VCE – Life and Faith

Day 9 – You Are Chosen

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.” (Ephesians 1:3-6)

When I was in school I fondly remember the lunch time sports I used to play. In summer, it was often cricket, and in winter, it was often football or basketball. The way the teams were chosen were through two captains, usually the most out-going, bossy, and controlling classmates, picking person after person to be on their side. The way the players were chosen was based on perceived ability. The best players chosen first, then the mid-range players, and finally, those who weren’t that great but allowed to play were chosen last. Those chosen last were usually the same every time. And soon enough there would be two teams and off we went.

In the bible, we read that we have been chosen by God.

You're More Than A Number - You Are Chosen.png

We read in Ephesians 1 that before the foundation of the world God has chosen us to be part of his holy family. That even before he created the world, and before we were created and knitted together in our mother’s womb, God had chosen us. And being chosen by him in order for us to be holy and faultless in love. That we would be part of his family and he would give us grace and more grace, and love and more love because of who he is. Because of his great love for us he has chosen us and given gift after gift through his Son Jesus.

This choosing was not like choosing a sport team at school. God didn’t choose you to be part of his family based upon how good a person you are. He didn’t line you up and then look at all the good things you would do in your life and pick you because of that. No, God simply wanted to show his love to you, he wanted to know you, he wanted to be with you and you with him. And so, God chose you.

We have been chosen by God!

God himself cherishes and loves us and has chosen us to be with him.

This idea can also raise some questions. Is God playing favourites? Is he choosing some people and then decisively not choosing others? Is this fair?

These are good questions to ask. It can seem like God is playing favourites.

Yet, no one knows whether they are chosen until they know him. From a human perspective God’s grace is open to all. Everyone is called to come and believe. Everyone is called to come and follow. Everyone is called to come and know. In this way, God’s grace and love and choosing is open to all people.

At the end of the day none of us are actually in a position to earn our acceptance by God anyway. No one deserves to be part of God’s family, that’s why it is such a glorious thing to know we are part of his family. Through Jesus, and his death and resurrection, we are able to believe and follow. To know and be known. To trust and be accepted. To cherish and be chosen.

God is God, and we being chosen into his family is such a great and almighty gift to us. Who he has chosen to be our brothers and sisters we don’t always know. But what we do know is that he has called us, and he calls us to call others, into his loving family.

Every few years we undertake local, state, and national elections. The election process can take some time and depending on how certain members of parliament and political parties are doing in their roles will depend on whether they continue to be elected as our representatives. In recent years voting seems to have turned very populist. That is, whoever can market themselves and galvanise people the most will likely tip the votes in their favour. Yet, how long an MP stays in politics and in government is indefinite. Some may spend only one term, 3-4 years representing their constituents. Others may last for over 20 years in office.

For those of us who follow Jesus and know Jesus we can rest assured that we have been adopted into God’s family forever. There is no need to doubt that we are part of his family because God has chosen us to be in it. We don’t simply stay in the family for a short period of time before leaving. We don’t get chosen on the basis of our performance or the basis of popularity. God has chosen us, he has chosen you, because of his great and glorious love for you.

Because of this we can say we have been chosen.

FOR REFLECTION

What effect does knowing that God has chosen you have upon you?
What kind of questions does this raise for you? Make a list of them.
How can you help others realise God’s love for them and his delight to have them in his family this week?

This is part of a devotional series called You’re More Than A Number. To understand the purpose of these posts then please read the series introduction. If you’d like these delivered to your inbox, please sign up to follow this blog or my FB page.

Day 7 – You Are Saved

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

We’ve been looking at the guts of the Christian faith over the past week and now come to this idea of ‘being saved’. I don’t tend to use the term ‘saved’ when talking about my identity and faith. I know it’s often used in movies and shows that depict Christianity and churches. It is a term used by a generation that were all about having people ‘saved’ at big faith rallies and events. And occasionally, you may still hear it in conversation between Christians when they are talking about people, ‘whether they are saved or not’. It’s just a good old Christianese word.

To say that ‘you are saved’ is to say that you have salvation. As Christians, we believe we have attained salvation because of what God has done for us on the cross.

You're More Than A Number - You Are Saved

The dictionary defines salvation as, “the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction”. And when we seek to define it in faith terms, it means that we are saved or protected from the judgment and consequence that we are under due to sin. Some might even go as far as saying that we have been saved from a particular place, hell.

I imagine we can all relate to what it means to be saved or protected from harm.

I remember a cousin of mine struggling to swim in a pool when we were kids. After she’d slipped off the step she found herself in a panic, thrashing around in the water. One of the adults around, my mum I think, saw what was happening and quickly grabbed her by the hair and yanked her up.

We would say she’d been saved from harm wouldn’t we?

I wonder if you can think of a time when you were saved from harm? Perhaps it was crossing the road without looking. Perhaps it was while you were climbing a tree. Perhaps it was swimming yourself.

Throughout the storyline of the bible we read of the constant effort people go to in order to attain salvation. To be saved.

Once Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s instruction to not eat of the tree there has been a need to find salvation. The initial judgement they faced was being booted out of Eden, their disobedience had physical consequences. However, there were further costs for them, further costs which had eternal consequences. In order to find salvation many people throughout the Old Testament seek to make good their bad by providing sacrifices and avoiding mistakes and errors in their life. They don’t want to face the judgment and wrath God has toward their sin and so go to extraordinary lengths to avoid actions that disobey God.

It’s like knowing the curfew your parents have placed on you for the party. There will be consequences if you disobey. We get that right. But, to make this even more legalistic, like the people of the Old Testament, we would make sure we are home well before the curfew to avoid any sort of possibility of being late. We might even leave 30 minutes earlier so we know we’re back home in good time. (Probably not realistic I know, but I hope you get the idea).

Some people continue to operate this way when they think about Christianity.

But, Christianity is not about law and legalism, it is about faith and freedom.

To be saved, to find salvation, is something that we are given by God. God, in his wonderful grace, has given us salvation. He has saved us from his own judgment and wrath through his Son Jesus.

Just as we have explored the forgiveness that comes through Jesus and the cross. Just as we have explored being bought back to God through Jesus and the cross. Just as we have explored the love God has for us through Jesus and the cross. So too, we find another aspect of our faith is centred around being saved from judgment and wrath through Jesus and the cross.

Here we can say that Jesus saves.

Here we can say that we are saved.

Praise God.

FOR REFLECTION

Can you remember a time where someone saved you from harm or injury?
What picture do you have of God’s wrath and judgment? It’s not often we think on this, mainly because it’s not a particularly appealing thought.
Do you recognise the need to be saved from God’s judgment and see how Jesus achieves this?

Day 6 – You Are Loved

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

In recent weeks Ed Sheeran has released another single. A few weeks ago he stated publicly that he wished to write his greatest love song, and with ‘Perfect’ he seems to have done that. It is the song that thousands of couples will now dance to on their wedding day. Here are some of the lyrics:

I found a love for me
Darling just dive right in
And follow my lead
Well I found a girl beautiful and sweet
I never knew you were the someone waiting for me
‘Cause we were just kids when we fell in love
Not knowing what it was
I will not give you up this time

But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own
And in your eyes you’re holding mine
Baby, I’m dancing in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favourite song
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

In writing this song Eddie expresses his deep love for his girl. In doing so he gives us word pictures about how he loves her so.

What a way to express love! What a way to express what someone means to you!

You're More Than A Number - You Are Loved

I wonder how you express love?

I wonder how you express the love you have for others – for your family, friends, pets, things you do, things you have?

The passage at the top of this post isn’t talking about romantic love like Ed Sheeran is. Nevertheless, it describes the love God has for us.

It describes the love God has for us as sacrificial love.

The writer points out that God has shown his love for us through the sending of his one and only son as an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

The way God has shown his love for us is through Jesus. The way God has shown his love for us is through the cross.

It is a cross-bound, life-sacrificing love.

God has such strong affection for us, he cherishes us so much, that he is willing to die for us.

This is a love that is deeply personal and a love that is of commitment and faithfulness to us. This love, this affection for us, is displayed for us through the action of sacrifice. He loves us so much that he sent his one and only Son to be an atoning sacrifice for us. He loves us so much that he sent himself, in human form, to take our place on that cross.

This sacrificial love is the love that God has for us.

As one commentator has written, the term ‘atoning sacrifice’ is a phrase to “…emphasise that God sent Jesus Christ to be the atoning sacrifice to remove the guilt we have incurred because of our sins so that we might have eternal life. This is the great expression of God’s love, and on this basis the author can say God is love.”

Due to our sin, both the sin we do as action and the sinful nature we find ourselves battling against as fallen creatures, we are in need of a saviour. Because of our sin we find that our hearts and minds are a mess. As we seek to deal with our own selfishness and brokenness and pain on our own we continue to place ourselves as king or queen over our own lives.

We become lovers of self, rather than lovers of God.

And so, we find God loving us through sending his one and only Son in order for our lives to be transformed. Transformed into life-giving, self-sacrificing, love-promoting hearts. Sin is forgiven, our hearts are changed, and we begin to be changed into creatures perfected by his love. All from him loving us first.

Ironically, Ed Sheeran’s song gets this. You may not remember but he sings,

Baby, I’m dancing in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favourite song
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

Did you see it? Do you get it?

When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight

Through God’s sacrificing love for us, through God expressing his love for us through the cross, we find that we are transformed from people who are messy to people perfected by love.

It is through this truth that we can know that we are indeed loved.

FOR REFLECTION

Do you know the love God has for you today?
What is your impression of God’s expressing his love for you through sacrifice?
How will you hold onto this truth as you do what you do today?

Day 5 – You Are Redeemed

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

The world, and its people, cry out in pain.

One particular aspect of this pain is the sex trafficking industry, which sees millions of young boys and girls trapped in a cycle of slavery. This kind of slavery confronts each of us as we think of those who have no hope and are continually used and abused for the pleasure of others.

The statistics are horrendous.

Equality Now reports that the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world. It is a lucrative industry, making nearly $100 billion per year. Nearly 21 million adults and children are bought and sold worldwide into commercial sexual slavery, and around 2 million children are exploited each year in the sex trade. 54% of sex trafficking victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation, and women and girls make up 96% of victims.

As I say, the statistics are horrendous.

You're More Than A Number - You Are Redeemed.png

I know of a number of organisations working specifically to help people – men, women and children – out of this slavery, providing them with opportunity to flee such exploitation. This high-risk work threatens the lives of those sex trafficked and those working in the organisations. However, stories do emerge of people escaping such hell and beginning the road to some sort of recovery.

One of these stories I heard while visiting the headquarters of such an organisation. A young girl, aged 14, was purchased for a price, believing she would be used for pleasure once again. When taken to the hotel room those who purchased time with her didn’t seek the usual pleasure of such buyers. Instead, they offered her a way out, a chance to leave, and decisive moment to start life over again. Obviously, a little suspect about what was going on the girl was not convinced until legitimate authorities were brought into the room to confirm this opportunity. In taking this chance the girl was then taken to a care home for former sex trafficked girls. Here she began to take steps to rebuild her life, hoping one day to be back with her family and former community.

This short story of the life of this girl provides a good illustration of what it means to be redeemed.

Redemption is the act of being purchased, of being bought back.

The act of redemption occurred when Jesus died on the cross.

A transaction took place whereby we were bought back to God through the death of Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament we are told by Jesus himself that he came into the world to redeem us. In Mark 10:45 Jesus said to his disciples, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

That is a powerful statement.

Jesus came to redeem us. He came to redeem me. He came to redeem you.

He came to rescue us from our sin and bring us into his holy family.

Some many ask, but what do we need to be redeemed for.

In Ephesians 1:7, another book of the New Testament, “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”

It is understood that God has redeemed us through Jesus and the cross because of our sin (or ‘trespasses’ as this verse reads). As we’ve touched on previously, sin is something that separates us from God. It is something that we are bound to, that we are slaves of, that we are held captive by. Sin dominates our lives and tricks us into thinking we are free when we aren’t. However, true freedom is found through knowing God. And because God loves us so much, wants us to know him, and be in relationship with him, then he comes to rescue us from such slavery. God goes to the point of redeeming us through sending himself in the form of Jesus, to die for us in order that we can be with him.

Because of this act we find ourselves redeemed.

We find that we have been bought back by God.

There’s a really old hymn that speaks to this theme called ‘Jesus Paid It All’. It’s final two verses speak of the fact that we are redeemed.

“When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
‘Jesus died my soul to save,’
Shall rend the vaulted skies.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down,
All down at Jesus’ feet.”

What comfort, what joy, what hope.

FOR REFLECTION:

How do you react to hearing people are still bound in slavery today? Is it something you can pray for now?
How do you react to hearing that Jesus has redeemed you? Write a short paragraph for yourself about what that means to you.

Day 4 – You Are Called

“But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

Purpose.

We strive to know our purpose.

Why were we created? What are we here for? What is our purpose right now?

As we reach VCE we can’t help but wonder and contemplate this topic of purpose.

Parents, teachers, principals, career advisors, and others begin to demand we make decisions that will apparently, “lead us down our career path for the rest of our lives”. When we choose subjects, refine our skills in certain pursuits, and reflect on things we like and things we don’t, we start trying to work out this thing called purpose.

You're More Than A Number - You Are Called

I’m not sure about you but I found it hard to decide what subjects I should be doing when going through VCE. I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what might help me in five years time. Five years time! That’s a fair while away!

As time to decide these things came closer it all began to get overwhelming. The more pressure applied, the more indecisive I felt. I mean, it was hard enough to decide what subject to choose the following year, let alone what university course I’d like to do or work I wanted to undertake post-study. Give me a break. Why all this pressure on decision-making, purpose, and career?

But the way the game of life works right now, and has done for a number of years, is that we are to be educated for a long period of time, expected to get a job immediately post-study, make some money, buy some things, continue making money to pay for those said things, and then retire and read a good book. The underlying effect of this is that we are told there is one path to trod. One particular destiny in life. One particular purpose.

Throughout the bible we see plenty of people called to various roles. Some are called to lead, some are called to submit, some are called to life on the road, some are called to ransack cities, some are called to be kings, some are called to speak into other people’s lives on behalf of God.

There are plenty of people who have been called to particular things in particular places for a particular purpose.

We are also called.

And first and foremost, we are called by God to himself.

That is, God woos us and calls us to come and know him.

To come and worship him.

To come and love him.

We are called to come and follow.

Jesus, when beginning his work here on earth, called twelve men to follow him. The phrase “follow me” should be self-evident, it is Jesus calling people to follow him. A life of following what he does and what he teaches.

If we describe ourselves as Christians – people who believe Jesus is the Son of God, who has died and risen for the forgiveness of sin and where true life can be realised – then we are called to follow him.

A question for you at this point would be, are you following him?

In regard to purpose, at its most base level it is simply to follow Jesus.

He is our guide, our leader, our captain, our coach.

Any worthwhile captain or coach is one who inspires, motives, encourages, disciples, and leads people to a better place, to a place that changes and transforms them for the better.

Jesus is that captain.

Jesus is that coach.

FOR REFLECTION

Is purpose something you’ve been thinking about in recent months or years? How do you react to such thoughts?
What or who do you think you are following right now?
Are you following Jesus? Would you like to?

Day 1 – You Are Created

Day 2 – You Are Sinful

Day 3 – You Are Forgiven

You’re More Than A Number

Hey,

Tomorrow you find out your VCE results.

This is a big day.

It’s a day where you find out where you’re academically rated amongst your peers after 15 years in the education system.

Tomorrow is also a big day for your parents. For 18 years they’ve been encouraging you, praying for you, and helping you learn and grow into who you are today. For them it marks the final hurdle in seeing you complete your studies and the beginning of a new season – university, work, and other adult-like activities.

As much as family, friends, and teachers have told you that your ATAR score doesn’t define you, I know it doesn’t feel that way. I’m sure you’ve been in conversations about what you’d like to get, what course you might like to apply for, and what you’d like to achieve in 2017 and beyond. People can say this moment doesn’t define you but I’m sure you can’t help but feel nervous and anxious about these results. The text message you receive tomorrow may well dictate the mood of your coming days, weeks, and months. It’s certainly not easy to be in the middle of it all, let alone have others try to convince you that it’s not as important as everyone makes it out to be. Everything from school to family to culture implies something different.

It screams make or break.

A friend of mine received a score lower than 30 when he went through VCE. It was disappointing for himself and his parents. Yet over the years he has held a full-time job, completed studies in Marketing, and in the world’s eyes has become ‘successful’. Another friend scored over 98. She had her pick of all the courses in Victoria but chose to continue her passion and study Psychology (a course that didn’t require such a score). A little while after completing her degree she switched to teaching and has enjoyed it ever since.

I mention these examples because as much as their scores reflected their academic results in the year they completed year 12, they didn’t let it define who they were.

The culture you’ve grown up in, the culture you continue to grow into, tells us that it is what we DO that defines us. It is what we achieve, what we accomplish for ourselves, what we are ‘successful’ at, that makes us who we are.

For those of us who follow Jesus this is turned upside-down.

Rather than having to impress God with the things we do and achieve, we are made free because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. When we have our faith in Jesus, recognising that he has taken our brokenness upon himself, and turn to follow him, we are made new. We are a new creation, a child of God, one who has been bought back to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Since the middle of the year our Sunday services have focussed on our identity in Christ. In the Letter to the Colossians the author makes clear that because of this Good News we are now considered holy and blameless in God’s sight (Col 1:21-22).

Our identity is not defined by what we’ve done, good or bad, or by what we’ve achieved, successful or unsuccessful. We are defined as one who has been made alive in God, forgiven and free (Col 2:13-14).

When you get that text, or make that call tomorrow, the knowledge that you are ‘in Christ’ enables you to have a different perspective.

No longer does the result you achieve define your intelligence, your gifts and abilities, or who you are. Rather, knowing that you are ‘in Christ’ brings perspective and redefines who you are. Look at yourself. God has made you to be you. And nobody else. He’s given you unique passions, abilities, gifts, and ambitions for his good and the good of his kingdom. Therefore, high marks, low marks, bettering your friends or bombing out, do not define who you are.

When we move away from understanding that we are ‘in Christ’, the perspective we have of ourselves becomes distorted. Our self-worth, our identity, and what we deem to be valuable turns inward. We begin to consider ourselves more important and valuable than God and soon enough those things that we DO are defining us again.

So tomorrow, remember that you are worth incredibly more than the number you are given. You are a child of God, made in his image to reflect who he is. You are valuable, someone worth dying for. And you have been made new by the grace and freedom given through the work of Jesus on that cross.

Whatever happens tomorrow Jesus continues to love you and seek you.

Remember, you’re more than a number.