Why Do People Go to Church? (Ephesians 1: 3-14) Part 2.

The Bible Project Daily Podcast is an in-depth, daily study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. 

This is part two of a single, longer recording and message based on this one passage of scripture. Full transcript for both episodes is with part 1.

Episode Notes: Why Do People Go to Church? (Ephesians 1: 3-14)

Why do people go to church?

It’s a question we rarely ask out loud, but it sits quietly beneath the surface of every church on every Sunday morning.

Some people go because they always have, and their parents went. Some go because they feel they ought to. Some go because they’re lonely and some go because they’re hurting.

Some go because they’re hungry, not for food, but for meaning, for hope, for God.

…. And some — if we’re honest — aren’t entirely sure why they go at all.

But Paul, in Ephesians 1:3–14, gives us an answer that is far deeper, far richer, far more beautiful than any of those surface‑level reasons. He tells us that the reason we gather, the reason we worship, the reason we belong to a church at all… is because God has done something astonishing for us in Christ.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

There'll be no boasting in heaven except boasting in the grace of God. Okay, let's continue. Blessing number four is that God has delivered us and the ransom is paid. Which is why Paul says and continues in verse 7, in him we have redemption. Now this world redemption is really rich in meaning. It literally means, of course, to pay a ransom, to buy someone out of slavery, to free a prisoner of war, perhaps, or to release someone who cannot free themselves. It was used in the ancient world for the price paid to liberate a slave, or to rescue such a captive. And it's the same word God uses in the Old Testament to describe his deliverance of Israel from Egypt. And Paul is saying you were enslaved, trapped, powerless, and held captive, but by sin, and God has paid that ransom. You could not free yourself, you could not rescue yourself, you couldn't save yourself from the situation, but God Himself stepped in, God intervened, and God delivered you. And that's what Christianity and accepting Christ does for men and women. It brings freedom, liberation, not just from guilt, but from the bondage and hold of sin over our life. When Christianity first appeared in the world, people at that point were haunted by a sense of their own powerlessness. They knew the wrongness of their lives, the law of God and the Old Testament commandments drew attention to that, and they knew the weight of their guilt. And many of them knew the emptiness of the idols they worshiped because, in reality, they would have seen the futility of their efforts. They wanted to be made right with God, but in reality they felt powerless to change. They needed liberation, freedom, not just physically but spiritually, and Jesus brought that liberation. He brought freedom from guilt, he brought release from sin, he brought deliverance from fear, and he brought hope to those who felt hopeless, which is why Paul says, It is by grace that you have been saved, and this is not of yourself, it is a gift of God. Some people believe in salvation by faith, but deep down they still think they're saved, perhaps because they're good, moral, or clever, or spiritually sensitive, or just spend a lot of time doing religious stuff. But salvation is not in any way the reward for any human effort, it is a gift of divine grace. As Jay Vernon McGee once said, if God had not chosen us, we would never have chosen him. No one discovers God by intellect alone, no one reasons their way into salvation, no one can climb their way up to heaven, God reveals himself, God illuminates the truth that he has already placed in the world and in our hearts, and God opens the heart and draws our soul. Our part simply is to believe God could do this, be that generous, accept it and receive his love and forgiveness. The love and forgiveness that he has offered in his son Jesus Christ, who has died on the cross, to assuage and deal with those sins and their consequences. Our part is simply to believe that God can be that great, that good, that generous, that graceful, and receive it. Okay, blessing number five is what our redemption means. And it means we're told our forgiveness. He continues verse 7 in him we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Now redemption is that payment of a debt, and the forgiveness is the removal of that debt. The word forgive means to send away, to release, to remove, to dismiss, to cancel. Which tells me that when God forgives you, he sends your sin away. He removes it from you. He even cancels the record of it and wipes the slate clean. Your sin is not just covered over, it is completely removed. Your guilt is not just managed, it is erased. And your shame is not sort of suppressed and pressed down, it's completely taken away. That's why David in the Old Testament, as a psalmist, could say, it's taken as far as the East is from the West. So far he has removed our transgressions from us. Forgiveness is not God saying, Oh, that's all fine, don't worry about it. Forgiveness is saying God has dealt with it, it's finished, and I've taken it away. The ancient world, especially the Jewish world, lived with that deep sense of sin. The law, the sacrifices, the rituals and the commandments, they'd all pointed that out to them. But even in that they still felt and knew they were guilty. They still felt condemned and they still feared judgment. You see, the law could diagnose sin, but it could not remove it. The sacrifices could cover sin, that's what it said their purpose is for, but they could not cleanse it in its entirety. The rituals could symbolize forgiveness, sin by sin, action by action, but they could not secure it in the wider sense. But Christ, he came and he changed everything. He brought the forgiveness of God, but a forgiveness that is complete. He brought redemption, and redemption is something that is final, and he brought a peace that is real and eternal. Paul is teaching men and women here not to live in the fear of God, but instead to live in the love of God, because God first loved them. He's taught them that forgiveness is not earned but forgiven, and he teaches us that salvation is not achieved, but received. We are being taught that peace with God is now not a distant hope, but a present reality. Moving on. Blessing number six is that God has given us wisdom and understanding. Paul continues and says, He has lavished in us all wisdom and understanding. That's verse 8. In Christ, both of these are brought intellectual knowledge and truth for the mind, as well as practical knowledge and wisdom for living the daily Christian life. Now some Christians are inclined to lean heavily towards one side. There are those who love theology, they'll devour books, who'll think deeply, who'll wrestle with doctrine, who will perhaps struggle with the practicalities of everyday life. And there are other Christians who are wonderfully practical. They simply serve, they help, they work hard, they love people, and they don't actually think that deeply about the truth of scriptures. And Paul is saying here, well, salvation is enough, but both are in a sense incomplete without Christ. Because Christ is the thing that brings those true truths together, the idea of the mind and wisdom for the journey. He brings doctrine and he puts it, gives it direction. He brings theology and practicality together, he brings the revelation, but in Christ we also have the application of that revelation of God. He brings clarity and comfort and he brings the solution to the problems that we all face. The problems of eternity and the strength to face the problems of today. Blessing number seven. God reveals his plan to us and the mystery of his will. What a blessing that is. Paul tells us verse 10 to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. And that, my friend, is the great theme of this book of Ephesians. That is the core message of the gospel. This is the end towards which all of history is moving inexorably towards. God is uniting all things, everything and everyone in Christ. He is healing what is broken in the creation, he is restoring what has been lost, he is reconciling what is divided, and he is renewing what has fallen, and that includes you and I. Christ is the center of God's plan. Christ is the goal of God's plan and the fulfillment of God's plan, not only on earth, but in the universe. And you, yes, you, my friends, listening to this here today, are now part of that plan. And that plan is explained to us in blessing number eight, in which we're offered a new way of relating to God. Now Paul uses a fascinating word here. He says that we have a new dispensation. That's the word the King James used. A dispensation is an administration, maybe a way of managing a household or a way of applying a law, but it's also here shown to be a way of relating to God. Now God's law never changes. Let's be clear about that. His character never changes, his holiness never changes, his attitude towards sin never changes, but the administration of his law and how it deals with it does change. In the Old Testament, the law was administered through sacrifices, through rituals, priests, and the temple worship. But now in Christ that administration of his law has changed. We are under a new covenant, a new rule, a new administration. We no longer bring lambs to our churches because Christ is now the Lamb of God. We no longer rely on priests because Christ is our high priest, and we no longer stand at a distance because Christ has opened the way that we may approach God. We are now living under a new administration. That's what the word new covenant means. Literally a new relationship with God. And Paul says that there is another dispensation yet that is coming, a future administration, a future dispensation where God will bring all things together in Christ at the end of time. Now most of us rarely think about the end of time. We're too busy thinking about today. Maybe our bills, our work, our family, our health, or the health of those who love us, and about the very and about literally the next thing on our list. But Paul wants us to lift our eyes. He wants us to see that history is not random, history is not chaotic, although sometimes it appears that way, it certainly does at the moment. History is not meaningless, history is moving towards a goal, a climax, a fulfillment that lies in Christ. When God has finished with time, he will unite all things in Christ. How is about that for a massified year? He will restore the creation, and in doing that he will judge evil and he will renew the world, and he will dwell with his people, and he will bring heaven and earth together. And that means you friends, you who are chosen, redeemed, forgiven, and adopted, will be part of that glorious future. So next, blessing number nine, is that God is bringing all these things together in Christ. Paul now does what we would today call the mic drop. He drops in one of the greatest truths in all of Scripture, a truth so vast, so sweeping, so cosmic in scope that it stretches from eternity past to eternity future. Verse ten and eleven say that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ. Paul is saying here that humanity has lived and is living in a divided world, but God is bringing everything back together in Christ. Look at the world around us today. What a mess. Nations are divided, cultures divided, even families are divided these days, churches are certainly divided, communities are divided, politics is more divided than I've ever known it in my life. People everywhere are divided. Have you ever seen a world so fractured? Have you ever seen countries so polarized? Have you ever seen Europe, the UK, or America so torn apart within? And have you ever seen the global shirt so splintered? Division, it seems, is the very air we breathe these days, but Paul says Jesus came to end division, to heal the fractures, and to unite what sin has torn apart. This was the great mystery revealed to Paul, that God's eternal practice is to gather all things, all people, all nations, all creation, in and under the unity of Christ. And this has not been said here too as some sort of wishful thinking. This is not spiritual blind optimism. This is the revealed plan of God through the Word of God right here for us now. A future unity. Paul says that one day when God has finished with time, think about when God has finished with time, think about that, he will gather everything together in Christ. Everything, everyone, all who belong to him. Which means, and this is maybe the uncomfortable part, if there are Christians, real believers that you don't personally get along with, well, you might as well try a little harder to get on with them because you're going to have to get used to them, because you're going to spend eternity with them. If there are believers, believing Christians that you avoid, you might as well start loving them now because God is going to put us all together in Christ. The unity that we're resisting today will be revealed and experienced in the reality when we live together. So Paul is saying start practicing it now because it is only going to happen and will be perfected in the future. Paul again uses the fascinating word to describe God's work, even in history. A world again translated as administration or dispensation in some of the older translations. The Greek word again refers to the work of a steward, one who ensures that everything runs smoothly, purposefully, and according to the master's plan. So Paul is saying, look, all the stuff around you you see, it may appear that way, but it's not chaotic, really. History is not chaotic, its story is not all accidental, history is not out of control, even if it may feel that way, because it is all being managed, administered by God. Every age, every empire, every empire that rises and falls, every movement of people, every cultural shift, every moment of history is part of God's preparation for the final unity that we will find in Christ. God is not reacting to history, he's orchestrating it, he's arranging the ages, he's directing the story, and he's preparing the world for the moment when Christ will be our all-in-all. Next blessing, number 10, is that God reveals the future so that we as believers can live better today. Paul is saying here that one of the blessings we have in Christ is that God has revealed his plan for the future in this way. Now, not all the detail of it, not every individual detailed timeline, not even every mystery, but he's revealed the big picture here. We know where history is going and we know where the story will end, and we know what God is doing behind all this. And that knowledge is meant to make us, well, it's not meant to make us proud or speculative or argumentative or overly obsessed with charts, prophecies, and timelines, as some might be. It's meant to make us faithful. Knowing your eternal future is not only a blessing in itself, it can help you live a better life in the present. If you know that God is uniting all things in Christ, then you can pursue unity today with confidence. If you know that God is healing all things in Christ, you can pursue reconciliation between yourselves and other people and between other people. And if you know that God is restoring all things in Christ, then you can confidently pursue that type of holiness today. And if you know ultimately that God is gathering all things together in Christ, then we should be part of in that gathering process of bringing people together and to Him today. The future knowledge is meant to shape our present activity. And then our final blessing, blessing number eleven, the Holy Spirit. The blessing of the Holy Spirit given as God's seal and guarantee. Paul is now reaching the climax of the section we've been studying together. He says, Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. This is one of the most amazing precious truths in the New Testament. Paul is saying here that when you believe in Christ, God seals you, and he seals you by the Spirit. Now, in the ancient world, a seal meant two things. First of all, it signaled ownership. A king would press his seal into wax to mark something as from him, as belonging to him, and if the king's seal was on it, it was his. And Paul is saying the Holy Spirit is God's seal in your life. You now belong to him, you are his, you are owned, you are marked and claimed, you are owned by God. But a seal also meant protection. A sealed document was protected by the authority of the one who sealed it. And to break the seal was to challenge the king and the authority himself. And Paul is saying, the Holy Spirit is our seal in that is God's protection over your salvation. No one can break that seal, no one can take it from his hand, no one can undo what God has sealed. You are sealed and you are secure and you are safe. Now, but the Holy Spirit is not just our guarantee, he's the down payment. He uses another word in this closing sentence, a commercial term that says he's our deposit. Now a deposit is a down payment. The first installment of that guarantee, and the Holy Spirit is God's guarantee that everything he promised has and will be fulfilled. The Spirit, in a sense, is the first taste of heaven itself. It is this first preview of glory in this life. The Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance to come. And when you feel the Spirit's comfort, or when you experience the Spirit's power, that is a taste of heaven. When you sense the Spirit's conviction, that is a taste of God trying to press His holiness, His set apartness into your life. And when you experience the joy of the Spirit, that is a taste of what you'll experience always in eternity. And when you walk in the Spirit's power, that is a taste of, in this life, an experience of the future resurrection life. The Spirit is the down payment of the full inheritance that is coming. But Paul, in closing this passage, then widens the lens of everything he said before in the most amazing way. He is saying that God is preparing the world even through the nations. Now there was a famous economist many years ago called Adam Smith, and he spoke about the idea of the division of labor, the idea that society flourishes when each person does their job well and contributes to what he called the common good. And Paul says something similar here, but on a spiritual and a cosmic scale. He says all things have contributed to bring us to this point. The Greeks contributed philosophy and thought. The Romans contributed law, order, and administration, the Pax Romana, the Roman peace allowed the spread of the gospel, and the Jews, they contributed, of course, by the revelation, the Holy Scripture, and the expectation of the Messiah. Each nation has played a part in preparing the world for the coming of Christ. And then when the time was right, the church is given that message to take that message to the end of the earth. And that time is now. That new covenant is now, that dispensation, that new administration is now, friends. The church is the carrier of the truth. The church is the thing that carries the gospel. The community is that which gives and offers the good news that God's love and grace have come into the world. And when people believe that, they are sealed by the Holy Spirit. The seal of the Spirit means you belong to God and you are protected by God, and you are secure in God and marked for eternity. You are guaranteed an inheritance and you are part of God's family, you're part of God's plan, and you are part of God's future. And nothing, nothing can undo it, nothing can take it away or break that seal. Not even your failures, certainly not your fears or your doubts, not your circumstances, not your past, not your weaknesses, not even your sin. You are sealed, secure, and you are safe. So Paul begins with praise after praise, and then he ends a section with simple worship. He's shown us God has chosen us, adopted us. Redeemed us, forgiven us, and revealed his plan to us. God will unite everything in Christ, and all of that is sealed on us with his spirit, God's own guarantee of our inheritance. And then he simply closes by saying, Praise God, bless God, worship God, because every blessing flows from him, every grace comes from him, and every gift is from him. As that famous hymn says, Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise and blessings be to God. Thanks for being with me today. I've done it in one block. You'll have noticed it's been a lengthy one, so I've faded it out midway through and brought it back up again in a second part, so it's going to be posted over two days. But let me leave you and remind you of the central truth that Paul has been singing over the entire opening verses of this block of Scripture, Ephesians 1, verses 3 to 14. The fact that you are blessed, friends, you are chosen, you are redeemed, you are sealed, and you are now secure in that. Before you ever stepped into a church building, before you ever even whispered a prayer, before you opened a Bible, God had already poured out his blessings on you in Christ. So wherever you find yourself today, whether that be in joy or in a season of sadness and sorrow, whether it be in strength or in weakness, in clarity or even confusion, remember this you belong to him. And you are sealed by him, you are sealed by his spirit, and nothing can take that away. And my prayer for you this week is that these troaths won't just sit on the page for you, but they'll settle into your heart and shape the way you walk and live this life, the way you gather and worship, and the way you love people. And as we continue our journey through Ephesians, we're going to see how those blessings are not just spiritual ideas, but the foundation of what should be for us a whole new way of living. So join me tomorrow, next time, as we explore what it really means to live out the calling and to walk in the light of who we are in Christ and to become a people who bless God by blessing one another. For a weekly newsletter of everything I'm producing, why not follow me on Substack and to have access to the all of that catalogue and everything I've created in helpful playlist format? The place in which you can do that and do it for free is over on Patreon. There's a link in the episode notes. Thanks for being with me today, and for now, for me, it's bye-bye for now.