Ephesians 4:1-16, Psalm 78:23-29, & John 6:24-35 on August 4th, 2024
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
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Grace Mercy and peace to you in the name of our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
The feeding of the multitude was the one miracle that is in every gospel. We studied it last week in worship here from the gospel of John the sixth chapter, and we are going to stay in that sixth chapter all through August. Because now the gospel and Jesus is going to tell us what that miracle was all about.
But it started with last Sunday's story, right? Thousands of people gathered to listen to Jesus hungry, no local McDonald's, no place to send them to get food. But one boy with a lunch of fish and loaves that somehow Jesus was able to take and feed the thousands with leftovers to spare. A miracle.
And now we are told Jesus and His disciples have left that place. They have continued to journey and as has happened so often the crowds are following Him. They want to know, how did you do that? Jesus wants them to know, why did I do that? What's it all about? That's what we are going to be looking at for the rest of August in the sixth chapter of John which talks about Jesus as the bread of life.
It's not enough that your billies get full. What's important is that your life is abundant. Your life is full. You have life with the eternal one. Jesus says, I am the bread of life. I like to think of that as wonder bread. You all remember wonder bread, right? When I was a kid watching Saturday morning television, one of the shows had wonder bread as a sponsor and the tag was always wonder bread. Helps build bodies. Twelve ways. Twelve ways. And I would want my mom to get wonder bread and she'd go to the supermarket every week and bring home sunbeam bread. Probably a few cents cheaper, probably just as nourishing, but disappointed me it was not wonder bread. How would I get my body built? Twelve ways.
Now I got to thinking about that because we're going to be talking about this bread of life so much in the weeks to come that it's important to look at what that means through the lens of our passage from Ephesians which I believe teaches us how wonder bread or better yet the wonder of the bread we share in the sacrament of holy communion. How that helps build the body of Christ. Twelve ways. And if we look at the lesson in Ephesus, it's all there.
The first thing that Paul tells us is, well I've got to look at this place called Ephesus. Has anybody been to Ephesus? It's a cruise ship stop. Some of the best ruins that you're going to want to see of the ancient world are in Ephesus. You can see the library. You can see the Bads. You can see the public toilets. You can see where the gladiators trained. Ephesus had the Asian games. Not like today's Olympic games, they were more about chariot races and gladiators fighting to the finish. But it was an important city in ancient times already established when Jesus lived and when Paul would go around beginning Christ's church throughout the world.
Ephesus was a trade city. It had a diversity of people. It had all kinds of sociostrata. The rich, the poor, the in between. It had various religions. The temple of Artemis was there. She was not a nice goddess. If you got her angry, you might be in trouble. Her temple was there. Paul is in a city with so many divisions to say in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. To say in Christ there is neither Jew and Gentile. We are one. And in this new covenant that we celebrate in the way God reveals God to be through Jesus Christ. We have to build up a body that realizes that. That's where he is in the reading we have today.
First thing, we are to lead a life worthy of our calling. Anybody here baptized just by show of hands? Oh, a few. Imagine a church with baptized members. When we come to the waters of baptism, we are called to be Christ. We are made members of his body. We are to show God through Jesus in our words and deeds and continue his work in the world. First thing to build the body and make it strong is to remember our calling. I'm not just on this earth for the sake of one Beth New Bauer. My calling is to be Christ's instrument in this world. Your calling is the same because you are worth it. You are worthy of that calling. How special does that make you feel that God needs you and you and me to do the work that God wants to do in the world? Keep that in mind.
Second thing, with all humility. You like the word humility? It makes you feel a little low when you think of being humble. But humility comes from the Greek word humus, soil. It's where seed is planted. It's where life grows. If you think you've arrived and you know it all and you have nothing to learn and no place to grow, you're not humble and you're not growing. But to be humble enough to learn, to have something added to your life that keeps the body strong.
Next thing with gentleness. Okay, it's the weak word, right? Gentleness to be gentle. Jesus speaks of his own spirit as being gentle. To be gentle is not weak. It's to be gracious. It's to be kind when it's difficult to be kind. It's to not hurt others with words or actions thoughtlessly offered. It is a spirit of gentleness. One of the gifts of the spirit.
You know another gift of the spirit. The next thing that helps keep bodies strong. Patients. On my last congregation for epiphany, we'd always make epiphany stars. We cut them out and we'd put one word on it. It was one of the gifts of the spirit. And we'd put them in a basket and when worshippers came in, they reached into the basket, took a star. Whatever word was on there was the gift of the spirit. They were to pay close attention to in the year that followed. Do you know how many times I got patients? It almost became a joke. It didn't matter how I dug in that basket. It was patients because patients says you endure in a world that wants instant gratification. You can wait. You know that God answers prayer and if it isn't on your timeline, that's okay. Doesn't mean it's not happening. Patients is what we share with one another when we believe as God believes in each and every one of us that we are a work in progress and we are moving forward. Patients builds the bodies to be strong.
And after that, we hear from Paul we are to bear with one another in love. If I have to bear you, that doesn't say a lot, right? It says I've got to work at that. Can't be gentle and weak. I've got to bear your burdens. I've got to bear with you as you have your bad days. I've got to bear with the fact that you may have hurt me and reconciliation is still necessary and we've got to work that through together. Bearing with one another in love isn't that what Christ did when He bore the cross for us.
Bearing every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Hear a lot about divisions. Hear a lot about how we have to come together. It doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. It doesn't mean that this sandwich which is sliced in so many pieces can only make my favorite sandwich and you have to enjoy it because I know it's good. We are different but just like those people in Ephesus, we are called to realize we are all created by one God who called us in endowed on us unique gifts and talents so that we can use them together. Not be afraid of the differences but embrace them for what in humility we can still learn.
And then it goes on. You are called to the one hope of your calling and be aware of God gracing you with gifts. You don't want me here at St. Philip to be the church treasurer. Math was not my strong suit but it's somebody's strong suit and for that I give thanks. We are not just made to be pastors and prophets and evangelists and teachers who are also doctors and truck drivers and plumbers and people who stack the shelves and people who sweep the streets and people who greet us at the door. We need one another. It's the way God created us to be like a body that functions not because we are all fingers but because all the parts work together for the good of the whole.
And why? So that together we can equip the saints. You know the definition of saint right? To be sanctified again the waters baptism. To be set apart by God. To be given the spirit to do God's work in the world. That's what makes us the saint. We don't have to wait until we die. We don't have to wait until the church somehow validates that. God already has. But there are other saints out there who need to be equipped. Some of the work of the body this week will be sponsoring vacation Bible school for our children and other children in our community. Some of building up the saints and equipping them to live lives that God has given them are the gifts that were shared with walk-em-all youth services and Lutheran services serving youth and families. Those gifts equip the saints. Some of it is the way we listen to one another. Pray with one another. Take time to get to know each other, to support one another. Our work and our strong bodies is to strengthen one another as part of our body. To build up the body of Christ. That's what it's all about.
I don't know about you. I go to a gym. Not often enough. But I go to build up the body to keep it healthy. You have to exercise. And as the body of Christ, we exercise our faith in our practices. And we speak the truth in love. Doesn't mean that we don't have hard messages to share with each other. It's not all, excuse me John, cum baya. Sometimes it's a difficult hard word. But it's done to help the other person be built up and strong. Not to put them down so that we look better. Not to judge them, not to keep them apart. But to bring the healing love of God's truth and the utmost truth being, each of us is loved. Each of us is God's chosen.
And finally all of that to grow in Christ. We are all works in progress. None of us has arrived yet at what God intends us to be individually and as a congregation here in Murdle Beach. We are about growing. Science tells me if you're not growing your dead. The growing Christ is to grow to be who Christ is in this world. That others may see it in you and me and feel somewhat more blessed and strengthened to live their lives.
How do we do it? Friends can't do that on our own. But that's okay. This will be talking all this month. We're not on our own. Jesus is with us. He feeds us the bread of life. We have that chance this morning as we come forward, not just for wonder bread, but the bread of all the wonder that is our Lord Jesus. Amen.