Worthy

This is my sermon from Redeemer Lutheran Church on Sunday, August 5, 2018.
The main lesson was Ephesians Ephesians 4:1-16, with reference to the Gospel lesson, John 6:24-35.

If you are interested in a different look at this text, my sermon from 2017 on this text is on this blog here.








An audio version is available here.
The Preaching Preview is available here.

The 60 Second Sermon Summary is/will be available here.

Grace to you & peace from God our Creator & the Lord Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

Take a deep breath, and think about this question for a minute. What would you do if you won the lottery? Not a scratch off ticket, not the daily 3 or 4 number drawing, but the big multi-state Super- Power- Mega-Ball Drawing of Lots of Cash. The one with hundreds of millions of dollars as the reported payout. What would you do if you won the lottery? 

OK. Think about those things that you would do, or buy, or give away if all of a sudden you were blessed with this great, immense gift that you really didn’t earn. Winning the lottery isn’t something you earn. You got lucky. There is a reason why the odds are as long as the payment is large. It is basically a gift of chance that your numbers matched THIS time.

So what are you going to do with this gift? Who are you going to take care of? Who are you going to help? Who are you going to ignore?

When people are blessed with great financial wealth, you often hear of them providing great benefits to their communities with that wealth. They open schools, provide opportunities to others that they themselves could have used.

From all of this, I want you to think of what you can, could, or should do with the biggest blessing and the greatest gift you’ve ever been given.

The author of the letter to the saints in Ephesus in chapters one, two and three has explained how, as believers in Jesus Christ, they have been blessed. God has claimed them at Their own from before Creation began. Their sins have been forgiven and forgotten. They have been promised a new, eternal life after this one is over. They have all of these blessings, not because of anything they have done, but because God loves them.  This is what he has spelled out, in great detail, in the first three chapters of this letter. So to begin his questioning about how they are going to use these great gifts, he began with a single word.

Therefore.

The first word in chapter four is the Greek word for Therefore. Therefore is used in legal documents and mathematical proofs to show that because of all of these things, therefore, the following will happen.

The author has spelled out how the saints in Ephesus have been blessed, has spelled out how we as saints have been blessed, and now begs us to lead a life worthy of these blessings and the calling to love and serve that comes along with these blessings.

In our Gospel lesson, the crowd asks Jesus, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:28-29) He goes on to say that "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

The work God wants us to do is to believe that Jesus is the Christ; Jesus is the Son of God; Jesus is the Truth, the Light, and the Way; Jesus is the Bread of Life. By believing, therefore, we will never be hungry or thirsty.

Jesus Christ lived, died, was raised and ascended so that those who believe in him would be given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. (Ephesians 4:7) The gifts he gave were that some would 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. (Ephesians 4:11-12)

In addition to the gift of grace, we have been given a gift to use to build up the body of Christ, a talent to use to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Having been given these unmerited gifts of grace and goodness, but also these gifts for the acts of ministry, will we lead lives worthy of the call God is making to us? What are we going to do with our lottery winnings? Are we going to keep everything for ourselves, or will we share? Because of all what we have been given, will we therefore live lives worthy of these blessings? Will we answer the call of God?

The letter to the Ephesians is explaining that God is doing what God does; God blesses people to be a blessing to others. God did it with Abraham and Sarah, and then with their family. God did it with the nation of Israel. God has done it and is doing it still with those who believe in Jesus Christ.

Therefore.

What are you going to do?

These gifts have been given to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12) I hope you know this, but just in case, you are the saints. The saints are the hall of famers amongst the faithful. The saints are the believers of all times and all places. The saints are us, and those who brought us and taught us to believe, and those whom we will show and teach about God’s love.

The gifts from God, of grace and forgiveness as well as those for ministry, are to build up the body of Christ. They are given to sustain the members of the body and to add to the body of Christ.

If we are believing in Jesus Christ, why don’t we be living in the ways Christ commanded?

What is easy to overlook in this passage is how much emphasis the author puts on unity, how we are all to be one. As we can tell from this letter and other writings, the church has been trying to fracture since it was established. But we are called to work together, we are gifted to grow and strengthen one another.

We are saved therefore we can serve.

We are blessed therefore we can be a blessing.

We are forgiven therefore we can give.

We are beloved therefore we can be love.

We are justified therefore we can do justice.

We are fed therefore we can feed.

But that is what we can do. What will we do? What will you do?

God has given you gifts that are priceless. You have won the world’s richest prize. What are you going to do now?

Therefore, I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Amen. (Ephesians 4:1-3)