sunday_after_ascension_eph_4_8may2016

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A sermon preached by Mr Antony Weiss The Sunday After Ascension Solemn Evensong - 8th May, 2016 Ephesians 4:7-16

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Ps 19:14). AMEN.

Our Second Lesson is taken from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Compared to his other epistles to the churches, Ephesians is quite distinctive, more like a ‘circular’ really, to be distributed to the various congregations in and around Ephesus although there is some debate based on the earliest surviving manuscripts from the 3rd and 4th centuries as to whether or not Paul intended to write it ἐν ἐφέσῳ, to the Ephesians. What we can deduce is that Ephesians is like an owner’s manual or a user’s guide for Christians. It contains a set of guidelines and instructions to the Church and to all who profess the Faith. Like many owners’ manuals, Ephesians too presents its users with certain challenges; instructions concerning the running of Christian households and applying those to the 21st century context spring to mind later in Chapter 5 and 6.

If you are like many, you may have an aversion to owners’ manuals or find them to be superfluous or frustrating. They are becoming frustratingly complex. One such example are owner’s manuals to do with our cars, the dashboards of which are liking more like space craft and are just as tricky to operate. Tablet-based electronic car owner’s manuals are rapidly becoming par for the course. Popular car manufacturer Hyundai is taking it a step further, with an ‘Augmented Reality’ (AR) app. The app lets you point your tablet at different parts of the car — 45 different parts, to be exact with 2D and 3D overlays on the display identifying what goes where. The app includes information and overlays for the air filter, engine oil, and brake fluid, along with a host of in-car features like ‘dynamic’ cruise and Bluetooth phone pairing. If that sounds horrible, a selection of videos and guides are also available in the app alongside the so called ‘Augmented Reality’ overlays. The trap for most players will be working out how to open the bonnet before waving the tablet around

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frantically and a word of warning… whatever you do, don’t use the app whilst the vehicle is in motion or even think of taking a selfie with the ‘Augmented Reality’ app!

Well Paul’s to the Ephesians is a much more succinct and applicable users’ guide for Christians than the example I have just given. In merely 2500 words there is perhaps no other book in the Bible which spells out so clearly what it means to be a Christian. At the heart of Ephesians is the theme of unity in Christ. This ties in well with the focus of the National Council of Churches in Australia’s ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,’ where from today until the 15th May we are “called to proclaim the might acts of the Lord (1 Pet 2:9)” in prayer. Christian unity is at the core of Ephesians Chapter 4, around which the rest of the Letter is hinges, thus setting forth God’s overall plan for the church, and providing its audience then, and us now, with a clear guide of what it means to have one’s identity firmly founded in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the verses immediately preceding this evening’s Second Lesson, i.e. Ephesians 4:1-6, Paul continues his exhortation from Chapter 1 to maintain unity, humility and love throughout the Church. “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 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 us all, who is above all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:1-6). These verses all focus on how we are the same, sharing the same identity in Christ “one body and one Spirit” (v4), sharing in the same testimony, “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism” (v5) belonging to the same family, “One God and Father of all.” (v6).

So from highlighting our ‘sameness’ as followers of Jesus, the Apostle Paul also wants us to consider our differences as being a good thing in terms of building up Christian unity. The emphasis on our differences here is with regard to specific skill sets and personal attributes with which Christians are blessed in order to build up the fellowship of believers, “And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (vv11-13).

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Each one of has the opportunity to bring our various God given gifts to this parish church and beyond it, in different ways and to different extents in order that we can, in a Christ-like way, participate in building up others in the unity of the Gospel message. The binding fellowship in our churches can only be by God’s grace, not in any way by our own doings or merits for in all we do, we are to seek to glorify God, not ourselves. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are changed and it is from God’s authority that Jesus apportions our particular gifts differently, “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (v7)” Or as James writes, “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father (Jas 1:17a).”

By not following God’s Word, there is a threat to Christian unity whereby our pride and selfseeking can get in the way. For instance, how many of us feel that we have been overlooked in this or other churches where we feel that our particular talents are not recognised or appreciated? Paul reminds Christian that we are ‘to equip the saints [i.e. Christian believers, those born anew in Jesus] for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,…’ (v12). Our lives as Christians are not our own but they have been purchased with Christ’s blood (Rev. 5:9).

We are called by the Spirit to worship God and bring glory to Him, building up our Churches “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God… (v13a).” Paul’s exhortation goes further pointing out that we are at risk of being “…tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles” (v14b). We would be blind to the world if we did not comprehend that in its and in our own falleness we are susceptible to false teaching, hardness of heart and turning unrepentantly to sinful desires and deeds. Paul, to hep Christians combat this, gives practical advice concluding the letter with that familiar and leaving evocative image of Christians putting on the whole armour of God in Chapter 6. “Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph 6:10-11).” And, “Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness ad having shod your feeet with the equipment of the gospel of peace… (vv 14-15)” So my brothers and sisters we are called to build up each other in Christian unity, relying only on Jesus as our Saviour, seeking our strength from Him and looking to define ourselves and our entire purpose in Him for ‘speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by

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every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.’ (vv15-16) This parish church is an obviously integral part of the body of Christ which, by the power of the Holy Spirit and by Faith we profess of Christ crucified and by whose blood the sins of the repentant have been washed clean. Let us come before His presence in the breaking of the bread and the partaking of the common cup at the holy meal of the Mass, accepting it as an outward and visible expression of Jesus’ love for us. May participating in this sacrament also remind each of us of Christ’s love for the unworthy and our love, in unity, for one another.

Peter sums is up in his First Letter giving encouragement and hope to the Christians undergoing persecution in Asia Minor, ‘Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. Practise hospitality ungrudgingly to one another. As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; whoever renders service, as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

(1 Peter 4:8-11)