His Great Pleasure - Ephesians 1:3-8

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup.

The communion meditation today is based on a passage of Scripture from the New Testament, Ephesians 1:3-8. In this passage of Scripture, the Apostle Paul describes just how much God loves us and the gifts we have received from Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. We come to understand that God did all of this for us for His great pleasure. All Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation and are used with permission.

As you listen to the episode today, my hope is that you will be encouraged from the time spent meditating on what Jesus has done for you. You are a special person; the one Jesus died to save!

Transcript

Welcome to Eat This Bread Drink This Cup. The title of my communion meditation today is "His Great Pleasure." I read from Ephesians 1:3-8. All quotations are from the New Living Translation (NLT) and are used with permission.

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

If I were to say, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....," many would correctly identify the phrase from the opening crawl of the movie, Star Wars, first released in 1977. I still remember seeing the initial release of the film with my wife. That is how George Lucas dealt with the past, the time before his story began. Most of us have difficulty conceptualizing something that happened a long time ago especially if we were not part of the story. Try to imagine something that happened in eternity—if that is even possible. Nevertheless, eternity is where the Apostle Paul begins his story about the love of God. He says, "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." Statements such as these really underscore the omniscience of God; He is all-knowing: our past, present, and future! God foreknew the consequences of creating humankind, a sentient being with free will, before He spoke the first word of creation. He chose to have children, knowing that some would choose Him, and some would reject Him. Because those who chose Him could not save themselves, God loved them so much that He was pleased to save them from their sins. He refused to let them die! Paul further writes, "He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins." God did not stop there with gift-giving, He showered them with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. This story is almost beyond comprehension, but that is who our God is! Those who reject God choose a few scraps of this material world in favor of the spiritual blessings of God, and even these few scraps will pass away. Let us continue to warn them! Today is a good day to reflect upon the goodness of God as we assemble around the Lord's Table. The bread represents His body that was hung from a cross, and the cup of wine represents His blood that He shed for us—so that God might purchase our freedom and forgive our sins. Please feel special today; we are His good pleasure. Let us pray.

Abba, Father. Today we bless and set aside this bread and the fruit of the vine in this cup to remember Your Son, Jesus. We know that the bread represents His body that was nailed to the cross, and the fruit of the vine represents His blood that He shed for us. As we pour out the wine from the cup, we are reminded of how Jesus poured out His own blood that our sins might be forgiven. Abba, Father. We are amazed! We are speechless! We are overwhelmed! Such is Your kindness to us! Abba, Father, we agree with the psalmist (Psalms 119:68) when he said, "You are good and do only good." Thank-you for sending Your Son to die for us, to purchase our freedom and forgive our sins. We honor Your Son just now as we partake of the bread and drink from the cup. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Today, Jesus invites you to partake of His supper. I read from Matthew 26:26-28 (NLT).

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” Let us partake of the bread.

27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many." Let us partake of the cup.

And the assembly of believers said, "Amen!"

Until next time, from Numbers 6:24-26, "May the LORD bless you and protect you. May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you. May the LORD show you his favor and give you his peace."

Artist's Note: If you have questions about the Lord's Supper, I invite you to visit my website, https://eatthisbreaddrinkthiscup.com, for a brief overview. The Eat This Bread Drink This Cup podcast is listed in most podcast directories, and I invite you to add my podcast to your favorites and be notified of new posts. There is a written transcript that accompanies each podcast, and you are free to use the transcript in accordance with US copyright law. My prayer is that you will benefit personally from this time with Jesus and encourage others to observe the Lord's Supper. In these trying times, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!