Pastor Tom Johnson, July 15, 2012
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is unique because it is a cyclical letter. It is written and addressed to many churches besides the one in Ephesus. We even have ancient manuscripts where different cities are written as recipients. The fact that Paul wanted this letter to go out all over Christendom makes it even more interesting that he starts his letter with one of the most difficult teachings to understand in the Bible: divine election.“He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” Before we even start to unpack this profound truth, I would like us to consider a few things that should shape our discussion.
First, God is God. We are not God. He is what he is. “I am that I am,” he tells Moses. He stands outside of the time and space continuum; and he is everywhere. He is all knowing; and his ways are beyond our comprehension. He is eternal; and he reveals himself to us in a manger in Bethlehem 2,000 year ago. Paul is talking about God—not from a perspective of complete understanding but out of wonder, awe, and praise. God is awesome! He wants us to know how awesome he is. And so, Paul begins with an explosion of worship and praise: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.”
He chose us in Christ. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He has no beginning. He has no end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is what John calls in his Revelation “the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world.” Before our first parents fell into sin, God planned our salvation. And from the very beginning God promised them the Son who would crush the head of the evil one and remove the curse of death and sin forever. God foretold the birth of the Messiah through the prophets of old. And, as Jesus said, it was necessary—it was all part of the plan for him to be arrested, lifted up high on the cross, and rise from the dead. Jesus is the Chosen One. He is the Father’s Choice to bring healing, forgiveness, and eternal life to the world he loves. And what Paul wants us to be even more flabbergasted by is that we are also chosen in him.
Before the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters, God loves you and has chosen you. Before he breathed life into Adam’s nostrils, he planned to breathe that same life into you. Before Noah and the animals were saved through the water of the flood, God knew you and I would be saved through the water of Baptism. Before God even spoke creation itself into existence—in a time when there was no time—in a place that was not yet a place. God knows our personalities and quirks, our gifts and shortcomings, our talents and sin. And in spite of the bad and good works—not because of anything we have done or who we are—God loves us. “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.” He initiates a relationship a relationship with us in order to transform our lives. “He chose us...to be holy and blameless before him in love.”
Think about how Jesus’ choosing of the disciples changed their lives. Jesus came to fishermen, tax collectors, and others and said, “Follow me,” and they followed. Their lives would never be the same. It was because Jesus reached out to them.
When God sent his Son, he did not send him to a mass of nameless humanity. He sent his son for you—you, a unique individual. Before the first act of human history started, God wrote your salvation into the script. It does not mean that we are mindless robots who have no free will. It means that God loves us and chose us before we chose him. As Jesus himself said to his disciples, “You did not choose me; I chose you.” And as John wrote in his epistle, “This is love—not that we loved God—but that he first loved us.” This may lead us to the quesion, “Do we choose God? Do we exert our will when we believe and trust in Jesus?” Yes, of course. “Does this mean that God unchooses others—that God has a list of those who are reprobates?” Certainly not. And that is one danger of trying to understand this truth in a way that is tidy and clean. He chose us. In response, we believe in him.
God chose us in Christ. It is simply, and profoundly, saying that our choosing, our believing, and our trust in him are not independent of his love for us in Christ Jesus. As Luther wrote in his catechism, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth.”
One thing I love about this passage of Scripture is that it is not written in order to answer all our questions. It is not meant to satisfy all our curiosities. It is not there to settle every argument. It is not there to resolve the tension between one truth and another. It is there so that our worship, praise, and thanksgiving would grow. What sort of truth would it be if you could sum it up in a formula, fit it in a matchbox, and tuck it into your back pocket? Wouldn’t the Christian faith be boring and dull if you and I could master it and every question had an easy, pat answer? How wonderful! How awesome! He chose us before the foundation of the world in his Son who lived, died and rose again. Our lives will never be the same because God loves us with a love beyond space and time and a love beyond all understanding.
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