October 2006
Preached on 10/28/07
David Endriss
All Saint’s Day
The Inheritance of the Saints
Introduction
I don’t go every year, but when I do, I thoroughly enjoy myself. The conference speakers are always excellent, but where the planners pull out all the stops is during meal times. The portions are huge, the quality spectacular, and even the presentation of the meals rates several stars on any connoisseurs rating system.
Now before you think I’m taking my study leave funds and being overly extravagant and living at the Hilton, this conference takes place every summer in Hastings, Nebraska at the Presbyterian college located in that town. It easily is the most economical conference that I attend. But during those seven days I learn something about the meaning of lavish. Here, they definitely don’t feed us a typical college type meal. The organizers of this conference just pour it on. In fact, that’s what lavish means. It comes from an Old French word that refers to a downpour.
The Lavishness of God
Perhaps more than any other epistle in our New Testaments, Ephesians bubbles over with the lavishness of God. Just a quick scan and you catch phrases like, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, we have redemption and forgiveness according to the riches of his grace, we have obtained an inheritance, we have been given the spirit of wisdom. And that’s only a start! The poet Elizabeth Browning once said, “God’s gifts put our best dreams to shame.”
Think of some of the lavish stories found in the gospels. Jesus didn’t just turn a glass of water into wine at that wedding in Cana of Galilee; he turned a couple of hundred gallons into the finest wine possible! That’s lavish!
Or the story of Jesus’ feeding of the multitude. Taking that boy’s lunch he didn’t just feed a few of people a couple of bites, but over 5000 people had enough to be stuffed! And even then there were left-overs! That’s lavish!
Or how about Jesus’ parables that highlight the magnitude of God’s love? Of the shepherd who goes looking for one lost lamb? Of the woman who searches her house for a lost coin. Or of the extravagant love of a father who welcomes home the wayward son? That’s lavish!
Poor Children
Sadly, many believers live out their entire lives as if they belonged to a poverty stricken family. Instead of being children of a parent who lavishes them with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, they act as if they are languishing in poverty.
Perhaps this is why Paul works so hard to remind them of their inheritance. In Christ, he writes in verse 11, we are inheritors of the riches of God! But not only are we heirs to the riches of God, but it also goes the other way around! In verse 18, we are a part of God’s glorious inheritance! Or as one commentator put it, “Our riches is in God, and God’s is in God’s saints.”
A Rich Prayer
The second part of today’s scripture reading is a wonderfully rich prayer that the apostle offers up for the church in Ephesus. He prays for three different things for them. First, that they may know what is the hope to which God has called them. Believers who act like they are languishing instead of enjoying the lavishness of God, do not know the hope to which they have been called. We are God’s children! Our heavenly parent has bestowed upon on wondrous gifts. Even more, our hope for the future should strengthen, empower and enliven us!
Secondly, Paul prays that his readers would know what are the riches of God’s glorious inheritance among the saints. Languishing believers don’t realize to whom they belong! They forget that they have been adopted into God’s wondrous family and are heirs to the treasures of heaven! God has shared God’s glory with us, God’s children. But in turn, we bring glory to God as we do God’s will.
And finally, Paul prays that the Ephesians would know what is the immeasurable greatness of God’s power for us who believe.
Time to “Power Up”
Both my sons are athletes. They run, lift weights and take pretty seriously their chosen sport of baseball. Along with practice and exercise, they are perhaps more careful about avoiding “junk food” than their father. Instead, they often favor drinks like Power-aid or a Power Bar. Some Christians I think are in desperate need of powering up their spiritual lives.
Paul in Ephesians provides a healthy dose of Power-aid to his readers. You may recall several weeks ago I spoke of Paul’s letter to his good friend Timothy where he encourages him to remember that God has given him a “spirit of power”. (2 Tim. 1:7) The Greek word was dunamis - dynamite!
It is that same word that Paul uses here in Ephesians. That we might know the immeasurable greatness of God’s power for us! Languishing believers fail to know God’s power that is at their fingertips! It is a power that can and does change lives. It is the power that raised Christ from the dead and can raise us up to new life.
Our Saintly Inheritance
On this particular Sunday we reflect, remember and celebrate the lives of believers who have travelled this road of faith before us. Some were famous; many, many others are anonymous to all, save God. Some are known to only a select few. Family members, loved ones and friends will not forget the impact they had on their life.
Part of our glorious inheritance from God are those who are sitting around you today, and by extension believers past, present and future who have lived faithful lives. As Presbyterians we sometimes think of ourselves as a “connectional” church. We see ourselves not simply as a gathering of believers who worship on the corner of First and Howard, but as a part of a larger fellowship of believers who seek to serve and glorify God and also to hold each other accountable. That concept of connectedness is rooted right here, in the solid belief that we are a family, called together by God.
Conclusion
Anymore, I have become very suspicious of anyone who prefaces a claim with the words, “The key to success is...” If that were truly so, then why is it that so many people can’t even find the lock, much less the right key? There are so many “so called keys” to success that I have begun to shut my mind to anyone who begins to suggest that they have found a new one.
But let’s adapt the metaphor a bit. We all know that in certain homes or buildings you might have several different locks on doors, each one requiring a different key. But if you are in possession of the master key, it will allow you access into every room. As we discover who we are as God’s children, and also the great inheritance that God has blessed each of us with, doors will open in all areas of our lives. Now that is truly lavish!
Texts: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
Lam. 1:1-6, 3:19-26
Preached on 10/7/07
David Endriss
World Wide Communion
THE SUFFERING CLUB
Introduction
Have you ever stopped to consider what an amazing, wondrous, and odd thing the church truly is? Early on in the book of Acts we read that the members of the early church shared all things in common. Their food, their property, their money. But the church is also that place where suffering is shared.
Pain is at its very worst, when it is experienced alone. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who suffered much for his faith during World War 2 wrote that, “it is infinitely easier to suffer with others than to suffer alone”. But spread out and shared, suffering becomes bearable. One of the important ministries of the church is to do just that, to spread the pain around. To weep with those who weep. That is why this church has fellowship clans, prayer chains, and the deacons.
But Paul, in writing to his young friend, Timothy, speaks not just of suffering in general, but of suffering for the gospel. We don’t worry too much in this country about suffering for the gospel. We hold on to the 3rd article of the Bill of Rights that,
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;...
We sometimes treat this as if it were Scripture itself. But on this particular Sunday, World Wide Communion Sunday, it is important for us to remember that there are literally dozens of countries around this world that know nothing of such freedoms and there are millions of God’s children who truly are suffering for the gospel.
First Century
The culture in the first century was deeply embedded as an honor and shame society. Statues were erected to pay tribute to those who were respected and held in high esteem. Similarly, public displays of ridicule were given to those who broke society’s rules. Today we don’t worry as much about “losing face” before our peers. After all, we praise individuality. We just don’t prize the honor and shame codes of earlier generations or previous societies. Or do we?
A quick look at our forms of media and we discover exactly whom we honor and to whom we shame. This last week I was counseling with someone in the county jail and he shared with me the most shameful and humiliating experience of his life, being paraded through an airport, handcuffed.
But we don’t have to go to that extreme to understand that we still live in a society and culture that knows shame. Take a moment to answer for yourself this question, “Why is it so hard for me to talk to my friends, family or colleagues about Christ?” The answer probably has to do with shame.
Back in 1992 a survey was conducted among Americans about what they feared the most. Interestingly, death was ranked only seventh. The thing that Americans fear the most? Speaking before a group. What is it that we fear? Of making a fool out of ourselves.
The gospel is just as unpopular today as it was 2000 years ago. The world will always be hostile to those who bring the gospel. Ironically, it is this gospel that provides the very healing that the world so desperately needs. This is why Paul, writing to Timothy offers some strong words of encouragement that are as relevant today as they were back then.
Listening to Paul
I like how Paul wrote verse seven. He includes himself; God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Yes, he was writing to Timothy, but he also recognized that he was prone to being afraid of suffering for the gospel. But while God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, God has given us power. This same word he uses again in the next verse, that we are to rely upon the power of God. A couple of weeks ago I talked about a Hebrew word that I had to struggle with to remember. But here is a Greek word that takes very little effort to recall. Power. Dunamis. It is the very word from which we get dynamite. God has given us dynamite! Power! If we only believed that, our lives, our church, our world would be dramatically changed!
Keep in mind that even while Paul was advising Timothy to speak boldly about the gospel, that Paul himself was already in the midst of suffering. He was a prisoner of Rome and under arrest. He even speaks of his imprisonment in verse eight. Why is it that Paul can be so bold, even to the point of inviting Timothy to join with him in his suffering for the gospel?
The reason is that long before Paul became a captive of the Romans, he had been captured by Christ. His heart, soul and mind were bound by his Lord. The Romans might have his body for awhile, but ultimately, even that belongs to God. Paul’s confidence is based on his unwavering belief that stronger than all suffering is the power of God.
In our Old Testaments, there is a book that we seldom read. It’s not very long, but we avoid it because it’s not very pleasant. It can be very tempting to avoid people who are hurting. This small book, Lamentations, tells the sad story of a people who are suffering and in pain. They are the vanquished and conquered. Perhaps we don’t read this book very often because by and large in this country, we believe ourselves to be on the winning side. Things are generally going well. But not so for those in this small book. Even more, the victors are rubbing the losers noses in it! “Where is your so-called great and holy God that was to protect you?”
Here is the kind of suffering that Paul talks about. A suffering that falls back only upon the power of God. A suffering that realizes that I’m not good enough, smart enough, strong enough and resourceful enough to be able to fix this. It is at these moments that we understand that if Jesus Christ did not rise from dead; if he truly is not Lord, then we are without hope.
But we do trust in the power of God, even at these lowest points. That’s why the poet of Lamentations writes: But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (3:21-23)
Conclusion
During this next month, the national Presbyterian Church is leading a big push to remind people of the mission of the church. This emphasis is simply titled “Mission Challenge ‘07”. Already there are hundreds of missionaries traveling all over the country sharing with churches and presbyteries about the greater work of the church of Jesus Christ. One of those missionaries, Jonna Reeder, will be at our own church Tuesday afternoon and evening. Jonna works in community development in Central Asia. If you would like to hear more about her work, I would encourage you to come Tuesday evening.
Many churches in our Presbytery, ours included, have had a long standing relationship with those in El Salvador. The committee of the presbytery that oversees this relationship is called “Campeneros” or companions. It is the church helping to share the suffering and pain of others.
Paul has invited us in 2 Timothy to join with him in being a fellow-suffer for the gospel. At this table we join with others, from around this planet on this day, who share in Christ’s suffering.
But even as we join together in this way, we become acutely aware that we do so because Christ first became a sufferer on our behalf.