BENEFITS OF THE RIGHT FOCUS
EPHESIANS 1:3-6, GALATIANS 5:6
(September 15, 2019 – SUN a.m. – MBC baesa)

     One of the problems when taking picture during our December family together on holiday season New Year was focus. Most of the time when I move the camera the whole picture would blur because my hand is trembling. Sometimes when we take a picture on the wrong thing we notice the object that we wanted to captured is blurred and resulted to out of focus.
     Sad to say, many Christians are ignorant where they should concentrate their attention so that they focus their attention on the Word of God. When we are having our Bible meditation, what should be the center of our focus?
     All of us must be careful because many times Christians have focused on particular aspect of truth to such a degree that it produced imbalance in their spiritual lives. Now, where should we focus so that we can put things in the right perpective?

I- IMMEASURABLE PURPOSE OF GOD
First let us learn of God’s Purpose and God’s means.
     A. Passage in the Greek sentence
• Let us put in our mind that the passage in Ephesians is one long sentence in original Greek.
          1. The Rejoicing of Paul
• In our context the Apostle Paul rejoices over the salvation we have in Christ
          2. The Repeating of Phrase
• Notice the repeat phrasing in verses 6, 12, 14, hence some people think this reflects the remnants of an early Christian hymn.
Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
          3. The Revealing of the Passage
• We are going to look at this passage but for one phrase in verse 4.
Ephesians 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”
     B. Purpose of God in the Statement
          1. This Phrase stated why God chosen us.
v.4 “he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”
          2. The Purpose why God chosen us in Christ
v.4 “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”
     C. Point of God’s means in the Scriptures
          1. Inquiry of Punctuation in the Sentence
• Arises here is some question about punctuation
               a. Is it “that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love” or
               b. Is it “that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love he predestined us…”
               c. There is no punctuation in the original, therefore we have to figure it out in the translation
                    1) Is it our love as a means to holiness or God’s love in choosing us a means to holiness?
                    2) Different translations to make a choice for different punctuation.
Here are some translations:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” NASB
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” KJV
“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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” ESV
          2. Illumination Provided from Galatians Statement
Galatians 5:6 “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” KJV
Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” NASB
Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” ESV
               a. The thing that produces spiritual growth
• We can read in this verse that “faith which worketh by love” produces spiritual growth.
               b. The tool as God’s means of spiritual growth
• Regardless of the answer to the punctuation question, the fact is that our loving faith is God’s means of spiritual growth.

II- IMBALANCED MAN’S RESPONSES
• Now let us learn the very deceptive and dangerous Imbalanced responses of man.
     A. The Imbalance of focusing on holiness – Pride and spiritual laziness
• It has been observed that In the 1800s, many Christians were very concerned with holiness
• Many annual Conferences, meetings, books, and whole denominations were concerned with the “holiness movement” even some fundamentalist organization held the “holiness revival meeting.”
• The assessment by Frank Hamrick’s: “God's Word was not written to make us holy.”- Frank Hamrick, Mighty Through God: A Study on Meditation (Teacher’s Manual) (Rocky Mount, NC: Positive Action for Christ, 1996), 4–i.
• There is an imbalance when we focus on holiness: Frank Hamrick said “The focus on holiness led to a feeling and emotion-oriented religion that lacked concern for lost souls. Soon pride and spiritual laziness developed because of this wrong focus.”
     B. The Imbalanced on focusing on love – sentimentalism and compromise
• Other Christians emphasized “love one another” as the pulpit exhorts the congregation to “love one another”
• Everybody know this is a Biblical command, but if it dominates the thinking it leads to imbalance
• There is imbalance when we focus on love: Frank Hamrick said, “Focusing on love leads to mushy sentimentalism and compromise.”
     C. The Imbalance of Focusing on the Bible – coldness of the heart
• Every Christian prefers the Bible exposition and became highly valued of all the Preachers and Bible students.
• Focusing on the Bible has an increasing tendency to focus on theology
• Christians are often very knowledgeable about the Bible and what it teaches and sometimes made them think higher than they ought to think of who they are.
• We agree that focusing on the Bible has also value, but be careful to put it in your mind that it isn’t the main focus of Bible teaching.
• There is the imbalance of focusing on the Bible: Frank Hamrick said, “Cold dead orthodoxy. The last few years have been marked by dead orthodoxy. We know the truth but have little joy and delight in the Lord Himself. Our hearts are cold while our heads are full of knowledge.” – Frank Hamrick, Mighty Through God: A Study on Meditation (Teacher’s Manual) (Rocky Mount, NC: Positive Action for Christ, 1996), 4–ii.
     D. The Imbalance of Focusing on the commands - legalism
• Some Christians always emphasize and interested on the commands and regulations declared in the Bible.
• Many Christian are very much like the Pharisees because they intend to apply the commands to all areas of life.
• There is the imbalance of focusing on the commands: Frank Hamrick said, “This kind of focus leads to legalism.”

III- INCOMPARABLE NEEDFUL THING IN MAN’S FOCUS
• Now let us talk about Focusing on the one needful thing
     A. Man’s main purpose (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14)
Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14 “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
          1. To glorify God
          2. To please him in all things
     B. Man’s means to please and glorify God (Ephesians 1:4)
• It is clear from verse 4 that the way we can glorify God is by holiness
Ephesians 1:4 “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”
          1. Holiness is not outward action or non-action.
Are you sure that holiness is a life that makes you doing all the right things?
               a. Example: A life that doesn’t go to movies, go to bars, gambling, get involved with wickedness
               b. Example: A life that does go to church, witness, give and pray
• These actions (or non-actions) are outward, they could be motivated by more than one root.
          2. Holiness is not what you do, it is what you are
               a. Warning: We are to be holy “before God” who sees everything and knows everything about us: holiness is concerned with the inner man
               b. Wrong: We don’t become holy by self-discipline
                    1) We can’t just decide today, “from now on, I’m going to be holy”
                    2) We can’t make up our mind to “try harder,” we will be deceived one way or another by our human nature
                    3) We can’t do some new year resolution every year.
          3. Holiness achieved: by faith working through love
               a. Love for God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) transforms us and makes us holy
               b. Love makes us abound in all the good works that please God (Philippians 1:9-11)
Philippians 1:9-11 “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. 11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”
               c. Loving God is the Key to Holiness
“Love is natural. No one can make himself love the Lord. Yet, if I'm to be holy, I must love Him. So how do I fall in love with Him? “The answer is: to know Him is to love Him.”- Frank Hamrick, Mighty Through God: A Study on Meditation (Teacher’s Manual) (Rocky Mount, NC: Positive Action for Christ, 1996), 4–iii.
                    1) Let us know more our Lord, because the more we will admire him and love him
                    2) Let us search the Word to get to know him better and to love Him

Conclusion:
1 Chronicles 28:9 “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”
2 Peter 1:2-3 “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:”

• When you look to His glory in His Word, seek to know the heart and mind of our God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen carefully as He speaks to you. The more you know Him to more you love Him. The more you love Him, the closer you will walk with Him and transformed into the same image of Him.

God bless