A synopsis of the sermon delivered by the Rev. David L. Hicks at St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church on Sunday, March 30, 2003, Lent IV. Please read 2 Chronicles 36:14-23 and Ephesians 2:1-10.

I like a good ending to a story, but I also get irritated when a book or a movie does not have a satisfactory ending. There is nothing more frustrating than investing a good deal of time reading a novel or watching a movie and then to be disappointed by the manner in which the author wraps up the story. Our reading from 2 Chronicles is the conclusion of the books of Chronicles and in some sense the conclusion of the Old Testament story. Interestingly, the arrangement of the Hebrew Bible has Chronicles at the end of the Old Testament canon rather than our ordering, which has Malachi at the end. Although Ezra and Nehemiah, along with some of the Minor Prophets, give historical information beyond that given by Chronicles, nevertheless the ending is the same. The reader is left to wonder what will become of God’s people. In Chapter 36 of 2 Chronicles recounts Israel’s failure to obey God’s laws. God has brought them back to their land after the exile, but will they fall into the same state of sin? The temple has been rebuilt, but will it be destroyed again if Israel fails to keep God covenant?

Saint Paul informs us that Jesus Christ provides the end to the story of the Old Testament. The Old Testament demonstrates that God’s people are powerless against sin and will always find themselves breaking God’s covenant. God’s resolves this tension by sending His Son to be the Savior of the world.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6.

Sadly, not everyone is happy with God’s ending to the story. In the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, there were many people who preferred a different ending. The Pharisees, Sadducees and other groups had their own ideas about how God should conclude the story. They wanted their own agendas to be affirmed, whether that meant political independence from Rome or simply by maintaining the status quo. Jesus was an unexpected conclusion.

In a sense, every individual life is a story. We have a beginning, middle and an end. Each day is a new chapter in the story of our lives. But how will our story end? The Christian knows that God has joined the story of his life to the story of Jesus Christ. The difficulty is that the Christian also faces the temptation to write the story of his life independently from God. We are tempted to make our own story with our own conclusion, rather than trusting God with His conclusion. Saint Paul reminds the Christians in Ephesus that our story of salvation does not belong to us to tinker with as we please.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10.

Notice the emphasis on God’s ownership of us. We have been saved by faith, but this is not of our doing but God’s. We are His workmanship, and the good works that we do have been prepared by God beforehand for us to do them. God who works in us through Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit is clearly the Author and Finisher of the story of our lives. Are we happy with ending to our story that God has made?