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A Call to Worship

Ephesians 1: 3 14
I dont know if youve ever really thought about it, but there very first story in the
Bible involving more than one human being, is the story of a wedding. God, after
looking at everything else in all creation and pronouncing it good, looks at the
man whom he has made in his own image and says, It is not good for man to be
alone; and he does not then bless the man with a puppy or a kitten or even a
new pickup; no, he creates a woman and gives her to the man to stand beside
him, to love him, and to be his bride. Then, the man said,
This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called woman,
for she was taken out of man.
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For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
and they will become one flesh.i
So the story of humanity, this epic tale that is still being told began at Gods
direction with a romance. Of course, tucked away in the middle of our Bible,
between the Proverbs and the prophets is one of the most remarkable love songs
ever writtenthe Song of Songs which is Solomons; and we dont read it often,
in fact, Ive met Christians who were embarrassed to admit that its even in there.
And if there are children aroundwell, lets just say that if the English version is
rated PG-13, then the Hebrew edition would certainly merit an R; but its there,
its in the Bible as a testament to the reality that God created us to live our lives in
relationships with others, to know and be known, to love and be loved in return.
And I think thats why theres a kind of wonder about a wedding, from the
moment the doors of the church are opened to the moment the lights are turned
off at the reception hall. and in all those moments, theres no moment quite like
that moment, when the bride enters the sanctuary. Everyone is seated, waiting
in expectation, and then, the music changes and thats their cue to rise and turn
to see her as she makes her way down the aisle on the arm of her father.
But no one has a better view than the groom, standing as he is at the front of the
church, and no one will ever see her the way he sees her in that moment: the way
Adam saw Eve when they were introduced for the first time; the way that
Solomon looked into the dark eyes of the wife of his youth. Not even a camera

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can catch the radiance that surrounds her. And those who view the pictures will
never see her the way the groom sees her in that momentthe most beautiful
woman in all the world, wearing the most stunning dressa bride adorned for
her wedding.
Now of course, the groom is inevitably well turned-out too; he might even be
wearing a tux for the first time in his life, but standing next to her, it really doesnt
matter much what he looks like. Few will notice and most, including the groom
himself wont much care, because the bride is his glory and this day is about her.
And as we were talking last week about a way of seeinga way of looking
ourselves and at the church of Jesus Christ, we need to keep in mind that its a
fact of scripture that in both covenants, when God considers the people he has
chosen for himself, when he looks at
the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heavenii
this is what he sees: a bride, perfect in beauty, adorned in holiness, radiant in
glory. Later on well see it in the letter to the Ephesians itself, Paul will write,
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with
water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and
blameless. iii
But understand, if Adams first thought when he looked at Eve was, Wow! then
thats also Jesus thought when he considers you, the church that he bought with
his own blood and dressed in a righteousness that we could never afford.
Oh, we can talk about our sinfulness and the impurity of our hearts. Its all true,
There is no one righteous, not even one;iv
But this is no surprise to God. Even before he created us, He knew our hearts
better than we can ever know them ourselves, but He loved us anyway, and he
chose us in Christ, and he called us to be his own. And as we noted last Sunday, if
we could begin to see ourselves in that lightif we could begin to see the church
as the Lord Jesus sees the church, what a transformation would take place in our
understanding.
Like the description of the bride in the Song of Songs. When she first speaks of
herself in chapter one, she puts herself down. Like the bride who looks at herself
in the mirror before the ceremony and thinks, My hair is all wrong, and this
dresswhat was I thinking, Solomons beloved says,

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6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mothers sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected. v
But then, her Lover speaks, and as she comes to see through his eyes, she says of
herself,
I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys. vi
And while youve probably heard those words used as a description of Jesus at
some point, if you follow the analogy of bride and beloved in the Song of
Solomon, they actually apply to the bridethat is to say, they apply to us; in a
New Covenant setting, they apply to the church. And notice also that as the
bride comes to see herself through the eyes of the king, not only does her image
of herself change, but her love for the king increases too.
Which raises an interesting point; because lately, we are told all the time that
worship (and, in point of fact, life) is not about you, there was a bestselling
Christian book a few years ago that began with just that premise, and to some
extent, its true. Its not about us, at least, not in the way that we might want it to
be.
You see, if it were about us in the way that we would like, then we could expect
to do in worship whatever pleases ourselves, and we could get bent out of shape
if the music wasnt just right, or if the sermon wasnt entertaining, or, God forbid,
if we didnt agree with it. We could even start to think of the Churchs service of
worship as something optionalsomething disposablethat we could take or
leave at our leisure without consequence because after all, its there to serve and
to satisfy ourselves, so if it doesnt, then why bother? Why not find something
else to occupy our Sunday mornings.
But its not about us, not in that way. The services of the church are services of
worship; we gather not to be entertained, not to evangelize, not to receive our
weekly vaccination to keep us safe from the pollution of the world; we gather to

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acknowledge the worthto proclaim the praisesof our God, and of our Savior,
Jesus Christ. True biblical worship is not about us; its about Him.
Hence the opening phrase in our call to worship and Scripture text this morning,
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, vii
And there it is; the heart of worship.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
But, hopefully, you caught the context.
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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
In fact, Ephesians 1: 3 14 is actually a single sentence and without all the
modifying phrases, it would read something like this.
Praise be to the Godwho has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing he chose us in him be holy and without blame
before him[and] in love he predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christto the praise of his glorious grace with which
he has blessed usin Christ.
In other words, true worship is all about God, but true worship is motivated by
the realizationby our understanding of the reality that God, having taken us as
his own, has blessed us in Christ, chosen us in Christ, and predestined us for
adoption as his children through Jesus Christ and all to the praise of his
glorious grace, with which he has blessed us, in Christ. True worshiptrue
appreciationfor God, begins with the realization that we have been loved more
than we can imagine being loved, we have been blessed, we have been chosen
and we have been predestined according to the plan of the one who works out
everything according to the purpose of his own will to be adopted as his children
through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior.
You see, it is about you, in a waybut not about what God should be doing for
you if he really wants you to come to worship every week; rather its about those
things which God has already done and how those things should be motivating
us to praise God.
You see, according to verses 7 and 8:

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7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished
upon us, in all wisdom and insight
And then, verses 11 and 12:
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In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined
according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the
counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ
might be to the praise of his glory.
So, the forgiveness of our sin in the here and now, and then life eternal at the
resurrection of the dead; All this and heaven too Forgiveness, redemption
and the understanding of our place in Gods kingdom now; and the by faith
certainty of our place in the fullness of that kingdom at the consummation of all
things.
And once more in verse 13:
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In him [that is, in Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until
we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
So the blood of the covenant that redeems us is sealed to us by the Holy Spirit of
God himself as a guarantee that what he has begun, and what he has been
promised will inevitably be fulfilled. See, its not really about us, but Gods glory
is at stake here, and He will not tarnish his glory with even the hint of an
unfulfilled promise. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.viii
So this is how the Lord sees us. This is what the Lord has done. This is what
Christ Jesus purchased for us at the price of his own blood, given for us and for
our salvation. And this is our call to worship. This is our call to praise. This is why
the church of Jesus Christ gathers regularly to listen to voice of his Word and
Spirit, and to come to his table. Our motivation is not supposed to be What can I
get out of it? but rather,
What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? ix

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So in the light of what God has already done for usin the light of his eternal
love; in the light of his grace; in the light of the crosswe need to ask ourselves,
What can I give? What can I bring? What can I do to proclaim the praise of my
God and my Savior from moment to moment and day to day?
And then, for the praise of his glorious grace, we come again and again to
worship; and we come again to this placeand to this tablewhere Jesus Christ,
the bridegroom and lover of his people opens his arms in welcome, saying,
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
This is our call to worship. This is the reason why we praise.
i
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Ge 2:23-24). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
ii
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Heb 12:23). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
iii
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Eph 5:25-27). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
iv
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Ro 3:10-12). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
v
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (So 1:5-6). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
vi
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (So 2:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
vii
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Eph 1:3). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
viii
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Php 1:6). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
ix
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ps 116:12). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

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