6/27 - Ephesians 1

(I may have posted this vid before, but it's worth watching again if I have :-)...)

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love 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" (v. 4-6)

Before God created all this, this expansive universe which, even after seeing this video, is difficult to comprehend, the verse says that God chose us. Isn't that crazy to think about? Watching that video I couldn't help but to consider my relative size and significance in that whole system of planets & galaxies. But it was His pleasure to hand pick me before this magnificent creation as evidence for His love for me. Even as I write this I still find it hard to internalize.

Paul lays out for us in this chapter an outline for our salvation: first that we were predestined for salvation (v. 5), redeemed through Christ's shed blood (v.7), sealed with the Holy Spirit upon belief (v. 13) and would be called to heaven at an appointed time (v 10-11, 14). Now I don't find it necessary or even desireable this morning to break down the doctrine of predestination. It's a complex conversation that's surely worth studying and learning about because clearly it's in the Bible and we have to do something with it. However, both sides of that argument can agree to the fact that, if God in fact has already chosen those who will be saved, none of us can really know who that group is and, as such, it would be a grevious fault to base our response to the gospel on a guess as to whether or not our name is on that list.

The final part of this chapter I got a little more from The Message translation. It's just really cool how God's plan came together, how He blessed His Son after allowing Him to endure the cross and entwined His love for us and His Son into one master plan for salvation:

"All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence." (v. 20-23)