Readings:
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 , John 6:35, 41-51
We pray: Gracious God : we have listened to your word,
help us to hear it in our hearts and our minds as we seek to know you more
deeply, to live in your way more completely.
Amen.
I don’t know if
many of you are following along with the reading of a book of the bible a month
but if you are, those of us who have just completed reading the book of Exodus
(and others) will know that, amongst its many narratives, there is a genuine
attempt by the people to figure out how to live a life pleasing to God, the God
who brought them out of slavery. And on Thursday night, amid the many aspects
we discussed, we talked about why it seemed that the ten commandments weren’t
enough, that the way of how to live in a way pleasing to God had to be spelled
out in great detail. As we would say these
days - micro-managed.
Take this example
in Exodus 22:25-27 “If you lend
money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a
creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbour’s cloak in
pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down; for it may be your neighbour’s only
clothing to use as cover; in what else shall that person sleep? And if your
neighbour cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.” Or the detailed list of how many oxen or
goats or sheep to compensate acts of negligence or intentional abuse.
In much of Exodus
the law making basically reflects an underlying compassion and care for
neighbour and justice and right-living.
If the consequences of failing to live by these laws are a bit
bloodthirsty, that perhaps reflects the times, and understandings of God but
the intention of care for each other, especially for the weak and vulnerable,
is there.
However even that
didn’t make it right all of the time either.
But it guided them, put some structure around ‘how to’.
Our discussion of
the first two books of the Hebrew Scriptures has also included the realisation,
for me anyway, that people really haven’t changed much over 3000 years –
culture and approach, yes, but people and their very human traits, not
really. I think we could safely say that
for the people of Exodus, the people of Ephesus and for us now today, we all
have the strong desire to get things right before God and unlimited ability to
get it totally wrong.
For Paul too is
seeking to expand, to the people of Ephesus, what the commandment of Jesus to
love and live in community is actually all about. The call to love and live in the way of Jesus
is not enough. The very real experience
of the Christ crucified and risen, a God who led the people out of slavery -
was not enough to keep them from stumbling, getting it wrong. They needed more guidance. And so these words from Paul to help encourage
them in their Christian life, challenge the way of living that he saw before
him, the ways that hurt and diminished others.
I’m not sure that
the congregation in Ephesus would have been the easiest church to minister
to. There seems to be some fairly basic
unloving behaviours that Paul calls them out on. Lies, anger in action, thieving, gossip and
maligning, and then that stream of things that grieve God through the Spirit:
bitterness, wrath, anger and wrangling and slander and malice – put them all
away and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God
in Christ has forgiven you.[1]
And it seems to me
that this is the core of Paul’s message:
yes we need and seek to live honestly and lovingly, always in light and
loveliness but actually we all have the ability to misinterpret, monster the
truth, get carried away with detail to the detriment of grace.
. We are who we are – and we can strive all we
like but there are going to be times when we upset one another, inadvertently
wound, intentionally wound, lose perspective, think ungenerously. So the fundamental tool of living as
Christians, alongside our love, is to know the power of God’s forgiveness in
our lives and to forgive others. Without forgiveness, love loses its way. With forgiveness, love is strengthened and
constantly showcased to the community and the world.
So what are our
ethics of living? What does it look like
to live as the transformed and transforming community of Christ?
I think that the
first thing is to acknowledge that when we choose to walk the way of Christ we
are marked, have entered into new life.
As the people of God we have taken off our old self and put on the
new. We, in relationship with Christ,
are set to a transformed way of living, one which we live in the strength and
discernment of the faith community and in which we seek to imitate, not grieve
the Beloved, our God.
I think too that
we are human, we carry all the human behaviours and emotions in us - including
anger, envy, self-righteousness, possessiveness, pettiness etc – it would be
silly to deny that. The thing is that in
Christ there is something greater, something that turns us to face the world
and the way we live in a transforming way – and that is love. For God and for each other. Because we want to, because it serves God and
therefore it serves the world. And we
have to get it right for ourselves first so that we can serve the world, so we
can put right and reconcile and transform.
It is not
easy. But here are some thoughts.
Let us look at
anger – one of the things that Paul concentrates on. Not ‘don’t get angry’ by the way but do not
sin with your anger. Anger that sits with you, unresolved is the worst kind –
it festers and grows and harms. Anger is
to be dealt with swiftly, named and the issues it raises are to be reconciled
within the community of faith. None of
us wish to be the cause of grief to the community, but a festering anger is
hurting everyone. So the thing we are
asked to do is deal with it in love and respect, honestly and in the light of
Christ. When you can speak an issue into
a community that believes in forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ,
that respects honesty and loves each other, how many of the sharp edges of
anger can be dissolves and the source of the anger resolved. A great deal I would say.
The honesty and
hard work recommended for those who live by stealing is not by means of
punishment but rather so that they can be contributing members of society – not
just stopped from taking what is not theirs but able to give to others, to
support and encourage. What price our
justice system of focussed retribution and where our desire to prevent this
social cancer, to turn people’s lives around so that they can become useful
members of society. And they are forever
branded with the label of criminal by our behaviour to them. Our Christian faith says we offer again and
again the chance for them to become givers, not takers, supporting them into
their new life.
And we are told to
stop talking evil – tell the truth, be aware that words can wound deeply and
are often a result of unresolved anger.
But like the advice to those who thieve, it is not enough to just stop
saying nasty stuff – words are to be used to encourage and build up. There is a tricky little mix: truth to be
told and words to build up – there are times when that will feel almost
impossible to achieve. It’s both a
challenge and an opportunity. A
challenge to speak truth in grace and an opportunity to use words as a creative
act of community.
So we remember
this. We are marked for new life in
Christ – transformed and transforming.
We do not intentionally seek to hurt those we love – to grieve God and
each other – yet we do, and must seek and find forgiveness in God and each
other, sooner rather than later. We are
walk alongside those who seek to live in new and better ways, helping them
become people of gift and giving, and are to always live in honesty and truth,
building up those whom we could so easily diminish. And when we get it wrong, as we will, when
others get it wrong, as they will, we
are to speak out in truth, always with the aim of building up, not tearing
down. And we are to forgive as God
forgives us: for we are the beloved of God, and of each other. They will know we are Christians by our love,
by our love. Amen
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