Ephesians and Wall Bashing

May 18, 2008

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Scripture: Eph. 2:11-16; 4:1-6

Today we make a stop at Ephesus in our geographical pilgrimage through certain N.T cities. I've never been to Ephesus myself, and yet, I feel I know it in a sense.... NOT the modern city, of course--- It's a thriving metropolis of some inhabitants--- I DON’T KNOW CONTEMPORARY EPHESUS, but the old city, the New Testament city, the city Paul knew and lived in nearly 3 years...

In a way I feel I know that town, even though I've never been there.

It’s possible... Remember Emily Dickinson's little 8 line poem, written from Amherst, Massachusetts, where she lived her entire life:

I never saw a moor,

I never saw the sea;

Yet know I how the heather looks,

And what a wave must be.

I never spoke with God

Nor visited in heaven;

Yet certain am I of the spot

As if a chart were given.

Not all understanding has to come through immediate, sense experience. Sometimes we know things, intuit things, in ways that transcend time and space.

Plus, we have help...  Luke in Acts and Paul in his letters give us enough of a chart to put us in our imagination back on the streets of old Ephesus.

Picture it with me ---- It was a pagan town back then, a rambunctious, flamboyant town....a hard-driving, ambitious town, with getting ahead on its mind.... The centerpiece of the city was one of the wonders of the ancient world, literally.... Herodotus listed it along with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Pyramids and 4 other wonders as a striking, unforgettable phenomenon ....

Ephesus was home to the Temple of Aretmis---Diana, the Romans called her, goddess of the hunt....and the hunt she mainly inspired was the hunt for MONEY.... opulence, grandeur, wealth...in both Temple and city it was all there in lavish display.

Just to see that Temple, Herodotus said, was enough to knock your socks off (That's a paraphrase of Herodotus, not a direct quote).... BUT IT WAS IMPRESSIVE....Archaeologists have excavated the foundation---that's all that remains...and even by modern standards the sheer scope of it boggles the mind--- 

It was as wide as St. Paul's Cathedral in London... It boasted a forest of columns...127 in all, in two ranks... Each column stood more than 60 feet in height--- Picture 6 basketball goals stacked up on end    Man, not even Shaq or Kevin Garnett could dunk one that high. Very impressive! And very lucrative. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians", crowed the local Chamber of Commerce or whatever would be the ancient world's equivalent—LET'S HEAR IT FOR ARTEMIS, OUR PATRON GODDESS.

Long may she live and prosper... Let's hear it for success, accomplishment, prosperity. "Let  the good times roll". "Great is Diana of the Ephesians"

It was their watchword, their theme, their proud boast, because it was the revenue generated out of all the Temple activity that powered the city's economy. THE HEALTH OF ARTEMIS MEANT THE CONTINUATION OF ECONOMIC BLESSING,

Doesn't sound all that foreign, does it? Something vaguely familiar about it all.... I've never been to Ephesus myself, yet in a sense I feel like I know that town.

Of course, the Young Church clashed with the prevailing climate. How could it be otherwise? It was inevitable given the contrasting philosophies, the startlingly divergent priorities of faith versus fortune, sacrifice versus secularism, morals versus mammon, God versus greed.

When have these ever been compatible? Paul was up to his eyeballs in it. No surprise there. He hadn't been in Ephesus more than 2 years before a riot broke out between the status quo and the upstarts.... between the silversmiths' union, makers of those silver idols of Artemis, and the Church, armed with crusading zeal.

People don't give up loss of revenue without a fight. Read all about it in Acts 19...That's not really our theme this morning, but it's exciting stuff. Details will have to wait for another occasion, but you can check it out on your own.

That was the Ephesus Paul knew and labored in...a young Church finding its way, flexing its muscle, developing its theology, seeking its mission....and Paul was in the middle of it, both leading and learning, which 2 things always seem to go together.

It was in Ephesus, I think, that he came into the fullness of his maturity. His grasp of the Gospel, and his personal commitment were increasingly forged in that cauldron of pagan challenge.

A big chunk of the New Testament was written in Ephesus. We know that now. Letters from Paul were sent out to Thessaloniki, and Galatia, and Corinth...maybe several to Corinth, certainly more than just the 2 that make up what we now call the Corinthian correspondence.

The great theological letter of Romans, Paul's masterpiece, may have been written in Ephesus, or nearby.... He didn't know he was writing Scripture when he sent those epistles out....He might have changed a few things if he had been aware of the subsequent impact, BUT THAT"S WHAT INSPIRATION IS... IT"S WHY WE CALL IT INSPIRATION— God is saying more in it than even the writer is aware of.... more comes out than he puts in: INSPIRATION!

But Paul was a ready channel. He was on fire in that Ephesian setting. He wrote with words that came tumbling out of his pen.... He didn't always complete sentences, he didn't bother to make minor corrections.... sometimes he'd shoot off on a tangent here when a new thought grabbed him by the throat...

Thank goodness he didn't have an editorial board to tame him and make him fit the pattern. It just poured out... He was a conduit of Divine Communication. God spoke through him in words written in Ephesus that still give off the heat of his fervor, Ephesus was where raw, pulsating Scripture saw light and took wing. AND, OF COURSE, THERE’S EVEN MORE....We have not only words, proclamation, inspiration written FROM Ephesus in our New Testament, we also have words, proclamation, inspiration written TO Ephesus in this Book which is our Guide and Text.

If you have taken the Disciple Bible Study course, or done any reading in New Testament studies you know that scholars do not agree among themselves on the question of the authorship of the Letter to the Ephesians. Some say 'YES", Paul wrote it...Others, equally reputable, say, as Lee Corso often does to Kirk Herbstreit, "Not so fast, my young brother." Some phrasing, some wording, some of the concepts found in Ephesians don't sound like the way Paul usually writes.... And it seems to come out of a later time, a more settled time than when Paul lived. We'll find out when we get to heaven---make a note, so you'll be able to ask.

But if the letter to the Ephesians does not come directly from the hand of Paul, it surely comes from someone who was close to Paul, who knew him and understood him, someone who was well versed in his thought and theology.

Everybody agrees, EPHESIANS IS FUNDAMENTALLY PAULINE, even if Paul himself, is not the final author.... I see ol' Paul, up in heaven, bending over the shoulder of whoever held the quill, nodding his head in approval...

And one place (all we have time for...) one place he certainly is nodding his head in approval—-probably pumping his fist and shouting AMEN-- is that part in the text where it talks about UNITY, reconciliation, breaking down barriers of separation- WALL BASHING! Man, you can't get more Pauline than that-- central, basic—IT’S WHAT CHRISTIANITY IS ALL ABOUT.

How does the writer put it? Paul himself couldn't have said it better: "He is our peace (Christ, that is)..,In his flesh he has made both groups into one, and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with it’s commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace... and might reconcile both groups to God through the Cross."

A lot there, but let it get inside of you and start to boil.

What is our story..., the Christian message, the Gospel... whether in Ephesus, in the midst of open conflict and hostility, or in Tallahassee, where the threat may more apt to be indifference, apathy, complacency, boredom, cynicism...What is, in either, or any situation...what is the essence of what makes us who we are and what we're about as followers of this strange Thorn-Crowned Man?

We're part of a story, that's what. It's the old and ever new story of what God in Christ has done to mend what has been broken.... to repair what has been shattered, to heal what has been fractured, to bind together what has been rent asunder. It's the story of God's action to restore, renew, reconcile, make one again what has been separated by estrangement.

In the context of Ephesus, Paul, or his disciple, or whoever...was talking about bridging the gap between Jew and Gentile-- He says, "Not by law, but by GRACE through the Cross, we are made one..."

BUT IT"S BIGGER THAN THAT... (Inspiration, remember? More comes out than was put in...) It's BIGGER than just the original context. THERE ARE OTHER WALLS TO WHICH THE TEXT APPLIES..., Christ breaks down barriers between races, between nations, between denominations, between economic classes, between all those impediments that are the

result of human distinction.

Do you know what's good about going on a mission trip? We have a group heading out this morning. Do you know what's good about having that experience? Well, a bunch of things... a number of positive benefits. They make you appreciate your own bed when you get home...That's one. And there's the wonderful fellowship that develops within the group....And the laughter, the good natured jocularity…. Even the feeling of useful exhaustion after a long day's work, using muscles in places you didn't even know you had places.

There's the aroma of fresh coffee in the morning...brewing out there in the field... blessed, life-restoring caffeine--- one of God's choice gifts. Lots of benefits. But better than any of these for most of us, I think, is something deeper...the recognition of kinship we feel with people, across cultural, economic, denominational, and other human difference lines...a closeness we develop with them.... a sense of identification.

Even when we can't communicate verbally very well even when the food we 're offered tastes funny, even when the customs seem foreign, are foreign from our perspective, we discover that they belong to Christ just as much as we do. SO, A BOND OF "FAMILY" IS ESTABLISHED...

Sometimes that realization comes as a shock. We go out proudly in the name of Christ, thinking we're taking Christ to them, when, lo and behold, Christ is already there. He's been there all the time. He's beaten us to the punch...What kept you so long?

John Wesley had a word for it. He talked about "prevenient" grace.... Christ going before us, preparing the way, not just so we can give, but also so we can receive.

It's a BIG Church we belong to, We operate under a broad, widespread umbrella. In Christ we are not all alike, but we are ONE. The Divine Reconciler breaks down walls of separation so we can perceive our kinship with one another in His name.

Don't feel sorry for those being commissioned today to go help with Katrina relief in Mississippi.... Or for those in a couple of months going to Nicaragua... Don't say, "Oh, those poor people, all those privations they'll be going through...I'm sure glad it's them and not me..."ARE YOU KIDDING? They're going to have the time of their lives, a fulfilling, satisfying time....and you'll feel the heat of their excitement when they get home.

Bishop Lloyd Knox of our church... in the Florida Conference--- some of you know him...he's retired now... occasionally comes to worship here at Saint Paul's when he's in town to visit his daughter. Bishop Knox says the 3 best things the United Methodist Church has done in the last 50 years... the 3 best programs the Church has developed as far as changing lives is concerned, are: The Disciple Bible Study program, the Walk to Emmaus, and short-term Volunteers in Mission program... now abideth these 3.

What they have in common, all 3, is that they break down barriers. They undermine narrowness and institutional parochialism...They broaden horizons; They help people see that in Christ our parish really IS the world, as John Wesley recognized over 200 years ago. Now Wesley didn't make that up—"the world is my parish". It didn't start with him, that liberating concept of wall bashing.

WHERE DO YOU THINK HE GOT IT? RIGHT OUT OF THE BIBLE, where it's nowhere more explicitly expressed than in the letter to the Ephesians.

When you get home today, or sometimes soon, go back and read it again, and linger for a while, especially there in Chapters 2 and 3... and in Chapter 4, where the writer, echoing Paul, talks about unity in the Body of Christ...

"I beg you", he says, "lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called..." NOTHING NARROW OR PAROCHIAL ABOUT THAT...

"Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

THEN he pulls out the stops, and let's 'er roll, with all the pounding relentlessness of a bass drum: "There is one body, and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling... One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all, and through all, and in all."

So much for walls of separation. That's what makes us who we are.  When we see it, really see it, all those human distinctions crumble, and the horizon becomes unlimited. Last week Clarke quoted from a Robert Frost poem. I'd like to follow his precedent and do the same, He is, after all, the senior minister...  The poem is the familier "Mending Walls".

Did you have to memorize it in school? I was supposed to, but I cut class that day so I wouldn't have to recite.The one line in that poem we usually recall is the neighbor's line: "Good fences make good neighbors," he pontificates, which is exactly contrary to the gist of the poem.

Frost writes, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall..." And he describes the stone barrier that separates the adjoining properties, asking himself why such a barrier is even needed....

“There where it is we do not need the wall;

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines. I tell him.

He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors."

Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder

If I could put a notion in his head.

"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows

Before I built a wall, I'd ask to know

What I was walling in, or walling out,

And to who I was like to give offense.

Something there is that doesn't love a wall...

THAT WANTS IT DOWN.”

YES! Paul would have liked it. In a way, it points to our Gospel, doesn't it, to the blessed Good NEWS of unity... reconciliation.

It's exactly how God feels, and what He's done about it. HE WANTS THOSE WALLS OF SEPARATION DOWN. It's why He sent Jesus into the world to bash them in...THE CROSS AS DEMOLITION.

In Jesus Christ we are ONE.

I've never been to Ephesus myself, yet somehow I feel I know that town. It sure knows me. From the story that comes out of it, and from the powerful message that generates from the letter written to it, I feel the grip of its challenge---

It's a big thing we're a part of.... and something frighteningly inclusive... One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all. In the name of the great Wall Basher,

Let the walls come tumblin’ down.

This sermon was preached at Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church in Tallahassee as part of a sermon series on Paul’s 2nd Missionary journey.