Your Faith Attaches You to Your God!

4th Sunday in Lent, 3/10/24 Ephesians 2:1-10 Your Faith Attaches You to Your God! I. His mercy II. His love III. His grace Relationships. Your life is full of them. For instance, you have family relationships. Some of them are by blood; others are by marriage. And where that relationship exists, there’s a sense of obligation. In other words, you feel compelled to have and maintain that relationship even under less-than-ideal circumstances. You’re probably a bit more willing to endure some of the negative baggage that comes with a family relationship simply because it’s family. But the other extreme is also true—the blessings of a warm and deep family relationship are highly cherished. In those cases, the compelling nature of a family relationship is thoroughly enjoyed. It’s also likely that you have relationships based on friendship. In those relationships, there are aspects of the relationship that are beneficial to both you and your friend. The shared outlooks, the appreciation for each other, the ability to be open and honest without fear, are some of the things that keep your friendship alive and growing. Your relationship brings deep joy and satisfaction. But there are also relationships in your life that are purely transactional. They’re service oriented. You need something that someone else has, and they need something you have. Usually, they are willing to do something for you and you’re willing to pay them. Therapists, health professionals, financial and legal experts, your mechanic, your HVAC technician, your lawn and landscape firm all fit under that category. You have a relationship with them that isn’t very deep, but it’s important, sometimes critically important. You have come here this morning to have a relationship with your God whom we know as the Triune God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What is the basis for that relationship? What does it have in common with any of the other relationships in your life? By the same token, what makes it different? That might be difficult to answer, but today’s worship theme offers a splendid suggestion. Your relationship with your God is all about faith. The Bible describes that faith as something you don’t manufacture in yourself on your own. Your faith in your God is his gift to you. But just what is faith? Faith is the trust or confidence in your God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Let me repeat that. Faith is the trust or confidence in your God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. It’s on the basis of faith that you have a relationship with your God. Your faith attaches you to your God. On this Sunday in which we celebrate the victory that is ours by faith, let’s ponder our saving relationship with God based on that faith. I. At the risk of sounding rather crass, most relationships in your life usually boil down to one thing: What do you bring to the table? In other words, what do you offer? That might be as cold as money. It might be as warm as love and acceptance. But it’s not nothing. Let’s be honest. We enter relationships to get something out of them. Today I’m speaking with you about your relationship with your God. You DO have a relationship with him. So, what do you bring to the table? Think about it. Is there anything you have that your God needs? If he didn’t have a relationship with you, would it negatively affect him in any way? Is his existence any better for him because he has a relationship with you? Before you answer that question definitively, listen to these opening words of our text, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” I know Paul wrote those words, but by verbal inspiration, they are also God’s words. They are God’s words which speak about you and me. And they aren’t pretty words. They’re brutal. But they’re honest. And that’s what we need to hear. We need to hear the truth about what we bring to the table in our relationship with God. And the answer is, “Nothing! Zip! Nada!” Honestly speaking, what we bring to the table causes a negative reaction in our God. We are objects of his wrath. At its barest level, our relationship with God is one in which he should react in divine judgment. But he doesn’t! Why not? Paul goes on to tell us, “God…is rich in mercy.” Mercy! What a beautiful word! When you hear that a judge had mercy when pronouncing judgment, what’s your reaction? Well, it might be disgust. If you were appalled at the crime committed and the judge was merciful to the guilty party, you might be incensed. Unless the guilty party is you! Too often we conveniently forget that fact. Let me give you an example. How often do you come to worship with the unmistakable mindset that you are guilty and will be pleading for divine mercy from the holy God? Probably not often enough. I’m the same way. But he is! God is always merciful to you and me. And we can count on it every time. That’s faith! That’s how you are attached to your God. You have faith in his mercy. II. If you had to describe your God with a single word, what would it be? Wow! Is that even possible? It is. How do I know? Because God states in his word, “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16). We heard Jesus state in today’s Gospel that “God so loved the world” (Jn. 3:16). And whereas our experience with love is that we love the lovable, God’s love is much different. Perhaps you’ve heard that God’s love is “agape” love. “Agape” is one of the Greek words for love. It’s the highest form of love. It describes God’s love for sinners. “Agape” love is different in this way: It fully understands its object, and it has a corresponding good purpose. Well, that sounds great, but just what does it mean? It means that God understands exactly who we are, with all our sinful ugliness, all the reasons that would make us unlovable, but he still loves us. And then, that emotion is tied to divine action. It has a corresponding good purpose in mind for us. In other words, it wants and does what is best for us. That sounds well and good on paper, but practically, what does it mean for us? Listen again to the words of your Savior, “God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son” (Jn. 3:16). There you have it. God demonstrates his love for us by sacrificing his Son for us. Why? So that we could have forgiveness and eternal life with him. That’s his good corresponding purpose. And that never changes. God never changes his mind or his heart about you. He is love! Your faith attaches you to your God. You have faith in his love for you. III. We’ve been talking about relationships. Most of them are two-way, right? Maybe all of them? Is there any relationship which is only one-way? Perhaps. I can think of one. A mother’s love for her child. A mother’s favor for her child. Even though that child might—God forbid—despise his or her mother, she will not turn her back on him or her. In MOST cases. I’m sure you’ve heard of cases in which a mother’s devotion to her child has been so blatantly abused that it abruptly ends. For her own well-being, the mother must cut herself loose from her child. But that never happens with the grace of God. Listen to Paul explain God’s grace, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” I’m sure many of you have committed that verse to memory. It’s the classic Bible passage which explains how we have a relationship with our God. It’s solely by his grace. By his grace and his grace alone, we are saved. God’s grace is his undeserved love for sinners. God’s grace is the flipside of his mercy. In his mercy, he doesn’t give us the hell that our sins deserve. In his grace, he gives us the heaven that we don’t deserve. Astounding grace! We can do nothing to earn or deserve his gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. We can do nothing to become a child of God. It’s all his doing. Thank God it’s all his doing, because that’s what makes it divinely certain. If any of our salvation were left for us to accomplish on our own, we could never be sure of it. But God’s grace for us is absolutely sure and certain. As such, it’s the object of our faith. Your faith attaches you to your God. It’s how you have an eternal relationship with him. It’s by his grace. That means that death and taxes aren’t the only certain things in life. God’s mercy, love, and grace are far more certain. And because they are, you can put your confidence, your trust, your faith in your God. That faith is not something you produce in yourself. It’s something God the Holy Spirit produces in you through word and sacrament. The object of that faith is your eternal God who is mercy, love, and grace. Your relationship with him is all his doing. So, relax! Enjoy it! Soak it up! Bask in it! In a world in which nothing is certain, in a world in which relationships can be as changing as the spring weather in southern Ohio, in a world which seems to be defined by losses rather than gains, here is something certain, divinely certain, eternally certain. It’s your relationship with your God by faith in Jesus. You are attached to your God by faith in Jesus. He will never let you go! Trust him! Amen.