Trinity 17
Eph
4:1-6
10/4/20
Pastoral longevity is
often a very good indicator of the health of a congregation. Now certainly there can be exceptions, but if
you find that pastors regularly stay a long time at a congregation it is
usually positive indicator about that setting.
I think that certainly applies as a description of Good Shepherd. Pastor Schmidt was pastor here for sixteen years,
and certainly would have been here even longer if his health had not forced him
to retire.
I have now been pastor at Good Shepherd for
fourteen years. I am rapidly closing in
on Pastor Schmidt’s mark, and before too long I will overtake him as the
longest tenured pastor at Good Shepherd. During my years at Good Shepherd I have
found it to be a place of remarkable peace and unity.
Now admittedly, I was not
here for that epic event in which the congregation went through the process of
deciding to buy a riding mower. But
during my time as pastor, I think I can count of two hands the number of times
there has not been a unanimous vote at all the church council and voters’
meetings that have taken place. The level of unity and agreement has frankly
been quite remarkable.
That is why the events
that began during March of this year have been so striking. As Covid 19 became an issue, and the governor
then issued his original stay at home order, for the first time during all of
my years at Good Shepherd I have seen something that has caused tension and a
degree of division in the congregation.
There has been disagreement about whether to have services or not. There
has been disagreement about whether to wear masks or not. There has been disagreement about the actual
risk the virus poses.
And these have not
been mere intellectual disagreements.
They have often been filled with emotion and strong feelings.
The fact of the matter is that this has just been a really weird
time, unlike anything we have seen before.
And our congregation is by no means unusual. I have talked with many pastors who have
experienced the same thing in their congregations too.
As we live in a fallen
world, even really good churches can at times experience division. And what is true at the level of
congregations, is certainly also true in Christian families and between
Christian friends. We are therefore always in need of hearing what St. Paul has
to say in our text today from his letter to the Ephesians.
Paul begins by saying,
“I therefore, a
prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the
calling to which you have been called, with all humility
and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in
love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The apostle begins by urging us to walk in
a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Paul says it plainly: God called us. We say the words in the Small Catechism’s
explanation to the Third Article of the Creed: “I cannot by my own reason or
strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him; but the Holy Spirit
has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts and kept me in the
truth faith.”
But sometimes we forget that this really is
the case. God called you to faith through the Gospel. It is a matter of God’s grace. In fact, Paul this says this was God’s will
for you in Christ before the world was even created.
He began this letter by saying: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
In ourselves we had no reason to be called
– no reason that God should want to call us. The apostle describes our past
when he says in chapter two, “And you were dead in the trespasses
and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived
in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like
the rest of mankind.”
The apostle paints a bleak picture of what
we are on our own, conceived and born as fallen, sinful people. We are slaves of Satan. That’s the way the world lives apart from
Christ – living in the passions of the flesh; carrying out the desires of the
body and the mind. This it calls “freedom.”
But what appears to be gold is actually a gilded cage. It is slavery to Satan that actually brings
pain and chaos in this life as it leads to damnation. Just look at what that the abandonment of all
biblical teaching about marriage and sexuality has done to our culture – to
families, parents and children.
There was nothing about us that was
lovable. However, Paul goes on to say,
“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.”
In his mercy and grace
God sent his Son into the world to die on the cross for our trespasses. And the on the third day he raised him from
the dead. This resurrection is the revelation of God’s incredible saving power
for us. It is what gives us the living
hope that we have every day. Earlier
Paul said that he prays for the Ephesians, “that you may know what is the
hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious
inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his
power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great
might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”
You have received the
Holy Spirit through baptism and the Word. You live a life that is in Christ – a
life joined to our Lord and his saving work.
Paul begins our text with the word “therefore.” His thought in our text is based upon what we
heard in last week’s epistle lesson. There he spoke of how he prayed to God, “that according to the riches of his
glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his
Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may
have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and
length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of
God.”
Paul’s “therefore” in our text is based on
power the Spirit gives so that Christ dwells in our heart through faith. It is based on knowing the love of Christ
that surpasses all knowledge. You have
been called to this. And because you have, the apostle urges us you “to walk
in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with
one another in love”
Walking – living – in a manner worthy of
the calling we have received in Christ is marked by humility and
gentleness. These are not
characteristics that the world admires.
The athlete makes a great play and then he poses and preens. In a rude and brusque world, gentleness is
considered to be weakness. But those who already have everything in Christ have
no need to boast. Instead we follow
Christ in humble service toward others that shows care and compassion
Because we have received forgiveness in
Christ we seek to be patient with others – to bear with one another. Frankly at times we put up with another and
choose to overlook shortcomings, because this is what God has done for us in
Christ. This is what Christ’s Spirit gives us the power to do. After all, Paul
has said just before our text, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than
all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”
And Paul says in our text that we are to be
“eager to maintain the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The Holy Spirit has created faith within us. Because of his work we share in the bond that
is peace. We have peace with God – the
peace that God has brought about through our Savior Jesus Christ.
And therefore we seek to live in ways that
are produced by this unity – ways that maintain this unity. We seek to live as
what God has made us to be. In our text
Paul hammers home the oneness that rests in God. He says, “There is one body and one
Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your
call-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
You have been joined by the Spirit into the
Body of Christ. You have one hope – the
resurrection of our Lord which gives eternal life now and resurrection no the
Last Day. You have one Lord – the Lord
Jesus who gave himself on the cross to win the forgiveness of your sins. You have one faith – faith in the crucified
and risen Lord. You have received one
baptism for the forgiveness of your sins.
You have one God and Father who loved you when you were unlovable and
gave his Son as the sacrifice to make you the children of God.
This is the unity that God has given to
us. This is the unity to which God has
called us in love. And because this is so may the Spirit of the risen Lord lead
each of us to live the apostle’s words that we hear this morning: “I
therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with
one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.”
No comments:
Post a Comment