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Do you know what to do, if you are in an open terrain and you get caught in a thunderstorm?: One should look for and go to the place which is the deepest possible level in the surrounding area and hide there; but not by any means seek cover under a tree or something like that. If there is no deeper lever available, you should kneel or even lie down, in order to avoid becoming the highest point, because lightning normally strikes the highest point. And to know this could save one’s life, because it enables one to realistically evaluate one’s own situation in a lightning, and then to behave in an appropriate way.
It is a prayer for exactly such kind of saving knowledge, which we have in today’s word for the sermon, even though not in view of lightning. It rather talks about and involves our whole existence and the question of how to persist. It is taken from the letter to the Ephesians, chapter 3, and reads as follows:
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Being “strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” is what people, what we need in order to be saved, in order to persist rather than to perish. For as soon as one believes that in Christ, God himself became human to destroy the blinding power of the devil, and thus to redeem us from the debt of our error, and to lead us into a new life that trusts in God and follows his word instead of being sunk into the vicious circle of sin; as soon as one trusts in this Jesus Christ, one is enabled to apprehend, how things really are, how this world really works: It is a world that was made by God; everything was created by Him; every family in heaven and on earth takes its name from Him, as our Bible word puts it. And that means that everything and everyone eventually has to answer to God about their own existence, no matter if one likes it or is aware of it, or not. And to realize this is nothing else than to realize the own position and situation; which is obviously not powerful or mighty, or able to put forth any claims. For everything we are, and everything we have, is given unto us by God. It is lent to us, according to the riches of His glory, in order to make something out of it in re-sponsibility towards God. We however, together with all humans, out of mistrust and hubris, mistrusted God and tried to make something of ourselves. We try to be independent. But behaving like this, we are causing great damage, which is everywhere around and within us. It is this, which the blinded world is unable to realize, while we are enabled to see and to understand it clearly in faith; the same faith that frees us from all this by giving us the knowledge of sal-vation in Christ. It is this, what today’s word for the sermon means, when it talks about understanding the full breadth, width, length and depth. It is all about realizing one’s own situation, and thus how to ‘behave’ appropriately in order to be saved. And the guideline in faith is somehow very similar to that of how to act in a lightning, for it says: It is fatal to extol oneself just car-ing about the own advantage. One should rather follow Christ’s example in becoming low and humble by loving and serving each other; or as today’s Bible word prays: “that you may … know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God ... as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” By trusting in Christ, we do not only accept our position as God’s creatures, his loved creatures, which are nonetheless accountable for what we have done in life. By trusting in Christ we also try to follow his example in serving each other in brotherly love. And whenever we do this, we behave and handle earthly things differ-ently than other people; namely in a new way that is in accordance with our sincere knowledge of our salvation: We don’t devout ourselves for instance to earthly things; be it money, the career, fame and fortune, our property or whatever. Because in faith we know that all these things will perish, so we rather use them along with our talents and gifts in a way that pleases God. In faith we use all these things as instruments to take care of our loved ones, or to help those in need, or to support the spreading of the Gospel. Because: Thus we may help to produce fruit that won’t perish; people who will come to the saving faith and thus be saved together with us.
I have another question in view of the picture that I used as an example at the beginning of this sermon: If you should really get caught in a thunderstorm and lightning is everywhere around and very close: Do you always remember ex-actly what to do, and how to behave appropriately according to your knowledge? Or isn’t it also very often possible that, because of the terrible fright that one gets, one forgets about all this? It is, isn’t it? And the same unfortunately applies for our faith. We very easily get distracted or anxious in life, and then we panic and hold on to earthly things rather than to trust in God’s promise. Financial crisis, health problems, relationship lows or things like these are often the reason why Christians ignore what they actu-ally believe in. It is for this reason that today’s word for the sermon is a prayer. For it is God, from whom everything comes, who planted faith in our hearts in the first place. And it is He alone who is also able to sustain us in faith and to keep us on the right track. We should therefore join this prayer – if possible every day – in order to be strengthened in our inner being with power through his Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, as we are rooted and grounded in love, now and forever. AMEN |
