Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Family and friends of Hilma, we are gathered here today because of death.  But more importantly, because death has been defeated by Jesus.  Faithful in much throughout her life. A part of the Ronfeld family is gone. A part of the Zion Lutheran Church family is gone.  Is Hilma missed? Absolutely. Is it sad?  Yes.  But there is something different – that difference is Jesus. We don’t grieve as those who have no hope. We grieve, but we grieve, in the sure and certain promise of Jesus. Death has no power over those who believe in Him.  The grave is but temporary.  For Jesus lives, and because Jesus lives, so too does Hilma.

Hilma expressed that it wasn’t too long ago that she finally realized that she was saved.  I must admit, I found that a little hard to take in. My first thought was, “But you’ve been going to church you’re whole life!  96 years of church and you just now get it???  How can that be?

And yet, isn’t this how many of us are. We are all plagued with doubts at times.  The whisper of the devil in our ears causing us to question the validity of the Bible, and the sincerity of our hearts. The haunting memory of past sins.  The anxious worry about the future.  We can put up a brave front, we can show the world how strong we are and how to persevere. Hilma did this going on a regular occasion.  I remember times over the last several years she would roll into Luther Hall for quilting and sit there, eyes alert and straight backed.  Even when her hands wouldn’t quilt, her ears could barely hear, and her eyes hardly see, here she was.  By the end of her time, though, she was worn out, tired, starting to actually look her age.

John 3:16 was Hilma’s confirmation verse, given to her on Aug 28, 1932 at the Lutheran Church in Ashton, Idaho.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  While those hands of hers that made so many quilts weakened and so much art couldn’t hold steady anymore, and an anxious heart over the well being of her family and friends, that verse always stood out for Hilma and grounded her in the Christian faith.  God not only sent His Son into the world, but offered Him to the world. Whoever believes in the Son of God, be it with a strong or with a weak faith, may have eternal life.  Worthiness does not depend upon the greatness or smallness, the weakness or strength of faith. Instead, it depends on Christ’s merit (FC SD VII 70-71).

Christ has died for all. But the benefits of His perfect life and death and resurrection are only received through faith in Him.  Make no mistake, Jesus is quite clear here. There is no salvation outside of Jesus. There is no hope beyond this life apart from Jesus.  Heaven and hell are not determined by how good of people we might or how well intentioned we are. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believes is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”  It all depends on faith, and upon the faithfulness of Jesus.

At the graveside earlier this morning we read from Matthew 25, the parable of the talents, wherein the master says to his faithful servants and says, “Well, done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”  Hilma was a faithful steward with the gifts that God has blessed her with during this life.  She raised a family with her husband. She was a founding member of the Quilting group here at Zion. She was a fantastic artist. I heard she was quite the dancer in her younger years with her husband. She shared her faith with those she knew.  She received the gifts of God by faith and used them in service for others.  Was she perfect? No. Her goodness and her faithfulness were not in and of herself, but a gift of God in Christ Jesus.  She was a sinner, as are we all.  But she was a forgiven sinner solely because of her faith in Jesus.  She had that simple trust in God to guide and protect and save and deliver her in this life and into eternity.

Hilma has entered into the joy of being in God’s presence because of what Jesus has done for her which she received in her baptism, which she confessed throughout her life.  She awaits, along with all the saints, the final return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, life eternal.  Where, as Isaiah promised, those weak hands will be strengthened, those feeble knees made firm, the ailments of growing old and living in a sinful world finally and completely defeated forever. That is God’s promise for all who believe in Him as well. You do not have to wait until you’re 96 years old to “get it.”  The Gospel is for you today. The Good News that Jesus has died to save you from your sins, taking the punishment you deserve upon Himself, and delivering His resurrected life to all who believe in Him.  We are reminded today that the final word does not belong to death but to the resurrected Jesus: Rise, good and faithful servant, and enter into eternal joy.

The war rages on. Like it or not, there is no escaping the fact of the matter.  Attacks come from various sides: encroachment of secular worldviews; attempts to redefine marriage; sexual immorality; false prophets and pretend saviors promising health, wealth and happiness. War wages against the unborn as millions are killed each year through the abomination of abortion. The list could go on and on concerning the present darkness that seeks nothing else than to extinguish the light of Christ. One fights either for sin or for God. There is no middle ground. No one is neutral in this war over souls.  And you and I are on the frontlines.

Every moment of our lives, from conception to death, this war rages in our midst.  The principalities and powers—the agents of Satan— lurk in the sinful darkness of this world and scheme to take our souls.  Satan, the sinister Ruler of Darkness himself extends his reach to the highest of places.  Through lying, deceit, temptation, and sin, they seek to ruin our lives and destroy our souls.  There is no place on earth where the devil does not engage in a battle for the souls of God’s saints.

Teachers from Zion Christian School are here. You are engaged with the enemy at our school.  Not only do you teach math and science, reading and writing, you bring the love of Christ into the classroom to fight off the devil’s attacks on these children.  Frankly, that’s the best thing about our school: Jesus is present.  The loving, caring shepherd of tender youth, who is also the Divine Warrior commanding legions of angelic armies.

But it’s not just you. We have public school teachers and staff with us who face the onslaught every day.  Sometimes it’s easy for them in the public school to profess their faith, other times it’s difficult.  Either way, the war wages on.

But it’s not just them. As a Christian, baptized into Christ, we have been drafted into the army of God. The war goes on in our own lives, in our families, at our jobs, in our hearts and minds. Every one of us bears scars from this war.  Sin is an equal opportunity offender, and it takes no prisoners. Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot. We don’t take sin seriously, or we justify our sinful actions as not really that bad, in essence stripping off the armor God has given, leaving a vulnerable spot.  How deeply we are wounded, and wound each other, by our thoughts, words, and deeds; by what we have done and by what we have left undone.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ, and yet all too often we fall because of friendly fire, whether intentional or not. There’s only one way to survive this war.  We are called to fight not with our own strength or might, but armored with the might and power of Almighty God. 

In light of the spiritual battle against the forces of darkness into which every Christian is thrust by Baptism into Christ, Paul entreats us to put on the whole armor of God.  Like a belt wrapped round our waist, we fight surrounded by God's truth in Christ Jesus our Lord.  As the battle wages, Christ's righteousness protects us like a breastplate, strong enough to shield us from the blows of the evil one.  On our feet we wear the good news of the gospel of Christ, ready to go where we are needed and proclaim victory over the devil in Christ our Lord.  When the battle is engaged we use the shield of our faith – our worship, our use of the Sacraments, our devotions, our piety – to quench the fiery arrows of the devil and his evil angels. Throughout the battle we wear on our heads the helmet of our salvation in Christ.  And by faithful hearing of the Word of God we wield the sword of the Spirit.

The list of armor isn’t some sort of spiritual shopping list for Christians to seek out and obtain.  The Lord provides the armor. The armor belongs to Christ, and we share it as we live in God’s baptismal promises.  The call to put on the full armor of God is a summons to become like the Divine Warrior. And this armor is complete, it is whole, it encompasses every aspect of your life.  Through Holy Baptism, we are soldiers in the divine battle and stand with Christ, our Victor. He overcame the forces of hell, not by human might or power, but by the weakness and foolishness of the cross.  United with Him, our strength comes by His grace.  Our forgiveness comes by His mercy so that daily we can keep alert with all perseverance.

And so, repent of trying to survive the war without Christ. Repent of removing His armor from yourself by persisting in sinful actions.  Repent of your attacks against others.  Repent and stand at attention, for the Lord of Hosts, the Divine Warrior and General comes to lift you up out of your sin, to invade the domain of Satan and break his hold on sinners, to heal the broken spirit, and to throw you back into the ranks of His army.

This is what the battle looks like each and every day for us dressed in Divine armor.  It looks a life of repentance and forgiveness.  Of receiving God’s forgiveness, enabled to go and sin no more.  It looks like devotions prayed at your kitchen table.  Prayers said at your bedside.  Regular worship.  Faithful Christian witness and confession whenever the opportunity presents itself.  Resisting temptation by the Spirit of God.  With every act of faith the devil suffers loss.  With every act of devotion the devil loses ground.  With every moment of worship and confession the devil must retreat and the Church of God—you and me and all the saints—we hold the field in faith. Yet, we neither wait for Christ to win the battle nor fight the fight for Him. Christ is not an absent warrior.  Christ has already won the war.  “It is finished” our Lord declares.  The Father has raised Him to the heavenly throne and put our spiritual enemies under His feet.

We may as well paint a bullseye on our back for the devil to fire his arrows at our back.  Just as well.  All the enemies of God can do it attack. And the worst they can do is kill us.  But Christ has defeated death as well, so it has no power over us. If the battle is the Lord’s, if Christ is truly still with us, if He has won the victory, if we are armored by God, the outcome of the war is certain. We fight with His victory, assured of final victory. 

Stand your ground. And make no concession.  You have been armored for war by virtue of your baptism, strengthened by His body and blood in the Sacrament. Stand firm in the faith, for Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the devil. For Christ has risen, He has risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.

Marriage.  An honorable estate of which the Scriptures speak highly, instituted and blessed by God in Paradise before humanity’s fall into sin.  Not simply a man in lonely isolation, but male and female, the Lord God made them in His Image; the woman was taken from the man, then brought to the man and given to him by God, that the two should be united as one flesh.

In marriage, we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the Church. A profound mystery revealed in Jesus and in His Word, and which St. Paul discloses the mystery to the baptized, so the enlightened can see something in marriage that is deeper than what the unbeliever experiences: the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.  Therefore, we speak of “Holy Matrimony” and view it as a sign of the Gospel to be received by faith.

And so we receive the Lord’s Word on marriage in faith, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”  We get hung up on the word submit, thinking that it degrades, puts down, creates division. And to an extent it does when working with the world’s definition.  It does humble. It humbles to the role of a servant.  Lest we think this is below us to serve one another, might we heed Jesus’ own words, “I come to not be served, but to serve.” 

Still, this leaves many uncomfortable.  It is a hard thing to be humble oneself and the world thinks of this as weakness. In our modern culture, submission is viewed not as humble but humiliating, not as honorable but demeaning.  Yet Paul does not suggest or even hint that wives are less valuable or inferior by nature. Paul doesn’t mention judgments about the fitness of a woman or a man. He offers no commentary on the strength or weakness of either sex. Here, Paul does not so much as command the wife to submit as simply describe the way things are for those filled with the Spirit of God.  A wife willingly submits herself to her husband, patterned on the submission of the Church to Christ; who receives Him as her head (1:21-23), the cornerstone of her foundation (2:20-21), receives His gifts (3:17-19), grows up toward Him as He builds His body (4:15-16), lives in His love and forgiveness (4:32-5:2), and sings His praise (5:18-20). The wife’s submission is like this, like the church in relation to Christ – the valuable one for whom the husband gives up everything for her sake.

The bulk of this passage has as its focus the role of husbands and how they are to love (v. 25ff). “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Here’s where the weight on the shoulders of the husband grows heavier all the way to the point of it being impossible to carry. In verse 28, the obligation is for the husband to love his wife not only for a moment but as a binding and lasting obligation. This means that it is unacceptable for a husband to love to the best of his ability and call it good. Rather, he is to love as Christ loves the church (v. 29). This love Christ has for the church is both a profound mystery and an impossible standard for any husband to meet.

Even the most wonderful husband is an imitator, not Christ himself. As an imitator, the husband is going to fall far short of the standard set by Christ. All husbands will not only fall short here but in every aspect of their lives and must receive forgiveness and be fortified by the means of grace.

So husbands, love your wives as Christ has loved the Church. Wives, respect your husband as the Church does to Christ.  A husband is called to be Christ like and a women churchlike, with the marriage being a public testimony of the Gospel – Jesus’ death and resurrection and the wedding of Himself to His people through Word and Sacrament.  People of God, you are the bride of Christ, His holy Church, called to be holy, forgiven, chaste, pure, faithful bride to the living Savior, Jesus.

This is the profound mystery of which St. Paul speaks. In this union of husband and wife the love of God is revealed in the Word. The very Word of God has Himself become flesh in order to become one flesh with us His Holy Bride, the Church. This is the purpose for which God created anything at all and everything that is. This is THE marriage that every other marriage signifies, and which every other marriage is called to celebrate and participate in.  This is why marriage is so important: it’s all about Jesus!

It is about what Jesus does to a man and a woman, joining them together into a one flesh union. It is about Jesus who submits to the Father’s will, going to the cross to die.  It is about Jesus, the head of the church, and the submission the Church gives to her Lord.  It is about Jesus, who loves the Church, who gave His life for her, presenting her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. It is and always has been about Jesus leaving the Father and holding fast to His bride, the Church, uniting His people to Himself.  Paul does not say that the relationship of Christ to the church is like marriage, rather God had Christ first in mind and then instituted marriage to reflect what He would ultimately do.  In other words, earthly marriage reflects Christ and the church, not the other way around.  In the one flesh union, God unites a husband and wife.  God’s definition of marriage is one man, one women, as a reflection of the One Groom, Christ, and the one bride, the Church. 

Any other definition, or a definition divorced from Jesus, is apart from God’s will and created intention. That means that homosexuality is a sin.  Living together outside of marriage is a sin.  Sex outside of marriage is a sin.  Pornography is sin.  That lust for another whom God has not joined together in the one flesh union of Holy Matrimony is sin. Condoning the sinful actions of others is sin.

These are sinful not just because they go against God’s plan for His creation, but because of what they say about Jesus.  This is the key.  This is why the sinful world doesn’t get what the fuss is all about-it doesn’t know Jesus.  Marriage is  a mystery revealed only in Jesus.  In the attempt by our world to redefine and reject Biblical marriage, the issue then is really a rejection of Christ.  To try to redefine marriage or simply put it aside as inconvenient or unwanted is put oneself in the place of Christ, to upset not just the order of creation but also the order of salvation.  Because marriage is all about Jesus!

There is no more mystery here for you, the baptized.  Our relationships reflect God’s relationship to us.  God’s Church is the bride of Christ. Marriage may be all messed up in our society, but it need not be so among us. For we know the love of Christ, our Savior: His forgiveness that cleanses us from our sins, and His baptismal grace which sustains us through this life, and His wedded love as our Groom. Amen.

Ephesians 5:6-21

The Best Use of Time

Proper 15B, Pentecost 12

August 16, 2015

Early in the third century, a man named Lawrence was born in Spain.  As he was going to school, he met a man who would eventually become the bishop of the Rome, Sixtus II.  After Sixtus became a bishop, in the year 257, he asked Lawrence to move to Rome and he ordained him as a deacon and appointed as the head of the seven deacons in Rome.  We read about the establishment of the office of deacon in our first reading today from Acts 6.  At this point in history, a deacon was an ordained clergyman who was in charge of the care of the poor, the widowed, the needy, and the distribution of the church’s goods.  While ordained into the pastoral office, his job, basically, was comparable to the church treasurer and trustee all wrapped up into one along with assisting in the worship services. 

During this time in the Roman Empire, things were not so good for Christians.   The Roman Emperor Valerian had recently ordered several priests executed, and imperial troops to raid churches and homes of Christians.  The Emperor wanted not just to get rid of the Christians but in his greed to take whatever goods they had. He knew the church had valuable things worth confiscating, ordered Lawrence to produce the treasures of the church.

On August 7, 258, standing before the Roman Emperor Lawrence asked for three days to gather up the treasures of the church and to present them.  The Emperor happily agreed to give him this time. So Lawrence went back to church and basically liquidated everything.  He sold all the paintings, the statues, the paraments, the vestments, melts down the chalice and communionware.  Then he distributes all that had to the poor and needy of the city. 

At the end of the three days, on August 10, Laurence brought before the Emperor the poor, the lame, the sick, the needy whose lives had been touched by Christian charity and says to him, “Behold, the treasures of the church, they are yours.”

Obviously this makes the Emperor mad, so he threw Lawrence in prison. He was so enraged that he denied executing Lawrence in the typical way a Roman citizen would be, by beheading, and instead ordered him beaten and burned alive.  The legend goes that Lawrence was tied to a great gridiron, with hot coals beneath it.  After Lawrence had suffered the pain for a long time being roasted above the coals, the legend concludes that he made his famous cheerful remark, "I'm well done on this side. Turn me over!"

This is one of the great things about Lawrence.  It’s not his wit when persecuted, nor the humor in the face of death.  But it’s that he shows a free and easiness with the things of this world.  Not just Lawrence, but a lot of the early Christian martyrs, illustrate this extremely well.  They face their persecution, threats of their personal safety, and even their death with a sense of playfulness.  They just can’t take the world as serious business because it’s fading away, it’s time is coming.  In other words, they know their lives rest with Christ, in the kingdom of God and the things of this world are fading away.

With all the things that have been going on in our country recently, it’s easy to fall into a panic, of a sense of anxiety over the sin and evil we experience.  There’s already been lawsuits filed against Christian churches refusing to conform to the demands of the culture in regards to gay marriage and other things that threaten to take away the tax exemption of the churches.  We’ve been used to a long tradition of religious freedom unburdened by taxes and many other restrictions.  What happens if the government decides that the church is not worthy of such a status?  Well, we do the same thing that the early church did-we live as God’s faithful people trusting in His provision and proclaiming His goodness toward us in all things.  We give to the church how we can, for the work of the church, for the public proclamation of the Gospel, for helping those in need, recognizing that the treasures of our bank account are good and helpful and gifts of God to be used for His glory, but it is not the true treasures of the church. 

Our Lord was serious when He said in Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If one wants to see what is most important to another (where their heart is), it is most telling to look at where that person spends most of his money (where his treasure is).  Does one spend it mostly on fancy coffee every morning, expensive clothes, a nice car or house?  Does one spend it mostly on the latest gadget, the newest iphone, the biggest TV? Does one spend it on helping the needy, the poor, the hurt, the lonely, the widowed?  Does one spend it on the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel to one another and our community?  The Lutheran School or Daycare to educate our children in the ways of the Lord and to be good citizens of this earthly kingdom?

And the Lord was also serious when He says that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom and to focus upon the treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.  The true treasure of the church is the Gospel of Christ, that good news that you, God’s people, are redeemed by the blood of Christ upon the cross. Your sins are forgiven. That Jesus has purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold of silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that you may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness (SC, 2^nd Article Explanation). This is how St. Paul can write in 2 Corinthians, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency, all contentment, in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

As Christians, we don’t need to worry too much about the things of this world.  The Lord will provide. The Church will remain, for not even the gates of hell can overcome it, much less a Roman Emperor, or any government of this world.  It may not always look like we want it to, and it may not always be easy. But Luther wrote of this in his hymn, A Mighty Fortress, “And take they our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife, Through these all be gone, Our vict’ry has been won; The Kingdom ours remaineth.” 

We live our lives here and now in light of the resurrection. This gives us perspective on all things that happen around us.  This is what St. Lawrence had that we need to have in our day – faith in Christ who not only died to save us from our sins and was raised three days later, but who also is coming again to bring the completion of His eternal Kingdom. In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I want you to look at your hands. Front, back, each finger, nails, lines, whatever. Consider your hand. What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it? Are there any particular strengths or skills that your hand has? What does it enable you to do? Are there any particular ways that your hand has been difficult or painful to you? 

I want you to look at your knees. For many of you it is covered, so you’ll have to remember what it looks like under the clothing. But think about your knee. What do you like about it? What don’t you like about it? Are there any particular strengths that your knee has? What does it enable you to do? Are there any particular ways that your knee has been difficult or painful to you?

Consider both your hand and your knee. How do they benefit you? What would your life be like if you did not have your hand? Your knee? Both hands? Both knees? Both your hands and your knees are gifts to you, gifts from God. Sometimes they may be painful to you. Sometimes they may not do what you want them to, what you expect them to. But they are yours and you are much better off with them than without them. They are yours; parts of you unified as one body.

Now, look around the church, not at the walls, but at the people, not at their hands or knees, but at them. What do you like about them? What don’t you like about them? Are there any particular strengths that they have? What do they enable you to do? Are there any particular ways that the church has been difficult or painful to you?

Like your hands and your knees, they, the Church, are a part of you. You are a part of them. We are all parts of the body of Christ. He is our head. Just as your hands and your knees are gifts to you, gifts from God, so are the people around you gifts from God. They may at times be very pleasant gifts from God. At other times, like your hands or your knees or other body parts, they may be difficult or painful to you. Like your hands or your knees, they may not always do what you want them to. But, you know what? They are still part of you. Just like your hands and your knees, you are much better off with them than without them. They are yours, you are theirs, parts unified and growing together as one body, the body of Christ, the church.

This, basically, is the message that Paul has for the Ephesians here in our epistle text. Paul has just spent three chapters captivating them with the marvels that Christ has done for them, many of which we have read over the past three weeks in the epistle lessons. He has proclaimed to them that Christ has predestined them to be His, and Paul comforts them with that thought. Christ has saved them by His gracious intervention on the cross and by His glorious resurrection. He is risen. He has made them alive when they were dead.

Paul then makes a shift in chapter 4.  “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”   He lists some characteristics (elsewhere called fruit of the Spirit) like humility, gentleness, love, patience and peace.  This is what the Christian life looks like. This is what our lives ought to look like.  This is the life that we are called to as Christians.

Then Paul focuses on the major theme of the entire letter to the Ephesians, our unity in Christ.  Seven times (note the completeness of the number seven), Paul writes of our oneness in 4:4-7, “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.”  As Christians, we are one in Christ, brought into the unity of the Church through baptism, and kept there through God’s Word and Holy Communion.

The fancy name for this is the una sancta.  This Latin phrase comes from what we confess in the Creed, that we believe in the one, holy, Christian and apostolic church.  Broadly speaking, there is only One Church, one spiritual body of believers in Christ, who one and only head is Christ.  This One Church is to be found where the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

What is at stake here for us is not the true unity of the Church, but our continued connection to it.  Our old Adam desires to do his own thing, strengthened by the individualistic American culture in which we live.  Our old Adam desires to redefine God’s Word, to pick and choose what to believe in or not believe, to be enslaved by what feels good at the time or what may please man.  We want to do it on our own, by ourselves.  We cannot sacrifice our unity in Christ for the sake of uniformity to the world.

Our unity is not based upon us, but solely upon the very Word of God as the source and norm of our faith.  It is not of human making, it is the work of Christ. Nor is it of human preserving, it is the Spirit’s gift.  Nor can it be destroyed by human neglect or hostility, it has Christ as its cornerstone.  The true unity of the church is always a perfect, holy thing, because it is of God.

But there is a grave danger that Christians can fall away from this divinely given unity.  Twentieth century theologian Herman Sasse once commented, “No one can split the body of Christ. But what can happen is that we cease to be members of this body, that we defect from the Una Sancta by the grave sins of schism and heresy.”[1]  The unity of the Church is at the same time a gift that is given by God in Christ and a task in which we are to work toward maintaining in the Spirit.  We are to maintain, to hold fast, to keep, to treasure that which has been given to us. Christians are one, Christ makes us one, Christ provides the gifts to maintain the oneness, and all Christians are to seek it as our goal. 

We should always seek to be and remain part of the Una Sancta, the One Holy Church, by sincere faith in Christ and faithful to that visible gathering of God’s saints where the Gospel is purely taught and Sacraments are rightly administered.  It really does matter which denomination you belong to, and it really does matter which congregation you attend.  We should avoid false teachers, false teaching, and false churches so that we are not tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, we are to grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head of the body of the church, built up in the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 4:14-16).  “Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word…” Amen.

Some of this sermon is reworked from the Homiletical Helps found in Concordia Journal, Spring 2015, Vol 41, No 2, pp 171-172.

How big are we talking here? That might be a question that you have discussed if you have ever built a house or a church or any other kind of building.  Before we start building, we want to know the size and scope of the project.  That is the question Paul seems to be addressing in Ephesians 3:14–21. In Ephesians 1 and 2, Paul reminds the Ephesian Christians that they are chosen in Christ and that they are saved by grace through faith, not through works. This is foundational for Paul’s main concern in Ephesians: that is, should the church, the body of Christ, be for both Jews and Gentiles, indeed for all people?

While there had at one time been a building with a dividing wall to separate Jew from Gentile, there is no longer such a wall for those in Christ.  The temple of Christ’s body was put to death on the cross and then raised so that there is only one new man, one new temple, that is, the one body of Christ. Paul brings back the imagery of a building in 2:19–22 to explain what the new building project looks like. The foundation is the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone. All who believe in Christ are being built into the dwelling of the Spirit of God.

Paul is praying that all who hear this Word of the Lord will be able to see the blueprints, so to speak, for the new church construction project, that is the building project of the church of God, the body of Christ. Of course whenever you have a major building project, you always have to ask how big it will be, who will be allowed to use it, who will pay for it, and so on. And who will be paying for, working on, and completing this massive project? That answer comes in 3:20–21: the Lord of course, who is able to do more abundantly than all we ask of think.

How big are we talking here? This question really must first be asked of the builder.  What is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of God?  How big is He really?  Big enough to take all your sin to the cross. Big enough to swallow up death itself.

For this reason, Paul kneels in prayer before the Father.  He’s not afraid of looking too Roman Catholic or being too high church.  He bends the knee in a posture of worship and acknowledgment of, of the depths of God’s love revealed in Jesus, and of Jesus’ sovereignty.  Faith does not leave the body unmoved.  Our outward actions are to reflect our inward belief.  Both in our praise for God and in our love for others.

This is where Paul takes us in Ephesians chapter 3.  He commends God’s people for their faith in Christ and now offers a call to action.  Our love, that flows from God’s love for us in Christ, is expressed throughout all aspects of our lives.  Not just a love expressed in word, but also in deed. 

This part of St. Paul’s letter is a prayer to that effect. It’s a prayer that we might have the spiritual strength to do the good works that God has prepared for us to as ones who have been saved by grace through faith.  Our love for God, even though it is small, cannot be separated from faith. Our love and glory is not something that we can render to God from our own resources.  But these belong to God, reflected back to Him by those who stand in His presence. It is Christ who gives us access to the full glory of God and who enables our praise back to Him and our service to others.

We must do good works, not in order to be saved, but because we are in Christ, rooted and grounded in His love for us upon the cross.  In Christ, we are rooted and grounded in His love.  What do roots do? They anchor the tree into the ground.  They hold the tree steady when the winds come. From the roots come nourishment that feeds the tree. 

We are rooted and grounded in the love that God has for us in Christ.  That is what keeps us steady when we are tossed around in our lives by heartache, by temptation, by sin, death, and the devil.  And then our love grows up and out from the love that Christ has for us.  We are nourished by Jesus’ love for us, watered by baptism, delivered to us in His Word, fed by His body and blood.  This is why Word and Sacraments are so important. This is why attending Church is so important. Because this is how and when God roots us in His love and causes our faith to grow. 

That growth takes place out into the world.  So, how big are we talking here, Zion Lutheran Church?  Have we conceived of the building project of Christ’s church as too narrow, too short, too shallow, or too small?  Have we as a congregation been hesitant to include a certain demographic in our neighborhood as the Jewish Christians were excluding Gentiles in Paul’s day? Have we said, or thought, or acted as though we should not do something in our community because it might attract the wrong kind of people? 

These are hard questions, and we are called to repent of our sinful exclusions, our attempts to take over God’s building plan of His church, of trying to root our faith and our actions in anything else but Jesus.  Repent, and believe in Christ the crucified for the forgiveness of your sins. He is our cornerstone. He is our builder. He is about6 do to for more abundantly than all we ask of think, for to Him be the glory in the church, throughout all generations. Amen.