{"id":7087,"date":"2021-08-17T08:04:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7087"},"modified":"2021-08-17T08:05:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T15:05:39","slug":"he-chose-us-in-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7087","title":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-size:40px\" style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0);\">\u201cHe chose us in him\u201d<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Pentecost-13-Open-Sans.pdf\">Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0);\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<html>\n\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\">\n<meta name=Generator content=\"Microsoft Word 15 (filtered)\">\n<style>\n<!--\n \/* Font Definitions *\/\n @font-face\n\t{font-family:Wingdings;\n\tpanose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Cambria Math\";\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Calibri;\n\tpanose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Open Sans\";\n\tpanose-1:2 11 6 6 3 5 4 2 2 4;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:0in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoNoSpacing, li.MsoNoSpacing, div.MsoNoSpacing\n\t{margin:0in;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tline-height:107%;\n\tfont-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoChpDefault\n\t{font-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoPapDefault\n\t{margin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tline-height:107%;}\n \/* Page Definitions *\/\n @page WordSection1\n\t{size:8.5in 11.0in;\n\tmargin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}\ndiv.WordSection1\n\t{page:WordSection1;}\n \/* List Definitions *\/\n ol\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\nul\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\n-->\n<\/style>\n\n<\/head>\n\n<body lang=EN-US style='word-wrap:break-word'>\n\n<div class=WordSection1>\n\n\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>A sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>For the past three months we have been dealing with\npractical questions of living as Christians in this time and place. We\u2019ve\ntalked always about God\u2019s future kingdom which comes by his power alone. That\nis really the question behind the question of living here and now. The deeper\nquestion, the real question, is: What lies behind it all?<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>As we look at the Western world we see that\nChristianity is faltering. Sunday church attendance is down, even apart from\nCovid. While you and I are here in church, we know we\u2019re a minority. Many\nothers are not in church and people are, generally speaking, not involved. We\nask ourselves: What\u2019s behind it all? <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>As one non-churchgoer said: \u201cWe don\u2019t bother with\nchurch because we get along just fine. We get by, and we\u2019re just as good as\nthose people who go to church.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>If you talk to somebody who\u2019s in a little bit of\ntrouble, it doesn\u2019t mean they are going to go to church. What people will say\nis: I get by. I live day by day. That\u2019s not bad. That\u2019s the basic model of AA.\nAt the same time, what they are really saying is: It doesn\u2019t matter. What\nmatters is that you live your life doing whatever turns you on. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>It likes the comedian Flip Wilson\u2019s character, Reverend\nLeRoy, who was head of the church-that\u2019s-happening-now. And that\u2019s what many\npeople belong to \u2013 the church that\u2019s happening now.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>We know, however that if the gospel is what it says it\nis, the churches should be crowded. Everybody should be there because eternity\nis what is at stake.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What do we Christians do? <\/span><\/b><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>And\nthat brings us to Ephesians 1:4: \u201cHe chose us in him before the foundation of\nthe world so that we should be holy and blameless before him.\u201d What a\nremarkable verse. \u201cHe chose us\u201d means \u201cHe elected us.\u201d This, too, is the\nmessage of the gospel of John:<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span\nstyle='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>John\n1:13: \u201c. . . who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of\nthe will of man, but of God.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span\nstyle='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>John\n6:44: \u201cNo one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I\nwill raise him up at the last day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpLast style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span\nstyle='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>John\n6:65: \u201c. . . no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>That is predestination, or fate, or God did it. When we\nhear the word \u201cpredestination,\u201d we start to back off and say: It can\u2019t be that\nway. Are there not many points of view? Surely we must be tolerant. And the\nlike. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Or we play the victim, as Flip Wilson taught us to say:\n\u201cThe devil made me do it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The question behind the question. First, <\/span><\/b><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>there\u2019s\nthe problem of sin. Here we remember Luther\u2019s epic battle with Erasmus. In 1525\nErasmus, who was by far and away the major intellectual figure of the time, wrote\nabout the freedom of the will. What Erasmus said was that if there isn\u2019t\nfreedom of the will, if it isn\u2019t all relative, you can\u2019t have any morality. You\ncan\u2019t have any ethics. If it\u2019s all God\u2019s doing, then you can\u2019t claim people are\nresponsible. You can\u2019t say they should live a certain way because, after all,\nEphesians 1:4 says: \u201cHe elected us . . .\u201d If everything is fate, then there is\nno meaning. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>At the same time, if everything is relative, then there\nis no meaning. If everything is relative, if you have your truth, and I have\nmine; if everything is relative, different strokes for different folks, and all\nthat, then there is, again, no meaning. Both stances are caught up in sin.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Second<i>, <\/i><\/span><\/b><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>we\nare trapped by the human situation. Thoreau put it quite well a hundred and\nfifty years ago: \u201cThe mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.\u201c <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>John Calvin wrote in his magnum opus, <i>The<\/i> <i>Institutes\nof the Christian Religion<\/i>, that our hearts are idol-making machines. Our\nhearts become factories of idols in which we fashion and refashion God to suit\nour needs and desires. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Luther asked: What is it that controls your life? What\nis it that grabs you? What is it that makes the final decision about who you\nare, and what you do? For you, that\u2019s God. And of course it ends up being an\nidol. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>G. K. Chesterton, as we also noted last week, famously\nsaid: \u201cWhen people stop believing in God, they don\u2019t believe in nothing, they\nbelieve in anything.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>We are caught, even our hearts are idol-making\nfactories.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Luther responded: What about sin, death, and the power\nof the devil? <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span\nstyle='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Romans\n6:23: \u201cFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life\nin Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span\nstyle='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>1\nCor 15:56: \u201cThe sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpLast style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:Symbol'>\u00b7<span\nstyle='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Hebrews\n2:14: \u201c. . . he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death\nhe might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Today, these \u2013 sin, death, and the power of the devil \u2013\naren\u2019t taken seriously. They are jokes. Flip Wilson has Reverend LeRoy take up\na collection so he can go to Las Vegas and study sin.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Think about all the jokes you\u2019ve heard about St. Peter\nat the pearly gates. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Luther asked: What is the question behind the question?\nWhat is the question behind it all? And what\u2019s behind this question of sin,\ndeath, and evil is the question of meaning or meaninglessness. If you say it\u2019s\nall relative, that is just as meaningless as saying it\u2019s all inexorable fate. Where\nis meaning? <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Third<\/span><\/b><span style='font-size:\n12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>, that brings us back\nto Ephesians 1:4: \u201cHe elected us in him before the foundation of the world.\u201d\nThat\u2019s both a basic statement of the gospel and a great promise because we\u2019re\ntrapped. Whatever we do, we end up making idols, and that leads to desperation.\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In spite of us and our idol-making hearts, he elected\nus in Jesus Christ so that in his death and resurrection we have been chosen\nand made his own before the foundation of the world. That means before Genesis\n1:1. And then the verse goes on, and this is where it ties in with Luther\u2019s\nresponse to Erasmus. Eph 1:4 says: \u201cso that we should be holy and blameless\nbefore him.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Fourth, <\/span><\/b><span style='font-size:\n12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>the gospel gives <b>certainty<\/b>\nbecause it does not depend on us. It is outside of us, in spite of us. It gives\nfreedom now. We are free now because, though sinful and broken, we partake in the\ngreat exchange. As Paul writes: \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who knew no\nsin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God\u201d (2 Cor 5:21).<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\n\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>In Hebrew \u201crighteousness\u201d and \u201c<b>holiness<\/b>\u201d are\ninterchangeable. So what it says is: \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who\nknew no sin, so that in him we might become the <b>holiness<\/b> of God.\u201d It\u2019s the\ngreat exchange. Like Ephesians 1:4: \u201cWe are elected\u201d in Christ, and because we\nare given his <b>holiness<\/b>, we are \u201c<b>holy<\/b> and blameless\u201d before God. As\nLuther says, it\u2019s the best deal ever, and it is forever.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Fifth: <\/span><\/b><span style='font-size:\n12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Thank God that God\nthat he does it, and that he\u2019s chosen us. It all seems impossible, and it is\nbeyond our understanding. As Paul writes (Romans 11:29-36): <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u201cFor\nthe gifts and call of God are irrevocable. . . . O the depth of the riches and\nwisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how\ninscrutable are his ways! <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u2018For who has known the mind of the <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='margin-left:.25in;text-indent:.25in'><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Lord, <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>or who has been his counselor?\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u2018Or who has given a gift to him <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing style='text-indent:.25in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;\nfont-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>that he might be repaid?\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNoSpacing><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>For\nfrom him and to him and through him are all things. To him be glory for ever.\nAmen\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>\n\n<\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sermon for the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Select <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7087\"> here<\/a> to read more or <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Pentecost-13-Open-Sans.pdf\">here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7087"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7093,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7087\/revisions\/7093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}