The Best But in the Bible

Sermon for Sunday, July 19, 2009

Text:  Ephesians 2:1-10

The Best But in the Bible

I wish to share with you the joy of discovery that happened to me this week in study and preparation for this sermon.    In this second chapter to the Ephesian church Paul tells a group of people (along with us today) who they are.  Now, that might be strange for you to hear.   We don’t like being told who we are, do we?

Paul begins this chapter saying, “you were dead” through the sins in which we once lived.   Great way to open, huh?  Paul does not mince words.  You were dead.  At least he didn’t say you ARE dead.  Something must have happened that caused him to put this in the past tense.   We’ll see what that is in a moment.    The “you” is plural here, just as it is throughout his letters. He is speaking to an entire church, a number of people.   We were dead, he tells us.   We were once followers of a lie – following the world’s ways and the ruler of the air – the same spirit that is at work in those who are “disobedient.”

This word disobedient is interesting.  In the original language it is apeitheias.   You might hear our word “apathy” in that.  In the Greek the word means obstinate, rebellious or disobedient and our word apathy generally means a lack of concern or interest.   You can see how the two are related.  All of us, Paul says, have fallen prey to the spirit of apathy – we have all been obstinate, rebellious, unconcerned and have shown little or no interest in the things that matter most.   But even worse than this we don’t even know what we should be showing interest in.   The word Paul uses for sin is “harmartia” which literally means “missing the mark.”  Without God, we are off target.  We are not online.  We are way off course of where we ought to be.  We keep thinking that what we are doing and what we show interest in and what concerns us are worthy of our concern and are good and just but the truth is we are dead and apathetic.  We are rebellious and uninterested in the things that truly matter.  We are apathetic to the things that matter to God.   Augustine, in the 4th century, summed up our problem well:  We have disordered loves.  Because of sin, because we miss the mark, we love the wrong things.   Part of salvation is a reordering of our loves to be in line with God.

Paul’s world is not so different to our own.  Many of us are lured by the spirit of the air, the course of this world, and at times we follow like lost sheep.   Someone here today might be caught in this web – this web of lies and deceit – that tells you this is the path to wholeness, to happiness, to well-being, to peace.  A path to salvation.  Often they are quick fixes.    They seem like sure bets.  That if you just have more of this or less of that you will be happy.   That it doesn’t really matter how you live your life or what you believe just so long as you make yourself happy and don’t hurt anyone.   If you look a certain way or have the right boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, kids or grandkids, then you will truly be living.   If you make more money, drive the right car, live in the right house, or retire on the beach than you have truly lived.

In Paul’s day there would be a tendency to place hope and faith in the empire or in Rome or the many mystery gods that they worshipped.  In fact, Ephesus is known to hold a great temple to Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.   Towards the end of the book of Acts Paul goes to Ephesus and we learn this about Artemis:

Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, ‘After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.’ So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.

About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, ‘Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.’

When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’  (Acts 19:23-28)

Did you catch what the fuss is about?  The people are hearing rumors of this “Way” that Paul is teaching, a teaching that claims all other ways are false ways and that there is only one true Way – one true Lord of heaven and earth.   His name is Jesus.  Not Artemis.  Not Caesar.  Not anything else we put our trust in.   The reason this caused a great disturbance in Ephesus is because much of their economy was tied to the worship of Artemis.   If people became Christians and began following the way of Jesus, what would happen to all the commerce in the city?  It is for reasons such as these that we find Paul in prison as he writes many of his letters, particularly this one to the Ephesians.

And so it is that we all have our ways. We have all devised ways and means to get through life.  We don’t bow to the altar of Artemis but we bow to other altars.  Other things, other people, other ways have become our lords.   And so the gospel intrudes on our lives and calls us on this.  It tells us we are dead. It tells us we are following the spirit of the air.   It tells us that we are apathetic and that our desires and loves are out of sync.   And sometimes our natural inclination is to fight back like the Ephesians did in Acts and rage, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” as if saying it enough times will make it true.  We fight against this judgment on us because if we are honest, we fear what Jesus might call us to do.  We fear where following the Way might lead.   What if it overturned our economy like the Ephesians feared?  What if it meant following a different course in life than we had devised for ourselves?  What if it meant changing our priorities?  What if it meant living by faith instead of sight? What if it meant that as a church and individuals we would speak truth to power and not be apathetic about the injustices that occur daily all around us?  What if it meant that we could no longer go about doing things the way they are always done?  What if it meant that calling Jesus Lord would require us to live as he commanded, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to love as we wish to be loved, to pray for our enemies, to give of ourselves even if it meant our death?

And so we gather around this letter written by a pastor from prison and we hear his judgment upon us.   We can’t deny the truth of his words.  At one time we knew no other way than to devise our own way.  We followed the spirit of the air – any whim or fancy that promised to get us through today.  And it could have stayed this way.

Had it not been for the best but in the Bible.   This is who you were, Paul says.  This is who all of us where – Jews and Gentiles.   We were like everyone else.

BUT GOD, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were DEAD, made us alive together with Christ!   By grace you have been saved!

Hear that again:   We were dead.   We were following any which way we could find to give us life.  They were all missing the mark.  We didn’t even know how to care or love the right things.   BUT God, out of his rich love and mercy, MADE US alive with Christ!

You need to learn this word, partly because it’s fun to say but more because of it’s significance to your life.   The word Paul uses to say God “made us alive” is συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezōopoiēsen).  Fun to say, isn’t it?    But it’s significant to the people in Ephesus and to us because Paul wrote this word in such a way that it declares a past action done and accomplished.   Paul is saying that an event occurred in the past that has changed everything.  We have been made alive with Christ.   Paul puts the exclamation on this by inserting, “by grace you have been saved.”    Again, the phrase “you have been saved” is written by Paul in a way that makes it very clear that our present state is the result of a past action and that it had nothing to do with us – we were passive in this whole affair.     God, because of his love for us, has saved us.   We don’t have to keep chasing the wind.  There is another Way.

Paul tells us the truth about what we were – we were dead and we were apathetic – and then tells us the truth about what we are because of what Christ has done.   He tells the Ephesians and he tells us here today that we have been raised up with Christ and seated in the heavenly places so that in ages to come God can show us his immeasurable riches and kindness.   By grace you have been saved through faith, he says, and all this is not your doing but God’s gift.   As we look back again to the first chapter and the doxology that Paul begins this letter with we discover an amazing thing – God’s gift to the world is Jesus Christ.   I think it is fair to say that the grace and the faith that saves us is not our own but is Christ’s.  Jesus is the one  who is faithful.  Jesus is the one who is bringing God’s plan for the world to pass, by “gathering up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (1:10).

In a time and place in history, nearly 2000 years ago, God took decisive action to save us.  In some mysterious way all things have been gathered up in Christ and because Christ was faithful we have all been made alive with him.    The faith of Jesus saved you and I.  His life, death and resurrection changed the entire universe.   You were dead, you are now alive.

Last week we also talked about Paul’s prayer finishing out chapter one.  He prays that we might come to know this truth about us.  He prays that the eyes of our heart be enlightened so that we may know the hope to which we have been called (1:17-18).  Just as it was true that we were dead and did not know it until we were told, so it is true that we are alive in Jesus Christ and do not know it until we hear the good news.   We need to have our eyes opened to the truth about us so that we can live into God’s reality for us.  We need to put our faith, our trust, in the one who is faithful. There are “good works” prepared for us by God to be our “way of life” (2:10).   God has taken the initiative to save us, to offer us a way that does not lead to death, and has given us a new Way.  One that leads to life and truth.   Why would we insist on following the spirit of the air when we know who and what God has done on our behalf?   Why would we shout, “Long live Artemis!” when we have been told who the true lord of heaven and earth really is?

Yes, God’s gospel intrudes upon our lives.   It is unsettling to be told our ways will only lead to death.  It is disruptive to learn that Artemis is not going to pull through for us and that our entire lives will have to change.   This is why I find it so comforting to know that it is Jesus’ faith that saves.    Sometimes I admit I lack faith.  Perhaps you do as well.   I am reminded of a time John Wesley shared with a friend his own lack of faith and the advice given him was “Preach faith till you have it!”   Sometimes I need to name what is true and right and good even when I don’t at the time feel it.   The Gospel is true and right and good.  It tells us the truth about us despite our feelings which can be deceptive.   Perhaps you need to hear from time to time like I need to hear from time to time that you have been gathered up by Christ.  You, whether you feel it or not, are in Christ.   Jesus Christ has enough faith for all of us.   We can move forward as a church in confidence and boldness knowing that as we make Jesus more and more the Lord of our lives we can withstand any challenges the fall of Artemis might cause for us.    We can go forward praying together that all the world might have the eyes of their hearts opened so that they too will know the hope to which we have all been called.   And we can go forward to do the good works God has prepared for us as our way of life.   You were dead.   BUT God, who is rich in mercy and love, made us alive with Christ.    Glory to God, Amen.

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