‘THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING’
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 28, 2022 under 2022 |
Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message; September 25, 2022 from Ephesians 1:18
Theme: Knowing the hope of God’s calling in Christ gives us prevailing joy—even in times of deep trial.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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Hope is a blessed thing to have. It’s also a horrible thing to be without. And many people are without it today.
When it comes to what is popularly referred to as ‘the mental health crisis’ today—a crisis that is manifesting itself in unparalleled levels of drug addictions and alcoholism, the epidemic of homelessness, and the shocking increase in violent crime and suicide—there are lots of reasons that are being offered for why it’s all happening. But though I don’t have any expertise on that subject, I believe nevertheless that a leading cause of it all is a profound loss of hope.
In a way that we haven’t seen in most of our lifetimes, people have fallen into deep despair—no longer having a sense of something good in their future; no longer having a sense that they can plan ahead, or pursue dreams, or grab hold of possibilities; no longer having a sense of something greater than themselves. Over the past decade—and especially over the past two years—the cultural systems that people had been placing their trust in have let them down. Some mental health experts have said that, in the wake of the COVID pandemic, a loss of hope has become an epidemic within the pandemic—often proving to be more deadly than the pandemic itself.
It reminds me of a line that the apostle Paul once used in his letter to the Ephesians. It’s something that has always caused me to tremble a little. He described what it was like for his Gentile readers before they had entered into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2:12, he told them;
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).
Think of those words: “having no hope and without God in the world …” Doesn’t that describe the general atmosphere of the times in which we’re living? Doesn’t it remind us that people desperately need a hope that comes from something above and beyond anything they can find in this world?—a kind of hope that can only come from God?
Well; God has provided such a hope. It’s not a hope that’s built on sentimentality or feelings. Rather, it’s a hope that is built on something real—something based on what God Himself has done for us. It’s a solid hope that gives us prevailing joy—no matter what the circumstances of life may be. It’s a hope that is rooted in the promise of a glorious future.
And it’s this very hope that the apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians 1—the hope of God’s calling in Christ.
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Now; we began looking at this part of his letter last week. Paul had just gotten through describing all that had been done for our salvation by the work of the whole Trinity—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He wrote about that in verses 3-14. And he then began to tell his dear brothers and sisters in Christ about how he had been praying for them. In Ephesians 1:15-18, he said;
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know … (Ephesians 1:15-18a).
His prayer for them was that—in the light of all that God had done for them—they would be given the grace from God to know certain things … to deeply know them! And so; what did he pray that they would know? It was …
… that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (vv. 18b-23).
So then; he prayed for them to know three specific things: (1) what is the hope of God’s calling in Christ, (2) what is God’s inheritance in the saints, and (3) what is the greatness of God’s power toward those who believe. We need to know these three things too. Knowing them—not just intellectually, but in an experiential way at the deepest level of our daily life—will help us to live victorious Christian lives. Knowing the hope of God’s calling will give us a sense of prevailing joy—no matter what the circumstances. Knowing the inheritance that God Himself has in His saints will give us an overwhelming sense of identity and dignity and value in God’s infinite love. And knowing the greatness of His power at work in us will give us the confidence to deal with any problem or temptation or challenge we will ever encounter in life.
We can’t stress enough how important it is that we—as believers—truly know these things. And this morning, I’d like for us to concentrate on the first thing that Paul prays that we will know; and that is the hope of God’s calling in Christ. Knowing the hope of God’s calling of us in Christ gives us prevailing joy—even in times of deep trial.
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Now; to understand this wonderful blessing that we have in Christ—and to experience the sense of prevailing joy that it gives us—we need to answer a question:
1. WHAT EXACTLY IS MEANT BY THE WORD ‘HOPE’?
When we use the word “hope” in our ordinary conversations of life, we’re usually saying that we desire and long for something to happen. We don’t necessarily have the certainty that it will happen. But we truly want it to happen. And we may even have sound reasons for believing that it could happen. We use the word “hope” in this way when we say things like, “I sure hope that my check will come in the mail soon;” or, “I sure hope that the bus will come on time;” or, “I’m hoping to hear good news from the doctor later this week.” Hope, in this sense, is a verb. It’s something we do.
But the “hope” that Paul is talking about in our passage isn’t like that. When he speaks of this “hope”, he isn’t speaking of the act of ‘hoping’ with the vague sense that it might or might not happen. This hope doesn’t have any uncertainty about it at all. Paul’s not even the word “hope” as a thing we do. He’s not using the word as a verb but as a noun—a thing that is.
Paul speaks of this thing as “the hope” of God’s calling; and so, that’s the word we’ll use. But we should understand that what Paul means by “hope” is the sure and certain expectation of the complete fulfillment of the promise that God has made for all those that He calls into a relationship by faith with Christ—a certainty upon which we can entrust our entire life and eternity.
There is no uncertainty whatsoever to this thing that is our “hope”. It is absolutely sure and certain. It’s more sure and certain, in fact, than creation itself, because it will outlast creation.
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Now; Paul called it the “hope” of God’s “calling”. And so, a second question we need to ask is …
2. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT IT IS BASED ON GOD’S ‘CALL’?
When we first heard the gospel of Jesus, we heard a ‘call’ from God. It was as if He said, “Look! I have loved you so much that I have sent My Son Jesus into the world. He was born into the human family for you, and He died on the cross to pay for your sins. Now; place your faith in Him and come. Enter into a relationship with Me through Him.” And when you heard that call, dear brother or sister, you believed, and you placed your faith in Jesus, and you came. That’s a kind of call from God that theologians sometimes refer to as the general call; or the gospel call. Praise God that we heard that call!
But there’s another kind of call that theologians often refer to as the effectual call of God. It’s a call by which God sovereignly and graciously draws a sinner to Himself and does for them everything that He has purposed to do for them in Christ from eternity. It’s called effectual because, in it, God accomplishes everything, and brings into effect all He intended to do for the salvation of the sinner. We find this kind of call mentioned in Romans 8:30; where we’re told that whom God predestined He also called, and whom He called He also justified, and whom He justified He also glorified—with God doing all the work of accomplishing His call from beginning to end.
The kind of call that Paul is speaking of when he speaks of “the hope of His calling” is that kind of ‘call’. It’s God’s effectual call to the sure and certain expectation that He will completely fulfill all that He has purposed to do for us in Christ. And the reason that it’s important that our hope is based on His call is because it gives us the confidence that it will be completely fulfilled—and all because it is dependent upon Him and not on us.
You can see the certainty of God’s calling to this hope in Ephesians 1:3-6. Paul wrote;
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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:3-6).
Our hope, then, is based on God’s effectual call; and it cannot fail to be effectual because He Himself cannot fail.
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So, brothers and sisters; we have a great hope. It’s a hope that’s nothing like the hope that this world is desperately seeking. Ours is a different hope—a hope that is sure and certain—a hope that is based completely on the work of almighty God, who has Himself called us to it and will see it to completion.
And so; what then is this hope? What is this sure and certain destiny that we’ve been called to? I have tried to think of the best way to describe it to you—so that your hearts would be encouraged and energized by it. And I think that the best way to do so is to let the Bible speak for itself.
The other day, I went through all of Paul’s New Testament letters and sought out the clearest statements I could find of his own description of this hope. It was an inexpressibly edifying thing to do, by the way! You can see, from what Paul wrote, how this glorious hope was interwoven into everything he did and taught. And so; I ask that you’d let me just read Paul’s own Holy Spirit-inspired words to you. I’m reading them to you in the order that I found them in his letters. And as I read them, I pray that we will know what this hope is—and believe the promises that God is making to us about it. Altogether, these passages answer the question …
3. HOW DOES THE APOSTLE PAUL DESCRIBE THIS HOPE TO WHICH WE HAVE BEEN CALLED?
Turn with me first to the Book of Romans. Romans tells us much of what God has done to bring us into this hope. And in Romans 8:18-25, Paul wrote;
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance (Romans 8:18-25).
The present sufferings were not worthy to be compared with the hope that we have in Christ. Paul was certain of this, because the God who will fulfill this hope in us is all-powerful; and is able to make all things in this created universe serve the cause of this hope. He said in Romans 8:28-30—in a passage we mentioned earlier;
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30).
Now; turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15. In our present state of being—in these frail bodies of ours—we couldn’t possibly experience the fulfillment of this hope. But as a part of His call, God promises to transform these bodies of ours so that we will experience the fulfillment of this hope. In 1 Corinthians 15:50-58, Paul wrote;
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:50-58).
And then, turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4. The struggles and trials that we look upon in these still-frail bodies—the pains and sicknesses and weaknesses we suffer—may seem at times to discourage us and distract us from this hope. But Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18;
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Paul was praying for his readers in Ephesus that they would know—down to the deepest level of their hearts—this hope of God’s calling. If you turn to Colossians 1, you find that he wrote a similar thing to the believers in the city of Colossae. He prayed for those believers to know it too. He even thanked God for what was ahead for them; saying;
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel …
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Colossians 1:3-5, 9-13).
When you find that Paul prayed for his brothers and sisters in Ephesus to know this hope, and also for his brothers and sisters in Colossae to know this hope, you get the impression that he’d want for us to know this hope too. Knowing it—in a deep and experiential way—transforms how we will go through times of trouble and trial and loss.
Even the loss that comes from death. Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1. For the believer, “death” only means the death of the body. The spirit is alive; and the body will be raised, and together they will be glorified. So; in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul said;
But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul lets us know that our eventual destiny in this glorious hope to which we’ve been called is to share in the glory of Jesus Himself. No matter how much the world around us may turn away from Him—no matter how much the world will seek to harm us for trusting in Him—we are nevertheless destined to be glorified like Him! Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17; where Paul wrote;
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17).
We should therefore keep on working for the cause of Jesus’ kingdom, and keep on testifying of Him to this world. From the standpoint of our eternal destiny, it won’t be long at all before our Lord returns; and we will be glad that we were found faithful to Him. In 1 Timothy 6:12-16, Paul encouraged Timothy and said;
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen (1 Timothy 6:12-16).
This hope motivated Paul himself to keep faithful to the very end. In 2 Timothy 4, he wrote his final letter before laying down his life for Jesus; and in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, he said;
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
That coming day—when we will be glorified with Jesus—is the wonderful hope to which we have been called. It will not fail to be fulfilled. In Titus 2:11-14, Paul wrote that this is our “blessed hope” and said;
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).
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Now; this, dear brothers and sisters is what the apostle Paul prayed that we would know—not just in an intellectual way, but in a heartfelt and experiential kind of way. He wanted us to know that it is a sure and certain expectation of the fulfillment of all that God has purposed to do for us in Christ. It cannot fail because God Himself has called us to it and will Himself fulfill it—that He will raise these frail bodies of ours in the glory of Jesus when He returns; and that we will be made full sharers together with Him in His inheritance from the Father; and that we will reign with Him in eternal glory forever and ever in eternal glory. Without fail!
Now; do you believe this? Do you know it with whole-hearted conviction because of your faith in Jesus? If so, you have something that everyone in this world needs—a hope that transcends all the trials and difficulties of this world, and that provides for you the basis of an overwhelming and overcoming joy.
Let me close with what another apostle wrote—the apostle Peter. What he wrote would be something that the apostle Paul would have added his whole-hearted “Amen!” to. It answers one more question for us:
4. WHAT DOES “KNOWING” THIS HOPE DO FOR US IN EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE?
In 1 Peter 1:3-9, Peter wrote to some suffering Christians and said;
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Knowing the hope of God’s calling for us in Christ gives us prevailing joy in times of deep trial. Oh to God what we would truly know it!
AE
