A Sacred Identity

Choosing Teams

In the beginning of 2022, Capital One bank released a commercial with the claim that “with no fees or minimums or overdraft fees, banking with capital one is the easiest decision in the history of decisions.”

The commercial then cuts to a neighborhood basketball court where 2 young girls are choosing from a pool of potential teammates in order to fill their team. Among that pool of potential teammates is Hall of Fame former NBA Player Charles Barkley. The first team captain calmly says “I’ll take Barkley,” who towers over the rest of the field of kids by at least 4 feet. His response… and emphatic “boom! I told you she’d pick me first!”

It’s comical and completely over exaggerated, but at the heart of this commercial’s genius is the way that it touches on one of our most basic human desires — to be wanted. Barkley, clearly the best choice, is elated because he was not only chosen, but chosen first.

I’m sure some of you can remember those moments on the ball field, the playground, or in gym class when you stood in a similar situation. The nerves that got going as the crowd around you got smaller. Wondering “will they pick me? Will I be picked last.” There’s something really trying about those times as a kid.

As we grow up the stakes get higher. We realize that most of our life revolves around being chosen. We are chosen by our partners, our colleges, our employers, our constituents if we go the route of a politician. We’re chosen by our friends, professional organizations, sometimes even our pets.

The truth of it all is, that being chosen means being included. And this is the driving hope for all humans, no matter how much we like to tell ourselves that we are fine all on our own. Being included is the means by which we enter into the wonderful world of community. You may remember that it was God who first identified the fact that “It is not good for the human to be alone”

This is a foundational truth for our understanding of all of God’s activity in the world, and honestly, the entirety of our Bibles. God is, from the very beginning, concerned with building and connecting the people that he has created to the power of community. This stems from God’s own identity. God exists, eternally, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These persons of God form a community of love. God’s entire purpose in creating humans is for us to share in that community of love with God, and with each other. And so, it’s no wonder that the desire to belong is so deeply entrenched in our being.

This was a deeply important part of the Identity of Israel, and really all ancient cultures. They were built around family tribal systems in which “being in” was your meal ticket and the source of your ability to survive in a cruel world. Being on the outside of these communities was a quick way to have a short and miserable life. Israel found its identity in being a part of the community of their God, Chosen by YHWH as a chosen people, a treasured possession, the “holy ones.” You might remember that if you were here last week.

The beautiful and radical thing that Jesus did was that he tore down the barrier that separated others from inclusion within this special community. And as the church was born, people of all different backgrounds began to find their home within the community of Jesus’s followers. These communities that functioned differently than any other community in the Roman world were particularly inclined towards including those who had lost or never had a community to call their own. Widows, orphans, slaves, foreigners — all people whose desperate desire for community was never filled. Until the good news of God’s kingdom found them.

This is a fact that the Apostle Paul was deeply aware of. Paul was in a unique social situation, as he was both a member of the Jewish religious Elite and a full Roman citizen. He enjoyed the privilege of belonging almost everywhere that he went. He saw what it was like for those who did not belong and enjoy the privilege of community, and most importantly the identity that was assigned to them by those who were on the inside.

A Chosen People

So, in his opening to the book of Ephesians, he addresses the people, particularly focusing on who they are. And he’s going to really do this in like 3 parts that flow pretty quickly into one another. But lets get started here. So this is Ephesians 1

Ephesians 1:1–6 NRSV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

This is a lot of words to say honestly like one thing. God Chose us, and God Chose us not because of something that we did, because he chose us before we ever existed.

Now, within the realm of Christianity, we argue over what this means. Some Christians believe that all of this means that we never had a chance not to be followers of Jesus. That we are eternally destined for salvation and we are incapable of resisting it. As Methodists, we don’t believe that necessarily. I believe that being chosen by God requires us to respond to God by choosing to allow God to be the guiding and ruling force in our lives.

I believe this is the best and most accurate description of what God has done, precisely because Paul uses the language of adoption. And adoption is not a one way street. Certainly when someone is an infant, it seems as though they don’t really have a choice, that there is no real agency given to them regarding an adoption. But I’d like to offer you this perspective.

When I was 12 or 13 years old my parents set me down to talk. Now they had been divorced for some time, so this was kind of a strange thing. I was pretty sure I was in trouble. But it was quite the opposite.

What happened that day was that they told me something that I did not know. My dad had adopted me when I was about 2 years old. My biological father was not a safe person, and my mom left him when she found out she was pregnant. She never told him that I existed… he still doesn’t know to this day. So my father, it turned out, was not my biological dad. He had chosen to make me his son. Now I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t initiate it. It happened to me and for me by his desire to bring me into his life and into his family.

Now here’s the thing about telling this kind of news to a budding young teenager. I was at an age where I got to decide how I was going to treat this man for the rest of my life. Was I going to give him the “you’re not my real dad” treatment, or was I going to allow him to be for me the person who I looked to for comfort, for guidance, for help in very real times of trouble. Was I going to continue to let him be my daddy. Well of course I chose option number 2, and despite my insistence on being a complete idiot for a lot of my life, he has been a man who continues to choose to love and support me.

This is the most tangible way that I can explain the action of God in our lives. Does God choose us, Yes. Do we Choose God, yes.

But think further about what this language would mean to an orphan in the ancient city of Ephesus. Persons who had no parents, persons who had lost their families to war, disease, and famine, persons whose entire existence had been lived outside of the communities that provided social and physical stability. These persons hear a word like adoption being used to describe them, it’s like the deepest longing of their heart is being realized here. There is a God, and he wants you.

A Redeemed People

But being chosen isn’t the only piece of our identity that Paul is going to strike at here. It’s great to be chosen, but what does that actually mean for us? Well, he goes on.

Ephesians 1:7–10 NRSV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

This section is focused on one idea. Redemption. We are redeemed from the negative identity that is placed upon us by our sin. While we were once separated from God, we are now restored to a right relationship with God. And this isn’t just an individual thing. Redemption, while definitely something that we experience as individuals, is not something that is only focused on on individuals. Redemption is like, the entire program of God throughout the story of the Bible. We’ll talk about this more in a few weeks, but what is important to understand is that God has been and continues to be working towards the redemption of all things.

The story of the first movement in Genesis, from chapters 3-11, is a story about how the relationships, communities that God intended for humans to have are shattered. It starts out small and continues to spiral out of control until the entire world is stained by sin and in need of redemption. But it really finds it’s beginning here in Genesis 3. So Adam and Eve have been tricked into eating the fruit and disobeying God. They realize that they are naked and they sew together some clothing and then this is what we get.

Genesis 3:8–14 (NRSV)

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.

Hiding from God - relationship between God and humans broken

I hid because I was naked - Shame - relationship between humans and themselves broken

THIS WOMAN… - relationship between humans and humans broken

There is a deep need for redemption, for the healing of these relationships, because you can’t look at me and tell me that our world isn’t still suffering because of these fundamental broken relationships. We see it every day on the news, in our homes, and in our own hearts.

What was once a perfect and harmonious creation, both on earth and in the spiritual realm has been corrupted. God’s activity in history has been centered around redeeming creation — people, spiritual beings, the earth itself, literally everything, in order to accomplish his final goal. And that goal goes beyond simple redemption. That goal is actually what Paul is going to focus on in his next block of thought.

A Renewed People

Ephesians 1:11–14 NRSV

In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

So God chooses us - brings us into community with himself, he redeems us - heals the broken relationship between us and God, us and ourselves, and us and other humans. But this is not the end of God’s work. God’s work continues toward an ultimate goal… Renewal.

To be renewed is to be changed. This is crucially different than redeemed. Redeemed means the relationship is in good standing again. Renewed means that the relationship is growing and moving in a new way because there is a fundamental change of heart and mind.

For example. Your child, friend, loved one, whoever, is in trouble. They are on drugs, addicted to gambling, simply love shopping beyond their financial means. Whatever the case may be. And they steal from you. Let’s say a thousand bucks. It’s enough that it causes you some real harm.

Time passes and they come to you with a thousand dollars, and the fall on their knees. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me and take this repayment. Or maybe they don’t have the money. But you miss them more than you miss your thousand bucks. Either way. Forgiveness occurs. The relationship is redeemed. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a chance that they won’t do the same thing again.

What is really needed is a psychic change. For them to get off drugs, to stop gambling, to stay off of amazon and out of the mall. And when these things happen, when they get clean, accept the reality of their circumstances and begin to become someone different. That’s being renewed.

And that’s the point of this whole thing. God chooses us and redeems us, but not to just leave us where we are. He does this to make us new. Because he sees us, he sees our struggles, the pain in our hearts, the ways that we reek havoc on our relationships and he says “child, I made you for so much more.” Paul Says We were made to live for the praise of God’s glory and we do that through righteous living, through living in a way that honors God and God’s purposes in this world.

Choosing to Choose

If we look at all of this, the reality of who we are created to be, people who live in a community of love, redeemed and renewed by the love of God, then we been given a pretty obvious goal to strive toward.

If every human in this world is desperate for community, then it is the job of this radical barrier breaking community called the church to be the ones who reach out and say to those who feel orphaned and widowed by this world “hey you, I choose you!” And while this is seemingly obvious, the church at large has not historically been good at this.

We decided to place boundaries around whom we would like to include. We want to only choose those who would make us look good. The Charles Barkleys of the world. But what if that’s exactly what Paul is fighting against, what if that’s what the story of the Bible invites us to do the opposite of. Because God hasn’t been in the business of choosing the best of the best to be on his team. He chooses messes and he redeems and renews them to accomplish incredible things.

What would it look like if this church had a spirit of inclusion towards those that have been shut off from experiencing the love of community, from the love of the church. What if we were seen as a church that is radically for the poor, the downtrodden, the homeless, drug addicts, LGBTQ persons, divorced persons, fill in the blank for yourselves persons. What if we truly said “hey you. We choose you. come on and let us show you what God has done, is doing, and wants you to be a part of.”

This is who we are, Our identity is people who have been chosen, redeemed, and renewed. And renewed people are called to further the mission of God in this world to those who feel like God’s love doesn’t extend to them. Those who have been told that the church isn’t a safe place for them. It’s our job to redeem our relationship with these people and to become something new together with them. To become a community of love, chosen and redeemed by Christ, for the renewal of our world.