Rules of the Road

Based on Ephesians 4:1-16

These past few weeks we have been taking a leisurely summer road trip through the letter to the Ephesians. We have pulled over to gaze at three glorious scenic vistas along the way. These vistas have shown us glimpses of the glory of God. We marveled at the mystery of how God contains the entire universe, how God influences everything that is happening everywhere, how everything that exists contains the presence of God. We gazed at the glorious vision of all humanity joined together in its beautiful diversity offering worship and praise to God. It has been an inspiring overview of the majesty of God and how all of us are knit into this glorious tapestry of harmony. It’s been a lot to take in.

We are going to pivot this morning. I want us to take a step back. We got on this road trip but didn’t take the time to talk about the rules of the road. Before you go on a road trip, especially with children, there ought to be a brief conversation about what the rules are so that everyone can have an enjoyable time. You will be spending many hours crammed inside that car so it’s a good idea to make sure people know what it will take to make those hours more pleasant.

A few of the ground rules our parents set for us were that we needed to keep our voices down, especially if we are in traffic. We are not to throw any trash out the window. We are to keep our arms, feet and heads inside the vehicle while going down the road. We are to stay buckled in. But most important of all, my sister and I were not to cross the invisible line that separated the two of us.

The first half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, as we have seen, is filled with language that pushes the boundaries to express the mystery and glory of God and the grace that has been showered on us. The language strains to communicate the cosmic harmony that God has established in Christ Jesus and how there is now one new humanity to replace the two; no longer Jew and Gentile but one humanity woven in with the rest of the cosmos, one intricate network of relationships all held together by Christ. This has been accomplished by God through Jesus.

Now, as we move into the second half of the letter, Paul starts focusing on some practical applications. He will be giving some rules of the road so to speak. These rules, when followed, help to make real the unity that has been given to us by the grace of God. I want to stress this point, it’s one of the primary reasons why this letter was written. We all want to experience harmony in our relationships, our families, our community. We want everyone to get along. The divisions and ugliness and all the “-isms” that pull us apart nobody wants. And it seems that no matter how hard we try, the things that separate us never seem to go away. The divisions are deep and seem permanent. The divisions that we are dealing with now may have different names and forms but division has always been part of the human experience. There were certainly all kinds of division in Paul’s day. He named one of the big ones, the division between Jews and Gentiles. But this is one of Paul’s big points: God has done something about it. In some mysterious way that Paul does not fully explain, God has removed all the divisions and forged universal harmony in Christ. This has been accomplished. Unity is not something we create. Unity has already been created by God. Whether we acknowledge it or not we are all in this together. Our lives are already tangled up with each other. All of creation already is all linked together in a mind-blowing web of relationships. This unity already exists. Our challenge is to manifest that unity, to live our lives in this reality and to reject the false reality that we are divided. This is one of the big points that Paul is trying to make here.

You clearly see the challenge. On one hand, God has already unified all that exists within the body of Christ. On the other hand, our lived experience reveals how divided and dis-unified we are. So, what is the deal? Paul is saying that by God’s grace and sheer force of will unity has been achieved. Our task is to live out of this God generated reality and to reject the false reality of division. Paul is calling on us to decide to live in the truth that is being revealed to us by the Spirit of God rather than continue to live in the lie of division. OK. So, how do we do this? How do we manifest the unity that God has already accomplished in Christ?

Paul starts with some basic values that we are to abide by: humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. It’s interesting. Think about the times in your life where you were going through some kind of orientation. Say you were starting a new job with an organization. Or you were going through orientation at university or a civic association or club. At these orientations you usually receive some kind of booklet that contains policies and procedures, in other words, rules for how the club, organization, school or business operates. But before you get to the rules, there is often a vision statement that communicates what the club, organization, school or business is about. After the vision statement there is usually a list of values that guide the work of the organization. Once the vision and values have been communicated, then come the rules, the policies and procedures, that attempt to make practical how the organization goes about realizing the vision guided by the values. There is a logic in how this is all laid out in these orientation handbooks.

Paul has done the same thing. He spent the first few chapters naming the vision. Now he lays out the values that guide the work of manifesting that vision. Humility is the first value that is named. The opposite of humility is arrogance, the attitude that it is all about me. That attitude is a buzzkill when it comes to manifesting unity. Humility acknowledges that you are special and precious…just like everyone else. Gentleness is the next value. This has to do with being, well, a gentleman if that’s the gender you align with, or being a lady. Gentleness has to do with being polite, respectful, and gracious. Then comes patience. That value goes without saying when we are dealing with people. For healthy community we have to be patient with other people and we have to be patient with ourselves. We don’t always get it right and other people don’t always get it right. Patience and grace go together. And that leads the fourth value Paul names, bearing with one another in love. One way I think of it is there are times my kids, my wife and my dog annoy me, but I’m not kicking any of them to the curb or throwing them out of the house. We are going to do life together through thick and thin, in good times and in bad, when we are our best selves and when we are grumpy and insensitive, or when my dog will not stop barking when I’m trying to sleep. We stick together because we love each other. That’s the value being named here, to not give up on each other when times are hard. Although, it has to be said that some relationships require separation when emotional or physical harm is happening. I shudder to think of how many women have been advised by their pastors to stand by their abusive husbands. No one should sacrifice their emotional or physical well-being for a relationship. Relationships can take many forms and sometimes the best form is when the two people in the relationship decide to live in different states. It’s ok to love some people from far away.

I digress. After listing these four values, Paul then speaks of that unity that God has accomplished by using the word “one” seven times: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God of all. The number “seven” symbolizes wholeness or completion. I think Paul might have done this on purpose. He can’t seem to stress enough the unity that we have with God and each other that God has already provided for us. The body of Christ, the Spirit, the hope, the Lord, the faith, the baptism, the God of all, these are all divinely sourced. None of this comes from our own effort or creation. We are woven into the body. The Spirit dwells in us. Our hope is in God. Jesus is our Lord. We receive the faith and the sacrament of baptism. God is the source of all that is. Again, all these aspects of our unity have been given to us and we have come to understand these aspects and acknowledged them in our lives. We acknowledge that we are part of the body of Christ. We acknowledge that the Spirit lives in us. We acknowledge our ultimate hope is in God, we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, we acknowledge the faith that has been passed down from the apostles, we acknowledge the baptism we have received, we acknowledge God as the source of all. Each of us acknowledge these things and this serves as the foundation of our unity that has been provided for us. You have to give credit to Paul in his persistence in reinforcing the central thesis of his letter.

Before Paul gets to more specific rules on how to live together and manifest this unity God has already provided us, he wants to make note of the various roles people play to facilitate the expression of that unity. I am reflecting again on those policy and procedure handbooks you may have seen in your life. After naming the vision and values of the organization but before you get to the policy and procedures, you may find an organizational chart so you can see how the club, school or business functions. You see who reports to who and what are all the different departments or committees. It’s an overall structure of the organization that you see in those charts.

Paul doesn’t give us a chart, but he does name the different positions that are held by people, all of which assist in the building up of the community in love. We could classify the first three positions as the ones who are involved in community engagement: apostles, prophets, evangelists. These are the ones who are out there in the wider society trying to let people know what is the truth, telling the story about what God has done in Christ. They are about consciousness raising, waking people up. The last two roles, pastor and teacher, are the ones who focus more on getting those who have had their eyes opened connected and nurtured in this new reality, this new way of life. These five positions all contribute to the common work of getting people on board and engaged in this way of life, or, as Paul puts it, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until everyone come to the unity of the faith.” This is our common work, building up the community in love, demonstrating the reality of the unity we have in Christ so that all would make the move to join us in this one human community held together in Christ Jesus. 

These beautiful visions of harmony that we have gazed at over the past few weeks are inspiring. They stir within us a yearning to experience this community of harmony, of mutual love for each other, a community that delights in God and in each other. We all want to experience this kind of harmonious and loving common life. It takes diligent effort to manifest this harmony, to live out these values, to claim the truth about what unites all of us, and to do our part in building each other up in love. The falsehoods and lies that divide us all up and prompt us to look askance at or even despise others has to be firmly and intentionally rejected constantly. My sister and I had that invisible line between us in the back seat of the station wagon when we were on those road trips but that doesn’t mean we didn’t cross that line from time to time and poke each other’s legs or pull each other’s hair. Our parents gave us that invisible line and gave us the rules to follow. It was up to us to diligently abide by what had been given to us. The same principle is here. We have to be diligent to live out the values and tend to the roles given to us to build up the community in love so that we can manifest the unity that has been provided us by God.

I want to leave you with a spiritual practice that came to me just yesterday morning. I was reading the paper and came across an opinion piece. The title of the piece asked if this particular politician, I’m not going to name him, is actually a “moron.” My kneejerk reaction was to verbalize, “Yes, he is a moron, and a hack, and gutless.” But then something got triggered in me. “Kevin, he is a child of God.” And I was prompted to pray for him and to forgive myself. That dawned on me as a practice I should take up. Whenever I am prompted to think disparaging thoughts about someone, usually a politician, I am going to give myself permission to name what I am thinking, even verbalize it if I can do that prudently. And I’m going to let that be my prompt to acknowledge that person as a child of God, a member of my family, and I’m going to pray for that person and for me. That’s one practical thing we can do to build that beloved community God has given us. Next week, we are going to continue to investigate the practical applications that Paul shares with the people in Ephesus.

A Revolutionary Prayer

Based on Ephesians 3:14-21

Sometimes, when we say nice things to the people we love, we use phrases that are a bit hyperbolic. We say things like, “I love you to the moon and back,” or, “I would move heaven and earth to get to you if you need help.” I have said with all sincerity, “no one makes mashed potatoes better than my wife.” Is that accurate? Maybe not. But I say it anyway. They are really good! Plus, I love Kim. For those of us who have been blessed to have children, our babies were the cutest babies that were ever born. Hyperbole can be forgiven when we talk about our families or the people we love. 

As we continue our summer road trip through the letter to the Ephesians, we pull over to gaze at the third scenic vista. As we look out over the landscape what we see is a prayer and a blessing that is full of hyperbole. Paul prays for the people that they come to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. He prays that they be filled with the fullness of God, the One who is big enough to hold the entire universe. Paul claims that God has the power to accomplish abundantly exceedingly more than we can even think or imagine. That last statement isn’t hyperbole. God really can accomplish abundantly exceedingly more than we can even think or imagine. But it’s a mind blowing statement nonetheless, pressing the limits of language to name the incredible power that God wields to impact the universe. This prayer and blessing in a few points presses up against the limits of language to express the power of God and the blessings Paul wants God to bestow on the people.

I wonder how this prayer and blessing would resonate with these Christians. They comprised a small community in those days. Not only were they small, they were obscure. It’s likely that there were a lot of people in Ephesus who didn’t really know much about the Christians. They were probably ignored or blown off as some weird sect. The Christians in Ephesus were far from the mainstream. They were on the fringe. They had little to no power or influence in the society, a society that was ruled by a Roman overlord, a city filled with temples and shrines to any number of gods and goddesses who reflected traditions that went back centuries. With those ancient religious traditions and the power of the Roman empire, in which the Caesar himself was understood to be quasi-divine, who were these Christians? Most people really didn’t care. They didn’t give Christians much thought at all.

Of course, the Christians had a completely different view than the society at large. They had come to understand that there is only one God, the Creator and Source of all that exists. They have come to know that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, had made it possible for all people to have a relationship with God, a familial relationship as sons and daughters. They had come to know that the Holy Spirit had revealed this mystery to them and gave them an inner power to live their lives with love as they conformed to the teachings of Jesus. They no longer sought to conform to society at large. They had given themselves to a whole new way of life. They were, as Paul once described Christians, a “peculiar people.”

This didn’t change how the rest of society thought about them, or better, didn’t think about them. Having a place in society where they were pretty much ignored, it must have taken a big leap of faith to receive this blessing from Paul and to live that prayer out in their lives. To claim that Christ lived in their hearts, that the fullness of the Creator God filled them, that with the divine power working through them God could accomplish amazing things, it is over the top when compared with their place in society. For those on the outside of the Christian community, if they heard this kind of talk they would think those Christians were crazy, delusional. It would be like Togo saying and believing that they could take all the gold medals in the Olympics.

Except that in this case, what the Christians claimed for themselves in Paul’s prayer was true, in spite of all visible signs to the contrary. And by claiming the truth of this prayer and living into the truth of this prayer, this becomes a powerful source of inspiration and encouragement. By allowing your identity to be shaped by this prayer instead of the indifferent and sometimes hostile society around you, it really helps you keep the faith. Because the quality of our life is greatly impacted by what we believe about ourselves, about our value and purpose for living. This prayer that Paul gives for the Ephesians is a source of inspiration to claim and live out your life with great confidence, abundant love and even joy.

For example, let’s look at Paul’s prayer that they know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. It is hard, if not impossible for us to comprehend the depth of Christ’s love. It is written elsewhere in the scriptures, someone might dare to die for someone they love, but Jesus proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Jesus actually lived out the near impossible teaching he gave us to love our enemies. Jesus loved his enemies so much he died for their sake so that they too might be counted as God’s children and his brother and sister. The love God has through Jesus cannot be contained. It’s understanding and comprehension truly is beyond us. So, to be able to comprehend the depth of the love of Christ for all people, indeed for all of creation, is revolutionary. Just as one example, how can we disparage or despise or not have compassion for any person who Jesus loves so much. Honestly, to comprehend the love of Christ is to revolutionize how we engage with others, not to mention our own selves. For those Christians in Ephesus to come to understand how much Jesus loves them had to be an incredible boost of their own worth and immeasurable value. And, by extension, for all those people in Ephesus who have not come to understand how much they are loved by God, would that not have stirred up love and compassion for them from the Christians who knew how much those pagans were loved? As these Christians are rooted and grounded in love, they come to relate to every person they interact with, especially their pagan neighbors, as brothers and sisters who Christ loves, even though they don’t know it. By living into this prayer, the potential for the church in Ephesus to overflow with love for their city is incredible.

And then to be filled with the fullness of God. My goodness. Imagine it. The idea that God is some remote divine being outside of our reality is so foreign to this prayer request. It really is hard to comprehend this. God is the creator and source of all that exists. That’s the point Paul is making at the beginning of this prayer when he says he bows his knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth takes its name. It’s a play on words, in which the word for Father is Pater and the word for family is patria. The point is that the root of every family comes from God. In other words, God is the source of all of creation. But this Father is not a distant and aloof father. No, the God of the universe fills each person. God is as close to us as our heartbeat. Far from there being a gap between us and God, wherever we are God is present because God fills our very being. There is nowhere we can be and no situation we find ourselves in where God is not fully present. That is powerful. That is encouraging. That makes life that much more purposeful and amazing. And if you are a part of a small community on the fringe of society, to live your life knowing that you are filled with the God of the universe, the God of all creation, well, that would give a boost to the understanding of your value in a society that does not value you. It is an antidote to low self-esteem or feeling despondent about your community when you claim that God fills you and the community. There is an ancient Eastern Orthodox prayer that includes the phrase about the Spirit who “is everywhere present and fills all things.” Everywhere we look we see a vessel that contains the presence of God. God is not far away but is very close, everywhere and all the time. To claim that and live with that insight is revolutionary.  

And that brings us to vv. 20-21 which really brings it home about God’s power working through the church. As I reflected on this amazing statement about how God can do abundantly exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine with the divine power working through the church it made me think of how we define the church. When Paul has the church in mind, he isn’t just thinking about the community of Jesus followers in Ephesus. Paul defines what he means by church in chapter 1:22-23. “And God has put all things under the feet of Christ and has made Christ the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. That is an inclusive statement. The church is the body of Christ and Christ fills all things. The entire universe is contained in the body of Christ. That means the church, which is the body of Christ, includes more than those who actively believe and follow Jesus. Is that what this means? Is this more hyperbole? It’s something to think about. But if we consider that the entire universe is contained in Christ’s body, then certainly the power of God working through the body of Christ can do abundantly exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine. God’s power has an influence on everything that happens in the universe. Does that not blow your mind? It puts the church in Ephesus into a much greater context. Their society may see them as some small, obscure group. In fact, they are part of the body of Christ through whom the power of God is working. They know the truth that everything belongs in God. They are knit into the fabric of the universe. Wow.

This is one breathtaking vista that we are gazing on. As we reflect on this prayer, we are encouraged to claim this prayer as our own, as those who receive the blessings from this prayer in our lives individually and as a church. You and I are deeply loved by Christ. Christ loves this community deeply. And not just us but the entire Hilltop, the whole city, the whole state, nation, and world. The love of Jesus for all of creation has no limit and that includes you and me. You and I are filled with the fullness of God. We are containers of divinity, living temples of the Spirit. We have God with us wherever we go. The presence of God fills this community. And not just us, but the entire Hilltop, the whole city, the whole state, nation, and world. God is as close to us as our heartbeat. You and I belong to the body of Christ through whom the power of God is at work. We are one small part of a global, even cosmic network of relationships all held together by Christ. We belong to a community immensely more and larger than we can even comprehend. We aren’t just a small church struggling to keep the doors open. We are part of something so much bigger and God is working through us to accomplish through us so much more than we could ever even ask or imagine. Amazing.

Let this prayer, this scenic vista, be a source of encouragement and hope for you and for us as a community of faith as we get back on the road of discipleship and make our way to the next scenic vista coming around the bend.

Jesus is Our Peace

Based on Ephesians 2:11-22

It was a tradition in my family growing up that most summers our family would rent a pop up trailer, hitch it to the station wagon, and take off on a road trip. We drove all over, often stopping at KOA campsites and visiting state and sometimes national parks. Every now and then, as we drove down the highway, we would come across the sign that pointed to a scenic overlook. We would pull over, get out of the car to stretch our legs, enjoy the view for a few moments, and then get back on the road.

It’s in that spirit that you and I are taking a summer road trip through the letter to the Ephesians. We are in the second week of our journey and are about to pull over to our second scenic overlook. Last week’s scenic vista was a glorious view of all the grace God has lavished on us, inspiring us to give worship and praise to God. Let’s see what this week’s scenic view looks like.

As we look around, what we see is a glorious vision of unity in which everyone of every ethnicity and culture are gathered together worshipping God. This vision is described in vs. 21 as a holy temple. This temple is not a physical structure of wood or stone. No, this temple is a community of people. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the key that holds this community together. This Christ held community is the dwelling place for God. It is such a beautiful display, of one people with all kinds of diversity united in worship. It is a vision of our national motto: e pluribus unum: from a plurality, one. But this is not a nation we are looking at, but the whole human race united in worship to God our creator. Glorious!

How did this come to be? What effort did it take to bring the whole human race together in praise and worship of God? Especially when we consider how easy it is for human groups to separate from others and even build up walls to keep others out, we certainly have doubts that this great assembly was pulled off by human effort. It’s hard enough just to get your family together for dinner sometimes, much less pull the entire human family together in worship as one massive holy temple. Surely, God must have had a hand in bringing about this glorious vision of unity. Let’s see how God did it.

When we look at vv. 11 and 12, we find a description of the situation of the Gentiles B.C., before Christ. It’s not a pretty picture. “You were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Ugh! What Paul is describing was the idea that there were two groups in the world, Jews and Gentiles. Jews, the chosen people of God, had the land of Israel, they had the promises God had made to Abraham, they had the security of always being the people of God. The Gentiles may have had land and their own gods and goddesses, but they had no claim on the covenant God made with Abraham, they did not serve God, they had no hope. Their gods couldn’t protect them or have anything for them. To say it bluntly, the Jews were the insiders and the Gentiles were the outsiders and there was a chasm between the two, a thick wall that separated these two groups. That was the state of things B.C.

Then comes verse 13 which starts, “But now in Christ Jesus.” With Jesus, everything changes. There is a new arrangement. The aliens and strangers, the outsiders, the Gentiles, the ones who were far off are now brought near. Jesus did that. In some mysterious, unexplained way, the blood of Jesus is the means by which the outsider Gentiles become insiders, included in the commonwealth of Israel, included in the promises God made to Abraham.

It goes even further. Verse 14 gives us the key phrase of this whole passage. “Jesus is our peace.” Peace, in this sense, does not mean quiet stillness. The kind of peace that is being referred to here is equivalent to the Hebrew word “shalom.” This word describes wholeness, harmony, mutual flourishing, where everything and everyone belongs. It’s like when the jigsaw puzzle is all put together into a beautiful whole. That’s the peace that Jesus makes possible. Jesus is the means to get to our wholeness, harmony, unity. And this peace that Jesus makes possible is radical. What does it say? “He has made both groups into one…He creates in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace.” One new humanity? Wow! What we have here is the suggestion of a new creation. There were once two human groups and now there is just one human group: not a Gentile group or a Jewish group but one new group in Christ, united as a holy temple where God dwells. Wow. This is mind blowing stuff.

That’s how we have gotten to this gorgeous and inspiring scenic vista of one humanity worshipping God. No dividing walls. No insiders and outsiders. No Gentiles and Jews. Just one human family, all united in praise to the God who has established peace, wholeness, shalom. God did this in Christ. Did, not is doing. This is the really real, if you will. Again, go back to verse 14 and see it is written in past tense. Jesus has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, the hostility between Gentiles and Jews. That wall was torn down by Jesus. In vs. 21 it says this holy temple is joined together and grows in the Lord. This is the present reality. God, through Christ, has done this.

And yet…our current lived reality does not conform to this glorious vision. It even sounds ludicrous to say that Jesus has torn down the dividing wall and that Jews and Gentiles have been morphed into a new humanity akin to a temple where God dwells. This sounds like an idealistic fantasy and a far cry from reality, certainly the reality that you and I are living in. What are we to do with this? It would have been a lot better if Paul had written that Jesus will tear down the dividing wall and that this temple will be held together with Jesus as the cornerstone. But the word is not will. The words are has and is. This reality and the reality we experience are two extremely different realities. What are we to make of this?

I suggest that the reality that we are experiencing is tragic. It is a tragedy that people, us included, keep rebuilding the walls that Jesus tore down and then imprison ourselves behind those walls of our own construction. I can give you one example. There are people that have been in my life for many years. Over the years it has become clear that our views on theology, social issues, and politics have impacted our relationship. It’s not like we can’t talk to each other or be civil. But it’s not the same. There is a bit of a wall between us now that wasn’t really there many years ago. That’s an example in my own life. You probably have your own. These last several years in our body politic have been particularly nasty, as bad as it has been since the 60s and some even suggesting our nation hasn’t been this divided since the Civil War. A little hyperbolic to me but you get the point. Then there are the issues that have divided the United Methodist Church, setting the stage for a big exodus of people and churches who will go off and start their own, what is being called the Global Methodist Church. That’s just another example. If I gave you 30 seconds to write down on a piece of paper all the ways we are divided, I bet you could come up with a long list. And these walls do imprison us. Especially when we become so polarized, we are afraid to step out of our bubbles and engage with people who we deeply disagree with or don’t understand and maybe are a little afraid of. We trap ourselves in our bubbles, silos, whatever term you want to use. We are not free to build relationships with people who are in different bubbles. Heck, we may not even know those people are there. We live in our own constructed worlds and have no idea what the world is like for the people who work in the kitchen at the Mexican restaurant we eat at or the people who live over in Wedgewood.

Are all these divisions understandable? Yes. Isn’t it true that birds of a feather flock together? It is. But I want to remind us that the essence of sin is broken relationship, a failure to love God, neighbor and self. At its core, the divisiveness, the walls we construct, the bubbles and silos we maintain that prevent mutual love for one another, has the stain of sin all over it. The walls we rebuild that Jesus tore down is sinful. We need to tear those walls down that block us from loving people on the other side of those walls.

How do we tear those walls back down? Maybe verse 18 gives us a clue. “For through Jesus both of us, that is, Gentiles and Jews, have access in one Spirit to the Father.” In other words, every person has a soul. Every person has access to God through the Spirit. No person is a stranger or alien to God. Every single person. This is the truth. This is really real. No person is a stranger to God.

This truth challenges us to look at people differently. A few days ago, I was at Kroger waiting for our pick-up order to be delivered to the car. As I sat there waiting, I decided to do a little experiment. As people walked in and out of Kroger, I would look at them and say to myself, “Child of God, child of God, child of God, child of God.” While I was doing this, I actually felt something stirring in my soul, a feeling of solidarity, of connection, even a little feeling of love. It’s a bit hard to put into words really but it was a moving experience. I invite you to try that sometime when you are in a public place where people are walking around. Look at each person and say to yourself, “Child of God, child of God, child of God.” See if that stirs up any feeling in you. I think this can be a good spiritual practice and in a small but significant way break up those reconstructed walls just a little.

This vision of unity, of this holy temple that keeps growing, where God dwells, this is what is really real because of what God has done through Jesus. We rarely get a glimpse of this reality. But it’s there. God has made it happen. It is a present reality that we miss. Let this vision, this scenic vista we have been enjoying, be a source of inspiration for us as we get back on the road of discipleship. Let this be a guiding vision in our interactions with other people, especially those we tend to divide off as outsiders, unwelcome, or whatever other term we want to use. Let this be our challenge, to peer over those walls that we have constructed and see children of God who have access to God through the Spirit, all because of Jesus.

Destined to Praise

Based on Ephesians 1:3-14

Today marks the beginning of a seven week journey we will take through the letter to the Ephesians. This letter, perhaps written by Paul but maybe written by someone else, is full of wisdom, theology, and some practical advice. There is a lot to unpack. We will be taking our time through this letter. But when I say we are going on a journey through Ephesians, I don’t mean that we will be going from point A to B to C. We are not going to engage with this letter in a linear fashion. Rather, I invite us to approach this letter as if we are pulling over at scenic overlooks along the route. For those of you who have gone on road trips, you know what I mean. You drive along the highway and perhaps see a sign pointing to a scenic overlook where you can stop and see a beautiful vista, get a good photo, and then get back on the road. That’s what we are going to be doing with Ephesians. Each week, it will be like pulling off the road of our journey of discipleship to take a look at the scenery, to view this life that we live as disciples of Jesus. This is what the letter to the Ephesians provides for us, opportunities to get a glimpse of what our lives in Christ are all about. And the scenery is pretty amazing.

Today, we stop at our first vista. At this scenic overlook we are given the opportunity to be inspired anew to worship God for all that God has done for us. This passage read today is actually part of one long sentence, just one phrase after another, that bursts forth with excitement over the blessings God has given us. You may have had a conversation with a child who has returned from some fun outing, maybe a theme park or the zoo. But it wasn’t really a conversation. You asked the simple question, “what did you do at the park?” And the child goes on and on, from one thing to the next, bubbling with excitement as they go on and on celebrating all the fun things they got to do at the park, just one phrase after another. That’s sort of like what Eph. 1:3-14 is like, just one phrase after another describing the amazing grace that God has lavished on us, the blessings that we have, and how this inspires us to worship God for all that God has given to us. We are going to gaze on this scenic view of God’s blessings and focus on a few of them.

The first blessing is that we are chosen, adopted, by God. Adoption especially resonates with those of us who were adopted or who have adopted children. Adoption is a process that can be long and involved. Prospective parents have to turn over tax records, go through background checks, have a home visit, be interviewed. Sometimes I would complain to Kim about how drawn out the process is to adopt a child who needs parents. But that’s how the process works. Prospective parents have to demonstrate that they will be good parents and that they really want to do this and are not acting out on a whim. Intentionality and will goes in to adopting a child. It is done with purpose. In the same way, it was with intention that God adopted you and me, claimed us as one of God’s children. It was not on a whim. And there is no guarantee that we would have ever chosen God to be our Parent. God initiated the relationship. Indeed, in vs. 5 we read that we were destined for adoption. One way or another, we were going to be God’s children through Jesus Christ.

Destiny is an interesting concept. We have to hold that tension between what we are destined to be in our life with our capacity to make our own decisions. Plus, things happen in life outside of our control that can surely impact our destiny. As an extreme example, what if you were destined to be an amazing piano player and then as a child you are involved in an accident that required the amputation of your left hand. What if you were destined to be a great baker but instead you chose to go into accounting. On the other hand, sometimes the talents of people are so great that they are destined to achieve success one way or another. I was listening to a podcast recently where they were talking about when Prince got started making music he faced a lot of rejection from music executives. But those rejections didn’t matter because Prince was too talented to not break through eventually. He was destined to be a musical giant.

In the same way, we were destined to become children of God. We are all on different spiritual journeys. Some of us grew up in the church and knew about Jesus from an early age. Others of us didn’t really give Jesus much thought until later in life. Some of us were raised in Christian homes and others of us were not. Whatever path we have been on, today, right now, we know ourselves to be children of God through Jesus Christ. We were destined to have this relationship with God. Not by accident, not on a whim, but by God’s own choice we are God’s children. And this is a reason to give glory to God that God chose us to be God’s children.

Here’s the second blessing. Because of Jesus we are made holy and blameless. Our sins are forgiven. We all know that none of us are blameless on our own. Every day we say things we shouldn’t say or we don’t speak up when we should. Our actions don’t always align with our values. By intention or by neglect, we fail to love God and others like we should. But, again, we are destined to be holy and blameless before God in love, as we see in vs. 4. We are destined to be holy and blameless? How can this be when we are not holy and blameless most of the time? We often make decisions and act in ways that block who we are destined to be. Without Jesus there is no way we could be who we are destined to be. Look what we find in vs. 7. “In Jesus we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.” This is amazing grace! Even though we fall short of who we are destined to be, Jesus closes the gap to make our destiny possible. Of course, we strive to live holy and blameless lives. We strive to live our lives guided by love for God and neighbor as we love ourselves. But when we fall short, Jesus extends the grace that covers over our shortcomings so that, as far as God is concerned, we are standing before God holy and blameless. Because of Jesus, we can be who we are destined to be. And that is a reason to give glory to God. We are forgiven! Our struggle to live holy lives are not in vain. In the words of the Christian artist Keith Green, we just keep doing our best and pray that it’s blessed. Jesus takes care of the rest. We don’t have to be perfect. And when we fall short it doesn’t mean we are failures. Jesus makes things right. With Jesus, we are in a right relationship with God. Praise God!

Here’s a third blessing. We are, right now, experiencing what God intends for all of creation, which is unity in Christ. This is part of God’s plan which we see in vs. 10, “to gather up all things in Jesus, things in heaven and things on earth.” God is all about unity, not division. This is a bold thing to claim, especially when we look at the church and see that we are divided in so many ways and those divisions are deep. And it’s not just in the church, we see it everywhere, divisions based on race, class, sexual orientation and gender identity, politics, language, religion, and on and on. We all know that the divisions in our nation run deep. Yet, God’s plan is that there be unity in Christ. Where do we see that unity? We get glimpses of it from time to time. We see unity when people of different backgrounds that are often at odds with each other come together in a time of need to help one another. In times of disaster, people help one another regardless of who you voted for in the last election or what your views are regarding people of different ethnicities or sexual orientations. All those differences are set aside in times of crisis. Or we see unity when Christians of different denominations or theological positions come together to worship or to stand together for a just cause. I am reminded of the march for racial unity that took place last summer that was organized by churches here on the West side. Unfortunately, the unity that we seek to embody is not consistent. And there are always those voices that work hard to drive wedges and divide people.

Still, it is God’s plan that one day there will be unity. God will see to it that there is unity in Christ. We aren’t there yet. But it will come to pass someday. And this is what is exciting for us. When we, as Christians, make real the unity that we have in Christ, despite our real differences, we are helping to realize God’s intentions. When we determine to find common ground and live together in unity, we are contributing to something much bigger than ourselves. We are helping to bring to reality God’s plan. How amazing! In a small way, the unity we manifest is part of God’s cosmic plan for unity. We fashion one more stitch in God’s glorious tapestry. The unity we express makes real what Martin Luther King spoke of: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” The reality is that our lives are linked. We really are connected. Our actions or inactions really do impact the universe. Our opportunity and blessing are to live our lives acknowledging this unity. We have been given this wisdom and insight into how God has knit all of creation together. We are blessed to live our lives guided by this insight that we are all one in Christ. Everywhere we look is our community. We are never alone. Praise God!

Here’s one last blessing. We have been guaranteed an inheritance. Not an inheritance of money or property, but an inheritance in God’s kingdom. As we read in vs. 13 and 14, we have been “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people.” It has been said elsewhere that you and I are co-heirs with Christ. Or, as we see in 1 Peter 1, we have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” This speaks of the eternal inheritance we will enjoy with our resurrected bodies. We have this living hope that death for us is a transition into new life in the heavenly places, a life that will never end and an inheritance that will never fade. How awesome! What glories await us when we get through these few years of trials and sufferings. We have a great future ahead of us. Praise God!

It is for all these blessings and more that this first scenic vista in our journey through Ephesians inspires us to give praise and glory to God for all that God has done for us. When we gather for worship every Sunday, we are participating in what God has destined for us to do. We are praising God and giving God glory for all that God has done for us, the grace that God has lavished on us. Today, we join voices with all believers in heaven and earth to give God praise, the one who alone is worthy of all glory and praise!