Christian Practices August 13, 2006 Pentecost 10, Proper 14

First read the text for this sermon: Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2

How might someone know that you are a Christian? For instance, you know by the yarmulke on his head that a man is an observant Jew. When you see a woman wearing a chador, you know that she is a practicing Muslim.

You and I are not so easily identified by outward appearance. So, how might someone know that you are a Christian?

It could be that that’s a strange question for you. It might be that you’d say, “Well, you can’t tell by looking – because the most important mark of a Christian is his or her beliefs.” It is true that I’m often asked what Lutherans believe about this or that issue. But the Christian life of faith is not a matter of “justification by right answer alone!” Words are just words, and beliefs are just intellectual concepts – unless they show up in how you live, in your actions, in your Christian life. And so, here is what I propose as the answer to my question: Others see that you are a Christian as you practice the faith. Christian faith practices are distinct and, indeed, counter-cultural.

The author of Ephesians names some of those practices, in the verses we read this morning. Listen to them again, open to the idea that these might identify us to others, as Christians!

•So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.

•Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.

•Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.

•Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

•Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

•Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
What is there to notice about these Christian faith practices? Most importantly: all of them concern how we treat each other. The author of Ephesians’ first priority is building up and strengthening Christians in community.

Notice why, for instance, truthful speech replaces lying: for we are members of one another. We are truthful because of the obligation we have towards one another, because we have been baptized into the body of Christ, together, and in that communion we are joined.

We see this concern for the health of the Christian community in all of the teachings in this passage. Anger is a common human emotion (and is often a gift from God!), but anger can lead to destructiveness among the brothers and sisters.

Honest work is taught – not because of some Protestant work ethic, but so the worker will have something to share with the needy!

Evil talk destroys community, and so what comes out of our mouths must only be what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

Then come two of the most beautiful verses in all of Scripture: Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Why are we to be this way? Because then we are imitators of God, as beloved children. Then we are living in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.

Is any of this easy to do? If you answer “yes,” it’s because you’re sitting in church, and you’re fooling yourself! In the “real world,” in our daily lives, it takes the regular discipline of remembering, to engage in Christian practices. It takes the daily return to our baptisms to live as imitators of God, who is revealed in the human flesh of Jesus the Christ.

How, then, does God the Holy Spirit form us to imitate God? How does the Holy Spirit form us in such self-giving practices, following the Christ who loved us and gave himself up for us? That formation happens in Christian community that is counter to the culture.

Now, I don’t want to set up “the world” as an entirely alien place. There is much that is good in the world. God created the world! God loves every person and every creature! But, since your ministry takes place in the world, you know better than I that there are forces in the world that encourage falsehood (to take just the first of the teachings in this morning’s reading). These days, we call falsehood “spin.” Those who “spin” well are paid well! Political operatives in both parties are experts at distorting truth to manipulate public opinion. When you hear corporate spokespersons speak, don’t you assume that their versions of the truth are self-serving? And let’s get more personal. When you’re caught up in something controversial, when you’ve screwed up, don’t you feel strong pressure to present an interpretation of the facts that places you in the best possible light? Most everyone knows of these initials: “CYA.”

Here’s my point. There are forces in the culture that will form us in falsehood, and to be angry and impatient people, and to be selfish and self-centered, and to be bitter, and to hold grudges – unless we resist that formation and, instead, practice the counter-cultural Christian virtues of honesty about ourselves, and generosity towards others, and spoken words that build up others, and kindness and forgiveness towards others. By the formation of God the Holy Spirit, as we engage in these Christian practices, we are imitators of God, who is revealed in the human flesh of Jesus the Christ.

Here is a chief reason why we exist, as a congregation: it is to be a community of formation in such Christian practices.

Our central activity is worship – and in worship we confess the truth about ourselves and we receive our gracious and self-giving God.

In this counter-cultural community of formation we emphasize the importance of a day of sabbath time each week, and a period of sabbath time each day – holy time set aside when you don’t have to worry about a schedule or produce anything or accomplish anything, but, instead time to be immersed in Scripture and prayer and singing directed towards God our creator, and in activities that give you renewed energy!

In this counter-cultural community of formation we remind ourselves to care for the poor because each one of us is impoverished in God’s eyes, and we encourage each other to be generous in money and time and speech towards others who are in need.
In this counter-cultural community of formation we teach each other that sex is a sacramental gift of God’s presence, to be given only to another person in a life-long relationship of safety and commitment.

In this counter-cultural community of formation, we hear the truth that not a single one of us is without sin, and that each one of us deserves only punishment from God – and so, as imitators of God, who in human flesh gave himself up for us, we must be forgiving and open and compassionate towards each other.

Doesn’t all of this describe good news? As one participant in the Bible study in-between the services put it, “This describes the life of grace!” What joy is given to us by God when we practice Christian virtues of honesty about ourselves, and generosity towards others, and spoken words that build up others, and kindness and forgiveness towards others. By those Christian practices, as imitators of God, we are transformed in Christ! The Holy Spirit is at work in this community of Christian formation, empowering holiness, effecting a new way of life!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.


Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia