CHOSEN TO BE LOVED
Ephesians 1:1-8
My brothers and my sisters, many of us know how it feels when you have been chosen to be loved, especially if that someone that chose you was someone special. As I think about my choice for the person that I chose to be mine, at best Cheryl and me, considered at that moment the great chance that our choice for one another would be anchored in a developing love. Now before you think that we didn’t love each other at first, I must correct that thought to get you to understand that we did not know enough about each other to rightfully say that we loved each other and the love, the simplistic love that we did have, was enough for me to ask Cheryl for her hand in marriage. In other words I wanted Cheryl to know that she had been chosen to be loved by me, and at this point it is unconditional.
That is what the Lord God did for us before the foundation of the world. Rev. Pierson frequently says; before there was a when or a where, a here or a there, God loved us too much to even think about leaving us alone in a world that He created. But in this big cruel world, the love is not mutual. It is like a song that Van McCoy wrote for the Choice Four in the seventies called (I Can’t make you Love Me.) The words were; “Seems like the one thing that you can’t have, is the thing you want most of all. And when I tried to forget you the deeper in love I fall. But I guess, some things are just not meant to be and having you is not a part of me, so why fight destiny. You can’t find love in a heart of stone, I can’t make you love me, no I can’t make you love me, you know I guess I better leave well enough alone, I can’t make you love me.” Now although Pete Marshall of the Choice Four sang this song about this love sick man during a time when love songs were the norm. I’m here this morning and glad to say that the Lord did not give up on us that easy. He keeps on giving us reasons to love Him. When we were sinners, He gave His only begotten Son. When we did not acknowledge Him, He gave us whether we knew it or not, reasonable health to make a living, to work a job that allowed us to own our homes, drive our fine cars, and to have food in our refrigerators. And when we thought that we were all that, He died for you and me. I tell you that God Father keeps giving us reasons to love Him.
As we explore this Epistle of Ephesians and possibly Philippians and Colossians in this year, we will hear first hand from the Apostle Paul about how the Lord Jesus Christ felt for the Church, that is also called the body of Christ. It is in this text that is among all the great passages of Scripture, which deals with God’s eternal plan for the world. It deals with the great blessings of God which He pours out upon those who trust His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior. So, in this Epistle to the Ephesians it will not cover church order or discipline, but we will witness the Christians’ position through His Grace; the truth concerning the body of Christ or the true Church; and the life lived in accordance with that grace.
So, lets take a look.
First of all . . .
1. LET’S SEE TO WHOM THIS EPISTLE IS ADDRESSED TO (v.1)
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:”
We should note the introduction in this Epistle and should notice whom Paul the apostle is talking to. It said to the saints and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Now I find this note worthy because when Paul wrote to many of the other local churches he had to spend time dealing with the issues and concerns that had distracted them from true worship. In Romans, he had to deal with the Jews and their unbelief. In 1ST Corinthians, he had to deal with the carnality of the believers and he had to defend his apostleship. In 2nd Corinthian, Paul spiritual burden was great. In addition to the problems had to deal within his first letter to Corinth, he had to deal a wave of distrust, and the question of his sincerity along with his apostolic authority being question. In Galatians, he had to deal with the fickleness of the Galatians. They had a love for new and curious things and were swayed to believe loose doctrines. But here in Ephesus, Paul found a group that did not need much correcting, in fact they were a breath of fresh air for the apostle. He was able to write a letter from his prison in Rome that would encourage the saints and the faithful in Christ. So this epistle was to those who not only trusted the Lord Jesus Christ but also those who trusted Paul as well.
Secondly, we can feel His love simply because
. . .
2. HE CHOSE US BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD (v.3&4)
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, 4. According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him, in love:”
The first blessing is that God has chosen us to be holy and blameless. This is a wonderful verse. Just imagine! God determined before the world was ever created that He would have a people . . .
• Who would be "in Him," that is, in His Son, Jesus Christ.
• Who would be "holy and without blame."
• Who would live "before Him in love"—forever and ever.
This means a most wonderful thing; God wants us to be with Him. He does not want us separated from Him, gripped by sin and shame, sorrow and pain, death and hell. God wants us to live forever with Him. In other words we should know that He loves us so much that He wants us to be with Him forever. Regardless of the life that we lived before accepting Him, it was not enough to stop us from experiencing God’s love. And in verse four the text said that He had chosen us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Imagine just like Rev Pierson had said, “before there was a when or a were, a here or a there, God had an eternal plan for us.
But I cannot speak of verse four without going into verse five. And there is a word in that verse that is misunderstood by many who do not understand the plan of God. That word is “predestination.” The scripture says, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”
As we find the second blessing. We find that God has adopted us as children. To the believer, what a glorious privilege it is to be adopted as a child of God.
We should note that:
• It was foreordained.
• It was the pleasure of God to adopt us—the good pleasure of His will. And it was His purpose to adopt us, and His purpose and His pleasure and His will were all good.
The word "foreordained" does not mean that God chooses some persons for salvation and everyone else for eternal punishment. Scripture teaches the exact opposite. I can make a case with John 3:16;
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
And Romans 10:13; "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
The word "predestination" means to destine or appoint before, to foreordain, to predetermine. The basic Greek word means to mark off or to set off the boundaries of something. The idea is a glorious picture of what God is doing for the believer. The boundary is marked and set off for the believer. The boundaries found in God’s word qualifies us to be adopted as a child of God. The believer will be adopted, made just like Christ and conformed to His very likeness and image. Roman 10:13 qualifies us, just like John 3:16. So being predestinated does not say that you were chosen and had nothing to do with it, but what it does say that you are chosen because you met the requirements found in the word of God.
CONCLUSION
In closing I am so glad that the Lord loves me so. Even when we prove to be unlovable, He love us with no conditions added to it. I want you to know that just because there is a world out there that have yet to love our Christ, that does not mean that He does not love them. I’m reminded of what happened on the day when they crucified our Savior.
He was betrayed by a kiss.
Taken to a judgement hall and was falsely accused.
My Savior was beaten beyond recognition.
Forced to carry His own cross to Calvary’s hill.
They drove nails and spikes in His hands and feet.
Marked and laughed at.
But there was one thing that I vividly remember, and that was a question that was sarcastically asked of Him. They asked, “If you be the Son of God, come down from the cross and save thyself.”
My brothers and sisters that is when I realized what love was because He did not come down from the cross to save Himself, but He decided to die just to save me.
