I celebrate in the Lord the new tithers we signed up yesterday during
the last of our stewardship sermons. Praise God! And you know what
made it even more interesting in the afternoon we had an unexpected
cloudburst that burned out our phone system! I told our volunteer,
"Now I can't get any hate calls from yesterday's sermon!" The phone
system is up and working now.
The Scripture for this coming week is from Ephesians 6:1-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy
of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and
gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making
every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.
4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one
hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7 But
each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.
8 Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he made captivity
itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people." 9(When it says, "He
ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the
lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the same one who
ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all
things.)
11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets,
some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints
for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13
until
all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of
Christ.
14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by
every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in
deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow
up
in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the
whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it
is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's
growth in building itself up in love.
When was the last time you looked for a job? A real one. Not one of
those multitude of email spams or direct mail thingys that promise
that overnight we can be rich beyond our wildest dreams if we just
send someone some amount of money. The ultimate secret behind all
those ads is running an ad ourselves and convincing people to send us
money and we'll be fine. A better question, when was the last time
you were hired to do a job? Do you remember when you said yes to the
Lord Jesus Christ? Did you realize you were right then and there
called to be a saint for God? Have you been gainfully employed or as
one pastor said, "An unemployed saint?" which some can argue is an
oxymoron.
Paul says saints are called to work. His words in this passage begin
with a reminder for his readers to live "a life worthy of the calling
to which you have been called." You get the idea that Christians in
Ephesus were proudly displaying bumper stickers on their camels and
donkeys that said, "Christians are not perfect, just forgiven," not
so
much as a truth but an excuse for the way in which they were living.
Paul reminds the Christian that she or he should live a life of
humility and gentleness, with patience and love in the hope of
keeping
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One suspects we can divide
the Spirit, but it is not that that Paul is addressing. Paul knows
of
divisions within the church family that were defeating the very
purpose of existence of the church. We wish we could say that it was
only in Ephesus that such a thing existed but we know very well that
such problems plague us. Paul says, Saints work to love one another.
He knew it was not easy, but it was possible. He knows that
listening and understanding go a long way in helping keep people
together, especially those who have been called to love one another.
I knew of a Sunday School class where the main topic of "discussion"
(to put it mildly) was the fact that Jesus had used such a stern word
as "commandment" when he said we were to love one another! As if to
say, Jesus you can suggest we love one another, and we'll think about
it, but to command us to love another, that's quite another story.
Saints all have a task and responsibility in the work of Christ. The
first is to love. The second is to prayerfully be aware of the
spiritual gifts we have been given for the work to which we have been
called. Not all of us have been called to preach. Paul gives a list
of different job categories within the church that existed even as
early as that era: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors,
teachers. And as we will discuss on Sunday the nature of each of
those categories, the shared understanding is maturity in the faith.
Leave Christ in first place and follow Him! Know that it was through
His first loving us that we can love one another.
Prayer: Lord, teach us to love. Help us to see beyond barriers and
boundaries we have erected that seperate us from truly loving each
other. Let us mature in our faith as we trust you more in our daily
walk. We pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen.
