Ephesians 4:1-16
Many years ago, in another time and place, I visited a delinquent member of the congregation I was then serving and tried to encourage this person to come to church. The response was pretty bizarre.
“I already know all that. I learned the catechism when I was confirmed, and I still remember what I learned.”
This person actually thought that the religious knowledge that had supposedly been gained in her confirmation classes – held about 45 or 50 years earlier – was sufficient, and therefore that attending church at this point in life was unnecessary.
We should all be able to recognize this way of thinking as ridiculous. It betrays so many misunderstandings about Christian faith, and about why Christians go to church, that I cannot even begin to list them all.
But do we know how to explain to our friends why we do go to church? If they at the present time have no inclination to go, can we explain why they should want to come with us to the Lord’s house?
Today’s appointed text from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians gives us one of the reasons why we gather together in the name of the Lord, under the ministry of the pastor and teacher whom the Lord has appointed for us.
According to Paul, within and for his church, Christ “gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
That’s a long sentence! Let’s dissect it, and learn from it.
First, Paul tells us that the ministers who bring the Word of Christ to his people are to be seen as gifts of Christ to his church. The apostles and prophets were, of course, sent directly by the Lord. He supernaturally placed his words into their minds and onto their lips.
They were infallible in their doctrine. The Scriptures were written by such men, by divine inspiration.
But St. Paul also includes ordinary “evangelists” – whom we might refer to as missionaries today – and ordinary “pastors and teachers,” in his list of those ministers who have been given to the church by the ascended Lord.
These men proclaim the same message that the apostles and prophets proclaimed. But they do so on the basis of the written Scriptures that the apostles and prophets have left to the church, and not on the basis of any direct revelations or divine guarantees of infallibility.
Unlike the ministry of the apostles and prophets, the ministry of modern missionaries, and of the ordinary “pastors and teachers” of our time, is therefore always subject to testing by the church, in the light of these Biblical norms. But when they pass that test, then what they say is to be accepted as God’s own truth, as if an apostle or prophet were saying it.
When a vacant congregation goes through the process of calling a pastor, it may seem as if they are going out and looking for a new preacher and spiritual leader. But St. Paul says that this is not what is really happening – at least not at the deepest level.
What is really happening is that Jesus, the Lord of his church, is using the church’s calling process as the mechanism through which he is giving a pastor and teacher to a congregation.
So, when the members of a church ignore the ministry of their pastor by staying away from public worship, or when they fail to take advantage of the opportunities they have to receive spiritual instruction from their called teacher, they are, I’m afraid to say, showing disdain for the Lord’s gift, and therefore for the Lord himself.
Delinquent members of a church may think that they already know as much about God’s Word as they need to know. But that can never be true.
If God has given you a pastor and teacher, it must be because he thinks you need one. And if he thinks you need one, you need one!
The pastors whom the Lord has given to us, “minister” to us, or “serve” us, in a way that is similar to how a waiter in a restaurant “ministers” to, or “serves,” diners: by delivering food to them. Of course, the food that a pastor serves to the church is spiritual food.
A called public teacher of the church gives the “bread of life” to his parishioners, when he gives Christ to them: that is, when he preaches the Biblical gospel, administers the sacraments that Jesus has instituted, and offers evangelical counsel in private settings.
In all of this, Christ himself is at work: forgiving their sins, justifying them by faith, and strengthening that faith and making it fruitful.
The fact that you had a literal meal yesterday does not mean that you do not need to have another meal today. The fact that you learned your catechism 10, 20, or 30 years ago does not mean that do not need to hear God’s Word again today.
If you still stumble and fail, you need the Lord’s pardon on an ongoing basis. If you still become fearful and discouraged, or sometimes lose your way in life, you need the comfort and guidance of God’s Word on an ongoing basis.
In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the “bread of life” metaphor to describe himself, in order to illustrate our need for continual sustenance from him. In the ancient world – and often in our time – bread was and is a daily staple. It is not a special delicacy that is consumed maybe once or twice per year.
And that’s why we come to church more than once or twice per year. That’s why we listen with reverent attention to our pastor’s preaching and teaching, and why we partake in faith of the sacrament of our Lord’s body and blood, which our pastor administers to us for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus is the bread of life. His message of hope and life refreshes our soul and strengthens us for our journey.
Returning to today’s text: St. Paul continues his discussion of why Jesus gives ministers to his church, by explaining that it is so that “we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
A child-like faith – characterized by a humble trust in God’s promises – is commendable. But a childish faith is not commendable.
Too often, though, people are satisfied with a childish faith: an immature and undeveloped faith; a faith that has never become deeper and broader than the rudimentary kind of knowledge that is received in children’s catechism classes.
Of course, when someone lacks interest in growing in his faith, and in deepening his spiritual knowledge, that is an indication that this person doesn’t think the Christian faith is really all that important, or relevant to real life.
And the reason why a person would have this kind of nonchalant attitude is because he has only a shallow and superficial understanding of what the Christian faith is really all about! He doesn’t know how profoundly relevant the Christian faith and worldview are, to all aspects of his life, and to all the decisions that he needs to make in life.
Our Small Catechism is a wonderful tool. it lays down, and continually reinforces, a solid foundation of basic Biblical knowledge in our minds and hearts.
But as with any foundation, it is meant to be built on. A firmer and taller structure of spiritual insight and wisdom, and of doctrinal clarity, is to be erected on it. As we go forth into the adult world, we need to have an adult faith.
We need to be able to give a reason for the hope that is within us, when our faith in God as creator and sustainer of the universe is challenged in the university classroom, by the dehumanizing influence of evolutionary dogma.
We need to know how to respond thoughtfully, and how to defend what is good and pure when our moral standards are challenged in movies and music, and by the dehumanizing influence of the decadent popular culture.
The Christian faith is not something juvenile and simplistic, that people eventually grow out of. It is something that God’s people continually grow into, for a lifetime.
And so, we come to church, throughout our lifetime, to learn more deeply of Christ and his ways, and to be formed in our faith by God’s Word. We receive the ministry of Word and Sacrament that Christ makes available to us through our pastors so that we can grow up spiritually.
And the more we learn, the more we want to learn. It’s a little bit like eating potato chips. You can’t eat just one. The first one you eat creates a desire to eat more.
But unlike potato chips, the Word of God is not spiritual junk food. It contains the wholesome, spiritual nourishment your soul needs.
You therefore never have to feel guilty over-snacking on God’s Word, in a moment of quiet Bible reading and reflection at home. And you can never overindulge when you come to the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day, to partake there of the full banquet of the means of grace.
And finally, St. Paul ties these thoughts together, when he expresses the wish and the expectation that Christians who receive what Christ gives them, and who are themselves now “speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.”
It is important to know the “truth”: that is, to learn and believe what God has revealed about himself, about the world, about us, and about us in relation to him and the world.
It is important to have a clear-eyed and clear-headed grasp on reality, regarding human sin and human rebellion – your sin and rebellion. And it is important to learn and believe what God has revealed about mercy and forgiveness – his mercy and forgiveness in Christ, for you.
This truth, when learned, is to be believed with all your heart – as the Holy Spirit instills such a faith in you. And this truth, when learned, is also to be spoken to others. But it is to be spoken always in love.
And that’s another crucial aspect of what it means to become mature in our faith. As we grow in faith, we become more like Christ in what we know; and we also become more like Christ is how we live, and in how we come across to others.
With the Lord’s help, we can – in love – warn our neighbor of God’s righteous judgment against his sin, without coming across as self-righteous. With the Lord’s help, we can – in love – invite our neighbor to put his trust in the mercy of Christ, God’s only-begotten Son, without coming across as arrogant.
When we speak law and gospel to those we know, it is not because we want to prove that we are right in our religious beliefs, and that they are wrong. It is because we care about them: about their life in this world, and about their eternal destiny.
It is because we want to share with them the joy and hope of everlasting life that God has allowed us to have, and because we want them to join us on the journey of faith that God has laid out for his redeemed people.
Love without truth is mere sentimentality. Truth without love is mere intellectualism.
Our baptism does not call us to either of these caricatures of the Christian life. But it does call us to be – and by the working of God’s Spirit, it causes us to be – members of the one body of Christ, in time and in eternity.
We do indeed travel together through life as a fellowship of faith, and as a community of healing and hope.
The church and its ordained pastors can be thought of as a band of pilgrims, with their guide; as a spiritual family, with its spiritual father; as a gathering of disciples eager to learn, with their teacher; or as a vulnerable flock of sheep, with its protecting shepherd.
The common theme in these Biblical images of the church, is that we, as members of the Lord’s body, are together: growing together, praying together, receiving God’s pardon together, and living in God’s reconciliation and peace together.
And so – to quote from today’s Epistle one more time –
“I…beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Amen.