Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – July 13 & 14, 2024
“GRACE, PERIOD” – Ephesians 1:3-14
Rev. Kelly Crabbe, Ascension Lutheran, Littleton
Grace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
What is God’s grace? Here’s a definition I hope you can agree with. God’s grace is a GIFT, it’s UNDESERVED FAVOR, and it finds its most profound expression in His GIFT of SALVATION. The word grace is used 131 times in the New Testament (ESV). But grace is presented so many more times than that because it’s more than a word. It’s how God likes to work. So today we’re going to look for God’s grace in our text in Ephesians 1 in all of its forms. Please open your Bible to Ephesians 1 so we can do this together. We begin in verse 3.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Right away we see the word BLESSÉD. In the original language of Greek this word isn’t used when talking about blessings for you. When it’s talking about a blessing for you the word used is makarios. But here the word is eulogētos (εὐλογητός), and it means the blessedness of God, His nature, His essence. It’s who He is. Because God is BLESSÉD He can also share His blessedness with us, and He does so in Christ Jesus. This is more than giving us blessings, we’re told here that we’re given a new identity, a different standing. Instead of remaining in our nature of SINFULNESS, when we are in Christ Jesus we are changed and have a new nature of BLESSEDNESS. Every spiritual blessing you have is because you are in Jesus by God’s grace! Though the word grace isn’t used in this verse, it’s being taught.
Verse 4 takes us further. 4 even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
This is a little difficult to figure out. How could God choose us before the foundation of the world? Before you ever existed, before you were born, God chose you. How could that be? He chose you to be holy and blameless before Him. How is that possible? How is it possible for Him to choose you before you existed, and how do you become holy and blameless? We find out in the next verses.
5 In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,
First off we see the basis for all of this coming to be — His love. It’s not by your performance or your good intentions, or your strength or how nobly you try to do the right things or try to stop doing the wrong things. It’s exclusively by His love. “IN LOVE HE PREDESTINED US.” What does that mean? This is a fascinating Greek word. The word is proorisas (προορίσας) which we translate as PREDESTINED, and it means “to determine in advance.” But it’s much richer than that. The way the word was first used was in relation to marking out a boundary for a sheep enclosure. You would PROORISAS by providing an enclosure where your sheep would be kept safe. As the shepherd you would take your staff and mark off a line in the dirt of where the enclosure for your sheep would go, the place where they would be kept in safety from predators. When you see the word predestined in the Bible, it’s not describing God saying, “I choose you, I choose you, I don’t choose you, I don’t choose you, I choose you” as He looks at individuals in the world. It is describing a predetermined location, an area marked off for a specific purpose, and in this case, the location is Christ. Jesus Christ is the boundary line. He is the line. He is the enclosure. When you’re in Christ, you’re safe. But if you’re not in Him, you are not safe. In fact the predators WILL be having you for lunch. That’s what predestination is. It’s God plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ established before anything or anyone was ever made. He is Grace!!! That’s how you could be chosen before you were. It’s because He prepared an enclosure before any of us came to be, and He made it big enough to hold as many as there would be.
The next word we need to look at in this verse is ADOPTION. The word translated as adoption is the Greek word huiothesia (υιοθεσία). It’s used only 5 times, all by the apostle Paul, and it actually means “established as a son.” This verse is literally saying, “IN LOVE GOD’S WILL AND PURPOSE WAS DETERMINED IN ADVANCE IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AS HIS SON OR DAUGHTER THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.”
The question then becomes, “How does this happen?” In verse 6 and following He makes it very plain that He took care of this all by Himself, without any help from us. Verse 6 says,
6 to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.
How many of your works are mentioned? None of our efforts are spoken of, only His grace.
Then verse 7 says, 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, The forgiveness of your sins, your redemption, your Salvation, that was accomplished how? It was through His blood. He did it all. I’m imagining going to Heaven to have a meal with God and He invites me in and has me sit down in front of a feast and then He starts to serve me. And I say, “But I didn’t bring anything to the party. At least let me serve you.” And He says to me, “No, it’s my joy to serve you.” We have an incredibly loving Lord. But we want to bring something to the table, add something in for our Salvation, but we can’t because it’s finished. Just like Jesus said when He was on the cross. “It is finished.” It’s like in the story of the faithful father and his prodigal son. When the prodigal son got so hungry and so lonely that he couldn’t take it anymore, he started walking back to his father’s house. He knew he didn’t have a home to come back to, not after what he had done. In his mind he was coming for a job interview. He wanted to convince his father he could be a good worker. But what does his father say to him? We see what happened in Luke 15. “20 While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”
Do you think that son stayed and worked with his dad on their farm? You bet he did. But not so that his dad would accept him, but simply because he was so grateful and in love with his father. In the same way God loves you. You have a home with Him. It’s all arranged in Jesus.
Scanning quickly thru our text there are many points where we see God’s grace in action.
He chose you,
He placed you as His child into His family,
He did this according to His love and His will,
He blessed you,
He redeemed you,
He forgave your sins,
He made known His holy purpose for you,
You have an amazing inheritance from Him waiting for you in Heaven,
He gave you His Holy Spirit. That is grace all over the place.
The title of our sermon today is “GRACE, PERIOD.” When you hear those two words there can be different meanings, depending on how they are said. If I say “GRACE PERIOD” you may think of a temporary time of relief. You have a bill, and a certain amount of time to pay it, but sometimes you get a grace period of a week or so after the deadline during which you don’t incur an additional penalty. But then after the grace period you have to pay the bill, plus extra.
But if I say “GRACE, PERIOD” with a comma in between, a pause separating those words, it’s a completely different meaning. With that breathing space built in, it means it’s grace and only grace, nothing more, nothing less. It’s GRACE… PERIOD. As Luther said, “Sola gratia.” By grace alone you are saved. And that’s God’s message to you today and every day. With Him, in Him, when you have His grace, you don’t need anything else to be saved. And it’s Jesus that brings you that grace, who is that grace. So if you know Jesus, if you’re trusting Him for your forgiveness, you’ve got all you need. Amen.
