not

the end of the story.

The end of the story

is God is orchestrating

all things.

He's making a new heavens

and a new earth.

There is a cosmic

great big plan

that God has got in store

for the whole world

and He plans for you

to be a part of it

if you are in Christ.

And the blessings

that God gives you

are not an end

in themselves,

they're a foretaste

of what will be true

for you

for all eternity.

And so we end off

where we started.

Praise be the God

and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who has blessed us

in Christ

with every spiritual blessing

according to the purpose

of His will

with which He set forth

in Christ

for a fullness of time

to unite all things

in Him,

things in heaven

and on earth

to the praise

of His glorious grace.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Father,

Father,

as we've looked

at this very complex passage

with a multitude

of threads

and truths

and doctrinal statements,

God,

the end result

is that we get on our knees

and we join

the Apostle Paul

and we say all praise to You,

all glory to You

for what You've done.

God,

thank You for the

infinite blessings

that we have in Christ.

God,

for those of us

that are not in Christ,

I pray that You

open the eyes

of our hearts

to see You

and to know You,

to know the hope

of the gospel

and to join You,

God,

in Your great big cosmic plan

for all creation.

God,

I pray that we won't

be consumed

with small,

pithy things in our lives,

that our lives

won't be consumed

with Instagram posts

and other meaningless things,

that God,

You'll open the eyes

of our hearts.

You'll give us a window

into what You're doing

that we will

spend our lives,

pouring out our lives

according to Your plan

and that therein

we will be blessed.

God,

we pray this

in Your great

and Your gracious name.

Amen.