Sermon for August 28, 2024

Sermon for Fellowship Communion - August 28, 2024

Based on Ephesians 5:20-6:9

(Please read the text beforehand, if possible.)

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14)

Paul said, right after, “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:20-21), “wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” There are those who don’t like these words and would like to tear them out of the Bible. But look at what else you would be tearing out - Christ Himself and His blessings for you and for the church.  - “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior, to which the church submits”

This is not a power play for husbands but a great responsibility given to them. “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.” And how much did Christ love the church, including you and me? Enough, Paul says, for Him to give Himself up for us. Jesus, God’s Son, came into this world “not to be served, but to serve us, and to give His life as a ransom” in payment for all of our sins (Matthew 28:20).

In that way, Paul says, Jesus “sanctifies us, having cleansed us by the washing of water with the Word.” That’s a reference to Baptism, water connected with the Word of God, through which the Holy Spirit brought us to faith and forgiveness. And we think of the gift of Holy Communion we’ll receive in a few moments, too, when Christ also comes to each of us, bringing in and with the bread and wine, His true Body and Blood for forgiveness and strengthening of our faith.

In this way, Paul says, Christ presents the church, including us, to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that we might be holy and without blemish.” That’s not how we often feel. We know that we have lots of spots and wrinkles and blemishes, literally, as we get older, and we also know that we have plenty of sins and spiritual blemishes that need forgiveness, above all. We bring all these to Christ, and through His sacrifice for us on the cross, He forgives us and counts us and sees us as holy and without blemish, in His eyes, by His grace.

In the same way, Paul says husbands should love their own wives and even as their own bodies. “He who loves his wife” is actually “loving himself.” Paul then quotes a Scripture from Genesis 2, when God first instituted marriage, to show that. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” - like one new person together. What we do for our spouse, in love, we are also doing for ourselves, as part of that one new person we have become in marriage, “nourishing and cherishing one another, just as Christ does the church, His body, of which He is the Head.”

Paul says that this is a profound mystery and that he is speaking most especially of the unity that Christ brings to us in the church, together. However, he says, “Let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband,“ reflecting the love of Christ to and for each other in marriage.

Right after this Epistle lesson, then, Paul gives two more examples of “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” He speaks to children and says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1-4). This is good for children and parents and families, according to God’s good will and plan. “Honor your father and mother.”

Do you remember how Jesus, when he was 12 years old and went with His parents to Jerusalem, knew He needed to be in His Heavenly Father’s house, in the temple, listening and asking questions and giving understanding answers? Though His parents did not understand, we read that Jesus went home and was submissive to them, honoring His parents, as he should, even though He was the very Son of God, and he served His family until His public ministry began when he was about 30 years old (Luke 2:41-52).

Fathers also have responsibilities as heads of families in the Lord. Paul says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Teaching of the Lord and His Word and what He’s done for us is so important. This is where Lutheran congregations and Lutheran schools have been and continue to be very helpful in supporting parents in Christ-centered learning.

Finally, Paul gives an example of Christ-centered relationships also between servants and masters - or, in today’s terms, between employees and employers (Ephesians 6:5-9). Employees are to obey their employers with a sincere heart, as they would Christ, and not just be trying to look good in the eyes of others for their own personal gain. Instead, employees should seek to do the will of God from the heart, as if they were working for the Lord Himself. Then, they will ultimately be blessed by Him. Employers and masters who are Christian should also serve their employees in a Christ-like way, remembering that they have a Heavenly Master to whom they are ultimately responsible, themselves, too.

Now, a lot of this may seem irrelevant to us. Most of us are not working anymore and are neither employees or employers. If we have been married, many of our spouses have already been called to eternal life with Christ in heaven, and we just miss them. And if we have children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, most of us don’t have prime responsibility for them anymore.

But our Lord, in His wisdom, has left us here for a reason. And these Scriptures are encouraging us to keep our focus on Christ, at the center, in whatever we are doing, and His saving Word and work for us. Then, he will also help us to see ways that we can still “through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13) in thankfulness for God’s grace and in reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:20-21). That happens as we receive the gifts of Christ Himself together in the Lord’s Supper and as we talk with and encourage one another after our service as members of the body of Christ in this church together. We all need that encouragement in Christ.

Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe together in Christ Jesus. Amen.