But God ...
Therein is the gospel in non-gospel language. But God ...
Ephesians 2:1-10 - the reading from the epistles for this 4th Sunday of Lent - begins with a dire description of our human condition. We all - Gentiles (vs.1-2, you) and Jews (vs. 3, all of us) - were dead spiritually because of our sins. We had no spiritual life even though we were overly religious. Although we were created for relationship with God, we did not know God. We had no awareness of God. Although we were created for God's life, we did not know the ways of God. We had no ability to love as God loves. Instead, we followed the anxiety-driven ways of the world - "following the course of this world" (vs. 2). We lived out of a defiant, self-reliant, self-serving spirit that rejected God and the truth of God - "following the ruler of the power of the air" (vs. 2). Believing we were better than others, we were no different than anyone else. All of us looked out for 'ole #1 - "the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient" (vs. 2). We pursued our need to feel safe, to be accepted and have a place to belong, to feel capable and adequate, to be loved and valued - "in the passions of our flesh" (vs. 3). We were driven by a deep fear that, deep down beneath the facade we presented to the world, we were inadequate ... we were no good ... we were unlovable and would be rejected and left out ... we would be hurt. We gave our energies to achieving and succeeding and acquiring in a vain attempt to prove - to ourselves and to others - that we were not what we were afraid we were. Our inability to escape this deep sense of personal shame is seen in how we criticize and find fault with others. Judging others allows us to avoid seeing our own failures by making us to feel superior to those we judge. We indulged our physical desires believing they would fill the void deep within - "following the desires of the flesh and senses" (vs. 3). We filled our lives with the pursuit of pleasure and entertainment in a desperate attempt to find a sense of fulfillment. In order to feel safe, we tried to control others. In an effort to reduce our sense of dis-ease, we created stability based on predictability.
The result of this way of living was we missed God and the richness of God's way of life. We were stuck with the empty bankruptcy of what we chose - "children of wrath" (vs. 3). (Being "children of wrath" does not mean we were the targets of God's anger. It means God gave us what we chose.) We were spiritually dead, unable to recognize the deadly spiral in which we lived, much less escape it.
But God ...
God did for us what we did not know to do for ourselves. God did for us what we could not do for ourselves. God made us alive with Christ (vs. 5) ... raised us up with Christ (vs. 6) ... and seated us in the heavenly places with Christ (vs. 6). God not only saved us from the life of death in which we were trapped (vs. 8), God also recreated us (vs. 10), restoring our ability to experience God's kind of life so that we can love as Jesus loved - "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (vs. 10).
What God did for us - made us alive, raised us up, seated us with Christ, saved us, recreated us - was because of who God is. It was because God is rich in mercy (vs. 4). It was because God loves us with a great love (vs. 4). The Hebrew Scriptures referred to this great love as the steadfast, faithful love of God (chesed - Psalm 107:1). It is a love that never waivers or falters. It is a love that never gives up on us or abandons us. It is a love that keeps on loving even when we refuse it and abuse it. It is a love that keeps on working to rescue us from ourselves and our self-destructive choices. It is a love that keeps on calling us to and leading us into Christ-like spiritual maturity. It is a love that will not stop until we experience for ourselves the richness of life that is found in loving as Jesus loved. It is love given freely and lavishly as a gift (vs. 8). The New Testament word for such love is grace (vs. 5, 8).
But God ...
Our response to such love is faith. Our response is to open our lives to such love. Our response is to embrace this gift of love, claiming it as our own. Our response is to open our hearts and minds to the healing, transforming work of such love. Our response is to rest in such love. Our response is to open ourselves to the One who loves us with such great love.
And ... our response will lead us to love others as God loved us. As we grow in this love, the Spirit empowers us to love as Jesus loved and to love who Jesus loved. Such is the good works for which we were created (vs. 10). Loving as Jesus loved, we live as God's partners in God's eternal, redemptive venture (Ephesians 1:10, 3:10). We move beyond the us-them thinking of the world to live in unity (Ephesians 2:11-22; 4:1-6) as the new temple of God on earth (Ephesians 2:19-22).
But God ...
As we walk this leg of the Lenten journey, consider "But God ..." Name what God has done in your own life because of such great love. "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so" (Psalm 107:1). Identify what God is doing in you during this season. Seek what God wants to do through you.
"O give thanks to the LORD; for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 107:1).
Thanks be to God!
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