In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-10) We'll take two verbs today, because the next one we find is nearly a synonym of the last.  It's the word lavished, and it simply goes on to drench us again in the grace of God as if we didn't catch enough of it the first time round.  We have redemption through the blood of Christ and the forgiveness of sins according to this same graciousness of God—the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us.   Again and again we are reminded—all that we have and all that we are in Christ is a good and gracious gift of God that spills and flows over lavishly out of the richness of His grace.  You might hear David in the 23rd Psalm recounting again how His cup overflows because of the goodness and love of the Lord that continues to follow him all the days of his life.  God is gracious, and these verbs begin to fill that title with meaning as we witness the endless depths of His good gifts and His lavish giving.  Praise be to God.  The second verb we'll catch today is a pair of words: "made known."  "With all wisdom and understanding, God made known to us the mystery of His will."  This kind of knowing is not an encyclopedic piece of knowledge to be looked up, or a test answer to be crammed in, recited, and forgotten—it's the sort of knowing that only happens in a relationship.  It is a true and deep sort of knowing that permeates our heart and mind, that gets into our bones and transforms who we are and the way that we live.   Because God has chosen us and destined us to be his very own daughters and sons, we get in on what God is up to.  Jesus called His disciples friends because everything He had learned from His Father, He had made known to them.  They had followed Him, walked with Him, ate with Him, saw what He did and how He did it.  They came to know Jesus, and through knowing Him, they came to imitate and become like Him.  Through Jesus making himself known to them in this way of relationship, they were transformed.   The mystery of God's will isn't an answer that we can jot down, it's a way that we walk in.  The way of wisdom.  The way of Jesus.  The way that transforms us more fully into the daughters and sons of the Most High God that we are, because we go to work with Him every day.  We see what He does: actions like giving grace and reconciling all things.  We see how He does it—lavishly.   God brings our story into His own as He adopts us.  We watch Him, and then we try it out: loving others as we've been loved, forgiving others as we've been forgiven, giving to others in generous ways just as we've received.  Eventually through this practice of imitating the Father who has made himself known to us, we become like Him.   God has made known His ways and will to us through our relationship with Christ.  Through that relationship, we are transformed.   

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