Finding Ourselves Found

Finding Ourselves Found--March 1, 2019

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." [Ephesians 2:13]

It is Christ who does the finding.  We get found.

That notion is really the key to what makes the Gospel actually "good news," and not just one more religious sales pitch.  Christ does the finding--at best we find ourselves "found" by him.

That's another way of saying that from the New Testament's perspective, we are the "other," the "outsider," and the "stranger" who have been stuck in a corner somewhere, and Jesus is the One who seeks us out, grasps us by the nape of the neck like a mama cat, and brings us in close.  The effort is God's.  The labor is God's.  The acceptance is God's.  And the finding is God's.

So often you'll hear religious voices posing the question, "Have you found Jesus?" (which always sounds to me like someone has misplaced their car keys), which makes the terrible mistake of getting it all backwards, at least according to the letter to the Ephesians.  As the writer to the Ephesians puts it, Jesus isn't lost, and we aren't the ones doing the searching.  Christ has found us.  Christ has brought us near.  And Christ is the one who laid down his life to do the finding.

But then that also means that a second frequently-asked religious question needs to be revised. Because you'll also hear people from time to time thinking they have corrected the first question by asking, "When the day of judgment comes, will you be found in Christ?"  And again, the question itself is a nonsense question, like asking (to borrow an old illustration of C.S. Lewis'), "Is yellow round or square?"  The question itself has a faulty premise, because it's not up to my efforts to make sure I will be "found in Christ."  It is not even a future event, but an accomplished fact and a present reality.  Being "found in Christ" is not a matter of my doing religious actions, praying the right prayer, agreeing to a set of ethical positions, or getting a certain number of questions correct on my theology exam.  It's not even about how hard I am holding on to Jesus--it has everything to do with how tightly he is holding on to me.  And as Ephesians puts it, we were the outsiders, strangers and "Others," whom Christ sought out, pulled in close, and found while we were staring off into space unaware, or even when we were kicking and screaming not to be found.

The New Testament doesn't see "being found in Christ" as a badge of honor or club membership that you achieve by holding a sufficient number of orthodox doctrinal beliefs or and moral principles.  "Being found in Christ" is a gift you are given--and as Ephesians goes to great lengths to make clear, it has already been given!  It is yours.  Done deal.  No further payment required, not even shipping and handling.

Sometimes we forget that.  Maybe sometimes we have a hard time believing it is true in the first place.  We human beings are terrible at accepting free gifts, and we are even worse at letting those same free gifts be given all around to others as well when it includes folks we don't think have earned them.  As much and as often as God keeps insisting, "It's all grace," and as much as Jesus keeps saying, "I am the one who found you!" we keep wanting to make belonging in Christ something that is up for debate, subject to review, or waiting to be decided based on our future performance, morality, or theology.  And it just ain't so, children.  It just ain't so.

The Good News, both back in the first century when Ephesians was written and in the twenty-first century as we read it today, is NOT that "if you do a decent enough job believing the right propositions, doing the right actions, and condemning the right list of sins, the odds are good that you'll one day be found in Christ." Rather, the Gospel's promise is more like, "You have already been found--in Christ, and by Christ, and for Christ. You already belong.  You who were once far away have already been grabbed hold of by grace, and you who were "other" and "outsider" are now members of the family forever."

You cannot lose that belonging, no matter what anybody else says--they don't get a vote.

You cannot get yourself lost beyond the reach of Christ--you are found in him and you are blessedly stuck with him.

And you cannot disqualify yourself from it with future behavior or poor performance.  It was never about your performance in the first place.

Or, as Ephesians puts it, "now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."  You're found.  Live like it's true.

Lord Jesus, give us the ability to believe your promise that we are found, and to live like it is true.