Sunday 12/27/15
Series: Living in the Kingdom XI
Message – Unified in Purpose II
Unified in Purpose II
We began today by reading a few passages about our union with God and the stated purpose for that union.
John 14:20-23,
“At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (21) He who has My commandments and (habitually) keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (22) Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” (23) Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
John 15:12-17,
“This IS My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (14) You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. (16) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (17) These things I command you, that you love one another.”
So here we have Jesus telling us that…
to Love God = loving our brothers in Christ
Loving our brothers in Christ = God making His home with us, becoming our friend & manifesting Himself to us.
The word Manifest means – To let ones self be intimately known & understood.
Let’s see this promise in another context in which Paul prays for this knowing of God and understanding Him as a direct result of the brotherly love the Ephesians had for one another…
Eph 1:1-14,
(1) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
(2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (other than) and without blame before Him in love, (5) having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, (6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Summery of verses 3-6
“we’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing as surely as we were chosen by God from the beginning. The purpose of the blessing and the choosing of us was so that we should be different than the world and forever live before God in His love, without any blame. In God’s good pleasure we have been predestined to adoption as sons because we have been made accepted in the Beloved.”
(7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (8) which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, (9) having already made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, (10) that – in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.
Summery of verses 7-10
“In Christ we’re bought back and have been given forgiveness limited only by the amount of grace we have received which God continually causes to about towards us in ways we can comprehend and live in, since He’s already told us His purposes in doing all of this was to unify everything in heaven and earth into Him.”
(11) In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, (12) that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
Summery of verses 11-12
“In this Jesus and according to God’s Own purposes we have received an inheritance whereby our very existence we ARE to the praise of His glory.”
The greatest times of Joy and fulfillment I have ever had, was at those times when I knew with 100% certainty that I was pleasing Him! Part of our inheritance is to forever exist in that state perfectly! No more doubt, confusion, sadness, uncertainty or experienced distance – only perfect unity in the sphere of His absolutely pleasure, satisfaction and delight in us. We EXIST to the praise of His glory!
I think this is best illustrated by the sun.
In space the sun is impossible to behold directly since it’s brilliance and light are blinding at relative close range. Even if it could be viewed directly it would only appear as an impossibly bright white light. The further away you get from the sun it is clear that it is a star and can be safely viewed from extreme distances.
However, the only way to truly appreciate the beauty, warmth and splendor 
of the sun at relative close proximity is through the earth’s atmosphere. It is as it’s light passes through the atmosphere of the earth that the sun truly comes alive and it’s glory is praised by all who see it.
Even the aurora borealis is an example of the sun being viewed through our atmosphere since it is a direct result of the sun’s effect on our magnetic field and atmosphere.
So it is with God’s glory and His people. Like the earth’s atmosphere, we exist to the praise of His glory!
(13) In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (14) Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Condensed version of these verses…
“Because we’ve been chosen and predestined by God’s Own will to be forgiven, living completely blameless and “other than” all other peoples, and because we have been adopted to an inheritance where God’ influence upon our hearts abounds in ways that are both comprehendible and able to be lived out, so that we, by our very existence ARE to the praise of His Glory!”
This above clause states the ultimate end which God had in view in foreordaining us to be made His inheritance. It was not for our own privilege (as the Jews with their limited and exclusive ideas had misinterpreted the object of God in His election of them), but that through us His glory might be set forth. Compare the prophetic declaration, ’this people which I formed for myself, that they might show forth my praise’ – Isa. 43:21.
Explanation of Ephesians 1:15-23,
“Because of this, Paul prays, that we would be given the comprehension of how to live in understanding of WHO He is, our eyes being opened to understand and fully grasp the great hope we’ve been invited into – the audacious wealth of the glory of God’s personal inheritance in US and to really and truly comprehend the incredible power He exudes towards us who believe – the same power by which Christ our Lord was physically raised from among the dead and seated at the right hand of He Who by His very nature IS life itself. The power that took Christ from the death of the flesh to the position of preeminent dominion over every created thing and bestowed upon Him a name greater than all names ever, and placed all things under His feet and authority making Him preeminent over the church – by extension – HIS BODY, which is the fullness of Him who fills all things.”
We were designed and created for the praise of God’s glory and to be His abiding place forever! Consider the following verses and that such was Paul’s prayer, that the Ephesian church would come to know their inheritance in Christ and God’s inheritance in them, by and through the working of His might power!
Psa 132:13-14,
“For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: (14) “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”
Eph. 2:19-22,
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, (20) having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, (21) in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, (22) in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
1Peter 2:1-5,
“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, (2) as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, (3) if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (4) Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, (5) you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Jer. 24:5-7,
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. (6) For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. (7) Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.”
Jer 31:31-38,
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— (32) not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. (33) But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (34) No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (35) Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): (36) “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” (37) Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD. (38) “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that the city shall be built for the LORD—from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.”
That is all for today, but we will pick up here on Wednesday – studying to show ourselves as approved in regards to our union with Him and partnership in His purposes for Living in the Kingdom.
Blessings!
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Blessings!
