A Plan For the Fullness of Time

                                                                     Ephesians 1: 1-10

 

 

          Today, in our introduction to the Essential Tenets of ECO, we turn to another well-accepted doctrine of the Reformed Tradition; that of Election, both for salvation and for service.

          Presbyterians are identified with election, or predestination as it is also called, more than any other denomination. We particularly get credit ot blame, depending on who is critiquing, for double predestination. There are historical reasons for that. John Calvin, one of our church fathers, wrote about it in his great work called The Institutes. The Westminster Confession of Faith, an important Presbyterian confession, affirms it. But double predestination, the doctrine that God preordains people for both heaven and hell, is only one of several major views about election. It is beyond the scope of this message to consider the details of each. Suffice it to say that each view is supported by Scripture, and that it takes study and discernment to find what God is saying. But what should be said at the outset is that election is a Biblical doctrine. It is not optional. It is as much a part of Biblical teaching as grace and sin and covenant.

          Let’s talk for a minute about what election is not. Election is not some God ordained fatalism that whatever good or bad that happens is God’s will. Election is not why you lost that job or your boyfriend broke up with you. It’s not about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East or any other war. Election is about God’s plan of salvation.

          In Romans 10 and 11, Paul talks about righteousness; about the path to it. He points out the difference between Israel’s pursuit of righteousness through the law, and the Gentiles’ pursuit of righteousness by faith. It is only faith which will succeed.  He says that God makes no distinction between Jew and Greek. Paul says the distinction is drawn by who calls upon the name of the Lord. He speaks that now famous passage about how to be saved: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” [10: 9].

          In Ephesians 1, our passage for today, Paul addresses his letter to the saints who are in Ephesus. In other words, he is writing to the Christian community in that town or region. He goes on to talk about God blessing us in Christ, how we (the church) were predestined for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. He ends this passage by talking about God’s purpose as set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time [1:10].

          In the passage from Romans, Paul is writing about two people groups, the Jews, those chosen by God in the Old Testament, and the Gentiles, which is everyone else. Specifically, Paul is writing about those among the Gentiles who believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the passage from Ephesians, Paul is again targeting Gentile Christians, specifically those in the church in Ephesus. In the book of Galatians, Paul closes out his letter by addressing that community as the Israel of God. The point is this: in all three books, predestination as Paul explains it has to do with the election of a community to be the people of God. In every case, Paul is writing to churches, not individuals.  

          ECO states that we lost our freedom in the fall, meaning the fall of Adam, or mankind, into sin. From that, we are incapable in and of ourselves of turning away from sin. Paul reminds us in Romans 3 that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. So now what? How can we be reconciled? In Christ. The grace of Jesus Christ makes that reconciliation possible. How does it start? God draws us to him and opens our hearts.   Jesus tells us in John’s gospel: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” [Jn.6: 44]. God draws us because he loves us. We, the Christian church, are part of the grand design. We are elected in love to be free, no longer bound by sin.

          Guthrie puts it this way, “According to scripture, individuals are indeed loved and chosen by God, but only as they participate in the whole community of God’s people.” We need not fear election. Indeed, we need to embrace it. Election is an assurance, not a threat. If we believe in the saving grace of God in Christ, we will be saved. God predestined us, Christianity, for that salvation. As surely as God’s grace through Jesus Christ is the reason for our election, it is also our assurance for that election (Guthrie, p. 136). Who does God want? Listen to the words of Paul in 1 Timothy: “God our Savior…desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” [2:4]. Who is elected? Listen to the words of the apostle John: “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” [8:31, 32].

          So we see that election provides a way to salvation for us. But election is a two sided coin.  We need also to recognize that election, while a gift from God, is a form of commission from him as well. ECO’s essential tenets state that the Holy Spirit gives faith, enables holiness through His sanctifying and regenerating work, thereby making us witnesses of God’s gracious presence to the lost. 

          In the servant songs of Isaiah, the prophet hearkens to a time of deliverance by a servant leader. We know these passages as Messianic prophecy. Look how they connect with the subject of election to service. God says; “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations” [42: 6].  Later in chapter 49, God says again that he will make this servant “a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach the end of the earth” [v. 6]. Does this sound like election that limits or election that includes? It is not God, but ourselves, who in our deluded idea of freedom, opt out of God’s plan for our salvation. He not only wants us in his kingdom; he wants us to help him usher it in. He wants us as his witnesses.

            To come to a saving knowledge of God is to receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised his disciples that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” [Acts 1: 8]. You, you who believe—will be my witnesses—to the ends of the earth!

           In his letter to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul projects the mission of every Christian, the task of every member of the body of Christ. He talks about spiritual gifts, and how each of us has been gifted in our own way to serve the Lord. It is in those gifts singular to us that we are afforded our particular calling for service. And Paul goes on to say that each is essential. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized in one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit…Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” [12: 12, 13, 27].

          We are indeed elected. We are chosen, chosen by God himself. We are elected for salvation, elected for service. How do we know?  We confess with our mouths; we believe in our hearts, that Jesus is our Savior. And we are saved. God calls us to community with him. This is election, “God’s plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

Covenant Life in the Church

                Ephesians 4: 1-7, Acts 22:16, I Cor. 11: 23-26, Matt. 18: 15-20

 

 

          This week we continue in our introduction to the Essential Tenets of ECO. We have previously looked at God’s Word and its authority, the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation and the doctrine of God’s grace in Christ. Today, we will look at a number of long standing Reformed doctrines including adoption, preaching of the Word, administration of the Sacraments and practicing mutual discipline. All of these are part of what ECO calls covenant life in the church.

          Adoption is the first item on the menu. I am an adoptive parent, so I have a very personal view of adoption. During my career as an attorney, I did many adoptions. I had a ringside seat to what adoption means as a legal term. What I can share with you is that legal adoption comes about as close to lining up with theological adoption as mankind is likely to get in lawmaking. In American law in every state of which I am aware, adoption is parenthood. In a legal adoption, the adopted child stands in exactly the same position legally as does a blood child. There is no difference. Even birth certificates are amended in adoptions to reflect the parentage of the adopted child as that of his or her adoptive parents. Whatever differences might exist genetically or emotionally, there are none legally. In my case, I can truly say that the bond I have with my adoptive child is every bit as strong as it is with my genetic children. In fact, it’s just insulting to put the word “adopted” in front of child with me. She is my daughter, plain and simple.

          Compare that status with what the apostle Paul tells us in the book of Galatians: “…for in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God, through faith...For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”[3: 26, 27]. He goes on to say that “because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [4: 6]. In Ephesians, Paul comments to that church on what it means to be in the body of Christ: “There is but one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…” [Eph. 4: 4-6]. ECO says correctly that we share one Father. We are all brothers and sisters in God’s family.

          Covenant life in the church among those brothers and sisters adopted into the family can be identified by the occurrence of several things, the first of which is the preaching of the Word. Nearing his life’s end, Paul writes to Timothy, his “son” in the faith, and charges him to preach the word, to be always ready to teach with complete patience[2 Tim 4: 2]. He challenges Timothy to continue espousing the sacred writings, the Scriptures, breathed out by God, and able to make us “wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ” [3: 15, 16]. Where does Paul get his belief? In the book of Acts, he tells a tribune arresting him and the people who gather to listen that he has been appointed to be a witness for God to everyone of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He ends his speech saying that God called upon him to “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” [Acts 22:16].

          As important as the preaching of the Word is the rightful administration of the Sacraments. ECO’s form of government charges the Session with the responsibility to “provide for the regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper, authorize the administration of Baptism,” and to “exercise due care and provide sufficient education to the congregation and to new believers that the Sacraments may be rightly received as means of grace” [Polity Ch. 1, Sect. 1.0603 b]. Think about that. Our Sacraments, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism—are to be rightly received as means of grace. Jesus received his baptism as a commission from God, and then instituted Holy Communion as a continual reminder of our own baptism—not just into the rights and privileges of the kingdom, but also into the duties and responsibilities attendant to it. Baptism is not only a remembering. It is an immersion, sometimes literally and always symbolically into both the life and death of our Savior. We put on his stripes and try to walk his walk. Yes, we will always fail, but may we fail well and less often as we become sanctified in our journeys.

          Look back at some of the Scriptures we have noted. We talked about adoption, and we quoted Paul in Galatians: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  In Ephesians we are told that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We are called to witness, to preach the Word, as was Paul by God, and in Acts, God tells him to “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” Clearly, we should come to the celebration of the Sacraments recognizing the power that lies in these symbols of God’s grace.

          A few minutes ago, one of our own, a ten year old young man, underwent his own baptism. In our denomination, many if not most of us are baptized as infants. Some youngsters miss that for one reason or another. Their parents are not churchgoers at the time, or belong to another denomination with different practices, or somehow life just gets in the way. There are many reasons. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that each of us, body and soul, comes to a saving belief in the gospel. When that happens, whether for parents who offer their infant child in dedication to the Lord or young persons who come to the baptismal font of their own volition and free will, God is there waiting. And God is there to give to us a generous helping of that thing we call grace, that life changing, living water where belief collides with Sacrament and we are washed with the truth of the gospel. At the Last Supper, Jesus offered a cup as the new covenant made by his sacrificial blood. He tells us that as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes [1Cor. 11-23-26]. Blood, water, Spirit, body, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We are his. We are the children of God. The Sacraments are our regular reminder of this truth.

          Covenant life in the church is also the faithful practice of mutual discipline. We may come to God alone, but we do Christian life together. It is God’s plan. We are not meant to be alone. God started that in Genesis 1. Nor are we meant to walk through this life in accountability to only ourselves. With or without God, we are well aware that society governs itself through a system of laws. In such way, we are reminded of the helpful fences that we erect. There are lines that must be observed, if not for our own benefit, then for the benefit of others. The New Testament is replete with examples of those who could not get it right without help, from Paul to Peter.

          In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples what to do when a brother sins against them. First, we are to engage him one on one, in dialogue and not just in accusation. If that fails, then we are to take one or two others to confront him.  If that also fails, we are to tell it to the church. If he still refuses to listen to the church, then he risks being treated by his own church as a stranger. Where in this advice do we find the words gossip or lawsuit? And Jesus closes with a promise: that if we follow this pursuit of settlement, then he will be there with us. This is an idea so foreign to the western church that it is almost forgotten. We are reminded that it is the advice of Jesus himself for dispute resolution.

         Luke describes the early church for us in Acts 2: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.”  

          Covenant life in the church. It is indeed a way of life. The Greek word for church is ecclesia, or gathering. Christians gather to celebrate the gospel, to take comfort in one another, to worship in Word and proclamation and Sacrament, and to be accountable to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s a covenant that we can live with. That’s what the bride of Christ is supposed to look like. A body of believers working together!

                                  Surrendering to Freedom

                                           Ephesians 2: 1-10

 

          In our journey through the Essential Tenets of ECO, it was only a matter of time before our path merged with the essentials of the Reformed Tradition. Today, we look at the fourth, and perhaps the most sublime, of the Essential Tenets of ECO: God’s grace in Christ. To look at the subject of God’s grace is to look right into the eye of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. To do that is to attempt to answer a very fundamental question. Theologian Shirley Guthrie suggests that in order to deal with grace, we have to ask the question: What does it mean to be a Christian?

          Well, that’s just silly.    We all know the answer to that question. What does it mean to be a Christian? Why, it means that…well, you know, it means that we want to be Christian! I mean, we want to be good. Well, not exactly, but obedient. Don’t we? I mean, you know, Christ died for us and all, and we should be, you know, Christian! We’re sinners, and Jesus fixed that problem. And then, we get saved, Because we believe. Because, well, you know what it means.

          What does it mean? What did Christ do? What did he change? What does it mean to be a Christian? We Christians share a belief in God. In that shared belief, we realize that we sin. We sin a lot. Even when we come to a saving belief in God, we continue to sin. And we are aware of that. So how do we get right with God? That’s another question. How do we get right with God? The more we get to know the nature of God, the more we realize how far we are from it. That’s one of the key points in ECO’s articulation of God’s grace. It states that our world is disordered, that we and all things are subject to evil and misery, that this state comes from our rebellion against God’s will, that no part of human life is untouched by sin, that what is natural to us is not very trustworthy as a marker for Godliness. Put another way, ECO restates Romans 3: 23, that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

           Martin Luther is credited with the start of the Reformation. He was a tormented man who spent his life trying to measure up until he read the Bible for himself. He found the words of Ephesians 2 and other such passages and he finally understood. He understood that his guilt was unnecessary, that his attempts to work his way to heaven were futile. God already had him covered.

          Well, we don’t do that. Really? We Americans take great pride in our work ethic. Look at how hard we work. When we’re not working at our jobs, we work to stay fit, to look young. When that doesn’t make us happy, we can criticize others to build ourselves up, or even criticize ourselves to show our piety. Or we can try to out-good everyone else to show our merit for God. Martin Luther became a monk; we become workaholics or obsessed with our agendas. What’s the difference? Either way, either century, we are trying to do it our way.

          Ok, so we’re wrong with God. Again, how do we get right? We don’t. He does. The apostle Paul named this principle Justification, the act of getting right with God. We can keep reading from Romans 3. Go on to v. 24, which says that we are “justified by his grace as a gift.” Guthrie says it this way: “We are justified—made right with God—not by our own effort to climb up to God but by God’s free grace in coming to us.” We can’t earn it. We can’t buy it. We can’t barter for it. It’s a gift, a gift that we must accept by faith. When we can grasp this, that without God we are reaching for something we will never attain, that without God, all our efforts, all our work, amount to nothing more than grunting and groaning---then we can begin to see the joy and freedom that comes from being justified. And justification brings us freedom. We no longer have to worry about measuring up. We are there by God’s grace. We are right with God.       

But we have to get ready first, right? You can’t get into the club without doing something. Wrong. Read on in Romans 5. Verses 6-8 state that “while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” He died for us, for me and you, before we ever even acknowledged him as our Savior! ECO says that the union of Christ with the Holy Spirit brings us into right relation with God. We are his children, more surely than our children are our own. We don’t have to believe in God first. It’s not a reward. It’s a gift! How do we get right with God? We are justified—in Christ.

Is that all there is? Actually, no. There is also Sanctification. Sanctification is the process of getting right with God. Now, wait a minute. We just said that Justification is the act of getting right with God, and now you say that there is a process as well. Yes, there is a process, but it needs to be distinguished from the act. When we are justified, we are made right with God by the grace of Christ. Right then, right there. Think of it this way. Because Christ died for us, we are justified. Because we believe in that and choose to live for him, we become sanctified. It is God working within us through the Holy Spirit, helping us to leave the sin in our lives behind and move to the freedom of walking with God. Remember how ECO says that God receives us as his adopted children? That comes from Justification, being accepted by God. Through Sanctification, we begin to live as God’s children.

Why do we need Sanctification since we are Justified through the grace of Jesus Christ? That’s what Paul said, isn’t it? By grace we are saved through faith, not from our own works. True enough. But James tells us that faith without works is dead. How do we balance these competing statements? We don’t, because they don’t compete. The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as Christian faith without Christian action. If you trust in a thing, don’t you act on that trust? Of course.

So…in a way, the difference between Justification and Sanctification is the difference between immaturity and maturity. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that when we were children, we spoke as children, we thought as children, we reasoned as children. That’s Justification. Then, when we became adults, we gave up childish ways. That’s Sanctification. Justification is the acquisition; Sanctification is the development. Sanctification is what we look like when we become grownup Christians, not Christians who are grownups---grownup Christians. Paul tells us again in Ephesians 4: 13: “…until we attain to …mature manhood…so that we may no longer be children.”

How do we get there from here? Follow the leader. We have to get to God. We don’t have the ticket, but Jesus does: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except through me” [John 14:6]. Follow the road. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” [Romans 10: 9]. Jesus is the only way to the adoption which God has promised us.

What does it mean to be Christian? I think it means to follow God. Above all the voices, over all the other roads, we follow our leader. We stay on the road. We need to surrender to the freedom that lies with the grace of Jesus Christ.

By grace, we are saved…through faith.