Paul is not over our heads

Steve Hall

For the past few years, two TV channels have repetitively replayed one movie ad nauseum on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's a comedy and it's titled, very simply, A Christmas Story. The central character is a young, round-faced boy, named Ralphie. He's about ten years old and wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. This gift is discouraged by his mother, his teacher and even the department store Santa Claus. All three echo the refrain "you'll shoot your eye out." 

In one scene, Ralphie, along with the rest of his 5th grade class, is assigned to write a paper about what he wants for Christmas. The picture dissolves into a fantasy scene in which Ralphie envisions himself writing the best theme paper ever. As the teacher in his fantasy reviews his 'superb' composition, she becomes ecstatic, celebrating the child genius who sits in her class. With a flourish of her pen she scrawls an enormous "A+" across the top. Ralphie's fantasy is shattered when fantasy meets reality and the paper is returned with a "B."

Nevertheless, the scene captures an essential characteristic of so many of us in our youth. Ralphie wanted to do something great. 

When we were young we wanted to be policemen or firemen, doctors or the next Einstein. Superman, Roy Rogers, and Captain Kirk were our heroes. We desired to accomplish great things, to become someone important, to destroy the bad guys, to save the damsel in distress, to conquer the alien invaders. We wanted to be part of something larger than ourselves, contributing to a plan that would make our parents, our family, our world proud. I would guess we all settled for something less than these kinds of heroic achievements, deriving our satisfaction from basic, ordinary things like career and family, which, because of their familiarity, seemed less than heroic.

You all know a portion of my story. Let me tell you a bit more. 

Being part of something larger than myself was never a conscious aspiration in my youth, one which could have been detailed in words and outlined in detail. It was for me, and probably most of us, somewhat murky as an objective. The ready alternatives like sports and academics were not attractive as avenues for greatness even greatness at the elementary level.

For these reasons, and probably a variety of others, personality and disposition among them, I found the church to be a worthy ideal. After all, It promoted truth and justice and the American way. It would defeat the bad guys and rescue those in distress. It would explore the strange new worlds of eternal truth and mystical entities. Besides, it was a good fit for someone who was enamored, like I was, of beauty and mystery, pomp and ceremony. 

Eventually, that attraction would lead to the seminary. And, if I had not left, I might easily have succumbed to the seduction of being a pompous, bureaucratic and rigid, but orthodox cleric. Fortunately God had other plans. 

Still, the church was, for me, the sign, the symbol, the prototype, the model for the "plan that was larger than myself;" and I was confused and frustrated with participating on the fringe. The underlying explanation for that confusion and frustration has been slow to sort itself out. What I know now is well expressed by Paul.

We began, at last night's prayer, reading Paul's letter to The Ephesians. We will continue doing so as the weekend advances. Let me elaborate on what Paul says so succinctly; but first, listen to his words and remember, this is the word of the Lord. It is addressed to you just as much as it was to the Ephesians.

As you listen, remember that Paul was not writing to the theologians, to the elite, probably not even to the well educated. He was writing to ordinary men and women, the saints of Ephesus and the saints of Teller County. -- the ordinary, everyday saints who live and work and marry and raise families. What he says is not over your head or out of your reach. It is part and parcel of what you have desired from youth. 

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us us in the One He loves. 

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace which he lavished upon us with all wisdom and understanding.

And He has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to His good pleasure which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, which is Christ.

In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who are the first to hope in Christ might live for the praise of his glory.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed in him, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:1-14)

What this text is saying is overwhelming.

God has a plan, an all-encompassing plan, one that reaches to the farthest limits of the cosmos.  It is a plan that existed before there was anything to call creation. It existed before time. It was not a plan that would need to be altered and adjusted according to the events that would unfold from that point where time began. It was not a plan that would have to be modified because of free will. It was God's plan and would, therefore, unfold on His timetable, progressing with infinite inevitability toward its ultimate conclusion. 

Moreover, says Paul, in His wisdom and His insight, God has made that plan known to us. The 'us' is not the singular 'us.' It doesn't refer to Paul alone. Nor is it a plural 'us' as if referring to secret knowledge imparted to the Apostles. It is the 'us' as in all of us who are the disciples of Jesus. The plan, he reminds us, is this. God intends to unite all things -- all things in heaven and all things on earth -- he intends to unite all things in Christ. Jesus is the central figure of history. "All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that has been made." (John 1:3) Everything leads up to him; everything points back to him. 

OK! You say. This is God's plan. It doesn't sound new. What does this have to do with this weekend and our focus on Jesus?

The answer is Everything! 

It has everything to do with both --- both this weekend and with Jesus. Listen to the rest of what Paul has to say; for in this matter he has four unbelievable things to say about us. 

First, "He [the Father] chose us in him [i.e., Jesus]  before the creation of the world." What is this telling us except that God has a plan, and we were part of His plan from the beginning --- we were part of his plan even before there were beginnings. We're not an afterthought. Nor is God's plan one that will just unfold around us leaving us as astonished spectators. In the book of Genesis man was the culmination of Creation. He is the consciousness of all creation and that creation can only be united with Jesus insofar as that creation has consciousness and insofar as that creation is free to choose. 

Second, "He [the Father] chose us in him [i.e., Jesus] that we should be holy and blameless before him."  As part of his plan, as chosen participants in his plan, it is crucial that we be holy and blameless before him. It is expected that we will be more than the rest of mankind. God desires to elevate his creation one giant step above what it could be on its own. That's not something he expects us to accomplish. It is something he desires that we permit. He will accomplish this in us, says Paul, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He will accomplish this through redemption and forgiveness.

Third, "He predestined us, in [His] love, to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ." What is that giant step above creation's self-made achievement? It is the entrance to a totally new life, the life of divine Sonship. God will purify us so that we are made holy and blameless before him because that is fundamentally critical to being his sons. Remember the plan: It is to unite all things -- all things in heaven and all things on earth -- in Christ.

Fourth, "We, who first hoped in Christ, have been predestined and appointed to live for the praise of his [the Father's] glory." This fourth assertion of Paul points to the method by which God's plan will be accomplished in the short term; the long term is beyond our scope. Both the immediate and the ultimate goal of the plan is the praise of his [the Father's] glory. Notice that Paul does not say that we are destined to glorify the Father in heaven. He speaks to our destiny and purpose now, not in the afterlife. Now, right now the plan is being accomplished when we "live for the praise of his [the Father's] glory." 

In your youth you probably dreamed of doing something great. You aspired to be part of something larger than your life, a great plan that would make a difference in the world. You wanted to imitate those who destroyed the bad guys, who saved the those in distress, who conquered the evil of the world. You wanted to be part of something greater than yourselves, contributing to a scheme, a project, a stratagem, a system that would make our world a loving and joyful place. Maybe, deep in your heart, you still aspire to all these things.

Unfortunately, I would bet that no one clearly told you about God's plan and that you have been selected to be part of it. If someone told that to me at some earlier time in my life, either I wasn't listening very well or they did not explain it very well. The bottom line is this: it is in knowing Jesus and having a real relationship with him that we can enter into the divine plan. That doesn't just happen. It takes work. It takes a decision. It takes a commitment to that decision. And most of all, it requires an invitation, and you have to extend that invitation. If you would know Jesus, extend to him the invitation to enter your life more fully, more deeply, more intentionally than has been the case thus far; for it is by knowing him that we enter into the plan.

It makes no difference whether Jesus has, in the past, been a casual acquaintance or a best friend. It makes no difference whether we spoke a perfunctory greeting to him in passing or carried on extended conversations. Whatever is the present status of our relationship it is today's beginning. Our participation in what God is about begins not with doing, but with being. Not with actions but with a relationship.