Sermon and Video Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
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2024 Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost Exodus 16:2-15
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:22-35
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.
That was quite a sight to behold watching the three Americans who were falsely arrested and incarcerated in Russia getting off the airplane. We all give thanks to God for their return to United States soil and their families.
While we have the images of Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva being welcomed by President Biden, Vice President Harris, and being hugged and kissed by their families, we are aware that the writer of the Epistle for today, the Apostle Paul, did not enjoy that blessed experience.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that he is a prisoner for the Lord. He writes this letter to the church in Ephesus in AD 60. In AD 68, he and the Apostle Peter are martyred for their Christian faith by the Emperor Nero.
The letter to the church in Ephesus has two sections. Chapters 1-3 focus on God’s grace. We are chosen, predestined, before the foundation of the world to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. Salvation is given to us. It is an unearned gift, given to us on account of the merit of Jesus Christ. We receive Christ’s gift through faith. The conclusion of chapter three is a doxology that brings the announcement of God’s grace to both Jew and Gentile to a close: 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, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Chapters 4-6 explain the implications of God’s grace for the church. Today’s reading is Paul’s encouragement to continue to grow in maturity through the gift of God’s grace. In Christ Jesus, there is no longer Jew or Gentile. There is, as he says, one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The goal for this congregation is to continue to come together in a way that moves beyond the former divisions. Instead, you grow in faith and love toward one another so that the division that was so obvious and so offensive at the beginning of their life together, soon enough ceases to be but a ripple.
How does one grow into the kind of unity that the Apostle Paul envisions? It begins, of course, by recognizing that we all have the same grace from the same Lord Jesus who died on the one cross for each of us. Jesus’ blood is spilled, and his breath is taken away, for all of us. We are all dead in our trespasses. We are all sinners from our mother’s womb. We all start with the same condition. When we receive Holy Baptism, it is the same water poured out upon us as for anyone else. We are all claimed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When we grow in Christ, we grow in maturity. Christ’s attributes are placed upon us: humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love. We guard our words and our actions by asking the simple question: Is what I am about to say or do, for my benefit or for our benefit? Another similar question: Do I truly have my neighbor’s interest at heart as I speak and as I do?
What we think or how we interpret the way forward may not always be correct. Christ blesses us with the humility to receive a different answer. And we gently, with patience and genuine love in our hearts, speak and pray together as we seek to grow more fully into the light of Christ.
Unity within a congregation is a fragile thing. That is certainly true within the nascent congregation in Ephesus. This is most certainly true within established congregations. The unity of purpose and the supporting goodwill are easily threatened and ruined by hardness of heart and an insistence on my way or the highway. So the Lord blesses the church with the witness of Scripture and the offices of the church. The prophetic and apostolic teaching, the evangelists, shepherds, and teachers all work to equip and build up the body of Christ, the Church. Always moving us toward maturity.
One mark of maturity is that we speak to each other in love. Together, we stand against false doctrine and practices that are inconsistent with the witness and standard of God’s Word. Our stand is not based on opinion or feeling or fear, but on God’s Word and the clear exposition of Scripture found in the Book of Concord. As Jesus said it in the Sermon on the Mount, we want the church to be built on solid ground, not sand that does not support a foundation amid a storm.
The church in Ephesus, as all churches ever since then, have many unforeseen challenges that await them. Who knows what comes next? What new-fangled wind of doctrine, human cunning, or craftiness in deceitful schemes lay in the future to greet us? Whatever it is that comes, Christ Jesus will see us through. We put on Christ, we embrace his attributes, because he is our salvation and hope. We are not our own hope and salvation. Together, bound by Christ’s love, we are strong.
One of the lessons that we may take away from the reading from Exodus is that the Lord does provide. And, he does provide in sometimes creative and imaginative ways that we did not think possible. Who would have thought that every morning for the next four decades, that Israel would wake up in the morning to manna on the ground? Or that they would be having foul for dinner each night? In the midst of a dangerous, harsh, and unfamiliar environment, the Lord provided abundantly. Give us our daily bread, they prayed. And, He did.
In the next 40 years, Israel learned to live each day with faith in the Lord. It became a discipline to pray and wait for the Lord. As they travelled in the wilderness, they moved when the Lord moved. They stayed put when the Lord stayed put. Through that lengthy process, they matured in their faith and in their trust of one another.
The Church in Ephesus was in a pagan wilderness. They are learning how to be Christians and a Christian community in a time and place that is at best indifferent to them, at worst, hostile. The Apostle Paul assures them that as they go forward, the Lord has provided them with everything that they need to grow in faith toward God, to trust in one another, and to develop into a mature, supporting love for each other.
At the heart of any Christian community is our Lord Jesus Christ. As we receive him anew this morning in the Lord’s Supper, we pray for his forgiveness and that he continues to endow each of us with his gifts of humility, gentleness, patience, love, and peace.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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