Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 7/29/12

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Date: 7/29/12 Text: Ephesians 3:14-21 Title: God’s Love Is For You. Last week I shared with you the good news that in Jesus’ birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension the walls that separated us from not only God, but from other Christians have been torn down. On the cross when Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” the walls of separation were crushed; walls which some have carefully crafted to keep God out. In the crushing of the walls Jesus not only made peace with God, but made it possible that we can have peace with each other. Peace is ours, for we are one in Christ. While there are parts of the body, just like our body has different parts, there is only one body in Christ. We, so often forget that truth, when we believe that our belief about God and his will for us is the right belief, even when that belief is not what God tells us in Bible. The most misquoted belief that people say is from the Bible is “God helps those who help themselves.” This belief is actually based on a quote from a pagan priest in the Sixth Century B.C. It was made popular by Ben Franklin. God actually helps those who cannot help themselves, as in God through Jesus Christ saves sinners because sinners cannot save ourselves. Another misquote that I hear quite often that actually comes from God’s Word is “All things are possible with the help of God.” It is usually used to bolster the confidence of a weak team in sporting events, although I hear in all kinds of circumstances when things have gotten desperate. While, like I said, that quote does come from the Bible it is the response Jesus gave the disciples when they asked, “If the rich can’t be saved who can.” for they, just like so many Christians believe today that if you are prosperous that means God has blessed you because he likes what you are doing. In other words, you are more special to God than others. Again Jesus is saying salvation only comes from Jesus saving act on the cross. Then there is the quote that many believe comes from God’s Word. It is “charity begins at home.” This one is used when someone is asked to help others outside of their circle of family, friends, or the congregation and they don’t want to help them. This saying was first used by a Roman comic in one of his plays. Paul knows his audience. He knows how they like to twist God’s Word to make themselves feel better, or to justify their behavior. So just before our Epistle reading for today he tells his readers of his letter that what he has been telling them is not from something he just made up, but from God himself through the work of the Holy Spirit. He goes on to tell them that does not make him special, for he is the least of the apostles that have been given the Word of God through the Holy Spirit. He is to preach to the Gentiles, that is us, explaining the mysteries of God, as they are shown in Jesus, the Messiah who came from heaven so that they who were outside of God’s chosen people could be saved and joined together into one family, the family of God, of which, as we read last week Jesus is the cornerstone. Paul is writing this letter from prison where the conditions were to say the least not good, for he ends the verse just before our reading for this morning, “So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.” He is not saying that his suffering gives them glory, but that he is suffering for that which gives them glory, the Good News of Jesus Christ. Paul paid a terrible price for telling others about Jesus. It is because of this suffering that he, as he writes, “I bow my knees before the Father.” Paul in his suffering acknowledges that what he is doing is for God the Father and the Gentile’s glory and not his glory. He continues, that all that are of God the Father, both those who have died and those living are of God the Father’s family. His riches, not earthly riches, but the riches of his love and grace of which there is no end will keep you his. Why his? They are his, both Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles because they are rooted and grounded in love, the love of Christ which roots them in God the Father. And in that love that they are rooted and grounded in they will experience just how far the love of God extends; from one end of the earth to the other’ East to West, North to South, from the highest of the heavens to lowest of the seas they will experience the all-encompassing love of God. This love of God, which is his forgiveness for the sake of Jesus, is so vast that it is impossible for us to completely know it even though we as Christians are filled with God’s love. . To help you get a better grasp of the extent of God’s love shown in his forgiveness I would like to read to you an illustration written by Dr. A. B Simpson. He wrote, “Being filled with the fullness of God is like a bottle in the ocean. You take the cork out of the bottle and sink it in the ocean, and you have the bottle completely full of ocean. The bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle. The ocean contains the bottle, but the bottle contains only a little bit of the ocean. So it is with a Christian.” Tozer, A. W. (2001). Tozer on Christian leadership: A 366-day devotional. Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread. God’s love, that wonderful filling, never ending love is a wonderful thing, for it offers forgiveness and peace in the turmoil of your life. There is no one and no thing that it cannot contain, for as we are told in 1 Corinthians 1:25, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” Don’t try and figure it out, for it comes from God, a gift from God. Let it pour into you, filling you with God’s love, as you submerse yourself in God’s love. Amen