A Plan for the Fullness of Time

Ephesians 1:3-14
Christmas 2
January 2, 2022
William G. Carter

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,

just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world

to be holy and blameless before him in love.

He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ,

according to the good pleasure of his will,

to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,

according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.

With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will,

according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,

as a plan for the fullness of time,

to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,

having been destined

according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things

according to his counsel and will,

so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.

In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,

and had believed in him,

were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;

this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people,
to the praise of his glory.


The other day, I was talking with a friend. We were catching up on our kids, and then she told me that she’s no longer working where she was. “At first, it was hard to take,” she said, “but then another position opened up nearby. And then my husband and I decided to buy a property on a lake that we love.” Glancing toward heaven, she added, “Maybe that was The Plan.”

She said “Plan” with a capital P. Such reflection brings us into the mystery of God’s will, the recurring perception that, behind all the job changes, home purchases, and stories about our kids, there is a hidden scheme where all things unfold. It’s an enormous topic for the beginning of a new year.

The will of God. It came up for a fellow pastor on New Year’s Eve. Friday was a foggy night in the north Jersey woods. A deer wandered on the road, right in front of his Dodge Caravan. The unexpected collision demolished the vehicle. “We are OK,” he reports, “and with 345,000 miles, the van didn’t owe us anything.”

One of his friends said, “Everything happens for a reason. Wait six months and you’ll understand why this happened.” David replied, “No need to wait that long. This van was living on borrowed time.” He paused and added, “Aren’t we all?”

That’s all true enough, and the passing of time does add perspective. But I wonder what God’s plan was for the deer who wandered onto the road. It’s hard to imagine the Holy One, seated on a throne and decreeing, “OK, six-point buck, you have lived long enough. And David needs a new van.”

What is the will of God? We pray for it regularly in the words of Jesus: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” It’s a striking phrase. It presumes that God does have a will, or at least a plan or intention. Otherwise the planet would stop spinning and the stars would fizzle out – unless, of course, that was God’s will.

In the prayer of Jesus, it sounds like there is complete obedience in heaven. Down here, not so much. “May your will be done on earth,” he prays, because there’s a chance that it might not be done. At least, not immediately. We live on a planet that resists its own well-being.

Like he said recently: “I’m not getting my covid shots. My time’s about up anyway.” His very wise son said, “How can you be so sure, Dad?” Good point.

Others ponder the will of God and ask, “Has God scheduled viruses and their continuing evolution?” Ever think about that? I’m not prepared to go that far. Yet if we step out of our present circumstances, we realize that viruses and pandemics occur and reoccur throughout history. Back in Bible days, a pandemic was called a pestilence. They’ve been around for a while.

All I know is that, in my own lifetime, smallpox and polio have been wiped out by the research of science and the development of vaccines. Which was the will of God? The origin of the disease or the development of the cure? You tell me.

These are cosmic questions for an unseen God. We can speculate. Any declarations will only be provisional. Is losing a job and buying a lake house the intention of God? Or smashing up a well-worn vehicle on a foggy road? Catching the inevitable virus or getting a vaccine? What is the will of God?

Picture one more scene, a young man in his early thirties. He kneels in a garden to pray, “Let this cup pass from me.” It’s young Jesus, facing his almost certain assassination. He has confronted more of his share of conflict. He knows the dark clouds swirl around him. He knows what he wants. So he prays, “Let this cup of suffering pass from me.” But then he’s wise enough to pray another phrase, “Yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Luke 22:42).

That’s the key. Setting aside our wishes, our plans, our manipulations, to welcome the unfolding script that we do not yet know. That’s the key – and it is so difficult. It punctures the illusion that we are in charge of very much. And it leaves us vulnerable to whatever is coming.

But Jesus did not pray, “Not what I will, but what my enemies will.” He was not waiting for what Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate, and the rest of them would do. He was looking through all the human intentions to see what God was going to accomplish. Jesus was lifted high on a cross, between earth below and heaven above, to bring heaven and earth together. This reconciliation is the will of God.

That’s what our scripture text is singing about. “In (Christ) him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses…” In his life, death, and resurrection, an orderly heaven and disorderly earth are united. This plan from heaven was not anticipated. This event of God’s will was not expected. Yet this one revelatory death – and its confirmation in the resurrection – was sufficient to “raise us from the deadness of our trespasses” (2:4-6) and “break down the wall of hostility (2:13-14).”

And why did God intend to do this? The church of the Ephesians sings all about it:

• “it was our destiny to be adopted into God’s family.” (1:5)
• “it was our inheritance” as new members of God’s household (1:11)
• it happened “according to the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us” (1:7-8)
• And the bottom line: we belong to God now “through God’s good pleasure” (1:5, 1:9)

The church sings it again: “With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time.” (1:9)

In these days after Christmas, Ephesians lays out the plan of God: “to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.” As one of our favorite Christmas carols declares, “Peace on earth, and mercy mild / God and sinners reconciled.” This is what God has always wanted. The coming of Christ has made it happen.

But what this to do with us? With changing jobs, looking for new cars, and getting vaccines? The connection is best stated by the British scholar, N.T. Wright. He writes,

Paul’s great prayer at the opening of this letter is a celebration of the larger story within which every single Christian story – every story of individual conversion, faith, spiritual life, obedience and hope – is set. Only by understanding and celebrating the larger story can we hope to understand everything that’s going on in our own smaller stories, and so observe God at work in and through our own lives.”[1]

The smaller decisions, the risky moments, the tragedies, and the temporary accomplishments are all woven into the tapestry of all that God has done and continues to do. Our lives are part of a larger story that is still unfolding. Call it “a plan for the fullness of time.” Or think of it as “the purpose of God who accomplishes all things.” Our lives are a gift from the immense and eternal life of God. And the mystery of God’s will has been revealed to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Eugene Peterson may say it best, as he translated a line from our text: “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.” (The Message, Ephesians 1:11)

So we move beyond Christmas and begin a New Year at the Table of our Lord, professing the power of his self-giving death in the light of his resurrection. We pray, “thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,” and we look for that divine will to be done in us, among us, and beyond us. It is a gift to be here, to share this life together, to share this life in Christ.

May the riches of God’s grace bless you in this New Year. For this is the will of God, according to God’s good pleasure.

(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.  

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[1] N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) 8.