St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Lent 3 February 27, 2005 Ephesians 5:8-14

 

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that t makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

 

            People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:


            I must be getting old. I find my self fascinated by the obituaries! The notices almost every day that someone important, someone interesting, someone unique has died—and the world—for a moment takes note. Samuel Alderson died the other day. Samuel was 90 years old. He is the little grandpa who invented crash test dummies! Samuel liked to putter around in his father’s custom sheet metal shop. He build the first automobile test dummy when I was in 3rd grade! At first they didn’t really catch on—because nobody was really interested in crash testing cars. Back then there were no seat belts, no air bags, no one inventing all sorts of gizmos to save people in car accidents. Samuel’s crash test dummies were testing jet ejection seats, parachutes and rocket nose cones splash landing in oceans! Some test dummies were used during nuclear testing—to measure exposure to radiation. What a concept—a substitute—someone to take our place—to suffer the pain and hurt—to spare us! Kind of what Jesus did—don’t you think. The one who was willing to be in harm’s way—to suffer the punishment our sins deserved. Jesus took our place under the crushing weight of our Father’s white hot holy anger against our sins. This 3rd Sunday in Lent—God’s Word encourages us:


Wake Up O sleeper!

  1. Deeds of darkness are deadly dangerous
  2. Jesus is the light of life.

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today is part of Paul’s letter—breathed by the Holy Spirit—to the believers in Ephesus.   God’s Word says, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus…” Paul did not have an easy ministry. At the end of his 3rd missionary journey Paul was teaching law and gospel by the Temple in Jerusalem. A mob of bitter angry jealous Jews accused Paul of bringing Gentiles near the Temple. In danger from this violent murderous mob—Paul was physically rescued by Roman soldiers. Falsely accused—Paul was thrown into prison. There he sat for 2 years—while a corrupt Roman official waited for a bribe! Finally Paul appealed to a higher court—to be tried before Caesar himself! Shipwrecked on the way to Rome—Paul eventually got there. Under house arrest—62 or 63 years after baby Jesus was born—Paul wrote letters of law and gospel encouragement to Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and to his friend Philemon. These four letters are sometimes called the captivity letters—written when Paul was literally in chains!


The apostle Paul had a mission plan. Paul would begin in synagogues—Bible schools—where God’s people gathered to read and discuss the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul would begin there—showing them how Jesus was the fulfillment of all that the law and the prophets and the Psalms—the books of poetry about the Kingdom of God--promised. Before you know it—the lines are sharply drawn—those who accepted the cross of Christ—and those who rejected it. Pretty soon—those who rejected Jesus as their Savior would drive out those who confessed Jesus. Then—those who believed the Gospel would share that Gospel with anyone and everyone in the city—women of influence—men of the city who were not descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would learn about Jesus and believe in him, too!


I have told you this before. If you take just a few minutes—you can read the whole letter to the Ephesians—and it will make your faith stronger. The letter to the Ephesians is only 6 chapters long—just 154 verses long. Ephesians can be neatly divided into 2 parts. The first 3 chapters talk about God’s plan to rescue people—planned before creation—implemented in time—with results that will continue all through eternity! How wonderful is that? The second half—chapter 4 through 6 is about how we respond to the greatness of God’s love. It’s about serving Jesus in the situation God has placed you—whether you are husband or wife, or child, worker or boss. There is the encouragement to put on the full armor of God—the belt of truth—the breastplate of righteousness—the shield of faith—the helmet of salvation—the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:13f


In the verses we are concentrating on God’s Word says, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord…” Darkness! I read a sermon the other day about a man who was an explorer of caves. He found an entrance to a cave that had seemingly never been explored before. He didn’t tell anyone. He just packed his back pack with food and water, with extra batteries. He had a lifeline—a very strong cord which he fastened very firmly at the entrance to the cave. Then flashlight in hand—he started into the cave—playing out the safety cord. Deeper and deeper he went—into a darkness so thick—no sunshine came any where near. Deep and deeper he went until he came to a huge room—that twinkled with treasure—more treasure than he had ever seen before. Down went the backpack—out of his hand fell the safety cord—as with the flashlight in his hand—he explored this incredible treasure. Unbelievable! The flashlight blinked. The light went out! When they found this cave explorer—they found him—not far from his safety cord—his hands dug deeply—desperately in the soil as he had searched back and forth back and forth in the thick darkness—never finding his way back out! He had died—in the middle of all that treasure—because he had let go of that life saving string! There are lots and lots of people—lost in the impenetrable darkness of sin—because they had let go of Jesus—let go of the Gospel—let go of that which was planted in their infant heart—and nourished in their childhood in Sunday School! Let go of the Gospel that they recited so simply on Christmas Eve. The Gospel they knew on Easter Sunday—with the Easter lilies on the altar—the Easter breakfast in the basement! The Gospel they promised to be faithful to—even unto death—when they were confirmed. The Gospel that slipped through their fingers when they held on to their pillows and blankets instead of their Bible and their hymnal. It didn’t happen in a moment—but very gradually—over time—until it was too late!


Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth). Live like Jesus! There is a very popular movie lately—called Million Dollar Baby. Have you been to the movies lately? Have you seen Million Dollar Baby? It’s difficult to go to the movies—almost any movie—without hearing Jesus’ name repeated again and again and again in anger or frustration or obscenity. It’s difficult to go to the movies—almost any movie—without seeing adultery and perversion—evil called good and good called evil. If you have been Million Dollar Baby—you have seen the words of the apostle Paul in a most graphic way. “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 In Million Dollar Baby you are confronted with the question—what is to be done with a person—when they become terribly crippled—when suddenly or very gradually—their arms or their legs or their mind are no longer under their control? What do we do—when we are forced to look at painful human suffering—and we cannot make that hurt go away? What are we to do? If you watch the news at all—you have seen for many months now—soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan—with literally parts and pieces of their bodies gone. Hands, feet, arms, legs, eyes and ears and more—destroyed by bullets and bombs and now IEDs—improvised explosive devices. The ability of the human mind to conceive of ways of doing unspeakable harm to other human beings seems to know no limits! Just imagine if the billions of dollars that finance war could instead be invested in medical research or education or almost anything else? To go to the movies is to think that even murder—mercy killing—may be the ultimate answer to put an end to suffering—rather than to endure and somehow persevere. You even hear Christians say again and again—“I don’t ever want to be a burden to my family!” The fact is—reaching out in love means you can never be a painful burden. If you cannot help yourself—people who love you will take care of you! Think about the circle of life. When babies are newborn and infants what can they do for themselves? Absolutely nothing! Newborns can’t even roll over! We take care of them in every way—not because we must—but because we love them. The day may come when because of our age or illness or an accident we cannot take as much care of ourselves as we could up until now. That is when Jesus will make our loved ones as strong as they need to be to take care of us. Jesus will make us strong enough to persevere—to endure! The fruit of light—goodness—means loving and helping—not growing weary and discouraged—doing good!


Having nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. The deeds of darkness are fruitless—there is no benefit—no blessing—nothing good at all about deeds of darkness. Oh, they promise excitement and pleasure—they bring only pain and loss, guilt and sadness. In confirmation class we watch a video of a young lady—about 16 years old. She is crying—tears running down her cheeks—as she explains the heart ache from her father’s affair. Her parents’ marriage survived that unfaithfulness—but where there was trust—now there is doubt and uncertainty. It will take years and years to try and repair that damage—and the scars will remain for a long time! It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. It is shameful that night after night we should hear on the news the unspeakable accusations of child molestation. Shameful to hear the gristly details of people bound and tortured and killed in Kansas. It is shameful that what is supposed to be entertainment on TV is so vile—that people are not content to see people shot or stabbed or strangled. Now we have to see in slow motion the damage of bullets inside. We saw just part of a program the other day—a man throwing a baseball. And suddenly there was the muscle and bone inside his arm—a view of the bone itself snapping? Time spent doing almost anything else—would be better than watching such gross and graphic violence and evil. It would have to be—that watching what is so vile and crude again and again—must over time—make you calloused to it! The same with video games and movies. When you see blood and violence—hear obscenity and profanity—adultery and perversion—it all seems so painfully ordinary and average. If it’s that common—how bad can it be? We need to be very careful that we do not become calloused to evil, too!


“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” A man named Bob died the other day. Bob was the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. Bob got the idea when he got married! A champagne cork hit him in the left eye—and when that eye blinked every little while—Bob got the idea maybe he could make a windshield wiper that wiped every little while! When Bob demonstrated his new intermittent wipers engineers didn’t believe him. They thought he had a little beeper in his pocket to make them wipe. It wasn’t long after that—that just about every car and truck had intermittent wipers. The problem was—Bob didn’t get the credit—and he didn’t get the money his invention should have earned. Bob lost everything. He had a mental breakdown. His red hair turned white almost overnight. He lost his marriage. He lost his job. He lost his home. He spent the rest of his life in court—until age and Alzheimer’s and time made it impossible for him to continue suing! In his final years Bob drove around in an old pickup truck and a 40 year old Chrysler—neither of which had intermittent wipers! How sad is that? A life spent on windshield wipers and the pursuit of money. How sad to die frustrated—absolutely frustrated—because he didn’t get the credit he thought he deserved? When we die—when you die and when I die—what will people write about us? Will they say we lost almost everything in pursuit of money and earthly recognition? Or will they say we lived our lives as children of light—spending each day of grace God gave us—to glorify him. We need to wake up! To dedicate ourselves anew to serving Jesus, our family and our neighbors—glorifying our crucified and risen Lord Jesus. Amen!


To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz