Our destiny in Christ

Preached at St Alphege, Solihull at Evensong 6.30pm 13/07/08
Readings: Amos 7:7-17 Psalm 63 Ephesians 1: 3-14


Both of our reading today talk about destiny. However the contrast between the two readings could hardly be greater. One talks of a terrible destiny of destruction and death; one talks of blessing, holiness and grace.
Our first reading came from the prophet Amos. Amos prophesied in the 8th Century BC, when God’s chosen people were split into two kingdoms. There was the Northern Kingdom which comprised 10 of the 12 tribes of the original Israel. The Northern Kingdom was known as Israel and it lived in the area around Samaria and Galilee. There was also the Southern Kingdom, based around Jerusalem which was made up of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. Although the two kingdoms were politically separate they still shared the same religion and were all part of God’s chosen people. Something that the kings of the Northern Kingdom found very difficult was that all the citizens of the Northern Kingdom still needed to go to Jerusalem, in the Southern Kingdom several times a year for the religious festivals. Kings of the Northern kingdom were therefore always tempted to set up their own temples, or worse still their own idols in the Northern Kingdom, to stop people going to worship in Jerusalem. God however would not tolerate such behaviour and Israel experienced great political instability as kings came and went quite rapidly.
Somewhere round about 786 BC Jeroboam II came to the throne of Israel. He was a shrewd politician and his 41 year rule of Israel was very successful in terms of things outward and visible. Jeroboam II maintained good relationships with the kingdom of Judah. He recaptured lands that Israel had lost to the Syrians and the Moabites. Above all his economic policies were extremely successful and Israel enjoyed great wealth and prosperity during his reign. Jeroboam II’s relationship with God however appears a little ambiguous. On the one hand Jeroboam II appears to have supported and helped God’s prophets Hosea and Jonah. On the other hand, the worship of Baal and images of cows and calves continued during his reign and seemed to grow in its lavishness with the increasing wealth of the population. Also economic injustices and corruption became a big problem. Jeroboam II colluded with the rich and powerful in his land, and did little to defend the rights of the poor and weak.
And it was to this Northern Kingdom of Israel, in this time of great prosperity, that the prophet Amos was sent. Amos came from the land of Judah, so in some sense he was a foreigner in Israel. He was not a “professional prophet” who set out to make his living through prophecy. Just as today we buy different national newspapers according to what we want to hear, so in 8th century BC Israel, people often paid for and supported the “professional prophets” who said the things that they wanted to hear. Amos is quite clear that he is not a “prophet” but rather one sent by God to prophesy to the people of Israel. And the message that God sends to the people of Israel through Amos is very firm. He wants to see Israel straight and true, like a plumb line. He is critical of the religious cult at Bethel, because the unjust are not sincere in their worship. Of course this message did not always go down well. In our reading today we heard Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, took great exception to it, and complained to the king. Amos was not put off, however, we heard that he also had very strong words for Amaziah.
Throughout his prophecies Amos demands justice and integrity in trade. He is scandalised by the biased weighing scales used to sell food to the poor. He is scandalised that the poor are sometimes sold chaff and the sweepings of wheat, rather than real wheat. He warns of a forthcoming “day of the Lord” which will be a terrible day of justice. He talks of Israel being taken into exile. Scholars think that Amos was prophesising round about 750BC, towards the end of Jeroboam II reign. After Jeroboam died (round about 745BC) Israel experienced political instability and great political pressure from the Assyrians. When the Assyrians finally conquered Samaria in 722 they took and many of the citizens of Israel away into exile.

In sharp contrast to Amos we heard in our New Testament lesson of the wonderful destiny promised to us in Christ. Paul goes on an on about this. First of all he tells us that we have been given “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. Perhaps we don’t quite know what that means, so Paul elaborates; we were “chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. This does not mean that we are already holy and blameless in love, but this is what we are called to. This is what we must seek and must work towards, by practicing as best we can being holy and blameless and by practicing loving the people around us. Of course we know that this is not easy and that we will fail many times, but Paul has an answer for this. He says, “In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, that he lavished on us.” It is not we who make ourselves holy, rather it is the grace that Christ lavishes upon us that makes us holy. Our part is to want it, to pray for it and to do what we can to work towards it. However it is God that actually does it.
St Paul tells us that we are destined for adoption as children of God, through Christ. We are called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus. This is a very high calling. St Paul talks of the inheritance that we will share with Christ. He says that the seal of his spirit that we receive in baptism is the pledge of this inheritance. And what is this inheritance. It is “to live for the praise of the Glory of God.” Elsewhere in the scriptures we might understand this to be to share in the life that Jesus shares with the Father.
So let’s give thanks to God for the great destiny that we have in Christ. Let’s praise God that he considers us as brothers and sisters of Christ, and worthy of sharing the same inheritance as Christ. Let’s do all our part to seek this destiny; to want it, pray for it and work towards it. Let’s not be put off when we fail. Rather, let’s always start again, and in this way we learn to trust and rest in the forgiveness and grace of Christ, which brings this destiny about. Amen.