I
wish you could have seen the faces at 8am.
I proclaimed the Gospel, prayed, laid the Gospel book back on the altar,
and then told them I had had 4 sermons pop into my head quickly last
Monday. I told them as well that,
unfortunately, there had been no real discussions with individuals outside the
Psalms and Genesis Bible study classes.
Rather than let me struggle with guessing at which sermon those present
needed to hear, I asked them to pick one, and I gave a quick outline of all
four. As you might imagine, their faces
told me that clergy had probably never asked them what they wanted or needed to
hear before. But, and this is where I
should have had my phone out filming the faces as a sermon illustration on
David’s joy, I offered, in the silence, to simply preach all four sermons! You are all laughing, but tell me you
wouldn’t be terrified if I did that at 10:30am!
You all do owe 8am a debt of gratitude.
More often than not, they share what they thought of my sermons and
offer suggestions. I like to think that
the 10:30am sermon is better than the 8am version. On more than one occasion, I have gotten the
“that was a good sermon on . . . but I really wish you would have preached
on . . . “ and I have switched sermons
as a result. If you have not found
yourself falling asleep during these services the first few months of my
tenure, much of the credit lies with those who come to early church. By the way, that you are chuckling and
elbowing one another with smiles is a testimony that you share in the joy
evidenced by David today. I know the
visitors among us are trying to figure out what is wrong with us. Wait,
did we not pull into a church this morning?
Christians should be somber, serious, opposed to fun, incapable of
sarcasm, and all those other descriptions that some embrace, right? Wrong!
But that was a sermon pushed off until the future. Maybe in three year’s time we will look at
joy again.
8am wanted to talk about Paul’s letter to
the Ephesians today. More specifically,
8am attendees admitted that they sometimes wonder whether God listens, whether their
work makes any difference, whether God even notices their struggles. Paul might seem a weird place to turn to many
of us. I often think that Paul was a man
out of country. He should have been a
Scot rather than a Jew. You are
laughing, but tell me, how tolerant are the Scottish in your life about whining
and complaining? Ever hear them use the
phrase “Buck up!” In many of his
writings, Paul is very much a “Buck up” or “shape up” writer. Thanks to his writings, we can piece together
the pastoral problem or problems which would cause a congregation to reach out
to the Apostle. More often than not,
Paul is seen as brusque and determined. I give thanks that I baptized none of you. As if to say, hey, this one is on Apollos or
Peter or John. You idiots countenance behavior that even the Romans deplore! Ok. He
does not use the word idiot, but he is clearly upset with those at Corinth who
have failed to internalize the Gospel.
Sometimes, our focus on Paul in his
letters to Corinth and Rome and other places causes us to forget that Paul had
a complete perspective on the Gospel of Christ and how God’s plan of salvation
is being worked out in us. It might seem
to be a heady thing to say, particularly in this day and age when professional
and armchair theologians are attempting to drive a wedge between Paul and
Jesus, as if there is a Jesus Christianity vs. Paul Christianity warring out
there in the wider world. I think we
often forget that Damascus Road experience which profoundly impacted Paul. He met the risen Christ, he spoke with the
risen Christ, and he spent three years considering the impact of that
experience with what he understood about God in light of the torah and the
Cross and Resurrection of this Jesus, who claimed to be the Son of God! There can be no arguing with the result. This man, who was one of the most feared and
most zealous persecutors of the early Church, did a complete 180. The zealous persecutor became the zealous
herald. Heck, as Christians, and as
Episcopalians in particular, we believe the letters of Paul, included in the
Bible, to be God-breathed. I don’t know
that many in our heritage have ever understood the letters to have been
dictated by God. We have understood the
letters, as with the rest of Scripture, to have been inspired by God. But we recognize that God also likely had a
hand in the editing and gathering. Why
did we keep these letters and not others?
What about these letters that survive was important? What was in those other letters that caused
them to be lost? In the end, faithful Christians believe that God simply
thought some were needed and that others were not.
Paul’s letters often allow us some insight
as to issues facing the early Church. We
have to imagine the other side of the conversation, but such is pretty easy. If Paul is chewing the church out for
feasting like Romans while some in their midst go hungry, we know the kind of
meal against which he is railing. If
Paul is writing a letter asking a fellow brother in Christ to treat the
returned slave, who is now a brother in Christ, as a fellow brother, we can
well imagine the societal and family pressures that will be applied against the
slave owner and the call of Christ to live transformed lives in all segments
of society.
Given all that, Ephesians is a bit of a
challenge for us to deduce what was happening in Ephesus that needed to be
addressed. Rather than a checklist of
answers, Paul seems to be giving a bit of a lecture or sermon on the results of
union with Christ. The language is
soaring. There is no real “do this,
don’t do that,” “you should be ashamed of yourselves,” or any other list of
problems. Instead, Paul seems to be
addressing a group from prison who has forgotten their place in salvation
history. Thankfully, such never happens
in today’s Church, does it? None of you
ever feel disconnected from God in the slightest, right? We all feel confident all the time,
right? We never wonder if God really
cares about us? We never worry whether
the Cross and Resurrection applies to everyone else but us? We never wonder whether our work and our
ministries in thanksgiving to God ever make a difference, right? I mean, there is only so much poverty, so
much hunger, so much need out there. We
never feel like our work is futile. . . or do we?
It seems to me one of the pastoral problems
addressed by Paul are those issues of security and meaning. Ever the good pastor, Paul recognizes that
there is a time to confront and a time to cajole a flock, a time to kick in the
backside to remove inertia and a time to reign in enthusiasm, a time to demand
action and a time to call to reflection.
His letter to the Ephesians, it seems to me, gives us an opportunity to
bask in God’s love of us, to reflect upon His grace in our lives, and to
wrestle with those servants of His enemy who constantly remind us that we do
not really matter.
Look closely at the letter in your Order
of Worship. Did you know that the
entirety of this passage in Greek is just one sentence? The rest of the passage is full of dependent
clauses and phrases. We don’t speak or
write like that in English, but look at the words.. Now, except for the sentence in verse 8-9,
imagine these are all dependent on that single sentence. Bookending that amazing sentence is the
reminder that all of this was God’s plan for our redemption. I am by no means a grammar nazi, and I
certainly lack the love of writing as my brothers and sisters who love psalms
and poetry; but even I can see how Paul is reminding those in Ephesus and those
in Nashville of our place and value in God’s plan of salvation!
Does
God really love you or really know you?
In amazing, lofty words Paul reminds us that God chose us before the
foundation of the world. Listen to that
again. Before, even, He created the
heavens and the earth, He chose you and me to be holy and blameless before Him
in love! Wow! The next time you wonder about your
significance in God’s plan, in your ministries in the world, in your ministries
here at Advent, say those words again aloud.
It is hard to devalue oneself when one knows the value placed upon one
not just before being formed in the womb, but before the foundation of the
world!
What
kind of value do we have in His eyes?
Admittedly, Paul could have stopped in verse 5, but he goes on to
describe our value to God. In other
words, it was not enough that God destined us to be saved in Christ before the
foundation of the world. God destined us
to become full, adopted sons and daughters through Christ. Put differently, you and I are princes and
princesses in His family. More
accurately, we are Princesses and Princes in the Holy family. Think of your favorite royal family
today. Maybe you love Kate and
William. Maybe another royal family elsewhere
in the world catches your attention and longing. Your inheritance, your adoption is greater
than theirs. How can I say that with a
straight face? How can Paul imply
that? The Creator of Heaven and earth
has adopted us. In Christ, we are made
his holy and blameless children. Best of
all, nothing, not even death can separate us from our inheritance! How do we know? The Resurrection of Christ. God has already demonstrated His power to
keep His promises to us. The Kate’s and
William’s of the world will pass away, the Disney princes and princesses were
never real, but you and I will be Princes and Princesses for all eternity! That, brothers and sisters, is a promise! That, brothers and sisters, is a reminder of
the value which our Lord places upon each one of us, even those who, in the
end, reject Him.
Sounds too good to be true, does it
not? Paul seems even to understand that,
though. How does Paul describe what has
been given and prepared for us? God has
lavished us with His grace. We have been
forgiven our sins and made adoptive
sons and daughters in His family. Our
sins should have made the second impossible.
In fact, they did. But God paved
the way so that we could be adopted, so that we could be made holy, so that we
would be blameless in His eyes. Ever
spend any time in the torah? Next time
you are feeling righteous and holy, start reading Leviticus or
Deuteronomy. We treat it like a do/don’t
do list. To the Jews, it represented
what it was like to live in full communion with, in the very midst of, a
righteous, holy God. About a year into a
Bible Study at my last parish, one of the guys joked that they had looked
forward to tying all the laws to the Ten Commandments and to the two Great
Commandments as a kind of academic exercise.
What had happened, though, was that he had gained a greater
understanding of the grace offered him by God.
All of us knew what he meant. We
figured we were decent Christians. Heck,
I was a priest. But we ended up treating
Deuteronomy like a checklist of our own sins and forgiveness before we got
around to the academic exercise. We
gained a far greater understanding of the grace He had lavished on each one of
us. Some of you are laughing, but when
we apply the noose that Jesus tightens when He discusses the torah and its
intentions, I think the only sin I successfully avoided was the digging of the
latrine on the wrong side of camp. And
let’s face it, I can’t even take credit for avoiding that sin. I have not been called to a camp by God and
asked to dig a latrine! I see others
nodding in agreement. About the only
thing that used to keep us from sinning was opportunity. But that is precisely why Paul wrote those
words. We have been lavished with
grace. Not only are we forgiven, when we
had no right to expect to be, but we are adopted, since before the foundation
of the world.
The meat of this big sentence, of course,
is Paul’s reminder that all of those was accomplished through the work and
purpose of Christ. All things have been
gathered up in Christ. Our sins are
forgiven in Christ. Our adoption is made
possible in Christ. Our inheritance will
be completed in Christ and His Return.
Everything, in Paul’s eyes, points to the work and person of Jesus
Christ. He is the focus of
creation. He is the possibility of
redemption. He will be the means by
which we are sanctified and glorified for all eternity! He is the means by which sinners become
united, filled with purpose and power.
All other paths, no matter how enticing, no matter how alluring, fail.
And, just so we are aware, Paul makes sure
that the promises are not just a future, vague event. Already we are realizing His promises. To be sure, we will not realize them in full
until He comes again, but we are already experiencing a foretaste, a precursor
to the appetizer. How do we know? Paul covers both ways, though, interestingly
I think, in reverse order. After we have
gathered, participated in the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the
Sacrament, what do we pray? Whether we
are following Rite 1 or Rite 2, we thank God for nourishing us with the
spiritual food of the Body and Blood of His Son our Lord, and then what do we
pray? We ask God for the grace to
accomplish the work He has given us to do.
Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we ask God to give us
part of our inheritance. We recognize,
as Paul says, that we have work to do, but it is His work we really want to be
about. The things of this world, the
cares and the concerns of this world, at least in our liturgy if not our own
minds—we are supposed to understand that the real work to be done is the work
that He has given us to do. Our work,
our efforts will not glorify Him, unless our hearts and minds are in accord
with His will and His purpose.
It is a weighty thing, is it not, to lay
claim to God’s lavishness. Who wants to
seem greedy? Who wants to risk
offending? Yet Paul reminds us that our
inheritance was assured when we were baptized into the death and Resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. What makes it possible
for us to be so confident that we can ask God to supply us with whatever is
necessary for us to accomplish His will?
What makes it possible for us to stand before Him blameless and
holy? Our baptism. That sacramental act, that outward profession
of an inward and spiritual grace, reminds us and all those around us that we
are now one of those whom He chose to redeem before the foundation of the world
and, by virtue of His lavished
grace, gifted by the Holy Spirit with a pledge of our inheritance. Put in easier words to understand, we are
buried in Christ’s death and raised with Him in new life, that we might live
for His praise and His glory. The gift
of the Holy Spirit reminds us not only of the promise, but it begins to equip
us, to gift us, to lavish upon us, those things that are necessary for us to
accomplish His will! And remember, all
this wonderful, soaring language is from the pen of hard-nosed Paul!
Brothers and sisters, I recognize the
difficulty of accepting the truth of Paul’s discussion and the promises of
God. We live in a world and age which bombards
us constantly with anti-gospel messages.
Have it your way? We can fix what’s wrong with you (your face,
your chest, your stomach, your legs) in a year’s worth of easy payments. Over and over again, false prophets offer
all kinds of idols which seek to undermine our faith, which seek to challenge
our loyalty, which seek to question our confidence. I get it.
I understand the difficulty you face in this world, in this place, in
trying to be a loyal disciple of Christ.
Better still, so does God. He
understands far better than me right now the pressures that you face. He knows the seeming lack of provision which
compels you to work as if you were of this world. He knows the seeming lack of love in your
life which causes you to question your own worth in your own eyes and in
His. He knows your fears and hurts which
cause you to cry to Him to help your unbelief.
And despite all our worry, despite all that would seek to isolate us
from Him, still He reaches out that hand of love from the hard wood of the
cross. He reminds us each and every day
that He loved us enough to save us, even when we were comfortable with being
His enemy. And He reminds us in the
words of St. Paul this morning, that love for each one of us was present before
He laid the foundation of the world.
And, if we will but trust and follow Him, that love will still be
present in our lives even when these foundations have been torn out, and the
new creation has come!
Peace,
Brian†
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