Marked with the Seal

Sunday, July 16th, 2006
Pentecost 6
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Ephesians 1:3-14

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, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In 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, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In 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; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

It really IS a beautiful passage, isn’t it?

The way the words are put together, the way they weave the action of God with the life of Christ, the way they emphasize and reemphasize the fact that everything that has happened for the blessing and edification of the church has been through and in Christ… it almost sounds like a hymn, doesn’t it? Some scholars would agree that Ephesians is not so much a letter as it is the manuscript of a sermon. Some of the earlier manuscripts of the letter are entirely lacking in the first two verses, where the letter writer identifies himself as Paul. Others leave out the address to the Ephesians, and simply start with the words “To the Saints who are also faithful” …

In any case, what we have here at the beginning of the letter to the churches, shall we say in and around Ephesus, is, a litany. This entire passage could actually be thought of as one long sentence, with many compound clauses, and the main clause being found at its beginning, in verse 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”. What we have is a blessing of God for having granted US a blessing. It’s a hymn of thanksgiving. Not only that, but it also tells the story of grace. And it keeps coming back again and again and again to the central figure in the defining act of Grace in creation – God’s presence in human history made known by God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ.

The writer is simply giving us a list, in a way, of what it is God has done for … not only US, not only those who are here today gathered at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Emmerton, Virginia, but to all those who call on him as Lord throughout the world, whether it is in Italy, or Thailand, or Warsaw, or Spain, wherever his name is praised.

Let’s look at some of the verses. First, right there in verse three: every spiritual blessing … I think it’s important to note that the writer didn’t say ‘every physical blessing’ … or even ‘every blessing’. Why do you think that is? It’s because the emphasis is on what is lasting, not what is temporal, what is transitory, what is passing. The idea being brought out is that what matters, what REALLY matters, that which lasts, is the spiritual. We are, now, very much physical beings. But we are not ONLY physical. We are also emotional and spiritual beings, and the writer was reminding the readers and hearers of this letter that what really truly matters in the long run is the spiritual realm. It is, after all, the only lasting realm to which we belong.

The Arminian in me would like to skip over the next verse, but there’s no way I can do that and get away with it, so let’s go back over it: “just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” You know the phrase that I struggled with? ‘before the foundation of the world” … I will freely admit that I have not studied Calvin’s theology as deeply as I probably need to, but in reading this verse into the context of the surrounding verses, it doesn’t seem to be the case that the writer is trying to necessarily make an argument for predestination so much as he is trying to present a picture of what God has done in Christ. The phrase may or may not be of critical importance in and of itself, but it seems the emphasis in this sentence, like those surrounding it, are on the phrases ‘in Christ’ and ‘in love’ – it’s more a telling of the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’ – even though the ‘how’ remains as always, ‘through Christ’.

In the following verse, something similar happens – the emphasis is not so much on being destined as it is on being God’s adopted children THROUGH CHRIST. Even at the end of the thought, at the end of verse 6, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, the fact of Christ’s mediation is again highlighted. There is no aspect of the Grace of God that is separated from Christ.

I don’t need to belabor the point. It was evident in the reading, and if you read over the passage again, you’ll notice the pattern. It is not an accidental repetition. The focus is on what God has done in Christ.

So it is our focus as well this morning: what God has done in Christ.

We were sitting around the table downstairs towards the end of the meal last night, Leslie and I, with Daniel and Alejandra and Jaime and Barbara, and Alejandra remarked on the fact that the crosses that Jaime and Barbara and several of the group were wearing were bare – none of them had the image of Christ crucified on them. She asked us why that was. The answer came very simply and clearly: because Christ did not remain on the cross. The cross reminds us OF the sacrifice, but it is important to us to leave it empty, because the story didn’t end on Friday at noon. The end of the story – if you can call it that – came on Sunday morning, in the resurrection. We live a resurrection faith. And in joining together to remember Christ’s sacrifice through sharing THIS communion, we are reminded of and strengthened in the communion we share with CHRIST, and we proclaim the central truth of the Gospel, that God in Christ made a way for all the world to be redeemed through him.

(communion)

24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. … 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.