In Christ

This is my sermon text from July 15, 2018. The focus of my message was Ephesians 1:3-14. This is the first of our lessons focusing on Ephesians.
You can listen to the message from St. Mark here. 

The Preaching Preview is available here.

The 60 Second Sermon Summary is available here.

Please join me prayer from our Psalm: The Lord will give what is good. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet. Righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground. Righteousness will look down from the sky. AMEN.

Grace to you; peace from God our Creator,; the Lord Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

I am planning on making the letter to the church in Ephesus the focus of my preaching for the balance of July and August. I am doing this because I think the opportunity to really dig into and study this letter is important.

I encourage you to take time to read the letter, repeatedly. It is six chapters long. It has a total of 164 verses. In most Bibles, it is between four and six pages long. It won’t take you that long to read, and re-read.

The reason I am passionate about this letter is that it is the cleanest letter, the one most devoid of issues. Unlike so many of Paul’s letters, there is no crisis or issue to address. It is almost a form letter. It spends half of the letter explaining how God has blessed us, and the second half explaining how we should live our lives in response to the blessings of God.

In chapter two, the author writes about how the divisions between Jews and Gentiles should end since God “has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (Ephesians 2:14)

But in this week’s text, the focus is on what we receive from being “in Christ.” The lesson, verses three through fourteen, are one really long run-on sentence. Look at that reading. For the sake of our readers, it is broken into shorter sentences. But the original author wrote it as one long sentence, building with excitement about the blessings that come from being “in Christ.”

This letter was written to an audience of Gentiles, with a few Jewish members of the community, to reassure both groups that their combined salvation was ALWAYS a part of God’s plan. Before the foundation of the world, we were chosen to be holy and blameless before God.

Before there was an In the beginning, God cared for and about us.

Before there was an In the beginning, God decided to adopt us as God’s children.

Before there was an In the beginning, God planned to redeem and forgive us, because God knew we would stumble and struggle, we would fumble, falter and fail.

Before there was an In the beginning, God knew that the Son would need to show us what a life lived in love looks like, and that a life like that would result in a death on a cross, and an empty tomb three days later.

 Before there was an In the beginning, God knew that They would claim us as Their’s by saving and claiming us “in Christ.”

We are in Christ. We need to realize that because of what He did, because of what happened to Him, We are changed.

In him we have redemption through his blood. The disobedience and rejection we have shown to God is erased, we are redeemed BECAUSE of Christ’s blood shed on the cross. The forgiveness of our trespasses, (are gone) according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. He has taken our trespasses and gives us grace upon grace

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance. Earlier, it was written that we have been adopted by God through Christ. Here, we are told that we will receive a portion of what God has, again, by being in Christ. God has called us to be a part of God’s purpose, for the accomplishment of all things that God wants done. In doing so, those who have set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.

Part of living as members of God’s family, adopted and inheritors, means to live AS members of God’s family. By being “in Christ,” and heirs, we are also responsible for working to ensure that Thy Will Is Done. It means to act as we are called to act, and to speak out and speak up when we don’t. But that is better addressed in a later part of this letter.

Something that is often overlooked in this passage, or in general when speaking about inheritance, is how it is earned. How does someone earn their inheritance?

If anyone thinks that their salvation is due to the good things they do, or due to the virtuous life they lead, suggest they read Ephesians 1. Our adoption is a gift. We didn’t earn it. Infants are baptized because we believe they cannot do anything to earn the gift of being adopted into God’s family. Here we learn, God adopted us not only before we could do anything to try to earn God’s love, not only before we were born, but before the world was created.

But if we are all unworthy, adopted heirs in the Family of God, all redeemed by being “in Christ,” why don’t we treat each other better? If the greatest gift we will ever be given comes because it is God’s will from before there was an In the beginning, why do we focus on the differences of the world?

If I am going to inherit a part of the Reign of God because it is God’s will, and you are also going to inherit a part of the Reign of God because it is God’s will, why do we defy God’s will and not share God’s love because of the color of someone’s skin?

Why do we defy God’s will and not share God’s love because of someone’s gender?

Why do we defy God’s will and not share God’s love because of who of someone loves?

Why do we defy God’s will and not share God’s love because of where someone comes from?

Why do we defy God’s will and not share God’s love because someone is different?

Please join me prayer from our Psalm: Let me hear what God the Lord will speak: Surely his salvation is at hand. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet. Righteousness and peace will kiss each other. AMEN.

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