We All Love a Good Plan
We all love a good plan. Good plans give us peace and hope and purpose. When we have something we’re aiming at we tend to shoot straighter. Our fears and anxieties are eased when we have a good plan. When you’re in debt and you seek the counsel of a financial coach in order to come up with a plan on how to pay it off, you gain a peace that you didn’t have before. When you’re thinking about building or creating something and you take the time to think through the steps needed to bring the project to completion, you’ll likely gain the energy and motivation to do it because your plan tells you that it can be done.
Making a plan takes time and effort, but it’s always worth the investment. We love it when we see our plans work and things get done and goals accomplished. Even those who hate planning can probably attest to the fact that good plans have made their life easier, not harder. Colonel Hannibal Smith of The A-Team is famous for always saying, “I love it when a plan comes together.” We love good plans, and we love it when plans are fulfilled.
God is a Good Planner
Did you know that God is a really good planner? When you grow in the discipline of planning, you’re in a sense becoming more like God. God not only makes plans, but he loves to make plans and he loves the plans that he makes. He rejoices in his plans. He sees them as awesome and glorious and worthy of praise.
He doesn’t make plans capriciously or randomly or impulsively. In eternity past, he referred to his own wise counsel and made a plan for how “all things” would work out (Eph. 1:11). Everything that happens is therefore “according to plan.” There are no accidents or coincidences in a universe created by God. God has a good plan behind everything that happens.
A Pleasing Plan of Purchase
God’s planning applies to little things and big things. Jesus says that God knows how many hairs are on our heads and that no sparrow falls to the ground apart from God’s will (Matt. 10:29-30). God is in charge of all the small things. But God is also in charge of planning and all the big things. Proverbs tells us that God’s wisdom planned and accomplished the creation of the world (8:22-31). And Ephesians chapter one tells us that, before the world began, God had a plan for how he would accomplish the salvation of sinners.
We saw two weeks ago in 1:3-6 that God chose those who’d belong to Jesus “before the foundation of the world” (v. 4). That it was “according to his good pleasure” to “predestine us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (v. 5). All of this was so that his grace might be praised as glorious (v. 6). Before the beginning of time, God hatched a plan to save millions of people, a plan that’d make sinful people like us his children rather than his enemies.
The plan involved election, or choosing those whom he would save, a choice based only on his sovereign will, and not on anything in us. But in order for them to be able to come and live in his holy presence, something had to be done about their sin and rebellion against him. In other words, God’s chosen ones needed to be made right with God before they could live with God.
God had a plan for this too. Just as he planned who would be his, he also planned how he would take care of their sin problem. He planned the end and he planned the means. God planned to save his people through the death of his Son. He loved his plan. And he accomplished it.
God is Praised for the Blessing of Redemption
As we work our way through Ephesians 1, remember what this section is (vv. 3-14). It’s a tribute to the glory and grace of God. Verse 3 is a call to praise: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God is worthy of blessing and praise. Paul is worshipping God and inviting his readers to join him. All the theology that he’s about to unpack comes from a heart of worship and praise to God. God must be blessed for who he is and what he’s done.
The first “spiritual blessing” that God has given us in Christ is election (v. 4). The second is adoption (v. 5). The next two are in verses 7-10. In these verses, Paul praises God for the blessing of revealing his plan to redeem his people through the death of his Son. He praises God for the blessing of redemption (vv. 7-8) and the blessing of revelation (vv. 9-10). These will be our two main points this morning, with each one having several supporting points.
Redemption through Blood
In verses 7-8, Paul tells us four things about the blessing of redemption. First, it’s a redemption through blood (v. 7a). What is redemption and why is blood involved? Redemption is a word that means “to set free, deliver, or release.” It has a rich background in the Greek and Hebrew world. The Greeks used it to refer to the freeing of slaves through the payment of a price. In the Hebrew Old Testament, it referred to God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt. Exodus 6:6, “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.”
For Hebrews, redemption referred to God rescuing his people from their enemies. But Greek speakers used the term more specifically to refer to paying for a slave’s freedom. Paul most likely used this word in both senses. Those who’re united to Christ (“in him,” v. 7), are redeemed from slavery through the payment of a price, and that, in Christ, God has come to the rescue of his people just as he had in former times.
That’s the basic meaning of redemption. But why did God choose to accomplish this redemption “through (Jesus’) blood”? This idea is rooted in the Old Testament. After God redeemed Israel out of slavery, one of the things he told them to do was to sacrifice animals in order to remove their sins and satisfy his justice. Blood had to be spilled to keep God’s people in a right relationship with God. The writer to the Hebrews sums it up like this, “Under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (9:22). Moses says it like this in Leviticus 17:11, “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.”
The point is simple: life for life. Breaking God’s law incurs a debt that must be paid in order for God’s justice to be satisfied, and death is the currency in which it must be paid. This seems foreign to us in the twenty-first century. One of the reasons why is because we’ve minimized the seriousness of our sin and the holiness of God. We don’t see ourselves as lawbreaking criminals worthy of the death penalty in God’s holy courtroom. We assume we’re basically good and that all our issues can be explained by our upbringing, our environment, our personality, or our mental health. We minimize the holiness of God, assuming that he’s more like us than unlike us. Breaking his law, therefore, shouldn’t warrant death. We know we’re not perfect, but we don’t think that breaking God’s law is an offence worthy of death.
But, in the Bible, God’s holiness and our sin is taken seriously. This is why something had to die to save others from death. In the Old Testament, it was bulls and goats and sheep, all of which foreshadow what God would do through Jesus. In Jesus’ death, God’s wrath toward sin and sinners is satisfied and forgiveness is offered to everyone who puts their trust in him.
Those who trust Christ are redeemed, or rescued. This redemption, or rescue, came at a high cost. It came “through the blood” of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death was the payment of a price for a debt that we owed. It was Jesus substituting his life for ours. It was a life for a life. Jesus died so that we could live. Jesus’ death was therefore more than just an example of sacrificial love.
Tim Keller offers a helpful illustration on this point: Imagine that you’re walking along a river with a friend, and your friend suddenly says to you, “I want to show you how much I love you!” and then throws himself into the river and drowns. Would you say in response, “Oh how he loved me!” No, of course not. You’d wonder about your friend’s mental state. But what if you were walking along a river with a friend and you fell in by accident, and you can’t swim. What if your friend dove in after you and pushed you to safety but was himself drawn under and drowned. Then you’d respond, “Oh, how he loved me!”
The point is that “the example of Jesus is a bad example if it’s only an example. If there were no peril to save us from – if we were not lost apart from the (payment) of his death – then the model of his sacrificial love is not moving and life-changing; it is crazy. Unless Jesus died as our substitute, he can’t die as a moving example of sacrificial love.” God should be praised for the blessing of redemption and rescue through the death of his Son. He gave his life for our life.
Redemption brings Forgiveness
The second thing Paul says about this redemption is that it’s a redemption that brings forgiveness (v. 7b). Being redeemed means being forgiven. The payment of Jesus’ blood cancels our sins. Just as a loan agency can forgive a loan by declaring that the balance due is $0, so also God forgives us when he declares that our sins are removed, canceled, or forgiven (Col. 2:13-14).
Notice that it’s our “trespasses” that are forgiven. Paul uses this word instead of the more generic word “sins” to bring out the true nature of what we’ve done. This word refers to breaking God’s law. When we do what God’s law says we should not do, and don’t do what it says we should do, we’re “trespassing.” We’re going into a place we shouldn’t go, going onto someone else’s property, we’re leaving God’s will and carrying out our will, we’re not heeding the good boundaries that God has established. All trespassers of God’s law will be shot, so to speak, because trespassing is an affront to the very character of God. We trespass because we pridefully assume that we can do whatever we want and get away with it. But, as the verse says, our trespasses are canceled out through Jesus’ blood.
Redemption Because of Grace
The third thing Paul says about this redemption is that it’s because of grace (vv. 7c-8a). God redeems his people through the blood of his Son because of his grace. God elects his people out of grace, and he redeems his elect people out of his grace. It’s all grace from first to last.
Notice that it’s the “riches of God’s grace” that he “lavishes” on us. The picture is of God opening the treasure chest of his goodness and showering his people with grace. The riches of God’s grace were needed to redeem us because our debt was massive. John Calvin says it like this, “Paul could have said simply that God does all according to his grace, but he sets down here great treasures so that men should not be so foolish as to bring, as it were, only a farthing when their needs run to a million crowns.”
We could never pay what’s owed for our sin debt. We’re too poor. We demonstrate our poverty, as Calvin says, when we “presume to put before (God) any virtue of our own to put him in our debt.” How crazy it is to think God’s wrath will be satisfied because we darkened the church doors, or cleaned up our life, or convinced everyone we’re really godly? We owe God, as it were, trillions of dollars and we think he’ll forgive the loan if we give him a few hundred bucks. We need saving from our self-righteousness as much as from our trespasses.
But through the blood of Jesus, God has shown us how much he was willing to pay for our law-breaking, how much bail he was willing to post. His willingness to pay such a high price tells us something about his character: he’s not just gracious, he’s overwhelmingly gracious. God is rich in grace, and he’s really generous with his riches.
Redemption Reveals God’s Wisdom
The fourth thing Paul says about our redemption is that it reveals God’s wisdom (v. 8b). God’s wisdom is what’s behind the showers of grace he pours on us. Paul is saying that this was no haphazard action on God’s part. He didn’t dump his treasure chest of grace on us on a whim. It was a measured, thought out, planned action, done according to his wisdom. God’s wisdom is behind God’s grace that resulted in God’s redemption of his people through God’s Son.
Revelation of a Mystery
The second blessing that Paul praises God for in our text is the blessing of revelation (vv. 9-10). These verses will tell us three things about this revelation. First, it’s a revelation of a mystery (v. 9a). The term for “mystery” (mysterion) refers to God graciously revealing something to his people that they wouldn’t have known otherwise (cf. Dan. 2:17-23). It’s a previously hidden secret that God, in his grace, lets us in on. We learn later in the letter that it’s something that’s been revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and the prophets (3:4-5). Part of the mystery is the inclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God (3:6). But in 1:9, the “mystery” is concerning God’s will, “the mystery of his will.” Paul is referring more broadly to a bigger mystery: God’s intention to unite all things in heaven and on earth in Christ (v. 10).
Paul praises God for revealing to us God’s supreme intention and goal in the universe. This wasn’t always known. But it is now. God has “made it known.” He’s revealed it to us. He wants his people to know what he’s up to in the universe.
Revelation that Pleased God
Before we get to the supreme goal of uniting all things in Christ, Paul tells us how God felt about revealing this mystery. Second, it’s a revelation that pleased God (v. 9b). In the ESV, the word for “purpose” literally means “good pleasure” or “desire.” It’s the same word used in verse 5 to refer to God’s pleasure in electing us. The emphasis is on the delight that God has in laying out his plans. God adopted his people out of delight. And God reveals his plans to them out of delight. He loves saving his people and he loves revealing his plans to save his people.
There’s a joy in God’s planning and saving that we must not miss. God isn’t an old miser who begrudgingly performs acts of charity for his creation. No, he’s a God who joyfully designs and executes his plan to save his people. He’s a God who happily shares his plan with us. Notice also that his plan centers on his Son (v. 9c, 5). God’s delight in his Son spills over into planning, and revealing the plan, of the redemption of those who’ll be united to his Son. God didn’t hold on to his secret plan. He joyfully wants it to be known.
Revelation of God’s Supreme Goal
The third thing we learn about the revelation is that it’s a revelation of God’s supreme goal in history (v. 10). God’s revelation of the mystery of his will was carried out within history, “as a plan for the fullness of time.” But his will, his supreme goal in history, is to “unite all things in (Christ), things in heaven and things on earth.”
What does this mean? The word for “unite” means “to sum up” or “bring together.” It was often used to describe what a lawyer would do at the end of his presentation. He would “sum up” his case in a brief statement. He’d bring all the loose ends together, connect all the dots, and make a final statement summing up his case.
So Paul is saying that God’s will is to draw all things together “in Christ.” Christ will bring order to “all things.” He’ll be the center and focal point of the universe. All the fragmented and alienated and estranged and divided and confused parts of the universe will be brought together in Christ. Jesus will be, as one commentator says, “the organizing principle of all creation.”
Paul will explain this in more detail later in the letter (1:20-23). Christ will be the head of all things. He’ll reign as the Supreme Ruler of the new heavens and new earth. Every creature, both angelic and human, will pay homage to him. Every person will bend the knee and declare that he is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11). Every realm of existence will be united under him and for him.
This, of course, hasn’t happened yet. The world is fractured by sin. Our lives are fragmented and split apart because of sin done by us and to us. We’re broken people because we’ve been living for ourselves for so long. But this won’t always be the case. God has begun the process of remaking the universe around Jesus. Just as an architect’s plan for a building is submitted well in advance of the actual construction of the building, so God has revealed his perfect plan, and in Christ he’s taken decisive steps to bring it to completion.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God has begun the process of making all things new, of bringing everything together in Christ. Paul says it like this in Colossians 1:19-20, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” The shed blood of Jesus is bringing peace to a universe torn apart by sin. And Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the sign that all things will be made new under and through him.
To summarize: God’s great goal, the mystery he kept secret for ages but has now made known, is that he’s in the process of reorganizing the entire universe around Jesus Christ. Everything that God created will take the place that God originally intended it to have with respect to Christ.
Jesus Will Tie Up All Loose Ends, Now and Later
This is the great hope of the gospel. That, in Jesus, God is in the process of tying up all the loose ends of our broken and fractured world and lives. That, in Jesus, God will bring unity to things in heaven and things on earth. That, in Jesus, God will erase all divisions and banish all discord. That, in Jesus, God will restore creation to its original glory. And that, in Jesus, God will finally be seen and worshipped for who he is: the Supreme Ruler of all things.
Jesus came down to earth to lift all things up to their intended place, centered around him, united in him, summed up in him. Jesus will be the center of all things in the next world. Is he the center of all things for you now? Does your life reveal the supremacy of Jesus? Are you working and praying for the nations and your neighbors to know him?
In a world full of brokenness, we can rest assured that God’s plan to bring all things together in Jesus will be accomplished. If your life is broken to pieces by sin, look to Jesus as your “organizing principle.” Let him remake you into the person you were made to be.