How would you complete the statement: “I am _______”? The world tries to answer this question for us. It attempts to fill in the blank. “I am [my profession]” is a common answer. When someone asks us, “Hi, I’m so in so, who are you?” We respond, “Hi, I’m Dan, I’m a pastor.” Or “I’m a teacher,” “I’m a nurse,” “I’m a farmer,” “I’m a stay at home mum.” Another common answer is something we enjoy doing: “I’m a Richmond supporter,” “I’m an avid photographer,” “I’m a historian.”
The letter to the Ephesians is a book about identity. This letter addresses the question: “Who am I?” St Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus (modern day Turkey), tells us how to complete the statement: “I am ______.” Surprisingly our identity has nothing to do with anything inside ourselves. It has nothing to do with what we do. Instead, who we are has everything to do with what God does, and what God says. We’re going to explore this over the next five weeks as we read Ephesians.
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As a high school student, I would dread sports class. We would often play team sports and the teacher would select two captains who would choose their team one by one. The first captain would say, “I’ll take Bob.” The second would say, “I choose Mark.” And so on. I would often be picked last. It didn’t feel very nice to be ignored, overlooked, and not wanted. Have you experienced these feelings? This can lead us to ask, “Am I worthless? Where do I get my worth? Who am I?”
Paul begins his letter by telling us we are chosen. ‘God chose us to belong to Christ before the world was created.’ (Ephesians 1:4). You are chosen by God. To help us understand what this means, let’s put on our detective hats and ask: who? what? when? why? how?
Who did God choose?
We tend to think about ourselves first, but it’s important to remember that, firstly, God chose Jesus. The voice from the cloud at Jesus’ transfiguration says, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (Luke 9:35). Jesus has the title “Christ” or “Messiah” which means “Chosen One.” Jesus is God’s firstborn son. Secondly, God chose you plural, you collective, you the church. It’s like God is the team captain, he deliberately points at you, and says, “I choose you.” God gathers us together as his team. Lastly, God chose you individually. A team always consists of individuals. God unites us individuals into a team — the church, the body of Christ.
What does it mean to be chosen?
Being chosen means you are made part of God’s family. St Paul uses the word picture of adoption. Through adoption, God becomes your heavenly Father, Jesus your brother, and the Holy Spirit is the seal or mark guaranteeing your adoption.
Let me briefly explain how Roman adoption worked. In the Roman family, the father had full authority over the whole family, particularly legal authority over the family property. He owned all the land, the house, the servants, everything — and he could do whatever he wanted with it. The process for adoption under Roman law had two steps. In the first step, the child was released from their natural father. This was accomplished by the father selling his child three times to the adoptee as a servant. The first time the adopter would release the child back to the natural father. This was repeated a second time. After the third sale, the natural father had no authority over the child. Now the second step could happen: having been freed, the adopter purchased the child and became the new father with total authority over the child. The child was no longer under the control of the old father, but their newly adopted father. It was done in this way to break any connection with the old family. The adopted child totally belonged to the new family and had all the rights of the new family e.g. they would continue the family line and maintain property ownership.
Being chosen by God means being adopted into his family. All our ties to our old spiritual father — the devil — are severed. As newly adopted sons and daughters of God, he controls our life now. This may sound oppressive to our modern ears, but it’s not meant to be. Being adopted under Roman law was a blessing, because the adopted child would acquire a new status, the family name, all the family property — everything. Being adopted was not a disadvantage, but highly advantageous.[1]
Being chosen means you are given a new name — God’s name. The word ‘chosen’ literally means ‘to name.’ God is saying, “I name you as my child and heir.” Being chosen means you inherit the family property — the spiritual blessings, heaven itself becomes yours. ‘God raised us up with Christ. He has seated us with him in his heavenly kingdom because we belong to Christ Jesus.’ (Ephesians 2:6). Being chosen means you have a new home, a new family, a new future, a place to belong.
When were you chosen?
We might think we were chosen when we made some kind of decision to follow Jesus. Or we might think we were chosen at our baptism. Or we might even say God chose us when we were born. But no! St Paul writes, ‘God chose us before the world was created.’ (Ephesians 1:4). God has chosen you since before time itself! God is not some chess player responding to his opponent after each move. God has the whole game in hand. Before the first piece was even moved, God knew everything that would happen until now, and the next step, and the next, all the way until the game ends with his victory.
Why were you chosen?
Let’s go back to the example of the team captain in sports class. If you were the captain, how would you choose your team? You might look for the tallest or fastest or strongest. But God is not that sort of captain. And we are not those sort of players anyway. ‘The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.’ (Deuteronomy 7:7). God does chose you because you’re the biggest or best. There is nothing you did, no quality that makes you worthy to be chosen. Elsewhere St Paul writes that God chooses the foolish, the weak, the lowly (1 Corinthians 1:27–29). And I think even that’s being generous. I think it is more like you are sitting on the bench with a broken leg, and yet Captain Jesus points his finger at you and says, “I choose you.” Who would pick the player with the broken leg?! Foolishness! Yet God does. Why? That’s the type of person he is. He loves you. ‘As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.’ (Psalm 103:13). He did it because of what Jesus has done. He did it to bring praise to his glory.
How were you chosen?
St Paul says, ‘Through his blood our sins have been forgiven.’ (Ephesians 1:7). The how is accomplished through the blood of Jesus. Jesus’ death is the payment for your adoption. God chose us because of and through what Jesus has done on the cross.
What does all this mean?
Tomorrow when you wake up, what difference will it make to know that God has chosen you? Firstly, you have security. No matter what happens tomorrow or the day after or the day after, nothing can change the fact that God has chosen you. You are his adopted child. Nothing you do can change this status. Nothing anyone else does can change who you are. You are and will always be chosen in Christ. Secondly, it means your old life is gone, your old father — the devil — has no authority over you anymore. That’s done with. You belong to a new family now. This means you are in training to act like your new family. To become like God, like Christ. This is why St Paul says, ‘He chose us to be holy and without blame in his eyes.’ (Ephesians 1:4). You are being made holy and blameless, like your adopted father. Let us pray. Heavenly Father: help us to know that you have chosen us. Help us to live as your chosen children. Amen.
[1] Hoehner, 2002, ‘Ephesians,’ Baker Academic, pp 196–197.
