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.
Ephesians 1:3,4
Verse three talks about our receiving God’s blessings. And we shout for joy. We gladly hear these words. We openly want to be on the receiving side of God’s blessing. We say, “Bring it on” and “More, please.”
But that blessing comes at a price. The blessing has a condition. And the condition is something we really don’t want to talk about. It’s no mistake or accident that verse three is right next to verse four. And verse four comes right out of the gate with the word we want to hide from
Chosen. There, I said it. The idea of being picked out. God has chosen us for his own purposes. That purpose is not to sit around at an all-inclusive resort where angels and people wait on us day and night just to make us happy, comfortable, well fed, and prosperous. Where there is a 24-hour buffet full of physical and spiritual goodies that we get to choose from.
Most of God’s purpose in choosing is to become an active member in God’s efforts to reach more and more people. Our salvation is to praise and worship God, and to serve him and people in this life. God is never more glorified, and we are never more “chosen” then when we tell others about Jesus.
But that chosen characteristic has two sides to it.
Holy – we are separated to God. Yes, we live in the world, but we are not of the world[1]. When we wake every morning, Job-One is to worship and serve God. Period. Our character and our actious are to reflect and be energized towards our dedicated life to God.
Blameless – we are to have lives before God and a watching world that are without any spots, blemishes, or smudges. Our lives are to be morally and spiritually clean and pure, without stain, damage, or disfigurement from sin.
Now, there are two sides to our being holy and blameless. One side is that in Jesus, we are immediately and eternally made holy and blameless. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross paid for all our sins: past, present, and to come. We stand before God, in Jesus, as holy and blameless as he is.
But here it’s talking about our life in this world. We are to be holy and blameless in all our words, thoughts, actions, and attitudes. All the different parts of our lives are to reflect and be energized by Jesus. Because we are holy and blameless before God, we are to humbly and thankfully live lives that are holy and blameless before people.
You see, that chosen thing isn’t just making us spiritual gazillionaires to sit back and enjoy this life. No, there is a purpose here on planet Earth to being chosen. God chose you for himself, but he also chose you for your neighbor. Your family. Your coworkers. The person behind the deli counter.
God chose you to be his representative, his spokesperson. Sometimes that requires us to speak, but it always requires us to act. Act like we’re forgiven. Act like all our guilt and shame have been covered. Act like we have nothing to prove. Act like we don’t have to be the smartest and funniest person in the room.
That last one was me. I always had to be able to remember everything, talk about anything. There wasn’t a topic I couldn’t out know, out debate, out argue, while cutting you off at the knees with facts and quotes. All the while making you fall out of your chair laughing.
But I did that because I was damaged goods. I was trying to self-medicate myself with being liked. But it was a thin coat of paint, trying to cover up my guilt and shame.
When Jesus came into my life, things started to change. That was more than 50 years ago, and I’m still changing. On the day I received Christ, all my sins were forgiven. I was made holy and blameless before God for all eternity. But I’m walking each and every day, looking for new ways that I can live a holy and blameless life through the power of God.
At the end of his life Jesus said, “It is finished.” The once-and-for-all payment for sin was accomplished. The question now is, what are you going to do with your finished thing? What’s next in your lives because Jesus paid it all?
Our next thing is to live today with holy and blameless lives. Holy and blameless today. Holy and blameless tomorrow. Holy and blameless for as many days as God gives.
Our next step is to live like the holy and blameless person Jesus made us.
Noodling Questions
· How difficult is it to think of yourself as holy? Why?
· How radical is the idea that you are blameless? Why?
· Why will the ideas that you are holy and blameless change your life?
[1] John 17:14-16
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