Sermon Tone Analysis

Christmas 2

Ephesians 1:3–6, 15–18

January 2, 2005

“It’s Our Destiny”

after M. Brackman

/Introduction: /In /Return of the Jedi,/ the sixth movie of the “Star Wars” saga, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have one last duel.

After a flurry of blows, Luke slices off Vader’s hand, and Vader is at his mercy.

The evil emperor descends a flight of stairs to the two combatants and tells Luke to fulfill his destiny.

Luke is supposed to kill Lord Vader, whom he now knows to be his father, and assume his father’s place at the emperor’s side.

In this case Luke does not fulfill his destiny—at least not the destiny the emperor said he had.

The idea of having a destiny is very popular in the movies.

The idea of having a destiny isn’t foreign to Christianity either.

In fact, the idea that we’re born with a particular future in store is at the heart of Christianity.

This begs us to ask the question.

Is your destiny the destiny you would wish to fulfill?

Our text says, “He predestined us,” that is God predestined us, chose us before the foundation of the world.

What does this mean?

Predestination is a bit of a scary concept, isn’t it?

“Predestination” is often used to suggest that everything that happens is cast in concrete from all eternity - meeting the perfect girl or guy at a preordained “moment of destiny,” - bumping into the billionaire who hires a person to be his apprentice - having every tipped pass, every last-second kick, every break fall just right on your way to a Cinderella Super Bowl.

And if it’s not meant to be, you lose, that’s it, you miss and you miss out.

Predestination can be an unforgiving thing.

John Calvin, the great Geneva-based theologian, was a generation younger than Luther and was the spiritual father of many Protestant denominations.

Calvin taught that everyone was predestined for one of two eternities: heaven or hell.

He taught that before he made the world, God predestined some to heaven and everyone else God predestined to hell.

Set in eternal concrete, all these /would/ be lost—by God’s eternal plan.

No way out, no hope—they /would/ fulfill their destinies in the fires of hell.

That’s scary!

Is your destiny the one you’d wish to fulfill?

What destiny would you choose?

Look at us: We are all born destined to sin.

Our text talks about creation.

God created everything perfect.

When our first parents fell into sin, they made us sinners.

We are by nature sinful, but there’s more.

We often like to commit sins.

The world makes it easy for us to sin.

We don’t stop sinning after we’ve become Christians.

The old sinful nature daily tempts us, and we daily fall.

We often see Christians committing sins and dishonoring the name of Christ.

Through all these things we fulfill our destiny doomed to eternal damnation.

God has a different destiny that He fulfills for us through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Doesn’t God predestine us to be saved?

Yes! God has always planned to save his people.

In a way our destiny was born on Christmas morning.

The promised plan of salvation is unfolded before us.

God re-creates us anew with Jesus’ birth.

God demand of perfection is fulfilled as He provides His perfect Son.

God takes hold of human nature in the incarnation of His Son.

Out of his great love for us, Jesus Christ willingly became the holy and blameless sacrifice.

This is wonderful news—if it really is for us, if receiving God’s grace and forgiveness really is our destiny.

But how can we know?

Listen again to these words of the text: vv 3–6.

“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, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love he predestined us for adoption 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.”

Did you hear the tone?

“/In love/ he predestined us.”

“He chose us!”—past tense, not “might,” not even “will”; he /did/!

All this, “He /has/ freely given to us!”

There is not an ounce of fear, of threat, of uncertainty.

John Calvin was wrong!

There is no double predestination, as it’s called—some to heaven, the rest to hell.

Scripture speaks only of this one predestination: to be adopted through Jesus Christ.

God Has Chosen to Save Us from Our Destiny to Sin.

We know that because the Word tells us, because we’ve been baptized, because we receive Christ himself in the Lord’s Supper.

Everyone who has received these has been given what Christ earned on the cross.

Predestination is always /in Christ Jesus/.

We are re-created as holy and blameless in Christ Jesus through Baptism.

The perfect sacrifice of our Savior is freely given to us.

We are called by name out of our sinful death and into his forgiven life.

We are adopted as sons and receive the heavenly blessings the Father gives the one he loves.

These blessing are ours in Christ.

Should we have any doubts we daily remember our Baptism.

Any doubts concerning our salvation are put to flight when we see this great work of Christ.

Because we are united to Jesus, we see forgiveness even for the daily sins we commit.

We continue to gather around the Word and Sacraments to sustain us until our very last breath.

Then St. Paul’s prayer becomes our prayer.

We pray for God to give us the wisdom of revelation so we may know him better.

We pray that through the Holy Spirit of God every time we study the Bible we see something that we didn’t see before.

We continue to be drawn closer to the Father as we grow in faith toward him and fervent love toward one another.

/Conclusion:/ We are not destined to be enslaved by sin and death.

We are predestined to be saved.

On Christmas morning God chose to become one of us.

He chose to enter and live the sinless life none of us could achieve.

He became the holy and blameless sacrifice for sin and freely gives this gift to each of you.

He gives you every spiritual blessing.

You have been baptized.

You are forgiven.

Your destiny is to rise on the Last Day with all the dead and, with all those who are in Christ, walk into heaven.

Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.