Ephesians 1:3-6
A. We’ve been studying the seven ones that equal unity from Ephesians 4:4-6.
1. In our text for this series, Paul declared: 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
2. So far in the series, we’ve been blessed to explore the one body, the one Spirit, the one hope, the one Lord, the one faith, and the one baptism.
3. Today, we will explore the one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
B. Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote says: “Nothing is certain except death and taxes,” but a similar quote that is also true says: “There are two sure things in life: #1 – There is a God. And #2 – You are not Him!”
1. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament affirm the truth that there is only one God.
2. Deuteronomy 6:4 says: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
3. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, He replied, “The most important is Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mk. 12:29-30)
4. James wrote: “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe – and they shudder.”
C. I firmly believe that God is one and that there is no one else like Him.
1. I also believe that God exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. This unity of the three into one has been called “the trinity.”
3. The word “trinity” doesn’t appear in the Bible and was first used by Tertullian, a theologian and church leader in the last decade of the 2nd century.
4. The word is a combination of the word “three” (tri) and one (unity), and when used to describe God simply means that there is only one God who exists in three distinct persons.
5. Although I believe it is important to use biblical terms to describe biblical things, it isn’t wrong to use non-biblical terms as long as they accurately reflect what is found in the Bible.
6. The word “Bible” is not found in the Scriptures, it is a transliteration of the Greek word “biblion” which means an ordinary “book” or “scroll.”
7. Other non-biblical words that we use that can be helpful in our understanding of God are “omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient” which mean “all powerful, present everywhere, and all knowing.”
D. Nevertheless, the whole idea of the one God existing in three persons can be quite confusing.
1. The story is told about a father who was talking with his children about God and the triune nature of God and he asked them a trick question.
a. He asked his kids: “Considering the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which of them is God?”
b. His four-year-old daughter answered, “The tallest one.”
2. We tend to think of the tallest person being the one in charge, but that’s not always the case.
3. We all know that the right answer to that father’s question is that all three of them are God.
4. We might not be able to understand it completely or be able to explain it clearly, but it is true.
E. The three members of the Godhead each play different roles in God’s eternal purpose.
1. In our series on the 7 ones of Ephesians 4, we have already devoted a sermon to God the Holy Spirit who is the one Spirit and God the Son who is the one Lord.
2. Now let’s turn our attention to the one God who is God the Father.
F. Let’s focus in on the description that Paul gave for this one God – He is the Father of all, He is above all, He is through all, and He is in all.
1. I believe that each of these descriptors are significant and instructive.
2. Let’s talk about each of them in the order that Paul presented them.
G. First of all, Paul says that God is the “Father of all.”
1. One of the greatest things about our understanding of God in the Bible is that God is our loving Father.
2. Certainly God is also our King and our Judge and our creator, but how wonderful that He is our loving Father! Amen!
3. The Bible declares that “God is love” – not just that “God loves” – because God is love, we can know that He is a perfect Father.
4. When Paul said God is the Father of all, he might also have been emphasizing that God is the creator of all – the Father of all things.
5. God is the creator of all things; including human beings who are made in His image. (Gen. 1:26).
H. Second, Paul says that God the Father is “above all” or “over all” and this speaks to God’s sovereignty and supremacy.
1. God the Father sovereignly controls His creation and has power over all.
2. Being over all or above all means that He is the supreme, transcendent ruler of everything.
3. God is so much bigger and greater than anyone or anything.
4. We are finite and limited in our abilities, thoughts, and in our time of existence, but in contrast to us, God is infinite and limitless in His thoughts and abilities.
5. And no matter how things might look to us, God is always in control.
6. There may be floods, but “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood.” (Ps. 29:10)
I. Third, Paul says that God the Father is “through all” which suggests His pervasive involvement and activity in every part of His creation.
1. God works through all to accomplish His perfect will.
2. God did not create the world and set it into motion as someone might wind up a clock and leave it to run down.
3. God is all through His world, guiding, sustaining, and loving.
J. Fourth and finally, Paul said that God the Father is “in all” which indicates that He is present with His people – He Himself lives within His people.
1. This speaks of God’s immanent pervasiveness.
2. God is present in time and space – He is near us.
3. I love how Paul stated that in his sermon on Mars Hill, when He said: “For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28) – God is in us and we are in Him.
K. Any view of God that violates God’s supremacy, pervasiveness, and immanence does not paint a true picture of God.
1. Paul was not teaching pantheism which says that God is in everything so we should worship nature.
2. Paul was not teaching universalism which says that everyone is saved because God is the Father of all.
3. What Paul did teach is that as the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God, He rules over creation and exercises His power through His followers on behalf of the church.
4. As Christians, our worldview holds that we live in a world that is God-created, God-controlled, God-sustained, and God-filled – isn’t that amazing and wonderful.
5. How different and dark it is for those who don’t have that worldview.
6. Our God is the Father of all, above all, through all, and in all.
L. And because God is all these things, God is worthy of our praise, honor, and obedience.
1. Psalm 148:13 says: Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His majesty covers heaven and earth.
2. Jeremiah 10:10, 12 says: But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at his wrath, and the nations cannot endure his fury…He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and spread out the heavens by his understanding.
3. In Romans 11, Paul gave us this incredible and truthful hymn of praise:
Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33-36)
4. Isaiah wrote down these inspiring and powerful words:
See, the Lord God comes with strength, and his power establishes his rule.
His wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.
He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them in the fold of his garment.
He gently leads those that are nursing.
“To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
Look up and see! Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number; he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength, not one of them is missing.
Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth.
He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.
He gives strength to the faint and strengthens the powerless.
Youths may become faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall,
but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary,
they will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:10-11, 25-26, 28-31)
5. Our God the Father is worthy of all praise, honor, and obedience, and anyone who puts their trust in God is blessed beyond measure.
M. God is not only worthy of our praise, honor and obedience, but He is also worthy of our love.
1. I want to finish this sermon with a focus on the wonder of God being our loving Father.
2. The apostle Paul liked to emphasize that God is our Father.
3. In the letter to the Ephesians that contains the 7 ones, including the “one God and Father of all,” we see Paul using the phrase “God our Father” over and over again.
a. Eph. 1:2 – Grace to you and peace from God our Father…
b. Eph. 1:3 – Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…
c. Eph. 1:17 – I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.
d. Eph. 2:18 – For through him (Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
e. Eph. 3:14-15 – For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
f. Eph. 5:20 – Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father.
4. What does it mean to you that God is your loving heavenly Father?
5. God is the most powerful and supreme being in the universe and we should have reverent awe and fear of God, but God is also our loving heavenly Father who welcomes us into His presence and wants to scoop us into His arms.
N. During the presidency of John F. Kennedy, Jr., it was not unusual for someone at the State Department or other government agencies to receive a memo from the president, complete with the doodlings of his young daughter Caroline.
1. Caroline and her brother John often played in the Oval Office while their father attended to the nation’s business.
2. Picture young John, not quite three years old, skipping down the imposing corridors of the White House.
a. Armed servicemen, the best of the best, took no notice of the child who ran past their assigned posts.
b. The boy passed several staff members on his way, who likewise took little notice except for an occasional smile.
c. Passing a secretary’s desk, the little boy did not acknowledge her wave, intent as he was on his goal.
d. In front of the door stood another armed sentry, but the guard made no movement to hinder the progress of the child who opened he door and went inside.
e. With a grin, the boy ran across the carpet of the Oval Office and climbed into the lap of the most powerful man in the world.
3. People are fascinated by the idea of a small child with that kind of unhindered access to the world’s most powerful leader, but that’s what happens when your father is the president.
4. Take that heartwarming earthly picture and multiply it by a million and we begin to have a sense of our relationship with our heavenly Father.
a. We have free and unhindered access to our heavenly Father who is the Ruler and Maker and Sustainer of the universe, and is the God who loves His children.
O. God is the Father of all true believers because God has adopted us into His family.
1. Paul wrote about this wonderful truth in the first chapter of His letter to the Ephesians: 3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. (Eph. 1:3-6)
2. Adoption is a wonderful thing – a child who needs a family becomes a legal and loving member of a family, who takes them in and takes care of them just as they would if they were their biological child.
3. Spiritually speaking, we have no right to be a member of the family of God, except that God’s eternal plan allows us to be adopted as sons and daughters into God’s family.
4. And this only happens because of God’s grace and love that He lavished on us through Jesus.
5. Paul wrote about this clearly and beautifully in his letter to the Romans: 14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom. 8:14-17)
6. As adopted children of God, we have the right to call God our “Father” and we are given rights to God’s inheritance – eternal life, heavenly blessings.
7. There is no greater blessing for any of us than to know that we are God’s children!
P. Allow me to end with a story from an orphanage.
1. One day there was excitement through the orphanage, for a woman had come to take a little girl named Jane home with her.
2. The woman was kind, but young Jane was nervous about the thought of becoming this woman’s child.
3. “Do you want to go with me and be my daughter?” the lady asked Jane in a gentle tone.
4. The little girl said, “I don’t know.”
5. Then the kind lady said, “But I’m going to give you beautiful clothes and a lot of things, including a room of your own with a beautiful bed and table and chair.”
6. After a moment’s silence, the little girl said anxiously: “But what do I have to do for all this?”
7. The woman had tears in her eyes and said, “All you have to do is love me, and be my child.”
Q. When the one God and Father of all who is “above all, through all and in all” adopts us, all that He asks in return is that we should love Him, and be His children.
1. Of course, loving God is more than an emotion, Jesus said that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, as I mentioned earlier in this sermon. (Mk. 12:29-30)
2. On a different occasion, Jesus said: “If you love me, you will keep my commands.” (Jn. 14:15 )
3. Obedience and love go hand in hand.
R. I hope and pray that all of us will allow God to adopt us into His family, the one body.
1. The adoption process involves faith, repentance, confession and baptism into Christ.
2. Although we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ, our faith must be expressed in living a life of loving God and loving others in obedience to God’s commands.
3. This keeps us in a right relationship with the one God and Father, the one Lord Jesus, the one Holy Spirit, the one body, the one hope and the one faith.
Resources:
• Ephesians and Philippians, Jay Lockhart and David Roper, Truth for Today Commentary, 2009.
• Ephesians, William Barclay, Westminster Press, 1976.
• The Basis for Christian Unity, Steven Cole
https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-26-basis-christian-unity-ephesians-44-6
• Ephesians 4:4-6 Basis for Church Unity, http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/eph4v4.html
• The Basis for Unity, Brent Kercheville, Westpalmbeachchurchofchrist.com
• There is One God, the Father of All, Sermon by Roger Hasselquist, SermonCentral.com
• There is One God & Father of All, Sermon by Nick Angel, Pleasant Plains church of Christ
• There is One God
Dave Schmidt
