Notes from a sermon on salvation, from Ephesians 2:1-10, to a small group of first and second generation Burmese-American youth and their parents, March 2, 2025
When I was living in Yangon, Myanmar, I bought a black T-shirt at an evangelistic concert. The shirt, produced by Grace Music School, has the inscription in large gray letters, "Raising the Levite generation". What do you think it means? I think it means that church musicians and those who train and support them are raising up the next generation of worshipers, carrying on the tradition of the Levites who led singing and offered sacrifices in the tabernacle and the temple.
I was reminded of this shirt as I prepared to talk about Ephesians 2:1-10 where Paul magnifies the grace of God displayed in saving his people. There, Paul is essentially reenacting in a New Testament context Psalm 136, as performed by the priests at the dedication of Solomon's temple in 2 Chronicles 5. This psalm tells the story of creation, the exodus, and the conquering of Israel's enemies in Canaan, with the constant refrain, "his love endures forever". The Hebrew word for love here is hesed, which has some semantic overlap with the word for grace in the New Testament, according to Bible scholar Will Kynes. Although the Greek word in the Septuagint version of Psalm 136 is eleos, 'mercy, compassion' rather than charis 'grace', the overall thrust of the passage is the same as Paul's, in recounting and thanking God for his past rescue and ongoing kindness.
Typologically, the Psalmist's words "He remembered us in our low estate... and freed us from our enemies" are similar to Paul's when he tells the church that although they used to be dead in sins, following the ways of the world, the world's evil spiritual ruler, and their sinful minds and bodily cravings, God mercifully raised them to life with Christ and seated them (spiritually) with Christ in the heavenly realms where he rules with all authority, just as the Israelites were freed from slavery to the Pharaoh and given possession of the land of Canaan.
While the Levites at the dedication of the temple only had a small part of God's story of redemption to recount, we have its fulfillment. Matthew Bates summarizes the apostolic proclamation of the gospel of Jesus the King in the following ten points:
He preexisted as God the son, was sent by the Father, took on human flesh in fulfillment of God's promises to David, died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, appeared to many witnesses, is enthroned at the right hand of God as the ruling Christ, has sent the Holy Spirit to his people to effect his rule, and will come again as final judge to rule.
In even simpler form, we form the shape of the gospel story when we hold up two fingers on our left hand in a V for victory. Jesus came down, died, was buried, rose again, and ascended to the Father's right hand. Just as the middle finger is longer than the index finger, so Jesus was raised even higher than before, because his saving work magnified his grace and demonstrated his worthiness to rule the cosmos.
So we, with Paul, are priests, singing the song of this story with one voice. As Revelation 1:5-6 says, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever!"
One final point, which I have adapted from Bates's work: We are saved by grace, through faith, and this is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we are to really understand the force of Paul's idea of faith, we could often translate it "allegiance", with the idea that when someone in the early church was baptized, they confessed that Jesus is Lord and, by implication, that Caesar is not -- a preparation for martyrdom and evidence of a new citizenship.
I teach a class to help immigrants prepare for the United States citizenship test. My students have to memorize 100 questions and answers about American history and government, and be ready to answer up to ten of them, read a sentence aloud and write down a dictated sentence to show their English ability, and answer a number of personal questions such as whether they have ever been a member of the Communist Party or any terrorist groups. Last and most importantly, they have to swear the oath of allegiance, promising to be loyal to the United States, to give up loyalty to other countries, including all positions of royalty, and to obey the laws of this country.
When I delivered this sermon to the youth of a Burmese church, all the kids and their parents were very familiar with this test, as the parents had taken it in the last few years. For the rest of us, it would do us good to see the Christian life through the eyes of a recent immigrant. We enter salvation, a relationship of saving rescue and ongoing union with the Messiah, by pledging our ultimate allegiance to him and trusting him enough to obey his will.
If you have not yet entered this kingdom, will you choose to pledge your allegiance to King Jesus, by trusting him, turning from your ways to his way, and identifying with him and his people publicly by asking your parents or your pastor for baptism?
If you are still learning, will you ask for his Spirit to help you understand?
If you have entered his kingdom, will you ask him what is the next step he wants you to take to continue in him?
For me this week, that has meant getting rid of Spotify, Kindle, and ChatGPT on my phone, and praying over a list of the youth at the Burmese church, and praying for my accountability group mates and their wives. What might it mean for you?
Further reading:
Bates, Matthew W. 2021. The gospel precisely: surprisingly good news about Jesus Christ the king. A Renew.org resource.
Kynes, Will. 2010. God's grace in the Old Testament: considering the hesed of the Lord. Knowing & Doing (C.S. Lewis Institute), Summer 2010.
Wright, N. T.. New Testament for Everyone Complete Eighteen-Volume Set: 20th Anniversary Edition with Study Guide (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 3442-3446). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
Scripture passages:
Ephesians 2:1-10 (The New Testament for Everyone by N.T. Wright)
So where do you come into it all? Well, you were dead because of your offences and sins! That was the road you used to travel, keeping in step with this world’s ‘present age’; in step, too, with the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is, even now, at work among people whose whole lives consist of disobeying God. Actually, that’s how all of us used to behave, conditioned by physical desires. We used to do what our flesh and our minds were urging us to do. What was the result? We too were subject to wrath in our natural state, just like everyone else. But when it comes to mercy, God is rich! He had such great love for us that he took us at the very point where we were dead through our offences, and made us alive together with the Messiah (yes, you are saved by sheer grace!). He raised us up with him, and made us sit with him – in the heavenly places, in Messiah Jesus! This was so that in the ages to come he could show just how unbelievably rich his grace is, the kindness he has shown us in Messiah Jesus.
How has this all come about? You have been saved by grace, through faith! This doesn’t happen on your own initiative; it’s God’s gift. It isn’t on the basis of works, so no one is able to boast. This is the explanation: God has made us what we are. God has created us in Messiah Jesus for the good works that he prepared, ahead of time, as the road we must travel.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever.who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever.who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.who made the great lights— His love endures forever.the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever.the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever.and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever.with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever.to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever.and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever.but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever.to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever.to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever.and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever.Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever.and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever.and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever.an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever.He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever.He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.
2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (NIV 2011)
The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.
