As a reminder: Ephesians may or may
not have been written by Paul to a church or churches that may or may
not have been in Ephesus. It has no presenting controversy; that is,
it's not like the letter to the Galatians which was written to
counter challenges about Paul's teaching on circumcision as well as
introducing dietary laws and rituals, nor is it like Corinthians
where Paul wrote to address congregational divisions and the
marginalizing of their poorer members (among other things). It can
be said, as I did last week, that Ephesians might probably be a
catechism for the instruction of new converts to the faith.
The other point to remember about
Ephesians is its structure. It is a giant funnel that begins with
the cosmic and eternal plan of God and moves down to the role and
mission of the Church, our place in that mission, how we are to live
as Christians, and how that ultimately shapes our individual lives.
God – Christ – Church – Members – Individuals.
Unlike last week which followed
immediately from the previous week, this week there is yet another
gap between readings. The good news, though, is that it's not all
that important in the big picture.
Last week's lesson was all about
leading lives worthy of the calling to which you were called. It
begged and encouraged us to live gently and humbly, with patience,
bearing with one another in love, and striving for unity. It
encouraged us to mature in Christ, learning sound doctrine, and using
our gifts, talents, and skills to build up each other and the Church.
Last week was all about what was
expected of us as Christians. The vast, cosmic, eternal plan of God,
fulfilled through Christ, unifying those who were formerly separated,
is represented in the Church, with you as holy members who are rooted
and grounded in love. And as members of the one, holy, catholic, and
apostolic Church, you are urged to live lives worthy of that calling.
What might it look like if we lived
lives worthy of our calling? It's one thing to suggest we do so, but
what does that actually entail? This is a rather common question.
Think back to when Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Do you remember
what follows?
“And the man said, 'But who is my
neighbor?'”
As humans we love to complicate things.
For instance . . . If I throw this football to someone, what will
they most likely do? They will probably catch it. HOWEVER,
anyone who has followed football recently knows all about the trials
and tribulations of defining a catch. I also have it on good
authority that there was initially only one Commandment: Don't do
bad stuff. But then people started asking, “Define, 'bad'.” And
some other people asked, “Define, 'stuff'.” We like to
complicate things.
When Paul said, “Lead a life worthy
of your calling,” he knew he had to offer some examples. And those
examples are in today's passage.
Put away falsehood. In other words,
not only do not lie, but actively work to end the spread of lies,
untruths, alternative facts, mis-rememberings, and the like. God is
truth. When we lie, when we participate in lies, when we allow lies
to go unchecked, then we are not behaving as God would have us
behave.
Be angry, but do not sin. On one level
this is very personal. We have all had arguments with any number of
people. Don't carry that anger with you. Don't resort to belittling
or abusing the other person. It not only applies to our
interpersonal interactions, but it also applies on larger stages.
White supremacists and those who support them work to create violent
confrontations. Be angry at their hatred, but don't resort to sin to
fight back. Don't mirror their actions in the name of goodness. Sin
is sin, regardless of who does it.
Let no evil talk come out of your
mouth. Again, don't belittle or degrade another human being. Use
your speech to build up, not to tear down. This applies not only to
our actual verbal speech, but to our virtual speech as well. How we
address people and topics on Facebook, Twitter, and other online
platforms is a direct reflection on our church and God.
Let me be clear . . . It is perfectly
acceptable to call people out for their hateful, bigoted, ungodly
behavior. It is perfectly acceptable to point out lies made by
people whose entire pattern of speech relies on lies and
misdirection. It is perfectly acceptable to call out hypocritical
behavior, expecting one group of people to live a certain way while
you yourself live another. Jesus did this all the time.
But that doesn't mean we cease to
respect the dignity of their humanity. Because it is then that we
too easily move down the path of evil. It is then that we too easily
assign non-human status to “Those” people.
Be kind to one another, forgiving one
another as God in Christ has forgiven you. Be imitators of God and
live in love. While all of the other directives give us guidelines
on how we should live in society, this last bit may be directed
specifically to life in the Church.
As people who have been called before
the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in love, this is
the one place where this behavior should be evident. This part of
the body of Christ, this household of God, this Church, should be a
place of tenderness, kindness, forgiveness, and safety. Children
should be free from abuse. Women should be free from inappropriate
words and actions. Men should be living examples of holy and loving
lives. We all should do our best to not intentionally harm or injure
another; and when we do harm or injure, we should be quick to
apologize without excuse. And forgiveness should inform how we move
forward, because we have been forgiven by God through Christ.
As Christians, we are expected by God
to live lives worthy of our calling. As Christians, we have a
responsibility to make this body, this household, a place of truth,
honesty, love, support, and forgiveness. This is a place where we
(hopefully) learn the ways of God. This is a place where we first
learn to practice what we preach.
Because if we can't live that way in
here, what makes us think we can live that way out there?
Amen.
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