Ephesians 3:14-17 The Fullness of God’s Reign (McLarty) – Bible study

Sermon
Ephesians 3:14-17
The Fullness of God’s Reign

By Dr. Philip W. McLarty

Did you watch any of the World Cup matches on TV? Here’s the rundown: Thirty-two teams from as many countries around the world, playing multiple times in a double elimination tournament, in twelve different venues over a period of a month, to a combined attendance of over three million people, and watched by who knows how many millions on TV around the world.

If you didn’t tune in, don’t worry about it. The World Cup got precious little coverage in this country. It peaked when the U. S. made it to the Sweet 16, and then dropped off when we lost to Belgium. But, take heart; it’s not too late. The final game between Argentina and Germany kicks off this afternoon at two o’clock. Can you spell f-u-t-b-o-l?

What I got out of the World Cup what little I saw of it was the scope of it all: Teams from every continent representing a plethora of cultures and languages. And the diversity: Not only the players, but the fans so colorfully dressed and full of life.

I saw it as a snapshot of the fullness of God’s reign that God is not only sovereign over the United States and North America, but South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. He’s the God of our enemies, as well as our friends; our trading partners, as well as our competitors. In the words of the old folk song we used to love to sing, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”

It’s this global dimension of God’s kingdom I’d like for us to think about in the sermon this morning that God’s kingdom expands far beyond these four cozy walls; and, by God’s grace, we’re invited to embrace the fullness of it all …

“to the end that, being rooted and grounded in love,
(we) may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints
what is the width and length and height and depth,
and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge,
that (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
(Ephesians 3:17-19)

A good place to begin is to ask: How extensive is your worldview? How far beyond Minden and Webster Parish does it go?

My brother-in-law, Charlie, was born and raised in Winnie, Texas a small farming community east of Houston. He graduated from East Chambers High School, went off to college, and wound up in Atlanta, Georgia. He was home for Christmas one year and we got to talking about his travels. He laughed and said, “You know, growing up I always thought the whole world was like Winnie, Texas, only bigger. Little did I know just how small my little world had been.”

Those of you who’ve traveled extensively and have visited some of the great cosmopolitan centers of the world know what it’s like to see people dressed in the colorful garb of their culture and to hear people all around you speaking languages other than English.

The world’s a big place, and what we’ve seen in the World Cup games is only a tiny fraction of it. It’s as big as you can imagine, yet the truth remains: God created it, each and every molecule; God claims it, down to the tiniest little baby; and God is at work, even now, reconciling it to himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. John’s gospel says it best:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world should be saved through him.”
(John 3:16-17)

How extensive is your worldview? That’s the first question, and the second is this: How comprehensive is your view of Christ?

I had a colleague years ago who worked out an arrangement with his elders for a ninth-month Sabbatical leave. He called it a study leave, but was quick to say it didn’t involve books, but people. He wanted to spend enough time in non-Christian parts of the world to get an idea of how people of other faiths deal with the realities of life we all experience: Birth, death, vocation, aging, sexuality, marriage, family, etc.

He had two questions: Do we share a common thread of understanding? If so, how might this common thread draw us closer together in common faith and purpose?

At the time one of the airlines offered an around-the-world pass, so that, for one price, you could take off from any major airport and fly either east or west until you got back to where you started. You could stop anywhere along the way and stay as long as you liked, then go on from there. There were only two stipulations: You couldn’t double back, and you had to complete the trip within a year.

So, he and his wife took off. They headed west. They lived among Shintos in Japan, Buddhists in China, Hindus in India, Muslims in Indonesia, and a host of other people and religions in other places before they got back home.

Well, I don’t know how it all came out. Our lives took different paths and we lost touch. But I’ve always thought he was on to something that beyond the political and religious dogma that tends to segregate us and put us into different camps, we’re not that different.

Like the soccer teams from all around the world, we may have different colored skin and speak different languages, but we’re governed by the same rules; i.e., the same realities of life; and in our own way, we’re doing the best we can to make sense of it all.

This is not to say it doesn’t matter what you believe or how you go about living your life. It does matter. Jesus said,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father, except through me.”
(John 14:6)

There are no two ways about it. Jesus is the only way of salvation. The question is how completely do we understand who Jesus is?

In our Lenten study, we watched several video clips from the movie The Passion of the Christ, starring Jim Caviezel. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that the spoken parts are in Hebrew and Aramaic with subscripts below to let you know what’s being said.

A lot of people find that off-putting: Why can’t they speak English like the rest of us?

Do you see where I’m going with this? Our images of Jesus are culturally driven. He looks and sounds more like one of us than a native First Century Judean.

Other cultures do the same thing they picture Jesus as one of them. I visited a minister in his study one day and was admiring a beautiful wood carving of the Last Supper on his desk. “It’s ebony,” he said. “It was a going-away present from the tribe in The Congo with whom I lived as a missionary. They think of Jesus as the great tribal chief who will one day sit at table with all the other tribal chieftains in peace.”

In 1961, J. B. Phillips published a little book entitled, Your God is Too Small. He could just as well have written, Your view of Christ is too narrow. We think of Jesus as one of us and that his kingdom looks something like a slice of Americana, only bigger.

From the pictures we see in Sunday school to the blockbuster movies coming out of Hollywood, Jesus is more than the images we’ve concocted. Go back to the New Testament. Draw your image of Jesus from what he said and did; and, most importantly, from the fact that he laid down his life for the sins of the world.

Our view of Christ is too narrow; so is our view of Christ’s kingdom. Christ’s kingdom is more inclusive than any denomination or system of faith. Jesus alluded to this when he told his disciples,

“I am the good shepherd.
I know my own, and I’m known by my own;
even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.
I lay down my life for the sheep.
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold.
I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice.
They will become one flock with one shepherd.”
(John 10:14-17)

Just who are these other sheep not of this fold? He doesn’t say. But knowing that they’re out there, and that they belong to him that he’s their Good Shepherd, as well as ours should give us pause to consider the broader scope of Christ’s kingdom and to appreciate the fullness of God’s reign.

The promise is when you’re willing to pursue the fullness of God’s reign, God will open the door to a bigger and more colorful world than you can ever imagine. If you’re not, your world will begin to shrink and get smaller and more insulated and ingrown.

Howard Clinebell tells the story of a little lifesaving station on a rocky coast. It consisted of a crude wooden hut, an old lifeboat and a couple dozen life jackets. It was manned by volunteers. When they got word that there’d been shipwreck, they’d rush to the lifesaving station, drag the boat into the water and row with all their might to reach the victims before they drowned. Then they’d bring them back to the hut and shelter them around a warm fire and give them hot coffee and bread and perhaps a cup of broth.

Often those who were rescued gave money to express their gratitude. Some asked to join, that they, in turn, might save someone else’s life.

The little lifesaving station grew. They tore down the hut and built a nice new building in its place. They furnished it nicely and, when the weather was calm, they used it as a clubhouse where they could enjoy each other’s company and swap stories of being out on a storm-tossed sea at night.

The lifesaving station continued to grow. The members, now getting older, decided to buy more boats and hire crews to man them. As for themselves, they’d devote their efforts to managing the club more efficiently.

One night a terrific storm came up. More than one ship foundered on the rocks. The crews worked all night, rowing back and forth over angry waves, bringing in boatload after boatload of cold, wet and half-starved men, women and children. The clubhouse was in disarray. “Where did all these people come from?” the members asked. “And just look at what a mess they’re making!”

Once the victims were cared for and sent on to their destinations, the members called a meeting. A majority voted to discontinue lifesaving altogether, since it had become such a burden to the club. Others protested saying that, after all, it was their mission to save lives, regardless of the cost.

They were voted down and told that if they still wanted to run a lifesaving station, they should go up the coast and start their own. So, they did. But in time, the same thing happened: They prospered and grew and lost sight of their mission to save lives.

Well, if you visit that coastline today you’ll find a number of exclusive clubs, all sporting the lifesaving motif. Shipwrecks still occur, as they always have and, I suppose, always will. Victims often drown; but then, after all, that’s life.

In his Letter to the Ephesians, Paul says he’s discovered “the mystery of Christ:”

“… that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,
and fellow members of the body,
and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus
through the Good News …”
(Ephesians 3:6)

To our 21st Century ears, this sounds lame: Of course, the Gentiles are fellow heirs! Why shouldn’t they be? But to devout Jews of Paul’s day, this was unthinkable. Jews and Gentiles didn’t mix. Every Jewish boy and girl knew that.

Yet, Paul says that day is over and gone. There’s a New Creation made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The old boundaries have been removed. In Christ, we are one. He writes,

“There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free man,
there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
(Galatians 3:28)

The fullness of God’s reign includes all those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ. It’s up to us to open the doors wide enough to receive them.

But we can’t just wait until they wander in. It’s our job to go out and find them to share the Good News of God’s love and make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the church of Jesus Christ is not some sort of holy club, but a mission outpost, a lifesaving station, filled with those who are willing to brave the perils of a sin sick world in order to bring hope and the promise of salvation to the wayward and the lost.

As you leave the service today and go back into the life of the community this week, ask yourself: Who is the one person I know who is most in need of God’s grace and love? Then go to that person and share with him or her in your own words what that means to you, and trust God to do the rest.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.

Copyright 2014 Philip McLarty. Used by permission.