All Natural

Ephesians 2:1-10

Many of us are looking for things that are all natural, and businesses are enthusiastically responding to our requests. There are eggs that claim to be all natural, no antibiotics, no hormones, and no chemicals. There are chicken that are all natural; there are tea and coffee that claim to have been naturally decaffeinated, there are even ice creams that claim to be all natural. All these natural products will cost us more in the supermarket, but we believe they are worth it because natural is better. But is natural always better? Let me read again Ephesians 2:1-3 as expressed by Eugene Peterson translation, the message.

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.”

The apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesus reminding them that all of them, including Paul himself, “were by nature children of divine anger, like everyone else.” In other words, their natural state was one of deserving eternal punishment. Eugene Peterson brings out in his translation the idea of natural sinfulness by stating that we filled our lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. Our sinfulness, our disobedience is as natural as breathing; we do it without thinking. But most of us do not believe this to be the case.

The retention bonuses that AIG gave to their executives have dominated the press these last few days. President Barak Obama has shared with the nation how angry he is; our lawmakers have passed a law dealing with it. There are some people that are so angry that they have threatened the life of those executives if they do not return the bonuses. I can understand that people are upset by this obvious sign of greed, what I cannot understand is why people are so surprised that the executives would take all they can.

The newspaper USA Today of Thursday, March 19 has an article about the divorce between Marie Douglas-David and George David. Even though she signed a post-nuptial agreement she is suing her husband asking that the court set aside the agreement because she claims that she cannot live with $ 53,000 dollars a week. One thing that I admired about this woman is her incredible imagination. I cannot begin to imagine how I would spend $ 53,000 dollars a week. You may believe that all of this greed is bad, but if you have read the bible you would not be surprised by the abundance of greed. If any of the executives had not accepted the bonus it would have been a welcome but unnatural behavior.

What comes natural is what you do without thinking; it is that that you do without much effort. You can force yourself to do something that is not natural, but as soon as you relax you would go back to what is natural for you. There are some English words that are difficult for me to pronounce. They are not natural for me. If I make an effort I will be able to pronounce them correctly, but as soon as I relax, as soon as I speak without thinking about pronunciation I will go back to my normal way of pronouncing those words. Someone born in the United States that have grown in this country is able to pronounce those words without thinking, it is just come natural to them.

In the flood story, God changes God’s strategy as God recognizes the sinful nature of humanity. “The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” (Genesis 8:21) The psalmist acknowledges his sinful nature when he asks for mercy and forgiveness from God. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) The apostle Paul shares his personal experience: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-20)

So if sinning is what is natural for all of us, how God expects us to change; to act differently? God’s solution was not to ask us to try harder or longer; Gods solution was to change our nature. The gospel assigned by the lectionary for this Sunday is John 3:14-21. It is the conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus as Jesus attempts to explain his opening statement; when he said: “I tell you the truth; no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) This is clarified further by the apostle Paul: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) God’s solution to our sinful human nature was to change our nature through a new birth.

Because sin is natural for some of us and holiness is natural for some others of us we do not have the right to judge without mercy the sinners among us because we understand that there is nothing they can do about it. We can commend sinners that are able to do “good” against their own nature; we can call them heroes and celebrate their efforts. But just like we do not judge someone who is born with some kind of physical limitation, we cannot judge the ones born as slaves to sin. That does not mean that we condone greed or any other sin, but we understand that but for the grace of God we would be doing the same things. With that understanding we look at people with loving understanding, with unlimited grace and mercy.

At the same time those who have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit cannot be judge to be good, because just like sinners they cannot help themselves. Those that have become a new creation cannot help but do the works of God. In fact Paul speaks to that reality by writing in his letter to the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Paul teaches that we have been created by God to do good works, we are only what God has made us.

Thanks be to God that in the beginning God created all of us in God’s image. Not happy with that, through the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, we have been made to be the body of Christ. The book of Ephesians states: “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13) As we continue to grow in Christ-likeness, people around us will be able to say; like father like son. Our new nature will be revealed by our good works and people will praise God for them.

When Jesus was ready to go up to the Father, he was concern about his sisters and brothers being left without spiritual guidance; so he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Knowing this the apostle Paul asked the Corinthian church: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16) We are then the image of God, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be radically different; our own nature has been changed to be in tune with our divine holy destiny. We are now the new community of God, a sign of the kingdom of God; a source of hope and blessing to a world living in darkness. I beg you, in the name of God, be the church.