Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We are continuing in our study of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

So far we’ve uncovered this amazing introduction and started diving into this section in verses 3-14, which in the original Greek is one continuous sentence.

Last week I identified with you 32 blessings within this sentence.

Namely that we are chosen by God as His adopted heirs.

That in itself is something that is incredibly mind-blowing.

This week, we are going to dig deeper into three ideas: adoption, redemption, and predestination.

All of these are vital elements to understand the Christian faith.

You can’t grow soundly theologically in your faith without first understanding on as basic level what these mean.

And we have some bad theology in our modern churches because we haven’t first stopped and considered these principles.

IN JESUS ALONE WE ARE ADOPTED

In various cultures adoption can mean various things.

For instance, in Guinea-Bissau, where I frequent, there are no social services for child welfare.

Young children are viewed as liabilities and even a threat to survival because they tax resources and limit the mother’s ability to work.

Children who are born with disabilities are almost immediately drowned because it is viewed as a curse by demons.

Only when a child is old enough to contribute to the survivability of the family do they bring any value.

Often children are sold into slavery or trafficked.

Adoption would be quite informal when it does occur.

On the other hand, in the Philippines, adoption is quite common.

If a family has too many children, it is not uncommon for those children to be passed along to another family.

If that is not possible, the children are often left to fend for themselves on the street (known as street urchins).

Here in the States, where we have an abundance of social services, adoption has varying views.

Andrea and I have found, as adoptive parents, that our family, friends, and church family look at adoption as such a gift.

However in most medical services and social services, we are looked down on as adoptive parents.

Probably because those persons do not think it is possible for us to love a child in the same way a parent loves a biological child.

There was no process for adoption in the ancient Jewish culture.

If a man died, his brother automatically became the head of his household, so there was no need for a legal adoption process.

The word adoption when Paul wrote Ephesians, referred to the Roman concept of adoption.

For children in Rome who had no family, to be adopted was better than winning the lottery.

For these children, they had no hope as orphans.

Adoption gave them a future.

To make an adoption official, the adopting father went to the Roman magistrate and presented a legal case for the actual legal transference of the person to be adopted into his own Potrea Protestus.

And when all this was complete, the adoption was done.

In most cases, an adopted child, at that time, was most honored than natural children.

Even more remarkable to understanding our faith as Christians was that the adopted child received a new identity.

This was far more than a new name.

Their entire old life was completely erased.

Any prior commitments, responsibilities, debts, everything was absolved.

New rights as citizens were taken on according to the families’ social class.

New rights and responsibilities were taken on.

Also, in ancient Rome, the concept of inheritance was part of life, not something that began at death.

Being adopted made someone an heir to their father, joint-sharers in all his possessions.

From birth, we are cursed as people.

Undesirable and without any means of hope.

We are enslaved to sin and our destiny is hell.

So how is it that we are moved from the category of a cursed slave to blessed?

Paul tells us that we are predestined by God to be adopted through Jesus.

Why is it that God blesses us.

Paul goes on tells us that it is to the glory of His grace (v.6).

Think about what that means for us as Christians.

Rather than diminish the beautiful reality of being children of God through creation, Paul’s theology of adoption essentially doubles up on the power and significance of God’s fatherhood, which brings us to the idea of redemption.

IN JESUS ALONE WE ARE REDEEMED

All religions exist for the purpose of some kind of redemption.

That’s the main selling point of all religion.

Religion wants you to be in fear of some kind of deity and in turn offer some king of means for you to get on the good side of that deity o r deities.

This is not just some humanly devised scheme, even though today there are plenty of schemes that humanistic in nature.

I want you to understand that this is satanic and demonically controlled.

Anything that draws you away from God’s purposes and plans and makes you dependent on something else, in the broad sense, fits into this concept.

It can be a system of religious worship, humanism, sexuality, medicine or medical systems, political systems, environmentalism, entertainment, books, and so on.

Why do I say it is demonic?

Because there exists an innate disharmony between man and God that no amount of religious system can replace and satan wants nothing more that to increase that disharmony.

I see it over and over again and it is ever increasing in our society today.

We will worship ANYTHING.

Building on that, the way you redeem yourself is through good works, moral actions, ritualistic behavior, restitution, sacrifice.

Do we see that in our society?

Absolutely!

CRT is built on this premise.

Same thing with environmentalism, humanism, entertainment, ceremonialism.

You are to redeem yourself for your sins and moral failure.

What is damning, however is how this doctrine is infiltrating itself into our churches because it is so prevalent now in our culture.

The more we try in our own efforts to define our meaning the more meaningless life becomes and we are on a precipice in our culture today that we have stripped away meaning in life - be it conception of life, marriage, creation, or morality - in an effort to preserve meaning and soon nothing will have meaning.

I’ve said it before that there are 4 basic questions every person seeks to answer: 1) origin, 2) meaning, 3) morality, and 4) destiny; 'Where did I come from?

What is life's meaning?

How do I define right from wrong and what happens to me when I die?' Christianity is the only construct that meets the demand for those answers.

The reason that can be said is because Christian is not dependent on the actions and worth of the worshipper.

In fact, it is the opposite.

The sinner can do nothing to redeem himself.

Jesus himself said, Matthew 5:48 “48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Well, that is utterly impossible.

Without God’s intervention there is no hope of redemption and that is exactly the point.

Our reconciliation with our creator and restoration of meaning of life is only possible with God’s radical intervention.

That intervention is the perfect substitution in Jesus.

And because we are redeemed, we are transformed.

How we live, how we think, how we treat our family and others is all part of our transformation in Christ.

Why?

Because it was costly to God.

The loss of something that is never thought of , felt, or sought after when it is lost, is not a loss at all!

There was a boy who built himself a fine wooden boat.

He was so excited to take it to the river and tryit out.

When he got it in the water, it sailed magnificently.

He watched it bob around joyfully on the waves on that cool summer day.

However, it suddenly got caught in a current and hit some rocks, breaking the string and sailing down the river.

He tried to follow the boat but it eventually disappeared from his sight.

Some time went by and the boy was walking by a store window, when his eye caught a boat in the display window.

Looking a little closer, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

It was his boat.

Going into the store, he explained to the clerk the situation.

“Sorry son, but if you want that boat, you will have to buy it for $20.00.”

The boy immediately went home and dug into his piggy-bank, putting together all of his money to come up with the $20.00.

Returning to the store, he handed it to the clerk and retrieved his prize possession.