Sermon 6th October 2013

Today, Trevor Tayleur, one of our Lay Readers, preaches based on the reading from Ephesians 3:1-21

The Love of Christ

The following are taken from official court records in the USA. They are actual examples of lawyers cross-examining witnesses.

• Lawyer: "She had three children, right?"
• Witness: "Yes."
• Lawyer: "How many were boys?"
• Witness: "None."
• Lawyer: "Were there any girls?"

Another lawyer didn’t do much better.

• Lawyer: "Now, Mrs Johnson, how was your first marriage terminated?"
• Witness: "By death."
• Lawyer: "And by whose death was it terminated?"

In the passage from Ephesians we’ve just read, Paul writes that that God has revealed his secret plan and has made it known to him. I’m glad we don’t have to rely on these lawyers and their cross-examination skills to discover God’s secret plan! Instead we can rely on Paul himself.

Two weeks Gill spoke to us about Ephesians 2 and explained how Christ’s death on the Cross had broken down the barriers that had existed between Jews and non-Jews, the Gentiles. In Jesus we can find shalom, true peace, with God and with each other. But now, in verses 2-13 Paul goes on a bit of a digression. He breaks off in mid-sentence. In the GNB version it’s not that clear, but in other versions such as the NIV it’s clearer; there’s a dash at the end of verse 1. Paul does indeed get side-tracked. So why does he do this – why does he go on a digression? The answer is in verse 13, “I beg you, then, not to be discouraged because I am suffering for you; it is all for your benefit.”

Paul knew that his being in prison was a huge discouragement to his friends, so right in the middle of a sentence he breaks off as he engages with this and helps them. The Bible is realistic about the hardness of life and the reality of suffering. Life’s hard, and it’s not just hard for bad people. Good people, the best people, suffer huge disappointments and tragedies as well, as we know from experience.   Paul doesn’t ignore their suffering; he doesn’t tell them to get over it and to move on. He engages with their suffering and he encourages them.

It is vital to acknowledge the reality of suffering, because suffering does shake our faith. In Matthew 11, John the Baptist is in prison. In his ministry John had been very forthright, declaring that Jesus is the Messiah. But when he was in prison and facing execution, he sent some of own followers to ask Jesus; “Are you the one John said was going to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Even John the Baptist, it seems, was experiencing doubt. John seems to be in effect saying, “If you are the Messiah, why is your servant in this situation. If you are the Son of God, why is my life falling apart?”

And here we have Paul’s friends feeling the same way about his suffering. “If you are really the servant of God, why are all these bad things happening to you? If God is with you, why are you in prison?”

It can also be very difficult to watch someone you love suffering. There’s a feeling of helplessness; it’s very easy to be discouraged, as Paul acknowledges in verse 13; “I beg you, then, not to be discouraged because I am suffering for you…” It’s very easy to become bitter and to doubt the reality of God’s love. Paul acknowledges this; he knows life is hard and he wants to help them.

Yes, life is hard, suffering is real - but Paul also points us to the wonders of God’s grace.  One word that comes up a lot in this passage is “secret”; God had his secret plan which has now been revealed.  As Paul explains in verse 6, ^“The secret is that by means of the gospel the Gentiles have a part with the Jews in God's blessings; they are members of the same body and share in the promise that God made through Christ Jesus.”

Paul is continuing from where he left off in Chapter 2 and he spells out what it means now that the wall of hostility between Jewish people and the Gentiles has been broken down. The secret plan is that God always intended this, to bring everyone into fellowship with himself on equal terms. And Paul goes on to describe the privileges of what it means to be a Christian.

First, they are to “share in the promise that God made through Christ Jesus”; they are to share in the inheritance. Tom Wright, in his commentary, gives the following illustration. “Fancy hearing the news that a family down the street has come into a large and wealthy inheritance – and then being told that you are to become full members of that family, with instant privileges identical to theirs! That’s the situation Gentile Christians now find themselves in.”

In the OT God had made a covenant with his people. God made extraordinary promises to his people, and everyone is now able to share in those promises. Whatever our background, we are all fellow members of one body, the church; there are no second class citizens in the church. We all have an equal share in God’s promises. And that’s not because of our own goodness or because of anything we have done, but entirely as a result of God’s grace.

And that’s only part of God’s secret plan. In Chapter 1 verse 10 Paul tells us that God’s secret plan is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. The world in St Paul’s time had many similarities to today’s world. Of course there are huge differences as well, but back in the First Century AD the world suffered from violence, from wars, from racism and from hunger, disease and death. People were often at each other’s throats and at times it must have seemed that everything was falling apart. Sooner or later everyone dies. But it wasn’t supposed to be like that.

Genesis Chapters 1, 2 and 3 tell us that God created the world for everything to be together, for everything to be in eternal harmony, for our bodies to stay together and for our relationships to stay together. But because sin came in things fall apart. But God in Christ will one day bring us to the place where these things are brought together – forever. There will be no more suffering, tears, death, disease, no more injustice; there will instead be peace on earth.

Life is hard; suffering is an ever present reality. But we also know that we share in God’s plan to break down human barriers and to restore creation.

That’s God’s purpose – to break down human barriers and to restore creation. And how will God reveal his purpose to the world? The answer is in verse 10, “…by means of the church.” It is “by means of the church…that the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms”.

It is by means of the church that God’s great purpose, his great wisdom will become known. And that’s rather awesome in the true sense of the word. It is through the church that God’s great wisdom will become known. It is through us here at St Paul’s and St Saviour’s in Herne Hill, and through our brothers and sisters in Christ in London and through our brothers and sisters in the rest of the UK and the wider world that God’s great wisdom will become known. The church is the witness to God’s wisdom.

This is breath-taking, and also, at least for me, rather daunting, but we aren’t on our own. It is through the community and not through any one individual that the church bears witness to God’s wisdom. It is through the Christian community, through healed relationships and through genuine love that the world will see God’s wisdom. F.F. Bruce, a well-known theologian, wrote in his commentary; “The church here appears as God’s pilot plant for the reconciled universe of the future. The church is to be a new society, where the world can see what family life, what business practices, what race relationships, what all of life will be under the healing kingship of Jesus Christ.” 

God’s purpose is to heal all the effects of sin – psychological, social and physical, and the place where people should clearly see this is the church. And this new society can be seen in the church in a way no individual person can show it. Some people say that they can be a good Christian without going to church. Now there may be times when it is appropriate to step back from church life, but it is clear from what Paul is saying that this can’t be the general rule. The church is indispensable if the world is to understand the wisdom of the Gospel.

Is Paul being unrealistic in his vision of what the church can do? No, he was fully aware what a mess all churches are to some degree. Look at his writing to the Corinthians and the Colossians; those churches were riddled with problems.

If you want to grow as a Christian, you can’t do it in on your own. You need a family, a culture and community to challenge you in good times and to support you when times are tough. That’s how the Gospel works; indeed that’s how human beings work.

And it’s not just the world that will understand the Gospel through the church. Paul writes in verse 10 that so too will the “angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world…” In some way that I don’t claim to understand, what we do has an impact not only in the visible world, but also in the invisible world. What we do may sometimes go unnoticed in this world, but that doesn’t mean it has no impact; in some mysterious way what we do can also show God’s power to these shadowy authorities.

In June we had a special service on “Celebration” and one of the activities we did was to write down on a piece of paper what we liked about our church. I preached the following Sunday and said that one of the things that came out from that was that many of us felt tremendously supported and loved. We are doing a lot that is right already, but we do face challenges in the future. Next year at St Paul’s the Building Project will be completed; that will provide us with a tremendous opportunity as a Parish to bring Jesus to the heart of our community. The Milkwood Working Party are working hard and the time will come when we move into the “action phase”. That will be another opportunity to bring Jesus to the heart of the community. Let’s be willing to seize these opportunities.

Life is hard; suffering is very real. But God’s purpose is to bring everything together. And we in the church show God’s purpose to the world. And this Chapter ends with Paul’s magnificent prayer, a passionate prayer for the Ephesians. He prays the following things for them:

·      That God may strengthen them with power through his Spirit in their inner being

·      That Christ may have his home in their hearts 

·      That they may know the love of Christ, and

·      That they be filled with the nature of God.

Actually, at one level we already have these things.  As Christians we know that God does strengthen us and fill us; that Christ does live in our hearts and we do know that Christ loves us. So why is Paul praying this? I think that Paul is talking about the difference between knowing something in our heads and experiencing it in our inner being. It is possible for a real Christian to live a superficial life – to believe in the right things, indeed to try hard to follow Christ but not to fully experience the reality in our lives. Paul is praying that we will know in our hearts what we know in our heads. If we truly grasp how broad and long and how high and deep Christ's love for us is, it will be mind-blowing.

Verses 20 and 21 are often used as a blessing and they are good words to end with:

 “To him who by means of his power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of:  to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever!”

Let’s pray: Lord, through your power working in us you can do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of.  Give us a vision of your love, the vastness of which we cannot grasp, and of your power, and give us a vision of what you can accomplish here in Herne Hill. Amen.