Brokenness to Breakthrough

I want to welcome you to Christ Journey from wherever you may be joining us today, whether here among our Coral Gables family, with our brothers and sisters at Kendall, or around the world through church online, I bring greetings to you in the spirit of hope, and I want to begin with this question:

Is unity amidst division possible?

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there was an election widely heralded as the most divisive presidential contest in the history of the republic of the United States.

On one side, you had an establishment candidate funded by deep-pocketed elites, who represented entrenched political interests and the continuation of the status quo.

On the other side were the populists. These rabble-rousers who lived far from the power centers of New York and Washington, D.C., felt disenfranchised, exploited and ignored. For them, the rapid technological change of recent decades had made them seem expendable.

For all parties involved, this upcoming election was the last chance for ordinary people to determine the direction of the United States for decades to come.

I am, of course, describing the election of 1896 between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. (https://www.stockinvestor.com/23720/divisive-election-american-history/)

Division and discord seems to permeate into every generation regardless of the issues at hand.

Mark Twain once mused, “History does not repeat itself - but it does rhyme.”

And it seems now that rhyme of generations past is screaming in our ears.

Division rules the day. 1896, 2017, and beyond, the divides of culture, politics, society, and religion perseveres.

It is systemic. It is institutional. And it is also very, very personal. The discords that separate exist both out there and right here (point to chest).

As one theologian so aptly observed, “Every person is a civil war.” (William Barclay) We are inclined toward disunity. It’s in our bones - in the chains of our DNA - to oppose each other and assert our will over another. It could even be said that the origins of division itself began right here (point to chest)… and then radiated out from the human heart.

Take toddlers for example. Many of you know that I have a vivacious 3 year old girl named Hannah going on 23 and an 18 month old wild boy named Levi. As soon as my boy could roll over, he began attacking his sister with that big round belly of his. At times, they would giggle, and it was cute. My wife and I would try to capture it on video and then show others how cute our kids are, But other times, that boy seriously meant to do his sister harm. He wanted her to know at the tender of age of nine months old who she was dealing with.

How did he learn that? Why do we do this? Could it be that division runs through our veins? The history of our faith from the very beginning in the garden insists that division began when first humanity made that fateful decision to assert their will our God’s... Every human being since has been fighting the war within to control God… others... and ourselves.

We're walking civil wars.

If you disagree with me, just got to Krispy Kreme and try eating one doughnut. You know it’s bad for you, but you can’t stop. And before you know it, you’ve eaten a dozen doughnuts and regret every bite.

We hate our sin and love our sin at once and the same time. The divisive tension we observe out there starts right here (point to chest)

It is not unique to this moment in time. It is the very essence of humanity itself, and our divisive nature bears itself out in the very institutions that we create: political institutions, social institutions, religious institutions, family institutions.

And if you’re anything like me, you got to wonder, is there any hope for unity? Out there? In politics, with my job, for my family? Is there any hope for unity in here? To live as a whole self with with God… with others?

If there was a time, of all times, now is the time we need to address division as the people of God and seriously ask this question: Is unity amidst division possible?

What if the church made a culture splash for unity rather than a culture clashof division?What if the church soaked the culture with the refreshing waters of forgiveness and grace, bearing witness to how the Kingdom of God actually intersects withour world, not against it? And perhaps as we do so, we'll experience a wave of forgiveness and grace within our own lives.

If history indeed rhymes, foretelling of our future to come, then I for one am ready to sing a different tune. One of the greatest song sheets that provide direction for the church today is Paul’s letter to Ephesus.

Few cities in the ancient world compare to our own Miami as Ephesus. The Roman Empire revered Ephesus - much the same as the Americas revere Miami as a gateway city.

Ephesus was a powerful commercial port and the capital of Rome's Asian province. The city boasted one of the 7 wonders of the world, the Temple of Artemis (otherwise Diana in Roman mythology), goddess of childbirth and virginity. The city idolized womanhood.

It also boasted a wide cultural influence among the Roman world for arts and drama, constructing a 25,000 seat theater - second only to the Roman coliseum.

Moreover, Ephesians satisfied their intellectual cravings each morning at the third largest local library in the world, the Library of Celsus, which housed 12,000 scrolls and faced the rising sun to the east for the morning light.

It was to this progressive, powerful, influential, culturally-minded city that Paul established the earliest Christian church in Asia-minor, who faithfully helped others find and follow Jesus Christ well into the 5th-century beginnings of Islam.

So, let me ask you: If you were Paul writing to modern-day Ephesus, our city Miami, and to America at large, what would be the most significant issue that you would want to address in your one shot letter to the new church plant?

For Paul under Holy Spirit guidance, of all the human and theological issues prevailing the culture both then and now, Paul made a culture splash answering this central question: Is unity amidst division possible?

His letter begins with one long, unbroken lyric of praise that splashes unity with every phrase. Listen as I read it:

"3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are unitedwith Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.

5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ (another image of unity). This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.

7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: (this is what theologians across the centuries have called the great open secret of Jesus) At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. (the great hope of unity)

11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. 12 God’s purpose was that we Jews (the people of God then) who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles (any non-Jewish person separate from the original promise) have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us (what started as you Jews, they Gentiles - have now become one - us, the community redeemed in Christ) the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.

He did this so we would praise and glorify him."

The key thought of Ephesians is this: "Jesus Christ is the center in whom all things unite, and the bond who unites all things.”

Jesus is both the rallying point and the glue, forming a NEW REALITY in an old world that in Christ, the Kingdom of God is here and now.

Amidst the fracturing, divisive, slanderous whirlwind of our culture, unity rooted in forgiveness and grace is the single, greatest witness of the church in North America and our city. Wherever you see unity in the name of Jesus, you see the Kingdom of God here and now.

In this lyric, Paul identifies 12 images for unity in the Kingdom of God. I want to look at 3 in particular with you.

First, at the top of his lyric, Paul wrote, " Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault. God chose us for the purpose of forming our character into ones who would become: Hagios kai Amamos.

This Greek work, Hagios literally means reverent. Often, you hear this word translated as ‘holy.’ Someone who is reverent expresses a right ordering of God and others in his or her life. A non-reverent person prioritizes the self over God and others, thus causing division. Inherent within a hagios life, a holy life, is unity. A reverent person rightly orders God above all else, seeking to reconcile with God and others amidst times of conflict.

The other Greek word Paul used is Amamos, which literally means an unblemished sacrifice. This word is seemingly unrelated to other one, which makes the paring of these two terms together interesting. First century listeners would have perked up in their chair and thought: what does Paul mean by hagios kai amamos? Hagios is a character word. That makes sense. But Amamos refers to an animal sacrifice; how could that apply to us?

In the same manner that God desired only the best sacrifice from his people, God, too, desires only the best from you.

In Spanish, the Greek Word amamos means ‘we love.’ We express our love to God as we make our whole life a sacrifice to him.

Expresamos nuestro amor a Dios como hacemos toda nuestra vida un sacrificio para él.

Love and wholeness dispel all division and fear. To live amamos means to offer your whole life, every part of your life, all of your work, all of your pleasure, all of your play, all of your desires, all of your relationships as a love offering to God. Make them such that your whole life becomes a pleasant offering in the sight of your Lord who chose you before the world even began. This is your worthy response.

Before the creation of the world, God loved you and chose to be reverently whole in his eyes.

The second image I want to highlight is from verse 5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”

Paul’s use of adoption language in his letters to the churches in Ephesians, Galatians and Romans radically reinforced how the church understood its calling to unity and redemption.

I understand how adoption may evoke a wide range of emotions, but I want to examine how Paul understood adoption within the 1s century context because God uses this image to describe what he did for us.

Adoption rarely occurred in the ancient world. Typically, only the wealthy elite adopted children… and only for the purpose of continuing the family name in the circumstance of no heir.

Adoption gave full rights and privileges to the child as if that child hereditarily belonged to that family. No lawful distinction was made between children and their adoptive parents. Under Roman law, they were considered a new person… with a new name… … so new that the Roman magistrate before both families forgave the child of any and all previous debts and obligations to the natural family as if they never existed. Truly, adoption meant new life.

The doctrine of adoption is vital to understanding the Gospel and the calling of the church.

It signifies the redemptive power of what God did for the world in Jesus Christ. He gave you a BRAND NEW start!

From the very beginning, God desired to live in familia with you and me, not as a distant and abstract God from us. But as an up close and personal God with us, walking with us in the coolness of the night!

But our sin, however, divided us and destroyed the family that God so desired from the very beginning, and consequently, all of us deserved death because of it.

Yet, God’s choice to adopt us over again – assuming our debt of death as his own - restored us as his sons and daughters to his family line with all of our original rights and privileges to his kingdom.

His adoption canceled all of our debt and consequence, as if it never happened. God took us out of that power of death and into his up close and personal power. We’ve passed from the family of evil into the family of God. We’ve been made new. "Youare no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”(Galatians 4:7) To his very kingdom!

Listen, for those of you who place your trust in Christ… your past… your history… your failures and debts… they do not define you. In Christ, your adoptive Heavenly Father gave you a new family name. You’ve been restored and united.

But for those of you who haven’t placed your trust in Jesus, this may sound too good to be true, but it’s not. This is real life.

Imagine a city awakened to this reality because you and I, alongside of every other healthy, faithful church in our city, splashed our culture with this message?

The last image I want to feature is from verses 6 and 7: God is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.

Like ‘hagios kai amamos,’ Paul uses another Greek word to conjure up a very specific image from his audience. This word ‘purchased’ derives from the Greek word ‘apolutrosis,' meaning a payment of ransom; redemption, deliverance,’ which would have immediately brought to mind the Passover story from the Book of Exodus 12. (http://biblehub.com/greek/629.htm)

Passover was the night when the angel of death visited the land of Egypt to kill the firstborn male of every household. The sins of the people demanded justice, but God provided a substitute. He promised to rescue the people of God from their impending judgment if they sprinkled the blood of the lamb on their home doorpost. In so doing, the angel of death would Passover their home and spare the family. For those who listened and obeyed, God rescued them from their slavery and led them to the Promised Land.

God ‘bought back’ his people from slavery at his own expense, foreshadowing the ultimate price that God would pay later to rescue the world from the slave master of sin itself. In Christ, God purchased our freedom with the blood of the true lamb.

Now, forgiveness is the true deliverance. New life as his own adopted sons and daughters is the promised land. This is our inheritance.

And as Paul closes lyric, the Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us what he promised. It is a sweet taste of life to come with our true King.

Our job now as the church is to tell the world this good news: that there is a different and better reality than the divisive, broken one in which we live now. It is the true kingdom of God. And it is here, and it is now!

That’s the application of this great lyric!

It is less an explicit ‘do this or do that’ kind of passage, but more of a ‘geographical landscape of where we live.' Kind of like viewing Miami-Dade on Google Maps and seeing the whole rather than a step by step direction of how to get around.

This great lyric proclaims where you live! It is a new reality established by our Heavenly Father in Christ. It is a landscape that proclaims how our Heavenly Father:

Blessed you in Jesus - verse 3

Chose you in Jesus - verse 4

Predestined you in Jesus - verse 5

Poured grace on you in Jesus, the one whom he loves - verse 6

Gave you redemption through Jesus - verse 7

Lavished grace on you through Jesus - verse 8

Made known to you the mystery of his will as he purposed in Jesus - verse 9

Intends to bring everything into unity under Jesus - verse 10

Provided you with an inheritance through Jesus - verse 11

Gave you hope in Jesus - verse 12

Marked you in Jesus with the seal of salvation - verse 13

Guarantees the redemption of all his people through Jesus - verse 14

This is life in Christ. And it is your responsibility to help as many people as possible discover this same reality for themselves.

1896, 2017, whatever the day in age, division results when we forget where we live. Then do we become consumed with life in the self rather than life in Christ.

Let me offer two practices that can keep your mind on the landscape of life in Christ: Worship and Prayer. This seems so obvious… but it’s not. If it were, then we would witness unity and peace win more often than it does in the Church.

Worship re-creates the soul. In worship, we consciously declare with our voices… with our bodies… the rejection of the false inadequacy that wants to define us to affirm the ‘real’ reality of God: his redemption, adoption, and forgiveness.

“To worship is to remember who owns the house.”(Walter Wink)

Is it you, or is it God?

Yes, worship includes our song - our anthems of hope. And it also includes our time - our talents - our bodies, our strength - our treasures - our resources to which God has entrusted us… Our worship includes our life.

Are you living your life in such a way that bears witness to ‘who owns the house?'

All of us worship something. You become what you love. If you feel divided and dissatisfied, then you got to look deep within and ask the hard question: Am I worshipping something other than the one who made me for more?

When we praise with song at the top of our gatherings, lifting our voices and our hands, we do so to declare, You first! You lead on! I know where I live, and you are my true King!

Prayer holds this reality before us. “To clasp your hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” (Karl Barth) Prayer speaks to the God who makes order out of chaos!

Find a quiet place in your home, slow down the momentum of life, clasp your hands together, and let an uprising begin against the disorders, distortions, and distractions of your world. At the risk of seeming too simplistic, perhaps the way toward peace in your family and work starts right here (clasp hands)…

In his final hours after sharing communion with the disciples, Jesus prayed to his Heavenly Father, saying: "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. (That’s you and me, and here’s what Jesus prayed) I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

Is unity amidst division possible? Yes, Jesus even prayed it so, and it starts right here… (clasp hands)

Pray