Well, if the study is accurate, about 130-million Americans (40%) made a New Year’s resolution last Wednesday. That’s about one out of every three Americans. One out of every three people formed a firm commitment to change at least one area of life.
You realize, change reacts to the past. You may reflect on the year past, identify a particular behavior, recognize how harmful it might be, and set out to change it. You look back and see the fast-food adding weight. That is not good. So, you set out to replace junk-food with healthy food. You discover strained relationships and set out to be more patient and forgiving. You identify a lack of strength and so you schedule daily exercise. A resolution strives to end harmful behavior and start a beneficial lifestyle. We could call this process: ‘Vision.’ ‘Vision’ lays out a plan to reach a goal. With a goal set, vision sees what lies ahead. Vision provides guidance. Do you have a clear vision on what the future holds? Do you have a clear vision of the impact of your day-to-day life? Do you have a clear vision on your identity? In this particular year, you gain perfect vision. On the one hand, I can use the cheesy line: ‘The year is 2020! You have perfect eyesight for everything that lies ahead!’ With all joking aside, God Gives You 2020 Vision. With his Word he provides perfect sight for the year ahead. See God choose to adopt you and See God enlighten your future. That is such a vital truth that God does not wait to reveal it. Immediately after the opening greeting (‘From Paul, to the Ephesians. Grace and peace to you.’) erupts this praise: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places[.] ‘Blessed be God,’ that is, ‘Praise God!’ Why? Because he showers never-ending blessings on you. Understand, God is not pointing at your Christmas presents or your children and grandchildren or your house or car, job or retirement. Things on earth may benefit you; they may touch your emotions, but they cannot touch your soul. (And if they cannot touch your soul, then how valuable are those earthly things?) God zeroes in on spiritual blessings streaming down from heaven. Spiritual blessings, like, the benefit of spending eternity in paradise, completely content and satisfied, free from pain and heartache. Spiritual blessings, like, having peace in the face of death, joy in the midst of misery, strength in trouble. These tremendous blessings belong to you because of the supreme blessing found in verses 4 and 5. [H]e chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will[.] God aligns our focus on this magnificent reality: God chose to adopt you. That means, at one time you (and I) did not belong in God’s family. You (and I) were outsiders, people who shared no ownership with God. For example, it would be weird if I gave you a big hug and called you ‘Mom’ or if I opened up your shed, fired up the snow blower, and said, ‘I got your driveway dad!’ or if I walked into your bedroom and said, ‘I’m going to play with some of your toys, sis.’ I am not part of your family. I do not share rights to your property. No intimate, emotional bond or physical bond exists between me and you. That is how we started life: Having no possession of God’s love. Our future was dark and dead. So, God illuminates this tremendous truth: Before the creation of the world, before life began, God chose you to belong in his family. Understand that well: You did not chose God (read also John 15:16). Do you find any mention about you ‘choosing’ Christ or you ‘accepting’ Christ here? No! Holy Scripture makes it explicitly clear: [H]e chose us. God selected you out of the world’s orphanage. He gave you the family name: ‘Christian.’ He dressed you in new, clean clothes and shoes. He hands you a key to heaven and a cellphone with his number in it. He readies your heavenly room. God chose to adopt you. That is the vision God holds before your eyes (and mine). This is what God wants you (and I) to see. He wants you to see your identity as a child of God. He wants you to see this because so much blurs that vision. For many the new year focuses on self-improvement. (What can you do to better your life on earth?) That thinking can easily consume your attention. So many consider church as a self-help place. Some hope to hear a message that will instantly heal strained relationships. Others think that being here will provide good luck for the week ahead. Still others seeking moral improvement (that is, how to be better person). Do you realize the Bible never obsesses about those matters? The purpose of the Bible is not to reveal how to live happy and wealthy today. It never teaches ‘7-Steps for a Stronger Marriage’ or ‘5-Secrets to Greater Wealth’ or ‘Unlock a Better You Now.’ It never teaches: ‘How to Make America Great’ or ‘What Has Happened to Families?’ God gives the Bible in order to give you vision— and not just any vision, but a vision for heaven. Still, there always remains a little part of us that exchanges the eternal for the worldly. A little part of us that considers the temporary more valuable than the eternal. A little part that makes life all about ‘me,’ and ‘my’ pleasures, and ‘my’ pursuits. Friends, real purpose is never found without God. Without God stands death, life outside his family forever. That is why God immediately stresses where Christians have their standing. In fact, God repeats it four times in four verses! He chose us in Christ. He adopted you through Christ. He gives you grace through the Beloved Christ. God cannot stress life’s fullest vision enough. He points you (and me) to Christ! That Christ-Child born Christmas Day does not come so that the poor have some money. He does not arrive so that the arguing religious leaders are silenced. He does not come so that families get along. He comes to make you (and me) (1) holy and (2) blameless. He holds the cross before your eyes so that you clearly see that point. Eternity is so important that God wraps himself in human flesh, takes off our filthy life and washes it with his innocent life. His innocent blood scrubs away worldly ambition. His single-minded focus on heaven covers over every instance our hearts fall in love with this world. He removes every spiritual stain so that God sees you ‘holy,’ that is, without fault. God sees you ‘blameless.’ As the Judge of the universe, God stares at you, but finds no charges. He slams the holy gavel and cries out: ‘Innocent!’ This is how you stand before God today. How do you know this applies to you? Well, a few minutes ago you heard: [Y]ou also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). God stamped you with a seal. In baptism, he stamps you with his name— the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Baptism is a pledge, the contract God signed to adopt you. You now belong to him. God Gives You 2020 Vision. He takes Jesus’ birth and the cross, pieces them together so that you gain a clear vision of identity. Because of Jesus God chooses to adopt you. That is your identity today. Since this is who you are, it shapes where you go from here. The future is no secret. God Gives You 2020 Vision as God enlightens your future. Our closing verses say: For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him[.] God reveals your adoption, but repeats it. He repeats it so that you might (1) remember it and (2) better understand it. For example, in grade-school you might have memorized every state with its capital. You remembered it so well, but now you have forgotten. What you once knew, you forgot. God does not want you to lose sight that you are his adopted child. So, he sends the Holy Spirit to fill you with wisdom and revelation. Real wisdom acknowledges the poisonous devastation sin wreaks on the world and how Christ is the antidote. God reveals this truth in the Bible. You will sharpen your vision for a heavenly future by remaining in the Word of God. That might mean carving out time for a devotion each day or spending a few moments with God in prayer. You get to center your thoughts, your heart, your mind on what God teaches is right and true. That means you get to evaluate your time and consider if you might attend Bible Class. In class, you get to examine life’s questions through the scope of the Word. You will lose nothing by attending; you will only grow more. That means, as God’s child, you keep worship your priority. As someone who loves God, why would you want to make excuses to stay out of worship? Instead, as God’s adopted child, you want to make reasons to be with your heavenly Father. As you remain in the Word, your knowledge of God grows and your trust in him strengthens. You have 2020 vision that sees heaven as your eternal goal and you, a child of God, who walks towards that goal. God, through his Word, enlightens your future. [I pray that] having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints[.] Unending life with Jesus lies ahead— and you can see it clearly. Yes, this year happens to be 2020. So I can use the cheesy line: ‘The year is 2020! You have perfect eyesight for everything that lies ahead!’ In all seriousness, God Gives You 2020 Vision. He provides perfect sight for the year ahead. (1) See God choose to adopt you. In sheer love, he brought you into his family. Jesus lived a perfect life and the Holy Spirit applies it to you. So, you stand as God’s adopted child. Since this is how you now appear, (2) See God enlighten your future. God uses his Word to sharpen sights on your eternal goal. He points you to heaven and leads you there as you remain in his Word—hearing it and shaping life around it. God Gives You 2020 Vision. See God choose to adopt you and See God enlighten your future. 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