Possibility and Hope--Ephesians 5

 Ephesians 5:1-20

                            We are following a particular guide for our worship in advent and the scriptures are already decided.  I have to be honest, I read this text for this week and thought, “This is an Advent text?  This scripture about sin and disobedience and God’s wrath is good for Advent?!  And it was chosen for the week we focus on hope, really?!” 

                            So I reread the passage and I thought about the purpose of Advent.  This week, both the youth group and the Wednesday night Advent study examined the meaning and purpose of Advent.  And the thing we learned was that in the original Christmas traditions, Christmas day was not just to celebrate the birth of Christ that happened in the past.  It was also meant to open the door for his return.  Christians were eager for the 2^nd coming of Christ and they anticipated that would happen at Christmas.  That meant that Advent was a time to prepare to meet Jesus face-to-face.  The preparations weren’t for trimming the tree or hanging the lights or wrapping the gifts.  The preparations were of one’s spirit and one’s actions to be ready to meet Christ. 

                            In that light and with that purpose for Advent—Ephesians 5 makes more sense as a choice.  If we are preparing to meet Jesus face to face then it makes sense that we would follow the instructions offered to the Ephesians.

·         We should follow God’s example, mimicking God like a child mimics their parents.  We should do as God does.

·         And we should follow Christ’s example and act with love.  We need to do all in our power to show God’s unconditional agape love. 

                            After encouraging us, reminding us, to become godly in our ways, we are reminded, with the Ephesians, of the things we should not be doing.  It’s not a hard list to compile. Any of us could do it.  Think about it, in becoming like Christ, what behaviors, habits and actions should we avoid?

·          

·          

·          

·          

                            Exactly. The Ephesians were given similar advice:

·         No sexual immorality

·         No behavioral impurity

·         No greed

·         No obscenity

·         No foolish talk or coarse joking

·         Don’t get drunk. 

                            Why?  Because once we engage in a relationship with Christ, we know better.  Once we make Christ Lord of our lives, we become better.  So instead of old bad habits, we are called to do something different. 

                            If we aren’t lying, stealing, drinking, etc, etc, then what’s left?  What should we do?

·          

·          

·          

·          

Exactly, the author points to similar things. 

·         Give thanks

·         Seek Christ

·         Make the most of life

·         Do the will of the Lord

·         Get together with others who seek God

o Sing

o Pray

o Enjoy one another

o Praise God

                            As Christians, we are called to live differently.  We are called to live and love as Christ loved.  We know that, right?  But sometimes, we need a reminder, don’t we?  There are some habits that we have justified for ourselves, and some old practices that we keep holding onto. 

                            In our studies this week, we were asked, “When in your day would you least like to have Jesus walk through the door?” (Repeat for emphasis) Ask yourself.  When? 

·         Would you be caught in a lie?

·         Or caught in anger?

·         Or caught in gossip?

·         Or caught lusting after porn?

·         Or caught in addiction?

·         Or caught in laziness?

·         Or caught in pride?

If Jesus walked in in that moment, what would be see? 

                            These are the areas of our life that need reformation—they need to be changed by grace and made holy. These are our hold outs. These are the spots we’ve been unwilling or unable to work on.  And Ephesians 5 comes in and says, “Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?!  You know better than this!” 

                            It has language of wrath and rejectionand some of us may need that to jump start us to action. Fear may be our best motivator.  If it’s yours, here it is.  However, I don’t think fear is the heart of this message.  I think we’re supposed to hear something more like this:

                            “You’re better than this. You’re not this person anymore.  These bad habits should be left in the past—they are not worthy of your identity as a child of God.  So get rid of them.”   

                            But we fight that affirmation, don’t we?  We argue and say things like,

·         I’m not really that good.

·         I’m not smart enough, kind enough, or strong enough to be that much like Christ.

                            We stay stuck in the past or hold onto old habits because we are held by the LIE that we aren’t worthy—for whatever reason.  But you ARE worthy.  You are worthy of becoming and being all that God created you to be.  There is no reason to hold back.  There is a beautiful poem by Marianne Williamson called “Our Deepest Fear”. She says it this way:

Our Deepest Fear

By Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves,

 Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us;

it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give others permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

                The gift and possibility that we have is to be great as Christ was great.  This poem and the passage from Ephesians remind us that our future doesn’t lie in our weakness or our failings or our sins.  Our future lies in a promise of greatness.  We are called to be awesome and inspiring because of and through Christ.  It’s wholly appropriate that we are reminded of what we are pulled from and called to so that we might embrace all that Christ offers.  Advent reminds us to have hope.  We are to have hope in Christ, that we can find redemption and forgiveness and possibility.  But beyond that, we are called not just to rely on Christ but to become like Christ so that we might rely on one another as the embodiment of Christ.  In our hope, in our drive to be like Christ, we need to avoid the old sinful things that hold us back from greatness and instead cling to the things of God.  We should cling to compassion, cling to generosity, cling to forgiveness, cling to peace, and cling to joy.  We should cling to hope.  And so this Advent season, we hope, with expectancy and anticipation AND preparation for becoming like Christ so that we might encounter him in tangible and concrete ways. 

                Today’s “sense” is that of smell.  We are called to embrace the scents of Christmas and to breathe in hope.  So today you will receive a small satchel of potpourri as your reminder to breathe in and smell hope. In our time of prayer, you are invited to come forward to pray and repent and seek after Christ.  Satchels will be here at the altar rail and others will be passed through the pews.  Let us breathe deeply and smell hope.  Amen. 

Six One Way, Half a dozen the Other

Romans 6:12-23

We have a problem.  We are slaves. You and me, in modern day America. We are slaves.  Ok, so maybe we aren’t currently slaves, but hear me out.  As part of the human condition. We are all slaves.  We don’t wear physical shackles, we haven’t been whipped or beaten. But we are slaves.  We weren’t sold, we sold out.  We sold out to sin.  And we are slaves to sin.  Humans, as disobedient and selfish creatures allow sin to be the master of our lives.  We are overrun by pride, selfishness, lust, greed, hatred, malice, vengeance, anger, and fear.  Maybe not all day every day, but often enough that sin can still claim to have authority over us, because if we aren’t choosing against sin, we have allowed sin to win.  That’s Paul’s understanding anyway. It’s pretty black and white.  Either you choose sin or you choose God. No choice is to default to choosing sin.  We, as part of humanity, are slaves to sin. 

But there is an alternative. God offers us the option of no longer being subject to sin as our master.  God offers to spare us, at no cost to us.  Free and clear with no debt to pay, God will buy us out of slavery to sin.  Hallelujah!  Freedom! 

We hear that God, as a master, offers us freedom and so we clamor for freedom. All too often, our first priority becomes freedom.  We recognize that sin enslaves and we would do anything to gain freedom.  And so we jump into the God boat, not because it’s God’s but because it’s called “freedom”.  Only the freedom God’s got in mind is not the freedom we had in mind. God sees living in obedience to God’s rules as freedom. We see that as slavery to a master with a different name.  The freedom we envisioned allowed us to do what we wanted when we wanted with whom we wanted for as long as we wanted. That’s how we define true freedom and so when we learn that God’s freedom only requires more rules, we hesitate.  Maybe it’s not worth choosing God.  After all, we aren’t actually free.

Paul presents an idea that’s pretty radical. It’s not will we serve a master or won’t we? Are you a slave or are you free?  Paul says that no matter what we serve a master and no matter what we are slaves. Either one rules or the other does. There’s no master-less middle ground.   No matter what, we serve a master and no matter what we are slaves. The choice is which master we will serve, whose slave will you be and what will you gain for it? 

That’s highly counter-cultural.  Not a great selling point for inviting people to Christ.  “Hey, did you know that without God you’re a slave to sin? But there’s good news!  With God you’re free, no not free where you get to do what you want, but free to play by God’s rules instead.”  It’s hard to pit slavery against slavery. Do you want to be a slave or do you want to be a slave?  Tough choice.  Do you want to wear shoes or shoes?  Do you want to eat food or eat food?  It hardly seems like a choice. 

So then why bother?  If you’re a slave regardless, what does it matter whose slave you are?  It matters because the masters are totally different in how they treat the slaves.  As slaves to sin, the master of sin doesn’t care if we get hurt in the process, the master of sin doesn’t care if we are healthy, or happy or whole, the master of sin only cares that sin’s purposes are served.  But God is a completely different type of master. God is the type of master that is generous, the type of master that shares with his slaves as if they were family, the type of master that gives all He has in order for the people to be blessed.  The type of master that invites the lost, the losers, and the liars to be a part of the party of the year.  It’s not a simply a choice between shoes and shoes, it’s a choice between too-small shoes that cause blisters and dig into your feet, and comfortable shoes that feel like you’re getting a massage all day.  Certainly, both are shoes, but there’s a difference. Likewise, it’s not simply a choice between food and food.  It’s a choice between rancid food that’s barely recognizable and gourmet food that melts in your mouth.  It’s the details that matter.  Just like with the masters. It’s not one master or another. It’s a selfish self-serving master or one who is loving, kind and generous. 

We may be slaves regardless, but we have the opportunity to choose our master. We have the opportunity to choose a master who will care for us and our needs over the master’s. 

AND, the pay is different.  Talk about a disparity in wages. The salary sin pays out is death.  The salary God pays is righteousness and justification which lead to eternal life.  You choose.  Different masters with different motives with different salary packages.  We may be extremely uncomfortable with the notion that we are slaves. But our reality is that we offer our obedience to something. We play by somebody’s rules. And if we aren’t choosing God’s rules, we are choosing sin’s.  And the consequence of choosing sin is death.  Not just physical death, but emotional and spiritual death, in this life and in the next. 

To choose God is to choose God’s rules.  Our obedience matters. Our actions matter.  What we do doesn’t save us, God did that when God offered to take us away from sin.  But our works do prove which master we serve. 

1)      To serve God is to put God first in our lives

2)     To serve God is to know that God is bigger than pictures or statues or symbols, the God we worship is bigger than any image we might conjure in our minds.

3)      To serve God is to use God’s name with reverence, using the power of God’s name to bless and not curse.

4)     To serve God is to allow ourselves rest to be restored, to not work tirelessly and ceaselessly under the illusion that our power is sufficient for success.

5)     To serve God is to honor our parents, not without boundaries, not without healthy relationships, but in a way that respects the role they were given in our lives.

6)     To serve God is to honor the sacredness of life, spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

7)      To serve God is to be faithful and loyal and honoring of our partner.

8)     To serve God is to find satisfaction in what we have, sharing so that everyone has enough.

9)     To serve God is to be honest and humble in our communications, using our words to build up and not to tear down.

10)  To serve God is to look with gratitude on what we have, rather than allowing lust for more things and more money to consume our hearts and our spending. 

To serve God is to live with an open and generous heart.    To serve the master of righteousness is no easy task.  Easy is not our selling point.  But to serve the master of righteousness will mean reaping the sweetest harvest. 

And so the choice is ours.  Once we get over the fact that we are slaves, that we must be obedient to some set of rules, to some master, we get to choose.  Which master will it be?  Which master will you serve?