God at Work -- Ephesians 1:3

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason - August 31, 2003

Text:

In 2 Kings 6:8-18 we find the story of Elisha the prophet of God and one of his servants. The King of Aram was at war with Israel. Time and again, Elisha warned the King of Israel of the plans of the King of Aram. The King of Aram was enraged at this and was sure that there was someone in his camp who was telling the King of Israel his plans.

One of his officers told him that it was none of them but that it was "Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the King of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."

The King of Aram sent people out to find where Elisha was so that he could capture him. He was found to be in Dothan. And so the army of Aram surrounded Dothan one night.

When the servant of Elisha got up and went outside early in the morning, he saw the army of Aram that had surrounded the city. "Oh my lord, what shall we do? (6:15)

Elisha responded by telling him not to be afraid: "Those who are with us are greater than those who are with them." (6:16) He prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." And the servant’s eyes were opened and he saw some thing that he had not seen before: the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Elisha saw reality and it was quite different from what the servant saw when he went outside that morning.

God at work.

Here is what we must do if we are going to understand how God works in our lives, the lives of our family members, or church, etc.: We must begin with God as the center of our life and thinking.

This morning we are going to consider the fact that God has been at work and his work has been detailed for us by the Apostle Paul in verses 3 through 14. Verse 3 is essentially a summary of God’s work. And then there are basically four elements that make up this extended passage that we need to understand: This is our focus for this morning.

1. God is behind all those blessings Paul speaks of in verse 3.
2. The aim of the Work of God is to bless us – to bring about a world, a universe filled with blessing.
3. All of this comes to us "in Christ".
4. The realm of where all this occurs is what Paul calls the "heavenlies".

It is important for us to realize that God does all of this. There is nothing at all in Chapter 1 of this letter by Paul for us to do. Paul is not talking about the activity of men in this passage of Scripture. These are things that only God can do and only God has done. This is where the action is! If we are going to grow spiritually, we must understand the truth of what God has already done.

You might find it helpful to underline all the verbs of this passage. When you do, you will realize that they all refer to God.

He chose us…before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless. Do you remember what it felt like when you were one of the first ones chosen for that special team; or how bad you felt when you were passed over as not good enough for the team…after all it is the winners who are important, right? God says…wrong. I have chosen you!

He destined us…in love to be His sons…members of His family by adoption

He has redeemed us…through His love and the sacrifice of the cross. Our guilt if we believe in Him is gone.

He has made known to us his will…the mystery of His will that He set forth in Christ to unite all things in Him

What do we need to understand about the world we live in and all the activity of men as they work to build their kingdoms? They will all fade away one day. The grand accomplishments of our day that give us such satisfaction will become nothing but obscure references in some future history if Jesus Christ tarries.

Rudyard Kipling once said this about the British Empire:

"Far flung our navies melt away

On Dune and headland sinks the fire.

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre"

One day when man’s greatness has faded away the things which will be true are these great facts that Paul puts down here for us. Look above all the busyness, activity, preoccupation and misery of the present age and lift your eyes to the greatness of what God is doing. He planned all this before the foundation of the world, began it even before there was an earth, and designed it to reveal the greatness of His grace, His compassion, His tenderhearted love, His forgiving ability, and His power to restore.

God has a plan.

God is the one who is behind all the blessings we receive.

God loves us…enough to send Jesus to the cross for us.

God cares for us

God desires for us to prosper. Jeremiah 29:11-14a makes that very clear to us: "I know the plans I have for you says the Lord God, plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future…"

Peter tells us that God’s divine power has "given us everything we need for life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:3

God’s intention is to bring about a world, a universe filled with blessing for us. He intends this so that He might be praised "to the praise of His glory." So that we might be so struck wit the wonder of what has happened to us that our hearts might reflect the praise, the glory and blessing of God. And this so that those who do not follow Christ might see Him and desire to follow Him as His disciples too.

God intends that we be "billboards" as it were advertising all the blessings of God. We should be attractive "bait" to the non-Christians around us. Remember we are supposed to be light and salt in our world.

When we recognize all God has done for us, we will stand in awe and amazement before the Lord and tell Him "My God, how great thou art!"

We can know the plan! It is as if God has taken us into the secret counsels of eternity and He has unfolded His plan – what he plans to do from Adam and Eve to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

He has appointed us to live for His glory. We are to demonstrate those for the world all these blessings.

And then finally, He has sealed us…with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, a down payment, and the earnest money if you will of all that is to follow to bless us.

We have all these blessings. Paul says that we are "blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing." Only God can provide these blessings. They are a gift of God.

Paul then makes it clear that all this comes to us in Christ. It is His person and His work that everything comes to us.

Look back at verse 3. In this passage Paul tells us exactly where all this occurs. It is in the heavenlies. Now, we need to clearly understand that Paul is not talking about heaven here. Paul is speaking about our present possession and not about something that we will have to wait for.

What then does Paul mean by the heavenlies?

It is the spiritual realm.

It is the realm of the invisible reality.

It is the realm of the unseen. This is what is real…even though we do not normally see it.

Remember the servant of Elisha. He could not see what God was doing until Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes so that he could see. Reality seemed to be that they were surrounded and at risk by the army of Aram. The servant saw the fiery chariots of God, manned by hundreds of thousands of angels. They were reality.

Application for us:

We need to recognize and then understand that the most important things of our lives are not visible. They can’t be touched. They can’t be seen. They can’t be tasted, weighed or measured. They are not subject to the scrutiny of science nor are they subject to the philosophies or ideas of man. But they are real!

And Paul wants us to know that they exist and that they are generally invisible and that there is nothing we can do to receive them other than to trust in Jesus Christ and allow Him to redeem us. There is only one activity that will ever ultimately change anyone and that is God’s activity.

This is a reality check for us about what is real…even though we do not see it. God’s plan is to bless us, to heal, to make whole and to bring all things together in Christ.

Let’s give Him thanks for what He has done for us.

--Dennis Gleason