This Week's Light Service Sermon

Light Service Sermons for the Month
Under Construction--God at Work
God's Design for Your Life
DATE: May 27, 2001
TEXT: Ephesians 1:3-6

Two fishing buddies took their attorney friend out for a fishing expedition at their favorite lake. They were sitting in their fishing boat when one of the pastors suddenly said, "Oh, I forgot to tell my wife what time I'd be home." So he stood up, stepped out of the boat and walked right across the water. He called his wife, walked right back across the water, stepped back into the boat and picked up his fishing pole. Just then the next pastor said, "Oh, I forgot to tell my secretary what time I'd be back." So he stood up, got out of the boat, walked right across the water, made the call, walked back and climbed back into the boat. Well, the attorney thought to himself, "Wow, I want to try that." So he stepped out of the boat and sank right to the bottom of the lake. And then the one pastor said to the other, "I suppose we should tell him where the stumps are."
Doesn't it seem as we look around us, that everyone appears to be walking on water while we find ourselves sinking up to our eyeballs. Why can't I be as spiritual as the rest? Why do I seem to be stressed out all the time? I listened to a radio commercial that said to the effect that if you purchased what they had, "your skin will clear up, you'll look good in leather or rubber; you will never have to worry about good luck; your boss will give you a raise and so on and so on and so on." We feel we do all the things that other people around us are doing and yet we still feel empty inside.
Well, if that's you today, I have great news for you. God offers you a better way. God offers you today a way that you can enjoy your spiritual journey. Whether you've been a Christian all your life or you're just beginning your search today, God offers you ways to enjoy a great spiritual journey as we discover God's design for our lives. Before we talk about that, let's pray.
(Prayer)
Turning to the Ephesians text that Sheila read to you just a moment ago, Paul not only writes these words, he sings them: "Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven." He's singing; he's praying these words. And right up front Paul turns our quest for spirituality upside down. You see Paul lived among people. He thought of spiritual development and growth from the bottom up perspective.
Some say, "If I could just work myself into a frenzy, then I could escape this mortal body and my spirit could connect with God." Others said, "If I just deny myself all the pleasures of life; if I move into a cave and live without food and all of these things that we do desire, then I could escape and I could connect with God." If I struggle, if I strain, if I try harder, maybe I could climb that ladder and attain a higher level of spirituality and be a super-Christian. Paul lives with those people. Well, 2000 years later, I believe many still approach spiritual growth in this way. Even Christians say, "Yes, I understand that I'm saved by grace through faith and that it's a free gift, but I've got to work hard to become a stronger, more mature Christian." It's no wonder we see so many Christians walking around with sad faces. Because, we can't do it!
So Paul turns this approach upside down. Instead of you searching for God, Paul says God is searching for you. Instead of starting with what you need to do, Paul starts with what God has done for you. And here we read, first of all says Paul, "You are gifted." God has gifted you. "Praise to Jesus Christ for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us from heaven." The gifts, the spiritual gifts that God has brought to you from heaven.
Her name is Maya. Maya is an African American girl. Her parents are divorced. She spent most of her childhood living with her grandmother in a tightly segregated Arkansas town. At age eight her mother's boyfriend raped her, landing her in a St. Louis hospital verging on death. Finally, she recovers, but she can't speak for over a year. They ship her to San Diego to live with her father. She runs away from home and lives in a junkyard car for over a month. At nineteen she's a single parent with a three-year-old child. She falls in love with a pimp and to please him, tries to become a prostitute.
Now fast-forward 40 years. The place is Washington DC. The time is January 20, 1993. The occasion is the inaugural of the new President of the United States. And the woman who is asked to present the inaugural poem is Maya. Maya is now Dr. Maya Angelou. She is a distinguished professor at Wake Forest University and author of nine books. She's the recipient of numerous awards and when this regal woman stepped forward to the platform, and began to read in her deep, rich, melodious voice, her poem, tears flowed all across the United States. The same woman, Maya, who faced such a difficult, horrendous childhood, is now thriving as a 60 year old woman. You see, Maya, although she faced all of these challenges, knew that God had given her a gift. And she focused her life on that gift of poetry. Instead of focusing on her deficit, she focused on the gift.
Friends, God has given us many, many gifts. Paul says right here, spiritual gifts. Plural. Not just one, but many. It's easy for us to focus on what we don't have--the deficit in our spiritual life--but Paul invites us to focus on what God has given us which is many, many spiritual gifts. "You've been blessed with all the blessings of heaven." You've got it all. And so, with that in mind, you can live expectantly.
If a person needs help, God has given someone the gift of helps to assist him or her. If another needs wisdom, God will give that gift. If she needs discernment, God will give that gift. If he needs courage, God will give that gift. God has given each of us many spiritual gifts, at least one of which he has given in abundance that we might contribute in a significant way to the kingdom of God. With that gift or gifts we can live life assuredly with bold expectation.
Second, Paul says you are holy.
Verse 4, "Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy innocent and loving people."
Most of us don't think of ourselves as holy, do we? Father O'Malley was called late one night as he was preparing his message for Sunday morning. The hospital invited him to come and give last rites to a man named Tom who they thought was dying. So Father O'Malley drove through the night in the rain and the wind, arriving after midnight to the hospital. As he walked to the door he said, "Tom, I just happened to be passing by and thought we could chat a minute before you fell asleep." And Tom said, "That's a bunch of garbage. They told you I'm dying, didn't they? And you're here to give me my last rites, aren't you?" Father O'Malley said, "Is there anything you'd like to confess before I pray with you?" Tom said, "No way, absolutely not."
Well, Father O'Malley didn't give up. He sat down with Tom and he began to talk about other things. Minutes passed into hours. Two hours later, at about four in the morning, Tom finally mustered enough courage to open up. He shared with Father O'Malley this story. He said, "I worked as a switchman on the railroad all my life. Thirty-two years, two months and eleven days ago, a few days before Christmas, my co-workers--the whole yard crew -- drank our way through the night to push the cold, windy night away. Well, I was drunker than the rest of them so I agreed to go out at 8:30 in the rain and the wind and push the switch for northbound 8:30 freight train. I guess I was more drunk than I thought because I pushed the switch in the wrong direction. At 45 miles an hour the train barreled through the next intersections and slammed into a car with a young man, his wife and their two children." Tom said, "Every day of my life I feel the guilt of being responsible for their deaths. I know that there is no way God could ever forgive me for that."
There was a long moment of silence. Father O'Malley looked at Tom for what seemed like an eternity and finally laid a hand on his shoulder. He said, "Tom, if I can forgive you, God can forgive you. Because that was my father and my mother and my two sisters."
Probably the deepest challenge for all of us in our spiritual journey is the sense that God is out there and God is angry and I can't be forgiven. But the great news is that God sees us through the focused lens of the cross. The cross where Jesus gave his life for you; suffered and died for you. God sees you covered with a white blanket and the name of that blanket is Jesus. God sees you pure and holy. Of course, when I peek under that blanket I see all the crud in my life. I see the things I'm not; I see the things I do that I shouldn't do. But that's now how God sees us. God sees this white blanket of love called Jesus. And so you can live freely. You don't have to live with this burden. You can come boldly before the throne of God's grace and connect with God face to face because you are absolutely forgiven.
Third, Paul says you are adopted.
In verse 5, "God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God's own adopted children."
Early in my ministry, when I was serving a congregation in Ashtabula one of the youth in my first parish became pregnant. Her mother called me and I drove over to their house. We talked for a long time and after much discussion, her daughter decided to put the child up for adoption. I contacted Lutheran Children's Aid and Family Services in Cleveland and told them about the family's desire.
As the weeks became months, another couple contacted me in my congregation asking if I would write them a letter of recommendation as adoptive parents. At first I thought they might be the ones being considered as the adoptive parents of the baby in our parish but I learned that would not have been possible given the close proximity of the two families. However, for me it gave me the chance to become intimately involved with the adoptive process from both sides at once.
The joy that was felt by the couple the day they brought their new baby home was contagious. I remember being asked to come to the house for the coming home party of their newest child. That joy was superceded only by the agape love the young girl showed toward her newborn when she placed her in the hands of the Lutheran caseworker the day after her baby was born. I could only marvel at the strength of character of this young girl as she gave away her child out of love.
From the unique place where I stood I could on the one hand understand the excitement that God feels when each new person is baptized into his community as well as on the other the gift of love that he gave when he traded his son for our well being. It says from the beginning of time, from the foundations of the world, God has dreamed of adopting each of us as his child. He thought about it every moment, every day until he adopted you as his child.
Which leads me to my final point, Paul says you are graced.
In verse 6, "God was very kind to us because of the son he dearly loved and so we should praise God."
God has given us his grace. Our relationship with God from start to finish is by grace. We don't deserve intimacy with God. We don't merit it; we don't earn it; we simply accept it. There is nothing we can do to deserve this intimacy. Any deepening of that intimacy is God's work. It depends on God's grace. Like I said, while most Christians understand that we are saved by grace many of us assume that spiritual growth is the result of work, work, work. We have to try ever harder or we won't get it.
When Linda and I bike on the Towpath Trail, we often come across mothers and fathers pedaling bikes that have an attachment on the back with a third wheel. Pedaling that third wheel is a four or five year old, all decked out with helmet and riding gloves.
As father and son, mother and daughter pedal along, sometimes the youngster pedals like gangbusters. At other times he or she just lays back and lets Dad or Mom do all the pedaling. And that's the way it is with God. While becoming a child of God is a gift, living in this family is filled with responsibility and requires sheer determined effort. We have to work hard sometimes. But ultimately God is at the wheel. God is pedaling and we are riding with him. God is the one who provides the grace and the strength to carry us along. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more and there is nothing you can do to make God love you any less. We are a member of his family by grace. Once in this family, however, it is our choice whether or how to live in this family.
D.I. Packer says it this way in his book, Knowing God, "Knowing God is a matter of grace. It is a relationship in which the initiative throughout is God. We do not make friends with God. God makes friends with us."
Friends, for me it comes down to this: because I've experienced that grace and I experience it every day, I have fallen so madly in love with God that it colors every aspect of my life. Spirituality isn't one compartment over here; it's my whole life because it's Jesus living in me. And so you can live joyfully; you can live with joyfully; you can live with joy and grace, words that come from the same root. As we live in that grace, there is joy. As we live in Jesus Christ, we're gifted with all of the spiritual gifts that we need. We are holy. God declares us holy, not because we're perfect, but because he declares us so. We're adopted as his beloved children and we're graced each and every day.
Over these last few weeks, since the news of my departure has become more firmly embraced, members of Faith Lutheran Church have taken the opportunity to share with me story after story of how God has graced their lives in recent years. It has been a privilege to hear these stories, these graces upon graces. My only regret is that more of you do not have the same chance as I do. And so I would encourage all of you to not withhold your grace stories. Share your stories with others of how God has graced your life. When we know we are loved, when we know we are living in grace that God adopts us, then we are free to give love away.
Plugging into Jesus is your source of life and joy and peace and hope. Keep the Faith brothers and sisters and faith will keep you.
AMEN