Claimed and embraced. Have you ever tried out for a team of some kind? It might be a sports team, a music group, an arts, uh, a posse kind of for me, I can still remember this pivotal day back in high school, almost like it was yesterday. It was my sophomore year and I was on the edge of my seat because I’ve been trying out for the junior boys basketball team. Now, year prior in junior high, we were city champs. I was a starting center on a city championship team in Edmonton, Alberta. Half a million people, you know, that’s no small thing, but high school, man, that was a whole nother level. The athleticism was sharper, the competition, much fiercer and every tryout. It, it was almost like a, a personal trial of my own self-worth. So the day that the team is gonna be announced, you know the lists on that bulletin board I can remember vividly, just, I can picture it, walking in the gym, each step toward that bulletin board, kind of feeling heavier with anticipation, but also nerves. The air kind of around me buzzing with hope and tension. My heart pounding so loud, I thought I could hear it. Get up there. Look at the list. And there it was my name. I’d been chosen, I was on the team. I mean, and so, well, I gotta show you the picture. Here’s the picture of my sophomore high school year. That’s me on the right side. Second from the bottom. Oh my goodness. But you know, in that instant, I knew I belonged somewhere. I, I made the team and joy and relief and pride. It just kind of all washed over me and all the sweat and tears and the of those doubts during tryouts melted away as soon as I knew I was on the team. And that day, standing there with my heart thumping and a smile. I couldn’t contain even to this very day, I guess I knew I’d taken a leap not just forward in my own basketball game, but in embracing and discovering who I was becoming. And don’t we all belong to belong, that we belong somewhere to know we belong to something or belong with someone. And this desire, it’s, it’s far more personal and much deeper than a sports team. I mean, it’s, it’s about life. It’s about us, our own identity. Who am I? Does anyone care about me? Do I matter to anyone? And while that electrifying moment on the bulletin board, you know, was meaningful, it reminds me of something far deeper, a divine selection.
That goes far beyond high school sports. And just as I was claimed for a, a basketball team, the Bible reveals that God claims and embraces us in Christ Jesus. That in God’s overwhelming love, he reaches out through the good news of Jesus, the gospel, and draws us into his family. And imagine being so cherished. That despite every doubt or any setback, that you are enveloped in a warmth that shatters any and every sense of rejection, to know that you are chosen and not just for a season that you are adopted into an eternal inheritance, one that outshines any trophy or fleeting victory, and in this, uh, profound divine embrace. That’s where you discover your true belonging, your true home where you are forever loved, eternally valued, and empowered to live out of destiny that can beyond what you might imagine. So I wanna read about God calling and choosing us in Christ Jesus. This is an Ephesians chapter one. I’m gonna begin at verse three. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, for he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will in him. We were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. In order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who was a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory. Hmm. The gospel of our Lord. Praise to You O’Christ. Let me pray as we continue. Lord Jesus, thank you for all that you’ve done so that we might be claimed and embraced. Come Holy Spirit now and speak your words, calling us, giving us a place to belong and know that we are loved and cherished. Speak to each of our hearts this morning. I ask in Jesus’ precious name, amen. Amen. Dear friends, grace to you. And peace from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. This past Wednesday night at our Lenton service, we considered what I think might be one of the most soul rendering moments in scripture. Jesus, as he hung on the cross, he cries out in a sense of utter abandonment.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Think of that the son of God, he was forsaken. So that you and I need never be God’s answer to our deepest fears of abandonment. It’s in the cross of Christ. And more than just an answer, it’s a promise that in Christ Jesus, we are brought into God’s own family. We are welcomed, claimed, and embraced through Jesus Christ. Our Bible passage today, it speaks about God’s choice. It’s called God’s election, our adoption into his family. And sometimes when we hear words like election or predestination and begin to wonder, well, hey, is that fair? And it’s because we worry about those who don’t believe her. Those who have not yet heard about Jesus. But what if we saw this teaching in the Bible? Not as a mystery of exclusion, but rather as one of the most tender, caring expressions of God’s love that God chose you in Christ before the creation of the world. I mean, God’s plan of salvation, it’s never been an afterthought. It is his loving intention for you to be his. And that is through the finished work I. Of Jesus Christ. So if you’ve ever longed to belong or to be claimed or to be cherished, let these words sink in that God has set his affection upon you from eternity. Think on that. I need you to put your thinking caps on with me for a little bit. I’m gonna give you a little bit of Latin to help explain this. There’s a phrase that goes this way. Affect you at effect two. Dunno if that’s the right pronunciation. I never did take Latin kind of wish I had, but it means this. And this is God’s disposition toward you in choosing you to know with affection and with a resultant effect. So theologians emphasize that this doctrine that’s called predestination, it’s gotta be viewed as the Bible does not in our own human understanding. Let me drop another Latin phrase on you. We need to understand predestination and election a posterity, which means after the fact, not a priority before the fact. In other words, we are not encouraged to try to look back into eternity, to try to pick God’s mind as to why he for knew and predestined people as we know. God’s loving call. Given in Jesus Christ, we are given a greater comfort and assurance in being told that we were in the mind and heart and plan of God from before creation. It’s kinda like if you got a letter from the Governor’s office of Arizona, an invitation to a special invite only party. I mean, you couldn’t make the choice to go to that party. On your own. Without that invitation, the governor had to make that choice. But what you could do was choose to not go, and that’s in, in one sense what God has done for you in Christ Jesus. He has chosen you to be a part of his family, his own child, and that choice. It’s made effective when you receive that invitation and when you hear what God has done for you in Jesus Christ and you believe, here’s how our passage describes it, and you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
I mean, what a wonderful reality, and this is all God’s doing. Those of you who went through confirmation class, let me tickle your memories on this. This is from, it’s the meaning of the third article from the Apostles Creed about the Holy Spirit. And here say, we believe in the Holy Spirit. What does this mean?And starts off, I believe that by my own understanding or strength, I cannot believe. In Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But instead, the Holy Spirit calls me through the gospel, enlightens me with his gifts, made me holy, and has kept me in the true faith. It’s all God’s doing. Hmm. And so I’d like us to look at a few points drawn from our Bible passage in Ephesians one about being claimed and embraced by God. First, consider God’s claim. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Here’s how our text puts it. He chose us in him. That’s God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world in love. He predestined us for adoption. This is no last minute rescue plan. The Bible tells us that God knew you specifically before he ever said, let there be light before creation. God had you in his heart and mind. He set his saving love upon you in Christ. So election. In other words, it’s not about God randomly excluding others. It’s about this measureless care that God takes to rescue sinners. It’s not about fairness. It’s about a father who loves lavishly and has made a way for us through Jesus to become his child. In fact, that’s exactly how scripture describes this divine adoption. See what great love the Father is lavished upon us that we should be called children of God and that is what we are. Exclamation point and that. Strong tenderness, that sense of embrace, it’s written into the gospel from eternity. So yes, Christ was forsaken on the cross. That was part of God’s plan, so that you and I need never be forsaken and instead of abandonment, God extends belonging through his son. So if you’ve ever wondered if there’s room for you in God’s heart. The resounding answer is yes. He has chosen you in Christ Jesus chosen to claim you as his own. So second, consider God’s embrace being adopted into His family. Our text says it this way, to be adopted as his child through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will I think being adopted in the God’s family adoption. It’s a beautiful picture. Before adoption. A child has no claim in that family, but once adopted, they’re embraced as a genuine son or daughter. And the Bible uses that picture in John chapter one, and we actually, we just said it earlier in our service, every time we gather for worship to all who received him, that’s Jesus. To those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. And this election flows out to us, into our hearts and our story through the proclamation of the gospel, as Ephesians chapter one says, when you heard the message of truth you believed, Paul reminds us in Romans that faith comes from hearing the message.
In other words, God is seen fit to fling wide open. The doors of his salvation through the living word, Jesus himself proclaimed in the written word, the scriptures, the mystery of election and predestination. It’s answered in the open arms of Jesus on the cross and the open invitation of the gospel where we hear Jesus say, come, you belong with me in my father’s house. This is always. Been God’s intention and it’s not just a New Testament thing. We see it in the Old Testament forward. As Jeanette read for us earlier from Isaiah 43, I think one of the most comforting verses in all of scripture where God speaks tenderly to his people saying, fear, not. Fear not for I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called you by name. You are mine. I, I read this first and I, my mind goes to that closing scene in the very first episode of the Chosen the TV series, the show, the scene where this, this camera slowly focuses in on Mary Magdalene, kind of hurly exiting a pub Mary whose eyes carry memories of a lifetime of hardship, of, of rejection, of abuse, and in that chaotic moment as the world around her. Seems to blur. Jesus steps forward and with a tender intensity, he calls her by a name that resonates deep within her soul, Mary, her own name. And in that single word, all the layers of her past and her identity, they’re laid bare. And immediately this familiar voice echoes in her own heart, a memory of her father. His cadence, gently reciting the verse from Isaiah 43. And this passage that once filled her own childhood with hope and wonder. Now God uses to call her. We have to watch the clip. Please watch it with me on the screens.
Mary of Magdalen Why? How do you know my name that says the Lord who created you and he who formed you fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name.
In Jesus Christ, that same call. Rings in your ears as God calls you by name, that in Christ Jesus you are gathered, embraced, redeemed, God’s wonderful embrace. Finally, consider God’s ceiling, our inheritance and identity in Christ. Here’s how our text puts it When you believed. You were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who was a deposit garing guaranteeing our inheritance, our Bible passage today, it leads us to wonder that when we are claimed and embraced by God that we receive an eternal inheritance. So if you’ve ever felt insecure, then these words are for you that when we come to faith, the Holy Spirit is our, is the seal Marx us as God’s own your ground or locked in some cosmic guessing game because your inheritance is sure because it’s anchored in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Think of a child waking up every day. Secure in the knowledge that the family name belongs to them. That’s us in God’s kingdom of His and in there’s knowing that, that you are a legitimate heir of God through faith in Christ. If there were to be only one thing you would take from this message today, it would be this, to live as a dearly loved child of God. Yes, Jesus was forsaken on the cross so that you need never be and more than that, and because of Jesus, you are then lifted up to a new status as a beloved daughter or son of God. An heir in Jesus Christ. That’s the heart of our faith. So maybe you’ve known rejection, maybe you’ve struggled with belonging. So hear this in the arms of the Father, through Christ Jesus, you’re neither orphaned nor alone. You are cherished, claimed, and embraced, and hold fast to that identity. Claim it because God has already claimed you and live as one who’s been loved for all eternity, loved enough so that the sun would endure the cross in your place.
God’s loving election, God’s predestining grace. It’s not a wall to keep people out. It’s the comfort that he is out looking for his lost children. Calling out to them by name and then when they hear and turn toward him, wrapping them in an abra that they can scarcely believe you dear friend, in Christ Jesus are a child of God. Forever held, forever claimed, forever embraced. Join me in prayer, Lord God. Thank you for choosing us before the world began. And for wrapping us in your tender unending love, that assures us that we belong to you and your family. Holy Spirit guide our every step, turn every moment of doubt into a reminder of the identity that we have in Christ, that we are a beloved child forever cherished and claimed. And then help us to share this truth with a compassionate heart. So that all who cross our path may witness the transforming power of your grace and the promise of eternal belonging in Christ Jesus. In whose name I pray? Amen. Amen.
