† In the name of Jesus †
The great treasure of grace, mercy and peace, is your gift, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ!
The depth of the riches of Christ – every spiritual blessing! - 1 Cor 1:5 – diamond!
I look around our altar area this morning, and part of me is in wonder. Somehow, up here, we have found room for a 15 foot camping canoe, an industrial fishing net made of inch and a half rope. We have a card-board hut inside which lives a puppet treasure chest named, of all things Chester. There are two inflated palm trees, a couple of parrots, some sea lanterns, and who knows what else.
Not what you really expect, when you think of a Lutheran church’s altar area.
Yet, after this week, I almost don’t want to take it down – because it represents this church, doing the work which God has entrusted to it.
Communicating one message, to the children of this community, and in some cases, to their parents as well.
It is the message that the apostle Paul wrote about to the church in Ephesus, that we heard read this morning. It is also the message that was so clearly communicated to the kids who attended Vacation Bible School. They heard, that Jesus is their greatest treasure(AVAST?), and that Jesus treasures us (AVAST!)
Or as their diamond jewel memory verse says, In Jesus, we have been enriched in every way.
That is the journey our sermon will take today, as we examine the epistle reading, and we realize how deep the love and grace of our God truly is. For it is an incredible journey, and the further we go, the more we realize God’s love toward us, and what it means.
For our visitors, I recommend keeping your bulletin open to page 8, as I will refer to the reading a lot during the sermon, and keep your note sheet handy.
He Chose Us
For a life of Holiness and Blameless-ness
There is a struggle there,
But no “should” about it
God is rich in His mercy
But the Destiny is set
How and Why?
We start, rather simply, in verse 4. It starts out, in that verse, talking about how God has chosen us, in Christ. That is a pretty incredible thing to think about, really. God chose us! Each of us, because of Christ’s work.
And He chose us for a purpose, to live Holy and Blameless lives. For those unfamiliar with those terms in a church setting, let me define them for you. To live holy, means to live set apart by God, for a purpose God intends. It doesn’t mean that we are goody-too-shoes, but instead that our life, no matter what we do, is seen as His, to fulfill His plans. It is not that God wants us to be robots, programmed, but that He chose and designed us, with certain gifts, and abilities, each one of us for a purpose. Blameless, means, literally, to not deviate from that path – that we actually do walk in the way that God intended for us to live. It is not so much where we walk, but how we walk, using the gifts He has given us, to love and serve each other, and in doing that, serving Him.
Of course, there is a problem there. Most of us, ok, all of us, have at times not walked in that kind of life style. We have deviated from God’s plan for our lives. We may have dropped off the path in pure self-service, or perhaps, we felt we had no choice, and lived our lives away from God in desperation. In church language, that is called a very simple word – sin. We are, as all human beings are, sinners, and because of that, we sin. Often with that sin, comes guilt or shame, for we realize that we fall short.
And maybe, if we have lived that way long enough, that guilt or shame convinces us that we cannot have been chosen by God. That’s where the verse the kids learned along with the sapphire gem comes into play. For they learned, from Eph. 2:4, that God is rich in mercy. Incredibly rich in His mercy. So rich in His mercy, that He chose us, knowing all that, and having a plan for dealing with sinners, so that He could, and has, made us saints.
He Adopted Us
In the beloved, we are blessed
Redemption thorugh His blood
Emerald
Forgiveness of our sins -
We see that plan, as we proceed through the reading. As the amethyst gem verse states, we begin to ‘know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! In verse 5, God makes clear his plan, the purpose of Christ’s life – to set for our destiny, that we would be adopted, by Him. This is part of how God delivers to us, every spiritual blessing. It is how He blesses us, in Christ. We are adopted by God, and we become His sons and daughters. In order to do this, verse 7 tells us that Jesus accomplished two things.
The first is that we have redemption through the Blood of Jesus. That is what the red ruby’s verse tells us, as well, even though it is from the first epistle Peter wrote. It is, and has, from since the beginning of the world, God’s plan. We actually see those words throughout scripture. Christ’s precious blood redeems us. You see, there is a cost for deviating from the plan God has for our life, our sin had the price that someone’s blood would have to be shed.
And the Blood of Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was poured out for us, at the cross, so that no debt of sin, nothing that we have done, could ever be held against us by the accuser, the devil. That is the second part of verse 7, where it says we have the forgiveness, the erasing of our trespasses. Never again will God listen to any that say we are not His children, for that sin was erased, when Christ redeemed us. To make us, the very children of God.
Mystery of His Will – to Unite to Him all
That is astounding; we are the sons and daughters of God, the Creator of the Universe. The One who planned everything with a purpose, it says, in verse 10, to unite ALL things to Him, the things in heaven, and the things on earth. In Christ, we have become His sons and daughters – we are united with Him forever, as we will see.
That is the incredible thing about God adopting us – through Christ. Who can overrule His decision? No one! We are His children!
He obtained for us, our inheritance
It is ours, yet we shall wait
Secured by the Holy Spirit
Until we take possession
Even though we were, and are sinners, God has erased the debt because of Christ’s debt. That is what we celebrate when we baptize someone – the erasure of that debt, as they are, linked to the death of Christ, with the promise and the hope that we are also linked to Christ’s resurrection.
That is what theologians call the “now, and not yet” part of the journey of our faith. We see it in verses 11 through 14, as it takes us a little farther along the journey of our faith.
We have obtained, we have been given an inheritance. Literally, that means we have been assigned a lot, a portion, to us is given a part in the Kingdom of God. We belong their – we belong with God the Father, we are part of His family.
As our final jewel – the emerald verse states from the Old Testament, the Lord our God, has Chosen us! We are part of His family, His adopted kids, who have a place, a portion, a part in His kingdom!
Yet verse 13 and 14 tell us something, that even the most mature of believers knows, that we haven’t “inherited” it all, yet. For in this life, we are the children of God, sealed by Holy Spirit in our Baptism, and we have the hope of our inheritance.
For as verse 13 says, we have heard His word, the very gospel we heard read, and that I preach to you now. It is His word of truth, the incredible gospel, the good news of our salvation! We have believed God’s word, this incredible news, and because we believed, because we have faith, because we trust in Him, this inheritance was given to us, when we were given the promise of the Holy Spirit.
That promise we see fulfilled in our baptism, and knowing we have the Holy Spirit. That is the promise of Acts 2:38 – that we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit when we repent and are baptized.
That Holy Spirit is the incredible companion we have constantly on our journey of faith. The Holy Spirit that is our guide and comforter, that equips everyone of you in this church that believe, with gifts that the entire church benefits from.
My friends, this is what the kids began to learn, this week in our Vacation Bible School. The very reason that Jesus is our greatest treasure (AVAST) and how it is demonstrated that Jesus treasures us (AVAST)
All this, to His praise, and His glory!
In this passage, as often as it talks of God’s incredible plans for us, to call us, to adopt us, to give us a place in His kingdom, it talks of His deserving glory.
That is what church is about – to both hear of this incredible life of faith God has given to each who believes, and to praise and worship Him, to give Him glory, for what He has done.
For we have been given peace, peace that far surpasses all understanding, in Christ Jesus, and that peace protects our hearts, our minds, for we know, we are His. AMEN!!!!
