God-the-Father Predestined Us (Ephesians 1:3-6)

The Father is to be Praised (1:3)

The first thing that we see in this passage is that God-the-Father is to be praised. We are commanded to bless the name of God. God has blessed you; therefore the natural response is to bless Him. He is to be praised based upon His good work of blessing all of humanity with God-the-Son. At the end of Luke 1, Mary has found out that she is pregnant and goes to her cousin Elizabeth who is also pregnant with John the Baptist. In Luke 1:42, Elizabeth shouts that Mary is blessed of God because of His work of giving her the Christ child as her own child. God did a good work for Mary and then in 1:46-55 she writes and sings this beautiful praise song to her God.

Predestined to Holiness (1:4)

The Father is truly to be praised because he sent the Son. There are two other things that the Father has done that we should praise Him for. First, He predestined us to holiness. Let’s do a little basic grammar. The statement says, “he chose us.” What is the subject of the statement? “He” is the subject. What is the verb of the statement? “Chose” is the verb. What is the object that is receiving that action from the verb, which was caused by the subject? “Us” is the object. The point is that God did the choosing and we had nothing to do with it.

In a sense I understand having a problem with the idea of predestination. It sounds weird that a loving God would chose some and reject others, but the reality of the situation is that all reject God. Rejecting God is our natural will, state, and nature. You don’t have to teach a child to say “no”; but you have to teach a child to share, many times through pain and discipline. We naturally reject God, but out of total grace and mercy He saves some.

God’s grace is so powerful. The late great pastor, Ray Stedman, writes:
“Think of it: Before the creation of the world – uncounted millions and billions and trillions of years in the past – God chose you to belong to Him. Let that sink into your mind for a moment! Drop to your knees in awe and humility before this loving eternal Being who is not confined by past or future, by years of time or light years of space; who knows the future as certainly as He knows the past; who determines all things by the counsel of His will.” (Stedman, pg30)

The predestination that Paul is talking about here is not specifically the idea that God saves some, but that He destines Christians to a state of holiness. In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus is talking about how those who are in the family of God are to act. We are to love even our enemies. God is calling His children to live as He lives and love even our enemies. Humanity is God’s enemy, but He provides salvation to the world. Jesus ends this teaching by commanding all of us to behave like a member of God’s family should behave. He says, “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is what He is predestining us towards.

God has not predestined and saved you in order for you to live however you want. God has not predestined and saved you simply to be a pretty good guy. God has predestined and saved you for you to be like your Father and be perfect and holy!

Predestined to Sonship (1:5)

The first reason to praise the Father is because he predestined you to holiness. The second reason to praise the Father is because he predestined you to sonship. Again, sonship like holiness is the work of God, not you. God has taken you from being his enemy to now being His son, and His heir.

The Father has made us His children, thus He has made us His heirs meaning He promises us an inheritance. My great-grandfather was named Sidney Lawrence Caswell. His son, and my Big Dad, was named Elmer Lawrence Caswell. His son, and my father, is named David Lawrence Caswell. I am named Micah Lawrence Caswell, and my first-born son is named Mason Lawrence Caswell. We were on vacation a couple of months ago with my side of the family. We got a funny picture of my dad, Mason, and me. My dad and I were holding up “L’s” on our forehead for “Lawrence” (not for “loser”). Mason is my heir, he is a Lawrence and he is a Caswell. He has some great privileges with that status as well as some great responsibilities. My father has set up long term savings for Mason and I have as well. We are planning an inheritance for my son. This is the privilege of being a Lawrence Caswell. When Mason gets older he will learn to behave like a Caswell. There will be certain things that he will do or not do that are different than other people because he is my son. He is a Caswell and Caswell’s do and don’t do certain things.

Likewise, we are God’s children; we are Christians. There are privileges of being part of this family. One great privilege is that we have an inheritance awaiting us in the future. We are Christians therefore we are to act as those who are members of the family of God. This means that we do and don’t do certain things simply because of who we are.

You are a Christian, a child of God, predestined by the Father for holiness and adoption; therefore (v.6) praise his glorious grace!