Wanted - By God

Ephesians 1:4-6

Everyone wantsto be wanted.

We find value,purpose, and security in being selected to:

• Bethe teacher’s helper at school
• Sitin the reading corner in class
• Playon the popular kid’s team at recess
• Beinvited to a popular kid’s birthday party
• Berecognized as an honor student
• Jointhe varsity squad
• Receivea scholarship
• Bedrafted by a professional team
• Behired by a prestigious employer
• Be ahusband or wife to someone who loves you
• Receivea prestigious promotion at work

Choices – thechoices that other people make about us – affect us to our deepest, innermostbeing. We want to be liked, loved, and wanted. When we feel unwanted andoverlooked, we struggle to live with confidence and to find direction for ourlives. We feel lonely and neglected, which leads to depression and despair.

We’re all likeBeverly, the girl with lots of lollipops but no friends.

This reminds meof the story once told by a staff member at Focus on the Familyministries about his three-year-old daughter. Her name was Beverly and “shelived in a neighborhood of older children who did not want her tagging alongbehind them. They could run faster, climb higher, and do everything better thanshe, and that fact had not escaped her notice.

One day Bevcame running into the house and shouted to her mother, ‘Lollipop, Mommy! I wantlollipop!’”

Her mother“Elaine went to the pantry and handed Bev a lollipop. But the child saidurgently, ‘No, Mommy. I want lots of lollipops.’

By this timethe mother knew something was up, so she decided to play along with herdaughter. She handed her five or six lollipops, and then watched at the windowto see what she would do with them.

Beverly ran toa fence that bordered a field next to their house. Her friends were on theother side playing baseball. She stuck her arm through the fence and waved thelollipops at the children. But they didn’t see her. They just went on withtheir game as though she wasn’t there. Then one of the kids looked over at herand saw that she was offering them something good. They all came running overand snatched the lollipops out of her hand. Then without even thanking her,they went back to playing ball. Alas, little Beverly stood there alone, hergifts and her friends both gone.

Elaine foughtback tears as she watched her daughter stand sadly at the fence. The child hadtried to buy acceptance, but it only brought her further rejection. How badlyBeverly wanted the other kids to like her and include her in their games.”(Story taken from Life on the Edge by JamesDobson.)

To believerstoday, I have outstanding news.

You’re wanted.Not by an Ivy League school or a prestigious employer perhaps, but by Godhimself.

You don’t haveto do anything to entice him, nor do you have to get his attention or earn hisfavor. He has chosen you, and that fact alone should give you great assurance.

To understandwhat this means – that God has chosen you – let’s ask four important questionsand answer them from Ephesians 1:4-6.

1. Whatdoes this mean?
2. Whydid this happen?
3. Howis this possible?
4. Whatshould we do about it?

What does itmean to be chosen by God?

The answer tothis question begins in eternity past, “before the foundation of the world”(Eph 1:4), a phrase that refers to the creation of the world. Consider theseexamples:

• Godthe Father and God the Son enjoyed a glorious, loving relationship “before thefoundation of the world” (John17:24).
• “Beforethe foundation of the world,” it was determined by God that Christ would die asthe sacrifice for our sins (1Pet 1:20).
• Christdied for our sins because he was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of theworld” (Rev 13:8).
• Thosewho reject Christ as their Savior here on Earth are people “whose names are notwritten in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world” (Rev 17:8).
• God’sfuture kingdom is not only coming for those who believe on Christ, but it hasalready been “prepared [made ready] for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt 25:34).
• Godchose us to be his spiritual children “before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4).

This phrase andthe statements that go with it in Scripture reveal that important realities –like Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, who will and won’t become God’schildren, and what God has planned in eternity those who are his children – arenot decisions that God has patched together over time.

God doesn’trace around, reacting to events on earth and coming up with solutions.

Instead, hemade some firmly established decisions in eternity past about what would takeplace in the history of the world and in eternity future. As a result, thesechoices play out exactly as he decided for them to occur.

One of thesechoices made in eternity past is that you would become God’s child. He choseyou before he created anything. Therefore, you had done nothing to qualifyyourself to be chosen. He chose you before anything happened at all.

We call thischoice the doctrine of election (eklegomai, ἐκλέγομαι) and it appears inEph 1:4 when Paul says, “He chose us.”

Election means“to select, choose, prefer over another choice, to make a special choice.”

In the OT, Godchose Israel to be a special people group to accomplish his purposes in theworld (Deut 7:6;14:2). If you have studied their history, you know they were just as sinful anddifficult as any other nation in history. Yet God didn’t choose them becausethey deserved it. He chose them by his own choice as God.

Likewise today,God has chosen individual people – not a nation – to carry out his plan ofsalvation in the world. Together, we form something called “the church” thatEphesians describes in detail later on. It is a vast spiritual family that Godis assembling. Because of God’s election, we’re all in one big, spiritual,everlasting family.

Now thedoctrine of election reveals the origin of your relationship with God. It alsoreveals the way this choice came about and what its final outcome will be.

This choice ofelection came about through predestination.

Predestination (proorizō,προορίζω) (Eph 1:5) means “to mark off beforehand (or ahead of time)” or “topredetermine a destiny.” So, you can read this as, “He chose us … bypredestining us.”

This wordappears in the NT 6 times (Acts4:28; Rom 8:29, 30; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:5, 11). In each case, God does the“predestining.” This emphasizes his total control over the entire plan ofsalvation throughout history from beginning to end.

In this case,what did God plan or determine ahead of time? He decided who would be hisspiritual children. That’s what “adoption as sons” means (Eph 1:5). It is thebeliever’s change of position from stranger, outcast, and enemy of God to achild in his family.

Being placed asa son into God’s family is a permanent, legal change of family identity.

Jewish cultureillustrates this by how son is raised through a deliberate training processthat  culminates with a Bar Mitvahceremony, when the child receives all the rights and privileges of being hisfather’s son and heir. Accepted means “highly favored” (Eph 1:6).

For you and metoday, adoption refers to the full scope of God’s salvation in our lives: ourplacement into his family, our training as his children (i.e. spiritualgrowth), and our future, full-blown recognition into his kingdom and presenceforever, when every part of our being, including our body, will be freed fromthe vestiges of sin (Rom8:23).

Adoption is anot a process that may be reversed or abandoned, by you or anyone else. WhenGod places you into his family, you stay in his family forever. Therefore youshould no longer fear what life or death may bring your way. Your life andsalvation are eternally secure because God is your Father through it all (Rom 8:15).

Why did Godchoose us?

After all, hechose us before we had done anything at all, so we certainly didn’t earn thischoice through good behavior. What’s more, once he made us, we behaved in sucha terrible way that he should have rejected and destroyed us instead. So, whydid he choose us to be his children? We even misbehave as his children, too.

The answer tothis question is simple. God chose us because he is loving (“in love,” Eph 1:4)and he wanted to do it (“according to the good pleasure of his will,” Eph 1:5).This phrase “the good pleasure of his will” teaches us several things.

First, choosingus as his children is something that he wanted to do.

No one lobbied,coerced, or persuaded him to do it. He did it because he wanted to. In fact,that’s why God does everything he does – because he wants to. He is always incharge and he always freely does whatever he wants as God.

Second, whateverGod wants is good.

He never makeswrong choices therefore he never needs to change his mind. Though we were notgood, and we could do nothing to impress God, it was good for him to choose us.Isn’t that encouraging?

Third, choosingus brings great pleasure to God.

You bring himthe delight, happiness, and joy that he deserves. I say this as reverentiallyas I know how: you make God happy.

This phrasemeans something like, “God knew that it would be good to choose us, thereforehe wanted to do it.” More specifically, notice the phrase “to himself” (Eph1:5). This reveals that he wanted to enjoy a close relationship with us forhimself. He wanted to be our Father.

God chose us tobe morally pure in his sight.

“To be holy andblameless before him” (Eph 1:4) underscores the fact that we could never earnhis favor by trying to be morally pure. To be morally pure, he must choose usfirst so he could make us morally pure himself. “In his sight” refers to livingin his presence, under his watchful eye, as a father watches over his youngchildren when he is with them.

Finally, Godchose us as a celebration of his grace.

Eph 1:6 says, “Tothe praise of the glory of his grace.” When we understand that God has chosenus to be his children, we realize how generous and gracious he is. So choosingus is an extravagant, lavish display of his grace that is so astounding that itshould grab headlines and turn heads everywhere.

How could Godchoose us in the first place?

We clearly don’tdeserve this privilege, to be chosen by God, nor did we earn it in any way. Indeed,we’ve done everything to not deserve it. So how could God choose any one of usto be his child? The answer is through Christ. This key detail appears 3 timesin Eph 3:4-6 and 11 times in Eph 1:3-14 (“in him,” “by Jesus Christ,” “in theBeloved”).

The words inand by used in these three phrases describe a very close cooperationbetween the Father and the Son. On this point, it is helpful to observe thatsince the Father cooperated so closely with the Son in choosing us before hecreated the world, then Christ is also pretemporal and eternal. He existed andacted as God just as the Father did. This is an evidence of Christ’s deity.

We have alreadydiscovered how this close cooperation took place “before the foundation of theworld,” just as God’s choice of us to be his children occurred then as well(Eph 1:4).

• Godthe Father and God the Son enjoyed a glorious, loving relationship “before thefoundation of the world” (John 17:24).
• “Beforethe foundation of the world,” it was determined by God that Christ would die asthe sacrifice for our sins (1 Pet 1:20).
• Christdied for our sins because he was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of theworld” (Rev 13:8).

God’s choice tomake us his children occurred in perfect harmony with Christ’s commitment todie for our sins.

This eternalpact secured our salvation and place in God’s eternal family long before theFather and Son created the universe and mankind.

It is alsohelpful to observe that of 6 NT occurrences, predestination (proorizō, προορίζω)refers to God’s salvation of believers 4 times (Rom 8:29, 30; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph1:5, 11) and Christ’s death on the cross the other 2 times (Acts 4:28; 1 Cor2:7). This further demonstrates how tightly connected these two decisions werein God’s eternal mind.

The certaintyof one confirms the certainty of the other. Neither were coerced, nor mayeither be reversed. Our identity God’s children is as firmly established as thecrucifixion of Christ – which today is more than a pretemporal plan of God. Ithas already, irreversibly happened in history, which further underscores thecertainty of our salvation in Christ.

This is not aneasy arrangement to explain. Yet one thing is clear: from eternity past, Goddecided to place us into his family as children. He also decided that Christwould be crucified for our sins. These decisions were so intwined you cannotexplain one without the other. He chose us because Christ would die on thecross for our sins. Together, both decisions were firmly established longbefore he made the world and mankind.

How should werespond to the fact that God has chosen us?

One thing weshould not do is argue over theoretical questions some people like to raise:

• “IfGod chose some to be his children, then why didn’t he choose other people,too?”
• “Infact, why didn’t God choose everyone to become his children?”
• “IfI’m God’s child because he chose me, then is my decision to believe on Christ agenuine choice?”

Thoughquestions like these are interesting and give us something to argue about, butthey hijack our minds and hearts from the purpose of these doctrines. They areultimately unhelpful and miss the purpose for God revealing election,predestination, and adoption to us at all.

When wealthy,loving parents adopt a helpless, homeless orphan from the streets, how shouldwe respond?

Not by asking,“Why didn’t they adopt other children, too?” or, “Did the child genuinely wantto be adopted, or did they let it happen to them because they felt a sense ofobligation?” These are real questions for sure, but they are irrelevant.

We shouldrespond with wonder and appreciation at the love and generosity of theseparents. Though they were well-positioned in life, with no care in the worldand an intimate relationship with each other, this husband and wife chose toplace a child into their family that didn’t deserved to be there and wouldrequire them to sacrifice many things.

So it is withGod, election, and us. Anyone who has believed on Christ as Savior needs toknow that not only did God want us to be his children, but he chose us to behis children before the beginning of time.

In this life, wewill often feel unwanted, ignored, and overlooked – especially as Christians.Yet the fact that we’ve been chosen and wanted by God enables us to confrontthose feelings head on.

No matter whatanyone says and how low we may feel, God loves us and wants us in his familyforever.

As we live inthis hectic, godless city, we may also feel uncertain. Jobs come and go, peoplelet us down, our health takes sudden turns, and even we fail to be goodChristians sometimes as we endeavor to be God’s holy people in this unholycity. Yet the fact that we’ve been chosen and predestined to cross the finishline should encourage us deeply.

Just as ayoung, Jewish boy looks forward to completing his training cycle and becoming afully recognized, mature adult man in society and heir to his father’s estate,so we have this to look forward to and more. Our future “bar mitzvah” iscoming, despite the ups and downs and the twists and turns in the obstaclecourse of this life.

This blessingof election should set our minds at ease.

Our lives arenot guided by fate or chance, nor are they at the mercy of peoples’ heartlesschoices.

God, who isexceedingly gracious, generous, and kind is our loving heavenly Father. Hechose us to be his children before the beginning of time. That process is inmotion, just as sure as Christ died on the cross for our sins, and he willguide that process all the way to our eternal destination – our full placementinto God’s family forever, with all the rights and privileges that go with it.

Have youbelieved on Jesus Christ as your God and the Savior of your sins? If not, thenyou are not in God’s family at all. I encourage you to make that choice todayso that you may also know the security and joy of being God’s child.