Set Free!

Ephesians 1:7, 8

Introduction

Many of you will remember August 2010 when 33 miners became trapped more than 700 meters underground in a mine in San Jose, Chile? For over two months they were trapped while those on the surface worked at trying to free them. First they had to bore a hole down to the mine and then they began to extract the men one by one in a small capsule. On October 13, Luis Urzua, who was the shift foreman, was the last man freed.

A news article I read said that “President Sebastian Pinera bear-hugged the foreman upon his release, inviting him to stand beside him to join the hundreds of others at the scene to sing the national anthem.

Praising the foreman “a very good leader of the group”, Pinera said, “We’re going to thank everybody from the bottom of our heart”. Urzua responded with thanks to everybody who has participated in the rescue. “I am very proud of what you have done,” he said to the president.

As the capsule started lifting up, great joy was seen from everybody’s face and tens of hundreds of rescuers on the surface could not help singing spontaneously: “Let’s go, miners! Let’s go, miners! Tonight we are going to rescue you.”

This event tells us several things. It tells us that being trapped is a terrible thing. It reminds us of the fear, bondage and restrictions that accompany being trapped. It also tells us that when you are trapped you long for freedom and the best news is: “There is a way of release.” We also note that when release happens, there is great rejoicing!

If you have ever been trapped, you understand these things. In fact, all of us should understand them because the story of being trapped and being released is our story! Listen to how it is described in Ephesians 1:7, 8.

I. We Have Redemption

A. Redemption

There are many ways in which we can be trapped. Many years ago a fellow I knew had a problem with alcohol. I was invited to be part of his recovery as he went through the AA program and I came to realize just what a terrible entrapment alcoholism can be.

There was a lady I knew who was a wife, a mother and had a responsible job but then she began to dabble with games of chance. Before long she was trapped in a gambling addiction and I saw how difficult it was for her to admit that she needed help and to break free.

A good friend of ours does seminars to help people with various sexual addictions. His expertise comes from his own terrible struggle with addiction to pornography.

These are some of the ways in which people can be trapped. We usually try to hide these addictions but ignore the many other ways in which we are trapped. Some are trapped in cycles of deception. Some are trapped in habits of self centeredness. I recently heard about a very insidious entrapment called “retail therapy.” It involves being trapped in the thinking that if we can just go purchase something new we will feel better.

Ultimately all of these traps are just manifestations of what really puts all of us in bondage and that is sin. Being trapped in sin is a terrible thing. We know that we do wrong things and we can’t seem to stop doing them. We know that we are guilty for the things we have done wrong. We also know that there must be punishment for our sin.

If we know what that means, if we agree with the assessment that we are trapped in sin, then the message of Ephesians 1:7, 8 is good news! The verse begins by saying, “we have.” Marcus Barth suggests that “we possess” is a better translation. He says, “’We possess’ is stronger than the trite ‘we have.’” What we possess is redemption.

What does redemption mean? Ruth was a foreigner. She left her home country and came to live in the land of Israel together with her mother-in-law Naomi. When she came into the country, she had nothing. She was a widow, a foreigner in a land that was not always kind to foreigners and she had no means of supporting herself. What hope was there for her? A relative of her mother-in-law by the name of Boaz redeemed her by marrying her and buying back the land which belonged to her husband’s family. The language used is the language of redemption because he redeemed her from widowhood, from being a foreigner and from poverty. It means that she was set free from what trapped her.

That is what it means that God has given us redemption. Wood says, “Redemption has to do with the emancipation either of slaves or of prisoners.” We have been set free from the bondage of sin, from the guilt of sin and from the punishment which is upon sin. Titus 2:14 reminds us, "He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds." Barth says, “’Freedom’ is the clear purpose and result of redemption.”

B. Through His Blood

The image of redemption from sin was familiar in the Old Testament. It was demonstrated to the people of Israel on the Day of Atonement. On this day two animals were brought to the temple. One of them was sacrificed for the sins of the people. The other was released. This picture was an image for the people of the two sides of redemption. On the one side is the release from bondage. On the other is the price to be paid to secure the redemption. That price was blood. Hebrews 9:22 says, "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

We have been given freedom from sin and the price that was paid in order for us to have this freedom was none other than the blood of Jesus. Our text says that “we have redemption through His blood.”

We have committed sin against God and in order to free us from that sin, God gave His only Son Jesus. He provided the sacrifice. When Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, he went up the mountain and when Isaac asked, “Where is the sacrifice?” Abraham answered, “God will provide.” Well when God wanted to deal with sin, a sacrifice was required. Once again God provided the sacrifice and the sacrifice He provided was His own Son. Unlike Abraham who did not have to sacrifice his son, God did sacrifice His Son.

When Jesus came to earth, He came with the express purpose of dying on the cross. He frequently announced to His disciples, “The Son of Man has come to give his life.” When it came right down to it, it was very difficult for Jesus to yield up His life and in the garden of Gethsemane he agonized, but in the end He agreed to die for us. He yielded His life to an unjust trial and to the evils of violent men in order to allow His blood to be shed. All of this was the price which was paid so that we could be set free from the trap of sin.

We have redemption, or we could say freedom because of the shed blood of Jesus. What do you think of Jesus? Is the knowledge of His great sacrifice imprinted on your heart so that you are thankful that you have been set free? Do you love Jesus?

II. We Have Forgiveness

A. Forgiveness

There are different words in the Bible for sin. One of them has the meaning of “a sinful condition.” In that word, the emphasis is that there is something within us which is so twisted that we prefer sin. We are guilty for sin in this sense and Jesus came to forgive the sin nature within us.

That is not, however, the word used for sin in verse 7 when it says, “we have forgiveness of our trespasses.” The word for sin used here has the sense of “deviating from the right path.” It has a nuance of being deliberate about our sinful acts. Not only do we have a sin nature, but we have acted on that sin nature in acts that are wrong and break the good of what God intended when He created us. It seems to me that there is much more blame attached to sin that is a deliberate step off the right path. I heard a story this week of someone who deliberately cheated a friend. How do you forgive someone who has wronged you on purpose? Yet that is what we have done. We have deliberately done wrong and sinned against God. We knew the right way to go and we chose not to go that way. When we recognize that that is what we have done, we are filled with guilt. Guilt is a terrible feeling. It makes us feel dirty and accountable for what we have done wrong. It includes the fear of punishment and of recognizing that if we are punished, that punishment is justified.

A friend of mine, who passed away several years ago, had caused an accident while drunk and someone died in the accident. The guilt of that was a terrible burden to him. All of us feel a similar sense of guilt because of what we have done wrong. Many years ago, I had a dream that I had killed someone. The feelings which overwhelmed me were terrible. I remember to this day how awful it felt to know that I had done this and would have to live with it and pay for it. I was so glad when I woke up and found it had only been a dream.

Yet that feeling of release can be ours because of God’s forgiveness. God didn’t wake us up and allow us to realize that our wrongdoing was all a dream. God has given us forgiveness. God does not sweep our sin under the rug and say it’s no big deal. God acknowledges that we have done every terrible thing that we have done, but does not hold us accountable for our sin. That is forgiveness! What cleanness! What freedom!

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says that forgiveness means, “to send off,” and has the various senses of “to release,” “to pardon.” The Bible contains this great news from God over and over again. Psalm 103:12 says, "as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us." 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

B. Grace

Is it ever great to know that all that God has against us has been cleaned up! We know that we do not deserve any of this. In fact, it is very difficult for us to accept that it has been cleaned up. How often do we continue to beat ourselves up because of things that we have done wrong? We hear the words of forgiveness, but we don’t quite believe them and so even though God has said that our sins are cast into the depth of the sea, we refuse to forgive ourselves.

God’s goodness in forgiving us is so amazing! It is all grace. It is undeserved and yet complete. It is so complete that God says “I don’t remember your sins.” It is His choice to say that our sin is gone. All of this is grace. His grace is truly amazing! In fact the text attributes redemption and forgiveness to the amazing grace of God when it says that it was done “according to the riches of His grace.” Isn’t that a wonderful phrase? God’s grace is rich; it is generously given to us so that even though we do not deserve it, God has declared us forgiven and free.

Paul piles one more wonderful image to the abundance of grace when he says that it was “lavished on us.” TDNT says, “…this word means ‘to be present overabundantly or to excess…’” God’s grace is excessive. Many years ago James Nikkel was preaching on this passage in our church in The Pas. I will never forget the image that he used to describe the word “lavished” and I would like to adapt it. When we were in Manitou we had a Thanksgiving banquet every year. One of the favorite things at that banquet was desert and one of the favorite deserts was chocolate pie. Some people actually chose their seating to make sure that they were near a chocolate pie. Now you can have chocolate pie just plain or you can have it with a dollop of whipped cream on top. I like chocolate pie and I like whipped cream. James Nikkel suggested that when we think of the word lavished, we should think of a chocolate pie, not by itself, not merely with a dollop of whipped cream, but with whipped cream covering the whole pie, pilled high and running over the edges. So much whipped cream that you can hardly find the pie. That is the kind of a picture that should be in our mind when we think of God’s grace in forgiving us. He has covered us with forgiveness in a generous and over-abundant way. That is how much we are forgiven. That is the magnanimous way in which God has said to every sinner who comes to Him, “you are forgiven!”

C. Wisdom and Insight

Last week we came across the concept that sometimes a certain word or phrase in Scripture can be attached to what precedes it or what follows it. There we noted that the word “in love” could indicate that God had chosen us to be holy and blameless in love or it could indicate that it was “in love” that God has adopted us as his children.

The same thing happens in this passage again. Sometimes grammar does not make it perfectly clear what is intended and when you translate a passage, the problem is compounded. In this case, the phrase “with all wisdom and insight” could be attached to the wonder of God’s forgiveness or it could demonstrate that it is with “wisdom and insight” that God has made His will known to us. In our pew Bibles it says, “With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will.” NIV emphasizes the former when it says, “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

Once again, it makes sense to take it with both phrases. Taking it then with the fact that God has forgiven us according to His grace, “with all wisdom and understanding” tells us a wonderful truth. Some might want to suggest that forgiveness makes no sense. How can God forgive? Doesn’t it encourage sin if he just forgives it? How will the guilty party be held accountable if they are forgiven? It is to such questions that this phrase answers. It tells us that the wisdom of God has covered all such objections. He has done the impossible and the unexpected of forgiving us and has covered all his bases. Forgiveness is not free and does not overlook the offense. Jesus paid the price and accepted the punishment. Yet at the same time forgiveness is an expression of the fundamental nature of God as one who loves us deeply. In other words, God’s plan makes perfect sense. Paul puts it like this in Romans 3:26, "it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus." God’s wisdom is evident in forgiveness because He expresses His love and forgives sin and yet at the same time does so justly through the sacrifice of Jesus.

The wisdom of God is also seen in that it was the only way that such a difficult thing could happen. When Jesus was about to go to the cross, He asked the Father if there was any other possible way to accomplish forgiveness for sin. In agreeing to go to the cross, He made it clear that there was no other way and in lavish graciousness He was willing to pay this price for us which has left us forgiven.

Now, of course, not everyone has God’s forgiveness. Although it is available to everyone on earth, it is given only to those who receive it. It is available for all, but we need to accept it. If you are here today and feel that you are trapped in sin and if you acknowledge that you are a sinner and that you are guilty and if you feel that guilt, the good news of God in these words from the Bible are that you can be set free and you can be forgiven. All you need to do is approach Jesus in prayer and tell him that you know you are a sinner and accept the forgiveness He has offered. If you do that today, I would encourage you to talk to someone here today and let them know that you are now free in Christ.

Conclusion

People took pictures of the last miner when he was released from the mine after two months of being trapped. What joy is evident on his face! In fact, you can see the joy on everyone’s face.

Great joy is also present in heaven and we read about the celebration which takes place in Revelation 5:9, "They sing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;"

Is that the joy that is in us when we realize that we are released from the bondage of sin and forgiven for the guilt of sin?

There is one thing I have not yet spoken of and I must also mention. The first two words in this section of Scripture are “In Him.” Last week we noticed that it is in Jesus that we are chosen and have become God’s children. It is really important to remember that it is also in Jesus that we have forgiveness. Jesus has freed us. Jesus has released us from our sin. It is about Jesus.

As we contemplate what He has done, the question we must ask is, “Do you love Jesus?” When the reality of our freedom from guilt and sin really gets through not only to our mind, but to our heart, how can we help but be so deeply in love with Jesus that our conversation, our confidence, our hope, our work, our life will be impacted by that love.

Picked By Him!

Ephesians 1:1-6

Introduction

I want to thank you for the way in which you have welcomed us to Portage Avenue. It hasn’t taken us very long to feel as if we belong and it is a good feeling. Sometimes we may have experiences in which we are not felt welcomed. I walked into a meeting once and as I walked in the first thing I noticed is that I did not know anyone. I also noticed that people were talking to each other and seemed very familiar with each other. For a while, I stood by myself, not sure what to do until the person who had invited me to the meeting came over and welcomed me and introduced me to some other people. Did that ever feel good! Perhaps you have had similar experiences. Perhaps your life feels like that. Perhaps you have feelings of being alone or being unaccepted. This morning we will look at the good news that God has chosen us. The truth of His choosing is much more profound than just feeling good that we belong.

The text we will be looking at is Ephesians 1:1-6 and will be the first in a series of messages on the book of Ephesians. I chose Ephesians because as I thought and prayed about what to preach on, it seemed to me that there were certain themes that would be a good starting point. I would like to begin with a focus on Jesus, as I indicated in the message I preached when I was here in July. I would also like to think together with you about God’s intent for the church and also about the ways in which God wants us to fulfill His intent for the church. All of these themes are well developed in Ephesians and I hope that they will be an encouragement and a challenge to us.

As we begin, let us read Ephesians 1:1-6

The book begins in the normal way of letters in the New Testament. Paul begins by identifying himself and addressing the believers in the church in Ephesus. There is some debate about whether this letter was written specifically to the church in Ephesus or if it was also written to other churches in the region, or perhaps wasn’t a letter at all, but a theological paper. Whatever the original intent, we understand that it is the Word of God and the message of the book pertains to us today. As we read it and study it we need to do so with the understanding that God speaking to us.

Paul greets the church with a word of grace and peace from God and from Jesus. This greeting contains themes, such as grace, peace and Jesus that we will continue to encounter as we examine the book.

I. Blessed Be God

A. Praise to God

As Paul launches into the letter he does so in one of the most unique ways we can imagine. Have you ever heard a child who is naturally talkative describe a particularly exciting event that has happened to them? Their speech is rapid, excited, and runs from theme to theme without stopping for a pause. Sentences do not have periods, but only commas. The words come in such a rapid flow that you are tempted to invite the child to take a breath. That is what happens in Ephesians 1:3-14 and although our English translations have provided us with periods in between, the Greek text has no period until verse 14. Paul is so excited about all that God has done in Jesus that he just spills out one expression of praise to God after another. He is breathless with praise! What is the content of his praise? What is he so excited about? We will examine all his reasons for praise over the next few weeks, but we need to understand that they are contained in one breathless sentence of praise to God.

Paul sets the tone of praise in verse 3 and declares “Blessed be…God…who has blessed us with every…blessing…” Some of the translations don’t translate this as well as others, but NRSV, which is our pew Bible, does. The same word “bless” is used three times in this verse. God is blessed because He has blessed us with every blessing. This word means speaking well. It means, “Its all good.” It means saying good things about God because He has given us good things in a good way.

Why is Paul so excited to praise God? Not only because of who God is, this would be appropriate enough, but also because of what He has done.

B. What We Have

The other day as I was reading through various church documents I came across a financial statement which included a section listing the assets of the church – the building and related property. Whenever you go to a bank for a loan, they want to know what your assets are, so from time to time, we may need to do a calculation of our physical assets. That is what Paul does here, but it is not a calculation of physical assets, but rather a calculation of spiritual assets. He talks about the “spiritual” blessings we have “in the heavenly realms.” This may disappoint some of us who get excited about physical assets, but when it comes to spiritual assets, we know that in this life when things get tough and when we are about to face the end of life and in regard to the life to come, it is the spiritual assets which are of real value. It’s interesting how what we value changes. When we are hungry, we value food. When we are tired, a pillow is our greatest asset, but when we come to the end of ourselves, when our sin is overwhelming, when we run out of hope, when our strength is gone, when we think of the future, then spiritual assets are what we are looking for more than anything else.

So when we read that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, we have the wonderful assurance that we are rich. Although we have nothing on Bill Gates or Warren Buffet in terms of physical assets, we are much wealthier in spiritual terms because God has given us “every” spiritual blessing.

C. In Christ

These blessings are ours in Christ. This little two word phrase is one of the most important phrases in this letter. Tom Neufeld points out, “In Christ appears in one form or another more than twenty times in Ephesians.” I will keep mentioning it because it reminds us of the importance of Jesus. All the spiritual stuff that has happened to us has happened because of Jesus. All we have we have because of Jesus and so Jesus is the center of our life. Sometimes we act as if our spiritual life is about what we have accomplished or about what we know we ought to do, but I would like to invite us to think carefully about the centrality of Christ. We have begun our faith in Christ and we will meet Christ in the end, and it is our privilege also to live our whole life in Christ because it is in Him that we have every spiritual blessing.

II. He Chose Us

The word “for” at the beginning of verse 4 indicates that all these spiritual blessings are now going to be identified. We praise God because of all He has done. The rest of the sentence is a list of spiritual assets we have in Christ.

A. Chosen

One summer we attended the baseball tournament they have in Clearwater, Manitoba every July 1. On that day this little community of 50 or 100 people swells to almost 1000 people. We knew a lot of people there, our children were playing ball and it was a great community festival. That day there is baseball at every level – children and youth teams, senior men’s teams and also teams that play just for fun, sometimes called “liniment league.” As I said, we knew some people there and at some time during the day, someone came up to me to ask if I wanted to play on their team. It felt good to be picked to play. In the back of my mind I had a suspicion that I was chosen because not enough of their players showed up to make a team and they were looking for warm bodies to stand in the outfield, but it was still nice to be chosen.

God’s has chosen us, but his choosing is very different from the way in which I was chosen for the baseball game.

The words “chosen” and “predestined” appear in verses 3, 4 and tempt us to become involved in a debate about election. In trying to understand these concepts, people have developed theological constructions about what the Bible is trying to say. Some have emphasized election and have developed their theology to the extent that they believe that some are chosen for life and some are chosen for eternal destruction. The problem with this direction is that the whole matter of salvation ends up entirely in God’s hands and takes away all human responsibility and all human motivation to go and tell the nations and also runs into serious problems with the rest of Scripture. Some have emphasized human responsibility. This is the thinking that has been common in our spiritual heritage. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it ignores the many passages which indicate that God has chosen and puts the whole matter of salvation entirely in our hands. I believe that Scripture teaches both God’s call and our responsibility and that understanding this logically is a mystery. I also believe that there is great danger in trying to distill the Bible into theological constructs. The danger is that we end up forcing Scripture into the mold of the theological construct and stop listening to what God is trying to say to us in the Bible.

So what we need to do is listen to what God is saying in each passage. The mention of being chosen by God in this passage gives us one important message and that is that God wants us.

When I was a teen, I learned to play chess and then taught my father to play. For a while I was able to beat him because I had played more than he had, but it didn’t take very long before he began to win. He began to win because he had the ability to think more moves ahead than I did. Winning a chess game is about planning ahead to make the best moves. God’s choice of us is wonderful not only because it tells us that he wants us but also because it involved a plan. He has thought many moves ahead. His plan was not made at the spur of the moment or in response to the latest crisis. God’s plan involved choosing us before the foundation of the world. God has a plan put together in love long before any human was a twinkle in their parent’s eye. His plan is to gather together a people who are his people. God wants us as a church and each individual in the church as His own. This is the blessing of being chosen by Him.

How does God’s choice of us as a church impact you? How does the knowledge that God wants you impact you?

B. Purpose of Choosing

The words “to be” indicate that God’s choosing is for a purpose. God has chosen us not just so that we will feel good about ourselves. God has chosen us in order that we will be like Him. He has chosen us “to be holy and blameless in his sight in love.”

God is calling together a holy people. God knew that we would be anything but holy because we have all chosen to sin, but his project involves a plan to make us into a holy people. Holy people are set apart from the ordinary. They live for higher purposes. They manifest different values. They portray the characteristics of God-likeness in every aspect of life. God has chosen us for this purpose and will fulfill this purpose in us.

He has chosen us to be blameless. Who of us can claim that they are without blame? If I look back in my life, I know that there are lots of things for which I can be blamed because I have done wrong. Sometimes some of the things that I have done wrong come back into my mind and I may even blush or feel bad about what I have done. Yet God has chosen me, knowing everything I am to blame for and is creating me into someone who can be blamed for nothing. The verses we will look at next week speak more about this.

He has also chosen us to be people who walk in love. The word “in love” can either be attached to the end of verse 4 or to the beginning of verse 5. If you read different translations, you will notice that even the translators cannot agree on where it belongs. For example, NRSV says, “…he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” On the other hand, NIV says, “In love he predestined us to be adopted…” In the Believer’s Church Bible Commentary, Tom Neufeld says, “Most commentators lean toward associating in love with predestination, but it is best to allow both associations to affect the understanding of the text. As in so many cases, eliminating either option impoverishes us.” So I will follow that idea and suggest that God has chosen us to be a people who love. Last week Keith did a great job of reminding us of the importance of love. Today I would remind us that God has chosen us for that purpose.

Irwin Penner says, “God raised us to an acceptable position before him in Christ which we could never attain by ourselves.”

C. In Christ

Once again, we notice that all of this has happened “in Christ.” How has God expressed His choosing? He has done so in Christ. He sent Jesus to this earth to provide the way for us to become His. We could say that in choosing us he did not just send a letter or an email informing us of our good fortune. He came to get us by sending Jesus.

It is also in Jesus that we are made holy. It is in Jesus that we have become blameless and it is in Jesus that we learn to love.

Please hear this, Jesus is the center. It is in Him that we are the chosen of God.

III. He Adopted Us

A. Adopted In Love

I mentioned a moment ago that “in love” can be taken either with verse 4 or with verse 5. If we take it with verse 5 it also gives us a wonderful truth. It tells us that God has adopted us because of His love. How wonderful to be the recipients of His love.

Although all human beings are God’s children in the sense that we have come to life entirely by His doing, yet sin has separated us from that filial relationship. Jesus is the true son of God, but in love God has adopted us as His children.

In human terms, adoption can be a challenging thing. I know a number of people who have been adopted. I have spoken to some of them who have been given up for adoption because their mother was not able to take care of them. This rejection at such an early age has had a powerful effect on them. It is very difficult for them to get over the fact that the first human being they were associated with did not want them. But I have also seen those same people rejoice in the fact that the parents who adopted them did not raise them because they happened to get pregnant and have a child, but because they specifically chose them and continued to choose them throughout their life. The choice of adoption rendered them fully the children of their adoptive parents. In some cases they have met their biological parents, but the bond of adoption was too strong and “mom and dad” were always their parents. I know of one person who speaks of his parents as “mom and dad” but of his physical mother as “my biological mom.”

God has adopted us and the choosing involved in that is like the best kind of adoption. The sense of belonging and being cared for is the blessing that is ours because we have been chosen by God.

Many translations miss just how powerfully this choice of us is communicated in Greek, but NASB gets it when it says, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself…” God has adopted us “to Himself” and when we read that it simply strengthens the blessing of what it means that we are His children.

B. His Pleasure and Will

When my grandmother was young she was left by her parents, I believe because of things that happened in the Russian revolution. It was not that they entirely abandoned her, but because they were in danger, they left her with some of her older siblings who looked after her. This “adoption” was not entirely the choice of her siblings, but a family obligation and there were times when she felt rejected by those who had adopted her.

God has not adopted us like that. Notice that the text says that he adopted us “in accordance with his pleasure and will.” Adopting us is not only what God wanted to do, it was what gave Him great pleasure. I like The Message translation which says, “What pleasure he took in planning this!”

When we do an evaluation of our assets it usually includes a list of various assets. They are often categorized according to type and after each sub category there is a sub total. As we list our spiritual assets according to this passage, verse 6 seems to function as a subtotal declaration of praise. What blessings we have! What good things God has given! All of these are given to us freely even though we did not deserve any of them. That is the nature of God’s grace. Paul never stops. He piles reason upon blessing, upon God’s motive and so invites us to a great and glorious expression of praise! George Shillington has written, “Paul believed in a kind of circular economy of blessing, where God’s liberal dispensing of gifts is intended via the generosity of the blessed to result in the worship of the gift giver—God. God’s blessing results in God’s being blessed (cf. Shillington: 194–7).”

C. In Christ

As we conclude the passage we are looking at today, we notice for the third time that all of these blessings have been given to us in Christ. Jesus has accomplished all of this for us!

This time, however, there is a difference. He does not only speak about Jesus as “in Him” but speaks about Him as “the One He loves.” Just think about that and let the wonder of it sink in. God has chosen us and adopted us in Jesus. He did this by sending His beloved and only Son into this broken world to experience the depth of that brokenness in order to give us these blessings. It truly is about Jesus!

Conclusion

Do we know how rich we are? In November Don and Linda Ingram of Oshawa discovered that they were Ontario's latest multi-millionaires following their $50 million jackpot win in the November 18, 2011 Lotto Max draw. Don and Linda are both long-time cooks at Wally's World Restaurant in Oshawa. They found out about their win when Linda checked their tickets at her local retailer on Saturday morning following the Friday night draw. "When I saw and heard 'BIG WINNER' on the terminal and realized I was holding the $50 million ticket, it blew my mind," said Linda.”

Does Ephesians 1:1-6 blow your mind? What we have is worth far more than $50 million.

When we understand the blessings we have from God in Christ, we should realize that we have no reason to ever feel unwanted again. If we aren’t picked for the job, it’s OK. God has picked us. If we aren’t picked for the team, it’s OK, God has picked us. If we feel alone, it’s OK, we are God’s child.

Let us revel in His blessings and praise Him for them! Let us recognize that all this has been done for us in Christ and center our life in Him.

Faith in God

Introduction

Today is New Years day. It doesn’t happen very often that New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday, so it is great that on this first day of 2012 we are gathered here in church to begin our year in the presence of God. New Year’s Day is a day to look forward.

Yet this day I look forward with a view to the past. The very first time I ever preached was on New Year’s Day, back in the day when we had a service on New Year’s Day even if it was during the week. Rev. Henry Voth gave me the chance to preach from this very spot way back in the early 70’s and it was part of what contributed to my career as a pastor. It is interesting, therefore to stand here today on New Year’s Day and once again share the Word of God not only at the beginning of a New Year, but also at the beginning of my being your pastor. We are very glad to be starting and look forward to serving in this church. We look forward to getting to know you and to facing the challenge of being God’s people at PAC.

During Christmas celebrations we played a game called Jenga. The object of the game is to move blocks of wood from the bottom of the pile and place them at the top of the pile without causing the whole pile to collapse. The game is a metaphor for life. We go through life moving blocks and experiencing various things in life and we are often afraid that the whole pile will come crashing down. Even the beginning of this new pastoral relationship is a little like that. You don’t know what it will be like with this new guy as pastor. We don’t know what it will be like to serve in this church. Many things are unknown as we face a new year and we don’t know whether sometime in this year the whole pile may come crashing down. Yet the confidence we have as we enter 2012 is that we enter it with a Father in whom we can put complete confidence.

This morning I would like to tell you a story of our experience over the last few months which has caused me to think deeply about what it means to have faith in God. When we were accepted as pastor couple for this congregation, we knew that it would mean a move into the city. So we quickly began to process that. We put a sign up in front of our house and posters up in town and ads on Kajiji and tried to sell the house. We called a real estate agent and began looking for a house in Winnipeg. Well, it didn’t take long to find the house we wanted and we evaluated the risk of buying before we sold, but believed that this was the house for us and had reason to hope that all would go well and bought the house and we are really glad to be living in it. Yet the sale of the house in Rosenort continued to be a concern for us and many times we were afraid that the whole pile would come crashing down. As we dealt with that fear, we learned some important things about what it means to have faith in God and I hope as I share this story and some Scriptures that teach us about faith in God, that you will be encouraged and directed as you face whatever is coming in this year.

I. Hope

A. In Circumstances

As we began the process of selling our house we were filled with confidence. Our house in Rosenort is a great house in a great location. It is a modest bungalow on a nicely treed 2 acre lot. It has a nice garden on the yard and a river in the back yard. It is within the Rosenort dike so there is no danger from flooding. The house itself has a built out basement and a newly remodeled kitchen. The community of Rosenort is growing because there is a lot of manufacturing in the community. In the past, houses have sold well and people have even built houses on speculation and sold them. All of these circumstances gave us confidence that there would be no problem trying to sell the house. The first few days we had numerous phone calls and we thought that someone would soon come and look at the house and make us an offer. But it didn’t happen. We began to wonder what was wrong? Was the price we were asking wrong? Was there something wrong with the house?

Our world was shaken up, we were disappointed, we lost sleep and we were afraid that we would run into financial problems. As this was happening we began to realize that our faith had been in circumstances. Everything suggested that all would go well and we had hope and faith in that circumstance. But faith in circumstances failed us.

When Israel entered the Promised Land with Joshua leading them they attacked Jericho with great trepidation, but with a strong affirmation from God that He would give them victory. They had a sound victory and after celebrating that victory, they prepared to attack the next city, which was the city of Ai. As they moved forward they believed that they would not have any problem. The text does not indicate why they thought they would have no problem. It might have been because of confidence in God, but as they explained their reasoning, it seems that they were also confident in the circumstances. They sent spies to examine the circumstances and in Joshua 7:3 they reported, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.” The circumstance they were confident in was, “only a few men are there.” Of course we know that there was more to the story, but at least part of the issue was that they were confident in their circumstances but things didn’t work out the way they expected.

I suspect that all of us have experienced similar things. We may have come up against some challenge in life. Perhaps we were looking for a job and we had done everything we could to secure the job we were looking for. We followed the advice of our parents and studied hard. We followed the advice of our teachers and took the training that would lead to the job. We wrote a brilliant resume and believed that because of all these positive circumstances, we would certainly get the job. Our faith was in the circumstances and we were disappointed and confused when we didn’t get the job we wanted. It is OK to do things that make for good circumstances. I do not regret remodeling the kitchen of the house in Rosenort last year in fall, but if our faith is in circumstances, we may well be disappointed.

B. In a Person

For about a month we tried to sell the house on our own, confident of the circumstances but it didn’t sell. One day I was in the coffee shop and was talking to Ron who told me about a man he knew, who used to work for him and who was now involved in real estate. Ron told me, “he can sell anything.” I was comfortable with this man, I knew him, and although he didn’t live in Rosenort, he had and so I was hopeful that he knew the community, knew the rural market, but had access to MLS and other real estate people. So we contacted him and signed a contract for him to try to sell our house. Once again we had hope and were confident. Now our confidence, while still somewhat in circumstances, was strengthened because we also had hope in a person.

We were confident that it would sell soon. He had contacts, he knew people who were looking and so we waited for the phone call that would let us know that someone was coming to look at the house. Our hope was high. A week went by and two and three. There were a few calls and a few people came to look, but no one made an acceptable offer. Each day we waited for him to call, but at the end of his three month contract, the house had not yet sold. Once again we were discouraged. Once again we lost sleep and wondered why this great real estate agent was not able to sell this great property. Our faith had been in a person and we were disappointed.

King Saul had not been faithful to God and Samuel had told him that the kingdom would be taken from him. Samuel died and Saul was on his own with this difficult reality. One day he was faced with an enemy attack by the Philistines. We read in 1 Samuel 28:4, "The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart." Saul was in a difficult place and he wondered where he could turn and how he would survive this crisis. He reasoned that if only he could talk to the right person, everything would be OK. The only problem was that the right person was not alive anymore. But Saul was desperate and so he went to look for a medium who he hoped would bring Samuel back from the dead to help him. The only problem was that Saul himself had outlawed this practice and so he had to go in disguise. When the medium asked him in 1 Samuel 28:11, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” he said. “Bring up Samuel,” In this situation, Saul was putting his faith in a person. When Samuel was actually brought up and spoke with Saul, he repeated the bad news he had told him previously and later that day when the battle was engaged Saul died in that battle. Obviously there was a lot more to this story, but it is clear that Saul was not trusting God, but rather that he wanted to put his trust in a person.

I suspect that many of us have done the same thing. We notice that something is not right with our body so we go to the doctor. The initial diagnosis proves to be worrisome, but when the doctor says, I think we can do something about that, we are encouraged. We quickly put our faith in the doctor. Although we need to go to a doctor and we need to rely on what they are able to do, if our whole faith is in a person, we may well be disappointed.

C. In Promises

As the house did not sell quickly, we were disappointed, but our world did not fall apart. We realized that the agent was a good worker, but not a miracle worker. Throughout this time, he kept us up to date on what was happening. For a while not much was happening, but in the end of November, he told us that he had several people who were interested in the house. One was coming to look at it on the first Saturday of December and another couple had phoned about the house at least five times and was planning to come the second Saturday of December and there was another couple that was also interested. Throughout this time we were at peace. We still had hope in circumstances and in a person, but we also had hope in the promises that something would happen. It was amazing that whenever there was a promise that someone was interested, we were at peace. Our confidence was in the promises. However, the last message we had from him was a few days after his contract was up. He had shown the house to some of the people who had promised to come, but he reported, “I do not have an offer on your house.” This time it seemed like everything was lost. Circumstances did not guarantee a sale. A good person did not guarantee a sale. Promises did not materialize. This was very disappointing for us.

During the days of Eli the priest, the people of Israel went into battle with the Philistines. We read in 1 Samuel 4:1-2, "Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield." Israel was in trouble. They went to battle and it did not turn out well at all. What were they going to do? As we read on in the text we read in 1 Samuel 4:3, "When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” What were they doing? They were putting their hope in the promises. They believed that the Ark of the Covenant would guarantee them victory. Of course there was more happening here including a prophecy that the sin of Eli’s sons would result in their death and trouble for Israel, but the point is still valid that at this point they were putting their faith in promises. Things did not work out well that day. Eli’s sons were killed and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. When Eli heard about it he also died. Hope in the promises did not guarantee the result.

We easily run into the same problem. We put our hope in promises. Sometimes we put our hope in the promises that people make. We know that these promises are not certain and we are disappointed when people fail to keep their promises.

What about the promises of God? Surely we can put our hope in the promises that God has made! We believed we had such promises. We believed that God called us to PAC and we believed He led us to buy the house we are living in. Why would he not allow our house sell? In Psalm 91:10 we have a great promise, "then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent." Yet sometimes harm comes to us. I have thought a lot about this promise during this time, always with the realization in the back of my mind that our daughter has severe rheumatoid arthritis? If our faith is in the promises, even those in the Bible and we apply the promises indiscriminately, we may well be disappointed. God’s promises are good and we can put our hope in His promises, but not when we apply them without regard to other factors. Not if our hope is in the promises only. If we rely on the promises to make everything right we may well be disappointed.

II. Faith in God

We were discouraged because our last hope was gone. Our world was shaken but it did not come crashing down. Why not? It was then that we were forced to go where we knew all along we had to go

Our hope had to be in God alone; not in circumstances, not in people, not even in promises but in God alone.

A. Having Faith

Scripture tells us this again and again.

We love Proverbs 3:5, 6 where we read, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Unfortunately, we often read it and place all the emphasis on the last part of the verse. “He will make your paths straight.” If we read it accurately, the emphasis needs to be on the first part of the verse, “Trust in the Lord…acknowledge Him.” He is the one we are to trust! He is the one we are to have faith in!

Such “trust in the Lord” is very clearly defined for us in Hebrews 11:6 where we read, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." This verse tells us first of all that we must have a deep and implicit trust in God. It tells us that without such faith it is impossible to please God. Although God wants our obedience, He also wants our faith, our confidence in Him.

What does it mean to have such faith? It means three things according to this verse. It means that we must believe that He exists. How often I have caught myself saying I believe, but being anxious that he isn’t there? Why is it so much easier to have faith in circumstances or faith in a person whom we can see? The reason may well be that we don’t believe that God exists.

We must also believe that He rewards. This is a belief that He is good. When we see the difficulties which many people around us or we ourselves experience, we sometimes wonder what the source of that difficulty is. It is easy for us to blame God for it. Many people have a hard time understanding that God is good when they read the book of Job. Yet if we have faith, we will understand that God is good.

We will also “earnestly seek Him.” This means that we will not treat Him like a cosmic candy dispenser. We will seek to discern not only His will but Him. We will seek to know God and to develop a relationship with Him. That is what it means to have faith.

One of the Psalms always impresses me because of the faith that David had. He was in the midst of a battle. All around him his enemies were out to get him. Yet, he was able to sleep. How often between 4 and 6 in the morning, when I wasn’t sleeping, have I thought about that verse! Psalm 4:8 says, "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Why are we able to sleep even when things are in turmoil around us? Because we have faith in God who does not sleep! Psalm 121:4 reminds us, "…he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

B. Why?

Why are we able to have such faith in God?

1. Because He is the creator of all things

We can have faith because God is the creator who has made all things. I love nature and have often worshipped God when I have been on a hike or canoeing or skiing. Recently I have been reading a book which shows that the wonder of creation extends deeply to the molecular level of creation. The book is about the relationship between science and faith. In it they describe the DNA molecule. I confess that I don’t nearly understand all that they are saying, but one thing has impressed me. At the molecular level, seemingly random forces are held together by some unidentified code. This description of things at the molecular level made me realize once again that at the center of all of creation is the one who made it. God knows about and has created all things.

Since God is the creator of all things, He lacks no power to meet any of our needs. We can have faith because God is able.

2. Because He is Love

I mentioned earlier that faith means believing that God is good. Why can we believe that God is good? Because He has demonstrated His love in the most amazing and powerful way possible by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. Romans 8:32 assures us, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Therefore, because He loves us we can put our trust in Him

3. Because He is the God of resurrection

We can also have faith in God because in Him there is no impossible situation. He is the God of resurrection.

When Lazarus died, all who knew him were devastated. Mary even said to Jesus, “If only you had been here.” What was she saying? She was saying, “I believe that you are a miracle worker and could have healed him.” Jesus challenged her to see Him in a new way. He told her in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies…" In other words, Jesus can take impossible situations and redeem them.

We talked earlier about the promises and that we don't always see them fulfilled. That is because some of them are fulfilled only in the resurrection. That is how it was for Jesus. The disciples were devastated when He died but the promises about Jesus required resurrection. Our hope also extends beyond this life and is in God who raises the dead and is therefore not limited by impossible situations.

C. Learning To Live By Faith

That is why we must have faith in God alone. Although it is good to create positive circumstances and to seek people who can help us and to examine and rely on the promises we are given especially the promises God has given, ultimately, we need to put our faith in God.

How can we live in such faith?

I believe that we need to feed ourselves with truth. The more we reflect on and meditate on all the truths about the power and love of God and the deeper our understanding that God is a God of resurrection, the easier it will be to trust in Him. So in this year, make a commitment to reflect on God daily. I have made it a habit to read a Psalm every day. What an encouragement this has so often been to me, giving just the right message when I needed it.

Furthermore, we need to pray and listen to God. He has created us for relationship and it is in listening and asking that we deepen that relationship. It may not make a difference if we don’t spend time with God every day, but there will be a cumulative effect when we engage in such an activity regularly. You know that in human relationships, a Christmas card once a year does not really maintain a relationship. It is regular contact with another person that brings us into a deep relationship with them. The same is true of our relationship with God.

I have often read the story of the man who came to Jesus to ask him to heal his son. Jesus asked the man, “do you believe?” The man replied in Mark 9:24, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Isn’t that great? Because this is in the Bible, we know that God understands our weakness and our struggle. We have hope that He will listen in spite of our weak faith. It encourages us that faith is not static, but that we can grow in faith.

Conclusion

I still have moments when I become discouraged and wonder how things are going to work out in regards to the house. Beyond that, there are many unknowns about the coming year. On January 1, 2011, I did not know what kind of a year it would be. I had no idea that I would be standing here today. What will this year bring? Of one thing we can be certain. We can put our faith in the God who created all things, who loves us and who is the God of resurrection. We must put our faith in this God.

As we move the blocks which are part of life this coming year, we may well come into situations in which we are afraid that the whole pile will come crashing down. It is easy in those situations to seek hope in circumstances, in people and even in promises. That is OK, but ultimately each of these may well disappoint. The only hope which will never disappoint is hope in God. So my encouragement to each of us is to have faith in God alone. Lately whenever I have wavered, I have reminded myself that “God is my creator who loves me. He is the God of resurrection.” That reminder encourages me and I have faith.

Let us enter this year with faith in God!