MESSAGE TEXT
Ephesians 1:3-14
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INTRODUCTION
The confidence of the Ephesian believers had been shaken because of these kinds of things. Their identity challenged; their worth and value called into question. They felt like they were not enough. Not brave enough, smart enough, gifted enough, sure enough, strong enough. Is God enough? Is there enough of Him to go around? Can God’s love cover the drawn-out drama of a strained or abusive relationship? Can He cover a financial, career, or health crisis? Is He enough for a challenging child or sending a teen out of the nest for the first time? Is God enough? Am I enough? Do I need other things to fill in the chasm between me and God? Only a Triune God is enough.
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PROPOSITION
All three members of the Trinity are involved in this staggeringly generous work: grace has been “freely given” and “lavished on us.” We’re told that we have THREE GREAT PATRONS, THREE GREAT PROVIDERS, THREE VERY RICH PERSONS who are opening their coffers and their checkbooks and who are richly endowing us with more than we can ever count or calculate. It’s impossible to feel insignificant after trying to drink from this fire hose of Ephesians 1. It is meant to just sweep you up and carry you along in the current of God’s sovereign grace!
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MAJOR POINT
The Thrice Repeated Refrain. Each subunit ends with the refrain ‘to the praise of his glory’. (v.6, 12, 14). This note of glorious praise is repeatedly sounded throughout the eulogia of vv. 3–14. They serve as mini-conclusions on each Person of the Trinity. Your life won’t really make sense, and you’ll never find fulfillment until you live for his glory. This is the ultimate calling of humanity—to live for the praise of God, to let all we are and all we do be doxology, a giving of glory to God. The chief end of humankind is to love God and enjoy Him forever. We can’t meet our need for purpose and fulfillment if we’re living for and finding identity in – power, position, pleasure, possessions, popularity, pursuits. It has to be God’s glory. So instead of walking through a carnival fun-house full of carnival mirrors, Paul walks you through the treasure house of God’s wealth.
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CONCLUSION
The Triple Team: Wooing and Winning
Tragically, this Triune God has been resisted by us. Created to love God, we’ve turned into ourselves. We seek identity in things other than Him. We are separated from Him. But He weans us away from our self-love, away from relational alienation, away from destruction.
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the gospel of your salvation is how a holy God goes about reconciling sinful, guilty man to himself while remaining true to his perfect righteousness and justice and pure love that cannot tolerate the sabotaging of His Creation. The Good News is that you’ve been saved and rescued. God refuses to let go of a fallen planet and hangs on to it in Jesus. God loves you and has worked so hard to win you back to Himself.
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Now, personally receive Him and turn from your sin and become a God-glorifying adopted, beloved, Spirit-anointed son or daughter. We exist to be part of this pulsating activity we call the Trinity.