Sermon: Jesus, Help!...I’m a Gentile.
Scripture: Ephesians 3: 1-12
Good morning...
Today, I want to ask...Have you read your Bible any this last week?
Have you at least picked out one verse and meditated on it during this last week? Have you read through that verse more than once...maybe four or five times?
Have you read your Bible this last week and picked out one verse and then read a commentary on that verse?...maybe Barclay or McDowell?
Have you read your Bible this week and picked out one verse and then read a commentary on that verse and then also researched the history of that verse?
Then at the end of the week, have you gone back and read that verse again and have you found it be richer in its meaning to you?
Well, that’s what I have done with our scripture today and more. And at the end of this week, these verses have become so rich in meaning, because I now know so much more about them now. I hope I can squeeze everything that I have discovered about these verses into the time that I have with you today.
Our scripture today is from Ephesians. Paul was writing to this small community of New Christians and trying to encourage them in the way of Christ-likeness.
Christ-likeness...Two weeks ago we celebrated the birth of our Savior, the Christ child...the child that would grow up to be a man who would become the Holy of Holies in the history of the world. A man who would impact the world for the next 2000 years and even now continues to impact the world.
This child we welcomed into our midst just two weeks ago became a man who without money or arms and ammunition conquered more millions than Caesar, Napoleon, Mohammed or Alexander. Without science and learning, he has shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined. Without schooling he spoke such words of life that have ever been spoken before or since and that have produced effects that are still being felt today. This man has set more pens in motion and been the subject of more writings, treatise, books, poems...he has been the subject of some of the most beautiful artwork, music and literature than any other man in the history of the world.
But even this kind evidence that clearly exists is sometimes not enough for people to believe that Jesus is God come to us in human flesh.
As I read this scripture and listened to Paul say that he has been given an insight into the mystery of Christ by God...it struck me as how amazing it is that God would use Paul for anything. I mean consider what Paul’s life was like...He grew up as a devout Jew. He was taught by some of the best Jewish teachers of the time. He became a most respected Jewish religious leader...a Pharisee, the top of the line for Jewish religious leaders. He was zealous in keeping the Jewish faith pure...so zealous in fact that he was adamant about stamping out the ‘Religioso Illicitata’...this illegal religion called Christianity. He was eager to jail and even kill professed Christians. In fact he had procured letters introducing him to the Jewish leaders in Damascus, so that he could continue to scour the countryside for these cultists, to put them in jail or have them stoned to death. In fact, he stood by and watched while holding the cloaks of those who were stoning Stephan to death.
Why would God give Paul any great mystery to proclaim?
And then look what happened on the road to Damascus. Jesus himself came down on Paul and blinded him and asked him what he thought he was doing. And then in just a few days, Paul denounced everything that he had been brought up to believe...he denounced his Jewish life and became a Christian convert. He was a traitor to his Jewish faith.
We need to stop here a minute and realize what this meant...this was not a small change for Paul. His family, who were probably so very proud of him and what he had attained, were probably in shock. He was a Pharisee...respected...well-to-do,a comfortable life. No digging ditches for Paul...his future looked good.
And yet, now, what an embarrassment! A traitor to his Jewish upbringing, his family, his friends, his teachers, his coworkers...everyone who knew him as an eager zealous Jewish leader became upset and angry with him.
And even as a new Christian convert, this man, Paul, was alone. Could he be trusted by the other Christians?...why would anyone want to befriend this man who had just days before been killing Christians, like themselves?
So, as we come to read our Scripture today, we must understand that we find Paul, now Apostle Paul, trying to encourage the small church at Ephesus from a prison cell in Rome.
A church made up of people in much the same circumstance as Paul had been after his experience on the road to Damascus...they had become Christians! They had become members of an illegal religion.
It’s here, that I must explain further about the situation in which these new Christian’s found themselves. And there seem to me to be three aspects to be more fully understood.
Ø First, there is the history of the Jews and the pagan gentiles...
Ø Secondly, the society and culture of the times...
Ø And thirdly, the powerful purpose of our Lord God and its affect on His Creation...the mystery that God gave to Paul.
When reading the Bible, you find that in the beginning God freely revealed himself to man. Adam and Eve met with him daily in the Garden of Eden. But after the fall, Man was separated from God. God’s beautiful and perfect Creation had become marred and broken by the rebellion of man.
As we begin to read and understand the Old Testament, we see the work of God picking up the pieces after the rebellion of Adam and Eve, after Cain’s calculated murder of his brother, after the worldwide wickedness leading to the flood and also the human arrogance at the tower of Babel.
And so, in His great wisdom, God narrowed the scope of His work down to one nation of people...the Jews of Israel...Through Abraham and Moses, these people became His chosen people.
(Exodus 19: 6) The Lord said:
. 5Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
Most of the Old Testament concerns itself with God’s effort to redeem His chosen people and then the failures of Israel to recognize and obey their God.
I have gone into this quick overview to help you understand the thinking of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus and Paul. This many hundreds of years of history had made them think of themselves as better than the rest of the Gentile world...they were God’s Chosen People. A people of rules and rituals...a people governed by their religion. They thought themselves better than the rest of the world and they guarded their faith from the pagan gentiles.
But now, I need to speak to you about the rest of the world...this pagan world outside of the Jewish established way of life. This was a world of many beliefs and many ways of life. Lives filled with myths and gods and superstitions...people living in fear and superstition every day of their lives.
This became vividly evident to me a year ago, when I was able to travel to Greece and tour the museum at the Acropolis in Athens. Besides the very large and impressive ruins, there was in this one lighted cabinet in the museum, small clay statues of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, Skills and Warfare. These statues were greatly coveted and revered in the homes of the people living in the pagan world. The problem was that there were so many greater and lesser Gods that these people believed in and it was feared that during the course of any one day, one unknowingly might make one of the gods angry and then bad things might happen. And so this idol worship and the selling of small idols became a very big important business in the pagan world.
The second point that I need to explain regarding our Scripture, today, is the existing society and culture of the times. As we read our scripture and realize that Paul is sitting in a Roman prison awaiting trial in front of Nero, he is writing to a small group of professed Christians and he is trying to encourage them to keep their faith pure and strong and to live their lives as closely as they could to that of their Savior, Jesus.
It wasn’t easy to be a Christian, then. And let me explain why...
I researched the city of Ephesus, a little, and it was interesting what I learned about this city and the people who lived there.
Ephesus has quite a history...a history that dates back to around 1000 BC. But for our purposes this morning, I want to look at what was going on around the time of Paul and his letter to the Ephesians church.
Ephesus was a city on the western shore of what is now modern day Turkey. It was originally built by the Greeks as a part of a trade route. The Romans had taken direct control of Ephesus in about 133 BC. And under the Romans, Ephesus thrived, reaching the pinnacle of its greatness during the first and second centuries of the Christian era. At the time of Paul, Ephesus was probably the fourth largest city in the world, with a population estimated at around 250,000 people. The grandeur of the city was renown throughout the world at that time. The city boasted of a stadium that would hold 24,000 people, it had public gymnasiums, public baths, a library and a large marketplace and legal brothels.
By New Testament times Ephesus had declined somewhat because of deforestation, which ruined the land and the harbor. The Romans helped to maintain Ephesus as a city for trade. But at this time they were going through an economic decline and depression.
Tourism became important to them. And what was their great attraction? One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was located in Ephesus...The temple of the female goddess Artemis, also called Diana, who was widely worshipped. She was considered to be a nature-goddess and in the temple of Artemis, prostitution was practiced as part of the religion. Many would come to Ephesus from all over the world and buy idols of her, which the Ephesians crafted. It became one of the main economic mainstays of the city at the time of Paul.
And so, it was into this booming metropolis that Paul had come at one time and established a church...the church of Ephesus and to teach the worship of the one and only true God...to teach the Ephesians to turn away from their idols.
The mystery that was given to Paul was that God’s Grace and Mercy and Love was not only for the Jews. Paul was the ideal person to be used by God to bring the Good News to the gentiles...It was revealed to him that he was the one who must take the Good News to the rest of the world. This revelation and Paul’s efforts would divide the world...it would divide the world into believers and non-believers and would eventually bring him to his own death.
As Paul began his historic work to bring both the Jews and the Gentiles into the family of Christ, he worried about the weaknesses and temptations that they faced to revert to their old lives.
He worried that they would not truly anticipate their eternal home in heaven.
He worried that they didn’t believe their sins were truly forgiven.
He worried that they would have trouble overcoming their sinfulness.
He worried that there would be conflicts between the Jew and the gentiles.
He worried they would continue in the sins of the flesh
He worried that they would weaken in their resolve to follow the example of Jesus.
You know, Paul had cause to worry. These converted gentiles of his time are just like the converted gentiles of today.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians could be a letter to us. It could be a letter written to the Grandview Church. It would make just as much sense today as it did some 2000 years ago when he wrote it to the Ephesians.
We call ourselves Christians here today. We say that we believe in God...we say we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ...we say that we believe in the indwelling of His Holy Spirit within our hearts...and we say we believe in the saving power of our Triune God...
And yet, I’m sure Paul would worry about each one of us here at Grandview as we go into today’s world each week and find ourselves bombarded by the temptations around us...temptations of the flesh ...temptations of greed...temptations of unrighteous living...the same temptations that affected the Christians in Ephesus.
I’m sure that Paul would worry about our lack of faith in the Eternal promises of Heaven...he would worry about our unbelief in the forgiveness of sins ...he would worry about our lack of trust in God when we try to turn over our sins over to Him...he would worry about our relationships with our fellow man...he would worry about our sins of the flesh...he would worry about our resolve to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ.
You see, the problems we face today of staying Christian were and are the same problems that faced the people in the time of Paul.
Yes, Paul was in the business of doing God’s business...the business of saving men and women, young and old. Paul was working to bring each and every one of us back into God’s family and that’s what we need to do, too. We need to follow the example of Jesus and take His Story to the gentiles...We need to be about God’s business in this world of 2006.
We need to let people know that the narrow road to their own Salvation and Eternal life with Christ and our Heavenly Father starts right under their feet...and that their journey can start this very day.
You see, once, I was a pagan and I cried out and said, “Jesus, Help...I’m a gentile...come and save me. Give me the assurance I need to make you mine! Give me a foretaste of your glory divine...make me an heir of your salvation...make me part of your family again...make me part of Your Family...please!
Paul was a murderer and a sinner and yet God gave him a mystery to share with the world...God told Paul to go out...”Move it...Move it...Move it! And he did.
This week we all need to look for that mystery that God has for us to share with the world...read your Bible...meditate on his Word...Pray...and then, like Paul, get out into the gentile world and ‘Move it!’...Change it...and make it a Family for Christ.
Amen.
