I. Blessings In Christ
\nWhat do eyes see in our Gospel lesson today? They see a really smart kid. They see Him sitting in the temple among the teachers, the most learned scholars of the land. He\u2019s listening intently and He\u2019s asking them questions\u2014good questions, smart questions, so much so that the teachers are amazed at His understanding and His answers. Is His knowledge so astonishing because He is the Son of God, or because His intellect is free from the sin that clouds our thoughts so badly? The Bible doesn\u2019t say. But it does tell us why Jesus is there: He is there because it\u2019s necessary that He be in His Father\u2019s house, going about His Father\u2019s business. And what is the business of the Father? That\u2019s what St. Paul talks about in our epistle for today.<\/p>\n
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Our epistle is full of Good News as St. Paul bombards you with the proclamation of God\u2019s blessings for you. And as we work through this text from Ephesians 1, I would suggest that it is good to note two things. First note how many different times you hear of God working to save you; second, note how this work is connected to Jesus over and over again. <\/p>\n
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God the Father has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Every spiritual blessing is yours, and it is yours for Jesus\u2019 sake. God the Father is holding nothing back. Our text does not say that Jesus has won your entrance into heaven for you, but after that, His heavenly blessings are all based on your daily work and merit. No! It\u2019s yours\u2014every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is yours in Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n
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God the Father has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. The Incarnation, the becoming flesh of Jesus, is not an afterthought where the Lord God looked upon the earth one day and said, \u201cSalvation by works isn\u2019t going very well, so let\u2019s try something different.\u201d He has chosen you in Christ before the foundation of the world: it has been His plan from eternity to pour out on you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places for Jesus\u2019 sake. This has another significant piece of good news for you: as the Father\u2019s choice has been from eternity, so it is for eternity. In other words, there will not be a day where God the Father says, \u201cI\u2019m done choosing you now. Yesterday I would have forgiven you and made you holy and blameless, but you\u2019ve dropped off My list and I\u2019m moving on.\u201d <\/p>\n
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In love, God has predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, for Jesus\u2019 sake. You\u2019re part of His family: for Jesus\u2019 sake, He has gathered you in. Whether you\u2019re male or female, you have the standing of \u201cson\u201d in His family, because the sons are the heirs and you\u2019re an heir of His kingdom. This is His will, that He might be gracious to you for Jesus\u2019 sake. <\/p>\n
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In Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses according to the riches of His grace. You are redeemed and adopted into God\u2019s family because Jesus Christ has shed His blood for you. Don\u2019t forget the Gospel lesson: that 12-year-old boy Jesus is in His Father\u2019s house at the time of the Passover feast, and His parents have been missing Him for three days. Twenty years later, He will be the Passover Lamb, sacrificed and blood shed so that the Lord passes over your sins and spares your life. He will be missing for three days after. But then He will rise again. Why? So that you might have redemption through His blood. So that you might have the forgiveness of your trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. <\/p>\n
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The Lord has lavished this upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth…in Christ. Looking at the world throughout history, with all of its violence and bloodshed, it\u2019s difficult to discern what sort of God is there and what exactly He\u2019s up to; and apart from the Gospel, it\u2019s little wonder that non-Christians come up with all sorts of strange ideas about God as they try to read His mind from the world around them. But His will and purpose is no mystery to you, because your faith beholds your Savior on the cross. That is God\u2019s will and purpose, to deliver you from sin and its consequences by the death and resurrection of His Son. There\u2019s a lot of things you cannot know, but because of Jesus Christ you do know this: God predestined you before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless and in heaven, all for the sake of Jesus Christ. <\/p>\n
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The Lord has sealed you with the promised Holy Spirit, guaranteeing that this inheritance is yours. How has He sealed you? By the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, which gave you faith to believe. Why has the Lord sealed you with the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing your inheritance? Because Christ has died for you. All of this is yours \u201cin Him.\u201d <\/p>\n
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That sure explains a lot about our worship, doesn\u2019t it? If God does all of this for us in Christ, then our worship is going to be about Christ. Gathered by the Holy Spirit, we come to where Jesus promises to be. We gather to hear His Word, where He continues to seal us and give us forgiveness and all of those spiritual blessings, even as He sealed us with the Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. We gather at His table for His Supper; for as He is present there with His body and blood, He lavishes grace upon us. And where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. <\/p>\n
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2. Blessings beyond Reason
\nSo our text from Ephesians 1 is full of Good News, one glad announcement of salvation after another. It\u2019s all about the blessings that God pours out upon you, lavishes on you, in Christ. However, wherever there is such Good News to be heard, you can bet that sinners will find a way of messing it up. And indeed, the pure Gospel set forth in this chapter has been obscured by sinners in a couple big ways for a simple reason: the blessings God gives are beyond our reason. They\u2019re illogical. They\u2019re so rich and free that they don\u2019t make sense, and even Christians often fall into the trap of believing that the Gospel has to make sense. Thus, we turn our attention to the two great errors which obscure these blessings beyond reason, which we could also subtitle, \u201cHow Christians unwittingly mess up the Gospel.\u201d <\/p>\n
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The first error gets the fancy title of \u201cdouble predestination,\u201d and it goes like this: \u201cSince the Bible says that God has predestined believers in Christ to go to heaven, He has also predestined unbelievers to go to hell. In other words, before the foundation of the world, God chose some to be saved and some to be condemned. If you\u2019re one of those chosen to go to heaven, then Jesus died for you. If you\u2019re one of those chosen to go to hell, then Jesus didn\u2019t die for you.\u201d <\/p>\n
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How does this error come about? Because Christians try to make the Gospel make sense according to human logic. See, we normally think that a choice involves two options. You can choose to do one thing or you can choose to do another. As a commercial for some product put it a while back, \u201cone choice is no choice at all.\u201d It makes sense. And if that makes sense, then this makes sense, too: if God chooses believers to be saved, then it only makes sense that He chooses unbelievers to be condemned. If a choice always has two options, then God must make both decisions. Seems logical enough, doesn\u2019t it. <\/p>\n
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But what does this reasoning do to the Gospel? What does it do to all of these blessings that God lavishes upon you? You can\u2019t be sure that they\u2019re really for you\u2014because you can\u2019t be 100% sure that God has chosen you. You might just be fooling yourself, thinking that you\u2019re chosen for heaven; after all, you know better than everyone but God the miserable sins that are still going on inside of you. (Do those chosen by God really have some of the wicked thoughts floating in their minds that are floating in yours?) What does this reasoning do to Christ? It takes the focus off of Him and His work of redemption, and instead puts it on the Father\u2019s sovereignty. In other words, a believer is saved because God chose him to be saved and used Jesus to get the transaction done. An unbeliever is lost\u2014not because he doesn\u2019t believe in Jesus, but because God chose him to be lost. That\u2019s what this error does: it takes the focus off of the cross and says that all of God\u2019s blessings are yours\u2014 but only if you\u2019ve been chosen to be blessed. <\/p>\n
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In response to this error, we rejoice to declare God\u2019s blessings beyond our reason. We don\u2019t make God submit to logic, but we must submit logic to God. The Bible never says that God chooses people to be condemned. In fact, it says the opposite: Ezekiel 18 declares that God does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, and 1 Timothy 2:4 declares that God desires all to be saved; furthermore, 2 Corinthians 5 proclaims that Christ has died for all. God doesn\u2019t choose people to be condemned: He offers salvation to all through Christ. Those who reject Jesus are lost because they reject God, not because God rejects them. <\/p>\n
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Therefore, you rejoice: you don\u2019t have to wonder if God has really chosen you to be saved or if Christ has died for you. Instead, you have the certain hope that you are chosen from before the foundation of the world to have eternal life because Christ has died for you. <\/p>\n
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The other big error is the opposite ditch from double-predestination: it takes all of salvation out of God\u2019s hands and puts it all into man\u2019s. It\u2019s called semi-Pelagianism or Arminianism, and it goes like this: if man can choose to reject God, then man can also choose to believe in God. It only makes sense, because one choice is no choice at all. If man can choose one, then he must be able to choose the other. <\/p>\n
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What does this do to the Good News of Ephesians 1\u2014what does it do to Jesus and the blessings God lavishes upon you for Jesus\u2019 sake? As far as Jesus goes, it robs Him of glory: it says that He did His part to save you, and that you do your part to save yourself by choosing to believe in Him. It takes the focus off of Him, and puts it on your decision, your commitment, your dedication. As far as the blessings go, it makes them uncertain again: they\u2019re yours, if you really believe in Jesus enough. If you\u2019ve truly chosen Him and made a decision for Him, then salvation and all those blessings are yours. But if your decision wasn\u2019t sincere enough\u2014if you\u2019re only fooling yourself, then you\u2019re lost. You can\u2019t be sure if you\u2019re truly committed: after all, as Jeremiah 17:9 says, your heart is deceitful above all things. And what about those times when you really mess up and sin\u2014what does that say about your sincere devotion? You can\u2019t be sure. <\/p>\n
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In response to this error, we rejoice to declare God\u2019s blessings beyond reason and do not force Him to submit His will to logic. The Bible never says that we can choose to follow God: instead, Ephesians 2 and Romans 5 make it quite clear that you were born dead in sin. By definition, dead men cannot do anything to make themselves alive. But Christ has died for you. He has redeemed you by His blood, forgiven your trespasses and lavished His grace upon you. He has done all the work necessary to save you\u2014and there is no doubt about His commitment, His sincerity or His faithfulness to you. <\/p>\n
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You\u2019re like Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead in John 11. Four days in the tomb, Lazarus couldn\u2019t decide to be alive again. He was dead. Jesus came and spoke His life-giving Word, \u201cLazarus, come forth.\u201d He made Lazarus alive, and Lazarus had nothing to do with the process. Now, if Lazarus had decided later to reject Jesus\u2019 gift of life and kill himself, that would be his choice\u2014not the Lord condemning him. That is how salvation works: God makes us alive in Christ. That is His doing, not ours. If we reject it and are lost, that is our doing, not His. <\/p>\n
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This, dear friends, is one of the great gifts we Lutherans have to offer to our fellow Christians in other church bodies, because only Lutheran theology holds purely to this Gospel. <\/p>\n
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These blessings beyond reason may not fit our requirements of logic, but they are faithful to the Word. Faithful to the Word, they keep the focus on Christ. Faithful to the Word, they proclaim that God\u2019s blessings are certain in Christ for you. <\/p>\n
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That\u2019s your joy today: from the foundation of the world, God purposed that His Son would come and redeem you by His blood, so that He might seal you with His Spirit and lavish His grace upon you today. There is no doubt to these blessings beyond reason: for Christ\u2019s sake, most certainly, you are forgiven for all of your sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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