The Lutheran Hour
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"Contagious Confidence"
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Text: Ephesians 1:13-14
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There is so much more to living than most would ever know. Whether a person’s aim is to become a great success or just to survive another day, many are still captive to the fear of having to make it on their own. No amount of planning, hard work, or cleverness can change who you are on the inside. Nothing you could achieve or accumulate can make you truly secure or fully alive. But listen: God has said that His aim for you all along has been to give you abundant life, new life, in Jesus Christ. Which would you rather have? Do you want to really live? Let me paint a picture:
In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic tale The Secret Garden, Colin Craven was a 10-year-old boy who had lost his mother in childbirth. Ever after he was confined to a secluded, fearful, self-indulgent life in his father’s estate, Misselthwaite. Constantly waited on by servants, he feared dying or any discomfort. And his father almost never looked in on him. Colin was oblivious to the beauty of the world around him, including…a secret garden.
But his 10-year-old cousin, Mary Lennox, recently orphaned in India, has come to the estate. Everything is about to change for Colin. She has discovered the secret of the garden. She tells Colin, “When you were born the garden door was locked and the key was buried. And it has been locked for ten years.”
“What door was locked? Who did it? Where was the key buried?” Colin demanded to know.
Colin would later learn that his own father had locked the garden and buried the key. It was a garden Colin’s mother had loved. But the painful loss of love, of hope itself, had created a prison of grief for a hurting parent and a self-indulgent, fearful prison for young Colin.
But, Mary knew the secret. One way or another, she would find a way into that garden for herself and, more importantly, for Colin.
Do you know there is a “secret garden” awaiting you? God says through His servant, Paul in the first chapter of Ephesians, the ninth verse, that God “…made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ.” And here is that secret, unfolded in verses 13 and 14, and our focus today:
“You also were included in Christ when you heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of His glory.”
Now those are some heavy and heady words. Let’s simply unpack them for a few minutes so that the Holy Spirit can speak into our hearts.
To be “included in Christ”-that’s the “mystery” God has planned for you: To experience a life that is full and lasting, to be free from the prison of your past sins, encouraged by a love that is lasting and real, and the hope of glory to come. But where? Where is the garden? Who locked the door? Where is the key?
God says the key is the “Word of Truth,” the Gospel, as we just heard. You see, the Bible is an amazing, God-breathed book. When you read God’s Word, the Bible, with the simplicity of a child, you begin to see and hear the truth about yourself and the world around you. Because of our inherited sin, we deny the truth about our fears and longings. We act like pre-schoolers playing dress-up. We pretend to be something different than we are. All out of fear. The Apostle John wrote, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).
This powerful Good News, or Gospel, declares that in spite of our complete, arrogant brokenness, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). This key unlocks the secret. Inside that garden is forgiveness of sin; freedom from bondage to shame, fear, and bitterness; the friendship of the One who laid down His life for you, His friend; and the fullness of life that only Jesus, the truly Good Shepherd, could give.
Imagine living without regret. Imagine having nothing to prove. Imagine your past settled by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross in your place; your future secured by the One who already paved the way of victory even through your own cemetery to glorious life in heaven.
I want that…all of it. Don’t you? But how? It still seems complicated-an elusive dream. On any given day I remain stuck in my fears, my complete inadequacy to find the healing presence of the Holy God. I may think I try my best to find the “secret garden” of God’s good life, but if I am honest, I am lost.
Here is the point of the mystery so many miss-the key to bold, confident living. The Bible says “…you were included in Christ when you heard the Word of Truth…and believed.” It is that simple. Now, simple does not mean easy. In fact, only God can work such a miracle. But it is simply hearing and believing the truth. The Bible calls this Spirit-given faith. Hear what God is telling you today, through ancient words which sound as if they were written to you and me just now:
“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:2). These words from the prophet Isaiah are God’s call to you, His Spirit reaching even now into your heart and soul, to hear and believe the truth. Jesus said the truth will set you free from sin, free to live confidently.
The news Mary Lennox brought Colin in The Secret Garden had power to set him free. Yet even then, he was powerless to act on it, in his bondage to fear. So Mary had to throw open the curtains of his dismal room, let the sunlight in, and in fact, take him to the garden. That’s why the Lord marks you with His Holy Spirit through His Word of Truth. His mark is like a shipping label on a package. In fact, that’s what the word means. He marks you as one claimed by Him and on your way to His presence.
That same Spirit works deeply in the core of your being to create new life out of the death in which you have been trapped. God graphically described the Spirit’s work through the prophet Ezekiel, the 36th chapter. He says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
What a miracle that is! Just as a heart defibrillator jolts a dead human heart back to life, so God’s Spirit creates new life where there had been only death. From this Spirit you find power to forgive the marriage partner who betrayed your trust. In Him you find power to trust the hand of God’s care when your medical tests indicate serious trouble. You find hope to carry you through the loss of your dear loved one. And you find the hand that will guide your steps, one at a time, through recovery from hopeless addictions. You become an “overcomer” by the power of the One who overcame every sin, death, and Satan himself-the One who is now dwelling in you by His Word.
You live confidently, not because of your ability, but through the One who is leading you each step of your life, through every circumstance. Paul wrote the Corinthian followers of Jesus that “God…leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). This hope is contagious! You can “smell” it! When I pick up a baby to baptize him or her, and hold the child close, I can detect the perfume of the perfume of the mother who has been holding the baby. And so it is with you-wherever you go now, the aroma of your Savior permeates the room. Your newfound confidence, given by Christ, is contagious. You can’t hide it.
The great blessing of this contagious confidence, both for you and those around you, is the sure and certain hope the saving presence of the Savior gives. Paul wrote that this Spirit is the “deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance.” As long as you stay in the place where you keep hearing God’s Word, His Spirit keeps infusing you with hope.
No one can live without hope. Medical people tell me a person can live three weeks without food, three days without water and three minutes without air. But a person can’t live a minute without hope. Not hope as in wishing for something. Wishing is for weaklings. Hope is strong, not because of anything in me, but because of the one who has grabbed a hold of me, loves me, forgives me, and leads me. Paul wrote to the Romans that this “…hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us” (Romans 5:5).
This life-energizing hope from Christ fills you with day-by-day anticipation of the care and leading of your Savior-through every heartache and loss-to the glory yet to be revealed. This contagious confidence is living with anticipation. You may have been abandoned by the person you counted on most of all, but have anticipation that the Lord will hold you. You may be looking out at the world through prison bars right now, knowing that even if or when you get out, your record will follow you to the street. Yet, Christ alone gives you the confidence, the anticipation, that God can make a way through the worst desert. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul wrote. And he went on to say, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).
Author Mark Buchanan tells the story of William Dyke who became blind when he was ten. Later he met and fell in love with an admiral’s daughter. At the request of his daughter’s hand in marriage, the admiral insisted on one thing: that William agree to undergo what at that time was a risky surgery to restore his eyesight. In reply, William presented his own condition: that the gauze not be removed until he and his bride met at the altar.
Both agreed. The surgery took place and the wedding was scheduled. The bandaged groom and the bride were each led by their fathers to the altar. And then William’s father removed the bandages from his son’s eyes. All eyes were on him as the last of the bandages was removed, wondering the outcome of the surgery. After the hushed silence, William spoke: “You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.” (Mark Buchanan, Things Unseen, pp 76,77)
This moment, my friend, awaits you, if you today hear and believe the Word of Truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You may feel right now that you cannot even see your hand in front of you; uncertainty may haunt you at every turn. But the One who made you, purchased your freedom through His own death, and now speaks right into your soul through His Word, will lead you faithfully to His presence. And He will be more beautiful than you ever imagined!
Today, God has sent a “Mary Lennox” of sorts into your room of fear, thrown open the curtains, grabbed you by the hand, and taken you to the “secret garden” of a new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus has so much to show you now. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 30, 2006
TOPIC: Who divided the Bible into chapters and verses?ANNOUNCER: Why is the Bible divided into chapters and verses and who came up with all of those numbers? Pastor Ken Klaus responds to a question from a listener. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Hello, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: This question comes from a new Christian who has been studying the Bible, and as they do so, they wonder about how it got to be organized into chapters and verses. And sometimes as they’re reading, they find that these chapters and verses don’t always seem to make a whole lot of sense. Sometimes they seem almost unpredictable in the way the Bible is organized.
KLAUS: Good question, Mark. And I want to thank you for having given me a heads-up in advance so that I was able to do some research and able to give an answer to the question today.
ANNOUNCER: So, why would you say the chapters and verses of the Bible seem to be so haphazard?
KLAUS: Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re haphazard or disorganized. I tell you what, before I begin, I should let our listeners know that although the Lord inspired every word of the Bible as it was originally written, He did not inspire the chapters and verses as they are now divided in the printed editions of the Bible.
ANNOUNCER: So, in other words, God didn’t say to Saint John, “The 16th verse of your third chapter should read, ‘For God so loved the world…'”
KLAUS: No. God inspired the words, but He didn’t necessarily inspire the numbers. They were added later.
ANNOUNCER: And how did the Apostle John and the others write?
KLAUS: The original manuscripts of the Bible were written on papyrus, or parchment. Papyrus is a rough form of paper made out of pounding reeds together. Parchment is sheepskin. Either way, because of the intensity of the labor and the scarcity of the material, it was a very expensive medium to use. That’s why students back then used wax boards to write their lessons. Afterwards, the wax could be melted smooth and reused.
ANNOUNCER: And, in order to conserve these expensive materials, how did they write in those days?
KLAUS: With letters very close together, without punctuation, and without spaces between the words.
ANNOUNCER: So the readers had to supply their own breaks when they read?
KLAUS: Their own breaks, their own emphasis.
ANNOUNCER: That sounds like it could be confusing.
KLAUS: It certainly can be.
ANNOUNCER: So how did chapters and verses come about?
KLAUS: The first person to divide the Bible into chapters in a systematic way was Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro. He lived around the middle of the thirteenth century.
ANNOUNCER: Middle of the thirteenth century. So you’re saying there were no chapters in the Bible until 1100 after Jesus’ resurrection?
KLAUS: Right. The chapters that we use today were decided upon by Stephen Langton who was Archbishop of Canterbury around the same time.
ANNOUNCER: And what was the first Bible that used chapters?
KLAUS: That was the Wycliffe Bible of 1382. Since that book came out, almost all Bible translations have been divided into chapters.
ANNOUNCER: And how about the rest of the divisions?
KLAUS: All of that came about with the advent of the printing press.
ANNOUNCER: So you’re saying it was for a practical reason and not a theological reason that verses were added?
KLAUS: Exactly. As our listeners know, Mark, the Bible can be a fairly long book; indeed even some of the chapters can be fairly long. As the printers started to come out with editions of the Bible, they found those large sections of type were complicated to manage. It took a long time to locate particular sections.
How do you tell somebody he’s got a typo in John 3:16 when there is no John 3:16? The best they could do was say something like: “Look in the book of John, count down fifty-three paragraphs from the top, it’s in there somewhere, sort of towards the front but maybe more toward the middle.”
ANNOUNCER: Well, I can see that wasn’t going to work. Therefore, in order to make it easier to produce accurate editions of the Bible…
KLAUS: …the printers started to add numbers right along side of all the sections of type.
ANNOUNCER: And I’m sure that made things easier for them.
KLAUS: It was infinitely easier. Easier for the printer, but as a side bonus it became easier for the readers as well.
ANNOUNCER: And I imagine easier for the pastors as well, because now they could literally get everybody on the same page.
KLAUS: Good! To sum it up, our listener should remember that these verses and chapters as now divided were not inspired by God.
ANNOUNCER: And so, if now and then, things don’t seem to make sense…
KLAUS: He should take it up with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Forth in Your Name” by Charles Wesley and Barry Bobb, arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“If You Will Trust the Lord” arranged by Kenneth Kosche. From Christ Be With Me by the Kammerchor (© 1998 Concordia University-Wisconsin) MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc.
“Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me” by Mark Sedio. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Robert A. Hobby. From Thine Is the Glory by Robert A. Hobby (© 1997 MorningStar Music Publishers)