Anxieties and Cares Reconciled in Christ

Ephesians 1:10c

Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O’Neill

Would you take a Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians 15:20? “But in fact Christ has been raised from
the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man
has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be
made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong
to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying
every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under
his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ‘For God has put all things in subjection under
his feet.’ But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection under him,’ it is plain that he is
accepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself
will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every
one.” That is the heart of this verse we’ve looked at in Ephesians. If you look at it again,
Ephesians 1:10, “As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven
and things on earth.”

It’s interesting that one of the words that is used for uniting is a word that consists of several
Greek words, “ana” and then the next one is “kephalai.” It is a word that means – I suppose it must
occur in some of our medical terminology – head. It’s to unite or to head up all things in Christ.
What is interesting is this word here means “again.” So actually the verse means to unite all
things again in Christ. It makes the point, obviously, that everything was originally headed up by
Christ, and was included in him. And that all things, whether in heaven or earth, principalities
and powers, all things were created in Christ, so all things were at one time united in him.

That’s why this word is used, because the obvious import of it is that everything was in Christ at
the beginning. Then, of course, there was war in heaven and Satan rebelled and was permitted to
tempt man, causing the fall of earth and man. So, in a sense, heaven itself was touched and fell.
Christ himself held all those things inside himself as he himself went down into the tomb, and then
was raised up, and with him he raised up everything, earth and heaven also. That’s why those
verses occur in scripture showing that the earth itself will be totally redeemed even though it now
groans to be redeemed. It will be completely redeemed and even heaven itself will be completely
restored. And God, in fact in Jesus, has disarmed the principalities and powers. Everything will
be united again in Christ the way it was before.

Of course, it’s our privilege through faith to experience this back here in these days. That’s why
Hebrews 11 is so important. It’s by faith that all these things are experienced here. What God
showed me to share with you today, is that everything in your life and mine has been united in
Christ. Everything has been brought back under his headship. So everything that occurs to us
everyday has already been foreseen by our Father and has been brought together in Christ. That’s
the import of verses like “Every day of your life has been written in his book even before there
were any of them.” It’s the meaning that God has foreseen everything that will come about in your
life and in Christ he has reconciled it to himself. That is he has brought it back under his own
will.

What I saw was it really means that there’s no cause of being anxious. If we’re going to live in

reality there’s no cause for even that millisecond of anxiety. That it is not just the power of
positive thinking that we give a little whistle when something goes wrong, but it is in fact
reality. There is nothing in the future, there is nothing tomorrow, there is nothing in the next
few minutes that God has not foreseen and has already dealt with in Jesus. So Christ holds our
whole life, the beginning of our life, the present events of our life, and the future of our life,
he holds it all within himself. He has reconciled it all together in himself. When he and his
Father look out on our lives, they look at a life of peace that has been reconciled and that is the
reality of it.

It is Satan’s job, of course, to test our faith by saying, “No, this has not been reconciled. This
you have to deal with yourself by the strength of your own right arm.” But the truth is that it has
already been reconciled and has already been dealt with. So I don’t know if you can think of the
things that bring a moment of fear, or even a second of anxiety, or even a millisecond of
apprehension, those things that make you just tense up for a moment. Those are the unreal moments
in your life. Those are the moments when you’re believing the lie that Satan feeds you that you
have to somehow sort out this thing. You haven’t. God has already foreseen that. He has already
dealt with it in Jesus, and it is his will that we would move through each day in absolute peace.

Now I know it sounds funny but it really applies to everything. To dropping the tray in the café,
it applies to that. To that moment behind the counter when it seems to be getting away from you, at
that moment God is saying to you, “I knew this. I knew this moment would come and I have a way
through it, and I have reconciled it to myself so just be steady and do what is before you.”

It’s the same in every situation, whether with our finances or with our relationships. It seems to
me we can easily allow our relationship to cause us some consternation and cause us some worry.
It’s madness because God has already foreseen every little tendency in everyone else’s attitude to
us, and our attitude to everyone else, and he has already reconciled it in his son and made it
right. So, in Jesus, everything has already been dealt with, and we live in the midst of a quiet
and peaceful person who holds us in his own arms, and there is not a cause for any alarm or any
fear.

So it would be good just to be realistic with ourselves. Now I want to be realistic with myself and
see, are there any such moments in my life? Well then there’s some place there that God has a
deeper place for me in his Son, because all that has been dealt with and I am just wasting energy
and wasting good physical life to hesitate for a moment. Now in a moment we’re going to take him
into us. So take him in and let him govern our feelings and our attitudes every second. Let us
pray.