Roger's Postings

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2. Imitators of God! 9/8/09

(Eph 4:25-32) Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body. {26} "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, {27} and do not give the devil a foothold. {28} He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. {29} 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. {30} And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. {31} Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. {32} Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph 5:1-2) Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children {2} and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Here in this reading God is laying a serious challenge before us all. It is a challenge that has not and will not come easy to us, but is one that we are called on to take up because we are Christians. He does not make it an optional extra that we can take or leave: saying as long as you have faith, all these other things are just nice extras. He says, ‘you must;’ ‘do not,’ and ‘be:’ All imperative words. So here we are challenged in a very serious way.

Up to this point in the letter to the Ephesians, we have been reminded of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ: How we were dead in our sin and unable to help ourselves and yet God made us alive through Jesus and his death and resurrection. How, we are all now made one in Christ: that we are all now in this together as a part of his holy temple, and are now to continue to mature into the fullness of Christ. So we are reminded and assured that Jesus Christ is the all important one in our lives: that we now live in him: that he is the one who gives our lives meaning and purpose, and has good directions for us in our living and acting as his people.

By virtue of our baptism and faith in Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection for us, this new life; this Jesus and our unity in him, is now the centre of our lives. We are Christians; we are people who are dearly loved by God, and are a part of his family.

Therefore! Therefore each of you must, live as Christians: must live as people who have been claimed and saved by God himself: must live as people who are in Christ, and that he and his teachings, ways and living is what is important.
This however is where we start backing off very quickly isn’t it? Hey, look, I have my faith, and I want to make sure that I don’t get caught up in ‘good works’ thinking. Or look, we can’t really live up to that standard, so as long as we try a little bit and are a reasonably good person that is OK. Or look, we now live under the freedom of the Gospel and so as long as we have these positive and loving feelings then we are right. We must not take the Bible too seriously and literally, but interpret it light of our culture and our enlightened reasoning. And I could go on and on.

Let me illustrate what this kind of thinking is. Say I was an employee at MacDonalds, and I worked at the front counter and part of my task was to promote sales for the company. Yet I turn up for work, when I felt like it or when I didn’t have something else I wanted to do. So I was there only every second or third day, and then I came in wearing a KFC cap which was given to me last week because I frequent their shop regularly. Then when someone approaches me and asks about our burgers, I say, ‘Well yes they are good and tasty, but so are the ones from the shop next door, and in fact they are cooked as you order them, they are fresh and healthy: And look anyway why get too hung up on food anyway, why don’t we just go out and have a good time instead.
A bit ridiculous isn’t it? In fact, I am quite sure I would be out of that job very quickly. Yet that is the attitude we have toward our Christian life, and there we think it is OK: that it doesn’t matter. Who are we trying to kid? Ourselves, only; and in the process are doing immense harm to the witness of the church: and most importantly are thumbing our noses at the one who has done so much for us.
Let us be reminded again that, “Christ loved us and gave himself for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” We are his! He is now the one in whom our life has its meaning and purpose. He is in fact that only real life that we have. Therefore …..
Therefore, we must surely act in accord with what we say we believe. We really are to live what we are. We will have him as Lord of our lives, instead of ourselves and our wants. We will allow him to work in and through us what he wants. We will take his Word as the truth, without trying to twist and turn it to suite ourselves. We will come to worship to receive what he has for us and not what appeals to me. We will live our everyday life as people who are guided by his Word. We will take what he says here seriously with regard to proper living in unity.

That means we will put off falsehood and speak truthfully. The inclination both to tell a lie and to live a lie must be drowned daily in the waters of baptism. In Johns Gospel we read Jesus thoughts on lying, (John 8:44) You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. We however now are God’s children and so will now in all things, speak truthfully to one another. (Mat 5:37) Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; This truthfulness will be there in both word and action as distinguishing marks of those who are in Christ. As we look to Christ and live in the security of his grace we can be confident in being truthful, because we know that we don’t need to be something that we are not, or that we will be less than forgiven if we own up for doing something wrong. In Christ, we are a part of all that is truthful.

The second challenge here is to be in control of our anger. God knows that we all get angry. Even Jesus got angry. But in our anger, we must not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Here he is saying that we must not dwell in our anger and let it stew away in our minds so that it all grows out of proportion and leads us do things that are harmful for our relationships: to abuse and violence. In your anger stop and think before you speak and act. If there is good reason for the anger, control it so that the issue is dealt with, without attacking the person. In our anger, stop and first remember that we are in Christ, then act in a way that is appropriate to the situation. God said to Cain in Genesis, (Gen 4:6-7) "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Look to Christ and seek his help and guidance when you are in those situations.

The third issue that Paul deals with here is that of stealing. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Because Christ has loved us and given himself for us, we are not to be takers: not to be people who seek to get by in life without working honestly to obtain it. This occurs not just by outright theft, but in many other ways as well: cheating on our taxes, charging higher prices than necessary, not putting in an honest days work, by allowing others to contribute more in their offerings for the work of the church while we skimp on our giving so that we can have more to spend on ourselves, to just name a few.

Instead Paul says that we must work: we must be prepared to put in and do our fair share; so that we can share with those in need. It is interesting that here the rationale for working is not self-satisfaction, or even for the provision of our own needs, but in order to give to those in need. We work to meet the needs of the needy. This really gives us a different aspect to that of our society: The world demands and expects self-centred living, whereas God’s Word encourages sacrificial living. (Rom 12:1-3) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Next, we are to watch our speech. 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. The word unwholesome has very much the meaning, ‘rotten’ or ‘bad.’ It is speech, which is complaining, sneering, cynical, sarcastic, malicious and slanderous: speech, that jeopardies the harmony and unity of a community. Instead, we are to speak in a way that builds others up according to their need. Very much, here is the idea that in our speech the needs of the other person is to be in the forefront of our thinking. Our speech is to be for the benefit of those who listen.

In addition to these, we are told that we must, 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. There is much that could also be said here, but time does not allow. But the challenge goes out to us who are in Christ, to see to it that our life matches that with which we are. We are to no longer live as self and world focussed people, but God’s dearly-loved children: people who are in Christ.
So let us not grieve the Holy Spirit of God; let us not be hypocritical in our Christian life; by not matching our way of living to that which we are in Christ. Let us continually seek to go back to our baptism to be assured of forgiveness of our failure in this regard, but also to receive the strength and courage to go forward to live as we are here called on to do. Let us continually look to our Lord Jesus Christ, and imitate his love and his life: allowing his love and life be ours so that his fragrant offering and sacrifice to God may reach out to others around about us, and that all glory may go to him who is all-important. Yes, let us imitate him who is all important; and I pray that this all important one is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ; our great and awesome God. To him be glory and honour now and always. AMEN.
Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish

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