Sermon prepared
for
by Gregory S.
Kaurin, pastor
traditional services,
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Texts: Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:10-18
Sermon:
Grace
upon Grace
Some
of you know that—of the Epistles, the letters, in the New Testament—my favorite
is Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. I’m
not the only preacher to feel that way.
One
of the Christmas presents this year that I’m excited about came from my in-laws. It’s an eight-volume exposition on Ephesians. Eight volumes, and
nearly 3000 pages on a small six-chapter letter that you could read in less
than twenty minutes. Pretty
impressive.
These
are all based on eight years of sermons that Dr. D. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones preached in Westminster Chapel in
Look
again at the Ephesians lessons, from the start: “Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places [that
includes: love, life, forgiveness and eternal salvation], just as he chose us …in
Christ …before the foundation of the world …to be holy and blameless …before
him …in love.”
There
really is enough in that one sentence to keep us preaching for a year! (So, you’d better get comfortable in your
seats now, this could take awhile!)
“Chosen
before the foundation to be holy and blameless before God,” well, we know that’s
impossible …for us …to stand before God completely holy and blameless,
…except by the grace of God. God
gets what he wants through Christ’s forgiveness. Forgiveness is to be called holy and perfect,
when we are not.
“Holy and blameless before him… in love.” Those
last two words are so important: in love.
We are not groveling before him in the dirt, with God standing high over
us, holding his nose and lifting his chin up as he grants us a reprieve, a
pardon.
Instead,
this God is a King and Father who lifts us up, forgives and embraces us …in
love. We are not just restored and
allowed to live. We are restored as
children of a most loving parent. He
destined us for adoption, Paul wrote, through Christ, “according to the good
pleasure of his will.”
It’s
too bad that sometimes our English translations make things sound so
theological and stuffy. What that means
is that, even before God created, he was determined that we would be his
children by the good pleasure, the great desire of his will.
It’s
not that we want and beg God for his forgiveness, love and salvation; it has
been his desire and pleasure, and his will, to give it, from the foundations of
the world: “I will be their God, and they will be my people. I will make you into a people holy and
blameless.” This happens, not by our
action, but only by God’s graceful and loving declaration: “You are my beloved
people.”
He
became that desire and will in the flesh of Jesus Christ. That is why we say that Jesus was born over
2000 years ago, but he has always existed as the will of God, shown through
creation, through scripture and the prophets.
And
every time God’s will and love is shown through people and moments, that is
still Jesus Christ. That is the mystery
that Paul wrote about in the middle of our epistle lesson, “the mystery of his
will, according to the good pleasure, the great desire and will of God, that he put forward in the flesh of Christ.”
In
response, we sing, “cast out our sin and enter in, be
born in us today.” To
experience that love, and Christ, the will of God, through us. Grace.
But
there’s more. There’s more grace. Paul went on to write, “In Christ we have also
(additionally) been given an inheritance.” This inheritance is the gift of salvation, but
that’s not all that it is.
This
inheritance is our whole place and purpose in God’s love, not just
salvation. We are not created just to be
saved. We also have a place and purpose
that God meant for us, from the beginning of time, individually, as
communities, and as his people.
We
are not only his children, but also (with Christ) we are his heirs. When you inherit something, like your parents’
farm or estate, it is not only meant to be a gift, but also a legacy to carry
on, and a responsibility.
In
Christ we have also been given an inheritance, a legacy, a responsibility, a
place and purpose in God’s plan. We are
his children and, with Christ, we are also his heirs. He meant us to receive the message of our
salvation as an inheritance, something that we benefit from, but also something
we are meant to give away, to others.
I
have another subtle point in this letter about who Paul was talking about when
he said “we” or “us” and when he said “you.” It means backing up a bit in this lesson and
seeing when and how Paul made the switch.
Remember
that Paul was writing as a Jewish convert and apostle to Gentile churches. Many people understand that—here at the
beginning of the letter—Paul started by expressing the amazing plan that God
first put into play through the Jewish apostles and converts. “God chose us (destined us Jewish converts)
for adoption as children through Jesus Christ. In him we have redemption through his blood.
“In
Christ we have also obtained an inheritance…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 (you Gentile converts)
when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in
him, [you also] were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit—as a
pledge of the inheritance we all have (both Jewish and Gentile Christians)
toward the redemption as God’s own people.”
Maybe
at first this distinction between Jewish and Gentile Christians doesn’t seem to
apply to us. It was certainly important to
Paul. What he was trying to say was that
we all depend on the same grace, the same Christ. He was also trying to say that we needed, and
continue to need each other, not just Jews and Gentiles, but each other.
Within
our congregation, when we pass the peace, we are called to mean it, as if we
truly believe the gospel for ourselves and for those around us, that we are
forgiven in Christ together. For any of
us to withhold that, or to hold onto a grudge while we
exchange peace, it is standing in the way of the gospel.
Beyond
our congregation, we need each other: to pray for and support other
congregations, other denominations, our church leaders, local, national and international,
missionaries, community groups. We don’t each need to be all and do all, but
together we are to be the whole Body of Christ.
For
the entire history of Christianity we have struggled with this. Paul, James and Peter were right there in the
middle of it. Jews and
Jewish followers of Jesus, Jewish Christians and Gentiles. Followers of Paul and
followers of Apollos. Roman Catholics and Eastern
Orthodox. Lutherans and
Anabaptists and Episcopalians and Methodists and Assemblies of God and Non-denominationalists
and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Wisconsin Synod and Lutheran Free Church
and parsed smaller between self-described conservatives and liberals, and orhodox and pietists, and on and
on.
I
think denominations and different takes on the message of Christianity can be rich
and rewarding, healthy even, when it keeps any one denomination from getting
too full of itself. However, our
bickering and parsing must drive God nuts sometimes.
And
he must want to yell out, “No! Don’t you
get it? I will be your God, and you will
be my people, together!” There are not
going to be separate mansions for the various denominations in heaven, and no
extra rewards or bonus points for the group that gets the most doctrinal points
right. Christianity is not a game show
or one of those competitive reality shows. Christianity is about claiming and showing the
love of Christ.
Sometimes
we Christians do manage to work with each other with miraculous results. I pray that we, at least as a congregation,
will do our best in the coming years to keep from being overly distracted by
arguments and distinctions, to remember well enough what holds us together is
not the perfection of our actions or doctrines, it is not the perfection of our
obedience or interpretations.
It
is grace…that holds us together. The grace
that claimed us as God’s children, and the grace that comes through us, as we
stand on that grace and proclaim the simple love and forgiveness of God, through
Christ, to the rest of his creation.
Grace
upon grace.
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