"Renewed in the Spirit" 2015

Ephesians 4:22-5:2

Ephesians 4:22-5:2

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

“Survivor” is really not a TV program I would ordinarily watch,

but I did see it one time when my son-in-law

was visiting and working the remote control.

The basic idea is that a group of people who don’t know each other

are split into two teams that will live

and compete against each other on a primitive island.

The two teams compete in various activities and contests,

and each individual tries to be an asset to their team,

because toward the end of the show

they gather for a council or tribal meeting,

and by secret ballot someone is voted off the island…

… and the last one remaining on the island

will go home with a million dollar prize.

As you might expect, this leads

to some low-down and sneaky behind the scenes conniving,

with each one saying and doing pretty much anything

so that someone else is the one voted off the island.

"Survivor" is all about crushing and eliminating the competition,

manipulating others with lies and snarky innuendos,

false relationships, betrayals and vicious attacks,

that place your interest above and ahead of anything else.

In contrast to the cut-throat and me-first world of “survivor”,

the Ephesians passage we read describes Christian community,

of trying to live in authentic & supportive relationships,

that joyfully share and reflect the gracious love

and compassion that we ourselves have freely received

as God's blessing and gift through Jesus Christ.

Though the words, “love your neighbor” sound simple enough,

it’s not always that easy to get that right,

and it’s not always clear or obvious exactly

what an authentic Christian life really looks like.

The letter of Ephesians was written to recent Christian converts,

mostly pagans and gentiles learning to live Christian lives,

but who did not know how to follow Jesus in their world.

The apostle writes, vs. 22-24

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

The letter begins with a wonderful description of grace,

and what God has accomplished for us in Jesus Christ.

The next section explains how that grace

and the Holy Spirit make us one in Christ,

each of us, a member of the body of Christ.

It makes it clear

that we do have responsibility for the welfare of one another,

… and that we are not isolated Christians each doing our own thing.

This section that we read today sounds like a morals checklist,

but it’s really not just another list of rules to follow.

This passage is intended to provide a practical picture

of how God’s grace and the Holy Spirit in us

transforms our perspective, values and goals,

specifically to love and care for those around us.

It’s not about trying to earn or deserve God’s favor,

but responding appropriately to God’s gracious love & blessings

as we are drawn into the body of Christ, the Church,

where we learn to work together despite our differences,

and how to make our diversity a strength for mission.

The idea is that an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ

will change our relationships, attitudes and behavior.

As the apostle explains, vs. 25-29

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.

Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.

Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for

building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

One time some friends and I

got all excited and inspired during a youth group retreat,

that we were going to live out our Christian faith

and teachings of the Bible in every possible way.

Our plan was to make a list

of all the commands and imperatives we could find in Scripture

as a handy reference tool for perfect Christian living

and exactly what to do in every possible situation.

We really wanted to obey and please God, so we tried to follow

that ever-growing list of commandments, warnings and rules.

It was a remarkable disaster that didn’t work out.

Even with all my will power and determination to the utmost,

there was no way

I could fulfill all those rules and commandments,

-- which left me feeling even more frustrated and defeated.

There was always something more that I should have done differently

some other way or some choice that would have been better,

something, somewhere, somehow that I had managed to fail.

So since we couldn’t accomplish faithfulness on our own,

we tried holding one another accountable, and pretty quickly

fell into a legalistic, joyless and graceless trap…

… and truthfully

having a critical opinion about everything and everyone

is probably not a legitimate spiritual gift or fruit.

For a long time after that experience, I would still be inspired

by some wonderfully moving spiritual experience or event,

and I’d run with the wind at my back for a while,

but eventually I always came crashing back down,

and know that once again, I’d disappointed my Lord.

It wasn’t until I could accept and trust that God really loves me,

even with all my brokenness, faults, failings and mistakes,

that God’s grace and the Holy Spirit

could make lasting changes in me, from the inside out.

Instead of trying to be good because I feared God's wrath & reign,

my focus was more on deepening my walk by waiting on God,

by trusting and letting the grace of that relationship

gradually guide me toward more Christ-like behavior.

As we read in Ephesians, vs. 24, 5:1-2

… clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. … Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love.

The Christian life is not about a list of rules,

but is God's love, grace and mercy re-writing the human heart…

… a new heart that is motivated by the gracious love of God.

Our call really isn't to behave better, or to follow more rules;

but it is to grow closer to God, to walk nearer with Jesus,

and to submit more and more to the presence of God's Spirit,

so that our behavior and our attitudes change

as we are being transformed by grace from the inside out.

Our life together is about sharing and reflecting God's blessings,

being a healing & supportive community that becomes possible

through God's transforming grace and presence that is

active in us and among us when we gather in Christ' name.

The church is called to be something different, entirely different

than an island of castaways vigorously competing for a prize.

We are to be the voice and demonstration of God’s gracious love,

the light of God’s truth, grace and forgiveness in the world,

a place and people of genuine compassion and forgiveness.

Back in October of 2006, a very dangerous and deranged man,

armed with an arsenal of various weapons; knives and guns

broke into a one-room school house in Lancaster County, PA.

For the next hour or so,

he terrorized, then killed or wounded 10 little girls,

before ending this vicious rampage

by turning his gun on himself in suicide.

When the media reported on these events,

the focus was shifted away from his shocking violence

by the Amish community's response ----

--- of immediate and unfathomable forgiveness.

It is true that on the same day as those horrific killings,

the grieving parent of one of those young Amish victims

visited to offer words of comfort to the dead shooter's wife.

And when her husband, who had brutalized the children was buried,

75 of her Amish neighbors cared enough to attend his funeral.

The Amish community's response of such

radical and authentic Christ-like intentional forgiveness

absolutely mystified the media and the outside world ----

- as it proclaimed unequivocally the grace & gospel of Jesus Christ

in a way nearly beyond human comprehension;

and which faithfully lived out and exemplifies

the verses from Ephesians that we read earlier.

Ephesians is about living inward & outward a new attitude & mindset.

It is not adopting some new set of rules to follow,

but how our Christian faith guides and directs

the way that we choose to live and love

as a faith community and out into the world --

-- by living as those who are loved by the Lord

and equipped by God's Holy Spirit to serve.

If I were to suggest

that we all do some evangelism this week, most would balk.

But perhaps, to do unexpected kindness and show grace this week,

would be a more effective way to do evangelism,

that we could all practice this week and beyond …

… as we read in vs. 4:32 - 5:2

… God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We do have power for good, and we can all serve usefully someway.

We do have opportunities, capacity and resources to glorify God…

… so how is our faith making a difference?,

what impact?, and how is our relationship with God

guiding us when we are out in the world?

When the Amish community

freely forgave the perpetrator of unspeakable evil,

they proclaimed the truth and authenticity of the gospel;

more effectively and more powerfully than

even a 1000 pastors preaching from their pulpits.

The question is, what sort or people and faith community are we?

Some time ago, after a Salt and Light dinner one evening,

a boy from the neighborhood was playing basketball,

and when we spoke, he said that he was hungry,

his mom was at work and there was no food in the house.

Inside, he pointed, and asked if he could have one of the desserts.

Immediately, I sat him down with a big piece of cake and ice-cream,

while the kitchen crew

filled and packed a tray of leftovers for him to take home.

I wanted to make sure that he wasn't living on the streets,

so I insisted on driving him around to his mom's apartment,

and echoed the many others who invited him back,

urging him to participate in our youth program…

… which he did faithfully for a number of years.

His family has since moved away,

so we don't see him anymore, though I still miss him.

And wherever he has gone, and whatever else happens in his life,

he'll always know that here he was welcomed,

that here people cared in real and tangible ways.

And I rejoice that we did proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ,

we did demonstrate God's love and mercy in an authentic way

when we put our food and compassion into that hungry boy.

It seems to me, that what we do and say in this sanctuary on Sunday

is important and matters only to the degree

that each of us steps out from our worship and fellowship,

and live committed and authentic Christian lives

that proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ

out in this world, and out into our community.

Daily, I want to be renewed in the Spirit, as the song goes:

"day by day, day by day, O dear Lord, three things I pray,

to see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly

and to follow thee more nearly, day by day."