Ephesians 5

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0:00 For the rest of us, we finished up last week looking through all the stories of food in Luke's Gospel. And so this week I got maybe seven completed family bingo charts. So if you turned one of those into me last week or this past week, I've got your prize for you. See me after. But the fun thing was to think about, I mean, like the last week we were talking about how Jesus demonstrates to his closest community that he's fully alive by eating food with them again.

0:41 And it makes me think that wherever we're going next, whatever the life to come has in it, it will have good food, among other things. And that's encouraging because to me that means that when we eat together here, it is a small little sampling of what's coming. And so good food is a place to really settle in with people that you love and enjoy and invite the presence of God into the meals.

1:16 It can be a little appetizer of the great feast to come. That's encouraging for me, among all the other things that happen when we eat together. We have like six weeks of summer left, school starts like the second week of August. I mapped it out. And so we're going to look at six of my favorite Bible verses between now and the start of the school year, which I'm kind of excited about.

1:48 Just because I'm the one talking, I get to pick them. But what I did want to do was invite you all to share texts that you really love. There's some little cards there under the pictures and we'll start to switch out the comments from last year's values with favorite verses that you have. In the little email that I write every week, I'll take one of those and try and kind of understand its meaning and share it out as a favorite verse.

2:18 So today as you're hanging out, if you think about it, if there's a verse that comes to mind that you really love or an idea that you love that you want to find a scripture around, put that down on that one of those cards, so I have those for the next six weeks to think about with you. But the first one that I want to look at always jumps to mind. Now other ones are coming to mind so many little scriptures. But the first one is from Ephesians chapter five.

2:49 If you want to look there, Ephesians chapter five. I like little snapshots. If people were to pick, tell me to pick favorite verses immediately. Anything that gets us into the snapshot of the real life of people in the first century is really interesting to me. Early on in seminary towards the beginning, I had this professor I've talked about before.

3:21 I've talked about him before. He's my favorite professor, professor Okamoto. And he liked to ask these questions that most of the room would answer wrong. And one of them that he asked was, how do we know about God? How do we know about God? How do we come to faith? How do we know about God?

3:53 And the standard answer was the scriptures. He'd write the question on the board and then he'd write, what's that Bible? Exit out. That's not how you know about God. And then people'd say, well my parents, it's like what? Maybe but no. He'd keep going until someone said, usually he had to give it to us. He had to give it to my class. He said he usually had to give it to classes. And we know about God because of the person of Christ.

4:23 It's that God came down in Jesus of Nazareth. We accept the scriptures because Jesus told us to. Because the New Testament talks about the person of Jesus and Jesus used the Old Testament. That's why we like the Bible. We believe we receive the Bible because Jesus told us to, not the other way around. We don't receive Jesus because the Bible tells us to. We receive the scriptures because Christ told us to. And so he's like the scriptures, if it was 300 years before they settled on the content of the New Testament

4:59 and the church of God existed before then, if the church had continued as an oral culture and never written down the scriptures, the way of Christ would have endured anyway. If they'd had cassette tapes in first century, maybe they would have recorded the teachings. In little cassette tapes, now we'd have to figure out how to digitize and get into some kind of iTunes format. So I like the stories of scripture that remind us, at that point then, early in the seminary,

5:31 I started to realize that we're people of the person, Jesus of Nazareth, even more than we're people of the book. Sometimes you might hear it called people of the book. We're not people of the book. We're people of the person, Jesus of Nazareth. The book testifies to them. And then I started to realize, you know, to be Christian, a follower of the way of Jesus, isn't to agree with a set of doctrines extracted from the scriptures. And say, yes, check, check, check, check, no.

6:01 And it's not even to sign at the end of the scriptures and say, all these things are true, no. To be Christian is to be a part of a group of people, a tribe, a nation, a kingdom, a faith, a tradition, to be a part of a group of people who are keeping alive the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth until he returns. And these people can trace their lineage all the way back to the first ones, through the kings of Israel, through the judges, down through the patriarchs, and to the beginning, past the flood.

6:35 The flood is spoken about in all civilizations. We go past the flood, and we know why the flood came. And we go forward from Christ out into infinity because we know that Christ has resurrected a new sort of life and offers it to all who come in. So that this world is not all there is for us. And after death, like him before us, we raise and go on to what's next. And so to be Christian is to be a part of this group of people whose key testimony is in the story of scriptures, but are keeping alive the teachings of Jesus in those scriptures and in our traditions until he returns.

7:12 And so my favorite little texts are the ones that remind us that behind the scriptures is a community, and the community is what matters. The people of God in the world is where the heart, the beating heart of faith is. And this little section in Ephesians chapter 5, remember what's happening here, Paul? He's like, he had the crazy conversion experience on the road to Damascus and changed from persecuting the followers of Jesus to starting congregations.

7:44 He would go to synagogues first and tell them, hey, what we found is that in Christ is the culmination of all the covenant promises of Israel. You've been persevering under these covenant promises. No more. They've been fulfilled. And we have a new king whom you can live under now. Come with me and we'll learn about his teachings together. And he would pull some people from the synagogue, then he would go to the marketplace and announce that, and some people would gather. And now they'd start gathering in somebody's home, and they would teach what it meant that Christ had come, and that he was reigning now.

8:14 And how do they live as they wait for his reign to return? And he would stay there for a year and teach them. And that was it, right? They had the Psalms, maybe. They had the prophets, and they had the teachings of Paul. And when you read, then he would leave and go to somewhere else. He'd leave Ephesus and go to Galatia. He'd leave Galatia and go to Philippi. He'd leave Philippi and go to Corinth. And then when they had a question, they couldn't figure out somebody would write a letter, somebody would take it and go find Paul wherever he was.

8:45 This is how you get an answer. Go find Paul wherever he is. Ask him your list of questions in the letter. He'd write a letter and send it back, and they'd read it out loud. These are our New Testament letters, right? And so Ephesians is a letter back to the church in Ephesus where Paul is answering their questions and expounding on what it means to live with Jesus Christ as King now. And one of my favorite little verses comes in Ephesians chapter 5.

9:17 Let's say... Verse 12. Let's start at verse 12. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 12, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when everything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awakosleeper, and arise from the dead.

9:47 And Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. That little, in my section it's indented, Awakosleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Is it set apart in your, whatever you're looking at? Yeah. Most people think that he's quoting there because he says that. Therefore it says.

10:17 And it's not, he's not quoting the Old Testament there. That phrase Awakosleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Is not in the prophets anywhere. Remember that Ephesians, all of Paul's letters were written before 80 AD. Easiest, Gastimate. And they were written definitely after at least 35 or 40. They think the first ones were written in the late 50s, early 60s. So in about 20 years his whole ministry career.

10:47 So if he's writing to this church in Ephesus and he can quote something that's been written that's not in any of the scriptures. It's not in the Old Testament, it's not in the intertestamental scriptures. Most theologians think this is a hymn that the early church had written. It didn't take him very long, did it? One of the key rights in the early church. At the hill of Galilee before Jesus ascended, he gathers the 11 and says all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

11:25 Therefore I command you, go and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and by teaching them. To obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always at the very end of the age. So one of the first things they did, especially in that first generation, is they'd come to a town Paul would announce there is a king who has come. He's the culmination of all the Old Testament. He reigns now, he's the king of all kings, he's the prince of all peace. And he's coming back but we can live under his reign now. And his reign will endure forever since on a throne that never ends.

11:58 How do you get in? Repent and be baptized and come into his kingdom. So they're going around and baptizing people. So one of the very first things the Apostles Creed is stood up in the shadow of baptism to what are they baptizing people. The Apostles Creed, the God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as Christ commanded. But then they would have these hymns. Oweiko, sleep her. Rise from the dead and Christ light will shine on you.

12:31 Can you imagine like ancient Ephesus, Greeks and Jews gathered together. Often we know that it was cross class because it started to create problems in the early church, right? And in Galatia, it was cross race that started to create problems too, Jews and non-Jews. In Corinth it was cross class, wealthy and non-wealthy creating problems.

13:05 But you can imagine them gathered together in somebody's house. Like in Acts it talks about in Phoebe's house. It was a merchant of fine cloth. Big enough where they could gather in that space where they would have banquets that we talked about in the open courtyard. And they have a baptism and as they baptize a whole family, often whole families at the beginning are converting into the way of Jesus. Then the group sings, Oweiko, sleep her. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.

13:36 The light of Christ will shine on you. It's a beautiful metaphorical language. As with metaphor, sometimes it sounds beautiful and then we can't quite put our finger on what it means. But definitely it comes with intention the language is chosen carefully and on purpose. Awake, O sleeper. So what would they be awaking from in the first century?

14:07 I just want to look at another letter of Paul's here to start to think about it. It's Galatians chapter 3. So if you're in Ephesians in a paper copy, go just to the left a little bit to Galatians. It's the book right before Ephesians. Galatians chapter 3. I'm looking at verse, roughly verse 27. Maybe we'll start with verse 25. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

14:48 So then the law was our guardian until Christ came. In order that we might be justified by faith, but now faith has come. And we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you all are sons of God through faith. For as many as you were baptized into Christ Jesus have put on Christ. Then as neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.

15:22 For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. I mean that the heir as long as he is a child is no different from a slave, though he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, whether we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law,

15:55 to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, father, so that you are no longer a slave but a son. And now if a son, then an heir through God. They had this sense taught by Paul in the first century that Christ did something compelling, something unique, something different,

16:25 that changed all the categories of the way that God related to humanity. Remember at the very beginning God creates all the world and says that it is good. And then as the capstone of creation forms humanity out of the dust of the earth, it forms them, shapes them and breathes into their mouth, the breath of life. Male and female, he created them. And then he said, go forth, be fruitful and multiply. Rule the earth and subdue it. Be the image-bearers of God out into the world.

16:56 And in close proximity to God they lived this way as God's image-bearers. And when they spoke they carried his authority and weight. And they had the ability to choose how they would accomplish that rule and reign. Save for one choice the knowledge of good and evil. Let God decide where good and evil reside. Right? And then humanity can't keep themselves from it.

17:28 The one space of God will decide good and evil. We'll know the difference. We can arbitrate between what is good and what is evil. And when they do that they can't handle the weight of the responsibility. And the pressure of deciding between good and evil shows up in their experience of life as guilt, shame. Like the vulnerability is no longer safe. They're afraid.

17:59 And so God ushers them out of the garden and begins giving them rules. And the rules multiply. Right? So finally when he takes them out of Egypt and he says, okay, now finally we've got one group of people. You guys are going to be my people. People are going to see that if they let me be in charge life will be better. They're like cool, but we don't know what it looks like for you to be in charge.

18:29 He said, cool, follow these rules. This is what it looks like to have God in charge. Just do this. Right? And this is what Israel perfected. All the rules. Keep the rules and that will keep you in line so that you can be a shadow of what you were supposed to be in the world. And Paul was very good at the rules, right?

18:59 He was a Hebrew if Hebrews. He was a student of Gamaliel. They loved him. He was very good at the rules. This is why when he meets Christ on the road to Damascus, when Ananias comes and takes the scales off his eyes, he can't believe it. This is why when he writes the letter to Galatia, he says, why are you going back to the rules?

19:29 We've been awoken from a slumber of rule following into a life of spirit-filled living. This is why when he writes the Galatians, he says, why would you go back to the rules? You have life according to the spirit, no longer life according to the flesh. Inside out, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithless, gentleness, self-control, you can be the right person from the right way. You have awoken to something new.

20:00 Praise God. And so this is what propels Paul all around Asia Minor by his feet at the pain of death. He can't believe that humanity has been reunited to the life it was made for. And he says, you guys have been walking around outside the garden for so long. You thought this life out here was all you were destined for. Wake up, he's like. Wake up and realize there is more for you.

20:31 You are more and there is more for you. Be baptized. And then this is why they sing as they baptize families. Awake, O sleeper. Again to who you are. The image bearer of God in the world. The light bringer in the world.

21:05 We could go on with this. This is why Christ breathes on his disciples and says, receive the spirit, whatever you bind on earth, bind on earth, whatever you loose on earth, will be loose in heaven because the words of the image bearers have the capacity to bring life or usher death. So your forgiveness removes burdens. Your words carry the weight of the spirit of God out into the world, especially when you release the gospel and remind people they are not the some choices of their worst desires or basis instincts,

21:38 but they are who God calls them. That this world is not all there is, that they're destined for something more. He says that awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead. Okay, rise from the dead real quickly. I know I'm going to go on too long here guys. But it's one of my favorite verses, Colossians chapter 2, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead. Colossians chapter 2, verse 12. We'll start at verse 8.

22:11 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and according to Christ. For in him the fullness of the deity dwells bodily. And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Having been buried with him in baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God,

22:50 who raised him from the dead and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him. Having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers authorities and put them to shame by triumphing over them in him. He says first they say when you are baptized, awake, oh sleeper, and then, awake, oh sleeper, and then rise from the dead.

23:26 You have been cultivating death. You have been pursuing selfish instincts with spin out with no end. You have been pursuing retribution and anger which have no satisfaction only lead to more retribution and anger. You have been following addiction which do not get you where they just bring you further down and further down into death. They said, awake, oh sleeper, and rise from the dead so that now you have the capacity to choose life.

23:57 Moses, when he looks at the Israelites before they cross over the Jordan River, says, I give you the option to choose between life and death from the beginning. The way of God has been life and the way of ourself has been death leading to death and destruction. And the first century church as they baptized knew that in baptism you were awoken from a slumber that said this world is all there is for you to remind you that there is more. And you were raised from the dead. The death of your choices no longer determined.

24:28 You are alive and have the capacity to choose life together with the Spirit of God. Awake, oh sleeper, rise from the dead, choose the way of life that goes beyond the grave into forever. Awake, oh sleeper, rise from the dead and then this is the best part and Christ will shine on you. This is why it's the best part.

24:58 When you are dead asleep, who wakes you up? When you are dead, dead, who can bring you back to life?

25:32 To be awake and alive in the world is beyond your capacity. You cannot will yourself to life. You cannot grit your teeth and bear it and choose life over death. You cannot. This is why when the first century church is baptizing people into the reign of Christ, they put them in the water and they bring them out and they say, they bring them out and they sing the song, awake, oh sleeper, rise from the dead and who will shine on you?

26:07 Christ will shine on you and show you what is true. Paul is talking to the Ephesians and going, look, light reveals things for as they are. Get into the presence of Christ. You have been baptized, which means he has woke you up and given you faith, which means also that he has brought you to life as he has put the bad parts of you to death. He has brought the best parts of you to life. Now, stand in his light and let it shine on you that you would know and remember and experience what is true and alive.

26:46 This is why I talk to kids about prayer. How do you get into the light of Christ? This is why we gather every week. Because you are getting versions of reality thrown at you all the time. From outside you and from inside you. And many of them tell you that actually death is the way of life.

27:20 That self-satisfaction leads to contentment. That escape leads to joy. Many of the ways of life that are being spun at you from outside and inside you tells you that hoarding leads to plenty. When in reality weaknesses strength, folly is wisdom. Generosity leads to plenty.

27:52 Service leads to contentment. You see? You need the light of Christ if you will be awake and alive. Not the way of the world or the dark recesses of your anxious mind and heart. You need the way of Christ. Arise, awake, oh sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ's light will shine on you.

28:22 Our people have been doing that for a long time. Millennia, baptizing and clinging to the truth this summer in Orlando Amongst all the politics and the professions and the children and the marriages might we also get into the light of Christ and be reminded what is true that we could be awake and alive.

28:56 Not asleep and dead. Let me pray. Hey Lord, thank you for the testimony of Paul to the Ephesians. Might it be a testimony to us this morning that we could be reminded of what your gospel can do, what your son has done, who we can be. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.