You Were Included

How many of you have invited your one? Remember, we want to continue this emphasis throughout the summer. We are hoping to have a huge Sunday on August 13th as we have our ministry fair and also a free lunch for everyone involved. We want you to take the initiative in reaching out to those that you know that are not believers in Christ, and invite them. We are going to finish up the hymn of vv.3-14 today. Paul gets a little more specific in dealing with the Jews and Gentiles in this passage. So let’s look at what he has to say. I want you to leave today with 4 Important Truths that Paul gives us:

The Jews Were Included:

"In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will," — Ephesians 1:11

Up to this point in vv. 3-10 we have seen the pronouns “We” and “us” refer to all Christians, but now there is a shift between talking about Christians. But in vv.11-14 there is now a distinction between Jews and Gentiles. The “us” in vv.11-12 refers to Jewish Christians, and then when we move back to v.13 Paul is referring to Gentile Christians. Then the “our” in v.14 is referring again to all Christians.

So in v.11 when Paul says you are chosen he is referring to the fact that back in Genesis 12 God chose Abraham, and later Abraham’s people become the Israelites. Here is what Genesis 12 tells us: Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Paul knows the Jewish scriptures well, and understands the significance of the Jewish people being God’s chosen and set apart people. The relationship between God and the Israelites is a covenant relationship. We aren’t going to read it this morning, but go to Genesis 17 and you will find that God actually says to Abraham my covenant is with you.

There have been a number of scholarly articles, papers, and books on the meaning behind this covenant relationship between God and the Israelites. The Israelites were in a covenant with God, but there were requirements. He gave them the law, and expected them to abide by it, atone for it when they did not abide by it, and then the covenant would be reestablished. Paul is not saying that just because someone was born a Jew they get a free inheritance no matter what. That was not the covenant. Being a Jew did not mean you were automatically in. He is referring to those Jews that took the covenant relationship serious.

Not only did they take the covenant relationship serious, but they came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Jews today that do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah are not somehow removed from having to believe in Jesus. This would apply to any religious person who does not know Jesus. The Jews do not have some inside track to Heaven just because they were God’s chosen people in the Bible. The “In Him” we find again here in v.11 that is the reason we obtain the inheritance. This goes back to one of the themes that we have seen throughout these early verses of Ephesians. It is not about you, friends. The inheritance we receive is because of the great God that we serve.

There are a lot of people in the world today that think they are automatically in. How many times have you heard the story or had a conversation with someone and they say I think I will be in Heaven one day because I have been a good person? Do you realize how subjective the phrase “a good person” is? Everyone has a different idea of what it means to be a good person. We don’t need to be afraid to tell people that we disagree with them when they say being a good person is enough. We don’t say it in an arrogant or hateful way, but we don’t want to leave someone thinking that being a good person is enough. 

Salvation Is About God:

"so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory." — Ephesians 1:12

Commentators are split over the first to hope in Christ phrase. Who is Paul talking about here? Some think he is talking about the Jewish nation and those who expected the Messiah, while others think Paul is talking about those Jews who believed in Christ and later became Christians. Based on the context, it seems more likely that Paul is referring to those Jews who became Christians thereby making them the very first Christians.

Salvation in Christ is a very personal experience. Every one in this room who has a relationship has their own conversion story. Some are relatively simple, and others have these profound stories of transformation. We should all feel comfortable with our own stories. Sometimes though if we are not careful we will make our testimonies more about us, and less about God.

Notice the way Paul phrases this verse, the Jews were the first to hope in Christ not because the Jews were these incredible people, or because they were head and shoulders above other nations, but ultimately they were the first to hope in Christ so that they could give glory to Christ because of it.

Salvation is a story about God redeeming you. Not you redeeming yourself and then turning to God. Every story of transformation in Christ is an opportunity to point people to the one who transformed us. Left on our own we would not be able to redeem ourselves.

So as we talk to people about our salvation experiences let us make sure that we are finding a way to make God the focus of the story. You and I can’t save ourselves, and we certainly can’t save other people, but we serve a God who can.

In the Summer of 1996, Ford Motor Company began building the Expedition. They were going to sell them for $36,000, and it was going to take $24,000 to make. They thought sales would be okay, but not great. But when the first flood of orders started coming in for the Expedition the factory that was going to use half of the factory for the Expedition had to completely devote all of its operation to the Expedition. Orders were coming in like crazy. They made so much money off the Expedition they thought, "Let’s build a more supped up version!" and they called it the Lincoln Navigator. The Michigan Truck Plant, which was the factory responsible for making these two vehicles grossed 11 billion dollars, almost as much as McDonald’s made that year. Why were the Expedition and Navigator so popular? People liked the idea of driving a bigger car because they perceived them to be safer. But you know what? Car consumers often believe the lie that the bigger something is the safer it is. If I were to take this vehicle and drive it into this brick wall the bigger the vehicle and the more metal there is the safer I will be. Guess what? We have been deceived. It is a lie. SUV’s are not safer, in fact, they are more dangerous. Far more dangerous than a regular car. It takes longer to stop, makes people more aggressive because they are higher up than other vehicles, and leads people to drive in rougher conditions because of 4 wheel drive. Don’t be deceived friends, salvation isn’t about you. Don’t make it about you, make it about God.

You Were Included:

"In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit," — Epehesians 1:13

Now when I say “you” here I mean everyone of us who is a current believer in Christ. Unless you are a Jewish Christian in this room, then v.13 is directed at you.

We really need to appreciate those that took the time to spread the Gospel in the early church. Imagine if Peter, James, Barnabas and the others decided at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 that they only wanted Jews to be able to participate in the relationship with Christ. What if, that would have happened? What if in Acts 15 they said, these people are just way too out there for us. They eat different food, they behave in unique ways, and we just think it is going to be easier Paul and Barnabas if you quit going out and spreading the Gospel to these Gentiles. Let me tell what would have happened, the Jews would have become this exclusive group of people, and eventually they would have gotten so comfortable with where they were that Christianity would have died out because they would have quit sharing it.

The implications of that for you and I would have been no Gospel for us. If Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, and Silas would not have sacrificed for the Gospel, then the Gospel could have quit spreading. But they didn’t stop. They spent the rest of their lives taking the Gospel to places where they knew they would get push back.

Here is the reality of where we are today, the church in America is not growing. We know this. We hear statistics that come out every week it seems like of people who are leaving the church. This term is “dechurched.” These are people who at one time were active in the church but now they are gone. So we have the dechurched population increasing, and then we have the religious unaffiliated population increasing as well. They are called the nones.

In contrast, we hear stories about how God is working tremendously in other parts of the world. In China, by 2030 there will be over 200 million Christians. Christianity in Africa is growing rapidly as well. God seems to be moving powerfully in other parts of the world, but yet in America we don’t see this massive movement of God.

There are a lot of answers to this problem, and there are a lot of opinions about this as well. But I think part of the problem is we have forgotten that we were included. The mission of Christianity did not have to expand outside of the Jews. It could have become this inclusive group, but Jesus struck Paul blind on the Damascus road and said Paul you are going to go expand the Gospel to those that are not like you.

You realize the greatest evangelist this world has ever seen was sent to the people that were absolutely nothing like him. Paul was trained in Judaism, grew up a Jew, and it would have been really easy for him to go to those people, but God said nope. You go to these people that are not like you, and share the Gospel with them.

When we forget that we were included, our intentionality in sharing the Gospel with others goes away. We get comfortable, we get satisfied, and we don’t share. We associate with all of the same people we have always known, and then when we get around people that don’t know Christ it doesn’t even cross our mind to share. The church in America will continue to not grow unless we get back to sharing the Gospel. Plain and simple. This church won’t grow, the church in New Orleans won’t grow, and the church in America won’t grow unless we remember that we were included in the initial phase of the Gospel being shared. Now what are we going to do with it?

Adoniram Judson, the great missionary to Burma, worked there for over four decades. In those decades he only led around 25 Burmese to faith in Christ, and he even out of those 25 many think it was more like 10 who displayed a real, living faith in Christ. It took him 23 years to finish the translation of the Burmese Bible, and his translation is still used today. Over this time he buried 2 wives, 6 children, and 11 co-workers. Some will say 25 converts over 40 years that seems kind of low for a missionary. Today, there are over 6 million believers in Burma, which is now called Myanmar, and many trace their spiritual heritage to the work of Adoniram Judson.

The Holy Spirit is the Guarantee:

"who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." — Ephesians 1:14

One day those that are believers in Christ will receive an inheritance much larger and greater than any earthly inheritance. Now my English translation uses the word “Guarantee”, but this word actually means down payment.

The Holy Spirit is the down payment of the blessings promised by God. It’s the first installment of what is coming for believers when they die. So in those intense moments of worship whether it be in your prayer time, studying God’s word, a conversation of encouragement you have with another believer, or when we gather together corporately here on Sundays and you feel the Spirit moving in your life, that is but a taste of what you will experience one day when you are in Heaven with God.

You will acquire possession of your inheritance if you stay faithful to the end. The Holy Spirit is an indication in your life that you are in fact sealed. Now this text is not a text dealing with assurance of salvation, but one one way we do have assurance of our salvation is that the Holy Spirit works in our lives. So do we have conviction of sin? Does the word of God speak to you when you read it? Do you sense his presence in your life when you gather with other believers for worship? These are some of the ways that the Spirit works in your life.

Paul closes this hymn again with sending praise back to God.

Do you know if the Holy Spirit is in your life? Do you know if you are a believer in Christ?