Sermon 2nd November 2025 – All Saints Day Text - Ephesians 1:11-23 – God’s eternal plan

 Sermon 2^nd November 2025 – All Saints Day

Text - Ephesians 1:11-23 – God’s eternal plan

 

Paul unfolds an amazing truth about what God has already done for us in Christ.  It is not about what we must do for God, but about what God has accomplished for us, so that we might live in the hope of his grace, power, and purpose. God has chosen us in Christ, according to his divine plan.  Paul begins with a clear statement: in him we were chosen, predestined according to the plan of him who works everything in accordance to his will.  Nothing is by chance but predestined according to God’s will. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have free will or that there is no point praying because God has destined everything to happen the way that it does. Some describe that view as God being a watchmaker who winds up the watch and just waits for it to tick down to the end.  A God as a creator who set the universe in motion like a clock and then stepped back, allowing it to operate on its own without further intervention.

 

No, it is more intimate than that: God has authored history, chose us in Christ before time began, so that we who have hoped in Christ live to the praise of his glory. Your life has a divine aim, not an accidental path. If you are in Christ, your story has a holy design behind it.  When doubts rise about your value or place, remember you are chosen by the Creator who holds the whole plan of your life in his hands.

And what we must understand is that this includes our death and the death of our loved ones, as the book of Hebrews says: Each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment. But those who are in Christ have no fear of that judgment because we are included in Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit for salvation. Our names are written in the book of life

 

So we go from a universal plan for the world to a personal experience: you also were included in Christ when you heard the gospel and believed.  You were marked with a seal—the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. A seal signifies ownership and security; a deposit guarantees what lays ahead. The Holy Spirit’s presence in us confirms that we belong to God and that our inheritance is secure. When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we carry the Holy Spirit as a seal and a guarantee.  This means not only assurance of salvation but the ongoing work of God shaping you, and keeping you from despair, and guiding you toward the day when all things are redeemed in him when he returns to bring us to our heavenly home.

 

So Paul is not just writing to the Ephesians back in the first century, he is writing to you today and says he has not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in his prayers.  He shares his heart’s desire: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Knowledge of God is not merely facts about God; it is an intimate, transforming relationship.  The Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts to know him more deeply. It is an encounter with God that shifts how you see him, yourself, and your purpose.

 

In a world of material priorities, let us fix our eyes on what lasts: the hope of the gospel, the inheritance we have in Christ, and the power available to live out that faith boldly. The power Paul speaks of is when God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.  Christ is far above all rule, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the age to come.  Our age! God placed all things under his feet and appointed him head over everything for the church, which is his body—the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

This power is not a distant abstract idea like some New Age philosophy;  It is a power that centres on Jesus Christ, who is exalted over all realities.

He is sovereign over history, cultures, and every circumstance. And that power is now ours as the body of Christ, because the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.  The living Christ fills the church and guards us from an unbelieving world. An unbelieving world that says death is the end. If Christ is the head and all things are under his feet, then the church’s life is a participation in his divine, cosmic work.

 

Our unity, our mission, and our love for one another reveal the fullness of Christ to the world. So, your identity is secure in Christ—chosen, sealed, and loved.  And as Paul says in Romans 8: Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

The church is not merely a meeting place; it is the means through which Christ fills all things to give us strength in life and hope in death, through Jesus Christ our Lord.