The Master’s Plan
(Ephesians 1: 3-14)
Let me start by assuring you that I’m not being political here, as tempting as it might be, but I’d like to talk about something President Trump mused about a couple of months ago. He was doing an interview on tv that I was watching, and I don’t recall the context of the conversation but for some reason he started talking about heaven and wondered if he would get into heaven. He thought he would because he believed he was a nice guy. My hand shot up and I began yelling pick me, pick me! I got this one, pick me! Well, that got Teresa’s attention and she asked who I was talking to. I told her the President which got a shoulder shrug and an eye roll. The interviewer missed a golden opportunity but didn’t respond and the President wandered off on to another topic I can’t recall. Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure I kept talking to the television exclaiming something along the lines of: “Jesus, it’s Jesus! Jesus is the answer! Believe and be saved!” I don’t think he heard me even though I am convinced somebody is monitoring me through my tv and has made a record of it.
The President just said out loud what so many people wonder quietly to themselves because if they say it out loud, they might not like the answer. They think there might be a God or a higher power if they can’t bring themselves to actually say God. They might even say they’d like to believe in God, but when it comes down to it, they don’t want to put the work in. They’re afraid it might mean giving up some things they know are wrong, they might be required to get out of bed on Sunday mornings and go to church, or they might be asked to do something for someone else when nobody is doing anything out of the goodness of their hearts for them. It might require them to take a hard look at their lives, admit that they were wrong, and ask for forgiveness. That’s just not a part of their plan for their life.
And that’s what the Apostle Paul is talking about in our scripture reading for today. He’s talking about the Master’s plan for our lives if we will only freely submit. Paul’s letter to the Ephesian churches was intended for several churches as opposed to most of his other letters that were meant to address specific issues arising in particular churches that may have been causing divisions among the believers. John and Charles Wesley, the founders of our denomination, frequently preached out of Ephesians due to the overriding theme of salvation by grace and faith. Paul’s letter is a sermon meant to be proclaimed in the church as it emphasizes the theme of unity and harmony in Christ in all settings, including church and family.
Like all of Paul’s letters, he starts out strongly, capturing your attention with his opening statement designed to get to the point and let you know where he’s going. It reminds me of the opening statements we would give in jury trials which served as a roadmap to where the evidence would lead you, enabling you to come to a unanimous and definitive conclusion. He proclaims: Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven. God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world. God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. He says a mouthful there but he is clear in his message that it is God who is bringing all things together for his creation and adopted children and he says that all of this was according to his goodwill and plan and to honor his glorious grace that he has given to us freely through the Son whom he loves.
What Paul is introducing here is the concept of election which can be confusing to many who may either think you have to do something good to be picked or that you’ve already been picked (or not picked as the case may be) and there is nothing you can do that would alter the preordained decision. It kind of goes back to the President’s musings where he believes he’ll be picked to go to heaven because he thinks he’s a good guy so there’s no need in doing anything else one way or the other. This concept of election is introduced to us by Paul and is clarified with the phrase “in Christ” meaning that Christians are chosen “in Christ” who is the elect one, chosen by God. According to my study Bible, God knew in advance who would believe and foreordained that “in Christ” they would be saved to the uttermost and conformed to God’s image. What he is saying is that we were not predestined to believe, but rather as believers, God has a wonderful design for us in Christ as part of God’s overall purpose to unite the whole of creation under the singular headship of Christ.
The Apostle explains that we have been ransomed through the Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding. What this means is that God always planned to redeem people through Jesus’s sacrifice. In other words, the horror of the cross was not a surprise or a “Plan B” after other options had failed. Paul continues by stating This is what God planned for the climax of all times: to bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth. Paul tells us that we are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ. He says: You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. This implies to me that we are called and are free to answer the call or not, that we’ve heard the truth and can accept it or reject it should we choose. Wesley interpreted this to mean that all who believe in Christ would be saved, that the plan of salvation was foreordained, but the choice of individual believers to affirm or reject God was not. And then, to seal the deal, Paul tells us that we have the promise of the Holy Spirit because we believe in Christ and that the Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.
All that being said, our individual freedom as human beings remains intact allowing us to exercise our free will in any manner we choose, to our benefit or to our detriment. Nonetheless, God’s prevenient grace is necessary for any person to begin to recognize his or her need for God and desire to draw near. That’s where the President and so many others come up short. They have yet to recognize their need for God and therefore do not have the desire to draw near, or in some cases, drawing near to God, engaging in a life-altering decision is just inconvenient and gets in the way of earthly pleasures and desires for fame, wealth, power, and control to name a few. But once a person chooses to respond, he or she is justified by God’s grace, which is given freely and received through no effort of one’s own, whether you’re a good person or not. If you believe in Christ you are now forgiven, freed from bondage to sin and death, but you first have to admit, confess your sins, and seek that forgiveness. For many, that would entail admitting they were wrong and that is just something they either cannot do or are not presently ready to do. For them, we hold them in our prayers and hope that that day will come sooner than later for their sake and the sake of others.
For Paul, the full experience of salvation occurs only when believers align themselves with Christ in every aspect of their lives. For some, that’s quite a realignment. It’s like the car that needs a frontend realignment. Going down the road is difficult with all sorts of shimmying and annoying vibrating making the journey unpleasant and unfulfilling, but once you’ve realigned your life with Christ the road becomes a whole lot smoother and the journey worth the effort. To participate in Christ is to imitate Christ, dying to sin and living in a manner that brings glory to God. To be in Christ is to live into a new reality and to grow into a new identity, an identity that some are not ready to accept. That reality and identity is the acceptance that the church of Jesus Christ is its people, people of every race and nation, who love Christ and are committed to serving him and not their own self-interests.
There is nothing we could have done to influence God’s decision to save us, he saved us according to his plan, and there is no way we can take credit for our salvation no matter how nice we may think we are, or to allow room for pride. Grace is God’s voluntary and loving favor given to those he saves. We can’t earn salvation, nor do we deserve it. No religious, intellectual, or moral effort can gain it, because it comes only from God’s mercy and love. To receive it, we must acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves, that only God can save us, and that our only way to receive this loving favor is through faith in Christ. Once we have accepted God’s grace, He looks at us as if we had never sinned and all we can do going forward is to express our thanks for his wonderful love as was the Master’s plan all along.
Let us pray.
Gracious and loving Father, what a blessed assurance we have in knowing Jesus is ours and oh, what a foretaste of glory divine we possess knowing that our salvation is secure because of the purchase made on the cross of Calvary. We praise you for your unmerited forgiveness of our many sins and numerous transgressions. How grateful we are for the gift of your Holy Spirit sent to guide us and teach us your ways so that we may become worthy of your amazing grace. We are blessed to be a part of your master plan for your creation and pray that we might be useful in your service. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
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1/04/26
The Master’s Plan
God has a wonderful design for us in Christ as part of God’s overall purpose to unite the whole of creation under the singular headship of Christ.