Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for our meditation is our Epistle reading; the 1st Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: Verses 3 – 14.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the
foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He
destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the
good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace
that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to
the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom
and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a
plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven
and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an
inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who
accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so
that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the
praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were
marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the
pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise
of his glory.
Let us pray: Father, guide the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, that we may hear your word of truth to us and so be reassured in the knowledge that you have already chosen us for eternal salvation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
When
tragic things happen to people or people suddenly become the survivors of a
loved one's unexpected death and they look back over the circumstances involved
with those events, there inevitably comes the regretful thoughts, “If only I
would have done this or that differently, maybe things would have turned out
differently.” “If only I had called the doctor a little sooner.” “If only I had
waited just a few more seconds, I could have avoided that traffic accident.”
“If only I had told that person that I loved him or her before it was too
late.”
Often,
we see our actions, or failure to act, as having been the deciding factor in a
variety of circumstances. As a result we often can carry a great deal of guilt over
what we perceive to have done or have failed to do.
For
this, there will always be God's gift of forgiveness—granted to us
unconditionally by the grace of the heavenly Father, through His Son Jesus. The
only remedy for the pains of conscience which we carry around with us is the
assurance that there is not one single sin that we have ever committed—even
those sins that have impacted other people's lives in a significant way—there
is not one single sin that was left unpunished when Jesus died on the cross for
us. For only by His complete remission of every one of our sins are any of us
assured of everlasting life.
So,
it can never be a case where one particular, haunting offence is going to be
the one that prevents us from entering heaven. If you believe that Jesus is
your Saviour, then you must believe, on the basis of His Word, that He is our Saviour
from all sins. As far as God is concerned, there is no such thing as partial
forgiveness. For the repentant sinner, all sins are daily wiped from our
record.
Yes,
it is true, God knows what we did yesterday—everything we did; and He has
forgiven us. God knows what we did five, ten, twenty, or fifty years ago; and
He has forgiven us. God knew us, before we were even born, and sent His Son
Jesus into this world to die on the cross for us. In fact, even before this
world and the universe were created, God already knew us and decided to make us
His very own.
Listen
to the words of our text: “He chose us in
him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will.”
What
today's text shows us is that the matter of our salvation all rests upon God,
and not upon us. That's precisely what Paul means when he states that we were "predestined". It's the Biblical teaching
which asserts that, from beginning to end, God does it all. In other words, before
this world even existed, God decided that we were going to spend eternity with
Him in heaven. The creation account, as written in Genesis, does not relate a
whim or hobby of God; no, God created a world and environment to abundantly
support human life and then went on to create the first human beings in order
that we in turn, could come along one day. God gave this gift of life to us,
through our parents, so that we might be born into this world. Following on in
His abundant grace, God gave us the gift of spiritual
life in the waters of Baptism, so that our sins could be washed
away and so that He could place His name upon us. In His abundant grace God
instructs us in the knowledge of our salvation through His Holy Word; and He
feeds and nourishes our faith through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Throughout
the Holy Scriptures, our Triune God promises that He will continue to do all of
that for us so that, when that moment comes when we breathe our last, He will
graciously bring us into heaven to live with Him forever.
God
brought humans into a perfect world to live a perfect life as perfect human
beings – How miserably we failed our God - in the midst of this perfect grace
and perfect environment, mankind was seduced by the prince of darkness, and the
first human beings, Adam and Eve, fell into sin—a prison from which they could
not set themselves free; not to this day; in fact, not ever; left to our own
devices, we are nothing but sinful beggars. It could have ended there; we
deserved no better; but in turning to the Gospel of John 3: 16: we are told
that God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son to live and die
for us. So that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Why did He do that? Because He loves us more than we can understand and
in our baptism through His grace He gave us the Holy Spirit, in order that we could believe in Him: Despite our sinful
nature God gave us the gift of faith.
From
beginning to end, God does it all. We were "predestined" by God. In
love He predestined us. He certainly didn't do it out of a sense of obligation.
We did nothing to deserve this salvation. Rather, in love—out of His
underserved compassion and mercy—He chose us to live with Him forever.
Sadly
it is here, at this point, where this predestination comes
under fire by our own sceptical human reason. For, reason tells us that if God
chose some to be saved, then that must also mean that God chose others to be
damned! Or, if God does it all, well then we can just live our lives however we
choose because the outcome has already been determined. Or, in the same vein,
if God has predestined some to be saved, then what difference does it make
whether or not we engage in the work of evangelism? They will be saved anyway.
Friends
in Christ, at the time of the fall was it not our human reason, which thought
it was so clever, that caused our first parents to be persuaded by Satan. Is it
not also true that to this very day our sinful reasoning seeks to question
God’s gracious will with these tricky questions? Human reason is the enemy of
God-given faith. Human reason says, “Unless it makes sense to me , I will not believe it;” just like
Thomas who wanted to see the nail prints in the hands of Jesus and thrust his
own hand into the wound of the spear in Jesus' side, or else he would not
believe.
I
ask the question, who among us, by using human reason, could ever explain the
deepest mystery of all; namely, why should God have had mercy upon rebellious,
unworthy creatures such as we are? There is no such reasoning.
Only
God's Word offers the sufficient and true explanation—that it is all by grace,
by that love which is underserved. As written in Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
Is
God really indifferent about who is saved and who isn't? The Scriptures in 1 Tim.
2:4 tells us, “[He] desires all
people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The Old
Testament Prophet Ezekiel tells us in 33:11 “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from his way and live,”
Are
we free to live our lives as we choose, as though it would have no effect upon
our outcome? Just as God appointed us from eternity for salvation, so also, the
Bible tells us in Eph. 2:10,
“We are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them.”
Friends,
for the necessity of evangelism—the simple fact is that you and I don't know
who has been predestined for eternal life. It might just be that God will use
you to bring that individual, whom He has chosen for eternal life, to faith
through His Word. So, as the Scripture says in 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to
give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that
you have.”
All
too often, we look at our lives as being too insignificant to have any real
impact or purpose in this world. The Holy Scriptures encourages us to look at
the bigger picture, from God's perspective, from His view from eternity to
eternity: When we read Matthew
22:14, it is an overwhelming thought to know that, “Many are called, but few are chosen," and
that God has picked each one of us, by grace through faith, to be one of those
chosen few.
How do
we know for certain we are one of those chosen? The answer is quite simple.
Listen again to the text: “Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world
… in love he predestined us to
be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ … In him we have
redemption through his blood… In him we have obtained an inheritance… In
him we were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” - “In
Him… in Him… in Him!”
The
assurance is found in our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Who has accomplished
everything that has ever been required of us in order that we might be saved.
God has seen our life from beginning to end—in fact, He has seen our life
before its beginning and after its end, when our glorious life will start. As
Psalm 139:16
expresses: “your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in
your book before one of them came to be.” And with Christ Jesus as the
guarantee of our eternal life, God will see us faithfully through to the end,
until we take possession of our heavenly inheritance. Praise God, our salvation
is out of our hands and totally in His! Amen.
The
grace and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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