Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sermon for 7/29/12

Rooted and Grounded (Ephesians 3)

Lord of all, may we be rooted and grounded in your love, that we may grow and flourish as fruitful vines in your kingdom, for you live and reign with the Father and the Spirit, one God, now and forever.

We’re in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14-21. I hope you’ve brought your Bibles or found a pew Bible and are following carefully, taking in this Word of God, preparing yourselves to take the Gospel into your homes and your workplaces throughout the week. God’s Word is living and active. As our Lord speaks to us we can look to him in hope.

I have with me a little plant. It’s pretty small, just a beginner. But since I took the seed out of the packet and got it wet, this plant has germinated and sprouted. It’s begun to make roots. If I treat it right then it will continue to grow and will eventually produce a large number of seeds which can be eaten or can be planted to grow more pole beans like this one. But what will happen to this plant if I decide to stick it in the ground leaves down and roots up? Or what if I leave it lying here on the pulpit and forget about it? Or if I stick it back into my pocket and don’t plant it? No beans from this plant! It will be done. It sprouted but was then choked out. But if I plant it in good soil, if I make sure it has the conditions for growth, like adequate water and lots of sunshine, if I keep the rabbits from eating it, the plant will grow big and strong.

In the same way, Christians, as we see in Ephesians 3:16, are strengthened by the Spirit of God. How are we made strong? In verse 17 we see that we are rooted in Christ. He is our strength. He is our redeemer. He is the one who has called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. He is the one who gives us every spiritual blessing, including forgiveness, life, and salvation. We are rooted in Jesus, not in ourselves.

But how many times do we find that we have rooted ourselves in us? How many times do we find that we are following our own impulses, our own opinions, following our heart rather than following our savior? This is a serious issue. After all, we act according to our nature. If we are redeemed people, purchased by Jesus, we should be able to expect our actions, and deeper down, our attitudes, our beliefs, our values, will be conformed into Jesus’ image. Doesn’t that mean we can trust our heart? Sadly, the heart is deceitful in all its ways. When we trust our feelings rather than Jesus and his Word we set ourselves up for failure. We bring forth offspring according to our nature. In Genesis God created Adam and Eve. He gave them their lives. He made them in his own image. But after the Fall, when Adam and Eve began having children, they had children in their own image, in a fallen image, in a sinful image. We bring forth according to our kind. The bean plant will have beans, not corn, and definitely not kittens. We sinful humans have sinful children. When we act in ways that are rooted and grounded in ourselves we bring forth sin and evil. We bring forth offspring according to our nature.

But where is the Holy Spirit in all this? Don’t we look to him to guide us? Don’t we confess that in our Baptism the Lord has washed away our sin and given us a new nature? Don’t we confess that as we confess our sins our Lord is faithful to forgive us all our sins? Don’t we confess that we who believe on Jesus are new creations? Where’s all that bit (in Ephesians) about being created for good works in Christ Jesus? The Holy Spirit is right here. He’s right with us. He’s the one who binds us to Jesus. He’s the one who roots us in Jesus. We see that in verses 18-19 of Ephesians 3, where the Lord is rooting us in his love.

Where does this evil come from then? It comes about because when our Lord gives us a new nature he doesn’t take the old nature away entirely. That old man has to die. We drown him in baptism, but he’s an awfully good swimmer. So we put the old man to death daily by contrition, by sorrow for our sin, by repentance, receiving our Lord’s forgiveness again and again. And as we put that old man to death again and again we may see ourselves growing in grace, being rooted more securely in Jesus. Though we are at the same time saints and sinners, the word of Jesus grows in us as we grow in him.

But I know what you’re going to want to ask. What does it have to do with me? This is all well and good, talking about being rooted in Christ, growing in him. But this is all something invisible. What is the love of Jesus going to do in me? I want to see the evidence.

Maybe this is good news. Maybe not. But it’s the news our Lord has given us through his apostle. What does the love of Jesus do in me? In verse 19 he fills me with the fullness of God. In verse 20 he gives us more than we can ask and more than we can imagine. So how are we going to count those things? How can we tell how full we are with God’s fullness? How can we know when he has given more than we can ask or imagine. I know if you are like I am you can always imagine something else. But Jesus is the one who makes us grow in him, who fills us with himself, and who provides more abundantly than we can imagine.

How are we going to measure this? Are we going to measure it by what some churches would call the “abundant” life, the “victorious” life? Maybe we can measure it by seeing instances of sin disappear. Maybe it’s because God fills us with His Spirit and we don’t end up yelling at our kids. Maybe the Lord works in us and we no longer have some of those sinful desires we had. Maybe he breaks our addictions. Maybe he gives us a desire only for the person we’re married to. Maybe he blesses us with money, with health, with good looks. But what if he doesn’t? What if we are conformed into the image of Jesus, whose family left him. What if we are conformed into the image of Jesus who was betrayed to death by one of his closest friends? What if we are conformed into the image of Jesus who had only one nice garment when he died? What if we are conformed into the image of Jesus who was tempted to sin in every way that we are? And what if we fall into that sin? What if those addictions don’t let go of us? What if our desires remain sinful? Does this mean that Jesus was not victorious over sin and death? Does this mean that Jesus has not redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us? Does this mean that we needed to do something, or a few somethings, or a lifetime full of somethings to earn our salvation because we didn’t believe well enough?

The fact is we can’t measure how we are growing in Christ. We can’t tell how fruitful we are. We can’t measure it based on anything that we know. In fact, all we do is trust that God’s grace is sufficient for us. We take Jesus at his word. We realize that when Jesus says he has finished conquering sin on the cross, that means he has finished conquering our sin. We realize that when Jesus plants us, roots us, in his love, we are rooted in a sure and certain hope that Jesus has given us. We look to the Word of God, not to ourselves, for our confidence. We find that Jesus is the one who has given us his nature and who will, somehow, sometime, according to his own plan and in his own time, make us fruitful vines.

Sadly, sometimes we have this idea that the Christian life is all about how we feel about our spirituality. Sometimes we think it’s all about our interpretation of Christ’s love. Sometimes we think it’s all about how we have decided the abundant life works. Sometimes we put our own standards on this life and we ignore God’s standards. May the Lord give us repentance and faith. May he give us grace to look into the Scripture and see that it is full of Jesus’ love for us. May we see the Word of God nourishing us, causing us to grow and flourish, just the way the water and sunshine can make this bean vine grow and flourish. May we be rooted and grounded in Jesus.

I wonder if some of us need to stop and realize that redeeming love of Jesus? Maybe there’s someone here who has never known that our Lord has really defeated sin on our behalf. Maybe you think the Christian life is for everyone else, that is is not for you individually. Maybe you believe but feel like you have been torn up by the roots. Believe in the Lord! He is the one who will strengthen you by the Spirit, who will root you and make you grow in him. He is the one who will give you more than you can ask or imagine, in this life and the next, as he gives forgiveness, life, and salvation, all as we believe Jesus as the one who has accomplished all we need.

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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