Where Do You Sit?

Seating arrangements can be fascinating. On Sunday morning, it’s interesting to watch people enter a church auditorium or place their chairs here in the parking lot. Those who arrive early have lots of options. Sometimes you see kids scamper around back and forth, front to back, even squabbling until a parent strides up, picks a place, and sits down.

Where you chose to sit might be fascinating to someone who studies human behaviour. Why did you pick the seat on the left/right, front row / middle row / back row?

Then there are weddings. Many Covid weddings avoid the big, big question: who sits with whom at the reception? Making groups of 8 around each table with 2 sets of relatives, 2 sets of workmates, and long-time friends requires some wisdom.

And . . . where do you put the minister & their spouse?

A church wedding can’t happen w/o a minister, but pastor couples don’t always fit with friends from work or out-of-town family. So then, where?

Robin & I’ve been seated ‘way in the back corner somewhere or the table with the parents of the bride and everywhere b/t.

In the letter to the Chr. in Ephesus we come across another fascinating seating arrangement. Let me read it again:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:6 (NIV)

So where are you sitting?

It’s a mind-boggling thought: To be seated in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus . . . Seems odd. Totally awesome though, isn’t it?

In the grand cosmic of creation, you are already seated with Jesus in the heavenly realms.

· It says something about your standing with the Ruler & Judge of the world. You’ve got a chair in the heavenly throne-room.

· It lets you hold your head high when people mock you or bully you. Those people might not have a high opinion of me, but the Creator and Redeemer of the universe are crazy about me – I have a seat in heaven in Christ Jesus.

· And in the face of illness or death, you can be immensely comforted: Even if you loose your independence, the loose a sense of dignity, even in the uncomfortable reality that the end of your life is approaching – your future with God is secure. You have been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly realms.

So how did this happen?

This letter is written to people who have faith in Jesus. The Apostle Paul – a travelling preacher in the early church – addressed the letter this way

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 1:1 (NIV)

There’s a connection b/t the holy people and Christ Jesus. It’s a tight connection. They are “in Christ.” They are “with Christ.”

Through faith, the connection is so close that what happens to Jesus happens to his people. When Jesus died, his people died with him. When Jesus rose, his people were raised with him. When Jesus is seated in the heavenly realms, guess what happens to his people? . . . they’re “seated with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

That’s good news b/c the starting condition for the folks Paul is writing to wasn’t pretty. Ephesus was a pagan town. The patron goddess of Ephesus was Artemis, a goddess of fertility. That made Ephesus a party town. Eph. 2 names the stark reality:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

Ephesians 2:1 (NIV)

It’s an uncomfortable message. Transgressions cut us off from God, the source of life and light. Sin is destructive. It ruins relationships w/in families, w/in communities.

God’s word doesn’t leave room for anyone to hide. The Apostle includes himself and all the other preachers and missionaries:

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Ephesians 2:3 (NIV)

All of us deserve God’s wrath. Why?

Sin leads to brokenness, destruction, and death. God cannot ignore it or leave it unpunished because he is righteous and just.

One of my colleagues likes to explain God’s justice in punishing sin like this: It’s a terrible thought, but let’s say someone murdered Isaiah. They confessed to murder; judge lets him go. Not just. God’s not like that. God is just. He’ll punish all the sin I have committed and will commit. The punishment is death: physical death and an eternity cut off from God’s life-giving love.

BUT: God’s word also reveals that he is loving and rich in mercy. That’s mentioned in Paul’s letter too:

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4–5 (NIV)

B/c of God’s great love and mercy, when he raised Jesus from the grave, he raises up those who have vowed allegiance to Jesus Christ. Anyone who was dead in transgressions can find life with Christ. Doesn’t your heart crave that love, mercy, and hope?

· A service like this, in which someone publicly professes faith in Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord,

· a service in which we thoughtfully eat a small chunk of bread and take a small sip from the cup

is a reminder of the grace by which God has saved his people from death. We’ve been rescued from facing the death penalty for our disobedience, transgressions, and sin.

Paul is writing to people who have made a vow of allegiance to Jesus as Saviour and Lord. In his letter, Paul tells his readers how he is praying for them. In this section, he’s praying for 3 things:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know

· the hope to which he has called you,

· the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

· and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:18–19a (NIV)

Paul unpacks all 3: hope, inheritance, and God’s power. But he does it in his own fashion.

I didn’t ask Isaiah why he wanted me to preach on Eph. 2 for his profession of faith. But I like his choice. Isaiah: as you continue to grow in your faith

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know

· the hope to which he has called you,

· the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

· and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:18–19a (NIV)

and not just the eyes of your heart. It’s my prayer that everyone here knows – in their mind and heart – the hope, the rich inheritance, and great power revealed for us in Christ Jesus to make us holy people in Christ.

As an example of God’s power – that Paul prays his readers may know - he describes Christ’s resurrection and ascension.

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

Ephesians 1:19b–20(NIV)

Why did Jesus die?

Jesus is the 1st and only human since Adam & Eve to live a perfect, sinless life. He was not dead in transgressions and sins. He never lived in the ways of the world. He followed God’s instructions: loving God 100% and his neighbour as himself.

But he was born and lived to take the punishment for human sin. Being God, he could bear the punishment without being destroyed. On the cross, he suffered and died for human sin. That’s when God exerted his mighty strength and raised Christ from the dead and 40 days later raised him to his glorious throne-room and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

At the end of Luke’s gospel and the beginning of the NT book of Acts, we find a description of Jesus Christ ascending into heaven where he’s seated at God’s right hand “far above all rule and authority, power, and dominion.” And here is the jaw-dropping reality of God’s rescue plan and his divine seating plan.

By faith, Jesus’ followers have died to sin with Christ. The life of a disciple of Jesus’ is so tightly connected to Jesus’ life, that what happens to Christ Jesus happens to them. That’s the delightful parallelism we find in this letter:

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:6(NIV)

When we profess faith in Jesus, we’re saying “yes” to this amazing gift of life with Christ and a seat in the heavenly realms.

The reality is brought home in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. When we eat and drink the bread and cup, something amazing is happening. It shows the connection with other believers. Later in Eph. 2, God’s word speaks of believers as united in one body. They become the body of Christ Jesus. Eating and drinking the sacrament together is an expression of believer’s unity in Christ. It’s one of the reasons after a service like this we bring the LS to those too sick to come to worship services. It’s a tangible reminder of their connection to the community of people worshipping the risen Jesus Christ.

Celebrating LS brings us back in time, back 2000 yrs., to the cross of Jesus. The bread and cup symbolize Jesus’ body and blood. It’s a vivid reminder of Jesus’ crucifixion and death.

The LS also brings us ahead in time. By a mind-boggling miracle, seated here in a parking lot we experience something of the victory feast, the enormous reunion of God’s family of faith: the glorious day we are all seated in heavenly glory, eating and drinking with Jesus, celebrating as the church is united with our rescuer and hero. By faith in Jesus, you’re already seated at that table in glory. By faith, you’re sitting pretty!

And no matter what God’s seating plan is at that long-awaited feast, I guarantee that those seated at the table will bring you joy and delight. In some amazing way, that’s not just something far off in the future.

By faith in Jesus, you are already seated in the heavenly realm in Christ. According to God’s Word, it’s a fact; already accomplished in Christ Jesus.

So: where are you sit?