God Has Given You a Mission Field
Tom Shrader works through Ephesians 1:1-5, unpacking Paul's opening greeting to show that every follower of Christ is a saint — not by church declaration, but by God's sovereign choice before the foundations of the earth. He explains that grace, peace, election, and predestination are not sources of debate but of deep assurance, rooting believers in the love of a Father who knows them completely and chose them anyway. The teaching closes with a call to live out that identity in every sphere of life, rejecting any false divide between sacred and secular vocation.
“God loves you, and He knows everything there is to know about you — He knows, and He chose you and us to be His bride anyway.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Ephesians
Recorded: 2010 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 48 min
Themes: identity, mission, calling, grace, peace, election, assurance, purpose, feeling unworthy, new believer, questioning purpose, young adult, searching for calling, everyday worker, doubting god's love, seeking identity
Scripture: Ephesians 1:1-5, Ephesians 1:15, Ephesians 1:18, Ephesians 3:18, Ephesians 5:3, Ephesians 6:18, Ephesians 2:2-3, Ephesians 2:5, Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 4:1, 2 Corinthians 5:14-18, Acts 13:36, Genesis 14, Revelation 5:13, Colossians 2:10, Colossians 3, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:15-16, Psalm 22
Theological Themes: predestination, election, sainthood, sanctification, sovereign grace, ephesians, pauline theology, divine adoption
Full Transcript
Bringing Your Bible and Notebook
If you have your Bible with you, why don't you open it to the book of Ephesians? If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and the guys will respond to you. When you get that Bible from us, go back about two-thirds of the way through into the New Testament. It's page 150 when you get there, and that will get you to the book of Ephesians.
Let me make this point, and we do it regularly, but I really do think it's important at the beginning of a study. It is so important for you, when you come to church, to bring a Bible with you. There's something about having the Bible, something about having a notebook, and then anticipating not that I'm going to say something, but that the Spirit of God might take His Word and apply His Word to your heart. So if you're somebody who has been raising your hand for three or four weeks in a row when we ask if you need a Bible, it's time for you to get a Bible and bring it with you. We don't have a problem providing them for you — I'm just saying you're obviously expressing a need for that tool that God has given you, so get a Bible anywhere; it doesn't matter to me.
Last week, about 50 of you bought Bibles over in the bookstore, and those are great resources and great tools. We just got a new supply — a variety of different Bibles, study Bibles, regular Bibles. You need to bring a Bible with you, a notebook, and the anticipation that God is going to speak to you. If you got a Bible from us, it's page 150 in the New Testament. If you have your own Bible, it's Ephesians chapter 1.
Picking Up Where We Left Off
Last week we did Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1, word 1 — we didn't get very far. We basically covered Paul. I've had quite a few questions this week about how long we're going to be in this study, and I honestly don't know. I just try to prepare and study, and then we get through it, and whatever God does is what He does. I can tell you what we're going to get today — we're going to get into about verse 5.
We saw last week that Paul is writing, and we saw some of the uniqueness of Paul and who he is. There are 13 books that Paul wrote that are preserved for us in the New Testament. He was a key figure in the early church — one of the pillars of the church alongside Peter, James, and John. Paul is also a central figure in the church at Ephesus. He had a relationship with this church; he spent between two and a half and three years there, and he provided leadership there. We saw his emotion toward this church last week. I want to redo the introduction, but if you missed it, I encourage you to go online and take a look at it. We also looked a little at the backdrop of the city, and we'll look more at that today.
Paul's Greeting and Apostolic Calling
Paul writes, in verses 1 and 2, what is somewhat of a standard introduction for him. Let's look at those verses:
*"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who were at Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus: grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ."*
That's a standard greeting. If you went through the 13 letters Paul wrote, you would see almost that exact greeting, with variations. Paul typically identifies himself in one of two ways — either as a slave and bondservant, or as an apostle. In this case, he identifies himself as an apostle. It means "one who is sent." It is an official position in the early church, a position of authority, and Paul meets the qualifications for apostle.
It would be natural to say, "Hey, that apostle — I might want to target myself for that, might want to strive toward that." But how does one become an apostle? There it is: by the will of God. It's not that Paul went and completed a class, or that he had a certain set of credentials or qualifications he trained for. He was appointed by God, commissioned by God, sent by God. It is not a source of boasting or pride for him, but God set him apart and called him for that purpose. Paul speaks with authority, but the authority is not something he finds in and of himself — it's authority he has as a result of God's work in his life. Paul is, in a sense, saying God has a purpose for him, and part of that purpose is to be an apostle.
Every Life Has a Divine Assignment
One of the commentators, dealing with that whole thought of calling and purpose, writes this: "We are not all apostles. We are not even all pastors or preachers. But we all have an assignment, a calling. There is a divine pattern for every life, and in that task it is God who makes us able and equal. It is God who blesses us. If my work is to be a doorkeeper, that is fine — Lord, help me be Your doorkeeper — or teacher, or singer, or worker, or children's caregiver, or whatever You have called me to do in this life. We are in Christ and in His will."
Paul is delivering a sermon during his first missionary journey that Luke records in the book of Acts. He's speaking to Jews and taking them through the heritage and tradition they would know, talking about Saul and how God uses Saul and appoints him as king, and then how God removes him and replaces him with David. In Acts chapter 13, verse 36, Paul says this: *"For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep."* What he's saying is that after David performed the task that God had for him, he died. And the same is true for all of us.
I often feel I owe Rick Warren ten dollars every time I use the word "purpose," but there is real value to this. There is a call embedded in it — that God placed you here, that you have a purpose and a task for which you have been uniquely gifted and positioned. And one task is not more important than the others. Part of what I know I am called to do is try to break down the artificial barrier we seem to place between the sacred and the secular.
You Are a Saint, Placed on Mission
There is a John — sometimes it's spoken, sometimes it's implied, sometimes it's simply in the water — that working in a church is better than working somewhere like Intel. That is simply not true. It is so important to understand that you are an ambassador, saved in Christ for a reason and a purpose. I am frequently, almost always, when I'm meeting with guys who are in business and thinking about getting into ministry, going to tell them I just don't think that's a good idea. God can and probably will use you in a way there that is certainly as significant, and maybe more significant, than within a ministry complex somewhere.
That is not putting down ministry. It is simply saying that all of this is for God's kingdom and God's glory. Do not in any way think that the task you perform during the week is less than the work of the guys on staff here. If you're teaching in a high school or serving on a high school staff, those are equally valuable positions in the sight of God. You have a purpose, and God has wired you a certain way — we will look at that when we get to chapter 12 — gifted you in a certain way, made you unique, and placed you in your position for a reason, for His glory in the biggest sense.
So when God is done with you, you will know it, because they'll be calling 9-1-1 to come and get you. But until then, you work diligently for Him. Paul became an apostle the same way you were saved — by the will of God. And he writes to the saints who are at Ephesus, who are faithful in Christ Jesus.
What the Bible Means by "Saint"
The moment I hear that word, I have to jackhammer some concrete that was laid in my brain early in life. I was raised in a Catholic environment — Catholic grade school, Catholic high school, Catholic college — and when I heard the word "saint," I thought of a person whose life I could never replicate, a role model so far beyond reach that what they had done was unachievable in my mind. I wanted to be fair about this, so I went only to websites authorized by the Catholic Church, and I looked carefully at the process.
There is a process by which the Church identifies a person based on a set of criteria and then declares them to be a saint. To be very clear, they do not worship the saints, but they do venerate them — they give special honor to them and designate them as special servants of God. There is a process of beatification with nineteen steps, and then a further process of canonization. This comes from Vatican City, from September 12, 1997 — the Pope himself addressing this process.
The procedure requires that the person be dead at least five years, allowing time to step back and not be swept away emotionally after someone dies. The bishop of the diocese where that person last resided must then begin a very formal process: there are studies, tribunals, investigations, documents gathered, congregations convened, and meetings twice a month examining that person's life. There must then be a verifiable miracle attributed to the person after their death, decrees must be issued, at least another miracle must occur within the process, and then the Pope speaks infallibly and confers the title of saint.
That is interesting and historically accurate — but it is not how the Bible uses the word. Paul writes to the church at Ephesus and calls them all saints. He uses the word six times in this book: in the verse we are looking at in chapter 1, then in chapter 1 verse 15, verse 18, chapter 3 verse 18, chapter 5 verse 3, and chapter 6 verse 18. If you are a follower of Christ, the Bible calls you a saint. It means one who is set apart.
Chosen, Predestined, and Placed in Christ
You became a saint the same way Paul became an apostle — by the will of God. If you let your eyes fall down across that page, you see in verse 4 that you were chosen before the foundations of the earth. You were predestined to adoption. You were selected. You are a saint, and God has laid His hand on you. You are His servant, called to serve Him, and what makes you a saint is found at the end of verse 1: you are in Christ Jesus.
John Calvin puts it this way: "No man is a believer who is not a saint, and on the other hand, no man is a saint who is not a believer." You are in Christ. Paul uses that term 165 times across his thirteen letters, and he attaches various realities to it. In Christ we are redeemed. In Christ we have forgiveness. In Christ we have assurance. In Christ — that is where we are.
The City of Ephesus
Now, these saints are physically located in Ephesus, so a little background on that city is helpful. It was probably the fourth largest city in the world at the time Paul was writing, with a population on the low end of 250,000 people. It was a center of commerce and politics, and it was truly a hub of magic and religion, with a deep fascination with both. The largest building in the Greek world was in Ephesus — a temple to the goddess Diana. It was destroyed in 550 BC and then rebuilt, and the platform —
Grace and Peace from God
Paul uses a very standard greeting, and then in verse two he says, "Grace to you and peace." He tells us where we find grace and peace: from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is unmerited favor. It is not something we have earned, not something we receive as a reward or as payment for work done, or in recognition of service.
In our Christmas book pack this year, there was a small book called *By God's Grace Alone* by Abraham Booth. At the very beginning of the book, he simply asks the question: what is grace? Paul uses the word grace to mean the opposite of works or worthiness. When we get to chapter 2, verse 8, we are going to see that we are saved by grace.
Grace means undeserved kindness or favor given without it being earned in any way. Grace always presupposes unworthiness in the person receiving it. So if you have received grace, the presupposition is that you did not deserve it and were unworthy of it. Anything we deserve cannot be ours by grace. Grace and worthiness cannot be connected in the same act.
So when we say we receive God's grace, we are also saying that we are unworthy of it and cannot work for it. We define grace, as used in the New Testament, to be the eternal and absolute free favor of God shown by His giving spiritual and eternal blessings to guilty and unworthy people. That is us.
New Creatures in a Fallen World
Keep your finger in Ephesians chapter 1 and turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 — page 142 in the Bible we gave you. Our pastoral staff has been working through a discussion book together, twelve lessons, and in our group this past Tuesday I made the observation that I find myself returning to certain passages of Scripture over and over again. Interestingly, those same two passages came up again this week as I was preparing this lesson: Romans chapter 8, particularly the end of that chapter, and 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, beginning in verse 14.
Paul tells us that what is to compel us — or control us — is the love of Christ. His love for us. He died for us. The result of that, in verse 17, is that if you are in Christ, if you believe this gospel, you are a new creature, and the old things have passed away. This redemption is from God — and you will hear that theme over and over throughout the study of Ephesians, that all of this is from God.
God, in verse 18, reconciles us to Himself through Christ, and then says: now take that ministry of reconciliation and go into the world. So here is the good news. If you are in Christ Jesus, you are a new creature. Those old things are gone. Same old earth suit, but a different person inside.
Going back to Ephesians, these are people who are, first of all, in Christ. They are part of this body, in the fellowship of the saints. Even as Paul writes about blessing in verses 3 through 14, it is always in the plural personal pronoun — always "us" and "we," not "I" and "me." That is what chapter 4 begins with: all one body, one baptism, one Lord.
And yet they are geographically still in this world. There is the tension, isn't there? We are new creatures in a fallen world. We carry a dual passport — for most of us, one that says USA, and another that marks our citizenship in heaven. We are still in a world with all of its sin and hardship and suffering and pain.
Living in the Tension
You still have things like the crisis in Haiti. You still have hardship and stress and strain all around you. I met with a businessman this week whose opinion I genuinely value, and he told me he honestly believes this year is going to be harder economically than last year, at least here in Arizona. I do not know if that is true, but there is no reason to think things will improve right away.
Beyond that, you have a collision of worldviews, and you are in the middle of it. Those of us who are Christians are in Christ, then in fellowship in the universal church, and many of you have chosen to make your home in this particular body of believers — but you are also in this world. As a ship is in the ocean with water all around it, yet the water is not in the ship, you are in that world, though hopefully the world is not in you.
Along comes God, who sees us in the condition Paul describes. Look at chapter 2, verse 2: we are sons of disobedience. Verse 3 continues that description — and we will see in chapter 2, verse 8, that it is by grace we are saved. Grace shown to people who did not deserve it, could not earn it, and had no claim on it whatsoever.
Grace, Peace, and the Nature of Salvation
We were by nature children of wrath. That is who you were. But God moves. He is rich in mercy. And though we were dead, verse 5 tells us He made us alive, and we are saved by grace.
That means you are a saint. You may not always look like it or always act like what we perceive a saint to be, but you cannot lose that. We get that question all the time: "I really do think I'm a Christian, but the way I've been acting, I don't think I am anymore. Can I lose my salvation?" No. Because you did not earn it. You did not do anything to get it.
Paul reminds us that grace can come from one place only: God our Father. He also says grace and peace to you, and that peace comes from God. The night before He died, Jesus said to the disciples, "Peace I leave you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled."
Peace is not the absence of turmoil. Peace is the presence of God. There is a worldly peace, at least in our minds, that says: if I own that, if I live there, if I drive this, if I get that degree, if I win this, if I sleep with her, if I marry him, if I snort this, smoke this, buy this, rent this, do this — somehow I will find peace. By that we mean a cessation of the turmoil around us. The reality is, no. We find peace in that relationship with God and with Him alone.
The Reality of Hardship in the Christian Life
Every Monday, and certainly by Tuesday, all the prayer requests come in. Last week there were seven pages of prayer requests from this congregation. They have become very predictable, and I do not mean that in any negative way. There is economic hardship — one request this week said, "I know my situation is not as hard as a lot of them, but I've been out of work a year. Just pray for a job." There is always sickness, always someone with cancer, always someone facing some physical hardship or difficulty.
There are always relational issues — marriages, children who are gone, neighbors. And then there are the prayer requests I love most, the ones we are inundated with: "Pray for my neighbor. Pray for my co-workers. I'm sharing the gospel with them. Pray God will work in their heart." When you read these prayer requests, your heart is touched and you are reminded that being a saint does not exempt you from the hardship of life. The difficulties, the challenges, the wear and tear of living still come.
This peace is not the cessation of hostility. It is the presence of God in the middle of it. Paul writes this from prison. Paul, the pillar of the church — do you think he is exempt from physical hardship? No. When we get to 2 Corinthians, he talks about the hardship and affliction that is all around him, the suffering, the pain, the difficulty. You are not exempt from this.
Ken Hughes, in his commentary on the book of Ephesians, references a survey done by the Lilly Endowment among local churches. In general terms, they found this to be true: 30% of local pastors said they were doing well, using their giftedness and effective in their ministry. 40% said they are just muddling through, treading water — and as Hughes puts it, the water is starting to look more like mud. Another third consider themselves failures and are looking for a way out. What that breaks down to is 7 out of 10 pastors saying, "I am not doing very well."
There is no guarantee that being a follower of Christ means your circumstances will be smooth — that the deal always closes, that people always respond to a message. It does not happen that way. Grace to you and peace, the presence of God. And there is only one place to find that grace and peace: Jesus Christ.
Every Spiritual Blessing in Christ
Paul introduces in verses 3 through 14 — in the Greek, one single sentence of 202 words — a grand statement. Look at verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places." Where do we find them? In Christ. There is that phrase again: in Christ.
Paul then begins to list those blessings. He chose us. We are holy. We are blameless. He loved us. Verse 5: He predestined us. He adopted us. He bestows on us this grace and glory. Verse 7: He redeems us. He has forgiven us. Verse 8: He lavishes on us wisdom and insight. Verse 9: He has made known to us mysteries, according to His will and according to His purpose. Verses 10 and 11: We have obtained this inheritance. Verse 13: We have salvation from hearing the Word of God. Verse 13: He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit — He has made this deal secured, this salvation guaranteed.
In the broadest sense, Paul speaks about the past, the present, and the future. Before the foundations of the earth, God chose and determined. Today, we have been redeemed and forgiven — when you sin, He forgives you. And one day there is an inheritance. We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. All of that is encompassed in that one statement in verse 3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us."
Verse 3 begins with something you could move through quickly, but if you stop and think about it, it ought to make you pause. When we talk about blessing —
Blessing God and Being Blessed by Him
We typically think about God blessing us, but the verse starts by saying, "Blessed be God." How do you bless God? It is an idea you find all through Scripture. Abraham, in chapter 14 of Genesis, says, "Blessed be the God who has delivered his enemies into his hand." And when we get to the very end of the book, John, in the book of Revelation, chapter 5, verse 13, raises the same question: what does it mean to bless God? It means to ascribe to Him the attributes that are His, to praise Him, to acknowledge Him as the source of grace and mercy.
That blessing — that praise of Him — is a response to what we see in verse 3, which is Him blessing us with every spiritual blessing. Material blessings, obviously, are included; we know that everything we have is a gift from God, and even the ability to take another breath is a gift from God. The promise we have from Jesus is to seek first His kingdom, and He will deal with the material world. The thrust of verse 3, however, is not the blessing itself but the source of the blessing. These blessings are spiritual — they are from the Spirit of God.
Paul tells us in Colossians chapter 2, verse 10, that we are made complete. All through this section, the plural personal pronoun is used: it is us, all of us, with no one exempt. It is not that one person received a spiritual blessing while another did not — these are blessings placed on all who are followers of Christ.
These are blessings in heavenly places — in the spiritual, not necessarily the material realm. And it is not just the sweet by-and-by; there is a present reality to them as well. There is the certainty we have of heaven, but there is also the reality of Him at work in our lives here and now.
A Heavenly Mindset That Produces Earthly Good
In Colossians chapter 3, Paul tells us to set our minds on the things above — to have a heavenly mindset. Those of you who are new here have probably already heard someone say, "The problem with Christians is they're so heavenly-minded they're no earthly good." What Scripture is saying is that is impossible, because if I am truly heavenly-minded, I will be of earthly good. God will work in my life. There will be transformation. There will be change.
You are the recipient of that. You are in Christ. You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, and as we saw, that begins in verse 4 with the idea that He chose us.
Chosen, Predestined, and Loved
Look at verses 4 and 5: "Just as He chose us in Him" — God chose us in Christ before the foundations of the world, not just for salvation, but that we would be holy and blameless before Him. "In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself." So you have two concepts here: the idea of choosing and the idea of predestination, and tucked in the middle is the motive for both — His love.
I will be transparent with you: I do not know Greek. A question I get often is where I went to seminary, and the reality is I did not. I am deficient in some of those areas, so I rely on other sources. The experts tell me that the phrase "in love" is genuinely unclear in the original language — whether it is attached to the choosing or to the predestination. In reality, I would say it is tied to both.
Remember what we saw back in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 14? It is the love of Christ that is evident in the choosing, in the predestination, in the adoption, in the redemption. It is the love He had for you while you were His enemy, while you were a sinner, while you were unworthy. He loved you and sent Jesus to die so that you could have eternal life.
He Knows You Completely and Loves You Anyway
You might be here today with a raw nerve, feeling all of those things — unworthy, a sinner, even thinking in your mind that you do not know if it is possible to be forgiven. It is. You may need to hear these words more than any others, and you will hear them all through this book: God loves you, and He knows everything there is to know about you.
Think about how interesting that is in human terms. We love, but it really is a conditional love. We say we know a person, but in reality you do not truly know anyone completely — even after decades of marriage. One of the prayer requests we had recently involved someone whose neighbors, after being married fifty years, are getting a divorce. Think of the hurt and pain that must be present in the middle of that relationship. And I am sure someone in that situation is saying, "If I had known that about you, I would never have married you." That is precisely why they never revealed it — because they knew that if the other person knew, it would push them away.
Here is what is amazing about God's love: He knows — and this is really important — He knows everything there is to know about you, and He chose you and us to be His bride anyway. He loves you anyway. So you do not have to hide anything from Him. He already knows it.
Choosing, Election, and Predestination
You are in Christ. It is important and fair to ask: how did you get there? Paul tells you, and in doing so he introduces two concepts that often become problematic for us. He introduces in verse 4 the concept of choosing — our election — and in verse 5 the concept of predestination.
Election and Predestination
Enough has been said about these terms that when they are brought up, argument, debate, and emotion all tend to flow from that. Every even-numbered year I teach a series called the Doctrines of Grace. I will not do so this year, because we will cover all these things as we work our way through the book of Ephesians. But I know that when we teach those doctrines, all sorts of arguments take place.
I have a dual problem with this. On one hand, I understand it, and on the other, I don't get it. I understand it because I was there — when I was first introduced to these concepts, I found myself pushing them away. But if you are fair, open-minded, and honest, John Calvin did not dream this up. Luther did not dream this up. Augustine did not dream this up. And if you want to fast-forward, Sproul, MacArthur, Piper, Packer, Boyce — none of them did either. Paul did not make this up. God declares it.
John Stott says this about the words election and predestination: they are divine revelation, not human speculation. I have seen what happens when these ideas are introduced carelessly. I have seen someone grappling with the faith use predestination as an excuse not to respond because it makes no sense to them. And I have seen people who believe it use it as the defining witness test — the weapon, the club with which they beat people over the head. Neither is good.
Paul's Purpose: Assurance, Not Debate
Let us simply let the Word say what the Word says. This is not very hard to figure out. We may naturally flinch against some of these things, and we may have questions — those are legitimate questions. But it is important to understand that Paul is not trying to initiate a debate. Paul is trying to tell you the blessings that you have.
Paul's intention is not to push you away but to offer you great assurance. His intention is to provide comfort and peace — to elaborate on the grace and peace already extended to you. God chose you. When? Before the earth was even created.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases verse 4 this way: "Long before he laid down the earth's foundation, he had us in mind. He settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love." God saved you. He chose you. He predestined you for salvation, and your life should reflect it. You should look holy. You are blameless — literally without blemish. You are forgiven. God has removed the blame and the guilt.
That choosing was done in a premeditated way. Do you see that? Before the foundations of the earth. It was not a whimsical act. It was not random or accidental. No external force levered pressure on God. God made this choice. He predestined you — He literally marked you out — for adoption.
Adopted as Sons of God
If you turn to the book just to the left of Ephesians, that is Galatians. You are also welcome to turn to Romans chapter 8, verses 15 and 16, if you want to study further on your own. But in Galatians chapter 3, verse 26, Paul makes this simple statement: "For you are all sons of God." How do we become sons of God? Remember what we saw in Ephesians — we are sons of disobedience, by nature children of wrath. Yet Paul says you are a son of God "through faith" — there it is again — "in Christ Jesus."
Then in chapter 4, verse 6: "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, and we can cry out, Abba, Father. We are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir."
Crying Out "Abba, Father"
Almost always when I listen to people pray, they begin with the same word. When you stop and pray, what is almost always the first word you use? Father. In the 39 books of the Old Testament — 969 pages in my Bible — the authors called God "Father" only 14 times. And in all 14 of those instances, it is never personal. It is always the father of a nation.
When Jesus comes along in the Gospels, He refers to God as Father 60 times. The only time He does not is when He is hanging on the cross and quotes from Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You and I are in an intimate relationship with God.
The word Abba — you have likely heard this before — is Aramaic. It is not "Father" in a formal sense. It is not stiff or distant. It is the idea of Daddy. There is an intimacy here, a closeness of relationship.
My girls have for most of their lives called me Tom. I personally really like that. If you ask Hayley why she calls me Tom, she will say, "Well, what do you call him? That's his name." I have something like 42 messages saved on my phone from my girls, and most often they begin with "Tom." Most often it will start with, "Tom, I'm in the car, Tom…"
But whenever you hear the word "Dad" — when Hayley had a kidney stone, one centimeter, which is just impossible to pass, and she was lying in that hospital bed — she said, "Daddy, it hurts so much." That is the picture you have. You can cry out to Him and say, "Daddy, it hurts so much." You can cry out and say, "Daddy, thank you so much." And as you begin that whole list of thank-yous, that praise and adoration —
Becoming More Like the Father
Once you have perspective, it all comes more easily. The perspective is this: He chose you before the foundations of the earth. You received grace, which means that you were unworthy — you didn't earn it. And you are holy and blameless; you begin to look like Him.
I saw a pilot for a TV show a while ago, and I don't know if the show ever made it on the air, but it was about reuniting adults with their birth parents. It was an interesting show in that there was this process prompted by curiosity — they were curious about what their parents were like, and of course the parents were curious about the children. Sometimes there were medical reasons as well. They would bring them together, and so often it would be fascinating to watch: there'd be the mom or the dad and the child, and they'd scratch their heads at the same time, or they'd move in a certain way, or they'd hold their mouth in a certain way.
I was doing something the other day and I thought of my father. I always remember his hands driving the car — the way his hands looked. I realized I was sitting there with my hands on the steering wheel exactly the way he used to hold them, and my hands look remarkably similar to my father's. As we get older, it seems like we look like our parents even more. Because you share that DNA, and if you really want to understand a person, so often you need to understand their parents.
He is your Father, and you ought to begin to look more and more like Him. That is what it means to be holy and blameless. He has predestined you for that.
He declared that you would be His. You would begin to conform to the image of Christ — you'd start to look like Him, and think like Him, and respond like Him. You would be adopted with all of the privileges and rights associated with that. You were alienated from God and then brought into His family, and you are no longer an outsider or a stranger. The Creator God of the universe, the One who spoke this into existence — before He did that, He determined that sitting here right now, this day, you would be His child.
You Are Loved and Forgiven
And then you wonder if you're loved. He loves you. He chose you and He predestined you. He bestows glory on you freely. And this "in Him" process begins with redemption.
You might have come here today really needing to hear that you are loved. Let me tell you what I know a lot of people need to hear, and that is that you are forgiven. There is a whole lot of pain back there, but you are not held in bondage to it any longer — unless you want to be. I'll pick up right there next week.
Closing Prayer
One of the things that are so important to us is to be able to serve you in a variety of ways. One of those is the privilege of simply being available to you. As soon as we are done, right here in the front, in the chapel, and over in the conference center, there will be members of our pastoral team who are here to pray with you, weep with you, and rejoice with you. They are here to serve you, so please take advantage of that.
Would you pray with me? Father, thank You for this amazing truth, this wonderful truth. Thank You for the grace and peace that You have extended to us — in spite of us, not because of us, You have redeemed us. God, we come before You with hearts filled with thanksgiving and praise, and with hearts that ache for those people who are suffering so much in Haiti. We pray that You would work there in a supernatural way. And as asked for by the governor, we do pray for the condition of this state, but we understand that wisdom and insight come from You and from You alone. Father, thank You for choosing us as a people, for predestining us, for setting us aside — not as a source of pride and ego, but that we might be instruments that take Your gospel to this world. I pray we do that as these doors kick open. In Christ's name, Amen. Have a great week. We'll see you next week.