Found and Heading Home

Ephesians 1:7-12

Life is not easy. As we move through adolescence to teen years and young adulthood, we live in a world full of insecurities about who likes me and who does not. Who am I? Where do I fit in? Is it OK to be me? Will people like me if I am different? These are our questions. We have to choose friends wisely and work out our increasing need for independence within the restrictions of living under the authority of our parents.

Then we have to choose what to do after our high school years are over. Do we learn a trade or head off to university? What school do I go to? When we begin living away from our parents, we are free to do whatever we want and this freedom also presents challenges for us. We have to exercise self-control to use our freedom wisely. We have to decide what direction our life will go, what we will study, what job to take. We begin friendships with members of the opposite sex and wonder who we will marry or if we will marry. There are a lot of decisions to be made as we grow up.

But as difficult as these choices are, they become more complicated when we get married. As a single person I face difficult decisions to be made. I seek God’s will, the advice of friends, I pray and then when I come to a decision, I act. But when I am married, all of a sudden, decisions become much more complex. Now we have to get agreement on decisions. It is no longer as simple as what I want and what I think best; now there is another person whose voice needs to be heard. Husband and wife have to be in agreement about decisions. When children come it gets even more complex because of the demands they make on their parents and because we have to consider their interests as well in decision making.

Even when my own life is going relatively smoothly, life is not easy because we take on the burdens of our family and friends. Their struggles become our struggles because we love them and want what is best for them. There are people having to choose which job to take and where to move. Others are struggling with relational problems. Some are trying to find a job and home in a new country. Some are struggling with health issues and others grieving the illness or death of a spouse, parent, or child.

Sometimes those who are married face decisions and it seems impossible that a solution exists that will satisfy both husband and wife. We find ourselves in what seems to be impossibly difficult situations in which there is no good solution. We have to choose between our career, the needs of our spouse, the needs of our children, and we can’t see a way forward. The details of these difficulties may be new and different, but the struggles themselves are thousands of years old. Paul, sitting in his prison cell in Rome, had a lot of time to think of the many men and women he had met on his missionary journeys. He knew the career choices they were making, the relational tensions they were experiencing, the health issues they were facing.

Paul’s concern was not merely intellectual. When God calls us to ministry, whether it is a small group or a church, he gives us a heart that encompasses the people in that group or church. When God called Paul to ministry, his ministry was to the Gentile world, and so God also gave Paul a heart for this huge world of people who had not yet heard the good news of Jesus.

As Paul sat in his prison cell in Rome, he had a lot of time to think and pray. His heart and mind roamed through all the cities he had visited. He thought and prayed for all the people he had met. He prayed for the people in cities he had not yet had the opportunity to visit. He desperately wanted to visit these cities and preach the good news of Jesus, but his chains and the soldier guarding him prevented him from doing this. So, he wrote this letter. It was sent to the church in Ephesus with instructions that it should be copied and sent to all the churches in the region.

What was Paul’s concern for these people who were part of his heart? Paul did not begin his letter by talking about wisdom needed to make difficult choices in life. He did not begin by talking about how to discern God’s will as we move through the choices in life. He did not begin by talking about how to deal with the challenges we face in life. Paul began by talking about the wonder of all God has done for us.

I don’t want to minimize the importance and difficulty of struggles we face, but I will do as Paul did and lift up the truth of Jesus which is far more significant and far more powerful than any struggle, any difficulty, any tragedy we will ever face.

Last Sunday Patrick began preaching from this opening eulogy in Paul’s letter. (Ephesians 1:3-6)
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

The love of God the Father was expressed in sending Jesus so we could be adopted into his family. This is mind-boggling truth. The pre-creation, eternal God created us and worked so we could be his adopted sons and daughters. We are chosen and made worthy by his choice of us. Amazing!

This week I will continue with verses 7-12 which will take us from the past to the future and then into the present. We once were lost but now are found. We have a home waiting for us in heaven and a well thought out plan to take us there. We know why we are here on planet earth and what we are to do.

We once were lost but now are found. (Ephesians 1:7-8)
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!

What was our situation before Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead?

The writer of Ecclesiastes thought about the meaning of life and concluded (Ecclesiastes 3:18)
As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

Job, as he contemplated the meaning of his suffering, said (Job 14)
“Man born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He springs up like a flower and withers away;
like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

King David, in his prayer at the dedication of the Temple, said (I Chronicles 29:15)
Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

Those who took time to reflect understood the reality of life. The writer of Ecclesiastes, Job and King David reflected and then asked, “We have this life and then what?”

It is into the meaninglessness of our earthly existence that God burst forth with this extravagant gift that gave us reason to hope that there is more than this life. The meaninglessness of life was smashed to pieces as Jesus worked on our behalf and gave us a future to anticipate.

Knowing what would happen to him, Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Knowing Judas would betray him, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Knowing he would die, Jesus went voluntarily to the cross.

Although he had legions of angels at his disposal, he allowed himself to be arrested, beaten, mocked and crucified. His blood was poured out on the altar of the cross, just as the blood of sheep and bulls had been poured out on the altar of the Temple over the centuries of Israel’s existence.

But this blood accomplished far more than the blood of sheep and bulls. His blood shed on the altar of the cross paid the price for our sins, one sacrifice for all time. We were doomed to a meaningless existence and then an eternity spent apart from God. Because of our selfish, sinful choices, we deserve eternal death but we were rescued from that. God paid the price for us so we could be free to live in this life and in the eternal life to come.

We once were lost but now are found. These are lyrics from John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace. He was a slave trader, caught up in his sin, but the amazing grace of Jesus found him and brought him to faith where he became an influential clergyman and activist against the slave trade of his past.

We were all lost, enemies of God because of our sin. But we were found. We discovered we were loved by the all-powerful God who created the universe. We were loved, pursued, and embraced. We were welcomed home by our Father in heaven who lavishes his love on us.

We once were lost but now are found. This is our past and now we head to the future. We have a home waiting for us in heaven and a well thought out plan to take us there. (Ephesians 1:7-10)
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

This act of love the Father lavished on us was not a spontaneous decision. It was not an impulsive decision. This was a well thought out plan that began even before Abraham.

God loves us. It’s amazing but true. God loves us. I mean he really loves us. It is way beyond the sentiment that prompts you to send a greeting card to someone for their birthday. It is far deeper than the love we have when we first fall in love and are preoccupied day and night with thoughts of our new love. God loves us more than we can imagine.

And the problem is we are separated from him. He loves us but it is impossible for us to be with him. So what did God do? Did he send a card, “Missing you. Wish you were here.”?

From the beginning he sat down and thought through what it would take for us to be with him. In the beginning he had us in mind and when he thought about us he knew he had a problem on his hands.

When he created us he wanted us to love him back and in order to do that he had to give us the freedom to choose to love him or reject him. If he created us with no other option than to love him, then the relationship would be less than satisfying. To create a robot that tells you each day, “I love you,” does not provide any satisfying relationship. A despotic ruler who demands his subjects tell him they love him will hear what he wants to hear but will not receive the love of his people he desires.  Only someone who has a choice can say “I love you,” and it means something.

So God created us with free will. We can choose to love him or reject him or be indifferent to him.

When God created us with free will, he created the possibility of sin and we choose to disobey him. This is the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. God gave the whole incredible garden filled with delights but said, “Do not eat the fruit of this one tree.” Adam and Eve delighted in all the wonderful gifts in the garden but then chose to yield to the temptation of the devil and that is what happens with each of us. Each of us when we are given the option to choose, choose selfishly. It is our nature to choose imperfectly.

So what to do? God is incredibly creative – even a simple look at the beauty and intricacy of the created world reveals that – and God used his creativity to bring us back into an intimate relationship with him.

God revealed himself to Abraham and began to instruct Abraham and his descendants about who he was. There were many myth stories circulating around the ancient world in which the gods acted in very human ways as they fought and seduced to get what they wanted. God revealed himself to Abraham not as a human god but as a holy and transcendent God who loves his creation. He revealed himself as a holy God and began to work in Abraham to create a man who would be set apart from the sinful behavior of the world.

God revealed to Moses a set of laws that instructed Israel about his character. Obedience to the law, perfect obedience to the law, would lead people into the intimacy with God he desired.

But our nature once again proved to be an obstacle. No matter how powerfully God revealed himself, no matter how many prophets he sent, no matter how many times God forgave and started again, his chosen people rebelled and reverted to worship of other gods.

So what to do? Even in the creation of the law God began to create an understanding of what he would do next. He taught through the law the importance of shed blood as a means of paying the price for sin. Through the instructions for the High Priest he taught the necessity of having someone who intercedes with him on behalf of those who are separated from him.

There were four hundred years between the last prophet in Israel and the birth of Jesus. Israel waited with great anticipation for God to come and save them. But only God knew when he would act. We don’t know how time works in heaven, but perhaps the anticipation Israel had was surpassed by the even greater anticipation of heaven as the time approached for Jesus to be born as a human.

We do know what happened on earth when Jesus was born. There were angelic visitations to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and the shepherds. The magi came from the east to see what the stars had revealed to them.

What happened in heaven? Maybe the hoard of angels who appeared to the shepherds was just one part of the celebration in heaven that took place. Astonished angels watched as God acted boldly, in a surprise gift to the people he loves.

Peter wrote in his letter that (I Peter 1:12)
Even angels long to look into these things.

What an extravagant gift!

Jesus was born, Emmanuel! God with us! And hope was rekindled. Jesus lived, died, was raised to new life and his work of saving each generation began. We are pursued and drawn to him. We set out on pilgrimage. We set our sights for his heavenly kingdom where our home is to be found. There will be good days and bad days but each day, as we hold on to Jesus, we draw nearer to the time when we will finally be at home and at peace. And because this is such a well thought out plan, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39)

This means we can move through life with certainty. We may have people who betray us. We may have people who mistreat us. We may face discrimination and racism. We may have to sacrifice our earthly dreams. Life may not work out the we want it to. Be we will move through this life, growing in faith, and then set off for our heavenly home. This certainty can take us through any of life’s difficulties or tragedies.

We once were lost but now are found. This is our past. We have a home waiting for us in heaven and a well thought out plan to take us there. This is our future. And now, in the present, we know why we are here on planet earth and what we are to do. (Ephesians 1:11-12)
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

Who are you? This is an important questions for us to ask. We begin asking this at a very young age. We observe others. We see what makes some people popular and others not. We see that we are different from others. We question if that is ok? Is it ok to be me?

But then, as we age, the question takes on a deeper meaning. Is my life meaningful? What difference does it make that I am alive? What meaning will my life have when I die? We slip into the routine of our career and find ourselves in the words of Paul Simon from his song: Slip Slidin’ Away:
We’re working our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway
When in fact we’re slip slidin’ away

Randy Alcorn has written a book about heaven and in it he wrote about why we exist:
You are made for a person and a place.
Jesus is the person, and Heaven is the place.
They are a package—they come together.
You cannot get Heaven without Jesus or Jesus without Heaven.

Does it matter if you advance in your career? Certainly it matters. Our success in this life gives us a platform from which we are able to be a witness for Jesus. The money we earn can be used to help advance the kingdom of God. But it is not a matter of life and death. Advance, stay in the same job for the rest of your life, or lose your job – you will still die and leave it all behind. There is a better world awaiting you.

Does it matter if you get married or go through life as a single person? Of course it matters. But getting married cannot become our life goal. Whether we are single or married, we will move on from this world to our heavenly home where we will not marry or be given in marriage. (Luke 20:35)

God did not create you to live on earth, go to school, go to work and make a lot of money, get married and have kids and grandkids, have a nice home and cars and great vacations, and then die.

You were created to be with Jesus for eternity.

You were not created for earth, you were created for heaven.

You were created to be with Jesus in heaven for eternity.

If you are facing difficult decisions, work hard to make a good decision. But know that whatever decision you make, there is nothing more important than clinging to Jesus and keeping your focus on your heavenly destination where your true home awaits you.

If you are depressed and wondering why you are alive, this is why you live. God loves you and is working in you so you will live a joyful life that gives praise to him. God is preparing you for eternal life in his kingdom. You will move through good and bad moments but all those will be left behind at the end when you set off for your new beginning.

It may be you are concerned you will not have enough money to support a family, or enough money for retirement, or that you will not leave an inheritance for your family and friends. The rich and the poor both leave everything behind when they exit this world and head to the next. How much money you earned or left behind will not have any significance.

It may be you are concerned that people view you as a successful person. You want to do well in school, get a good job, be viewed as an important person. But when you come into heaven, it will not matter how many people came to your funeral and how long your obituary was. What will matter is who will greet you when you enter into your eternal home.

This is the truth Paul desperately wanted his generation to hear, and providentially, because he was in prison and had to write this letter, he is speaking to us with truth we desperately need to hear.

I have a friend who has had two cancerous tumors removed from his brain. I discovered this week that a man Annie and I have known since we were in university has metastatic pancreatic cancer which gives a life expectancy of just 6 to 10 months.

I don’t know what situation you are dealing with: whether it is who likes me, or what job should I take, or some life-threatening illness. What I would tell my friends is what I would tell you, regardless of how serious a situation you face or how difficult a decision you have to make. We once were lost, but now are found. We have a home waiting for us in heaven and a well thought out plan to take us there. We know who we are and what we are to do. Jesus is the answer to all our existential questions.

So relax, surrender to God, and be at peace. Do what he created you to do. Give him praise for who he is and all he has done for you. Make decisions knowing that you are well loved and eternally safe. Trust him with your life. Trust him with the lives of your friends and family. Keep your eyes on the prize set before you. You are heading home. We are heading home. Live well on the journey.