Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Community Begins With God
The community of the Triune God will be our basis for understanding perfect community
Community – three or more persons in mutual relationship
Godly Community Expresses
1. Joyful Love
2. Humble Unity
3. Mutual Generosity
4. Honesty and Understanding
5. Fruitfulness
Godly love in community is an outward focused love, a love that includes anyone who would receive it.
The Community of God Creates Community
1. God created mankind in his image
2. God created humans to be fruitful
In the beginning, God created from his community a community that had seeds of more community.
The Community of God Redeems Community
1. Godly Community is Horizontal and Vertical (Including God and people)
2. Without God, Natural Community is Selfish Idealism, and Ends in Hostility
3. God Restores Peaceful Community In Jesus
ABRAHAM AND SARAH-THE STORY
Genesis 11-25 tells us the stories of Abraham and Sarah, some of the most widely known stories of any religious text in the world. The stories of Abraham and Sarah and their family have inspired writers, philosophers, religious leaders, and artists for centuries. To this day people continue to explore the depth of meaning in the stories of faith, family, community, sexuality, violence, and redemption. For us, the story of Abraham and Sarah’s faith in the Middle East 2000 years before Christ, over four hundred years before Moses, is the story of the first seeds of the community we participate in today.
Abraham and Sarah - Imperfect people
Like much of Genesis, the stories of Abraham and Sarah are gritty, earthy, and very human in the most honest way. This family is far from perfectly polished and heroic. Motivated by fear and selfishness, Abraham, “the father of faith”, passed his wife off into Pharaoh's harem. As a result of his dubious dealings, he gained a great deal of wealth for his family, the beginning of his fortune, including servants, animals, and tradable goods. The text gives us no indication that he hesitated even a moment at this trade of his own wife. Sarah laughed in disbelief when God gave a promise to give them a son, Isaac, who was then named for her laughter. Both Abraham and Sarah appear entirely selfish and even oppressive in their relationship with their servant, Hagar, whom Abraham impregnates and then later abandons to the desert with her son without support. Let us not paint to rosy or heroic a picture of this ancient family. This is not an exceptional story of an exceptional people. Abraham and Sarah’s story is as raw and hard and as filled with missteps and mistakes as any of ours could be. The only truly good character in these stories is YHWH God, in whom Abraham and Sarah place their faith and trust.
Abraham and Sarah - People of Faith
When commanded by God to show their obedience to him by circumcising every male member of their household, they do so immediately, on the very day the command was given. Abraham's shockingly humble and obedient faith is demonstrated vividly in his willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on the mountain of Moriah at God’s command. This story of God’s test and redemption of Isaac with the gift of a ram in his place is one of the most well known and widely told in all religion.
Abraham and Sarah - Chosen People of God’s Covenant
The story of the faith of Abraham and Sarah begins in Genesis chapter 12. Abram (his name at the time) lives with his family in Ur, where he and his father grew up.
Genesis 12:1, 4b - The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you . . . So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.
Leaving home – the great archetypal theme for every story. Every great adventure begins . . . by leaving.
(just for fun)
The Lord of the Rings – An incredible story. An inspiring story. A story about walking.
Abram's story is about walking. God said GO. Go to the land I will show you.
This is Abram’s first dealing with YHWH God. This is the first example of his life of faith. Abram follows a stranger, into a foreign land, to become an immigrant, an outsider. God gives Abram no description of the land, only that he will show him when he gets there. What reason would he have to do such a thing?
Genesis 12:2-3
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
God made a promise to Abram. A COVENANT. This was the beginning. Abram and Sarai (Sarah’s old name) believed that what YHWH said was true. We know this, because they obeyed. The evidence of faith is in the action. They LEFT. They left comfort and stability for the adventure of whatever God had for them. They traded what they had for what God promised. It was worth the risk of faith.
God’s promise was that he would make of Abram and Sarai a nation. A new community. And through their community, the whole entire world would be blessed.
James 1:21b-22 - Humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
God’s Covenant Planted the Seed of His Community in Them
Their Faith, Shown by Their Obedience, Received the Seed God Planted
Abraham and Sarah - Chosen With Purpose
God’s seed of community planted in Abram and Sarah was for the purpose of blessing the entire world.
God also promised that those who bless Abram will be blessed, and those who curse Abram will be cursed. God intends for his covenant people to reveal his full nature in the world to the entire world.
Genesis 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Psalm 72:17. – all nations or all nations on earth or all peoples on earth will be blessed through Abram and/or through Abram’s offspring.
Even before the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments, we see Abraham’s family being tremendously blessed, prospering wherever they go, and seeking the prosperity of all those they encounter. Abraham patiently and boldly intercedes for those who will perish at God’s hand in Sodom. On behalf of the wicked, he prays to God for mercy (note – God’s man of faith has a posture intercession to God for the Sodomites). Isaac prepares to make peaceful arrangements with the Philistines in his land. Jacob unselfishly provides generous aid for Laban. Joseph rises in Egypt from a slave to a ruler, and his wisdom causes Egypt to be blessed. Through Egypt under the wise and righteous rule of God’s chosen man, many people in surrounding nations are provided for during a severe famine.
Abraham was also chosen as a prophet of YHWH, representing God to the people of the world, but also interceding, or praying to God on behalf of and for, the healing and wholeness of the people of the world. Abraham does this for Sodom, and also for Abimelech, the Philistine King. God answers Abram’s prayer, and heals Abimelech and his entire household (Genesis 20).
God’s Covenant Planted the Seed of His Community in Them
Their Faith, Shown by Their Obedience, Received the Seed God Planted
Through Abraham and Sarah, God Spread the Seeds of His Community to the World
Ephesians 1
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Much has been said recently about election, God’s sovereign choice of his people. The truth is that there can be no doubt that scripture describes God as the agent in our salvation. And like Abraham and Sarah, this is a sweet salvation, with a good promise. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing. However, this sovereign act of God in choosing is not an occasion for boasting, or pride, or lounging in our perceived holiness. On the contrary, God has ordained his people to do his work in the world. God is the agent in our salvation, but he is not the only agent. God plants the seed of his community by his covenant promise, but we actively receive that seed in our obedience to live as his agents in the world. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10). We have been called out from the land of our parents, from this world of apathy, greed, self-indulgence, and deception, into a new land, a heavenly kingdom. We have been given a new family, and a new citizenship. As God’s community, we are not called to a life of privilege, but a life of responsibility to God and service to the world. We live and serve and promote the justice, peace, grace, and love of the kingdom of Heaven now.
(Abraham and Sarah – Grow in Their Faith in God’s Covenant
Gen 12 – God says he will make them a nation, tells them to go to a land, and they leave.
Gen 13, 14 – Abram and his cousin Lot separate. Abram goes to Canaan. Lot goes to Sodom.
Gen 15 – God promises to give Abram land. Abram believes. God passes through Abram’s sacrifice.
Gen 16 – Abram impregnates Sarai’s servant Hagar to try to fulfill God’s promise on his own.
Gen 17 – God promises Abram a great family, changes his name to Abraham, changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, and commands Abram to circumcise all males in his house. Everyone male is circumcised, including Ishmael, the son of Hagar, Sarah’s servant.
Gen 18, 19 – Visitors tell Abraham and Sarah they will have a son. Sarah laughs in disbelief. Abraham intercedes on behalf of Sodom to not be destroyed. His family in Sodom is spared. Sodom is destroyed.
Gen 20 – Abraham lies about Sarah, allowing her to be taken in by a philistine king. When the king’s family becomes ill, Abraham intercedes for them, and they are healed.
Gen 21 – TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after God’s promise in Genesis 12, Isaac is born, the son of covenant. Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away. God keeps them safe and blesses them, as Abraham asked.
Gen 22 – God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Moriah. Abraham is obedient. God spares Isaac.
Gen 25 – Abraham dies. His sons Isaac and Ishmael bury him together in a cave near a Hittite’s field. One hundred years after God’s promise in Genesis 12. This is the only piece of land that Abraham ever owns.)
Abraham and Sarah – The Seed of Covenant Community Fulfilled in Jesus
In Genesis 15, it says that Abram believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness. God changed Abrams name, and he also changed Sarai’s name, including her in the covenant. God’s covenant is secure, and it is received by faith, outside of any works of our own. Before Abraham was ever circumcised, God called him righteous, because God made a covenant, and Abraham believed.
Galatians 3:6-9
Consider Abraham. He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
After this promise, the story continues to tell us of Abraham laying out animals in halves on the ground. God’s presence passes through the animals, and Abraham knew that God would keep his promise. This covenant was an ancient tradition that Abram would have known and understood (JEREMIAH 34:18-19).
When men made this covenant of walking through the dead animal pieces, they invoked a curse upon themselves should they break the agreement. Just as they had cut a calf in two, so they should be cut in two if they violated the agreement. For Abram, this was as though YHWH himself had said “As collateral, I place upon this covenant the promise of my own self being cut open, and my own blood spilled.”
Galatians 3:7-9, 13-18, 23
7-9 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
13-18 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
23-29 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Jesus IS the Seed of the Covenant of God’s Community
We are also the seed of the promise.
(Hebrews 11:8-10, 39-40
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.)
We are seeds of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, representing the blessing of the eternal community to everyone, everywhere. We have been called with a promise, sealed by the blood of God himself. We have been sent with a purpose. We are the salt of the Earth, and the light of the world. The seed of Heaven is alive and active in the world through us by faith. We are chosen and sealed with a responsibility to God and service to the world. We are blessed to be a blessing to the entire world, spreading seeds of the kingdom wherever we go.
Ephesians 1:18-23
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
(prayers for Ben and Joel as they leave us)
Lord, God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 153, Evening Vespers, Augsburg, 1978
Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
God’s Covenant Planted the Seed of His Community in Abraham and Sarah
Their Faith, Shown by Their Obedience, Received the Seed God Planted
Through Abraham and Sarah, God Spread the Seeds of His Community to the World
Jesus IS the Seed of the Covenant of God’s Community
Through Jesus, God’s Covenant Plants the Seed of His Community in Us
Our Faith, Shown by Our Obedience, Receives the Seed God Plants
Through Us, God Spreads the Seeds of His Community to the World
(next week: God Directs Community)
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