The Holy Trinity (1st Sunday after Pentecost Äì 6/3/07) Sir, we would see JESUS!
Emmanuel, Asheville, NC Ephesians 1: 3-14
In the Name of JESUS!
"GodÄôs Grace Lavished on Us"
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit be yours now and forever. Amen.
"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, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1: 3-14
Beloved in the Lord, please pray with me:
O eternal God Äì Father, Son and Holy Spirit Äì blessing and honor and power and glory be unto You now and forever. In Your boundless mercy, enable us not only to be hearers of Your Word today, but also those who rejoice in it and live to Your glory now and forever. Amen.
In the name of our Triune God Äì Father, Son and Holy Spirit, dearly beloved:
Have you ever had a time when something so wonderful happened to you that you wanted to clap your hands and jump for joy? Were you so excited that you could hardly wait to tell everyone, "Look what happened to me!" I can hardly picture a young lady getting an engagement ring and hiding it. Likewise when we take to heart what Paul is writing about in todayÄôs text, one gets the feeling that the apostle was at such a point in his life. What made St. Paul so joyous and anxious to share his good news? It certainly wasnÄôt the physical circumstances in which Paul found himself. He was in jail as he wrote these words! It was rather that he implicitly trusted GodÄôs great and wonderful love, given so freely and lavished upon him and all other believers in our Savior Jesus Christ, which brought him such delight and the need to share this good news with others.
GodÄôs extraordinary love is nothing we have in any way earned. It is sheer, undeserved grace on the part of our God that makes it possible for Him to lavish His love upon us. As the Bible tells us,
we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." [Romans 3:23] It is not just the evil that weÄôve done that stands between us and our holy, sinless Lord, but also the good we have left undone. Any time we shut our eyes to someone in need, Jesus says, "You have done it unto Me." [Cf. Matthew 25: 41ff] It isnÄôt just all the needy out there in the greater Asheville community and the world that we neglect. Often our failure to care happens in relationships with those closest to us. And what happens when a loved one ignores or is insensitive to our needs? Usually that really upsets us. In fact, we tend to perseverate on how hurt we are without considering why our loved one acted that way. We then become guilty of the same sin, that of ignoring and being insensitive to the other person. Almost always, itÄôs a two-way street! All of this occurs because of the sinful nature with which we are born. As a result none of us left to ourselves can be found righteous and acceptable in the eyes of God.
Today, as we recall on this Holy Trinity Sunday the great mystery revealed in GodÄôs Word that there is only one God, who is at same time three Persons, each of Whom is fully and completely God Äì not each 1/3rdGod, our text reminds us what our Triune God has done and continues to do so that He might lavish His love and grace upon us. First of all, regarding our Heavenly Father, Paul reminds us that "He chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world." [Vs. 4] Does this ever undercut any claim that we in any way merit GodÄôs love and our salvation! Even before our Father in heaven spoke His first creating Word, He chose to bless us with every spiritual blessing in CHRIST. [vs. 1]
That the FatherÄôs love is unmerited is also clearly stated in PaulÄôs word picture of the FatherÄôs predestining us in love for adoption through Jesus Christ. [vs. 5] An adopted child doesnÄôt pick his parents. No! The parent in love reaches out to call such a child his own.
The view that somehow we contribute to this adoption is shot down even further as Paul lays out how our holy Father can lavish His grace upon us, embracing us as His precious children. It is only because of what the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, has done for us. Our Heavenly Father blessed us in His Beloved Son, because Jesus redeemed us Äì as Peter reminds us, "not with perishable things as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ Ķ" [1 Peter 1:28-19] As a result when we trust Jesus as our Savior, all of our sins are forgiven [vs. 7] and not even remembered any more by our dear Father. Our God has even made known to us the mystery of His holy will, that forgiven we might be forever united with His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
On top of all this, the LordÄôs undeserved love, His grace in Christ, has obtained for us the promised inheritance of heaven itself. Once again Paul is very careful under the SpiritÄôs direction in choosing his words. The apostle stated that heaven is our inheritance. An heir doesnÄôt earn his inheritance. He simply receives this as a gift. All this was and is GodÄôs purpose for you because this is, not ours, but His will. [vs.11] Added to this is GodÄôs amazing purpose in giving us this inheritance, namely, that "we might be to the praise of His glory." [vs. 12] Think of that! You and I for JesusÄô sake are chosen and set apart for the praise of our Heavenly FatherÄôs glory. While we have often not acted like this or seen ourselves so valued by our holy God, we have an important role now and will in heaven continue to praise God perfectly with all His saints and angels.
Finally in our text we also see how the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, has such an important role in our lives. In the SpiritÄôs bringing us to faith in Jesus as our Savior, the Heavenly Father put the protective seal of the Holy Spirit upon us. Having the seal of the Spirit means, neither Satan, nor our fallen world, nor all the powers of evil can claim us as their property. In placing His seal upon us, the Lord God has written over our hearts, ÄòTHIS IS MY CHILD!" In fact, Paul ends this section by telling us that the Holy Spirit is GodÄôs guarantee, His down payment, on our final inheritance in heaven until we actually live forever with our Triune God in the glories of heaven. Tragically we can foolishly throw away that seal by no longer wanting anything to do with Jesus as our Savior. GOD FORBID! But sealed with the Spirit we live under the immeasurable grace of God with all its blessings in Christ Jesus now and ultimately in the perfection of Paradise.
St. Paul in the remainder of this letter tells us what our response should be. In a few words we should be giving our loving Triune God sincere thanks. We need to praise God for His glorious grace lavished upon us. May we then with the SpiritÄôs aid GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD not just in words, but also with our lives to the praise of His glory! Amen.
To GOD alone be glory!
© The Reverend Frederick A. Stiemke
Vacancy Pastor