Some years ago we went up to Minnesota to visit our daughter, Elizabeth, and she took us out to one of her favorite spots, Interstate Park on the St. Croix River. If that name seems strange, it’s not a place where you have a picnic in the median between northbound and southbound lanes. It’s called Interstate Park because the St. Croix River is the boundary between Minnesota and Wisconsin and the park extends into both states. We had a nice hike on the Minnesota side, and then drove around to a beach on the Wisconsin side. Just upstream from the beach there were some rocky cliffs. And Elizabeth and her brothers and a friend had fun testing their courage jumping off some high rocky cliffs into the river.
Of course, I was much too mature for such things, myself, but I did set out to swim upstream to watch the fun. I swam out about 40 yards from shore and then headed upstream. I swam for a while, then, when I figured I should be even with the cliffs, took a look at the shore to see where I was. I saw that hadn’t moved upstream at all. I hadn’t realized it, but the current was a lot stronger out there in the middle than along the shore.
Now I wasn’t going to let any current defeat me, so I swam as hard as I could against it for a minute and I want you to know that I did beat it, for about 60 seconds. I moved up-river some. But then I was exhausted. There was no way I could sustain it out there, so I came back in closer to shore, out of the current, and then was able to swim up to the cliffs, just fine.
We’ve just finished looking at the first chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, to which I gave the heading, “You’ve got a Lot Going for you.” And you do. We have this one amazing God whom we experience in three wonderful ways. We have God the Father, who created a wonderful world and planned out wonderful things for us, long before we were born. We have God the Son, who died on the cross for our sins so that we have a second chance at receiving that wonderful inheritance. We have God, the Spirit, available to live in our hearts, permeate our minds with the mind of God, and give us a taste of heaven. What blessings we have! If we stop there it could sound like there’s no work left for us at all
But have you ever noticed that it isn’t quite that simple? Yes, you’ve got a lot going for you. I’d like to be able to just stop there. But you also have a lot going against you. The Bible is very realistic about that. There are days when trying to be a Christian feels like you are swimming against the current, sometimes, with hard work, able to make some progress, sometimes getting swept backwards.
You determine to read your Bible every day and you make it for a week or two, but then you realize a month has gone by when you haven’t picked it up.
Just when you are starting to hope you have your temper under control, somebody says something that hits you right in that tender spot and you shoot out some harsh words and an hour later you’re asking yourself how you could have been so dumb. And you are working really hard and making very slow progress, if any at all. It can be tempting to give up or at least lower your expectations a whole lot. But don’t give up. Paul made sure that the Ephesians understood that they were living in a battleground and taught them survival tactics so they could cope with it and even flourish. He taught them to recognize that current and deal with it so that they could move ahead.
Our text for this morning is Ephesians 2:1-10. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.
1 You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
In verses 2 and 3 of our passage, Paul talks about three soul killers, the world, the devil and the flesh. We live in a battleground. The combination of these three soul killers leaves many people spiritually dead, with no awareness of what God is saying to them, no appetite for spiritual things, spiritually dead. And the pressure of these three soul killers leaves many who are spiritually awakened struggling against a very strong current, trying to do the right thing, but struggling. Many are washed away downstream and never seen again. So if we want to get ahead spiritually, we need to be aware of those currents.
So today I want to start looking at the first of the soul killers, the world.
The Greek word for "world" used here, "cosmos" has a lot of meanings. It’s not Jerry Seinfeld’s neighbor, Cosmo Kramer.
It can refer to the world, meaning this planet we live on. But our planet isn't a soul killer. It’s a beautiful, life-giving planet. That's not the way that Paul is using the word here.
But Paul, and Jesus, also used the word "world" to refer to a system or way of life which has developed on this earth apart from God, a system with its own rules, its own values, and its own beliefs, a pervasive way of thinking that builds a life insulated from God, constantly distracting your attention away from God.
Do you ever watch the Oscars on TV? The stars of the night will be masters of the world's values. They will be beautiful on the outside, by their natural physical endowments, by help from plastic surgeons, by their dress and their grooming and their poise. They got where they were by being masters of all the nuances of what's trendy: how to stand, what to tell jokes about, who we’re laughing at this month. They will all have a lot of money and economic power. They can afford to buy anything they need. By the world's superficial values these are the great ones. And millions of people will watch them with dreams of being like them some day. Every night many millions of people are glued to their TV sets watching those stars hour after hour.
Can you feel the tug of the current pulling you downstream, to invest hour after hour watching those empty people on TV, struggling to be like them, following all their news in the tabloids? Their effect is so powerful that some people start ignoring family; ignoring exercise and ignoring God because of all the time they spend focusing on the stars of the world.
Remember that by God's standards they are mostly fools. Our movie stars hold their heads so high for the social causes they advocate, but I wonder how many needy and hopeless people they have ever really touched with their finely manicured hands. They seem so popular on the screen, but so many of them have had disastrous personal lives, going from one broken relationship to another, leaving a wake of broken hearts behind them. But some day the human adulation will stop. Some day God is going to call on them to give an account of what they have done with their lives, what they have accomplished of eternal value. And I fear that they will have very little to show. It's fun to follow them. But if you swim right into the current of their pathetic lifestyles, if you organize your life around them, they will lead you to a dead end. You will lose your taste for God. You’ll be swept away in the current of the world.
The mall is an excellent place to see the world's values displayed. The world takes shopping so seriously. The world says that the more you can buy, the more important you are. The world says if you are unhappy, just go shopping. There is a product for sale for every aching heart. If you are insecure, buy a new outfit. If you're bored, buy a new car or go out for a fancy dinner. If you aren't sure your kids know you love them, smother them in Christmas presents. If you have been neglecting your wife lately, buy her some chocolates or flowers. Money, money, money, the world measures everything in money. Can you feel that current pulling you along with it? It will take over your whole life if you let it.
But no amount of money will heal an aching heart and no amount of money will substitute for a family spending time together and helping each other through life's challenges, side by side. The world values money. But Jesus asks what it profits if we gain the whole world and lose our souls (Matthew 16:26).
You know what? You don’t have to play that game. You don’t need to be the champion in the rat race. Think about this. If you win the rat race, what does that make you? Why bother?
William Wordsworth said it beautifully many years ago.
"The World is too much with us: late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gather'd now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for every thing, we are out of tune;
It moves us not."
The world blinds us to the gift of nature. The world blinds us to the gift of our God.
And how can we keep from getting washed away in the current of the distorted values of the world? The simplest thing we can do is to stay away from the fastest current in the middle of the river. Try to go shopping as little as possible. I really enjoy going into a mall, buying the one thing I came to get, and then, looking around as I walk out, and saying to myself, "I don't need any of this stuff. God has blessed me. I have enough." That pulls me out of the current.
Try to give a good laugh at some of those commercials on TV that promise us happy and full lives if we buy their products. Parents and grandparents, you need to talk with your kids about the values on TV to teach them to see through the false promises of materialism.
Don't just leave that TV on all day. There are some worthwhile shows. But remember it’s mostly make-believe. A great deal of it is foolishness. Real life is much better, real relationships, real service. Remember that TV is determined to hold your attention as long as possible. It will manipulate you in every way it can. If you let it, it will take all your time so that there is nothing left for God or family or church. It will wash you downstream, the opposite direction from where you want to go.
Modern mainline churches have too often accepted a false gospel of accommodation to the world, saying that you can live a comfortable life by the values of the world and spread a little sweet religion on the surface like icing on the cake and all will be well. But that doesn’t work. Jesus said that no one can pull that off. You can’t serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). It doesn’t work. And the Epistle of James says that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4). You have to choose one or the other and if you lollygag out in the current, you have chosen and you’ll be pushed back. A little religion on the surface isn’t enough. In fact a little religion can work like an inoculation. An inoculation gives you a little bit of a weakened germ in order to keep you from catching the real thing. A little religion can keep you from catching the real thing.
Let me tell you one more river story. A friend once took me water skiing on the Illinois River. We still felt the current. Going downstream was really fast, upstream was slower, and more work. But with the power of the boat pulling me, skimming above the current, it was a very different story from trying to swim, down in it. I didn’t have to avoid it anymore, as long as I stayed above it.
The Christian life is not avoiding the world. It is riding above it, hanging on to Jesus for all you’re worth, with both hands. And sure the ride is bumpy sometimes and it can take all our strength to hold on, but in his strength we don’t have to run away from the world, we can ride above it. If we take time with him, he will heal our souls and fill that vacuum that is exploited by the world.
He is the one who is moving in our hearts to come together and build an alternate reality, a world of love and caring and unity, a world where we study his life to learn a better way and pass it on to our children, so that we aren’t fooled by the false promises of the world.
He is the one who empowers us and sends us back out into the world to change it, not be changed by it. He is the one who said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) AMEN
