Destined for Adoption

Eno United Methodist Church

Oak Grove United Methodist Church           

Dickson, Tennessee

July 12, 2015

Chris O’Rear, M.Div., M.M.F.T.

Ephesians 1:3-14 NewRevised Standard Version (NRSV)

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

I don’t know if you read the Harry Potter books or saw the movies.  Some people didn’t because they did not like the fact that it dealt with magical things like wizards, witches, spells, and the like.  However, I was curious.  I read all of the books and I saw all of the movies.  I found in these stories a beautiful representation of the Gospel.  It may not be as transparent as reading C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia (which also contains “Magic”), but it portrays the power of unconditional love, the transformation that comes through the sacrifice of one person for another, and the ongoing fight between those who want to use the powers they have for good and those that want to use them for evil.  While it is not an exact allegory, I recognized the biblical parallels from the very first book. 

In the first book of the series, we are introduced to Harry Potter who has been living with his aunt, uncle and cousin for the last 11 years – since the death of Harry’s parents.  Harry is told that his parents died in a car wreck.  Harry is forced by his aunt and uncle to live in a room under the stairs.  His cousin, Dudley, is a spoiled rotten little boy while Harry is treated like a household servant who has no value at all.  As we will learn, Harry’s parents were magical people – they had powers and abilities that Harry’s aunt and uncle did not have.  Because of his aunt and uncle’s jealousy and anger, they never told Harry about his parents, about their powers, or the school that he should be attending.  Harry’s aunt and uncle did ALL they could do to keep Harry from getting his invitation to the Hogwarts School.  On Harry’s 11^th Birthday, a wonderful man from the school comes to retrieve Harry and take him to school at Hogwarts.  Hagrid tells Harry that what he knows of his life is not true and that he, Harry, is already a famous wizard.  Harry is stunned in disbelief and he stammers, “But I’m just Harry”.  He does not believe there is anything special about him at all.  When he goes to school, he finds there is a whole world that he has never been told about.  He learns that he is special in so many ways and that he is so much more than “Just Harry”. 

That is a long story, I know, but I immediately thought of it when I read our passage this week.  This letter is noted to be for the Church at Ephesus, but most scholars believe it was circulated widely as message for all churches – for you and me.  The writer says we are blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing.  He says that you and I were chosen before the foundation of the earth to be holy and blameless before God in love.  He describes how through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we are destined to be adopted into God’s family.  We should note that this passage does not say that we are blessed with every blessing, but with every SPIRITUAL blessing.  Our lives are not perfect in every way, but we have been given EVERY spiritual blessing.  Because of Jesus, when God looks at us, he sees us as holy and blameless.  God sees us in the fullness of our potential; the “us” that is only possible through Jesus.

Unfortunately, like Harry Potter, we often live our lives not knowing that we are destined for adoption in God’s family.  We live like we come from somewhere else.  We live in ignorance thinking we are inadequate, imperfect, and unlovable.   We make mistakes – and we have ALL made mistakes – and we sometimes get focused on our mistakes.  Or others like to remind us of the hurtful or bad things we have done.  We may start to believe that our value is in things we have done, but the good news in our reading this morning is that our life and our mistakes are not what defines us.  God chose us from the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless.  Through the love and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we are chosen to be adopted into God’s family.  It is cause for joy.  It is like a huge burden is lifted from us that God loves us, has chosen us, and has adopted us into His family.  If this is true, how can we possibly think that we have no value or that we are worthless?  It is truly something to celebrate and share. 

However, if we are chosen.  If we are blessed and loved.  If we are holy and blameless before God, so is that person sitting next to you this morning.  So is that person you have trouble getting along with at work or school.  That person that can make you so mad, is also loved and blessed by God in exactly the same way that you are.  It is sometimes REALLY hard to see that person blessed and adopted by God in some people.  It is sometimes downright impossible to see others as God sees them. 

I was reminded of a country song I love by Lyle Lovett (or Patty Loveless, depending on what version you might know) – called “God Will”.  The lyrics say:

Who keeps on trusting you

When you've been cheating

And spending your nights on the town

And who keeps on saying that he still wants you

When you're through running around

And who keeps on loving you

When you've been lying

Saying things ain't what they seem

God does

But I don't

God will

But I won't

And that's the difference

Between God and me

The song can make us laugh, but partially because we recognize the truth that it is very hard sometimes to see others as God sees them or to love others the way that God loves them.   It is easy to see in America these days that people are not thinking about how to speak to the image of God in another person.  More and more it seems our ways of talking to and talking about each other are characterized by how we can hurt each other and how we can exploit others’ failings to try to make ourselves look better.  I wonder how our conversations would change if when we talked about people or talked to people with whom we disagree, we spoke as if we were speaking to the person that God has called holy and blameless; the one who is adopted into the family of God as our brother or sister. 

            The writer of our passage this morning makes some interesting statements about the mystery of God that is made known to us.  It is believed that this language of mystery was used here because there were some Christians who believed that the message of God was a mystery that was revealed only to some people.  They believed that only a very few who got the mystery would be saved.  The message in Ephesians this morning, though, is that the mystery is revealed to EVERYONE.  It is not just for some, but for every person.  When we hear the truth that God has loved us and chosen us.  When we understand the reality that Jesus sacrificed himself for our benefit and we believe it, the Holy Spirit starts to work in our lives to help shape us to become the person we were destined to be.

            We sometimes like act like we who are in the church, who have confessed our belief, who have been baptized, are the special ones who carry the mystery of Christ.  We come here to this building and we sing about it.  We talk about it.  We read about it, but when we leave here the mystery stays here.  This would be like Harry Potter learning that he has special powers, but never wanting to use them except in his own room.  It would be like a super hero who only used their powers for their own benefit.  The fact that we are chosen by God and adopted into God’s family is something that should make a difference in everything we do.  It is not a secret to be kept.  It is not just for us to know, but something that is reflected in everything we do.  Living our lives for Christ is not about keeping some set of rules that feels like a job to us, it is about seeking to live into the person that God sees when he looks at us. 

            We have a dog named Jolene that we got from an animal rescue.  She is a pointer that weighs about 45 pounds and she is extremely affectionate.  When we come home from being gone, even if

we were just at the grocery store, Jolene stands at the door wiggles her whole body with excitement.  She wiggles so much it is like she might break something.  She just follows us around and always seems to want to be next to us.  Jolene thinks we are great.  I want to get one of those bumper stickers that says, “I want to be the person that my dog thinks I am.” Have you seen those? When someone loves us that much, we want to continue to try to be the person that they love.  It is not a burden.  It is not a job.  We do it because we enjoy being our best self.  We take satisfaction in being the best we can be.  We enjoy living into our fullest potential.  Maybe instead of the bumper sticker about the dog, we should have one that says, “I want to be the person that God already sees in me.” 

            Who you think you are or the things you may have done in your life do not define who you are.  Your life may feel like you are an orphan living under the stairs in a house where everyone hates you, but our passage this morning is here to tell you, you were chosen by God to be holy and blameless.  Through Christ you were destined for adoption into the family of God.  If you have heard this good news and believe it, the Holy Spirit is at work in you now to bring you to the fullness of all you can be.  Those around you are your brothers and sisters in God’s family.  Sometimes siblings disagree, but if we are all chosen and adopted by God, we should treat others as the person that God sees and loves. 

           

The Christ of the Cross - A Sermon

The Christ of the Cross

Matthew 27:39-43

First Baptist Church

Nashville, Tennessee

March 22, 2015

Chris O’Rear, M.Div., M.M.F.T.

(To view this sermon click the link above.  The sermon begins at 39:33)

Over the past few weeks of this season of Lent, Pastor Frank has been preaching sermons on various aspects of Jesus death on the cross.  We have been spending time in reflection on Jesus suffering while looking forward to the celebration of Easter in a couple of weeks.  Our lesson this morning comes from Matthew 27:39-43.  Of all the parts of Jesus’ life, Matthew devotes the second most time to describing the events of Jesus betrayal, his trial, his death and resurrection.  We will focus this morning on one small part of this story.  (Just in case you were wondering, Matthew spends the largest amount of time in this gospel on Jesus’ and his disciples’ journey to Jerusalem.) 

In our lesson today, Jesus has already had his last meal with his disciples.  He has already prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He has been betrayed by Judas and faced trials by both the High Priest and the Roman leader, Pontius Pilate.  Jesus was beaten and taken to the place called “Golgatha” and nailed to a cross between two thieves who were also crucified on that day.  As Jesus was hanging on the cross in agony some of the soldiers were at the foot of the cross gambling for his clothing.  Some in the crowd began to call out to Jesus and yell out about Jesus: 

READ MATTHEW 27:39-43

There are five taunts that the people and the religious leaders shout out as they pass by:

1.     You, who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
2.     If you are the son of God come down from the cross.
3.     He saved others, but he cannot save himself.
4.     He is the king of Israel, let him come down and we will believe him.
5.     He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, “I am God’s son.”

The irony is that each of these statements contains an accurate description of Jesus, but the people cannot see it.  Those who are taunting Jesus yell out “You are the Son of God”.  “He is the King of Israel”.  “He trusts God”.  “You said you would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.”  The problem is that the people yelling out don’t know what these things mean and they don’t see the truth.  As I stand here today, 2000 plus years later, I want to look at these people and say how naïve, how informed, how short-sighted they are.  I WANT to do that, but as I look closely at these verses, I realize that I should probably be careful. 

I am a Christian – I attempt to be a follower of Jesus (and regularly fall short).  I was baptized in a Baptist church when I was 7 years old.  I have been active in churches since that day.  My faith has been shaped by my experiences in the church through the years, but I have had a number of opportunities to question the faith that I was born into.  I have questioned it, stepped outside of it, I have been hurt by it and I have loved it.  Through the years, my own understanding of who God is and my relationship with God has been shaped by my experience in the church, but also by others I have encountered, by things I have read, and challenging experiences I have lived through. 

If there were a person who walked through the door of this church today and began to tell me that he or she had a new understanding of God and it was very different from mine – in fact it was almost opposite of mine in many ways – I would not readily jump on his bandwagon.  I would be highly suspicious and I would probably be one of those who would seek to have this “trouble-maker” put out of the church.   My tradition and my faith have been established.  I am comfortable with my understanding of God.  I don’t feel a need to change it.  So, I kind of get that these people of the temple in Jerusalem weren’t going to change their way of thinking simply because some carpenter’s son from Nazareth shows up with a handful of followers. 

These people had centuries of history with an identity as God’s chosen people.  Their ancestor, Abraham, had a special relation with God.  They had a special land that God had given to them.  They had promises made to them through their ancestors and the prophets.  They had demonstrated their devotion to God through their keeping of God’s laws including bringing sacrifices to the priests at the temple to atone for their sins.  Though the people had suffered a great deal under foreign leaders and in foreign lands, they believed that one day they would be restored to the glory that they had during the time of King David.  The people waited on a savior – the messiah – The Christ – who would be a great warrior like David who would destroy the enemies of the Israelites.  They also believed that this new savior/king would establish a time of peace and prosperity for the people.  They waited for such a warrior king to establish a prosperous political kingdom.  Their faith had been established.  They understood how God worked.  They were comfortable with what they believed and they felt no need to change it.

It is difficult to see something when you are looking for something else.

Many of you know that I have a motorcycle and I know that several of you all also ride motorcycles.  I appreciate those of you who like to remind me how dangerous it is to ride a motorcycle.  And it is dangerous.  Every year there are thousands of accidents involving cars and motorcycles.  In many of those cases, the driver of the car reports that they didn’t see the motorcycle.  There is an interesting fact however.  A Federal Department of Transportation study showed that those who do not have a motorcycle endorsement on their driver’s license report that they occasionally see motorcycles, whereas those who have a motorcycle endorsement on their license report seeing motorcycles ALL the time.  The point is “If you are aware of it, you will see it”.  I felt the same way about couples expecting a baby.  I never really noticed when I saw an expectant mother out and about until we were expecting our first child and then it was like pregnant women were taking over the world.  If you are aware of it, you see it. 

The religious people of Jesus’ day had attuned themselves to a different profile of a messiah.  They thought they knew what God was doing.  When they looked at Jesus, they didn’t see it.  I have often wondered what we might miss because we are expecting God to do one thing when God is actually doing something else. 

My wife Lynda is from Montana.  Several years ago, Lynda and I had the chance to meet a young couple who had moved to Montana to start a new church.  Ryan and Courtney specifically wanted to reach out to people who were not already part of a church and who may not have really understood what Jesus was all about.  Ryan and Courtney were particularly meaningful to us because they began visiting Lynda’s father in the nursing home and offering support to Lynda’s mom.   In various conversations that Ryan had with people around town, he met the owner of a bar.  They struck up a conversation and over time they developed a friendship.  The owner of the bar was not a member of any church, but because of the relationship he had made with Ryan, when the owner of the bar learned that Ryan was looking for a place to start a new church, he said to Ryan, “This may seem like a really weird idea, but what about having church at my bar. There are not too many people in on Sunday evenings and you could have people gather on one side of the bar.”  Ryan took him up on the offer and launched the church in the bar.*  He had people every week that would pull up on the side of the bar to study the Bible with Ryan.  Now, I’m not gonna lie.  At times, some of these people would grab a beer on their way to sit with Ryan and talk about Jesus.  These were not people who were a part of some other church in town, but they were curious about the man who came to meet them where they were and they were curious about Jesus.   

Over time, the little gathering of people grew and Ryan began to visit with folks outside the bar and offer them care in various ways in their lives.  However, when some of the larger churches in town (including one Baptist church) heard about Ryan’s ministry in the bar, they were not supportive of Ryan, but criticized him.  But things turned ugly when they began send him hate mail.  People called his house and threatened Ryan and his family.  The conflict that was brewing was covered in the news and instead of the people in MT hearing about the love of Jesus that meets people where they are, they saw the petty jealousy and hate that can exist in the church.  Out of fear for the safety of his family and because of a lack of support for his work, Ryan left Montana.  I would bet not too many people that Ryan got to know in the bar were that interested in visiting those other churches.  I couldn’t help but think of Jesus eating meals with the people that were considered “sinners and tax collectors” of his time.  The people of that time criticized Jesus.  They could not see that Jesus was taking the love of God directly to those who needed it because they were sure they knew what God was all about and what God would be doing. 

It is difficult to see something when you are looking for something else. 

People sometimes come to see us at the Pastoral Counseling Centers because they have been through something in their life that has caused them to wonder where God is.    Several years ago, a young woman came to see one of therapists in our office.  This young woman, still in her teens, had been through a traumatic event in her life.  It was the kind of event that turns your life upside down.  It was the kind of event that would change her life forever.  This young woman came to see her therapist regularly and talked about her pain and how her life had changed.  She eventually began to feel better and found a sense of hope for the future.  One day she said to her therapist, “[You know, before this terrible thing happened to me] it was like my life was a beautiful crystal ball, so bright and shiny, so perfectly formed. Then suddenly that crystal ball fell on the floor and shattered into a million pieces. I got down on my knees and tried to fit the pieces back together, [I prayed that God would help me put the crystal ball back together] but the pieces would not fit anymore. I sat helpless on the floor, not knowing how to restore the beauty of that crystal ball. Finally after much time [with you], the suffering has begun to pass, it is like now I am beginning to pick up those pieces with all their jagged edges. I am able to put some of them together and it is like now I am forming a stained glass window from the jagged pieces of glass; and now I can see a little light, God’s light, just beginning to shine through the stained glass.”  She needed to find where God was at work in her life.

If we are aware it, we will see it. 

Of all the things that the people yelled at Jesus and yelled about Jesus, there is one thing that all the statements have in common.  “If you are who you said you are, you would come down from the cross.”  The warrior/king messiah that the people expected would not wind up on a cross.  If for some reason he had, the expected messiah would be able to demonstrate his power and come off of the cross and save himself. 

The reality is that Jesus could have come off the cross.  He said it himself to Peter when the soldiers came to take him away and Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Jesus said that if he wanted to, he could have called down a legion of angels.  Just before that as Jesus was praying, the very real human part of Jesus had actually struggled with whether he could go through with this horrible death or not.  As he prayed in the garden the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed to the point of exhaustion that if there was any other way for God to accomplish what God needed to accomplish, he wanted God to do THAT.  He ended that prayer though with, “not my will, but yours”.  Jesus knew what he was doing.  It was not a lack of power that kept Jesus on the cross.    It was in fact the power of his perfect submission to the will of God and his love for every one of us that kept him on that cross.  Jesus did not come down off the cross because his focus was not on saving himself, but on saving humanity. 

The people could not see what God was doing because they were expecting God to do something else.  It is difficult to see something when you are looking for something else. 

The people taunted Jesus, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.”

In that moment on the cross, Jesus DID destroy the temple, but not the way the people thought.  Gone was the need to continue to offer sacrifice because Jesus had offered himself as the final sacrifice.  Gone was the need to keep God and the people divided by the holy of holies because Jesus had made direct access to God possible. For generations the temple had been considered a dwelling place for God, but Jesus established himself as the new temple – the dwelling place for God’s spirit.  He rebuilt the temple in three days.  If you are aware of it, you see it. 

It may be that your practice of faith has become a routine.  You know what to expect from your time at church and you know what to expect in your time with God.  Thing have become so routine – might I even say stale – that God could not surprise you if He tried.   You may need to rediscover how God is at work in your life.    If you are aware of it, you will see it. 

For others, it may be that you think you know how God works.  You feel like God cannot love you unless you doing all the right things.  You may find yourself comparing yourself to others trying to make sure you are doing all the right things, but that also means that you may be spending time noticing when others are not.  Trying to earn God’s favor can be exhausting.  Through Jesus’ selfless act of love, he provided another way to relate to God and he said my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  If you are aware of it, you will see it. 

Maybe, like me, there are things you have done in your life that you feel have alienated you from God and you have felt like God could never love you or forgive you.  You may have been rejected by others or suffered consequences for things you have done and you may feel unlovable.  The truth is that because of Jesus, we no longer have to be defined by the mistakes we have made, God does forgive us, and we welcomed at God’s table.  If you are aware of it, you will see it. 

Perhaps you are looking for a new church home – a place that you can find fellowship and a place to serve.  This is not a perfect place.  I know that because I am here and I know I am not perfect, but you will find people here who want to support you, love you, and serve with you.  If you are aware of it, you will see it. 

*I included the link in this paragraph to the article in the Billings Gazette from 2009 for those who questioned the veracity of this story.  The story itself is neutral to positive about "The Well", but it was the comments on the article that contained unbelievable hatred.  Apparently, the comments are no longer available in article.  If you have difficulty viewing the text, click the "print" button for a preview of the text.