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July 2003 (click here to return to "July 2003 Sermons" page)

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 27, 2003)

“The Trinity Foundation” Van Kemper

Text: Ephesians 3:14-21

SERMON

Have you ever wondered why God sent Jesus into the world to grow up in the house of a carpenter? Why not in the palace of a king, in the camp of a military leader, or even in the temple residence of a high priest? Why not in the shop of a merchant, in the seaside house of a sailor, or in a villa beside a vineyard? The possibilities were endless, so why a “carpenter’s house,” for heaven’s sake?

Perhaps the epistle known as Ephesians will help us better to understand God’s choice. As we have heard for the past two Sundays and will hear this morning and for two more Sundays to come, the epistle we call Ephesians probably was a letter sent round to the church at Ephesus and to several other churches in that region of Asia Minor we now call Turkey. This epistle is all about how God establishes and builds up local churches in the world – to do God’s work in the world.

The epistle to the Ephesians was a strong reminder to those first two generations of Christians that they were following in the footsteps of a carpenter’s son, just as surely as they were following the path of the son of God. And so are we!

This morning, our text is rather special. Known as “The Apostle’s Prayer,” this passage from chapter 3, verses 14 through 21 provides not only a prayer but also a doxology – it is both prayer and praise. In fact, this is the only place in the New Testament in which praise is offered to God in the context of Christ and the church.

Listen again to these words from verse 21:

“. . . to [God] . . . be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

As I studied this prayer during the last couple of weeks, I was struck again and again by the author’s attention to the “architectural details” of the church. In writing about the linkage of the church to Christ Jesus, the author often sounds like what some commentators (e.g., Pheme Perkins, “Ephesians,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. XI, p. 360) call an architect or a master builder – or, in my own reading, a master carpenter.

For me, the author shows a master carpenter’s perspective throughout the letter. For example, listen again to the closing verses of last Sunday’s lectionary text (Ephesians 2:11-22) – or even better, take a Bible from the pew rack, and follow along (see page 183), beginning with verse 19:

So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God (NRSV, Eph. 2:19-22).

In her sermon last Sunday, Julie rightly focused on the issue of the “strangers in the house.” She pointed out that the author of Ephesians had to get the attention of both Gentiles and Jews – and had to convince both groups that they were reconciled through the blood of Christ.

In re-reading this text, we can see beyond the “people” to the structures in which God places them – the local churches that, in the first century, were called “house churches.” What we heard last week as a simple reference to “people” now takes on additional significance. When we shift our focus from people to structures, the idea of being “members of the household of God” (v. 19) can be appreciated afresh.

Now, this might seem like a stretch (my wife Sandra certainly thought so, when I tried out this idea on her!), but in the original Greek, the single word [oikeioi] translated here into English as “members of the household” literally meant “belonging to or standing in relation to a household.” This is the only place in the New Testament where we find this structural variant on the common word for household [oikos]. Only by extension, this structural term takes on the figurative meaning of “members of God’s spiritual family – that is, believers.”

In fact, even in English, the structural meaning for “member” is not such a stretch! My Webster’s dictionary provides three variant meanings, listed in order of importance. The first meaning refers to “a part of a human or animal body or a part of a plant’s structure.” The second indicates “an element of a mathematical equation, a sentence, a syllogism, a series, a building, etc.” The final meaning deals with “a person belonging to some association, society, community, etc.”

So, as “members” of a local church, we are not isolated, random individuals; we are part of a special structure intended for building up the kingdom in the world. Therefore, as members of a local church, we are not meant to be negative and destructive; our purpose is to be positive and constructive! We should not always be so serious and somber, we also can be happy and joyful. [Dare I say it, as members of the church, we literally should “beam”!]

Having built this passageway from last week’s scripture to this week’s text, let me turn again to “The Apostle’s Prayer” in chapter 3. And feel free to continue to follow along in the pew Bible.

In verse 15, the author shows the wide boundaries for God’s project here on earth – to include “every family in heaven and on earth.” In simple terms, God is fundamentally “inclusive,” rather than exclusive. John Calvin spoke of our “election” by God, rather than salvation coming through our own good character or good works. As modern Presbyterians in the reformed tradition of Calvin, we sometimes struggle with the seeming narrowness of his concept of “election.” But, we do not need to worry. The whole point is that God is the one doing the electing, and if God chooses to elect “every family in heaven and on earth” that is God’s business. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Have you ever gone to a lumber yard to get some wood for a household project? Let me try that question again. In recent years, when you needed some building supplies have you gone to a Home Depot or to a Lowe’s? As a editorial footnote, allow me to add that, almost without us being aware of it, “lumber yards” have been sent to the same cultural scrap heap as other venerable American institutions like “dime stores,” “service stations,” and “coffee shoppes.” I can tell you where the Carpenter’s Corner, the Payless Cashways, and the Hines Redwood Supply “lumber yards” used to be in my area of northwest Dallas. But now they all are gone, replaced by Home Depots and by Lowe’s. Oh well. . .

As you have guessed by now, over the years I have done a lot of building and carpentry projects at the house. When I went to the lumber yard, I always looked for nice pieces of lumber – straight, not bent or curled up in any direction, without knots or holes – in sum, as perfect as possible. I usually rejected eight to ten pieces for each piece I took home. I was looking for the “A” and “B” grade stuff, not the “C” or “D” grade stuff.

Fortunately for most of us, when God goes looking for pieces to construct the church, God is not so picky! In fact, God takes home pieces that ordinary carpenters would reject without a second thought. God takes the crooked, the bent, the warped, even the pieces filled with knots [“nots”] – and somehow builds up a “dwelling place” (the church) that has survived for two thousand years!

God does not choose us without a purpose. We are not picked at random. We are selected – Calvin preferred the term “elected” – to do the work of building up God’s dwelling place in the world. And remember, God does not ask us to do what we are not able to do. This always has been a key element in our reformed theology.

To this end, the author of Ephesians prays – in verse 16 – that God grant that the members of the church “be strengthened in [their] inner being with power through [God’s] Spirit.”

From a master carpenter’s perspective, this sounds like the kind of lumber that has been treated by high-pressure infusions of strengthening and protective materials – like the treated spruce fir that we often use in constructing outdoor patios, decks, and fences. By infusing the lumber with special ingredients, ordinary old wood can be transformed into something that it did not used to be. It costs a little more, but it’s worth it.

These days, we also have learned that composite materials are stronger and more long-lasting than any single wood used alone. This is why the big, load-bearing beams you see in church buildings and other large structures often are built with composite materials, often laminated together to form very strong units.

What is true for the building also is true for the members themselves. This inner strengthening is just what we need to survive the rigors of being “outdoors” – that is, to do the exterior work of the Church in the world. We should not be surprised that a local church built only of members labeled “for interior use only” can withstand the rigors of the exterior environment. This is one reason why, in restructuring the committees of the Session for this year, we put Mission and Stewardship together!

Just as structures made of composite materials are stronger than those of one substance only, a local church made up of more than one kind of member will always be stronger and more enduring than a church where all of the members look, think, and act the same. It is just another way of speaking of the many different gifts that we bring to the Church and its work. By the way, as you may have noticed earlier in perusing your Bulletin, this is the focus of next week’s lectionary text – drawn from Ephesians 4:1-16.

Now, let us return again to the prayer in the epistle to the Ephesians. Please look at verse 17.

There, we find that the strengthening of the inner being of the members comes through a predictable source; namely, Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith. Literally, they are infused with the love of the carpenter! And this same verse 17 ends by noting that the members are “rooted and grounded in love.” In the original Greek text, the idea of being grounded literally meant “to provide with a foundation” or “to lay the foundation for.” So, here again, it is Christ’s love that is the foundation for the love that a local church displays to the world.

Moving along to verses 18 and 19, we get the full measure of the carpenter’s perspective on the Church. Here the author of Ephesians prays the famous words:

“that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

For some of you, these words will recall the hymn (#83) that we will sing just before the benediction this morning. This hymn, entitled, “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High,” dates back to medieval times, and is attributed to Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471). Hymn #83 usually is sung during the season of Lent. However, we have not sung it here at Trinity since 1998 – so we have borrowed it for our “Ordinary Time” purposes this morning.

The closing stanza (5) has special significance for us in this congregation. Listen to the words that later we will sing together: “All glory to our Lord and God for love so deep, so high, so broad: the Trinity whom we adore forever and forever more.” I must confess that, on my first hearing these words, it reminded me less or a hymn and more of a school song – sort of like SMU’s “Varsity” – in which we pledge our eternal allegiance to our alma mater.

The other confession I should make is that when I saw the phrase “the Trinity” in this stanza, it suggested to me that many of us at this Trinity – church, that is – spend more time contemplating the internal affairs in this local church than we do in contemplating the broader importance of claiming the privilege of being “the Trinity” for our neighbors in this corner of God’s world.

And this brings me to my final reflection on this morning’s lectionary text. To speak, as Julie did last week, of the “people” in the local church and to speak, as I have this morning, of the structure of a local church is not a contradiction in terms. As God’s “dwelling place” in the world, a local church is a manifestation of the internal and the external qualities of God. Theologians commonly refer to these qualities in terms of the “immanent” (or internal) economy” and the “external economy” of the Trinity. It is no accident that theologians selected the word “economy” – derived from the Greek word for household [oikos] – to describe God the Creator, Christ the Savior, and the Holy Spirit, the three “members” of the Trinity!

Reading this “Apostle’s Prayer” in the third chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians reminds us that, as a local church, especially one that took on the name of the Trinity a century ago, we do not exist for ourselves alone. Just as the Trinity has its internal and external qualities, so must we. Or, as the master carpenter would say, we are not intended “for interior use only.” On the contrary, God has selected (and “elected”) us – all of us – for a much broader and more important mission in this world.

Remember that we have been strengthened in our inner being with power through the Holy Spirit and we have been infused with Christ in our hearts, and have been founded in God’s love. From generation to generation, this is our heritage and this is our foundation – “The Trinity Foundation.” Thanks be to God. Amen.