Praise God – Our Father

(The Father) predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:5-6)

          Some call it the “Our Father;” you and I know it as the “Lord’s Prayer,” and we – like so many people around the world – say it weekly in this church.

          But we say it so frequently that you and I fail to stop and to ask ourselves this question: “What gives me the right to call God my Father?”

          We continue our study this morning of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and specifically of Paul’s grand “call to worship” found in 1:3-14. Last week we heard Paul call us, as believers in Jesus, to praise God the Father for the spiritual blessings He lavishes on us in Christ. Our study today takes a close-up look at the blessing found in verses 5 and 6: the Father’s predestining us to adoption as His children in Christ.

          Adoption into the family of God is a gift of grace – not a birthright. While you might have joined in the weekly chorus, calling on God as “our Father,” you only have that privilege if you are a born-again believer in His Son, Jesus.           You must ask yourself: what gives me the right to call God my Father?

          If you can pray the “Our Father” with integrity, then Paul says you are to praise the Father for His gracious will toward you; for His accepting you in His beloved Son; and for His adoption of you as His child. If you are a member of the family of God by His grace, then praise the Lord!

          Paul exhorts you to praise God the Father, first, for His gracious will toward you (literally, “the praise of His glorious grace”).

          As with the rest of the book (and the Bible, for that matter!), Paul underscores the sovereignty of God in verses 5 and 6 of Ephesians 1. Note the terms the apostle marshals in these two verses: “predestinated,” “good pleasure of His will,” “He has made us accepted.” These speak of God’s work – of His, not your, initiative and energy when it comes to your salvation.

          The verb “predestinated” (or “predestined”) in verse 5 literally means “set out beforehand;” it refers to God’s choosing some for salvation before He ever created the world. As we observed last Sunday, many people think wrongly that the doctrine of predestination is a cold, cruel teaching that is antithetical to a loving God. In fact, predestination is the loving act of a loving God toward helpless sinners like you and me!

          Take another look at the phrases that go alongside “predestinated”: “grace,” “graced us,” “adopted,” “good pleasure.” This means the predestining work of the Father in choosing you and me (we who believe in Jesus as our Redeemer) is personal, thoroughly kind and even blessed!

          You were conceived in sin, dead in your trespasses, unacceptable to the Father and unable even to move toward God. The very fact that God would choose you when you couldn’t choose Him speaks volumes about His grace. And it is remarkable that Paul would base your predestination on the “good pleasure of His will.” The apostle simply could have said “will” – but, you see, the Lord takes pleasure in saving and adopting you as His child in Christ!

          The Father was under no constraints to save you. In 2008 America, you and I think we’re entitled this privilege and to that privilege, whether based on our income or age or place in society. But by God’s standards, you deserved Hell.

          Predestination unto adoption as a child of God is totally of God the Father’s choosing, and He – amazingly – was pleased to send His Son to suffer for your salvation and adoption.

          You are to praise God for His glorious grace, second, because He has accepted you in His beloved Son.

          Twice in these verses Paul mentions being “in Jesus Christ” and “in the Beloved,” which is one of the key themes of Ephesians. Your adoption into the family of God is in Jesus Christ, God’s true Son, and he is the Beloved of God.

          Here you and I as biblically minded believers part ways with many people today. Folks will say, “Oh, we’re all God’s children” – or “God loves everyone.” Well, neither of those statements is true! Properly speaking there is only one true Son of God, Jesus; the rest of us are born in sin and therefore are “children of wrath,” as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2. Yes, that means me, and it means you. And to say that God loves everyone would be egregiously incorrect. God hates His enemies, and His enemies are all those who remain rebellious to Him and dead in their sins and trespasses.

          Jesus stands in a unique relation to the Father that you must appreciate. At Christ’s baptism, as St. Luke records it (3:22), a voice from Heaven declared that Jesus was God’s “Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is the only One worthy of the Father’s love; Jesus is the only One who can lay proper claim to being the Son of God.

          You and I naturally are unacceptable to the Father, because He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. That’s why Paul goes to such great lengths to teach that you are adopted into God’s family as His child – and given the privilege of addressing Him as Father – only as you are united by faith to the true Son. Only in Jesus are your sins washed away and are you credited with the perfect righteousness required for acceptance into God’s family.

          Praise the Lord, you who were a child of wrath: by His predestining grace you have been cleansed and made acceptable in God’s Beloved Son.

          Third, you are to praise the Father for adopting you as His child through His Son.

          Considering who and where you were as a child of wrath, the Father’s adoption of you in Christ is even more glorious. A child of wrath (or, if you prefer, a child of Satan) deserves only the Father’s punishment. A child of wrath has no direction in life, no freedom from the slavish fear of death, no hope for today – much less for tomorrow. How many people do you know who fit this description?

          If you are a believer in Christ, by God’s good pleasure and will, then you are a child of the King and enjoy unlimited blessings. Just think of what your Father in Heaven provides for you: comfort during the trials of life; wisdom in His Word for living life; chastisement – not condemnation – when you go astray; physical and spiritual nourishment; boldness to call on Him in time of need; and an inheritance in glory that cannot be stolen or spoiled. These are the blessings the unbelieving world craves, but that only you and I in Jesus actually enjoy.

          Now, adoption into God’s family also carries certain responsibilities. For one, you are to resemble your Father in Heaven more and more every day. Do you pursue purity? Do you show kindness? Do you speak His truth in love? You cannot claim to be a child of the Father yet fail to image Him on earth.

          There also is the responsibility of being a member of the household of faith, which St. Paul spells out in greater detail in chapters 4-6. If you claim to be a child of the King, then you don’t have the right to turn your back on a fellow family member in need. You don’t have the right, either, to think bitterly of your family members or to do them evil. You have a responsibility for them that is both physical and spiritual. He is your Father, and He is our Father.

          The words probably roll off your tongue automatically, as they do mine: “Our Father, who art in Heaven … .”

          Yet God is your Father only if Jesus is your Brother and your Savior. Otherwise, you are a child of wrath with no entitlement to be a member of God’s household. You might have been saying the Lord’s Prayer all your life; but do you have the right to pray it?

          If God is your Father, then you need to look up, and you need to look around. Look up in praise at God for His glorious grace: adoption into His family is His work for you in His true Son, Jesus. He delighted from all eternity to make you His child and to bless you with guidance, care, forgiveness and hope. Praise the Lord!

          And look around: these are your family members. Jesus died for them, too. In a world of shattered homes, unbelievers need to see you and me be the true, loving family that God intended – and that Jesus makes possible.