St. Matthew Lutheran Church

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 15, 2018

“Chosen by God, Redeemed in Christ, Sealed with the Spirit” (Ephesians 1:3-14)

Our Epistle reading today is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. In fact, this is the first of eight straight Sundays when the Epistle comes from Ephesians. And during this time, we’re studying Ephesians for our Bible class. I encourage you to stay after service for that. So this is an opportunity for you to dive in to this epistle and really explore it in depth. You may also want to read through Ephesians, perhaps even in one sitting–it’s only six chapters long–perhaps several times over the coming weeks. You will be richly blessed, I guarantee it.

How can I be so confident you will be richly blessed? Because this is God’s Word! This is the gospel, set forth in all its richness and blessing! St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians is a glorious gem, shining forth the beauties of God’s grace in Christ from every angle. Ephesians takes us from the grand cosmic sweep of God’s plan for the ages down to the practical realities of everyday life. It’s all here, in one midsize epistle. Christ, eternity, the cross, the church, grace, faith, good works, the new life in Christ, marriage, family, spiritual warfare–all these themes Paul deals with in this letter. The Epistle to the Ephesians is as helpful to the church in the twenty-first century as it was to the church in the first.

Our reading from Ephesians today is really the opening statement of this epistle. It comes right after a standard introduction, “Paul, an apostle of Christ, to the saints in Ephesus: Grace to you and peace,” etc. Then in verses 3-14, which is our text for today, Paul launches into a grand doxology, a great acclamation of God’s goodness, which sets the tone for the rest of the letter. It’s like he’s been thinking about all the rich blessings that God has showered upon us in Christ, and then he gushes forth with this torrent of praise for the triune God.

Paul’s mind surveys the whole sweep and scope of God’s eternal plan for the cosmos. It’s the big picture Paul is giving us here. He takes us from eternity to eternity, to see what God is doing in all of this, to reflect on the cosmic dimensions of God’s plan. It’s the big picture! But the picture has a purpose and a focus: God’s plan is centered in Christ. And the picture is not so big that it doesn’t include us. Because it does includes us, as we will see.

Now I think it will be helpful to look at our text today in three parts, according to the three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And also in three parts according to the timing of God’s big plan and purpose: first reaching back before creation, then moving into history, and finally culminating in the life of the age to come. And so our theme this morning: “Chosen by God, Redeemed in Christ, Sealed with the Spirit.”

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Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 23, 2015

“Marriage, God’s Way” (Ephesians 5:22-33)

News story from this summer: Jared Fogle, former spokesman for Subway sandwiches, pleads guilty to criminal sexual charges, and now his wife is filing for divorce. News story from this summer: Josh Duggar, one of the stars of the reality program, “19 Kids and Counting,” is discovered to have an account with a web service designed for arranging extramarital affairs. News story from this summer: The United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, strikes down state laws defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, thus allowing same-sex “marriage” in all fifty states.

What this sampling of news stories demonstrates is that marriage–and in particular, the disregard for marriage and even the redefining of marriage–that this is a controversial issue, and that marriage is in a severe state of distress and decline in our country. And if you think it’s bad in America, it’s even worse in Europe. But then this is nothing new. Mankind has always messed up marriage, even from the get-go, in various ways and forms. So what we want to hear today, what we need to have our ears open to this morning, is what we find in our Epistle reading from Ephesians 5, namely, “Marriage, God’s Way.”

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Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 19, 2015

“God’s Building Project” (Ephesians 2:11-22)

“Built on the Rock the Church shall stand.” “Christ is our cornerstone.” “The Church’s one foundation.” These hymns that we’re singing this morning–they’re all drawing on the imagery of our text today, the Epistle reading from Ephesians 2, specifically, from verses 19-22: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” In other words, the church is “God’s Building Project.”

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