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00:00 Can I have Rebecca up here, please?
00:20 Today's scripture reading comes from Ephesians chap 1 8 to 11.
00:32 With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
00:39 which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment, to bring unity to all
00:46 things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him, we were also chosen,
00:51 having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.
00:58 May God bless the reading of this word.
01:05 Thank you, Rebecca.
01:10 Three, four verses today. Ephesians chapter 1. We're still there. We're going to be there for a couple of more
01:16 weeks. My slides. Okay.
01:23 1 8 to 11. So today we're going to be looking at continuing our series. First
01:29 14 verses talk about the manifold blessings God has given us because of
01:36 our union in Christ. Um why is this important? Well, it's important because we live in a kind of world which is very
01:42 confusing. Uh we look around at the world around us. We don't seem to
01:48 understand. They're going to start the GST only in next year, April, but all
01:54 the prices are going up this year instead of next year. Electricity is up what, 15%. Petrol's coming up. Subsidies
02:02 are going up up as well. Um, and you know, the only thing that's going down
02:07 is Kangong and the ringit both are going down, but
02:14 everything else is going up. building prices are going up. So, so we live in a very confusing world. Even in the
02:20 medical field, it's so difficult. We we've been telling patients to to take all this fish oil for their heart. It
02:26 turns out fish oil will then cause uh prostate cancer. You won't die of a heart attack, but you'll die of prostate cancer. So, good news if you're a woman.
02:34 So, woman can take fish oil. Okay? Men cannot. Uh we we don't seem to understand what's happening. A lot of
02:40 confusing things around. You look at the uh in in in the Middle East, we thought the Arab Spring will turn dict
02:47 dictatorships into democracies. Now we turn into terrorism instead of democracies. It's very confusing. And if
02:54 you look at democracy up north in Thailand, they have democracy, but they don't want a democratically elected
03:00 prime minister. They are on the streets every single day and democracy under siege. Um, so some people say this is a
03:08 a a comedian who actually died and she this is how she felt about life. I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've
03:14 learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme. Some stories don't have clear beginning, middle and the end.
03:21 Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment, making the best out of it without knowing what's
03:27 going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. Some people just give up. They they can't see any meaning through
03:33 life. it it's much too difficult. Um so therefore just take life as it comes and
03:39 I guess uh this is what Vin Diesel said of Paul Walker who died recently. I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Um bit
03:47 sad isn't it if you live life that way. U some of us turn to prayer and Ravi
03:52 Zacharias was telling about a little guy who who who wanted a bicycle for his birthday. He didn't know how to pray. So
03:59 he switched to Christian programming and after an Anglican program he started to
04:04 pray, "Almighty and eternal God, if it is your perfect and eternal plan for me to have a bicycle, I would be most
04:11 grateful if you would provide it in your time, in your will, but I would like it at 6:30 in the morning.
04:19 World without end." Amen. No bicycle that morning. So he switched programming. So he must have got to a
04:26 different kind of denomination because this time he he prayed you know different kind but Jesus I declare my
04:33 need for a bicycle and claim it will be blue and silver and outside my door at 6:30 in the morning next morning no
04:40 bicycle no and he was totally distraught this young fellow and he walked about the house frantically and then he found
04:46 a statue of the Virgin Mary. He took it and hid it under his coat in case his
04:51 mother saw him and he left the house and after about an hour he came back but without the statue. God went straight to
04:58 his room, didn't switch on his TV to learn anymore and started to pray. His mother observed him. Dear Jesus, if you
05:04 ever want to see your mother again,
05:12 sometimes in the confusion of this world, that's how we see God and prayers
05:18 and we go there and we try all sorts of ways to extort something from him
05:24 because basically we think that we still can make sense of the world we live in
05:32 by having our own plans. That's the problem. That's why we have uh all these seminars on decision making and the will
05:38 of God. Actually, all we want to do is find out how our own will pans out rather than his will. That's the
05:45 problem. First point, very short passage is there is a plan. No matter how
05:50 confusing it is, there's a plan in history. It's only there's a bit hidden uh and and and and then currently
05:58 revealed in Christ. In him we have redemption through his blood, forgiveness of our trespasses according to riches of his grace, according to the
06:03 riches of his grace. Um, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery
06:09 of his will, according to his purpose which is set forth in Christ. Jesus basically with all wisdom, God gives us
06:17 his understanding, gives us the mystery of his will. The word mystery uh is something that's hidden before and now
06:23 made known. In old ancient Greek times is a like a a special religious
06:30 knowledge open to only a select few. But in the gospel in the new testament the word is used of something that God has
06:37 in his mind plan for the world but revealed to all his saints through Jesus
06:42 Christ. The plan is a onepoint plan uh which is set forth in Christ Jesus a plan in the
06:49 fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth. You see God is quite simple
06:57 one point to unite everything. Our government has got 10 points you know uh
07:03 and even the 10 points they can't even decide how to implement it. You know the
07:08 putra says we got 10 points but it's up to the state government. B say forget about you. Uh so we we have a quandry
07:15 but when God makes plans he only got one plan and one point and basically uh
07:21 these are several versions of the same passage which gives us some idea what he means in the ESV is we sets forth in
07:27 Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven things on earth. So we should
07:33 basically unite all things in the message it says everything would be brought together and summed up in him.
07:40 And the new New Living Translation will bring everything together under the authority of Christ. Everything. So which means gather up under one head. Uh
07:48 and the reason and and the other and this word used in this passage is only used in one other time in Romans. For
07:55 the commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not coveret,
08:01 and any other commandment are summed up in these words. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So basically it's
08:06 a summing up. It's a bringing up together. You do your psalms, you add everything together and the answer is
08:13 Jesus Christ. That's what it means. That means the answer to history is basically Jesus Christ. Um, and the reason why is
08:21 that very clear because if you looks in Colossians, which is a sister epistle written about the same time, he is the
08:27 image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and earth,
08:32 visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and
08:40 for him. Now if the whole world is created through him for him, isn't it
08:45 natural that despite our pain and suffering and sin that's come upon the world, the ultimate aim of history is to
08:51 go back to the original aim which is to bring everything under the lordship of Christ because creation was there for
08:59 him. So therefore the plan which God has for the universe, a broken world that we
09:05 live in, a rebellious mankind, demons and principalities, everything in the
09:11 universe is to bring everything under the lordship of Christ. But we live in a
09:17 world where it's all seemingly unrelated events, isn't it? Um Ecclesiastes throws
09:23 some light. Genesis chapter 3 and it says, "For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under the sun. A
09:30 time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up what is
09:35 planted, a time to kill, a time to heal." Ecclesiastes Solomon describes
09:40 the disparity of world events. Even though they look disparate,
09:46 contradictory, they are all appropriate at a particular time. And these times
09:51 are actually determined by God. is perceived that whatever God does endures forever. Nothing can be added to it.
09:58 Nothing can be taken from it. God has done it so that people fear him. So the behind the events of history which seem
10:07 so confusing. One time you build and one time you tear down, one time you marry and sometimes they move apart. This this
10:13 disparit kind of world. There is a reason behind it so that mankind will fear before him. This is taken from
10:19 Psalm 2 which uh tells us of what it means to fear God. And this is a psalm
10:27 basically a rebuke to the principalities and rulers of the world who actually rebel against God. He says, "Serve the
10:33 Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the son, lest he be angry, you
10:38 perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled." So the focus of all
10:44 the disparit events in history is to bring them back to basically kiss the
10:49 sun. The the son Jesus Christ will unite all things under him. So therefore the
10:55 goal of history God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name which is above every name that at the name of
11:01 Jesus every knee should bow those who are in heaven and on earth and under the
11:06 earth every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
11:11 the Father. Whether this is a final or whether it's voluntarily or involuntarily
11:17 the world events are moving so that every knee shall bow, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
11:24 Lord. John takes us to heaven and gives us a vision of what actually happens in
11:31 the control tower of life. It looks like you go you you the best thing is to to
11:36 go to an airport and you find planes all over the place. They're landing. They're taking off. They're sitting there on the
11:42 tarmac. You don't know what's happening. And the best way is to go to the control tower. Actually, go in the control
11:47 tower, you will see a big screen. Every single plane, the stacked up is measured
11:53 by a dot. And then moving in and moving out. And that if you look at the big screen, it tells you what's happened.
11:59 And in revelations chapter 5 gives you a glimpse in a vision to
12:06 apostle John at what's actually happened in heaven. And he shows here when I saw
12:11 on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne right hand of him which is basically God the father written within
12:18 it and on the back sealed with seven seals. I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open
12:26 the scroll and break its seals. And it turned out this is a scroll which basically
12:32 describes what is going to happen in the world, the plan of the what every single event that's going to happen. But nobody
12:39 in all of heaven could open the seal. And then one of the elders and all
12:44 crying around unhappiness. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
12:52 the root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and the seven seals. Worthy are you to take the scroll
12:58 and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransom people for God. There's only one person in the
13:05 whole universe, in the whole of heaven that can take that scroll, that can take
13:12 events of history and let them unfold totally within his control. That is the
13:18 lamb of God, the one who was slain. So everything that happens in history
13:25 happens because of Christ. It's no accident. The fact that you've got Abraham almost killed his son and
13:32 sacrifice spared because of Jesus Christ. If you look Alexander the Great, why does he go all over conquering the
13:40 world? Well, because he conquers the world. The Greek language is established. And Jesus Christ's death
13:46 very closely ties in right after that universal empire was established. And so
13:52 therefore Christianity spread um even coming a mouse you you thought the China
13:58 entrenched in ancient religions very difficult for the gospel to penetrate after years of communism people's minds
14:04 essentially wiped clear of all the biasness. Today there are 130 million
14:10 Christians in China. Every event happens because of Christ. Uh this is a saying
14:16 from Lulu and he actually writes u thus the holy one says he who humiliated is
14:23 the lord of society. He who is sacrificed is the king of the world. Even a Chinese ancient sage looks
14:31 forward to a time there is a one that's going to come who is sacrificed as the king of the world. And in India Buddha
14:37 Buddha talks about the holy one who will save the world. And this is a quotation that this holy one will have scars in
14:43 his hands, scars in his feet like the same of shape of gonjac. On his side
14:48 there will be a stab wound. His forehead is full of blemish and scars. Even in the Buddhist religion, they talk of
14:54 someone coming. And so therefore we have Jesus Christ. If you see any event in
14:60 history, we know that it is moving forward so that Jesus Christ will be
15:05 crowned king of the universe. Now the question is difficult theology. Yes. or what how does it affect us right? Well
15:13 firstly if you know that the whole of history is unfolding and moving toward
15:19 Jesus Christ therefore we actually have to move in tandem because Jesus is the
15:26 most important person in the whole world. So therefore the Jesus should logically be the focus of our lives. I
15:34 mean the whole world is moving towards the fact that everything be focused on Jesus. our worship be focused on Jesus.
15:40 So therefore, when we live our life today, when we read what Paul writes, we should actually be focusing on Jesus.
15:45 And this is what Jesus says in John 17:26. I have made known to them your name and I will continue to make it
15:53 known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.
15:60 Now when you bring the world to Jesus and you bring us to Jesus, what is the
16:06 aim? And if you look at this passage, it's a little bit I have not noticed it until I
16:12 read it recently. But what is this saying that Jesus is praying that this
16:18 is toward the end just before he's brought off to be crucified. I've made known to them your name. I will continue
16:25 to make it known so that the love which you have loved me may be in them. Which
16:31 means there is a special love where God has for his son.
16:38 You know most of you have children. You wake up in the morning the moment
16:44 you see your son or daughter the Arnold will be Amanda. First thing happens
16:49 smile across the face. No
16:56 anyone if Dr. will be Elizabeth M. The whole family is all over Elizabeth. You know see Elizabeth. Wow. They're smiling
17:03 and you know that kind of joy that you actually have. You know God said that uh
17:09 in the mountain of transfiguration. This is my beloved son with whom I am well
17:15 pleased. Listen to him. If there's one person in the entire universe, if God
17:21 were to metaphorically wake up in the morning and see and be really thrilled about, really happy and brings joy to
17:27 his heart, is whom? His son. It's a special love from a trinity where
17:34 the father, son, and holy spirit are so uniquely bound from eternity past. It's a magnificent kind of very deep
17:43 love that brings a very great joy. We have a joyful God. You know what Jesus
17:48 is saying? Jesus is saying that that kind of love, the kind of intensity of
17:54 love with which the father has loved me, you will now share, you will have that
17:60 love for me. Because the whole history is moving towards loving Jesus Christ. Not just bowing your knees to say Jesus
18:06 is Lord. It's loving him with the kind of intensity, the same kind of intensity which the father loves him. And and and
18:13 and if you look in the world today, no matter how much you love another person,
18:19 there's no complete satisfaction because of several reasons. Because nothing
18:25 nothing has the personal worth that meets our deepest longings. Whatever that person is, it could be a husband,
18:31 it could be a child, it could be another person, that person can never meet the
18:36 deepest longings within our heart because we're still imperfect. And even
18:41 then we also lack the strength to savor the best treasures to the maximum in this world. I mean imagine going to a
18:48 buffet. I don't go to buffet nowadays for obvious reasons. But when you go to buffet the first thing you go down there
18:54 you see so many beautiful things and you wish your stomach is like a cow. Seven times the size, seven compartments in a
18:60 cow, right? You wish you have a big mouth. You can whack everything, you know. But the trouble is in there is a
19:07 lack of strength of physical ability to savor the best treasures to the maximum. How you wish you could eat the oyster
19:13 after oyster after oyster after the 215th hour oyster you still got more capacity and and that we just don't have
19:19 the physical capacity to do that and then not only that nothing lasts forever it all comes out
19:28 but but god is saying that when we are brought if our see the whole universe is moving towards the focus of Jesus Christ
19:35 and we move towards the focus of Jesus Christ is not just bowing our knees and saying he's Lord and let's get on with our
19:42 It's actually moving to Jesus Christ so that we will feel the same love for
19:47 Jesus Christ as God feels for his son. And in that time, this is what John
19:54 Piper writes in that time God if God's pleasure in his son becomes our pleasure
19:60 then the object of our pleasure Jesus will become an inexhaustible impersonal worth. Whatever you love in the world
20:06 today is like the oysters just a few enough and that's it. But if you have a store of inexhaustible personal worth,
20:13 Jesus Christ will last forever and ever. That joy will last forever and ever. So we share in God's pleasure in his son.
20:21 Our ability to savor will not only be limited by human weakness. We will enjoy the son of God with a very enjoyment of
20:28 the father. God's joy delight will be our delight. So in heaven one day we
20:35 will have those 115 oysters, thousands of oysters. It's the kind of joy that
20:40 just goes on and on and on and that joy will be in Jesus Christ because Jesus
20:46 Christ will never end. See that that's the focus of the whole of history. You
20:52 know, do you don't realize that the whole of history is moving us so that we as a people of God will love Jesus so
20:60 intensely and indescribably that we will be like God loving his son. That is our
21:05 faith. That's why hell is a place
21:11 for people who can't stand Jesus. Now, if you can't stand Jesus, why would you
21:16 want to go to heaven? Because there we're all loving Jesus. We're all We're all praising him, loving him, and having a great time with him. And if you don't
21:22 even like Jesus, better to go somewhere else you can play golf. Fiery balls of fire. All right.
21:30 It changes the way we look at ourselves. What does this mean? He put all things
21:36 on his feet. This is verse 22. And gave him as head over all things to the
21:41 church, which is his body, the fullness of him, fills all. All it says is that Jesus Christ is the apex of all the goal
21:48 of all creation in order to bless the church. And here you actually have a situation where Jesus Christ see the
21:55 whole world is being united reunited the headship of Christ. And who is part of
22:00 Christ's body? The church. If we endure, we will reign. As Jesus Christ is the
22:07 goal of all creation, we are part of that goal. We are part and rule with him
22:12 as kings. Thirdly, it gives us boldness in the face of great odds. In Acts chapter 4,
22:20 we see a situation of persecution. We have disparate
22:26 events. On one hand, 3,000 comes to know Jesus Christ after the first sermon with Peter. And then after that, another
22:33 5,000. And then Peter and John are taken up and they're being brought before the Sanhedrin. are being uh threatened not
22:39 to share the gospel and people for the first time realize with this massive expansion of the faith. There will be a
22:47 backlash. The backlash is there may be persecution, there may be death. What do
22:52 they do? And then they quote this passage from Psalm 2. Why do the nations
22:57 rage? The people plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves up and the
23:02 rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against his anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart, cast away
23:08 their cords from us." He describes Psalm 2, which tells us that when the people
23:14 of the world, the kings of the world, the rulers of the world, the authorities of the world will naturally rebel
23:19 against God. They want to break the bonds. They want to uh the the burst their bonds apart, cast away the cords
23:25 from us. So therefore, this persecution is part of that. Uh and then they look
23:30 at this in go back to acts four. They say, "For truly this city there were gathered together against your holy
23:35 servant Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the
23:41 Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place which is he's
23:47 reminding them just a couple of weeks ago in this city gathered like the people
23:55 rulers and principalities against God gathered against your holy servant Jesus whom you've anointed Herod
24:01 Pontious Pilate, the Gentiles, the people, they all got together and they put Jesus to death. When they did that,
24:08 they did exactly what your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. It wasn't surprised, you know, it was
24:15 actually part of a plan. So that persecution, even the death of Jesus Christ is part of the plan.
24:23 You know, I was reading the blog. I used to read this fellow's blog quite a lot until some something happened to him a few years ago.
24:30 and and and um he writes if you say that God or the Lord has son
24:36 then you then Muslims can nothing to do about that but once you say Allah has a son then you strike at the very core of
24:43 Islamic doctrine and he takes it one step further and he says I don't know
24:48 why it doesn't the Malay version of the Bible is blasphemous now he takes it one
24:54 step further no he's saying that because it actually strikes at the heart of Islamic doctrine you cannot use it at
24:59 all this ratchets up the pressure uh in terms of the the dialogue that's going
25:05 on. It's a very dangerous ratcheting up. What do we do? Well, in Psalm 2, you know what they do? This is what the
25:11 psalmist writes. He who sits in the heaven laughs. Haha. The Lord of heaven holds them in derision. He will speak to
25:16 them in his wrath and terrify them in fury, saying, "As for me, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill." And he
25:23 speaks of the Messiah, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them like pieces, like a potter's vessel.
25:28 This is when God looks at it, he's laughing at your blog. You know, it's not going to make any difference. God
25:34 has in his hand a plan. And the response of the apostles and all
25:41 the people around that time, you know what they did? They didn't pray that they would take the authorities away. They didn't pray that God will strike
25:47 all the rulers and principalities and strike Herod and strike Pontious Pilot.
25:53 Didn't pray that the persecution will be removed. You know what they pray? and look upon their threats and grant to the
25:59 servants to continue to speak your word in all boldness because they of all people understood
26:07 that this massive plan God is putting in place in play in the world has to go on.
26:14 Opposition is part and parcel of that plan is predestined. it will take place
26:19 and so therefore if God's plan is paramount not our not our plans don't
26:26 try sometimes got all this coming upon us it upsets your plan
26:32 if persecution breaks out it upsets your plan very hard to send your child to tution when they're persecuting you
26:38 just upsets it but but the people in Acts four understands it's a bigger plan
26:44 to draw the world to Christ and therefore our Part of it is boldness. Uh
26:50 this is a very famous five missionaries some years ago who camped out on a beach
26:56 in Ecuador to build relationships from a ancient tribe there. Uh three reps from
27:02 the tribe met them and they were just talking and then when they returned there was a killing party. They speared
27:09 all five missionaries threw their bodies in the river for five days
27:14 and they thought that would be the end of it. But as a result of the five missionaries being killed, hundreds if
27:20 not thousands of people from the United States because of this example of martyrship rose up to become
27:28 missionaries. The sister of one of the uh people killed and Jim Elliot's own
27:33 wife were invited to come back stay tribe. The whole tribe came to know Christ. The chief of the village who led
27:40 the spearing himself came to know Christ as a result. And
27:45 there was an old woman who was like a prophetess at that time who was uh at the scene of the killing and she saw
27:53 when the five men were killed a whole host of angels as it were on the horizon
27:59 as she testified as the men were being killed. You see there's a reality behind
28:04 events and the reality is no matter what happens it is within the control of God.
28:10 God moves his purposes on forward. And so therefore, uh, we are reminded that
28:18 Christ will unite all things under him, things in heaven and earth, but in the fullness of time. The trouble is that
28:23 sometimes we we we get discouraged. We get frightened because it hasn't happened yet. But it'll happen in the
28:30 fullness of time. One day it will it started with the cross. The victory is
28:36 won by the cross. the fullness of time. One day when Jesus comes again with the
28:42 second coming, it'll all be wrapped up under his leadership. Someone once said, "God may not always come when you want
28:49 him, but he's always on time." It's always on time. Story was told, uh,
28:55 Philip Yansy writes of a true story of his friend Len in Afghanistan. And you
28:60 know, Afghanistan is a country where they tolerate no other religion. So they blasted the Buddha's face off the the
29:06 wall. is worth millions and millions of dollars, you know, but they blasted this religious relic off the wall. They don't
29:13 care. And one day, Len brought a group of American young people, musicians to
29:19 the um Afghanistan. And they rehearsed some of the songs they were going to sing and uh they were very careful uh
29:27 because they're going to present this in Kabul in front of the minister. And uh
29:33 they practiced and then they went up there and as they did the performance at the end of the performance one of the
29:39 boys took the mic you know and he started to ad liib he didn't follow the script he said you know uh I'd like to
29:46 introduce you to my best friend my best friend is Jesus and then the moment you
29:52 mention Jesus lens starts jumping everybody's face start to turn and cut cut cut stop you this is you know this
29:58 kind of country you can't mention that and he started to tell people about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ
30:05 and everybody getting all frantic and all that. He's trying to stop him and he didn't stop and and you know what the
30:11 actual minister came forward, walked right up to this boy and shook his hands. It's a wonderful testimony. We
30:18 love it. All you young people come with long hair and he looked like hippie.
30:23 But you you speak about God in such uh endearing fashion. Would you like to
30:29 come? I I've got a lot more functions you can attend and I'm going to put you on national radio.
30:35 And they did. They got on national radio. They they the young people had to, you know, cancel their tickets home
30:41 and and stayed on going from town to town and they haven't got an opportunity to share Jesus because the crowd came
30:47 forward. At the end of the tour, one of the pastors from the only Christian
30:53 church uh uh there for expatriates took him took the group down to a um
31:01 cemetery and at the end of the cemetery he says this fellow you know uh give it there was a name a very old grave. This
31:09 chap spent 30 years in Afghanistan translating the Afghani guy Bible.
31:17 Then he died. That's all he did. Next to him is a grave. This fellow another 30
31:23 20 30 years one he baptized the first Afghan Christian
31:28 and they went down the row and all his children are here and he says
31:35 and you guys come after all these years and you go share
31:40 the gospel all over the country and have such an impact. You see, one man digs up
31:45 the ground. It takes him 30 years. Another one digs a pharaoh. Someone takes away the stones. Someone plant the
31:51 seeds. But someone brings the harvest in his fullness of time. You don't see
31:57 it. But as surely as this world draws to a close, God's plan goes ahead.
32:05 Second point in the passage is predestined to be his heritage. Let's look at the passage. In him we have
32:11 obtained an inheritance. having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things. Uh we als
32:18 another another alternative way of looking at this is in whom we were made a heritage having been for ordained
32:24 according to the purpose of him who workketh all things after the council of his will. If you take either way, it
32:30 looks good. Uh it's acceptable. But I believe the context favors we were made a heritage, which means in Jesus Christ,
32:39 we have become God's inheritance. You see, we we live in a world where
32:45 there's an idolatry of choice, isn't it? Um so many of you uh uh you know, all
32:51 you have to do is ring up the bank. First one you hear is ring one press one
32:56 for Basa Malaysia, two for English, three for Chinese, then haka and whatever goes on. Then when you get to
33:02 that or one for accounts, one for credit card, one for payment of bills, one for whatever
33:08 we Yeah, there's there's so much you want to buy even a simple handphone is so difficult. You go there the iPhone 5s, 3F, what color this, then 64 megaby,
33:17 120 megabyte. If you're not very technical, it's it's very confusing. We live in a world of choice. Even coming
33:24 to church, there are about 50 to 100 churches to subbang itself. You drive, you know, anywhere you go, there's a
33:30 church, you know, you got to think and and we're so used to choice in our lives that you we find that choice is
33:36 basically our absolute right. But actually, we go back to scripture and
33:41 see that in whom we were made a heritage, which means God inherits us. You know,
33:49 if that's the case, therefore, we have a calling. There is no choice. We didn't
33:56 choose him in that sense. He chose us. He chose us. We're not our own. We're
34:02 bought with a price. We have no rights. We actually have responsibilities. Following Christ is not our initiative.
34:09 It's actually our response. It is our obedience. And that changed the entire
34:14 landscape uh of our lives. Uh secondly of all the calling that we have because
34:19 we made God's inheritance produces a story line in our lives. I mean if you
34:25 look uh at all the fragment chaotic events in society we we need to look for
34:31 coherence and and continuity because there's so many things that happen in our lives and sometime we look at it I'm
34:37 I'm fetching children for boys brigade. I'm doing this I'm doing that. the whole blur of events and I can't
34:45 draw a story line to the whole thing and what happens that if we see our lives in
34:50 terms of a calling then we're able to do that I mean we've lived too many places too many jobs
34:57 known too many people watched too many TV shows too many events happen our lives so we need a story line that
35:03 stitches all that part together it's like having a a a photo album in your
35:08 whole bunch of photos imagine I I came and I gave you a whole treasure t of all the pictures were taken in your whole
35:14 life. I throw it and you what you going to do? You slowly going to pick it apart and you probably do it in chronological
35:21 order or you do it in thematic order but there must be a story line in our lives
35:27 and recognizing the fact that we are the heritage of God that we belong to him not and is that he who took the
35:34 initiative and loved us first and died for us first. that that storyline of Jesus is weaved
35:40 into our lives and then we look at all the events of our lives and it makes sense otherwise we will be like McBth
35:46 who says uh I am a walking life is but the walking shadow a poor player that struts and frets his hour of the stage
35:53 and then is heard no more it's a tale told by idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing do all these things
35:59 in your life played all the 18 holes of golf and played again and again and did all these other things in the end and
36:04 didn't come to anything else time to leave the stage And that was it. Nice fireworks, but nobody remembers you
36:11 miles later on. So, we should make Christ the story line of our lives. You
36:17 know, our ancient forebears were nomads. If you look at
36:23 Abraham, you look at the people of Israel, they wandered in the desert and
36:28 all they had was enough knowledge. God just told Abraham, you know, you go there. It's pointing the direction of
36:34 Canaan, you know, doesn't tell him whether there's any petrol station on the way, where 7-Eleven, where will he
36:40 eat, where will he stay, what will he do, nothing. He just points in a general direction. That's where you got to go.
36:45 Same for Israel. They're led in the daytime by a pillar of cloud, and nighttime a pillar of fire. And al
36:52 that's all they need to know, and they're just guided in that direction.
36:58 We are modern-day nomads. It doesn't matter how rich or poor, how good or bad
37:03 our jobs are, how big or small our families are, how big or small your house is, none of those things matter
37:10 because none of those things give you any meaning and direction in life. Isn't it? If you look at this nomads walking
37:18 along the trail, you can have big camel, small camel, medium-sized camel, or two camels or five camels. It makes no
37:25 difference. You know, if you get lost in the desert, you die. You die with three camels or four camels
37:31 or 10 camels or a thousand camels is still the same. None of those camels make any difference to the direction and
37:38 meaning of your life. How big your CV is, how great your job is, how many PhDs you have, they make no difference. And
37:45 so therefore, understanding Christ as a story of lion in our lives gives us that meaning in
37:52 our lives. This is Kesha Thomas. Take picture taken 1996.
37:58 They had a big crew Clark Klux can uh uh demonstration in the United States uh
38:03 deep south. The Klux are racist and then and and Kesha Thomas was with a whole
38:10 bunch of other people who were anti- Klux Clan. And then suddenly separated from the pack was a man who was wearing
38:17 a confederate flag which is a sign of the Kugat clan and also a SS tattoo you know which is basically a Nazi and the
38:25 crowd suddenly grabbed this guy and started beating the life out of him and Kesha Thomas seen this picture actually
38:32 threw herself she's a black you know and she threw herself on a white guy to
38:38 protect him from being killed. they were beating him to within an inch of his life. She threw herself and why did she
38:43 do that? She had the religious conviction and she sort of live herself
38:49 uh from a life of violence in her own life as she was uh violently treated and she understood and she didn't want the
38:55 cycle the violence to continue. She would throw herself on and and and they stopped beating this man. Months later
39:00 on the this white supremacist son Mark I think went up to her and shook her hand
39:07 and thanked him for saving the life of his father. And then she thought to herself, you see, the cycle of violence
39:12 begets violence. If they beat this man up, his son will become violent. Then he'll, you know, start more Klux and
39:18 more issues in the world. But she broke the cycle of violence. Why? Because she saw Jesus Christ as in the storyline of
39:25 her life. It makes a difference. She did what was natural because she saw her life in the light of a life lived in
39:33 honor of her savior. Oz Guinness is a very famous Christian uh philosopher. He
39:40 writes many many books. Uh he's read the book in the one of most famous books is called the call. How many of you read
39:46 the call? Put your hands up. Oh my goodness. Only one. You got to read the
39:51 call. It's a call. It's a book I read almost every year. Uh introduced uh uh by by speaker from RBS. But uh fantastic
39:59 book. He's changed many people's lives. And he tells of his true story of his own ancestor. His own ancestor is called
40:06 uh uh G Jane Deester. And Jane Dester was married to a man called John
40:13 Frederick Dester. And he on one day was shot uh in a jewel which he instigated.
40:19 He and he died leaving behind the wife Jane and two children. And she was
40:25 totally distraught. I mean she was you know beside herself total depression and she actually went and sat next to a
40:33 river and um contemplated throwing herself into that river because as a widow she
40:39 loved her husband so much that she couldn't bear to be away. She wanted to join him. She wanted to kill herself.
40:47 And then on the other side of the river she saw a workman a young man no different from
40:54 her age. And this man was a farmer. And what he was doing is plowing the fields
40:60 on the other side of the bank. And he looked at it, it was meticulous work. He was so absorbed. He did it so
41:06 skillfully. He displayed such pride in his life so that the newly plowed farrows look like delicate strokes or
41:13 finely executed painters uh uh uh strokes on the canvas and his whistling Christian humes uh hymns. At the same
41:20 time she was fascinated by the pride in which this man did his work and the fascination grew to admiration and then
41:28 wonder and suddenly rebuke because she looked at her own life and she she was
41:35 so wrapped up in her own pain that she forgot about her own responsibilities to her two children
41:41 and she got up she didn't kill herself and she got married to um the the son of
41:50 Alec Guinness, the one who started Guinness out all over the world and then that's where Osg Guinness was born and
41:55 that generation and and Jane became a very very devout Christian. She used to
42:01 pray for seven generations of children beyond that they will all come to know
42:07 Christ. Why? Because that young Christian farmer
42:13 attacked his work just plowing his field with that kind of joy in his heart
42:18 because he did this for the glory of Christ. You see a difference when you see yourself as God's heritage and you
42:23 see yourself as Jesus forming the story line and the meaning and the direction of your life. Calling also
42:32 enables us to be single-minded in our choices in what we need to pick and do
42:37 because in the pluralistic in a society like ours so full of so many responsibilities and choices it's very
42:42 hard but if you recognize yourself as a heritage of God that God has called you
42:48 God owns you. God becomes a steriline of your life and you have to make your choices. So many choices every year you
42:55 wake up and then even church there's so many choices to go to so many events but we need to be single-minded in our
43:01 choices. In fact there was a famous philosopher from Harvard that says in accomplishing anything definite a man
43:08 renounces everything else. John Santayana says that we actually have to choose the most important thing and when
43:17 you choose the most important thing all the rest need to take a deep back seat otherwise every year we most church
43:23 members you ask them can you go for no no no time imagine everybody got the same time but most of you got no time
43:32 because simply because we haven't taken our calling seriously we haven't decided that we are to be single-minded in our
43:38 choices You know Jesus before he died said I glorified you on earth having
43:43 accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Some people say that's right. He did all these things. He died on the
43:49 cross and all that. But some people also point out the fact that he accomplished his work because he also did a lot of
43:55 things which he didn't do. He didn't set up a university. He didn't set up a
43:60 nursing college. He didn't train doctors. He didn't heal everybody. The Lord thinks that he could have done but
44:06 he didn't do because he was single-minded. The fact that he had to go to the cross, he had to die at that
44:12 particular time. And so therefore, our calling enables us to be singleminded in
44:18 our choices. Making the important choices in life that makes a difference. Rejecting all the other things that not
44:25 important. If you're organizing a Christian activity, for example, in the church, and I so often have people
44:30 complain to me, oh, this fell criticized me, this fellow say like that, that fellow didn't clean up, this and that.
44:36 Who cares? If you are organizing that event, it's single-mindedness for Christ. All the
44:42 rest doesn't matter. It's learning to move ahead. Why do you bother if all the
44:47 rest don't play well in the band, for example? It's what you play
44:53 your goal that is most important. And God's sovereign choice is a guarantee of
44:58 our heritage. We were made a heritage having been for ordained according to the purpose of him who worked all things
45:04 under the council of his will. Uh ESV says we're predestined according to his purpose. You cannot fail because God is
45:12 the one who predestines it. Jonathan Edwards when he was 18 years old
45:17 preached a sermon only three points to his sermon and it's very simple and it's very easy for us to understand and
45:24 remember about God's predestination. Your bad things will turn up for your
45:30 good. Your good things can never be taken away and the best is yet to come.
45:37 And this makes sense, doesn't it? If God controls history in such a way,
45:44 then all the bad things that you actually have happened in your life, the good, bad, ugly, whatever was your mistake, other people's mistake, it will
45:50 turn up for your good in the end if you commit it to the Lord. Your good things can never be taken away.
45:56 All the salvation God gives you. The blessing of the Holy Spirit will never be taken away. And the best things are
46:02 are yet to come in your life. And God controls history.
46:08 How do we know all this is true? The only way we know this is true, that this all will happen is the fact that we have
46:15 a savior who lived, who died for us, and who rose again. The
46:21 resurrection of Christ is evidence that God controls history, that God controls
46:27 the son of his life, the life of his son. He has the power to resurrect him and the power to resurrect us.
46:35 Let me end. Couple of days ago, Richard Branson
46:41 announced Virgin Galactic Spaceship 2 ready to fly. They they actually managed
46:47 to to go up what 24,000 you know what kilome meters up into the
46:53 space almost to space fired up all ready to go.
46:59 580 people have already booked tickets. Now ah will be like in space everyone
47:06 can go to space you got 580 people already paid up for tickets because they want to go to space why is that why is
47:13 that that we got people Richard Branson really reaching for the stars you know
47:18 human race are the only racer that's just reaching for the stars nothing can satisfy us because we got eternity in
47:24 our hearts we cannot be satisfied is have you ever seen a dog or a cat or a monkey all looking into space wondering
47:30 do they want to Never do that. Only human beings can do that because God has put eternity in our
47:36 hearts. Put a part has put a part of himself in our hearts. We This world is not enough. This world is not enough.
47:42 And if you don't have money, I'm sure one none of you here bought tickets in Richard Benson's Galaxy too. If you've
47:49 got, let me know. None of you are bought. For the rest of us, I've seen some young Chinese kids.
47:56 They they they they want to be the center of the universe, too. They no money to buy tickets. So they pay $100
48:01 and and they shoot up this new chemical called super K called kitamin. And I see
48:07 them quite often now. They only happen to Chinese kids. You know, I haven't seen a Malay or Indian do that. But when
48:13 they sniff this super K, they become like a master of the universe. They describe, oh, they feel fantastic. They
48:19 feel like Jesus Christ. Because there is a a a a a a yearning for something
48:25 greater. If you can't afford to fly to space, you go to space inside super cage. Whatever it is, we are yearning. It is
48:33 never enough. It is never enough. And so therefore, with this, what do we do with
48:39 our lives? Um, we're not going to settle. This is a
48:44 picture of uh if you saw Lord of the Rings, who do you think this is? Anybody know?
48:49 Sauron. Sauron is a huge uh the evil bad guy, the most darkest, baddest, most
48:56 evil force in the whole trilogy of the Lord of the Rings. He's got vast armies
49:01 of people really butt ugly uh a and very powerful. And when this book first came
49:08 out, there was a lady called Rona Beer who wrote to JR Tolken who was a
49:14 Christian and complained to him, you know what, like you know, you write this book, you know, I don't mind the whole
49:20 plot looks good except one part I don't like, which is really illogical. How can you take this dark lord who is so
49:27 powerful, you got so many armies, is just almost indestructible. You take his ring, teeny weeny,
49:35 itsybitsy little ring, and you take this and throw it down the mountain and zap,
49:40 all his power goes away. It's totally illogical, isn't it?
49:45 And JL Tolken wrote back say I wrote it because I wanted to depict for all of us
49:54 that if we were to put our
50:00 if you ascribe to put too much of our lives, our our values, our efforts
50:08 into something external like a ring, then it becomes very vulnerable.
50:15 Isn't it? All his power, all his magic, all his command and control, everything
50:21 put into one ring, you know, and this ring is vulnerable for destruction, vulnerable to capture, vulnerable to
50:27 damage, vulnerable to ransom. And so with all of us here too, we can
50:35 be like Sauron. You know, we put all our emphasis, all our energies
50:43 on our jobs, on our families,
50:48 on our own tiny little plans or storylines in our lives.
50:54 And these things have no intrinsic glory. These things will not last.
51:00 One day, like the Lord of the Rings, it'll be thrown into the volcano. It'll
51:07 burn up and we will burn up too. Instead,
51:12 Christ is coming again. The ancient Christians were persecuted. They only
51:18 have one wish in their hearts when they pray. The Greek is a word called marinatha.
51:24 Come Lord Jesus. We we they only hope for that one thing. When we wake up in
51:29 the morning, that should be our prayer. That should be our dream because that is
51:35 where the whole wake up brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not about the job alone. It's not about your lives
51:43 alone. Get with the plan. There's only one plan that matters in the whole universe. And the plan that Jesus is
51:49 going to come again and he will rule as the ultimate God.
51:56 And we are all part of that plan. We are all part of that heritage. We are all part of that calling. And so we must
52:04 configure our lives over the things that last. The glory of Jesus Christ, the
52:09 love which his father has for him, we will have forever and ever. And that's how we should live our lives to give
52:15 dignity to our lives. Doesn't matter how big a house you live in or how small a house you live in or what clothes you
52:21 wear. Whether you're 80 or you're 75 or 26 or 15. what brings dignity to our
52:27 lives and the fact that we belong to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ, we're part of his body and we will be exalted
52:33 with him. That's the bigger vision. That's how we should live. Don't live
52:39 for anything less. Let's pray. Father God, we
52:46 thank you so much for your word.
52:52 We thank you so much that you are a God who controls every aspect of our lives.
52:58 We thank you so much for Jesus.
53:03 We thank you that he's coming again, that he's exalted, and that one day in
53:12 our hearts we will share the love which the father has for the son. that same love will beat within our hearts and
53:19 they will beat forever and the joy we will receive will be forever and ever and ever in unity with your son. We pray
53:26 that this is the vision that fills our lives when we go to sleep. This is the
53:32 vision that wakes us up in the morning that fills our heart with anticipation because every event of our life,
53:40 every movement in our family moves towards this end.
53:47 We commit this to your hands. We ask for Jesus' sake. Let's rise. And there's a wonderful song
53:55 at the end.
54:03 Drop him.
