Word of Salvation – August 2024

 

Blessed Saints

 

Sermon by Harry Burggraaf B.D.  on Ephesians 1:1

Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:26-28, Ephesians 1:1-14

Songs:          Morning by Morning (BoW.421)
                        Glory be to God in Heaven (BoW.159)
                        May the Mind of Christ my Saviour(BoW.214)
                        I love Your Church (BoW.479)

 

I want you to imagine you are with a tour group.  You have been walking through some fairly ordinary countryside, not very impressive, but all of a sudden you come upon this staggering vista; it’s awesome; it takes your breath away.  This is not a Christian tour group and there are gasps everywhere: 'Good heavens... Wow... Holy Moses... Bloomin awesome...! – and a few more such exclamations.

The first 14 verses of Ephesians 1 are like that.  You come upon this awesome vista and it takes your breath away.  Paul uses one long sentence; a 'righteous expletive'; and in the most reverent way he says, 'My God is awesome...!'  'He takes my breath away...!'  In fact Paul doesn't stop breathing until he has finished his sentence: “....To the praise of his glory."

This morning we are looking at just one little phrase of this beautiful vista.

Our text is:

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 1:1)

We’ll zero in on those words: To the saints who are in Ephesus!

If I was to ask you, 'Who are you?', or 'What are you?', I think the answers would be fairly predictable.  In fact I'm going to try it.  (ask a few people who they are and what they are).

Our name is the most defining characteristic of our identity.  I am Harry.  To my students I am Mr Burggraaf.  To the local publican at the Apollo Bay bistro I am 'Jono's dad'.  These are the names that define me.  It's interesting that when we ask someone what they are the reply is generally in terms of a vocation – I am a plumber, accountant, performing poet (not too many of those), salesman, social worker, pensioner (you seem to lose your vocation after you retire; you may stop paid employment, but you never lose your calling).

Sure I am a teacher.  But that doesn't define me.  I am also a son, a father, a grandfather, a husband, a lover, an introvert, a tourist, a bushwalker, a dental patient (I don't like being one of those), a Simon and Garfunkel fan, a sometimes Essendon supporter.

There are so many ways of answering, 'Who are you?'

'To the saints in Ephesus.’  Do you realise that if the apostle Paul was writing to us here today it would be, 'to the saints in Dandenong'; not teachers or builders or employees or employers, or retirees, or Australians, or even Christians, but 'saints" the hagious; the holy ones.  The paraphrase, The Message does us a disservice here.  The word 'Christian' is only used three times in the whole Bible.  ‘Saint’ is used nine times in this letter alone.

Some time ago someone in this church came up to me and said, 'You know your wife is a saint.'

I am well aware of her virtues.  Anyone who is willing to live with me for nearly forty years now is a saint.  It happened again the other day, 'Your wife is a saint you know'.

I'm getting a bit nervous about this and wondering if there is some hidden message – she’s a saint, but as for you...?!?

Anyway, next time it happens I'm going to suggest they write to the Pope and recommend her beatification – like Mary McKillop – although I hope they realise they will need to demonstrate two miracles (and living with a grumpy husband does not qualify).

But of course Paul doesn't mean 'saint' in this way at all.  He isn't referring to the gallery of spiritual giants, or a spiritual heroes’ hall of fame.

To the 'saints' in Ephesus..., to the 'saints' in Dandenong.

We are saints, holy ones, set apart, consecrated, dedicated;
            not because of any qualifications or inherent virtues of our own,
            not because of what we have done,
            but because of our calling in Christ.
The description, 'saint', places us, slap bang, into salvation history.  It positions us in the middle of God's story of redemption.  It is a relational word.

'Saint' links us back to creation, our original calling.

To the question, 'Who am I?' the Bible replies:- "So God created humans in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  God blessed them and said to them be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it; rule over everything."

Theologians call this the 'cultural mandate'.

So 'saint' means we are called, dedicated, consecrated, set apart, as God's image bearers, to the task of developing and caring for God's world.

To be saintly or holy, (which basically means 'to be set apart for a purpose' and has very little to do with how good or nice you are) takes shape in the everyday activity of our lives as we cook and sew, do the accounting books, mow the lawn, change nappies and worship God.  Saints at work, saints at play, saints in the supermarket, saints on the sports field.  Saint means, as John Calvin so beautifully symbolised it, an open hand with a heart in it and the words: 'My heart – my life – I give you Lord, promptly and sincerely.'

Then 'saint' links us forward to the kingdom of God.  The rule and reign of God which begins in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus – and comes in power when he returns to bring in the new heaven and the new earth.  Saint means we are called to be ambassadors of God's kingdom as prophets, priests and kings, empowered by the Holy Spirit; as we announce the good news that the Kingdom of God is here and invite people to participate; as we demonstrate in our daily lives what the Kingdom of God looks like.

The apostle Peter wrote his letter to saints scattered throughout the then Roman world.  He calls them 'strangers in the world'.
They were often misunderstood,
  sometimes persecuted,
    frequently vilified and criticised,
      generally despised.
The early Christians were a rag tag lot.  Not many people thought they had much going for them.

As Paul says to the 'saints' at Corinth, "Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world... he chose the weak things... he chose the lowly things... the despised things."

So not exactly the movers and shakers of society;
  not the important or the impressive,
    not the people who win the votes or the awards,
      not the celebrities.
And yet, says Peter (see 1Peter 2:9), and yet, "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.  (there's that word again – hagious – saint), a people belonging to God."

So you see that to understand what a saint is, you need to know the context.

You need to know the story.

I sometimes say to people, "I am a miracle", they look at me; what is he on about?  "I am a miracle child".  But that means nothing, until you know the story.

You see when I was two years old we lived in Woerden; an old walled town in Holland with a moat around it; a gracht.  Often these moats or grachts would silt over with a green algae which looked like grass from a distance, even though the water was quite deep (kroes – I think they called it).  We used to live right next to one of these and one day I escaped through the gate, as a two year toddler, and walked right across the algae, and of course sank like a stone and would have drowned.  The only thing that saved me is that my mother used to dress me in those silly Dutch baggy shorts with elastic in the trousers.  This day I was wearing bright red shorts and as I went under the air caught under the elastic and they acted like a balloon keeping my bottom above the kroes, although my head was under water.  It so happened that along came the local garbage collector, who saw this red thing floating in the kroes and fished it out with his prodding hook.  Little did he realise he was saving a two year old child.  So you see, I AM a miracle.  But you can only understand that if you know the story.

If you belong to Jesus Christ, you are a saint!.  But you can only understand that in the context of the story.  And so we are back to Paul's long, long 14-verse sentence; his ‘righteous expletive’.  To go back to the idea of coming upon this grand vista, imagine Paul saying: Let me give you a slide show, let me show you my pictures.  You are saints because...!

And he uses a series of wonderful, extravagant words or metaphors to describe the Ephesians – each one like a picture in a slide show.  Look at the passage.  Can you find them?

Blessed... chose... predestined... adopted... redeemed... freely gave (bestowed)... lavished... made known... gathered up....!

What an amazing set of verbal pictures to describe what God has done in Christ.

It’s like one of those smorgasbord meals, a banquet, where all the food is laid out on the table: soups and entrées and, and hors-d’oeuvres, and five sorts of salads and five meats and six sorts of sweets.  Where do you start?  How do you comprehend it all?

Of course each of these items Paul lists need a slide show, a sermon, of their own.  Slide shows are fantastic, unless they go on too long; so just a few slides...!

"He has blessed us."

Blessing sets the direction and the agenda for everything else.  To be blessed is to be showered, to be covered, to be inundated with God's gifts.  A blessed person enjoys abundance.  Right through the Bible when God blesses wonderful things happen – crops grow, people are healed, nations prosper, barren women become pregnant, the church flourishes.  Blessing (eulogetos) is to speak a good word, to wish a person health and wellbeing and happiness.  When a person sneezes we say 'bless you!'; the Germans say 'Gesundheit!' (health).  So when Paul says 'God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ' he literally means that all of Christ's gifts are ours – grace, forgiveness, belonging, acceptance, freedom, renewal - all just showered on us – saints.

"For he chose us in him."

Most of us have a story from childhood of not being chosen and it has left its scar.  Not chosen for the football team (or chosen last; ‘have him!’), not chosen for the school musical, not chosen for a job, not chosen for promotion.

Not to be chosen carries the blunt message that I have no worth, I am not useful, I am good for nothing.  And it is crippling.

And usually we don't take it lying down.  Not being chosen causes reaction – look at me, look at me, I am worthy...!  The attention-seeking behaviour of a child at school or youth group, dying your hair purple, compulsive investment in a cause, even behaviour that lands a person in jail.  Anything that gives us a sense of worth and identity.  But the truth is that in Christ God chose us; he really did; he chose us.

And it wasn't a last minute thing, because he felt sorry for us because no one else would have us; like the stray dog at the pound or the orphan nobody adopts.  He chose us 'before the foundation of the world'.  Now that is mind boggling.  We're in – from the beginning.  We are cosmic creatures.

Does that make you feel good?

Now we reformed people sometimes do an unfortunate thing at this point.  We bring in our questions.

'If I am chosen, who didn't get in?  If God chooses does he also reject?  If God chooses and decides, where is my free will.  All those intellectual discussions about freewill and determinism, and the theological battleground of predestination.

But notice that Paul doesn't engage with any of that.  Just accept it at face value – he chose me.  Wow, God is awesome!

Can you see how the word 'saint' is starting to take on shape through the context, through the story?  Just one more.

'He lavished on us."

God's grace – adoption, forgiveness, redemption... that he lavished upon us.  When did you last do 'lavish'?

We have a friend who has an overdeveloped sense of generosity.  And for his wife's fortieth birthday he did 'lavish'.  He told her to keep the weekend of her birthday free.  He took her to a retreat on the Friday evening, where he had flown in a dozen or more of her best friends from all over the country.  They had a sumptuous meal and then the next day they went from one experience to another – a walk in Sherbrook Forest, finishing for lunch at a spiffy restaurant, followed by a massage for all, followed by a movie, followed by a joy flight over Melbourne, followed by a meal at a Thai restaurant, followed by a musical show.  One good thing after another..!  All to say: I love you.  Lavished upon...!

Right through the Biblical story you can see how God, 'lavishes upon'.  To Adam and Eve: It’s all yours, this whole creation, every fruit and delicious thing in the garden.  Even after the fall – the whole temple sacrificial system (a foretaste of what God would do in Christ) all those animals sacrificed; the best.  Seems like a messy business, but it indicated extravagance.  Someone has suggested we should see it as a lavish barbecue.

And all those O.T. parties, that went on for a week.  In the NT Jesus feeds 5000 and there are 12 baskets of food left.  The new heaven and earth is pictured as a massive banquet.

All pictures of the way God lavishes us with the riches of his grace.

And so we ARE saints, because in Christ he blessed us, he chose us, he adopted us, he lavished grace upon us, he redeemed us.

And that brings us back to identity.

Where do you get your identity?  Where do you go to come to an understanding of who and what you are?  We live in a world where we suffer the problem of what Mark Sayers calls 'the horizontal self'.  We allow ourselves to be defined almost entirely in secular terms, by horizontal criteria – by our occupation (I am a teacher, plumber, lawyer, architect), by our nationality (I am proudly Australian, you ain't much if you ain't Dutch), by our relationships (he is married, she is a mother), by our religion or ethnic background (she is a Christian, he is Vietnamese), or, heaven forbid, by our possessions (he is a millionaire, she is a BMW driver).

Eugene Peterson, the author of the Bible paraphrase, 'The Message', writes that, "in our identity-confused society, too often many of us have settled for a pastiche identity composed of a MasterCard number, medical records, academic degrees, job history and whatever fragments of genealogy we can salvage from the cemeteries...!  We grow up in a society that evaluates us by appearance and role, by behaviour and potential.  We are endlessly tested, examined, classified, praised, damned, admired, despised, flattered, scorned, kissed, kicked as thoroughly secularised things... debunking of anything in or about us that has to do with God."

This is a dangerous way of understanding ourselves.  It makes us (and especially young people) vulnerable to all the suggestions around us of what we might be.  Magazines, TV, billboards, YouTube, the endless messages, to be the cool self, the successful self, the sexy self, the eternally young self, the happy self.  Images and ideals, impossible to live up to, even if we wanted to.  And there's always a product, or an experience, or a self-help manual, or a service to help you achieve the impossible dream.

Often these 'images of self' are aimed at women.  You start to believe the Bible's comment that 'a woman's hair is her crowning glory' when you see all those dozens of hair product adverts.

But one of the most subtle and subversive must be the 'Old Spice' deodorant add for men.  The most watched You Tube add in the world; doubled the sales of 'Old Spice'.

A muscular, swarthy, handsome man in a bathroom, barely covered with a towel – “the man your man could smell like”.

"Hello ladies, look at your man, now look at me, now look at your man, now back to me.  Sadly your man isn't me – but if he switched body wash to Old Spice he could be like me... you're on a boat with the man your man could smell like... anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice."

How can I compete?  How can I possibly live up to that guy honey?  I'll just have to get Old Spice.

Funny, clever, but oh so subversive if we, believe in the horizontal self, rather than what God tells us we are – saints, blessed, chosen, adopted, redeemed, lavished upon, god's image.

I teach the history of revolutions to Year-12 students.  We look at the French and Russian Revolutions.  One of the fascinating things about revolutions is how they redefine people.  When a society like France in 1789 and Russia in 1917 switch regimes they also give people a new identity.

In France before the revolution people were subjects of an autocratic king.  After the revolution they are sovereign citizens of a nation.  Even the king was now citizen Carpet, rather than King Louis.  In Russia under the Tsar people were counts and dukes, colonels and lordships.  After the revolution everyone was a comrade.

The coming of the kingdom of God in Christ is revolutionary; in Christ a whole new world is dawning.  And we are no longer defined by horizontal criteria, how wealthy we are, our position in society, our education, our body image, our job.  We are citizens of a new order: saints.

To the saints at Dandenong.  You ARE a saint.  Saint Harry, saint Debbie, saint Janny, saint Colin... to the praise of God's glory.

Amen