"The Foundations" (pt. 2)

This is a continuation of the sermon from July 29^th entitled The Foundations. It began with a review of the main points of that message, to which I refer you.  

Now, let’s look at the second great aspect which is recorded of the work of the Father, and which is related to the first,

He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:5-6)

Family Relationship

Here is a partial explanation of how God takes care of all the past failures and the shame of our lives, in order to produce someone who is holy and blameless. It is by means of a change of family relationship. "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons." We are familiar with the process of adoption. Adoption means leaving one family and joining another, leaving behind all that was involved in the first family and assuming the name, the characteristics, the resources, the history of another family. And this is the way Paul describes this relationship. We all belong initially to the family of Adam. We leave it, in Christ, and, thereafter, we belong to a new family, the family of Jesus Christ. We are no longer part of the family of Adam. Now that doesn't mean that we are not human; it means that we no longer need to be possessed by fallen Adamic characteristics. We are still exposed to temptations to believe in them and to act that way, but we don't have to -- that's the point. We've been transferred into a new family.

Responsible sonship

And, more than that, the emphasis is upon living as a full-grown, mature, responsible son. We are not put into this family as mere babes; we are put in as mature, grown-up children. As soon as we grasp the truth we can exercise it. In other words, to put it very simply, we are to live exactly as Jesus lived. He was a Son, the Son of the Father, and, as such, a certain way of life was his. And now we have it too, in him, living exactly as he did.

This is how Jesus described his own life: In John 6, he said, "I live because of the Father," (John 6:57). That is, "The Father is my resource, my wisdom, my strength, my power. The Father is the secret of how I act, and what I do, and where I go. The Father is living in me, and working in me. And in everything I do, it is not I; it is the Father." He went on to say, "The one who feeds on me will live because of me," (John 6:57). That is the secret of the Christian life. What a beautiful way to live! By the same method that Jesus lived, in the same way that he arrested the attention of humanity -- this is the way that we are called upon to live. We have been made sons in him, like him, so as to share his life. It is this, you see, that pleases the Father. Isn't that amazing?

Why? His Pleasure. His Praise.

The rest of the statement deals with the why and how of this. Why should this be so? Most of us struggle with believing it because we say, "Why me? Why should he see anything in me which would motivate him to do that?" And, of course, that is our problem. It isn't that he sees anything in us. We make a serious error when we think that there is something in us which God is after. No, it is not anything in us. The ground of his choice is the kind of God he is. There are three elements of it here: "He predestined us to be adopted as his sons..." "In accordance with his pleasure and will..." "To the praise of his glorious grace..." It is entirely God, isn't it? His love began it, so he purposed it, literally, according to "the good pleasure" of his will, i.e., it gives him pleasure to do so, and all to the final end that it results in joy, in praising him, throughout all creation -- "to the praise of the glory of his grace."

How? Grace.

Finally, there is just one word on how, and this introduces the next section which we will take up in our next time together. How did this come to us? It was "freely given us in the One he loves." God "engraced" us, is the word. He came to us in Christ; he poured it all out in Christ. Jesus was sent of the Father. That is the mark of his love. He came to be poor, he came to be misunderstood, to be opposed and hated, to be spat upon, to be cruelly beaten and finally crucified, so that we might be rich. Remember how Paul puts it in Second Corinthians 8:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

What a marvelous thing it is to be a child of the Father! If you are a Christian, you are chosen before the creation of the world to be adopted as his child, so that you may be holy and blameless, to the praise of his glorious grace. Do you believe it? If you do, it should change the way you live every day. From the moment you awaken in the morning till the last gleams of consciousness fade at night, your constant wonder should be, “I am a child of God!” Amen.