Walk in a Worthy Manner
Ephesians 4:1-6
September 26, 2021 anno Domini
This past week as I was sitting at the pastor’s conference, I was thinking about my sermon today. I was looking at the Gospel reading, and I asked Pastor Josh Reber, who serves Faith in Saint Cloud and Trinity in Clear Lake, “How am I going to preach a stewardship sermon using the guy with dropsy?” He said, “Tell the people to dropsy their commitments in the offering plate.”
Now you know why I’m preaching on the Epistle reading. In the first verse of Ephesians 4 we come across a money word. St. Paul urges us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called.” Our worth is tied to our calling. God has called us to be His children, and that calling sets a value, a worth on who we are, what we do, and how we walk in faith and life.
In both the Epistle and the Gospel God teaches us not to overestimate our worth on our own. Take the lowest seat in the banquet. Walk in humility and gentleness. Simply put, you’re not the most important person in the room, in your family, in your church, at your work. Now, that’s not how you naturally walk because of sin. You look down on others who are not like you, who don’t do things the way you do. Who among us has not cast a stone at someone with a different skin color, a different body shape, a different amount of wealth, a different political view? Who among us hasn’t encouraged others to hurl even more rocks, ganging up to belittle a person, maybe not to her face, but behind her back? In Minnesota we love to be self-deprecating, but we don’t do it to be humble. We do it to receive compliments from others.
You and I would fit in well with the Pharisees of the Gospel reading, looking down on that dropsy guy. It has been suggested that the dropsy guy is one of the Pharisee’s sons or maybe a brother. His name might have been Tom or Joe, but for the sake of the sermon let’s go with Bill. You know what the host was thinking. I’d better invite Bill, but I hope he’s a no show. His dropsy is ugly. He’s going to mess up the seating chart because no one wants to sit by him. Besides that, Jesus is coming and Bill is downright embarrassing, but I’d better invite him. After all he’s my brother.
Now we see how different Jesus is than us. Who does Jesus sit with at Pharisee festival? Bill. Who did everyone expect Him to sit with? Anyone but Bill. Every pharisee thought Jesus would pick an important place to sit (in their eyes) like right beside me. Jesus would sit at the pastor’s table. Right? He wouldn’t sit at the table where some kid is crying with a snotty nose and his mother is coughing and says, “That’s odd, I just lost my sense of taste.”
Bill knew what everyone thought of him. Dropsy is an old word for retaining water. Maybe Bill’s heart was bad, or his kidneys were failing, but in Biblical times it was suspected that you got dropsy from fooling around. His puffy hands and swollen feet weren’t just hard on the eyes. His presence was gross. But not to Jesus, or maybe better to say, that didn’t matter to Jesus because Jesus is the great Physician. He didn’t come for the healthy, but for the sick. He didn’t come for those who think they are the best. He came for those who know they are worthless.
Now remember, everyone at the party is watching Jesus, secretly hoping he sits by them or hoping he makes a major blunder, and they can take this proud son of Nazareth down a notch. Jesus upsets everything. He sits by Bill and worse He touches Bill. He takes hold of Bill and heals him. This just doesn’t cut it for the Pharisees. He sat with Bill. He touched Bill. He healed Bill on the Sabbath. This is how confused the Pharisees were. They weren’t even glad for their brother. They were ticked at Jesus.
Now let’s head back to the Epistle for a reminder what this sermon is about in the first place. (Read vs. 1). You have been invited to the Lord’s feast, even though you don’t deserve to be there. Your appearance is disgusting to God because your hands and feet are soiled with sin. On your own you are not worth anything to God – you’re a sinner who sins. And sin is ugly, disgusting to the Holy God, but the Son of God is also part of this great festival. His Father called Him to sit with sinners. That’s why He sat with Bill at the banquet and why He hung for you on the cross. It is not the beautiful who need cleansing, but the ugly. It is not the righteous who need forgiveness, but the sinner. Good people don’t need Jesus. Sinners do. If you think you’re good you don’t need Jesus, but then don’t think the heavenly banquet table will have a spot for you. Jesus is the only ticket in, and He only came for sinners.
This is your worth: the body of Jesus hung on a cross, the blood of Christ shed for your sins, the life of the holy and righteous God for your life, His death in place of your death. God does not overlook your sin. He touches you when He becomes man to take your sin upon Himself. When Jesus walked this earth, He didn’t get sick when He was with sick people. They got well. His life took death away. His touch imparted healing. His forgiveness removed sin. The crowds didn’t infect Him. He imputed His righteousness, His life, His health, His forgiveness to them.
When God called you to faith in His Son He called you up, to be with Jesus, to be seated at the great and eternal feast of life and salvation. That’s why Paul is gladly in jail for the sake of the Gospel. He doesn’t mind being laid low in this life. He has been called to the feast of the resurrection by Jesus. He exhorts the Ephesians to do the same. (read vs. 1b – 3)
Walk in humility. Don’t set yourself over others, serve others. Walk in meekness. Rage, fury and anger have no place in the Christian life. Don’t go to peaceful protests to yell, shout, burn and loot. Walk in patience. You have all eternity ahead of you. On the last day everything will be set right, right before your eyes. Wait for it. Walk in love – that means telling the truth with gentleness and respect.
Saint Paul concludes his exhortation with One – There is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Sin is to live for one with a small o – to live only for yourself. You need only to look in the mirror of the commandments and your life to see where that will get you. A worthy life is to live for One with a capital O, For the One Body and One Spirit that we are, by One baptism in the name of One Lord, making us all children of the One God and Father. Like the parts of one body – each of us has been given unique gifts, talents, and wealth, but those gifts are not mine, they are from the One Lord to use in His One body. As we consider our commitment to Redeemer this weekend, and also as we head out into the world this week, let us pray earnestly that God’s Spirit would sanctify us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, worthy of the name of Jesus. Amen.