Classified Material

Ephesians 1.3-14 Mark 6.6b-30

Preached Canberra Baptist Church 16th July 2006

One of the first sermons I ever prepared involved a description of televised coverage of tanks rolling into Lebanon. The point of the sermon was that we are all now living ‘in the place above Sodom’ that place where Abraham stood in Genesis 18 while God told him what was to happen to the city. I encouraged my listeners, to intercede for the city, as Abraham did, advocating for the needs of the people even in the face of the judgment of God.  That was many years ago.

In recent weeks the square box in the living room corner has reminded us of those many places where people still suffer: Iraq and the Solomon Islands, East Timor and Dafur, Gaza and Lebanon.– the abiding capacity of human beings, all of us, for conflict and violence is enormously wearying, and depressing. We can shut it out, or try to analyse it and make judgments, draw conclusions. How can we winnow truth from the claims and counter-claims of the protagonists, the agendas of journalists and media owners? We should do this, we need to do this. But we also need to remind ourselves that we are followers of Jesus, the prince of Peace, and ground ourselves again in his gospel.

There are few passages that express the experience of the gospel in more powerful and condensed from than Ephesians 1.3-14. This passage is a blessing, that follows the initial pleasantries of address – a thanksgiving, a rehearsal of all that is good and has been given by God.

[3-4 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, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.]

Here the writer opens by declaring that we have been blessed and chosen, that God has selected us before the foundation of the world and called us to be holy and blameless. There is a recognition of blessing, of gratefulness for all that we have received. There is an acknowledgment that we are called to be holy and blameless – an aspect of Christian life that has been very important to what has been termed the Holiness tradition.

[5-6 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.]

In vss 5-6 the writer engages the mystery of a doctrine that has been called predestination. It celebrates our experience as the children of God, the wonder that God ‘destined us’ for adoption, and it mentions his glorious grace freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In this language we hear the echoes of the Song of Songs, hinting at the God who is our lover and partner, as well as our father and friend.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.

Here we have what many evangelicals would say is the heart of the gospel! The wonder of redemption – that metaphor from the world of slavery. Redemption was not originally a religious word. It had to do with redeeming someone from servitude – the way you redeem something you’ve left at the pawnshop or the local cash-converters store. You buy it back, set it free, return it to where it belongs. This was what Christians experienced in Christ – specifically through this death, signified by the mention of this redemption coming through his blood. Then, piling on other understandings of what this experience of Jesus was about, the author moves on to a different set of metaphors, the forgiveness of sins, the breaking of the crippling power of guilt in human life. This comes about through the riches of his grace that he has lavished on us. Grace is one of the one most beautiful words in our language – because it describes one of the most transforming and distinctive realities of Christian life. Love is celebrated by secular writers and is real in other religions. Redemption or salvation has its counterparts in other worldviews and religions too. But I think Grace is distinctively Christian – it runs to the heart of the gospel

Then from vs 11 comes a description of our inheritance, and the destiny before us to live to Christ and for the praise of his glory.

[11-12 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.]

Finally, from vs 13 there is reference to our being ‘marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit”

[13-14 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.]

Throughout this passage is densely packed theology. This is generous, deeply appreciative language, the language of someone luxuriating in the liberating experience of really knowing Jesus Christ. If this is strange to you – if the words don’t resonate with your experience – speak to me or talk with someone else here you trust, because these experiences are a foundational part of what faith’s about. Don’t miss out on it.

So far, the theology of this Blessing would be welcome in any church around the country. Catholics would be smiling happily and Pentecostals murmuring their heartfelt ‘Amen’s. But right in the middle of this litany of celebration of the Christian faith comes a sentence that some Christians might stumble over. As the passage unfolds we come in vss 9-10 to a statement that may surprise, and perhaps concern, many in the church:

With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Here we have a declaration that what has happened in Christ is not just for the edification of the saved, not just an experience for the believer, but a mysterious plan for ‘the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things in earth’.

What is he talking about? In Chapter three of this letter the writer returns to the theme and expresses it a little more clearly:

Ephesians 3.8-10  Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

The ‘plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God’ suggests that in a previous age this was hidden, or secret, that this was classified material that is now being revealed in Christ.   And what is this newly de-classified material? That through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

There are two elements intersecting here. The first is that it is the church that reveals the wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. The second is that the ‘secret plan’ embodied in this wisdom is to bring all things together in Christ.

The place of the church in engaging the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places is often strange to us. If the heavenly powers have anything to do with us poor mortals in the church, you would think that it is they who would be educating us! Yet this passage says just the reverse is true: that it is the work of the church to reveal to the principalities and powers just what God intends for the world.

This language of ‘the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places’ may strike us as quaint or even strange. It is important that we try to understand what the world of Ephesians made of such concepts. Scholars have unpacked this language and have shown that the world of the New Testament had a sophisticated understanding of spirituality and power. They saw the ‘principalities and powers’ in a carefully developed way. They understood that all authority, earthly and heavenly, had a spiritual component. They knew that all spiritual authority also had some human or social expression. The principalities and powers were neither spiritual realities unconnected with the world, nor were they the kinds of power that we are used to – the powers of armies and politics and bosses and social systems. The world of Ephesians knew that ‘principalities and powers’ was both these realities, that they were interconnected. Human power and spiritual powers were one. In chapter three the writer talks about the ‘secret plan’ being revealed to the heavenly powers. In chapter one he talks about earthly things being brought together in Christ.

What the writer to the Ephesians declares here, declares as being as central to the gospel as redemption through the blood of Christ, or the call to Holy living, or the promise of the Holy Spirit that follows, or the importance of counting our blessings, is the Church’s vital role in pointing to the future of the world, in explaining how God wants to bring things together, working for reconciliation, and peace and justice on the earth.

According to Ephesians this stands at the heart of the gospel message. It’s not an optional add-on. It’s not just ‘implied’ in Jesus teaching. It’s at the centre of canonical faith, the faith received from the Apostles and handed on through the ages.  When our political leaders say that churches and Bishops should opt out of discussions about how the country and the world should be ordered and stick to their proper business, we have to answer “This is our proper business!” It’s at the heart of what we are called to do and be!

Over recent months we have witnessed conflicts and struggles in various parts of the world. This week we have watched, appalled, grieved and dismayed, as the Middle East slides again into war. We see how entrenched the problems are and wonder how it can ever be solved. But we have to cling to the promise of this passage that there is ‘a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Christ’. We have to believe that and point to it.

This week we are hosting a dinner at the National Press Club and our guest Dr Bernard Sabella will be speaking about Peace in the Middle East. You may well be tempted to think this is a lost cause. We have had a provisional acceptance from the Ambassador of Israel. He will be seated at a table with the Head of the General Delegation of the Palestinian Authority. We believe in the plan! On Friday, after prayers on the Muslim holy day we will host a private dinner in which Arab Ambassadors will meet with Dr Sabella.

There is a temptation in this for a Christian triumphalist reading of future history – that eventually ‘our perspective’ will prevail and we’ll manage the conflicts of others from a perspective of success and power. I don’t think that is what the writer means.

The plan, hidden for ages in God (chapter 3) was set forth in Christ (Chapter 1). God will bring things together in Christ, in the Crucified One, the one who forgave his enemies and would not retaliate against his accusers, but suffered humbly and meekly the aggression and hatred of others. It is not Jesus triumphant who brings people together, it is the Jesus who teaches us to serve and love each other, even when that involves suffering and death. Islamic militancy, Israeli aggression and all the politics of Christian superpowers cannot bring things together. It is only when people are able to find the strength to endure suffering, to forgive crimes against themselves, to even lose the ones they love and not be bitter that healing is found and things can start to come together. Whether you’re a Muslim, a Christian or a Jew, when you can live like that Jesus is there whether named or not. And ultimately it is only that Spirit which can bring all things together.

Whether it’s the suffering we encounter in our marriages or family life, the indignities and conflicts of the workplace or neighbourhood or the large scale conflicts facing peoples and nations, the cross is not a symbol, it’s a strategy, it’s a sacrament, it’s a way of moving through suffering and conflict into peace and healing and the discovery of God.

This is not a simple or an easy vocation. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus sends out the disciples on their mission – to spread his message and engage authoritatively with the demonic. Jesus sends them out in 6.7-13 and they come back and report to him in 6.30. And in between the sending out and the returning comes the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. The writer juxtaposes these realities as a mutual commentary: if you take up the work of Jesus you will run into the kind of manipulative and destructive forces that destroyed John the Baptist. The axe ended John’s ministry, as the Cross closed the ministry of Jesus. Or perhaps we should say, it brought their ministries to fulfillment!

In our prayers, in our gifts for projects, in our work as reconcilers and peace-makers in the everyday contexts where we live, we have a role to play in pointing to the ‘classified material’ that was revealed in the gospel - the secret plan of God to bring all things together in Christ.

Usually we do it in small ways.

Usually we point far into the future.

This week we are doing it in an immediate, real and timely way against the backdrop of the violence of suffering again occurring in the Middle East.