The Big Picture

The scriptures referred to are Ephesians 1:3-14.

On our recent trip to the northwest, my son, my daughter and I got along great. Except for one thing. They like to use Google maps for navigation whereas I like Waze. Each has advantages the other doesn't, though these are becoming less obvious since Google bought Waze in 2013 for $1.3 billion. Which to my mind shows how much that they considered Waze to be the superior app. Regardless, I also bought along the latest Rand-McNally road atlas. And everytime we entered a national park, I picked up a map of the park. Why? Because while the navigation apps are fine for taking you to a destination, your view is just the road you're on and about 1000 yards ahead, and maybe a few hundred feet on either side. What you don't get is the big picture. You don't see the whole trip at once nor any of the other features around you. You don't see how everything connects.

One of the great things about this trip was seeing something you can't see in Florida: mountains! We saw dun-colored mountains dotted with scrub like in the old Western movies. We saw green mountains covered with tall pine trees all the way up to the summit. We saw raw black and grey stone mountains, some with snow-capped peaks. We drove up the switchback roads that took us up the mountains so that the person on the right side of the car could look down and see the sheer drop of thousands of feet. It was scary! At overlooks we got out and gazed at awesome vistas with rivers in the valleys, or sometimes lakes, and blue mountains rising into the clouds on the other side. We saw waterfalls and we scattered my mom's ashes just above one. The view from the mountains was breathtaking. You could see the whole landscape.

In our reading from Ephesians, the apostle Paul gives us a magnificent overview of what God is doing for us. Some scholars say that the passage doesn't sound like Paul. True, it doesn't sound like one of his typical closely reasoned rabbinic arguments such as we see in Romans. But given the nature of what Paul is saying and how he is saying it, it is not surprising. In the original Greek this passage is one long compound sentence. Most translations break it up into shorter sentences to make it more easily read and understood. But there is a poetic, cascading quality to it. And Paul could get poetic at times, as in 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on Christian love. So to make sure we don't miss a single feature of this scenic drive through God's purpose for us, we are going to stop after each leg of the journey and take in the view.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing found in the heavenly places...” Notice that the word “bless” in some form appears 3 times in this opening. That's our theme: all the ways that God blesses us.

First, says Paul, God chose us. That's amazing. Out of all the humans on the planet, God chooses us. Moreover, he chose us “before the foundation of the world.” So he also picked us out of all the humans in history. Now this bothers some people. If God chooses people even before they exist, before, in fact, anyone existed, isn't that blatant favoritism? No. Because unlike humans, God doesn't choose on the basis of beauty or brains or even perfect behavior. (1 Samuel 16:7) Just look at the people the Bible tells us God did choose: Abraham, a coward when it comes to defending his wife's honor (Genesis 12:10-20); Jacob, a man who cons his brother out of his birthright and his father out of his brother's blessing (Genesis 25:29-34; 27:1-38); Joseph, a rather egotistical and undiplomatic boy (Genesis 37:5-11); Moses, a hothead who hates public speaking (Exodus 2:11-12; 4:10-16); David, a womanizer who uses his power ro eliminate his lover's husband (2 Samuel 11 and 12); and Peter, an impulsive and sometimes fickle follower (Matthew 26:31-75).

So why did God choose them? First of all, we are all sinners, so it's not like he had a group of perfect people to choose from. And secondly, it's because they ultimately say “Yes” to God and do his will. Remember Jesus' parable of the 2 brothers asked by their father to do their chores. One says, “Yes,” but doesn't follow that up with any action. The other says, “No,” but reconsiders and obeys his father. (Matthew 21:28-32) “Reconsider” is actually a possible translation for the Greek word used for “repent.” God doesn't choose the perfect; he picks those humble enough that they are willing to reconsider that they might be wrong and therefore change the direction of their lives.

But if God chooses us before time, isn't that predestination? Yes, and many people are bothered by how arbitrary that seems. Yet we do not have any incidents where God chooses someone who does not fulfill his function. It's like the all-knowing God knows whom to choose! And indeed in his letter to the Romans Paul says, “Because whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...” (Romans 8:29) While some theologians see it differently, the most fair interpretation is that God chooses those whom he knows beforehand will respond to his grace. Any other interpretation makes the preaching of the gospel unnecessary since such folks would inevitably be saved anyway (Romans 10:14) and it makes any response that we make to the gospel, such as repentance and faith, mere puppetry on God's part. If we don't have some scintilla of free will, then we are not responsible for the evil we do.

Those who disagree think that God is somehow diminished if he is not in control of everything, including our response. Nothing, they say, can limit God or make him do anything. Except that God can. He can deliberately limit himself to allow us a space in which to exercise some free will. This is like a parent allowing a small child the chance to do something for himself at times, though the parent could do it better. But the child will never grow up if he is not allowed to choose his own clothes, or do his own homework. God is not a helicopter parent, hovering over us, removing all obstacles from our path. After my accident, the physical therapists helped me relearn to walk but they did not move my legs for me. Otherwise I would never be able to walk on my own.

Nor does God's knowing beforehand what we will do determine what we will do. If I can predict quite accurately how my grandchild will react if I give her a gift that is her heart's desire, it's not strictly accurate to say I am causing her to jump up and down and squeal. My knowledge of what she will do is based on what I know about her. My knowing doesn't force her to do it, nor does my acting on that knowledge. She could calmly say, “Thank you, grandfather.” But she won't because of who she is, not because of what I know her to be. God's knowing how we will respond to his love and grace doesn't mean he is forcing us to respond that way. He just knows us so well he knows how we will act.

But all of this is really beside the point that Paul is making. He is praising God for the blessing of having chosen us. He doesn't intend us to get into a philosophical debate but to join him in being thankful. Our blessing is secure because it is God who chooses us.

And he chooses us “to be holy and blameless before him in love.” “Holy” doesn't mean “self-righteous” but rather “set apart” for a purpose. The Greek word for “blameless” is more literally “without blemish.” It is the word used of an animal fit to be an offering to God. God chose us to become holy and blameless for his purpose. And his purpose is a loving one.

In addition, God has “predestined us to adoption through Jesus Christ.” God chose us to become adopted members of his family, another blessing. Adoption means a real change in status. When Caesar Augustus adopted his wife's son by a previous marriage, Tiberius became his full heir and his successor as emperor. Adoption makes one a full-fledged member of God's family. God adopts us as his children through Jesus Christ, his uniquely begotten Son who made this possible. There is nothing precarious or second class about our position as members of God's family.

God did this “in accordance with the good pleasure of his will.” Some variation of this phrase appears 4 times in our reading. N.T. Wright translates it this way: “That's how he wanted it and that's what gave him delight.” Some think of God as remote. But this says he granted us membership in his family, not out of necessity or out of any feeling of obligation, but because it delighted him. God wanted to raise us to the status of full members of his family and it pleased him to do so. This is grace, God's undeserved and unreserved goodness towards us.

“In him we have redemption through his blood...” Our adoption did have a price. “Redemption” literally means being bought back. In Biblical times, people sometimes got so deep in debt that they would sell themselves into slavery to pay it off. If this unfortunate person had a wealthy and willing relative, he might be redeemed or bought back from slavery and made free again. It meant paying off what the person owed. And that could be pricey. In our case, the price of our freedom was the blood of the Beloved.

This brings us to “the forgiveness of our trespasses,” or sins. There really isn't any other way to deal with sins. You can't undo them. You can't untell the lie, unwreck the car, unabuse the child, or unkill the victim. These things can only be forgiven. And since everything comes from God, ultimately the person we sin against in every instance is him. The human being we harmed was his person, made in his image. And as we say in the Lord's Prayer, if we expect God to forgive us for our sins, we must also forgive those who sin against us.

“With all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will...” Our next blessing is that God has not left us in the dark but he has let us know his plan, “the mystery of his will.” What is the answer to this mystery of life? It is that God intends to unify and to bring to maturity all of creation in Jesus Christ. Just as we suspect, things are not what they should be. Left to themselves all things fall apart. That's true of us as well. But God's plan is to put us back together and to put everything right, in and through his Son. The world is not like a ship going down and God's plan is not to simply rescue his people from the ship and take them to heaven. Instead the world is like a mansion he has given us which we have neglected and even vandalized. God plans to do an extreme makeover and he is recruiting us, the vandals, to work with him in repairing and restoring it. Jesus is the blueprint. In him we see how we, the body of Christ, can work together, each of us using our God-given gifts, to stop the damage, repair it and make it good as new. (Ephesians 2:19-22) In the fullness of time, God intends us to live in it, the new heavens and new earth, with him. (Revelation 21:3)

That's our inheritance. As children of God, all that is his is ours. (Revelation 21:7) This world, restored through Christ, is to be ours. It is the inheritance of the meek, those who are humble before God, not of the arrogant as it seems to be today. (Matthew 5:5) We are those who “set our hope on Christ.” We have heard the gospel, the good news, and “believed in him.” Note that our belief is not in a system or a party or a nation or an idea, but in a person, and not in a pastor or a secular leader, but Jesus alone. And so God has marked us “with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.” This image of sealing that Paul uses comes from the practice of marking anything sent out—a bag, a package, a jar—with the seal of its owner. His signet ring was pressed into hot wax, leaving an impression with his image, name and titles. It signified ownership and, if unbroken, it guaranteed security. God has sealed us, put his stamp on us, with his Spirit. And his Spirit is also “the pledge of our inheritance,” both a foretaste of it and a down payment.

This is a much neglected teaching in the church today. We have a very poor idea of the importance and work of the Spirit. When we come to God, we are not joining a club. We are not free agents choosing to affiliate with God. It is more like entering rehab or boot camp. What we are doing is as much internal as external. Remaking creation means being remade ourselves by God's Spirit within us.

In the classic film The Lilies of the Field, Sidney Poitier plays an ex-G.I. named Homer Smith. He's a handyman whose car breaks down in the desert in Arizona. There he encounters a group of East German nuns, who escaped communism and are setting up a mission for Mexican Americans. Smith is hired to do small jobs but eventually is convinced to build them a chapel. It's not easy because both Smith and the Mother Superior are strong-willed. But during the building of the chapel, both are changed. So, too, are we changed during our work together to restore God's creation. But it is not left to chance, nor do we do this in our own strength. It is the work of the Spirit. The Spirit guides us to be the change we are endeavoring to make in this world. And this change, seen in the development of the fruit of the Spirit, is our foretaste of the world to come. (Galatians 5:22-23)

That's the big picture, a glimpse from the mountain top of what God is doing and how he is blessing us. God chooses us for his purposes, buying us out of slavery to our sins, adopting us as his children, revealing his plan to transform everything through Jesus Christ into what it is meant to become and giving us his Spirit as a foretaste of our inheritance.

And the place of churches and communities of Christ in God's plan are not places in which to escape this world but instead, supply stations, where we come to receive what we need for our part in God's plan. To take a metaphor from my daughter's former career as a long distance truck driver, a church is like a spiritual truck stop. It is a place to pause and get refreshment, to get clean, to get some rest, to get nourishment and to get fueled up. It is not the end of the journey. Its purpose is to give you what you need for the next leg of your journey with Jesus. And everyone in the church is involved in that. Truckers bring what they have and know and share it with each other: “This is a good route,” “Here is a good supplier,” “This is a reliable contact,” “Here's a helpful trick I've picked up in my work,” “Sure, I'll pass on your message,” “I'll keep you in mind as I travel.” And we are to do the same for each other. The more we bring to our gathering and the more we share, the more we come away with.

In a while it will be time for us gathered here to head back out into the world. It will be time to take what we have received here and apply it to whatever tasks God has set before us. We can't stay in the church service forever. But in the meantime there is plenty to savor. Soon we will join God for a cup to drink and some bread to eat, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet to come. We will need to get cleaned up through confession and forgiveness. And we will recite a classic statement of the big picture.

It's a big world out there and a big task we have before us. But never forget: we have been blessed with a big God and he is with us every step of the way, right here, in our hearts and in our minds and in our lives.

First preached on July 12, 2009. It has been updated and revised.