Over the last couple of years a wide variety of motivational products have come out with the goal of motivating us to be successful. The most popular ones to hit the market are made by a company called Successories. You may seen some of their posters or calendars with their encouraging phrases such as

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, these posters seem to forget one important fact. We are human. As much as we like to think that everything is possible and that we can doing anything, sometimes there are challenges which are impossible.

 

Recently, another company has begun to change the world of motivational products. Their name? Despair, Inc. That’s right. Despair, Inc. Much like Successories, Despair, INC has launched their own line of posters and calendars, except instead of attempting to motivate people to be successful; they attempt to remind people that they are not successful. There mission statement reads:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It can truly be depressing to be reminded of our limitations and that we are not what we wish to be. Unfortunately, American’s aren’t the only ones who attempt to ignore the fact that they do not measure up. As Christians, we do the same thing. Rather than admitting that we fall short of God’s perfect standard, we attempt to convince ourselves that we are really not that bad. What we need is a spiritual Despair, INC. to remind us of our horrible sinfulness and spiritual shortfall. Here in Ephesians 1:4, the Apostle Paul is telling us of the great blessings which God has given us in Christ, specifically the blessing that God has chosen us. However, if we fail to first realize our deep spiritual lacking and that we do not measure up to God’s standard, we will fail to fully grasp how great a blessing it is that God has chosen us.

 

In Psalm 24:3-4, the Psalmist reminds us of God’s standard when he asks

 

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? The answer: He who has clean hands and a pure heart.

 

We almost immediately recognize that we are not anywhere near that perfect standard. We do not have clean hands or a pure heart. Instead, our hands are dirty and our hearts are far from pure. We all fall infinitely short of God’s standard of a perfectly pure heart. Paul tells us in Romans that “None is righteous, no, not one, no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” We are completely depraved sinful fallen human beings who stand condemned and deserving of God’s righteous wrath. But Paul’s point here in our verse in Ephesians is that instead of giving us the wrath we deserve, God has chosen us to be His people. Thus, it is precisely because we do not measure up that’s God’s choosing us is such a blessing.

 

But what does it mean that God “chose” us. The word “choose” in Greek is our English word “election.” It means to select or choose something out of a larger group. For instance, I chose my socks this morning out of several different pairs of socks, You may have chosen a Sunday school class last hour from the several classes which were offered. The same idea of choosing is used in the Old Testament of God “choosing” the nation of Israel out of all the nations of the world. By using the word “elect” Paul is simply indicating that God has chosen us out of all humanity. Other than that, though, the word “elect” or “choose” tells us very little. While on the one hand we can talk about God choosing us or choosing the people Israel, we can also talk about us choosing our socks. If the word “choose” is left on its own, it is hard to understand why God chose us or what he chose us for.

But Paul, in verse 4 does not simply say “God chose us” and then move on. Instead, Paul tells us that God chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him. Paul is saying that God chose us for a reason, at a particular time, and with a definite purpose in mind. If we begin with our understanding that we are not holy, we will realize that the message of Ephesians 1:4 is that because we were not holy, God chose us in whom we were not, when we were not, to be what we were not. Again, If we begin with our understanding that we are not holy, we will realize that the message of Ephesians 1:4 is that because we were not holy, God chose us in whom we were not, when we were not, to be what we were not. And, my hope is that when we understand that our election lies in God’s choosing us in who, when, and what we were not, we can stand confident in our election and that this confidence will change the way we live today. With that in mind, begin by looking first at God’s choosing us in whom we were not.

 

Paul indicates first that because we are not holy, God chose us in whom we were not. In verse four, Paul says that God chose us “IN HIM,” which continuing from his introduction in verse three means that God has chosen us “in Christ.” Although Paul’s choice of the word “in” may seem a little odd, we quickly understand that that Paul is saying that we were chosen “because of Christ.”

 

We’ve already discussed that we are vile, wretched sinners and that God would never accept us to stand in his holy place. God’s choosing us could never be based on us because we are not holy; we are not anywhere near the standard of what He chooses. Instead, God choosing us was because of Christ. Christ is everything we are not. We are not holy, but Christ is holy. It is because of Christ, the one of whom God said “This is my Son, of whom I am well pleased” that we are chosen. We are chosen because of Christ, who having committed no sin of his own went to the cross and shed his blood on our behalf on the cross.  Because we are not holy, God chose us because of Christ who is holy.

 

Yet, if we simply stop there we only get part of the picture. Imagine driving down to Chicago and stopping at the first toll just over the border into Illinois. As you pull up to the tollbooth, the attendant simply waves you through, telling you that the person in front of you paid for you. You get to go through because of what they did. While you would probably be incredibly happy, it ends there. This random of act of kindness is just that: random. The person in front of you may have chosen you to pay your toll for you, and while you feel elated that they chose you, you don’t even know who they are. You get to go through for free because of them, but there’s no relationship, no love, simply a random act. If Paul described our election as simply being because of Christ, we would only have the picture of a divine tollbooth; no relationship, no love, just a random act of kindness because of Christ. But Paul uses the phrase “in Christ.” We are God’s chosen “in Christ.” We have a spiritual bond, relationship, a union with Christ. We are IN HIM. We have been purposefully, lovingly, permanently united with Christ. In Ephesians 5:31-32 Paul explains our being united with Christ in terms of marriage and the husband and wife being one. That is the same with our union with Christ. We are one with Christ. We are not chosen simply because of Christ but because we are one with Christ.

 

We’ve seen a similar idea in Pastor Vogel’s sermons over the last few weeks on 1 Corinthians 15. In verse 22 of that chapter Paul says we die “in Adam” but we live “in Christ.” Our being united with Adam condemns us as to death as sinners because through our spiritual union with Adam we all sinned in him. But by being one with Christ, Christ’s death, resurrection, and righteousness have been credited to us, just as Adam’s sin was my sin, now Christ’s righteousness is my righteousness. The foundation of God’s choosing then us is not just because of Christ, the foundation of his choosing us is “in Christ.” His holiness, what we were not, is now our holiness.

 

But we forget that. Too often we focus on the giant Demotivator poster, reminding us that we are not holy, saying “you’re a failure, you don’t measure up, God would never choose you.” Instead, we need a poster which reads “You aren’t, But Christ is, and you are “In Christ.” Now we can be confident that despite the fact that we aren’t righteous and we aren’t even close to God’s standard, “in Christ” we are righteous and do measure up to God’s standard. God has chosen us “in Christ.” Christ’s righteousness is my righteousness; His satisfying God’s standard is my satisfying God’s standard. We are united with Christ and God has chosen us on the basis of that union.

 

Secondly, not only does Paul tell us that God chose us IN WHOM WE WERE NOT, God also chose US WHEN WE WERE NOT. In verse 4 we read that God chose us before the foundation of the world. As you might expect, the phrase simply indicates a time prior to creation. This is important for two reasons.

 

First, we may be tempted to conclude that God chose us in Christ because of our faith. Here, though, Paul removes that as a possibility. God’s election of us occurred before we even existed, before we could have done anything to please Him, AND before we could have put our faith in Christ. God’s choosing of us is so completely independent of us that He chose before we even believed in Christ.

 

Not only that, if God chose us in Christ from before the foundation of the world, then God always had a plan to save us from our sin. What good would it do if God’s choosing us could not guarantee that we would come to Him? It would like us leafing through catalogs at Christmas time, circling the items we want, and then anxiously waiting for Christmas day to see if we got them. If God’s choosing us could not guarantee that we would come to Him, it would be like God selecting those people that He wished to save and then nervously and anxiously waiting to see if they responded. How could God’s choosing us then be a blessing if He did not have a plan to make it succeed?

 

But Paul explicitly mentions the “foundation of the world” to remind His readers that it was God who created the world. Paul tells us that God’s choosing of us came before he created the world to show that God created a world in which to accomplish his purposes of election made before creation. (REPEAT) God doesn’t need to anxiously hope we come to him because he created a world specifically to fulfill his plan of saving those He chose. Once His choice of us was made, God acted on that choice in and through creation. God’s choice of us then cannot be undone because it would require undoing the very creation of our world. God chose us and then created a world in which to bring us to himself.

 

When I eat out at restaurants, I often struggle to choose what I want off the menu. Most of the time, when I’m finally ready to order, I’ll order what I ordered last time.  Why? Because my biggest fear in a restaurant is that I will end up with something from the menu I don’t like. What if I begin to eat and then wish I’d ordered something else. Restaurants don’t normally let you switch entrees in the middle of a meal just because you wish you ordered something else. I know that once I make a decision and our order is brought out, it cannot be changed. I’ve made a decision, I’ve acted on that decision, and now it cannot be undone. I’m stuck with what I’ve ordered. I spend a long time considering what to order, and I almost always end up ordering what I had last time, what I know I’ll like, because I know once I order and my food is delivered, it’s final.

 

That’s how it is with God choosing us, except He knew right from the beginning what He did not like. He did not like our sin, our fallenness, the fact that we are the exact opposite of his holy character. So, he chose us in what He did like, He chose us “In Christ” in whom He was well pleased. He chose the righteousness, holiness, and perfection of Christ and applied to us by our union “in Him.” And then having chosen, He created a world to accomplish that choice, to bring us to Himself. Once chosen, once acted upon, it cannot be undone, the world cannot be sent back into the kitchen and another one ordered. God knew what He wanted, and He chose what He wanted. We can take confidence in the fact that God chose us in Christ and then created a world in which to bring us to Himself in Christ. We can take confidence with the Psalmist “The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved” which means that God’s choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world is established. God’s choosing us cannot be undone, not even because of our sin or our lack of holiness, because his act of creating us cannot be undone. So, because we are not holy, God chose us even when we were not, before the foundation of the world, and then created us to bring us to Himself.

 

The best part is Paul’s final point. Not only did choose us in whom we were not, when we were not, God chose us to be what we are not. In the end of verse 4 Paul says us that God chose us to be holy and blameless before Him. Because we are not holy and blameless, God chose us to be holy and blameless. You may notice that verse 4 actually includes the words “in love.” The Bible was originally written without punctuation, which makes it difficult to know whether the phrase “in love” goes with verse 4 or verse 5. Commentators themselves cannot agree with which verse it goes. The better arguments seem to be that “in love” fits in best with God’s action of predestination in verse 5, so we will deal with the phrase “in love” when we look at that verse some other time.

 

Instead, we will focus on the phrase “holy and blameless before Him.” The words “holy” and “blameless” actually imply the same idea but from two different perspectives. The word holy has a positive perspective, focusing on the idea that something is perfectly righteous. It is commonly used as a characteristic of God, such as in Leviticus where he says “Be Holy as I am Holy. Blameless, on the other hand, has a negative perspective, focusing on what something is not or what it lacks. It is without blame, without blemish, it is spotless. Again, the idea is one of perfection. It is as if Paul said “righteous and without sin.” By repeating the same idea from another perspective Paul is emphasizing His words. It would be like saying “blind and cannot see” or “deaf and cannot hear.” Paul is emphasizing that the purpose of our election is so that we would be perfect, without sin.

 

But Paul says that there is a specific place that we should be holy and blameless. We are to be holy and blameless before Him. In other words, holy and blameless in God’s presence or in God’s sight. Immediately our minds jump to our justification, our being declared as holy and blameless before God because of the righteous sacrifice of Christ on the cross. This is certainly what Paul has in mind, but that is not all that Paul has in mind. Someday we will not just be Holy and Blameless in God’s sight but we will truly stand as Holy and Blameless in His presence. We will receive the completion of our salvation, our glorification. We will be renewed after the likeness of Christ in true holiness and righteousness. This too is what Paul is considering here. But Paul is also saying that we should be holy and blames NOW. What Paul has in mind here is what we call sanctification. In fact, the word sanctification comes from the latin word “sanctus” which means holy. In the process of sanctification, God is making us holy and blameless before Him NOW! Thus Paul has in mind the entire process of being made holy and blameless from beginning to end. This is the purpose of God’s choosing us. We were not holy and blameless, but God has chosen to make us holy and blameless before Him. Even when we hear Despair INC in the back ground telling us that we are not holy and blameless, we can take confidence in the fact that in Christ We Are Holy and Blameless before God. Someday we will be made completely holy and blameless; and right now God IS making us holy and blameless. 

 

This confidence is not simply a mental exercise; it must impact everything we do. If we know that God’s purpose of making us holy and blameless in this life and next cannot be undone, it gives us the confidence to strive to be holy and blameless now. Sure, we sin. Sure, we mess up. Sure, sanctification is a long, arduous process which will never be complete in this lifetime. But we have a confident hope that someday we our process of becoming holy and blameless WILL be complete. We have a confidence that even when we don’t see it, God is making us holy and blameless, now, little by little conforming us to the likeness of Christ.

 

We should have a confidence like the New York Jets. In 1969, the dominant NFL Baltimore Colts, who were called at the time “The greatest football team in history” faced the underdog AFL New York Jets in the third Super Bowl. Days before the Super Bowl, Jets quarterback Joe Namath was asked who He thought would win the Super Bowl. His response was “the Jets will win, I guarantee it.” Several of the players on the opposing Colts responded much like Despair INC. One Colt player remarked that the AFL is where quarterbacks play when they can’t make it in the NFL.” Another Colt player responded to Namath’s guarantee by saying “The Jets can’t beat us. On our worst day and their best day they still couldn’t beat us.” Well, as it turns out, on the Colts worst day and the Jets best day, the Jets could beat the Colts. In the first quarter alone, the Jets intercepted the Colts three times. The Colts coach warned his losing team at half time “You've got them believing in themselves. You've got them believing that they're better than we are!” Bolstered by Namath’s guarantee, the confident Jets went on to beat the Colts and won Super Bowl 3. Later a Jets player said during an interview that Joe Namath’s guarantee was just the boost they needed to be the Colts. Why? Because they were able to put to their confidence in their team into action on the football field. 

 

How much more confident should we be in God’s work of making us holy and blameless! Joe Namath based His guarantee on himself and his own ability. How dependable could he really be? Matthew Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks made a similar guarantee of a victory two years ago against the Packers, but the Packers won in overtime. Hasselbeck could not back up his guarantee because the basis for His guarantee was himself. The basis of our confidence is not human ability, it is in God’s choosing us “in Christ” before the foundation of the world. We can be fully confident in our hope that God’s purpose of making us holy and blameless will be accomplished. And just as the confidence the Jets had in Namath’s guarantee caused them to live that confidence out on the football field, so too our confidence should cause us to live out that confidence now. Even when we sin, even when we fall, even when we have Despair INC staring us in the face reminding us of what we aren’t, We can live in the confidence that in Christ we ARE holy and blameless, God is making us holy and blameless, and will someday complete that process. We can be confident and strive to live holy and blameless now because we know that God is working in us to accomplish the purpose for which he chose us.

 

Perhaps you’ve sitting here this morning and questioning “but how do I know if I God chose me? The answer to that is simple. Those who are God’s elect are those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. Maybe you are here this morning and you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ. Perhaps you are one of those who God has chosen before the foundation of the world and who he is calling to himself to be Holy and Blameless before him but you have not yet put your faith in Him. If so, please talk to me or one of the elders after the service this morning and we can discuss how you can believe in Christ and see the purpose of election in your own life.

 

For the rest of us, we don’t focus on a spiritual despair, INC. Don’t believe them when they say:

 

If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.