Pastor Dom Joseph | June 22, 2025
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Ephesians 1:3-14
Opening: Good morning Church, I am Dom the college pastor here and I know I haven’t been here a very long time and hadn’t yet had the pleasure to share with everyone my testimony so I’d like to take a couple minutes to share how the Lord saved me and the passion he has given me for College students. I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana but left there in 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina, so I was raised in Ky, I grew up hearing about God and at some points went to church but it wasn’t until I was in college that the gospel was made clear to me. From that moment on everything in my life changed, I truly began a relationship with Christ, I put away the old self and began striving after Christ. Which led me to pursue ministry which I did working with college students before attending Seminary at Southeastern in Wake Forest and by God’s grace coming here to join in the work the Lord has been doing here for a long time, I am truly grateful to serve this Church and reach to 18-25 year olds in Boone with the same gospel that changed my life.
This morning I want to spend time in Ephesians 1:3-14 Praising God for all that he has done for us.
Reading of the Passage/Context for the Passage/MIT for the Passage: God has provided everything for those who are in Christ.
Context: Paul is writing this letter to the church at Ephesus, this place was known for its temple of Artemis or commonly known as Diana which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Paul wrote to them while in prison in Rome, he seems to want this church to have a rock solid foundation of the faith that they confess, so he breaks the letter into two sections chs. 1-3 he is describing the faith or a theological understanding of having a relationship with God, and chs. 4-6 he is giving practical steps on how God’s people should live out the faith. In the verses we will look at this morning Paul is describing the relationship between God and man, basically all the things that he brings to us.
MIM: The main thing I want to do this morning is to encourage believers to live in a posture of worship toward the triune God who does everything for His people. I have three points of Praise, 1. Praise to the Father, 2. Praise to the Son, 3. Praise to the Holy Spirit
- MIM Sub-point (verse/verses): v. 3-6 Praise to the Father
Exposition of verses/MIT Sub-point: As I was studying this passage there was a sense that this was a doxology (which is a hymn or a short song of Praise to God) Seeing that, in this passage it is appropriate here that Paul starts off with a blessing raised to God the Father. Why does Paul want to raise blessing towards God? Well he explains it, it is because He blesses us with every Spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places. He goes on to explain what those Spiritual blessings are. The first, being that, He chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. What does that mean? One of my Commentaries says this, God wants His people to stand well before Him because He loves them. The purpose, then of election, is for God to prepare a people who will ultimately be acceptable and pleasing to Him. Thus, election is for human transformation and human transformation is ultimately for the pleasure of God. What else does God do? He predestined to adopt us as sons and daughters through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. The redemptive plan before time even began was that we who believe would co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.) He brings us into his family, why? According to the purpose of his will, What does that mean? To the praise of his glorious grace with which he blessed us in the Beloved, or the Beloved one.(Christ) Paul does not spend time expounding on any of these ideas in this passage the only answer he gives to what he describes as spiritual blessings in the heavenly places is “according to the purpose of His will, to the Praise of his glorious grace. I think that should be our focus, the fact is that God chose to save sinners, and because of that fact we should daily shout for joy if we are in Christ.
Illustration: It has been a difficult year for everyone in this room, we have experienced loss, and pain and fear. Maybe we have even doubted the Lord. His plan for our life is unclear so we have stress and anxiety. But we must not forget that we have been adopted into the family of God! So when we feel the anxiety in our chest or fear and doubt creep in,we must remember who we are in Christ, and praise God the Father for who He is and all He does for His people.
Application: Give God glory that we are children of the King. - MIM Sub-point (verse/verses): v. 7-12 Praise to the Son
Exposition of verses/MIT Sub-point: Paul in these verses describes all that Jesus provides, first he provides Redemption which is the act of being saved or delivered particularly in the payment of a ransom. We were slaves of sin, sin was our master. We did everything for sin, we woke up thinking about sin, we sang songs of praise to our sin and there was nothing that could take sin from our hearts. But Jesus pays the price for our sin, and for those of us who have faith in Him, we are free from sin, we no longer serve our sin but we serve the true Master, a Holy King, one truly worthy of our worship and our loyalty. Christ makes it possible for our sin to be forgiven according to the riches of his grace which he lavishes on us. Which means he gives us an extraordinary amount, He doesn’t give us a teaspoon of grace but an ocean of it. Paul is telling the church that it was not always clear that grace would reach the gentiles, not until Christ fulfilled all things in his death, burial and resurrection. In v. 9 Paul mentions that he (being Christ) made known the mystery of His will, which was in reference to grace, Paul explains the mystery further in Ephesians 3:6 “that the mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” He has done all of these things according to his purpose,to fulfill His plan according to His good pleasure which he set forth in Christ, who is the bridge, the unifying factor to bring us into right relationship with God. Not only is he the bridge, and he provides grace and he provides redemption for us, but also in Him we have an inheritance in v. 11.Why? Well He predestined it according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of His will. We see that in both v. 11 and v.5 are alluding to something important: God has had a plan for adoption since before time began but all of that is so that His people would praise God. Paul mentions this twice and both times he doesn’t expound any further. We do not know Paul’s full intentions but we do know that God wants and deserves the glory.
Illustration: God steps into creation and not only interacts but makes a way for creation to interact with God, because of the unholy nature of man there needed to be a bridge, a path that would allow people to sit before the throne of God. Before only special prophets were able to see God and sit before Him. Here is what Isaiah did when he saw God in a vision, in Isaiah 6:5 “ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” But those of us in Christ have access to the Father because of the work of the Son.
Application: Give the Son praise because He brings us into right relationship with the Father. - MIM Sub-point (verse/verses): v. 13-14 Praise to the Holy Spirit
Exposition of verses/MIT Sub-point: This final praise may be the shortest but it should not be minimized or overlooked. You who believe in the gospel, the word of truth are sealed! What does that mean? To establish, or secure (something) definitively,or excluding the possibility of reversal or loss. The Holy Spirit guarantees that one day we will be with the Father in eternity, all of us have struggled with sin and temptation, maybe we thought at some point sin would take us out. Some of us have maybe even thought we lost our salvation because of sin. This passage shines a light on that idea, for those of us in Christ we are kept by God Himself, we are sealed by God Himself and are sustained by God Himself. This is not a pass for us to live in sin no, but it is a reminder that we do not fight alone, we do not live alone, and we will not die alone because God is always with us, He lives inside of us. Rightly Paul ends this way, to the praise of His glory.
Illustration: As many of you know I recently lost my Mother in law unexpectedly, it has been the hardest thing our family has ever gone through. In the midst of it, there was pain, sadness, confusion and even anger. Even in the midst of all that I felt comfort from God, He had not left us, He was with us getting us through and still is right now. The Holy Spirit has kept us in such a trying time, some of you may be going through something similar or worse, but for those of us in Christ this life is not the end.
Application: Give praise to the Holy Spirit who keeps us in Christ. Conclusion: As I mentioned earlier this message is about giving praise to God. We have a God who cares for us, who plans for us and has Adopted us into His family. We have a God who died for us, and redeemed us allowing us to have a relationship with Him, bridging the gap between us. And we have a God who has sealed us, and will keep us until either we die or he returns in which we will be with Him forever basking in His glory. To the praise of His glorious grace. Here are some ways daily we can praise God when we leave this room: 1. Music, there are so many great songs that can put our hearts in the right place everyday, 2. Praying continually, praying when you wake up, praying when you get to work, keep your heart in a place of thankfulness toward God. 3. Remember daily that God saved you from Sin
We have so many examples throughout history of God’s people continually praising Him, we have the old church Hymns that everyone knows, we have stories of people who spent all of the`ir days praising God, this passage from one of our apostles is an obvious example of praise but I want to share a doxology of one that came later, the writer is unknown and the date it was written is unknown but the name appears around 390 AD, the guess it was written in between the 2nd century and the 9th and that is the apostles creed. We are not alone in our worship but are joined by a great cloud of witnesses. And as we enter this time of worship I want to read the Apostles’ creed. I am going to have the worship team come and play as they do. I want us as a church to meditate on the words of those who came before as they worshipped the Lord.
The Apostles Creed: I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended to the dead
on the third day he rose again
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father
he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
One Holy Church
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.