The Unity and Maturity Needed for the Mission

a good time to thank you all for being so gracious and kind to me over the last few days.

Mostly because Tommy says that he preaches for 30 to 40 minutes,

and I don't have that much content, so this counts.

So I've at least managed to spend 17 seconds saying thank you.

And by way of further stretching, I think it's important for us to remember

where we've been so far this week.

We began in chapter 2 in Ephesians,

and we talked about how in the first part of verses 1 and 3 especially,

Paul gives this comprehensive analysis of the human condition apart from God

that we link to the baptismal idea of rejecting both the world, the flesh, and the devil.

And Paul talks about how different ways spiritual powers and forces

and our own desires in the world lead us away from God

and create this unstable community and rebellion against him.

And then we talked about how he moves from that,

one of the glorious conjunctions that you have in the New Testament,

but God who is rich in his mercy.

And he talks about who we have now become in Christ Jesus.

And then he talks about the unity that arises from the work of Christ,

that the Gentiles who were once alienated from God are now a part of one family.

And then we talked about in chapter 3, Paul's own description of his ministry,

that Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles.

And we talked about how Paul's lauding his prison ministry is an example to us of the fact that this gospel cost us something,

that proclaiming the full gospel of Jesus Christ always carries with it opposition and oppression.

We moved down through the second half of chapter 3 relatively quickly on Saturday,

and we talked about the stewardship of the mystery,

the fact that we have been given this precious gospel of which we're stewards.

And this glorious gospel that involves the triune God,

bring us into fellowship with him and one another,

reconciling us both to God and to man,

to create this church that is a picture of or a witness to the watching world,

seems like much too big of a gospel for us to actually hold.

And so Paul concludes the section that we read with a prayer that the congregation would actually believe

or have the strength to grasp what he's just told them.

And the part that we actually didn't get to is at the very bottom,

verses, chapter 3, verses 20 and 21.

So he concludes this section.

Now, him who is able to do abundantly more than all that we can ask or imagine,

according to the power at work within him,

to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

In other words, Paul is saying God can do more than we can even possibly conceive.

And so one of the things, and I understand,

like when people say you need to come to a church,

you need to have a vision, you need to have a plan,

you want to say in five years we want our church to be here,

we want to have this building, we want to do these things, right?

We think we know what Advent might be in five years.

And it's Tommy's job and the staff's job to pray for that.

But we're told that God can do that which we cannot even imagine.

That it's possible for God to do things in and through this church

that were actually unthinkable before they occurred.

So when we talk about, you know, one of the things we've had happen here with the staff,

we've had discussions of multi-ethnicity and diversity,

and we want, you know, this church to be a possibly more diverse place.

And we may think it would be great if we made it to 10 or 20 percent.

But what if God actually would do the unimaginable?

What if God could use this church to begin to transform not just this one particular parish,

but the ACNA's approach to ethnicity and diversity?

That's unimaginable.

But that's within the scope of what Paul talks about here.

So now we're into chapter four, where Paul has, in some sense,

in the first three chapters of this epistle, he has focused, not exclusively,

but a lot on getting them to understand who they are in Christ,

the glorious riches they inherit that they have as followers of Jesus.

And now he focuses on how they should live.

You've heard this wonderful gospel.

And what does it look like to actually live?

And he says this,

I, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord,

urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

What does it mean to walk worthy?

Let me give you a brief example.

So Tommy sent me a text message

that some of you might have seen on the internet

telling me not to wear my collar

until Sunday because, you know, you guys are a little bit more of a casual tradition.

And I come from the tradition where Jesus only hears your prayers if you wear them in a collar.

And I remember when I first came into the Anglican tradition

and I put on the collar.

And it was actually during the time where there was a lot of the abuse crisis going on in the Catholic Church.

And I would go out into the city, especially in Boston,

and sometimes people would, like, yell at me.

And I wanted to say,

you know, no, no, no, no, that's not me.

That's not me.

Like, we're innocent.

But what happened, though,

what happened,

what became clear to me,

even in that context,

when you put on the collar,

people watch you carefully.

And I do enjoy wearing the collar

because it reminds me of who I represent.

And when I'm wearing the collar,

especially as a parent,

my sanctification level has to go much higher.

I said,

in the name of the Lord,

if you don't put that candy back,

I will rebuke you sharply.

Wait.

So when Paul,

when Paul talks about,

when Paul talks about,

you know,

you do that,

I'm sorry,

you do that parent where you're like,

you're whispering in a key that only your children can hear.

If you don't stop this right now.

Okay.

Walk.

Some of you are like,

I never do this.

You're better parents than I am.

This is not,

it's not total sanctification here.

So when Paul,

Paul uses the language of walk,

people,

it points to a way of life.

It actually first appears when his discussion of when we used to live in rebellion against God,

right?

When we were the walking dead,

we talked about this zombie language.

And now,

now he has in mind,

instead of walking along with the sons of disobedience,

you walk in a manner that looks like someone who's gone from death to life.

Walking worthy then is always a matter,

of discerning the will of God in a particular situation.

It's not a series of rules,

right?

It says live in such a way that you honor God.

And let me tell you,

I am a priest and I'm a New Testament scholar.

I have a relatively confined understanding of what that means.

I'm not a business person.

I don't work at Capitol Hill.

I don't work in a secular context.

So my expression of what it means to walk worthy is much different than yours.

And so what Paul is asking you to do then is for each one of you to become contextual theologians.

Where you ask yourself,

what does God require of me as a parent,

as an employee,

or as an employer in this situation?

Walking with humility means walking with this acknowledgement of your status,

vis-a-vis God,

not people.

So one of the things that can happen is,

especially in the language of humility,

it can get attached to often women or people of color to like humble yourself.

And when you're in a society that is consistently telling you to take up less space,

humility becomes a cipher for oppression,

right?

So when Paul talks about walking with humility and gentleness,

it is not you denying the gifts that God gave you.

If you're the best singer in the congregation,

you don't say,

oh,

I just sing a little bit.

And then you come up and you like blow the congregation away.

You've just lied to the people.

But it does,

it means this,

whatever gifts you have are precisely that.

They're gifts of God.

And in comparison to what God can do,

your gifts are ultimately not that impressive.

You can sing,

you can preach,

God made the whole world.

You see it?

You see it?

And that actually does humble you.

Listen,

let me tell you,

there's like the worst person in the world.

Like,

you can imagine like the most degenerate,

horrible person in the world.

There's that guy who's probably,

and then there's everybody else.

So everybody else is above that person,

right?

There's always someone that you can find,

who is worse than you,

who you can use to exalt yourself over,

right?

Unless you're at the very bottom,

there's always somewhere.

You're like,

you know,

I'm a bad pyramid.

Those people over there,

they're the worst,

right?

So when Paul talks about humility,

he is saying that as you walk through life as a Christian,

and you exercise your gifts,

you exercise them as things that are offered to the community for their good,

not as a means of exalting yourselves over others.

But it also means that if you have these gifts that God has given you,

it is incumbent upon you to exercise them.

So humility is not burying what you have because you don't want,

because you're so worried about your pride.

Have sufficient trust in God that he will humble you.

Exercise the gift that God has given you.

He talks about,

later on here,

and I don't want to take too much time,

because the first verses of every text always enthrall me.

He speaks about bearing with one another in love.

And one of the things that is tricky

is when you move from doctrine to practice in Christian community.

So Paul is giving this wonderful picture of the Christian community

as being united across race and class and the end of hostility,

the dividing wall,

the manifest of the powers and the age to come,

the glorious nature of God's kindness towards us in Jesus.

And that sounds wonderful

until you have to actually do that with other people.

And then one of the things that,

one of the signs of kind of Christian maturity

is if you've gone through that process

of becoming deeply, deeply disappointed in your church

and loving it anyway.

Because every church will fail you.

Every one of them.

None of them are perfect.

And there is a kind of Christian immaturity

that can lead us to go from place to place

looking for utopia

and discovering in the place that you go, sin.

So bearing with one another in love

means that we will disappoint one another.

But it also assumes that we will forgive one another

and love each other as often as it is necessary.

We don't get to throw away other Christians.

And I have no idea how many of you all spend your time on the internet.

But I will at least say that like social media teaches us

to hate other Christians.

Christians who are different than we are.

Because you're rewarded for hating the right things.

Like if you tweet,

my pastor gave me a wonderful sermon

that edified me and wanted me to love my neighbor better,

you get like two likes.

If you go, here's this horrible prosperity gospel preacher

who wanted a thousand dollars from me,

tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, you're viral, right?

Now, what I want to say is when you hear this,

it could easily lead to this idea that

because you're bearing with one another with love,

that it rules out truth-telling.

It actually assumes truth-telling.

There's like false visions of unity.

One of the visions is we bear with one another in love,

which means I don't tell you the things that I don't like

and I keep an interior record of resentment, right?

So like I don't like the fact that we do this in church

and it basically perpetually bothers me forever

and I kind of, I consider it my version of sanctification

not telling the church about the things that it does wrong, right?

But it actually assumes

that you're going to tell the truth,

someone's going to receive the truth,

and then you're going to get to the other side of that.

Everyone knows that true friendship

is only true friendship on the other side of an argument.

And what I want to encourage you to say,

you're mature enough as a church

to go through disagreement,

come through the other side of it,

and still be a part of the community.

So walking worthy here in the first section

involves community.

It involves us doing this together.

And community assumes accountability.

That's what community involves, accountability.

And accountability involves forgiveness.

Let me explain something to you.

The accountability would never be done perfectly.

And then it assumes continued community

on the other side.

Paul goes on to talk about

there's the unity that we have

arises from the gift of the Spirit.

He says there's one body,

and there's one Spirit,

just as you were called to one hope

that belongs to your call.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all.

The unity of the church.

The unity of the church.

In diversity.

This is what Paul has talked about

this entire letter.

The unity of the church.

In diversity.

Is a manifestation of the unity of God.

You see it?

Unity across difference

is a manifestation on earth

of the triune unity of God.

And so I think

it is time for the church,

and this may not be you,

it is time for the church

to get over all its fears

as to what diversity

is going to bring.

And trust that the gospel is true.

That our unity together

across difference

will bring a particular manifestation

of God's glory.

And you ask,

how is this possible

in our context?

He talks about the same Spirit.

The same Spirit

that draws us all

into the body of Christ

allows us to live together.

I have heard,

if one more person

asks me how to reach black people,

like there's a different spirit

that you need to evangelize,

that you need to call upon

in the proclamation of the gospel

to reach ethnic minorities,

that is a faulty anthropology.

And it's a low doctrine

of the Holy Spirit.

Paul says,

we are all baptized

into the same Spirit,

by the same Spirit

that draws us all

into the community.

How do you reach

ethnic minorities?

So part of it involves

preaching the gospel.

There's not a gospel,

like there is no gospel

for the Jews

and gospel for the Gentiles.

There's one gospel.

How that gospel is enculturated,

yes, it matters.

Yes, it matters.

But there isn't like

this magical set of tools

that's going to result in,

now here come the black people.

He also speaks

about the same hope

that functions as our foundation

and the fact that we confess

the same faith.

This is important

because diversity

as a mere social good

is insufficient

to maintain community,

right?

Why should we be together

because diversity is good?

It's not worth the suffering

that diversity brings.

But the confession

of the faith,

the doctrine

of the church

matters.

The fact that we all agree

that Jesus Christ

is Lord

is sufficient

to make the suffering

worth it.

I cannot correct,

I have four children,

four children.

And for the most part,

they've grown up

much different

than I have.

I grew up in Alabama

in the shadow of Jim Crow

and there was a strong

black-white binary.

And from kindergarten,

I was very,

very race conscious.

My first, like,

racial slur

was throwing at me

in first grade.

And so my life

was marked by this.

My children have lived

a much different life.

They lived on three continents,

at least the oldest has.

The others have lived on two.

And for the most part,

they don't have

the same racial consciousness.

My son,

when he was in,

we first went to Scotland,

and I asked him,

how many black people are,

you know,

this is probably,

I knew it was probably

going to be many,

how many black people

are in your class?

And he goes,

well, the only kid

is kind of like,

my color is,

you know,

this other kid

who is Korean.

And I was like,

as close as he could get.

And like,

for him,

like,

him and Korean

were like the same team.

I was like,

buddy,

America's going to be complicated.

But,

here's the truth.

Here's the truth.

Right now,

he's cute,

and he's not dangerous.

And the church loves him.

But the church,

at a certain point,

is going to begin to see him

as a danger.

And they're going to be

skeptical towards him.

And he's going to get frustrated.

And he's going to get angry.

He's going to want to leave.

Trust me,

it happens to all of us.

And I cannot say to him,

when that happens,

son,

it's simply good

that we're together.

But what I hope to be able

to say to my sons

and my daughters,

that Jesus Christ

died upon the cross

so that we might be

reconciled to one another

and created one family.

And as those who are

built upon the foundation

of this sacrifice,

we are stuck in this together.

And I think that the sacrifice

of Jesus

at least makes our suffering

somewhat worth it.

So,

this confession of faith

builds a unity

that is unshakable.

The last thing he talks about here

is the fact that we have

all sharing one baptism.

And forgive me,

my low church brothers and sisters.

I try to be ecumenical.

But apparently,

the apostle Paul

believes that collars

and slacks are important.

No.

That's not what Paul says.

That's not what Ephesians says.

Esau, stay in the text.

Okay.

Apparently,

Paul believes

there's something

about what happens

in baptism

that involves

a real participation

in the life,

death,

and resurrection,

and actual ascension

of the Lord

to reign on high.

It actually happens

not in the sense

that baptism is magical,

but it's not nothing.

I'll say that.

It's not a mere symbol.

Paul doesn't say

you're unified

because you've all

done the same ritual.

But in the same way

that we encounter

the living God

and the preaching

of the word,

and we encounter

the living God

and the word

and the sacrament

of the table,

I think Paul believes

that we encounter

the living God

in the waters of baptism,

and the waters of baptism

unite us

as one family.

I think Augustine

said that

even those

who are in hell

are marked

with the sign

of baptism.

You're sealed

and marked

as Christ-owned

forever.

So,

we cannot be

anti-sacramental.

When my sons

and my daughters

tend to despair,

I will say to them,

remember your baptism.

If you look at

this entire section,

you've seen

the discussion

of the Spirit,

right?

Drawn together

by the Spirit,

the Lord

and God the Father.

You have once again

a Trinitarian argument

for the unity

of the church

across difference,

walking together

in love

as a manifestation

of his glory.

He goes on

to talk about

in the second part

of this

that in this church,

the grace

is given

to each of us

to use our gifts

in accordance

with what Christ

has given us.

And he uses

this psalm,

and I can only

talk about it

really briefly.

He says,

he ascended on high

and led a host

of captives

captive,

and he gave gifts

to men.

Now,

one of the problems

is if you're

one of these

Bible people,

which I would hope

that you are,

that the psalm

seems to be speaking

about God's victory

over his enemies.

And Paul seems

to be using it

to refer to

God,

Jesus,

giving gifts

to us.

You see this?

There seems to be

a disconnect

between what

Psalm 68 says

and what Paul does.

Some people say

that Paul adjusts

this reading

and simply uses

it to his ends,

right?

That when Christ

ascended into heaven,

that he then gave

gifts to us.

But I think

the better way

of looking at it,

if you actually

read the entirety

of Psalm 68,

I think it's better

to look at this

not as a direct

quote of the part

that you see

here in verse 8,

but a summary

of the entirety

of the psalm.

Because in the psalm,

God defeats

his enemies.

And I think

what Paul is getting

here is that

because Christ

has defeated death

and ascended on high,

we receive the gifts

to do the things

necessary.

Jesus Christ

is the one

who has bound

the captives.

And here you once

again in this place

where the Christian

is faced with this call

or this reality

that the things

that we battle

are not simply

the things that we see,

but in a real sense,

Jesus has defeated

the spiritual powers.

And why does he do so?

He does so

so that we might

receive gifts

and the church

might be able

to function

as the Christ body

in the world.

And he begins

with the apostles

as the foundation.

Here I get to be

Anglican again.

The apostles

are seen

as foundation.

And those who,

what do the apostles

actually do?

And I don't think

we like take this

seriously enough

as Anglicans

and how it relates

to our polity.

You have people

going around

planting churches

in different places,

right?

And then when there's

a problem,

the people

in those churches

write to the apostles

and the apostles

write back.

And you have

the apostles

taking money

from one church

and delivering it

to another church.

So from the beginning,

even within

the New Testament itself,

there is a,

there's a communion

across cultures

led by people

who are trans-jurisdictional.

It was not simply

that the local church

did what they wanted

to do

and there was

no accountability.

So the good news

then is that

our polity,

I think,

is broadly speaking

biblical.

The bad news

is that our polity,

broadly speaking,

is biblical.

We're stuck

with our bishops.

And I do think

it's important.

I do think that

the fact that

we believe

that when the apostles

passed away,

they passed on

both apostolic faith

and what became

the New Testament

and apostolic authority

and what we now know

as the episcopate

as goods for us.

And I know that,

and I have no idea

actually what your experience

of your bishops is,

but I'm going to speak broadly.

We love our bishop.

We love your bishop

because Bishop Reed

love is wonderful.

But I know that sometimes

it feels like,

in general,

that authority

is inefficient.

That there are things

that we could do

on a local level

that would be more effective

than what the national church,

what our bishops

may say to us.

But I think

that there's something

of the bearing

of one another

in love

that is manifested

in Episcopal government

as it relates

to a global communion.

I think that we need

one another,

even if that means

we're a slightly

more inefficient bunch.

He then goes on

to speak about the prophets.

And I think that

these are the people

who build up believers,

the shepherds

and the teachers.

And I don't want

to actually go through

and exegete

each one of these gifts

because I don't think

that this is like the point,

that we find

these six gifts

and then we have like

a biblical

instead of a heretical thing

like the Enneagram.

Sorry, I shouldn't have said that.

The Enneagram

is super in the Bible.

Okay.

So I don't think

that the purpose of this

is to create

these spiritual gifts

that we then

fit everyone into.

And then if you feel

like my gift

is not articulated here,

then I don't have

a use in the church.

What I think

that Paul is saying

is that every person

in the church

has been gifted

for the sake

of the building

up of the body.

And that we need

each other

to thrive.

What does

the mission

of the church

look like here

then according to Paul?

It is the entire church

using the gifts

that God has given them.

Not exalting

one gift

over the other

but not engaging

in false humility

so that the mission

of God

might go forward.

Here's one more thing

that I want to highlight

and then I will

sit down.

How long

does this work

last?

One of the things

that is great

about my wife's job

is that she is a doctor

and so she can see

a patient,

diagnose the patient,

the patient can get better

and she can like go home

and like her weekend

is done.

Right?

But when you are a priest

and your vision

is the evangelization

of the world

and every Christian

reaching full maturity

it never ends.

Right?

It's not like

my entire congregation

is spiritually mature

all of the DC

is effectively evangelized

I'm going to take a nap.

How long?

Paul says

the ministry

of the church

continues

until all attain

the unity

of the faith

and the knowledge

of the son of God

to mature manhood.

Here he's talking

about adulthood

mature womanhood

it's just fine.

Okay?

Till we all reach

the measure

of the stature

of the fullness

of Christ

so that we're

no longer children

tossed to and fro

by the waves

and carried about

by every wind

of doctrine.

Rather speaking

the truth

than love

we are to grow up

in every way

in him

who is Christ Jesus.

The ministry

of the church

continues

until the unity

called for

in the gospel

rooted in faith

is actually

achieved.

until we get

the full knowledge

of the son of God.

Here's the reason

why this is such

a complex thing

because Paul

has said repeatedly

that the knowledge

of God

is actually

inscrutable.

So you keep going

until you understand

the understandable.

But I do think

that this part

is important.

I do think

this is a sign

of maturity

that even though

that the work

that Paul speaks

about here

is ultimately

eschatological.

The church

never reaches

its fullness

until Jesus comes.

but I do think

that what Paul says

in verse 14

is relevant

to the church

here

and I may end

with this.

So you no longer

be children.

There's a difference

between having

struggles

in your faith.

I mean we all

have our ups

and downs.

It's actually

the same thing

in a relationship

right?

There's the like

dating phase

like I'm not sure

this is going

to work out.

Then there's

the like

we're together

phase.

I'm assuming

this is going

to work out.

There's the

marriage phase

and I wish

I could say

that the marriage

phase means

no that's not

it either.

There's a point

in the marriage

where you're like

too old to start

over.

We're like

we're in this

together.

And so

no fight

has stakes

that are too high

because no matter

what like

the mortgage

is really high.

No you Christians

you're Christians

is not the mortgage

you're Christians

so you're going

to be together

no matter what.

And that's

when I think

the real

genuine

sincerity

of love

manifests itself.

And anyone

who

and this

is

understand

this is

the analogy

not the judgment.

I understand

that marriage

is complicated

and all of you

have different

histories.

So do not

hear me

as a judgment

on anyone.

Hear the analogy

for its intent.

We have all

anyone who

has been a Christian

long enough

have seen

relationships

fall apart.

It's a part

of the human

experience.

And then

there is

kind of like

the people

who you begin

with.

Maybe there's

seven or eight

couples

who you think

we're going to

do life together

forever.

And you see

the things

that kind of

happen in those

relationships.

And like

now I'm 14

years into

my marriage.

And a lot

of the people

who are married

at the same

time together

like they're

no longer

together.

And me and

my wife

talk about

this.

Like what

did we do

that was right

and what

did we do

that was wrong?

We don't know

it's actually

the grace

of God.

But what we

can say is

that there's

a sense in

which at

this point

we know

that we're

in this

together.

And I think

it's the same

thing as it

relates to

the Christian

faith.

Like you

start off

with these

people.

And I'm

telling you,

I have people

who I'm with

the seminary

with who are

no longer

walking with

the Lord.

But I also

know people

who've gone

through real

suffering and

have come

through the

other side

and they

are Jesus

people.

And I hate

to be like a

stereotypical

Anglican and

refer to C.S.

Lewis when it

talks about

the ones who

are no longer

friends of

Narnia.

Is it Susan?

Susan's no longer

a friend of

Narnia.

The saddest

line in

children's

literature.

But I do

think that

even if we

don't reach

the full

maturity of

understanding

who we

are as

Christians,

I think we

can come

to this

place as

Christians

where I

know in

a way that

I can

articulate that

Jesus is the

one who will

be with me

until the

very end

and I'll

be with

him until

the very

end.

And I

think that

is what

Paul is

calling the

church and

Ephesus to

do in a

culture that

we talked

about earlier

was exerting

extreme

pressure for

them to

abandon the

faith.

And I

will say

this too.

I think

there's

something to

be said

for making

a similar

commitment to

a local

church.

I think

there's

something to

be said

for that.

That I

can say

these are

my people.

That whatever

Tommy does,

and I'm sure

he'll do

something,

that gets

on your

nerves,

short of

him

apostatizing,

right?

These are

my people.

We'll work

through it

together.

Because unity

has developed

through relationship

over time.

Rather,

right,

speaking the

truth in

love,

we are to

grow up

in every

way into

him who

is the

head,

into

Christ,

from whom

the whole

body,

joined and

held together

by every

joint which

is equipped,

when each

part is

working properly,

makes the

body grow

up so

it builds

itself up

in love.

My prayer

for you all

is that the

gospel will

be a sufficient

worth to

you to

engage in

the sacrifice

of living

together and

growing at

the full

maturity as

Christians.

In the name

of the

Father,

the Son,

and the

Holy Spirit.

Amen.