Introduction
What comes to your mind when you think of unity? The word means the state of being one, or oneness. But, in a day and age like ours I think unity is typically associated with compromise… Which isn’t necessarily bad, but it can be, depending on where and how we are compromising. You see, when the world speaks of unity it typically means giving everyone the freedom to think, feel, say, and do whatever they want, and simply agreeing to disagree on such things. But, agreeing to disagree tends to mean never thinking, feeling, saying, or doing anything that would imply that someone else is wrong for what they think, feel, say, or do.
Worldly unity tends to mean compromise of the highest order, because it requires laying down the most essential of your convictions. That idea of unity and freedom inevitably leads to division and bondage, and that’s what we’re seeing all around us today. Agree with me or be cancelled. Agree with me and let me do what I want or be protested. Never tell me I’m wrong or be convicted of hate speech or some other hate crime. And on and on it goes. Friends, this is not healthy compromise for the good of unity, this is just outright compromise that leads to chaos. And that shouldn’t surprise us, because the Bible teaches us that those are our choices, Christ or chaos.
The theologian, Cornelius Van Til, can help us think about this rightly. He was a Dutch Reformed theologian, who lived from 1895-1987, who is perhaps most well known for his teachings on presuppositional apologetics. Presuppositional apologetics begin with the recognition that everyone holds certain foundational beliefs or presuppositions that shape their worldview. Van Til argued that these presuppositions are ultimately rooted in one’s ultimate authority or ultimate commitment. For Christians, this ultimate authority is the Triune God of the Bible. And these presuppositions must not be compromised.
Presuppositionalism rightly understood is more of a worldview than just a way to do apologetics because presuppositionalism is deeply rooted in what Van Til called the antithesis, which underscores the fundamental opposition between the Christian worldview and all other worldviews. This is tied to the idea of their being no neutrality: we are either with Christ or against Him. So, it’s not whether we have presuppositions, but which presuppositions we have. And likewise it’s not whether we have an ultimate authority or ultimate commitment, but which ones we have. We are all trusting and obeying something or someone, and therefore treating them as our lord and savior, even if they aren’t the one true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Again, it is either Christ or chaos…
You see, everything is supposed to be brought into proper order under the Lordship of Christ. Nothing is neutral because everything belongs to Jesus and is meant to glorify Him. So, if it isn’t it is in rebellion against Him; which is by definition chaos because it’s going against the created design. Van Til says, “Every fact of the universe has God’s stamp of ownership indelibly and with large letters engraved upon it.” And to act otherwise, or to ignore this is to seek to rob God of His glory. Everything is from Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. To Him belongs the glory alone. And you see, this is where true unity is found. And this is where everything is headed.
In the Great Commission we are commanded to disciple the nations, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. But think about that… What are nations? On the one hand they are people groups, or groups made up of people that need to be baptized and brought into Christ by grace alone through faith alone. But, on the other hand, nations are not just groups of people, but all that they are and all that they do. It’s their values, their culture, their industry, their families, their government, and their overall state of existence. And it makes sense that all of that is in view because Christ commands us to disciple the nations by teaching them to observe all that He has commanded. And God’s commands, God’s Word addresses all of life. And that’s the call here, to bring every area of life into submission to the Lordship of Christ. All is to be done for His glory. And biblically, this is where true unity is found.
Unity is found in Christ, not in compromise. Unity is found in Christ, not chaos. Unity is found in taking all things captive for Christ. That doesn’t mean there isn’t freedom to agree to disagree, or to live and let live on a number of things… But it does mean that fundamentally peace, human flourishing, joy, and true unity are all ultimately found in Christ and bringing things into right order under Him. And that’s where things are heading. No doubt, we see chaos all around us, but we don’t get our theology or our hope from what’s happening in the world, but from what we see in God’s Word. And what we’re going to see in God’s Word today is that God has worked and is working to unite all things in Christ. And our lives—everything we are and everything we do—play a crucial role in that. So, with that in mind, look with me at Ephesians 1:7-10.
Context
Over the last few weeks in our journey through Ephesians we’ve seen that this is a letter written by Saint Paul to the Saints in Ephesus, though it was likely a circular letter meant to be read and applied by all the churches in the region, just as it is now read and applied by all true churches everywhere. And what we’ve begun to see in this letter is Christian doctrine and Christian duty. Paul’s pointing us to who God is, who we are in Christ, and how we are to now live in Christ.
Last week we started to look at Paul’s prayer of praise that he lays out in Ephesians 1:3-14 (which is all one sentence in the original Greek). We started by looking at verses 3-6, where we saw that God is our gracious Father who has chosen us in Christ to be holy and blameless before Him. That’s who God is, that’s who we are, and that’s how we must live. In light of God’s glorious grace that He has blessed us with in Christ we are to live a life of praise for the glory of Christ. In His good pleasure God has loved us and adopted us into His family, and now we are to so delight in His goodness and grace that we live for His praise. And that brings us to our passage today.
Ephesians 1:7-10
Our passage begins in verses 7 and 8, saying, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight…” So, notice how Paul emphasizes once again that every blessing that God lavishes upon us comes in and through Christ. The blessings of God’s Covenant of Grace are only experienced in Him. And in Him, in Christ we have redemption through His blood. God’s chosen people whom He loves and adopts into His family have redemption in Christ. The idea behind redemption here is that of being purchased out of slavery or prison. Like the Exodus story, it’s being brought out of bondage and into freedom. And notice Paul says that this is something that we have right now.
The people of God who look to Christ by faith have redemption. Indeed, part of the proof that we currently have redemption is that we have faith. For in and of ourselves we were blind to the truth of Christ, but by grace we see the truth of Christ and believe. This is what Paul will tell us later in Ephesians 2, that we were dead in our sin, blind in our unbelief, but then God made us alive together with Christ and gave us the gift of faith. And so having faith means that we have life and freedom. We are no longer in Satan’s prison of death. We are no longer in bondage to sin. We have been set free by Christ. Which is, again, what Paul says. We have redemption in Christ through His blood, that is through His perfectly faithful life lived in our place, and His sacrificial wrath-absorbing death died in our place, and in His justifying resurrection that showed that no one takes His life but that He lays it down freely for His people and takes it back up again in power, and along with that shows Himself to be the One who is above all power through His glorious ascension to the right hand of the Father where He rules, reigns, and intercedes for His people. This is all through His blood because it is all through Christ who came and did all of this in His flesh and blood.
Jesus, God the Son, took on flesh and lived, died, rose again, and ascended on high to redeem us and bring about the forgiveness of our trespasses. We were in bondage and prison for our trespasses, with no freedom to be, to go, or to do for God’s glory and our good. But, who the Son sets free is free indeed, and so we have been bought out of slavery and prison to sin, Satan, and death, and set free to live for God. And again, if we have faith we have this redemption right now. In fact, having this redemption is having faith. What I mean is, we tend to over complicate faith. We think about faith as believing, as resting, as trusting, as receiving, and even as treasuring, and all of that is right and good. But, if we focus too much on any of that, or over analyze any of that we can miss the simplicity of faith, or miss that we already have it.
All of us are putting our faith in something or someone, because all of us are trusting and obeying something or someone. Paul shows this in Romans. In Romans 5 he speaks of being justified by faith, then in Romans 6:16 he goes on to say, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Faith and obedience go hand and in hand. That’s why faith is often spoken of in terms of trusting and obeying. And if what Romans 6 says is true, and it is, then we are always trusting and obeying something or someone, and that’s what we are placing our faith in. That’s our Lord. That’s our Savior. But, nothing is worthy of our faith or our allegiance except Christ. He is the only true Lord. He is the only true Savior. He is the only one who won’t let us down. Sure, there are lots of things we don’t and may never understand… There are lots of questions that will go unanswered. But, trusting in Christ and obeying makes more logical sense than any other position, if you’ll think about it rightly. And if you’re able to see that and act on it, then God has given you the gift of saving faith. He has redeemed you. So trust and obey.
Though the presence of sin has not yet finally been done away with, all who have been redeemed have been saved from the punishment of sin and the power of sin, which means we can and we must walk in this freedom right now, and thus live for God’s glory with all our might while we do live. We are not our own. For we have been bought with a price. We have been redeemed. Therefore we are to glorify God come what may (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And by faith we can do this. Our redemption directly affects our lives right now. This isn’t just the hope of heaven given to us—though we have that as well—but the hope of a life of faithfulness right now. And we see that here.
God doesn’t just redeem us and give us enough grace to have forgiveness. He doesn’t just give us a get out of hell free card. He doesn’t pay just enough to redeem us from condemnation, but He redeems us according to the riches of His grace… That is, not from, not out of, not just what He could spare, but in accordance with the infinite riches of His grace. And that’s who God is: the infinite and eternal God of the universe who is therefore infinite in all of His attributes. He is infinitely gracious, and here Paul says He has redeemed us in accordance with His infinite grace, which He has lavished upon us.
To lavish means to abundantly gift, to richly furnish, or richly grace. So, literally Paul is saying that God has redeemed us in accordance with His infinite grace, which He has richly graced upon us. And as we saw last week, He does all of that for the praise of His glorious grace. That’s a lot of grace. But don’t think about it in the wrong way. Many today speak of grace as if the word meant to haphazardly ignore sin, but that’s not what God does. God pays for our sin in and through Christ, and so lavishes His grace upon us that He enables us to make war on sin and walk in faithfulness. Notice Paul says that God does this in all wisdom and insight. God knows us completely: past, present, and future. Every thought, word, and deed… He knows our deepest and darkest secrets. Yet He still lavishes His grace upon us.
I heard one preacher say in light of this text that in Christ we are fully known and yet fully loved. And that’s totally true. But, more than that is being said here. God doesn’t just love you where you are, He loves you too much to leave you there. Think of a brain surgeon who is trying to help someone with brain cancer. It isn’t enough for them to diagnose them or simply agree to be their doctor. If they are a good and useful surgeon they must go in and remove the cancer. And not only that, they must apply the right treatment to the areas of the brain where the cancer is likely to return. And this is how God’s grace works on us. He lavishes His grace upon us, and not only that, but because He does so in all wisdom and insight, He knows exactly where the grace needs to be applied. He knows where the cancer of sin is most likely to return. He gives us the grace to truly be free and walk in freedom. This is a grace that is so lavished on us that it transforms us and enables us to embrace God’s purpose for our lives.
Again, what we’re seeing here is Christian doctrine and Christian duty. The doctrines of God’s sovereign and amazing grace leads us to be the Christians God has called us to be and to embrace and live out our duty of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. And indeed, we see that here as well. God is an infinite fountain of grace. And in Christ we can enjoy the infinite riches of God’s grace in Christ, the infinite goodness of God in Christ, forever. We will never exhaust God’s riches. We will never exhaust God’s goodness. There is always more goodness in Christ to taste and see. Anyone who has honestly studied God’s Word already knows that to be true. For every time we go to the Word of God we find more and more treasure to enjoy. There’s always more glory to be seen and more grace to be enjoyed. Which is exactly what God wants us to do, because, as verse 6 says, He has designed redemption for the praise of His glorious grace. So that we would taste and see how good He is in His infinite glory, and then magnify that in and through our lives. God wants us to be so amazed by His grace, to be so overwhelmed by His goodness in Christ, that we could not help but praise Him. And praising Him rightly happens not just with our words, but with our whole life. Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31. Indeed, we are to bring every area of life into joyful submission to the Lordship of Christ. And because God has lavished His grace upon us in all wisdom and insight, we can.
Now, notice what Paul says next in verses 9 and 10. God has lavished His grace on us in all wisdom and insight, “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” God doesn’t just redeem us in His grace, but He enlightens us. He makes known, or reveals, makes visible, and makes us aware of the mystery of His will. That isn’t to say that His will was ever intentionally hidden, but that it was being revealed to greater and fuller degrees over time, and has now been made known with great clarity in Christ. Theologian B. B. Warfield once said that the Old Testament was like a dimly lit room… You can walk around and feel about and more or less figure out where and what the furniture is in the room. But the New Testament is like the same room but well lit. Now you can see for sure what each piece of furniture is and where it is. Well, that’s the general idea with the mystery of God’s will.
God’s will here is tied to His purpose that He set forth in Christ. The word for purpose here is the same one in verse 5 that is typically translated good pleasure. So, this is the mystery of His will that is in accordance with His good pleasure, that is His good and gracious will and overflowing delight, which He set forth, or determined beforehand, in Christ. You see, God’s will, the mystery of His plan has always been about Christ, but now the lights have come on by God’s grace, and we see that like never before. And Paul is stressing that to us here. God’s sovereign will is always in accordance with His good pleasure in Christ. From eternity past to eternity future it is all about Jesus. And this is what God has made and is making known to us, God’s Christ-centered, Christ-glorifying plan for the fullness of time.
The idea in the first part of verse 10 in that phrase the fullness of time is that all of time is working towards something. God has and is making known His will in Christ, and in and through that, and thus in and through us He is accomplishing His grand plan that is motivated by and working towards the magnification of the glory of God in Christ. All of time, all of history is working toward this grand purpose. In other words, all things exist, and everything happens for the glory of Christ. That is the great answer to those great and hard questions: Why would God do that? Why would God ordain this? Why did God allow that to happen? And on and on it goes… And what we see here is that the ultimate answer to why God ordains all that comes to pass is for His glory in Christ. Which, in our flesh, doesn’t seem like a good enough answer… But, because Jesus is the ultimate good, and infinitely glorious, it is only right and good that all things would be for His glory. What glorifies God is always the best thing, even if it doesn’t feel like it, and even if we can’t see how it glorifies Him. And in God’s grace, as we have seen, what glorifies God always works for our good and ultimate joy. And though we may not always see that or feel that, in time we will. God is not a maniac with a knife, He’s a surgeon with a scalpel. Any pain He inflicts upon His people is always meant for our good and His glory, especially His glory in Christ. And since we are the bride of Christ in covenantal union with Christ, ultimately what is good for Jesus is always good for us.
Verse 10 actually tells us that God’s grand plan here is good for all things. All of history and everything God has ordained, God’s grace upon us and His opening our eyes, minds, and hearts to know His will in Christ, is all working to unite all things in Him, that is, in Christ. The word translated unite there is the same word used in Romans 13:9, only there it’s translated summed up. There Paul says, “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The Greek word was typically used to refer to the closing argument in a court case or trial. It’s the summary and chief point of all that has gone before. And that’s what Ephesians 1:10 is getting at. God, in His sovereign grace is setting forth and making known and working in and through history and His people to unite all things, to sum up all things, to bring all things to their chief point in Christ. Again, Christ is the chief point of all things. It’s all for His glory. God’s closing argument is always Jesus.
Everything exists to magnify the glory of Jesus. From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory alone. And here we see that Christ is the means and the ends. God will unite all things in Christ and for Christ… Jesus is the center focal point of all things. As Colossians 1:15-16 puts it, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” This is exactly what Ephesians is saying. The principalities and powers, the rulers and authorities, thrones and dominions, along with the saints, angels, and heavenly creatures in the heavenly places, as well as all the saints and all the creatures of our God and King here on earth… indeed, all things, things in heaven and things on earth are being and will fully and finally be united, summed up, and brought to their chief point in Christ Jesus.
When Paul says all things, things in heaven and things on earth, that’s what he means. Again, the principalities and powers, the rulers and authorities, thrones and dominions, along with the saints, angels, and heavenly creatures in the heavenly places, as well as all the saints and all the creatures of our God and King here on earth… In other words, every area of life, every endeavor, every sphere, every nation is to be brought under the Lordship of Christ. All will be brought into submission: some through wrath and fury, and many through mercy and grace. And that’s the context here, the grace of God in Christ. Paul is speaking of the triumph of the gospel.
There was a time in the beginning of creation when all things were united. They were not yet as they could and should be, but they were not yet in rebellion against God and one another. But, after sin, and especially after the sin of Adam, division and brokenness spread throughout the universe. And this was not a cosmic accident. This was not God slipping up or failing on the job. This was something He ordained to happen for the glory of Christ. And indeed, the fall leads to the glory of Christ because it leads to Jesus being the new and true better Adam who not only takes the penalty for Adam upon Himself, but He also succeeds where Adam failed. In the beginning Adam was commissioned by God to walk in obedient faith to Him, living as His image bearer who was to subdue the earth and have dominion over it, to be fruitful and multiply, and to take what is good, true, and beautiful and cultivate it and advance it out to the ends of the earth. But instead of trusting and obeying he doubted and rebelled, and spread what is evil, false, and ugly instead of what is good, true, and beautiful. He was to be our prophet, priest, and king, but he failed. But not Jesus. Jesus is our perfect Prophet, Priest, and King who never fails. Jesus is what is Good, True, and Beautiful… And He has come to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.
Jesus is the perfect God-man. He is everything Adam should have been, and so much more because He is God in the flesh. As Hebrews 1:3 says, Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God; as Titus 2:11-14 says, He is the grace of God incarnate… And as John 17:24 says, Jesus is and always has been God’s supreme delight and love. So, God the Father’s love and overflowing delight in His Son are at the heart of His grand plan. The mystery of God’s will is tied directly to the magnification of God’s glory in Christ. Everything God does in this grand plan, in His purpose, in the good pleasure of His will, is because of and for the glory of God in Christ. He is the main character in this story. All things are united and summed up in Him. Everything finds its telos in Christ. But, we are His church, we are His bride, and we are in Him and He is in us, and this changes everything. Indeed, the point is to change everything. A world that has been marked by chaos, rebellion, and division is to be brought back into union… All things are to be united in Christ. And because we are already united in Christ, because we are the bride of Christ, this starts with us.
This reality begins in the church. In Christ God has united us to Himself and to one another. We are one new man in Christ. We are redeemed and adopted into the family of God. No matter our background, no matter where we’re from or what we do, we are united to Christ and that has changed everything. We have been redeemed out of slavery to sin in Adam, and now we are in the new and true better Adam, in Christ, and that enables us to walk in His faithfulness. As I said earlier, God lavishes His grace upon us enabling us to have faith and walk in faithfulness. And that means that we can now walk in obedient faith to God’s commission and creation mandate. We can walk in obedient faith to Him, living as His image bearers, subduing the earth and having dominion over it, being fruitful and multiplying, taking what is good, true, and beautiful and cultivating it and advancing it out to the ends of the earth. We can disciple the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. We can bring every area of life into joyful submission to the Lordship of Christ. We are a part of God’s means to unite all things in Christ. And by grace through faith in Christ we can do this.
Conclusion
Beloved, God has redeemed us, forgiven us, and lavished His grace upon us; He’s revealed to us the truth of His gospel and the purpose of His will in Christ… His purpose for us and His purpose for all things in Christ, so that we can believe this and live for this… so that we can trust and obey, and be instruments in our Redeemer’s hands for His glory, the good of His church, and the life of His world. And He has promised us that He will unite all things in Christ. Christ will win. All will bow the knee to King Jesus. The nations will be glad in Christ. As God promises in Isaiah 11:9, “The knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” We will win because Christ will win. But, this means we must walk out faithfulness. But, here we see that we can.
We can fight sin and pursue holiness. We can have godly marriages. We can raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We can pursue every good endeavor and every lawful vocation for the glory of God in Christ. In exercising dominion we are to bring things to their right order under Christ’s Lordship, and that means doing all that we do for God’s glory. There is no neutrality. It’s for Christ or it’s for nothing. But that doesn’t mean that we just do evangelism and Bible studies all day; it means we do everything for God’s glory, realizing we are serving Christ in everything we do. So we do whatever we do with excellence for God’s glory in strategic ways and places so that our Christian lifestyle would influence the world around us. We are to take all things captive for Christ. And in so doing, as we magnify Christ in all things, we are slowly but surely uniting all things in Christ. This is what we are to do, and this is what we are doing. Every aspect of our faithfulness is participating in uniting all things in Christ. And remember, by God’s grace you can walk in faithfulness. So press on, shout on, pray on… Because we are in fact gaining ground. The chaos will not win. Christ will! And all things will be united in Him. Amen!