Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost August 10-11, 2024
“Learning Christ” Ephesians 4:17–5:2
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
There are all types of reactions to a sermon. Sometimes I get an e-mail that states quite clearly that they didn’t agree with what I said. Sometimes I get a thumbs up. One time a visitor said, “Pastor, I liked your speech today.”
You probably know this – I actually have a goal in this “speech” that I make. I like how Paul spoke of this, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 3:10-11)
I want you to know Jesus. I want you to trust Jesus. I want you to have every confidence that God has loved you with everything that He has when He sent Jesus to die for your sins and to rise in triumph.
Here is a question for all of us. So what? What does this faith in Jesus do? How does it show itself in you or through you? How does having Jesus in your life makes a difference in how you live, how you parent, how you act at work, on the golf course, the soccer field, among your friends? You’re a Christian – so what?
That is what St. Paul is asking in every word from today’s lesson. He writes, “So I tell you this, and insist it in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” (Ephesians 4:17) Gentiles? We’re Gentiles. But when he uses that term he is talking about folks who are defiant to God’s ways. They sin and they love it. They don’t want anything different.
He goes on, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” (Ephesians 4:18-19) What a mess!! A heart that becomes hard is one that God can do little with. We’re done listening to the ways of God. We don’t want to hear anything about what God desires. And then it gets worse – one gives themselves over to all types of sins, including sexual sins. The hardening of our hearts, the acceptance of sin in our lives, is not something that happens all at once. It is a progressive disease and then becomes our accepted way of life. Beware. Now sin carries with it no shame. Across the world June has become Pride month – the movement to accept homosexuality universally. The advocates of this lifestyle desire that there is no shame in their action. Paul would use the words, “They have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”
Earlier in Ephesians Paul addresses the problems of divisions and infighting among believers. In this section he talks about morality. He says, “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.” (Ephesians 4:20) (ESV translation, “But that is not the way you learned Christ.”) He’s asking, “You’re a Christian – now what?” In the book of Romans Paul says, “We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2) Now Paul begins the contrast between one who follows Jesus and one who doesn’t. He uses phrases like “old self” and “new self”; “put off” and “put on.” “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; and to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24)
We know that we have vices. God calls the vices to be discarded and the virtues to begin. “Falsehood is to be replaced by truth, unrestrained anger by timely reconciliation, stealing of others’ property by the generous sharing of one’s own, foul language by helpful speech, animosity by kindness.” (F.F. Bruce, Epistles to Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, Pg. 360)
You ever hold a grudge? How long have you held it? Do you do everything to keep it warm? God says, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26) The Bible says, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:15) There is a reason that the Bible says that one who sows discord among others is an abomination in the sight of God. (See Proverbs 6:19)
You’re a Christian. You have been claimed by Jesus in your Baptism. He cleaned you from top to bottom. This name that you are given, this calling that God has placed on you, this action of forgiveness means something. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15)
Watch what you say. Watch what you post on the internet and in all forms of social media. You belong to Him. Clean up your words. In our reading Paul writes, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:29) This is a real battle for many of us. We’ve gotten into a habit on taking God’s name in vain. We cuss and swear. We say things that are dirty and shameful. We can use harsh words when we speak to our family. With a somber tone Jesus warned, “But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)
Paul says that we are not to grieve God’s Holy Spirit. Have you ever been grieved by another? I picture it as when one takes away your strength and your hope. Your heart hurts. Emotions run deep with sorrow and grief. Usually tears come from your eyes. You are painfully grieved. God’s Holy Spirit can be grieved. We can do that to Him. “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God.” (Ephesians 4:30-5:1)
I’m glad that you’re redeemed by Jesus. I’m glad that you know the cleansing of all these sins I have listed, and many more that I didn’t even speak of, through the blood of Jesus Christ. I’m glad you can ask that question of yourself, “I’m a Christian, what does that mean?” Or, as one Christian writer wrote a series of books on the premise, “How then should we live?”
The Scriptures have given you a lot of law today. Like the Bible says, “Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.” (Romans 7:7) But God’s greatest word is not law but gospel, grace, forgiveness. C.S. Lewis is known for his children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia. In one of the books there is a mean and cruel boy who is turned into a dragon as a punishment for his evil desires. So he flies around seeking release from being a dragon. He eventually comes to Aslan, a magnificent lion, who in these books represents Christ.
Aslan tells him to go wash himself in a pool, but every time he washes himself, he remains the same old dragon. Aslan tells the boy that he must let Aslan undress him. Aslan begins ripping the old dragon’s skin away until there in the water stands a new boy with a changed heart.
God has to do that in us. We have some old skin that must be removed – ripped off. Maybe we are living with lies and deception, maybe we are living with bitterness and anger, maybe we have a mouth that is dirty or vindictive, maybe we have hurt the very heart of God. But God loves us too much to let these ways be our ways.
Here is a word of God’s working, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (II Corinthians 5:17) Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Jesus has ripped through the callous, sinful skin and allows us to sit in clean Baptismal water.
Paul, in his final words in this section, tells us, “As dearly loved children live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)
God loves you. Love Him. Love others. Amen!!
