"Live...in Love" - Sermon, August 12, 2018
Community UMC, Quincy
“Live…in Love”
Rev. Andrew Davis
Ephesians 4: 25-5:2
August 12, 2018
While I have shared this story
before, a little over eleven years ago when I was emerging from a spiritual
desert, I was still very skeptical about attending church services. Even though I rediscovered my faith in God after
struggling with faith for a time, I didn’t feel like I really needed to go to
church to be faithful. I felt I could
believe in God, study scripture, pray and such, except I felt I didn’t need the
church in my life. Being someone who
likes to do things by myself, I felt everything was hunky-dory and that life
was good. When I told my mom that I
didn’t need the church to be a Christian, she told me otherwise, and as I’ve
said before, mother does indeed know best.
The truth was, something was missing in my life and it took that
conversation to come to the realization that I really did miss the church; both
serving, worshiping, and being together in community.
In the introduction to a podcast
that I listen to regularly called “Sunday Morning Sleep-In,” my friends and
colleagues Kris and Susan in Reno point out that it’s not so much that you need
to go to church to be a Christian, except there are a lot of things that we
miss out when not there. When we attend
worship, small groups, fellowship with each other, and serving as the body of
Christ together, it’s more about having that special connection with others,
whether they have their stuff together or not and no matter where we are at on
this journey of faith. None of us are
perfect, yet we are all connected to the body of Christ one way or another,
much in the same way that Paul likens the body of the church with the body of
Christ in his letters. As we began our
series, “…in Love” last Sunday, we talked about how we need each other in order
to build up the body of Christ in love and each of us functions as a part of
Christ’s body, which is why we need that connection with each other in order to
live, give thanks, and move in love.
In a world that is becoming more
skeptical, distrustful of religion and the church universal, and in a divided society
today, we need the connection with each other more than ever before. At the same time, it is always fascinating to
see the parallels between today’s world and the world at the time when Paul was
writing his letters in the Epistles, as there was just as much dysfunction in
the world then as there is today. For
example, see his letters to the Corinthians Galatians if you want to see him
really in-your-face, as things were very dysfunctional then as they can be at
times today, which my New Testament professor at Wesley, Dr. Carla Works would
often point out in the Spring semester which covered the Pauline Epistles. As we began our series exploring Paul’s
letter to the Ephesians last Sunday, we talked about Paul’s admonitions or
practical advice on how to achieve unity by building up the body of Christ. This morning, we continue exploring Paul’s
advice in the later part of chapter four (I also encourage you to go back and
look at verses 17-24 of Ch. 4 which are not covered in the Revised Common
Lectionary, or even read the letter to the Ephesians in its entirety; if you do
not have a Bible, see me and I’ll be happy to get you one).
What
does it mean to “live…in love?” In this week’s text that Gloria read for us
(from The Message translation that I
find useful in reading Paul), Paul is talking about exchanging negative
behaviors for more positive behaviors, basically shedding any old ways of life we
may hold onto for new ways of life. Paul
talks about channeling our anger, having a good work ethic, how to watch our
language and speech (even though we may cuss a little or a lot), imitate God,
and ultimately “live in the love of Christ” (Eph. 4: 31-5:1, NRSV). Seems rather straightforward, although very
challenging at the same time, doesn’t it?
Paul is urging the Ephesians and at the same time, is urging all of us to
shake our old ways of life that we may be living and encouraging us to adopt
new ways of living in order to live in love with ourselves and each other as a
community. Paul’s advice is to live into
and adopt the qualities of life “which characterizes building up in love…from
last week’s passage.”[i] More importantly, Paul is getting at how to
live in love not just as a community of faith, but as a community in general,
emphasizing the need for connection with each other. It’s through that connection where we are
connected to the body of Christ.
Last week, we celebrated the
sacrament of Holy Communion as we do on the first Sunday of the month, in which
we are able to become one with Christ through the means of grace which are
found in the bread and in the cup of grape juice that we share together. Just as in taking part in Holy Communion, the
new life we strive for is a life of building up each other in love, then going
out to live in love, give thanks in love, and move in love.
That includes speaking the truth in love,
although “speak only what is useful for building up, [as] the truth must give
grace to those who hear – in Wesleyan terms, it must be a channel or means of
grace [that] nurture[s] community [and functions as a mark] of healthy
communication.”[ii]
Even
in baptism, early in chapter 4, Paul references an ancient baptismal liturgy in
which “there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to be the one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of
all, who is above all and through all” (Eph. 4: 4-6, NRSV). In the sacrament of baptism when the water is
poured or sprinkled over us or when we are immersed and rise up from the water,
we shed and die to the old ways of living and are led and encouraged into new
ways of living. Another instance of
where I can’t emphasize the need for our connection as the body of Christ.
A couple different times in
our last series, “Healing Hands” and even
last week, I’ve suggested that instead of referring to someone as a __________,
refer to someone we don’t necessarily like as “a beloved child of God,” no
matter how much more pleasure we may take in calling someone a bad name. That even goes for church leadership, elected
officials, community leaders, and the like, even though it’s even more challenging
and difficult to do.
As we think about what Paul is
saying in this letter to the Ephesians, Paul is inviting us to love each other like
Christ loved people, even the ones who crucified him. Yet more importantly, Paul is encouraging the
Ephesians and us to “be imitators of God” which feels like an even more lofty
goal, or as one retired colleagues calls, a ‘big, hairy, audacious goal’ (Eph.
5:1, NRSV). Even if being an imitator of
God is a lofty goal, “we cannot disregard the fact that God, as Trinity, is
constituted by the loving relationship and thus exists in community, which
includes the Father who forgives in order to restore right relationship, and
the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.”[iii]
While being an “imitator of
God” sounds like we should be striving to be something we aren’t, we need to
remember that we cannot be God, as there are more things that only God can do. Instead, being imitators of God in Paul’s
letter means that “as children [of God], our love is not simply to be directed
to God, but as imitators of God, towards others too” as well as forgiving
others, which is how we learn to exchange the old way of life for a new one in
order to live in love.[iv] Of course, forgiveness is a whole sermon or a
whole series in its own right, yet as followers of Christ, I cannot emphasize
forgiveness enough. I struggled during
that time in the desert because I held onto grudges towards people who wronged
me or harmed me, although I still struggle here and there when I have been
harmed or see people I care about being harmed.
And even now, I still struggle when it comes to forgiveness. It doesn’t mean that I came to like the
people who wrong me, nor was I about to invite them to Thanksgiving, Christmas,
or Easter dinner, but forgiving them didn’t allow them to live rent-free in my
head either. Forgiving didn’t allow them
to have power or control of me either.
So, whenever we are asked to
make a change in life, it’s not that easy, is it? Does it sometimes feel like we are being
asked to do something we are incapable of doing? I know in my case, changing out foods that I enjoy
for foods that are healthy is a challenge, yet I keep trying even when I slip. As I was reading in a reflection in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, one
of the reflections observed that
We all know that whenever
we decide to make a major life-change, perhaps to adopt new habits of diet and
exercise or emotional and spiritual health, the transition takes time and
discipline. Reminders or partners in
improvement do not hurt either.[v]
More
reason we need the connection to live in love.
When it comes to having a partner in improvement or accountability, some
connotations arise because like many, I find accountability challenging on many
fronts. Except it is necessary if we are
to live in love. Whether we are adopting
new habits of diet and exercise, adopting spiritual practices to keep us
grounded, quitting drinking or drinking less, quitting smoking or smoking less,
breaking addictions to substances, etc., we need the connection with people
around us, and it’s the connection that helps us along the way and helps us to
live in love, brokenness, baggage, and all.
As you might have seen in this
month’s “Quill” or our weekly e-mail, one of our small group opportunities we
have this Fall is a study of A Blueprint
for Discipleship, as the way we live into our faith through discipleship is
a way of living in love and even return to our Wesleyan roots. As John Wesley, founder of Methodism calls
it, the practice of accountability with each other should be better known as
‘watching over one another in love.” Rev. Kevin Watson, author of A Blueprint for Discipleship explains
that
The practice of
“watching over one another in love” was a key piece that Wesley believed would
bring the General Rules [of doing no harm, doing good, and staying in love with
God] to life. Unfortunately, it has
become very difficult to talk about accountability because the word has come to
carry so much baggage and condemnation.[vi]
Another aspect of living in
love is being willing to be held accountable, and in my case as your pastor, I
am accountable to multiple people, ranging from all of you, the SPRC on the
local church level, my fellow circuit clergy, the conference Board of Ordained
Ministry, our district superintendent Rev. Dr. Blake Busick, Bishop Carcaño,
and ultimately God. While it’s easy to
see why accountability has such baggage, I believe that it us healthy because
in the case of living in love, the way I have come to understand accountability
is how we check in with each other, how we encourage each other, and how we
build each other up to be all that we can be and how we can best use the gifts
that God has given each of us. That’s
why we need each other as a part of the body of Christ. Kevin Watson further explains that “when
Christians try to go it alone, they are on dangerous ground. When we go it alone, we quickly and easily
lose perspective. We can experience a
loss of clarity. We can forget what it is
that is unique about Christians.”[vii]
If we try to go it alone, we may even forget
about what it means to live in love and what it means to build up the body of
Christ, hence Paul’s great sense of urgency when he writes these letters in the
Epistles, as Paul believed that the second coming of Christ was going to happen
any day, even though we are still waiting for Christ to come again some 2000+
years later.
Yesterday morning, I saw the
community at its best as we gathered for the annual County Fair Parade. We had several from our church leading the
organizing effort and judging entries.
As stressful as it got at times in making sure entries were lined up
properly and all the other meticulous stuff, it all went smoothly because we
all worked as a body, just like we can do as the body of Christ when we live in
love. As we go into this new week that
is full of opportunities to share God’s love with the world, how are you using
your gifts to build up and live in love?
How are you going to encourage everyone around you to live in love and
watch over them in love? And how are you
perfecting yourself in love this week?
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, let the Church Say, AMEN!!
[i]
Ministries, Discipleship. 2018. "Twelfth Sunday After
Pentecost 2018 — Preaching Notes - Umcdiscipleship.Org". Umcdiscipleship.Org.
Accessed August 8 2018.
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/august-2018-post-pentecost-worship-planning-series/august-12-twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b/twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost-2018-preaching-notes.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Pheme Perkins, “The Letter to the
Ephesians: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections” in The New Interpreters Bible Commentary, Vol. XI (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1995), 431.
[vi] Kevin Watson, A Blueprint for Discipleship: Wesley’s General Rules as a Guide for
Christian Living (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2009), 97.
[vii]Watson, 99.
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