Healing division (Ep. 1:15–23)
Last week, we reflected on the state of our church on a wider level. The numbers of pastors, people, and congregations in our district are not sustainable. Our bishops identified our need for collaboration, however that may look for us. We earnestly pray for and totally trust in the work of the Holy Spirit as we walk into our future as a church.
The Christians in Ephesus had their own problems, the main one being division. Sound familiar? They were struggling to work out how Jews and Gentiles could be part of the same body. After all, they had come from completely different places. The Jews had always been God’s chosen people and the Gentiles had never been.
Despite the many, many years since that time, there are certainly parallels with our own church. Despite our learnings and improvements, we still get tripped up by the same problems.
If the problem in the Ephesian church was division between Jews and Gentiles, what might our difficulties be? Over the years, our wider church has had its own division.
Our LCA was born out of multiple Lutheran synods coming together, but there is still a sense of different sides in many places. God blessed Mount Gambier by drawing St Martin’s and St Matthew’s together many years ago, potentially saving decades of unnecessary tension.
The second major cause of division in our church over the years has been the so-called “worship wars”, which still exists in many places as well. Again, we are blessed here to have relative peace when it comes to worship style. We have a mix of organ and piano on Sundays which gives us the chance to appreciate both of those instruments.
But worship wars are about more than musical taste. Many congregations around the place made the decision to hold two worship services on a Sunday or across the weekend. This helps to reach different people and accommodate different worship tendencies, but they can also eventually become two communities that are clearly distinct from each other.
The cause of division that is of course the most contentious right now is whether women can be pastors in our church. There are congregations in our country that have decided to become independent from the LCA over this issue. There have been very heated discussions within congregations and the differing opinions still have a ripple effect at times.
My point is that we Lutherans are not so different from the Ephesians, or any other bunch of Christians for that matter. There are many, many differences as well of course, but division has always existed among Christians, and sadly always will.
So, what does Paul have to say to a bunch of divided Christians? He had spent a few years with them at one point, but being an itinerant pastor, he moved on to other places and has only recently heard somehow that the Ephesians are hanging on to the faith. Having heard that their church is still going but has its issues, he writes them a letter.
“I don’t stop giving thanks for you,” he says. What a lovely thing to hear from your old pastor. He remembers us! He prays for us! That is always encouraging to hear.
But Paul doesn’t only thank God for them when he prays. He prays this beautiful prayer: 1
...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power to us who believe...
He keeps going, as Paul often does, but I’ll pause there. We heard last week about Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit on the night of his betrayal, and we hear it again today. He promises the Holy Spirit in so many places in Scripture, in the Gospels and in Acts, that we can’t miss it. When anything is repeated in the Bible, we know it’s worth paying attention to. Jesus’ ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit are two events that are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other.
But what is the point of the Spirit? Why does Jesus so clearly promise it and point to it? Why does the coming of the Spirit give the disciples hope even though their Lord and teacher is leaving them?
Paul tells us why. Last week, we heard that the Spirit teaches us everything we need to know and reminds us of Jesus’ words. Paul says that the Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Same thing.
This revelation that the Spirit brings is not just about seeing a vision or having a light bulb moment so to speak. It’s about having the eyes of our hearts enlightened.
Obviously, our eyes are for seeing. What is the heart for? We tend to think of it as the place our emotions and feelings come from. We talk about our hearts being broken when a relationship ends. We talk about moments of affection being heart-warming.
Back in Paul’s day, the heart was less about emotion, and more about thoughts and intellect. When you really start to understand something in a deeper way, you receive it into your heart. If someone tells you a really hard truth that you know you needed to hear, it “cuts you to the heart”.
By nature, our hearts are dark places. Our deepest thoughts and desires are kept very close to keep anyone from finding out what we really think.
Having the eyes of our hearts enlightened has two parts to it. The first part is exposure. By his Word, the Spirit brings our darkest thoughts and desires into light so that all can be seen, for better or worse. The more that the Spirit shines his torch on in there, the worse it gets. There’s actually nothing good to be found in there at all. Our closets are full of skeletons.
The Spirit, by the Word, and specifically the Law, exposes our sin. Like ripping off a band-aid to expose the wound, or sitting in a dark room to suddenly have a spotlight shone in, it hurts.
The second part of our hearts being enlightened is the light of the gospel. Once all has been exposed and I realise how much of a sinner I really am, only then can it be taken away by the words of forgiveness and life. Only then can I truly receive the gospel, which is Jesus’ death and resurrection for my sin. That is the goal of the Spirit and the purpose of the Word. But you can’t have the forgiveness without the exposure first.
Any kind of strategic planning or character assessment requires full, brutal honesty. When I went through the numbers I heard at Synod last week, that’s what was happening: brutal honesty. At Synod, after hearing about what a terrible shape we’re in as a District, we then went into a Strategic Planning workshop at our tables. We talked about the different strengths and weaknesses of certain areas and where our opportunities are. District Church Council is going to collate what we delegates came up with to produce a Strategic Plan for the District. I am very intrigued to see what the results are and what it will actually achieve.
The Spirit doesn’t stop here. He doesn’t just reveal our sin, bring God’s forgiveness and then leave. He hangs around to help us to know three things in particular, according to Paul here:
The hope to which God has called us
The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints
The immeasurable greatness of his power to us who believe
What is the hope God has called us to? By the forgiveness of sins, we also have the promise of eternal life in heaven. This is something we know very well. We have a future hope, but we also have a present hope. Hope that your daily grind is worth the struggle. Hope that our short lives on earth actually have a meaning. Hope that God has put you in this world for some kind of purpose. Hope that we as a congregation still have a place in this community. Hope that the Spirit will continue to work through us, despite our uncertainty or our reservations. The Spirit gives us hope for our future and our present.
What are the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints? Well, think about an inheritance. It’s not something you earn the right to. You have it handed to you simply by being a son or daughter. In Paul’s day, it was only the sons who got anything. But by our baptism, we all become sons of God in the sense that we all receive an inheritance, whether male or female. And what is that inheritance? That’s something I find hard to put my finger on. Is it the Holy Spirit itself? Is it the gift of faith that was given and taught to us by our parents and grandparents? Is it our church that generations before us have built? Is it the forgiveness of sins given to us as a birthright by Christ himself? I’d argue: yes. All of the above. Hence the riches of it, the abundance of it. We inherit so much by simply being a part of the family of God.
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power to us who believe? The power of God is not always good news. God has power to punish and to kill and to condemn. God has wrath which is something we don’t really get. Yes, God is a good God and a gracious God, but he does have wrath and anger as well. But to us who believe that power is very good news indeed. The wrath of God was satisfied when Jesus was killed on that cross. That’s where all the sin of the world of all time and space met. That’s also where it was all put to death and dealt with forever.
So now, to us who believe that Jesus died for the sin of the world, that power is great news. God’s power is most complete when it is combined with love. These two can’t be separated. What’s power without love? Domination, greed, selfishness. What’s love without power? A nice emotion, empty words. God’s love is powerful, and his power is full of love. How do we know? What can we look at to see his power and love demonstrated for us?
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...” (Jn. 3:16) In Jesus we see the fullness of God’s love in action.
On Ascension Day we have to ask the question: if God loved the world so much that he sent his Son, why would he take him away again? Paul gives us a good answer:
God’s might was at work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, above every rule, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And everything is subjected under his feet and gave him as head over everything to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
God sent his Son into the world as a human being. The Son dealt with sin, carrying out God’s saving work. Now, there is a human being sitting at the right hand of God. He didn’t stop being a man when he ascended to heaven. That means we, as human beings, also have a place in the life of the Triune God. Confused? It keeps going.
We have a place in the life of God because Jesus sits there as a human being, but it goes the other way too. As the church of God, the gathering of his holy people, we are the body of Christ in the world with him as our head. That doesn’t just mean that Jesus rules over the church.
Think about the role the head plays in the human body. In it sits the brain, which is the control centre of the whole body. Without the head, the body dies, unless you’re a chook of course.
Anyway, the point is that Jesus didn’t really leave when he ascended into heaven. By the Spirit, we became his body in the world. We share in his power, his wisdom, his righteousness, even his work on earth. Jesus came into the world to tell it the message of hope and forgiveness, and to show people the love of God in action. The task of the church is exactly the same.
And everything is subjected under his feet and gave him as head over everything to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Christ fills all in all. He fills our hearts, he fills our lives. May we, as his body, faithfully serve him. May he, as our head, fill us with his Spirit and enlighten our hearts so that we come to know God better each day. May we be united under him.
Let’s close by praying St Patrick’s prayer, which I think must be inspired by Paul’s words to us today.
May the Strength of God pilot us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Host of God guard us
Against the snares of the evil ones,
Against temptations of the world.
May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!
May Your Salvation, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and evermore. Amen.
