Sermon Ephesians 1:3–14 “Spiritual Blessings”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Ephesians 1:3–14 “Spiritual Blessings”
New Covenant Church
July 15, 2018

I am beginning today a summer sermon series on the Book of Ephesians.    This wonderful book was written toward the end of the first century and sent to a whole group of churches.   It was either written by Paul near the end of his life or by his followers who wanted to encapsulate his thoughts into a single book for the church.   It was not written to a specific church.   We call it “Ephesians”  because they were one of the churches who received it and they put their copy in the New Testament.  So we have a summary of Paul’s thinking about church written for all churches.   And therefore it was written for us.   We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

(NRSV) Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

What I have just read to you is a single sentence in the original Greek.   Everything in this sentence points to God.  The foundation of the church is God.  God’s spiritual blessings have been poured down on us, the church.   What are these spiritual blessings?   Let’s take a closer look.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

The church is blessed in that Christ is in us.   As we do our work as church here in Middletown remember the Christ is always in our midst.   Christ is with us in everything we do.   So as we look for a new pastor, Christ is with us.   As we think about how to use our property as a blessing for our community, Christ is with us.   As we prepare for children to arrive this week for VBS, Christ is with us.   Christ is in our church and we are richly blessed.

Our response to having Christ in our church is to bless God.   So how do we bless God?   The proper way for the church to bless God is to praise God.   That’s why we worship.   We come to worship to sing praises to God.   We praise God by reading scripture and praying.   We praise God with our gifts, tithes, and offerings.   We praise God with our attendance at church every Sunday.   By praising God we bless God in gratitude for the blessings we receive in Christ.  Let’s return to Ephesians and learn a little more about the spiritual blessing received by the church.

4 just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.

We are spiritually blessed because God chose us.   God’s election of us came before time began, before the creation of the world.   Before everything else, God chose us.   And what did God choose us for?   To be more and more like Christ.  We were chosen by God to be holy, a people set apart for God’s purposes.   We were chosen by God to be blameless, free from sin in our lives.   And why did God chose us, of all people, for this?  Because God loves us.   Election is an amazing blessing from our loving God, but there is more.

5 He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

We were predestined, before the world began, to be adopted as Christ’s very own children.   Why did God adopt us as children of Christ?  Because having us as children is a great pleasure for God.   Just as a proud grandparent loves being with his grandchildren so too does God love being with us.  What did we do to earn this blessing?  Nothing.   There is nothing we could do to make God want to adopt us as children.   God adopted us as an act of grace according to God’s will.  And so God wanted us as his children before God even created the world.  These blessings are getting even more amazing.   But there is more.

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us.

Christ has redeemed us.   Redeemed us from what?   Ordinarily, people are redeemed from slavery.   If a Hebrew became a slave as a result or war or economic conditions then his brother could redeem him from slavery by paying the price of redemption.    Christ has redeemed us from slavery, slavery to sin.   Since the days of our first ancestors, we have been infected by sin.   Sin is a curse upon everyone.  But Christ has redeemed us from this curse.  He paid the price by shedding his own blood on the cross.   As a result, the sin that had stained us has been washed away.  We still have some of the linger effects.   We still have our sins with us.   But the curse is gone and we have an opportunity to be more and more holy, more like Christ.   So we are elected, predestined and redeemed, wonderful spiritual blessings from our creator.   But believe it or not, there is even more.  Let’s go back to Ephesians.

With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

So God has blessed us with knowledge of the “mystery of his will”.  It would be a wonderful blessing to know God’s will for us.  God could tell us what to do, how to live our lives.   And God has already done this.  So what did God do to reveal the mystery of his will to us?  God gave us the Bible. 
 The Bible tells us how to live our lives.   The Bible shows us God’s plan for the world unfolding over thousands of years.  The Bible reveals to us the Redeemer, sent by God to fulfill God’s plan, Jesus Christ.   And so the Bible blesses us with knowledge of God and instructions for being God’s faithful people.   Elected, predestined, adopted, we are knowledgeable of who God is, what God does, and how we should respond.    Let’s return to Ephesians.

11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.

As the adopted children of Christ, we have an inheritance.   What might this inheritance be?  First of all, an inheritance is not something you earn.  It is something given to you.  In this case, the Last Will and Testament of Christ were drawn up before the world began.   And according to its terms, we inherit the gift of hope in our futures and live our present lives filled with joy and praise.  That’s why we are here today in worship.  We are filled with the hope of eternal life.   And we have come here to celebrate that hope with joyful worship and praise.

It’s hard to keep track of all the spiritual blessing we have received.   Here is the short list:  chosen to be more like Christ, predestined as Christ’s own adopted children,  given knowledge of God’s plan and will in the Bible, and inheritors of joyful lives of praise and the hope of eternal life.   Quite a list!  But there is one more spiritual blessing that we have received.   Let’s return to Ephesians.

13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

We come to Jesus by hearing the stories about him in our Bible.   We believe that he is our Lord and Savior.   We believe that he was resurrected from the dead.   And when we publicly declare this belief in our baptisms the spiritual blessing of the Holy Spirit comes upon us.    The Spirit comes in us to mark us as adopted children of Christ and seals upon us the promise of all these spiritual blessings from God the Father.

So, New Covenant Church, what spiritual blessings have we received?   Christ is here with us in receiving our praises and listening to our prayers.  We have been chosen to receive the Holy Spirit and become more and more like Christ.   We have been predestined as adopted children of Christ to receive the promise of a joyful life today and eternal life forever.   We have been redeemed from slavery to sin, freed to live lives pleasing to God.  We have been given the Bible so we know how to live our lives in accordance with God’s will and plan for creation.   And all of these promises were sealed upon us by the Holy Spirit in our baptisms.   We are truly blessed.  Let’s pray. 
      
We thank you, Heavenly Father, for all the spiritual blessings you have poured down on us.   We thank you for choosing us as a people who sing your praises.   We thank you for revealing yourself to us in scripture.   We thank you for Jesus’ presence in the church and for all the blessings sealed upon us by your Spirit.  We thank you for loving us as your children.   And so we praise you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   Amen.     

Sermon Mark 5:21-43 “A Savior’s Touch”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Mark 5:21-43 “A Savior’s Touch”
New Covenant Church
July 1, 2018

Listen to this sermon.

As American, we have a built-in reluctance to touch anyone or to have someone touch us.    We protect a zone of space around our bodies which ordinarily others will not violate.   When we meet someone we don’t want to stand too close.   Rather we extend our right hand outside of our zone of privacy to shake hands with someone also protecting his space.   I know that Koreans usually go farther than this to protect their zone of privacy.  They stand at a distance from another person and bow without touching at all.

Of course, there are some people who like to get into our private space.    We call these people huggers.  Huggers will meet someone and inevitably will try to hug that person.    I know some pastors who are huggers.   They love to hug people in the congregation.   I know of one church who had a pastor who had difficulty even shaking hands.    When he left the PNC looked for a more personable pastor who would hug the congregation.   They found a hugger for that congregation, but sadly that congregation was not ready for a hugger pastor.   And he went to another church.

So what about Jesus?  Was Jesus a hugger?   Did he like to be touched and to touch others?   Of did Jesus protect his own zone of privacy?   We will get to this, but first, let pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

The disciples and Jesus have returned from the other side of the Sea of Galilee.   They encountered a storm which Jesus calmed.   Then they ran into someone possessed by demons and Jesus cast the demons into a herd of pigs.   But they left all of this is behind them and Jesus is ready to resume his teaching and healing ministry in Capernaum. 

Mark 5:21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

Jarius has a daughter nearing death and he wants Jesus’ help.  He is a leader in his synagogue.  We are not told that Jarius was a rabbi.   So he was probably someone who organized sabbath worship services like an elder would do in this church.   And he wants Jesus to heal his daughter.  He wants Jesus to touch her, lay his hand upon her, for healing. 

Throughout the Old Testament, the act of laying on of hands was something done by a priest.   A priest would place his hands on an animal and curse it will all the sins of the community.   Then the animal would be sacrificed to God and all those sins were forgiven.  This restored the people to a right relationship with God.

Jarius wants Jesus to lay his hands on his daughter not as a curse but as a blessing.   He wants his daughter blessed by having all of her sins removed and restored to right relationship with God.  And he believes that Jesus can do that.   All Jesus has to do is touch us and we experience salvation. 
But before Jesus can do this work for Jairus’ daughter he was interrupted.

24 A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

This woman had no business touching Jesus or anyone else.   She had a chronic disease which would have caused her to be quarantined.  But here she is, pushing through a huge crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak.  And she was healed as if Jesus’ cloak was some kind of good luck charm. 

Jesus was being bumped and pushed by the crowd as he was going to Jairus’ house.   And he probably should have kept going because Jairus was a very important person and his daughter needed him.  But Jesus stopped to find and speak to this woman who had touched him.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

So Jesus stopped his hurried journey to the bedside of a dying girl to try to find out who touched him.   The disciples wanted to help find her, but the crowd was so big there was no chance. 

In ancient times, when a person experienced healing from a chronic disease she would go to a priest for examination prior to being reintroduced into the community.  So the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak presented herself to Jesus.  She had to be scared to death to reveal herself.   Everyone knew her.  Everyone knew about her disease.   And now everyone would know about her leaving quarantine and joining the crowd.   But she had to present herself to Jesus. And Jesus, as a priest, pronounced her clean.  Jesus saved this woman from a lifetime as an outcast and reconciled her to the community.
So Jairus wanted Jesus to touch his daughter so that she would experience forgiveness of sin and be reconciled with God.   And the woman touched Jesus to experience healing of a chronic disease and reconciliation with the community.  They both needed a savior, and so do we.    We need a savior who forgives our sin and reconciles us with God.   And we need a savior who will heal our diseases and reconcile us with our families and communities.   And thankfully we have a savior, Jesus Christ.
After his encounter with the chronically sick woman, Jesus finally got to Jairus’ home and the bedside of his daughter.

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Jesus touched the hand of a young girl who had already died and brought her back to life.  This too is what a savior does for us.   A savior resurrects us from the dead and restores us to new life.    And the savior who does that for us is Jesus.

So a savior forgives our sins and reconciles us with God.   A savior heals our illnesses and reconciles us in community.   And a savior raises us from the dead to eternal life.   And the person who does all of that for us is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

And Jesus does all of that through touch.   He places his hands on us, like an ancient priest, to bless us, forgive us, and restore our relationship with God.   He allows us to touch him to receive healing, wholeness, and peace.   And he grabs our hands to lift us up out of our graves to life eternal in the resurrection.  So don’t be afraid of our Savior's touch.

Two ways that we feel our savior's touch are in the sacraments.   In baptism, we feel the water and we affirm our faith in Jesus.   In communion, we feel the bread and wine on our tongues.     Remember as we share that bread and wine today that this symbolizes our savior touching us, forgiving our sins, reconciling us with God, healing our diseases, restoring us to community, and resurrecting us to new life.   Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for being our savior.   We thank you for blessing us with your touch.    Lay your hands upon us to bless us with forgiveness of sin and restored relationship with the Father.   Heal our diseases with your touch.   And grab our hands lift us from death to eternal life.   This we pray in the promise of scripture and in your holy name.   Amen.