The Christian’s First Priority (2)

As we mentioned last time, in view of Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:3—Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—we see that the first priority of the true Christian is to worship.

It’s vitally important in our day to reemphasize that Scripture is dominated by the principle of worship, both in the Old Testament and the New.

First, in the Old Testament we see that the First Commandment commands us to worship God and God alone (Ex. 20:2-6). The establishment of the Tabernacle (Ex. 25) was for worship. The encampment around the Tabernacle (Num. 1:52-2:2) was designed to facilitate worship. The example of the Seraphim (Is. 6:1-2) is one of the most beautiful and powerful pictures of worship in Scripture. The many exhortations of the Psalmist make worship the central function of God’s people. Just one example is Ps. 95:6-7a: “Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For He is our God.” This is not the attitude in most contemporary worship services. With hands raised high, the catch phrase of most “worship leaders” is, “I’m going to lead you into God’s presence.” Such attitudes should frighten us, for even if such words are said with the purest of motives, the concept is still flawed. Many have the wrong method of worship because they don’t know who God is.

Second, the New Testament is just as strong in its emphasis on worship. The Magi came for the express purpose to worship (Matthew 2:2). Satan’s ultimate attack on our Lord was a matter of the object of worship, to whom our Lord answered, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:8-10). John 4:20-24 is perhaps the most important New Testament passage on worship, where the word “worship” is mentioned 10 times showing its priority and proper manner. Additionally, there are many other challenges to proper worship (Acts 17:23; Phil. 3:3; Heb. 1:6; I Peter 2:5; Rev. 4:10-11).

I am reminded often of pastor and author A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), and have read everything he wrote. In his day, over 40 years ago, he wrote much about worship and its demise. In words that could have been penned today, he wrote, for example: “Within the last quarter of a century we have actually seen a major shift in the beliefs and practices of the evangelical wing of the church so radical as to amount to a complete sellout; and all this behind the cloak of fervent orthodoxy. With Bibles under their arms and bundles of tracts in their pockets, religious persons now meet to carry on “services” so carnal, so pagan, that they can hardly be distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher or a writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every quarter” (Of God and Men, pp. 17-18).

Indeed, with today’s emphasis on drama, comedy, and other entertainment, “old vaudeville shows” is an accurate summary. People today want entertainment instead of truth. Elsewhere Tozer writes: “I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven” (Whatever Happened to Worship?, p. 13). And once again, “You know, the church started out with a Bible, then it got a hymnbook, and for years that was it—a Bible and a hymnbook. The average church now certainly wouldn’t be able to operate on just a hymnbook and the Bible. Now we have to have all kinds of truck. A lot of people couldn’t serve God at all without at least a vanload of equipment to keep them happy” (The Tozer Pulpit, I.2.40). Yes, today we need multimedia presentations, slideshows, live bands, and much to “minister to people’s needs.” But may we ask ourselves, What is heaven going to be like? Well, not one of the Biblical descriptions implies that we are going to be entertained throughout eternity. Heaven will be a place of worship—and many today are not preparing.

The Christian’s First Priority (1)

As we saw in our last installment, Paul begins his doctrinal thesis by praising God with the words, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He starts with God.

The Greek word behind blessed is interesting and most significant. It is the word eulogetos, which literally means “to speak well of, worthy of praise.” It is from this word that we get out English word “eulogize,” the common practice of speaking good words about a person at their funeral (whether or not the words are true). But this word, as it is used in the New Testament, is used only of God (Lk. 1:68; Rom. 1:25; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3). Why? Be­cause only God can be “spoken well of, worthy of praise.” There is no reason to eulogize man, for he has nothing good of which to speak. Yes, a man or woman may have been a Christian, lived a holy life, and raised a Godly family, but ultimately the glory, the “eulogy,” belongs to God.

So, in view of Paul’s words, we see that the first priority of the true Christian is to worship. Oh, may we see this! As the Book of Acts and other references make crystal clear, it is vitally important that we attend God’s house, the local church, but the question arises, “Why do we go?”

In our day, most people go to church for what they can get. That is, in fact, what most so-called church ministry is built on. The very idea of church programs is built on the idea of “giving people a blessing,” “meeting their needs,” and “keeping them entertained.” And the cardinal “sin” in such an approach is preaching doctrine or presenting absolutes. As mentioned in the “Introduction,” many people go to church like they’re looking for a movie—they check out the church page in their newspaper to see what’s playing and go to the church whose program appeals to them. The trend today is to shop for a church to join based on what that church can offer the churchgoer. But if you go to church for what you can get out of the music, or what you can get out of the sermon, or just to “get blessed,” you’ve missed the point. The primary reason for our church attendance is to praise and adore our God. The music and the sermon are not ends in themselves. They are means of worshipping God.

Biblically, we are to go to church to worship God, and that’s done by giving, not getting. We go to offer something to Him, not to receive from Him. Granted, if we offer to Him the praise due His name, we will receive at His hand. There is blessing in giving, for the Lord is quoted as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35b). But our primary motive is to give, not get. We’ll continue this thought next time.

Everything Begins with God

Ephesians 1:3—Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ—contains five wonderful truths about true spiritual riches: the Source (“God and Father”), the Recipients (“us”), the Content (“spiritual”) the Location (“in the heavenlies”), and the Means (“in Christ”). This verse is, in fact, Paul’s primary concern in verses 3-14; everything else in the passage flows from that premise and supports it.

The first and most important thought this should impress upon us is that everything begins with God. Ephesians presents doctrine for doctrine’s sake; it expresses the basic doctrines of Christianity in language unequalled anywhere else. So where does Paul start? He starts with God.

We cannot emphasize this strongly enough, for it is the very opposite of what we see in the vast majority of the Church today, where everything begins and ends with man. We are totally man centered in our theology, worship, and evangelism. We want to talk about our experience and our needs instead of who God is and what He alone has done in Christ. But the only way we will ever discover, view, and understand truth is to begin with God. Why is truth relative in our day? Why can man not find answers to life’s questions? Because man does not begin with God. If you start with a subjective premise, you can only arrive at a subjective conclusion. We must start with the absolutes of God and His Word.

To say this in another way, while it’s quite true that Paul lists the riches and blessings that God gives us in Christ, that is only secondary to the fact that he first insists that we begin with God.

We can easily illustrate this by thinking about if we tried to barge into the oval office at the White House insisting that the President hear us and give us what we demand. “After all,” we would argue, “I’m an American; I pay my taxes; I have a right to talk to my president.” Well, assuming we made it past the Secret Service, such an approach would be utterly disrespectful and unconscionable. Yet, that is exactly what we do with God. We barge into His Throne Room and demand blessing. How blasphemous that is! Paul, therefore, insists that we first approach Him for Who He is.

This leads us to a second thought that should be impressed upon us, namely the importance of doctrine. As the late pastor and expositor Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes: “The most foolish of all Christians are those who dislike and decry the importance of Theology and teaching. Does not that explain why they fail in practice?”

Why are many Christians weak and shallow? Why do many fall to any new trend that comes along? Why do many fail to discern false teaching? Why do many fail to be consistent and faithful? Why do many fall to temptation? Why do many collapse when someone challenges their faith? Because they do not know doctrine—they are not being taught doctrine by their pastors; they are not being taught that God’s Word alone is Truth. People are being taught that truth is relative and can be found in many other places. And that is why they fail.

As we’ve mentioned before, the first half of this Epistle (as most of Paul’s Epistles) deals with doctrine and the second half deals with practice. Why?—because without right doctrine we will not have right practice. No matter what the issue, the question, or the problem, there is a doctrinal principle in God’s Word to answer it. This fact is at the very heart of the doctrine of the Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture. To deny it is to deny it is to deny Scripture Itself.

So Paul begins his doctrinal thesis by praising God. He starts with God.

Paul’s “Psalm” of Praise

Before looking at specific verses, one should first look at Ephesians 1:3-14 as a whole. How truly enthralling this passage is!

First, the most amazing feature of this passage is that in the Greek it is one sentence. In one long, flowing sentence, Paul pours out his heart in praise to God for what He has done. He just goes on and on, moving from one topic to another. After some thirty years of knowing and serving Christ, Paul was truly carried away with these thoughts. Commentator William Hendrickson writes: “The sentence . . . rolls on like a snowball tumbling down a hill, picking up volume as it descends. Its . . . words, and the many modifiers which they form, arranged like shingles on a roof or like steps on a stairway, are like prancing steeds pouring forward with impetuous speed.”

To use an Old Testament title, we might observe that if anything could be called “The Psalm of Paul,” it is this passage.

Tragically, most modern English translations destroy the primary point of this passage by dividing it up into several sentences. The popular NIV, for example, breaks the flow with eight sentences  (even worse, two others use eighteen!). The tragedy of this is that the passage is purposefully one sentence because it presents one main thought, which is stated in verse 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The rest of the passage goes on to support that main idea. Dividing the passage into several sentences destroys this purpose by making all the separate sentences equal to each other. Verse 3 is no longer the main idea; it’s simply one among many and equal to all the others. As we’ll see in our next installment, the point of verse 3 is worship, and everything flows from that.

Second, this “psalm of praise” divides itself into three distinct parts. While Paul is captivated by what God has done, he has not lost control. As always, he still presents truth systematically. This great “psalm” (“doxology,” or “song of praise”) contains three “stanzas:”

·                    First Stanza (vs. 4‑6) – Focuses on God the Father and speaks of past ELECTION.

·                    Second Stanza (vs. 7‑12) – Focuses on God the Son and speaks of present REDEMPTION.

·                    Third Stanza (vs. 13‑14) ‑ Focuses on God the Holy Spirit and speaks of future INHERITANCE.

As we progress, we’ll see that each stanza can be separated into specific statements that express Paul’s thoughts.

Third, we also see that each “stanza” demonstrates that specific riches come from each specific member of the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is this truth that we shall examine as we progress.

Again, in one beautifully flowing sentence, Paul exalts God for what He has done for man in Christ. As one expositor writes: “The lofty terms in which he extols the grace of God toward the Ephesians, are intended to rouse their hearts to gratitude, to set them all on flame, to fill them even to overflowing with this thought.”

God’s Greatest Blessings

Ephesians 1:2a declares, Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. What a cordial and comprehensive salutation that is! This verse presents the two greatest, most comprehensive blessings believers possess. While God’s blessings are numerous, the greatest of all are grace and peace.

As noted in an earlier installment, grace is used 12 times in Ephesians and stands out as the key word. Ephesians details what grace really means: The unmerited favour of God toward man manifested primarily through the person and work of Jesus Christ apart from any merit or works of man (see 2:4-9). Grace cannot be earned or purchased; it can only be received.

But Paul adds another word—peace. The Greek word behind this (eirēnē) means “a state of tranquility; the opposite of rage and war; harmony.” It is important that we understand this word in light of the Hebrew word shalom. This is a common greeting which means not so much the opposite of war but rather the opposite of any disturbance in the tranquility of God’s people. Paul in essence “borrows” the depth of the Hebrew word and brings it into the Greek. So because we are “in Christ,” there is tranquility between God and man (compare I Tim. 2:5). There are at least two correlations to observe here.

First, the order in Paul’s writings is always grace then peace because peace is always the result of grace. In fact, we never find peace apart from grace in the doctrinal Epistles. The reason is that God does not give peace apart from grace; neither can we know true peace without accepting God’s grace through the person and work of Christ. Picture it this way: Peace is the stream that flows from the fountain of grace. Why has there always been war and why will there always be wars until Jesus returns to the Earth? Because there can never be peace until man accepts God’s grace.

Second, Paul here couples greetings from the Greek and Hebrew cultures. Again, the Greek word is rooted in Hebrew thought. This is truly amazing. Grace is distinctly Greek in origin and peace is distinctly Jewish. But Paul brings them together in perfect balance. Could a more meaningful Christian greeting ever be found?

But ponder something else: From whom do these blessings come? First, God our Father is the Source of these blessings. God is, indeed, sovereign, holy, and absolutely pure. But praise be to Him, He is also a Father; He comes to us as a loving Father and gives us these blessings. Second, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Means of blessing. God had to have a medium through whom He could bestow His blessings, and it is through Christ alone that we receive grace and peace. May we truly grasp this thought: Without Christ we cannot receive grace and peace. John 1:17 declares: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” And Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” It is, indeed, only through Jesus Christ that man can be saved from sin. This is not a popular view in our day, but it is still true.

Posts Suspended

My wife and I had a glorious gift given to us recently: a tour of Israel. Lord willing, posts will resume on June 24. 

“In Christ”

In our last installment, we examined the main significance of the words in Christ (Eph. 1:1) as being the object of saving faith. But what does this mean in practice? Is this just some mystical concept that has no practical purpose? Ponder four practical applications.

First, being in Christ means we are not self-sufficient but dependent upon Him. As in the analogy of the Vine and branches (Jn. 15:1-5), we are absolutely dependent upon Christ as the branches are dependant upon the Vine. We are totally helpless in ourselves. We are totally dependant upon God. He empowers us to do all things in Christ.

In our day, man is the measure of all things. We see it everywhere. Man is self-sufficient, self-directed, self-motivated, and self-centered. We constantly hear about man’s “self-esteem” and “self-worth.” But God says something a little different: “And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (II Cor. 3:4-5). Paul declares that he is nothing in himself, that he is insufficient for anything, whether it be ministry or personal living. He says that his “sufficiency” is God alone. The Greek for “sufficiency” (hikanos) speaks of something being adequate, or large enough. It’s used in Matthew 3:11, where John the Baptist declares, “He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.” How we need this kind of humility and dependency in our day instead of the self-elevating philosophies that have captured the Church.

Here in Ephesians, Paul later writes: “My brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (6:10). To the Philippians he writes that well-known promise, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Isaiah the prophet likewise challenged God’s people: “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (40:31).

What a challenge these verses are! May we stop trying to be sufficient in ourselves. Strength awaits us in Christ alone. Instead of self-sufficiency, may we have a Christ-sufficiency; instead of self-direction, Christ-direction; instead of self-motivation, Christ-motivation; instead of self-centeredness, Christ-centeredness; instead of high self-esteem, high Christ-esteem. To be in Christ means that only He is sufficient.

Second, being in Christ means that our assurance is in Him. A hallmark of cults and other false teaching is the total rejection of security. True Biblical Christianity is the only faith that teaches assurance of salvation beyond any doubt or question. Every other religious system teaches an uncertainty about eternal destiny. Only Biblical Christianity teaches that salvation has nothing to do with us, nothing to do with our works, but lies in Christ alone and what He finished on the cross.

Third, being in Christ means that our satisfaction is in Him. As Paul told the Philippians, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:11-13). To be in Christ means that He will meet our needs and that we are satisfied and content with that which He gives.

Fourth, being in Christ means that our authority is in Him alone. Because He is everything to us, His authority controls us, and it is through His Word, the Bible, that He accomplishes that. It is upon His Word alone that we stand.