Signed and Sealed (Ephesians 1:3-14) 1/6/13

  

Last week, the Electoral College met and made official a vote that had already been taken. The people of the United States had already elected their next President. It only remained for the Electors to put the seal of approval on what had already been decided. Well, of course, this message is not about American politics or the Electoral College. But it is about sovereignty. In the case of the Electoral College, it represents the sovereign power of the several states to wield that power to elect the chief executive of the nation. In the case of Paul, here speaking to the church in Ephesus in the first century, it represents his understanding of the sovereignty of God.

The doctrine of election is closely identified with the Reformed Church, with which the Presbyterian Church is identified. To be honest, I don’t quite understand that. What I mean is, I don’t yet understand why it is that the entire Christian Church does not identify more closely with the doctrine. It has its roots planted in numerous places in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments.

In the New Testament alone, the terms “Predestination” or “Elect” are mentioned in each of the synoptic Gospels (Mt 24:31, Mk 13: 22, Lk 18:7), and in Acts (13:48). Peter talks about the doctrine twice (1 Pe 1:2,  5:13), and it is also discussed twice in 2 John 1:1, 13). Paul talks about it not only in today’s passage, but also eight other times in his letters. 1

In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul is speaking to a church he planted. He first visited Ephesus briefly during his second missionary journey. It was a stopover on his way to Jerusalem, but  Paul later returned to Ephesus for a three year stay.  Even later, Paul wrote to his former flock from prison, probably in Rome. His friend and helper Tychicus was the bearer of the letter.  If you’re reading Ephesians 1: 3-14 aloud, be sure and take a deep breath first. The entire passage is one sentence in the Greek. I have a sense that Paul did not have pen in hand for this passage. I would think more likely that he was dictating, perhaps to Tychicus, and that the more he said, the more he thought. The more he thought, the more he said. The result is a rambling recitation of blessing, choice, predestination, adoption, redemption, forgiveness and grace, all wrapped together in a divine plan. I can almost see the great apostle pacing the floor, occasionally punctuating the air with his fist or an outstretched finger as the words came pouring from his lips so fast his scribe could hardly keep up.

As I was preparing for this message, I couldn’t help but notice that what Paul said in a paragraph, it took the great reformer John Calvin about seventy pages to explain and defend in his famous work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Paul’s English teacher may not have approved of his writing style here, but his Theology teacher would have given him high marks, for the Sovereignty of God is on marvelous display here.

If the great John Calvin could take seventy pages explaining this doctrine, far be it from me to begin to simplify that which Paul has spoken here to the Ephesians and to the church at large. But I can take note of the obvious. While Paul can be difficult to read and seldom knows when to end a sentence, he is very sure of his subject matter. He tells us that God loves us so much he has blessed us with Jesus Christ, that God chose us before the foundation of the world was laid, that in love, he predestined us for adoption as his sons through Jesus.

Take a breath. That’s a lot to handle. But there’s more. Paul goes on. It was all done according to God’s will, God’s purpose, says Paul. Jesus’ sacrifice brings us redemption and forgiveness. Christ is God’s plan to re-unite all things, all people, with him.

And…we get our Godly inheritance through Jesus. We are predestined by God. He works it all out according to his will. Now listen. This is where it gets good! When we hear and believe in Jesus, we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He guarantees our inheritance until we take possession.

Nothing bad there, except twice Paul mentions predestination.

Don’t we have a choice? Is the election over, and we didn’t even get to vote? That’s not the point, so don’t get all tied into knots over it. Election is about God’s sovereignty. Who’s in charge here anyway?

The answer is all over the Bible. God is in charge. Always was. Always will be. God is also omniscient, a fancy word for all-knowing. So, if God is all powerful and all knowing, how can God not know outcomes before they happen? That could only mean that he is limited in some way, that he doesn’t know everything. But God does know everything. Always has. Always will.

          It is not for us to worry about whether we are elected. The question for us is whether we believe in Jesus Christ and in the gospel he teaches, that he is God’s son, that he came for us, that he died for us, that he rose from the dead and ascended  into heaven, that he lives and will come again for us. Jesus tells us that God loved the world so much he sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall live eternally (3: 16). He tells us again in John 5 that whoever hears his word and believes him who sent him has eternal life (v. 24). These and other passages make it abundantly clear that if we believe in Jesus, we are elected. Paul agrees. He says to us in today’s passage that “when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, [you] were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance…” (1: 13).

           The thing is, we just can’t get there from here, at least not without help. In the sixth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus tells the crowd outside Capernaum that his Father’s will is that “everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life…” (v. 40). He goes on to say that “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (v. 44). 

          The Bible is clear. God is sovereign and omniscient. He is all powerful and knows everything that will happen before it happens. In his divine plan, he has given us free will. We can reject him and many continue to do so. Paul reminds us of our tendency toward sin in Romans 11, where he beckons the Roman Christians to “Note then the kindness and the severity of God; severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off” (11: 22, 23). The writer of Hebrews further cautions us, saying “it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance…” (6: 4-6).

These passages are evidence of the signs of God’s call, but not the call itself. John Calvin explains the difference as two kinds of call. There is the general call, by which God invites all through the outward exposure to the Word. But there is a second, special, call, as Calvin characterizes it. This comes to believers alone, who are illumined by the Holy Spirit, which causes God’s Word to dwell in their hearts. This is the church whose true membership is known only to God.

So where is the fear in predestination? If not called by God, then by whom? We cannot call ourselves, can we? If you think about it, it must be as the Bible says. God must call us, in order that our ears may be open enough to hear him. God must draw us in order that our hearts may accept the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As Calvin said it: “Faith is fitly joined to election, provided it takes second place.” Think of it this way: faith is the tool God provides us to come to him once we are called. To believe otherwise would be to accept that some sort of work is required to find God, and that won’t “work.” By grace we are saved. The good works we offer up to him can be only our testament of the love we have learned from him to feel for him. My daughter Emily reminded me of that just yesterday. She sent an email from Dahab, Egypt, a sleepy little coastal town two hours from Mt Sinai. She climbed the mountain during the night in order to see the sun come up. Then she walked down the mountain. The locals call it the three thousand steps of repentance. What a beautiful way to describe the descent from God’s mountain. As her steps traced those of Moses, she gave pause to send some love back to the God who made her, formed her, claims her and protects her. This is what he wants. Love him. Show your love by your acts. And if you believe in him, then that’s your destiny, or “predestiny”, signed and sealed!        

1 See Romans 8: 29-30, 2 Thess 2: 13-14, 2 Tim 1: 9, Romans 8: 33, 11:7, Colossians 3:12, 2 Tim 2: 10, Titus 1: 1.