1You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:1 - 10 (NRSV)
1As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
2 Corinthians 6:1 - 2 (NRSV)
For the next several weeks we are going to take a close look at the vows taken when a person becomes part of a local congregation of The United Methodist Church. Now we’re not going to just “pick the vows apart, like you dissected a frog in high school biology class; rather we will focus on the meaning of our vows.
Of course sometimes you have to really hunt for the meaning in some vows. And, sometimes not…a youth pastor was getting married. When the minister got to the wedding vows the meaning was really clear: “... in sickness and in health, in youth whitewater rafting trips and in mosquito-infested backpacking, in weeknight Bible studies and in uninvited guests ...” [1]
Biblical Choices and Vows
It would take weeks of Bible study just to point out the many different times choices are laid before people, and the choices God makes. Just a couple illustrate the issue:
Adam and Eve had the first choice, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We know how that turned out.
During the conquest of the Promised Land Joshua was the leader after Moses’ death. He talked with God’s people and reminded them there are a lot of gods we can worship, but only one true, living God, Jehovah. He challenged them:
…choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15b
Jonah was the disobedient prophet. God gave him a tough assignment and he ran away, but the big fish brought him back. From of the belly of that fish Jonah made a different choice; he said, what I vowed I will pay…. [2]
Apostle Peter was imprisoned for following Jesus. When he was being released the governor had him beaten and warned not to preach in Jesus’ name; Peter made the choice, he would obey God rather than men.
In the closing chapters of the Christian Scriptures Jesus lays out a choice for all of us:
Revelation 3:20 (NRSV) 20Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.
Choices, choices, choices! One of our denomination’s leaders who was assigned to a committee that had to make some difficult choices told us at annual conference this year that he felt like the mosquito who found himself buzzing around a nudist colony. He said, I’m rather like a mosquito in a nudist camp; I know what I ought to do, but I don’t know where to begin. [3]
Application for United Methodists
Choices in life can sometimes get muddied, but it should be clear from Scripture that our choices should be towards God. Our Baptismal Covenant points us in that direction. The flow of the covenant tells us to reject sin and choose God. This is what God told the nation of Israel through Moses and Joshua:
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life… Deuteronomy 30:19b – 20a (NRSV)
That Baptismal Covenant (which we will use in a few moments as we receive a new member into the family) teaches us in two short paragraphs how to “choose sides;” it teaches us how to choose God.
Rejecting Sin
Renounce spiritual forces of wickedness
The “spiritual forces” are those unseen powers of Satan. There is spiritual warfare going on all the time. To imagine that the devil is not active is to be worse than naïve; Satan is the prince and power of this world and his intentions are to destroy. A Christian’s resistance must be built up by prayer to overcome Satan, just like Jesus did in the wilderness temptations.
Reject the evil powers of this world
The evil powers of this world’s system are manmade, but wholly-driven and empowered by satanic forces. Our church participates in justice and mercy programs – food for hungry people, help for the weak and weary.
Repent of your sin
Like it or not, we have all participated in the sin nature and in particular sins. To repent is to turn from wickedness and the world. Often we turn, but keep turning and find ourselves doing a 360 °. It is like fleeing from temptation but leaving a forwarding address. Repenting means leaving your sin permanently.
We know better than to think we shall be perfect, but the idea is to move on to perfection. We move always towards Jesus. The goal is Christlikeness.
Choosing God
Receive power to live by receiving Christ by grace through faith
Grace may be the most elusive part for us. We are so accustomed to at least “pitching-in” that it’s hard to imagine something coming to us without charge. But that’s grace!
Maybe grace can best be described by imagining yourself as a newborn child…helpless, only your parents can give you what you need.
A man told of a granddaughter who was…
born prematurely and weighed one pound, seven ounces, so small that my wedding ring could slide up her arm to her shoulder. The neonatologist who first examined her told us that she had a 5 to 10 percent chance of living three days. When Esther and I scrubbed up for our first visit and saw Zoe in her isolette in the neonatal intensive care unit, she had two IVs in her navel, one in her foot, a monitor on each side of her chest, and a respirator tube and a feeding tube in her mouth.
To complicate matters, Zoe’s biological father had jumped ship the month before Zoe was born. Realizing this, a wise and caring nurse named Ruth gave me my instructions.
"For the next several months, at least, you’re the surrogate father. I want you to come to the hospital every day to visit Zoe, and when you come, I want you to rub her body and her legs and arms with the tip of your finger. While you’re caressing her, you should tell her over and over how much you love her, because she has to be able to connect your voice to your touch."
God knew that we also needed both his voice and his touch. So he gave us not only the Word but also his Son. And he gave us not only Jesus Christ but also his body, the church. God’s voice and touch say, "I love you." [4]
This is the way grace comes into your life – before you could talk, see, stand, speak or understand a single thing, God’s grace was active in your life. He already chose you, and He wants you to choose Him.
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ENDNOTES
1 Cartoonist Rob Suggs in Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 4.
2 Jonah 2:8
3 Stephen Bayne, Episcopal Bishop, quoted in Academic Typepad
4 Leadership Jazz, Max DePree
