Monday, February 22, 2016

Ephesians 1:4-14 (selected)

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons 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...

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your 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.

I love to hear people’s stories of how they came to faith in Jesus.

We call them faith-stories or “Gospel stories.” I’ve heard all kinds of stories; some are sudden and emotional; some are more gradual and cerebral; and some are wildly unpredictable.

In the text from Ephesians, Paul says:

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit...

A faith-story, or gospel story, is what happens between hearing the word of truth and believing in Jesus.

One of my favorite stories of coming to faith is the story C.S. Lewis tells in his book “Surprised by Joy.”

Lewis had experienced a great deal of sadness and loss in his early life and, like many, had decided that there could not be a God if there was so much pain and suffering in the world.

But through several key friendships and after wrestling with his own inner turmoil over a number of months, he describes his coming to faith this way:

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms.

I love his honest and eloquent description!

“I gave in...and admitted God was God...” 

There’s the decision. That’s what John means when he writes:

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Several key things to notice here:

Notice that John is saying that we are not born as “children of God.” Now, we are all children of God in the sense that we are created by God; but that’s not what John is talking about. 

He’s talking about salvation here.

With regard to salvation, we are not born children of God.  

We are born alienated from God. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans: 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

So what hope do we have?

Do we just try to do as much good as we can to outweigh our sins? I think this is the “go-to” spiritual strategy of most people in our culture. I think most people think that, if there is a God, what he wants most is for us just to be good people; you know, be a good neighbor, care about the less fortunate, don’t kill anyone, and hope for the best.

Now, those aren’t bad things, and surely God wants us to do good things, but it’s just not the point of Christianity.

So, if we can’t pile up enough good deeds to earn our place with God, then what are we to do? Are we all doomed like Grandpa Joe to just take what’s comin’ to us?

John says there are 2 conditions to becoming a child of God: receiving and believing.

What does it mean to “receive and believe” Jesus?

These terms are often used interchangeably in the New Testament, but if there is a subtle difference it would be the following.

“Receiving” comes from a word that means to take, to lay hold of, to accept with initiative. It’s not passive but active. 

For example: Someone offers you a Christmas gift, but it’s not yours until you reach out and take it. That’s what John means by “receiving.”

“Believing” is a word that means to trust fully in something or someone. 

For example: You’re on your way over the hills and through the woods to grandma’s house for Christmas. But your car runs out of gas and you’re stuck on the side of a country road. You have no choice but to try to hitchhike to a gas station. A farmer pulls over in his pick up truck and offers you a ride. You have to decided whether or not you trust him. To believe is to get in his truck and trust him to get you to the gas station.

So what are we being asked to receive and believe about Jesus?

1 Corinthians 15:3-4

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...

It means to believe that Jesus is who John says he is; the eternal Word of God; that Jesus is God himself come in the flesh.

It means to believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins because forgiveness of sin requires the shedding of blood.

It means to believe that Jesus rose from the dead to both prove his authority as the Son of God and to guarantee our own victory over death.

To receive and believe is more than intellectual assent to a set of theological statements. It is committing oneself to all that Jesus is and means. It means complete unconditional surrender. It means not just believing the farmer and his pick-up truck exist, but to get in the truck and trust the farmer to get you to the gas station!

I think there are two primary ways of receiving and believing. I call them “point in time” and “process.” 

“Point in time” people hear the gospel, accept it, and begin their spiritual journey with a decision.

“Process people” often hear the gospel, question it, wrestle with it, sometimes for years, and then culminate their process a decision. 

Very often “point in time” people can point to a specific moment when they received Christ, or came to believe. 

Maybe they attended a Billy Graham crusade; or walked to the front of a sanctuary to pray with a pastor; or stood on the beach gazing out at the Pacific Ocean and were overwhelmed by the magnitude of God’s grace.

But there is a clear moment of decision; often very dramatic or emotional.

For “process people” receiving and believing is much more arduous. It can be a long journey of learning, thinking, considering and questioning. I have heard people say that it took them 20 years to come to faith in Jesus, but that they couldn’t point to any specific moment.

I think C.S. Lewis’ story was a process story. He wasn’t convinced quickly but only after a long process of wrestling with himself, with truth, and with God.

Then, as a result of the process, he surrendered!    

So what’s your story?

Whether you are a “point in time” person or a “process” person, the most important thing is that you have “heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,” and you have received Jesus and believe in him.

Pastor Brian Coffey