A Sermon Delivered by The Rev. John D. Painter at Centenary United Methodist Church Metuchen, New Jersey August 23, 2009

Text: Ephesians 5:15-20
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. —Ephesians 5:15-20, NRSV

Just a few people were gathered together for Worship…probably fewer than are in this Sanctuary on a late summer Sunday morning. They were a small, struggling group of people try-ing to make their way in the world faithfully as Christians. That is quite likely the kind of situa-tion to which Paul addressed his letter…to a church or churches that were in great difficulty. It is, in its heart, a letter of encouragement.
In his letter to the Ephesian Christians, Paul makes two commands: don’t get drunk and be filled with the Spirit (perhaps making a play on words with “spirits” and “Spirit”). He follows these with four very strong evidences of how they are being filled with the Spirit: speaking, sing-ing, thanking and submitting. He would seem to imply that the only way to speak, sing, submit and thank as a Christian is through a gift of the Holy Spirit.
While Paul wanted to send his sisters and brothers in Ephesus a letter of encouragement, he may also need some encouraging himself. For he says he is writing this letter from prison and facing almost certain execution. But Paul also knows that some of the Ephesians have paid for their faithfulness with their blood and their lives. So how can he—imprisoned and facing execu-tion—writing to fellow Christians facing danger and difficulty at every turn…say that they should “give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”? How can Paul say that to this forlorn little church, hanging on by its fingertips, in peril from the Empire, filled with all sorts of conflict?
Give thanks all the time? And in everything? Isn’t that a real stretch? Is this merely apos-tolic hyperbole? How is it possible, at all times in every circumstance to give thanks? What does it mean to have this kind of an attitude of gratitude?
Before I go any farther with this Message, I want to pause here for just a minute and ask you to take the opportunity in this silence to ponder in your own mind that for which you are thankful this morning. In the midst of whatever else it is you are facing, what at times may feel like a legion of challenges and bundle of difficulties, what is it at this very moment for which you are deeply grateful? (Pause for 60 second)
And now I want to invite you to do one more thing. You all received a small Thank You card this morning with your Worship bulletin. I want you to take that Thank You card with you and I hope that sometime this week you will write a note of special thanks to someone in your life. Share your joy and thanksgiving that they are a part of your life journey. I believe you will be offering to that person a special gift of the Holy Spirit. By the way…there may be a few extra cards left over in the back of the Sanctuary this morning…so if you’d like to send a couple of messages of thanks, please take an extra card or two to do that.
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Early in his wonderful novel Les Miserables, Victor Hugo describes the downward de-scent of Jean Valjean. He once was a prominent young man, but now Valjean is a common la-borer who is sentenced to five years in jail for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving family.
Five years in prison take a toll upon Valjean. Then the five years is extended to 19 years of hard labor in the galley ships of France. Valjean becomes less a man than a brute beast, his soul dries up in him, and he becomes a thoughtless creature.
“Jean Valjean entered the galleys sobbing and trembling; he left hardened. He entered in despair; he left sullen.” Finally, he is released; but, Valjean’s troubles are far from over. Because of his criminal record, nobody will talk to him or give him work or shelter.
Embittered and exhausted, Valjean arrives at the house of an old bishop who greets him courteously, and—with radical hospitality—treats the ragged, forlorn beggar as an honored guest.
Valjean, in his depressed, wretched state, is dumbfounded by his host’s graciousness and generosity. Eventually, he cynically lurks away from the house, stealing two fine silver plates from the bishop’s cupboard and fleeing into the darkness. The next day the police arrive at the bishop’s house with the captured criminal and the silver plates. Valjean is now in complete de-spair at the prospect of returning to the hellish prison.
Then a strange scene occurs. Confronted by the thief who returned his warm hospitality with cold treachery, the bishop astonishes the thief and the police when he says to Valjean, “I’m glad to see you. But you must have misunderstood. I gave you the candlesticks, too, which are silver like the rest and would bring 200 francs. Why didn’t you take them along with your cutlery when you departed?”
At the bishop’s astounding words, Victor Hugo says that, “Jean Valjean opened his eyes and looked at the bishop with an expression no human tongue could describe.” The police were thus forced to release their captive based upon the bishop’s testimony. The police leave and the bishop hands Valjean the candlesticks, calling him “my friend,” embracing Valjean warmly be-fore sending him out with this blessing: “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul I am buying for you. I withdraw it from dark thoughts…and I give it to God.”
In the very next scene, Hugo describes Valjean’s reaction. He weeps as he considers the horrible depths to which he has sunk. He not only weeps but begins to comprehend the new world that the bishop’s mercy has set before him. Valjean regains a glimpse of his humanity. He has been given a gift: his own true God-given self. Gratitude for the gift sweeps Valjean up into a whole new world.
I think that something very much like that was happening to the church at Ephesus. This young church was made up of lots of Gentiles—former pagans, who had become Christians. As Gentiles, they were people who had absolutely no claim upon the promises of God to Israel. And yet, by the marvelous embrace of Christ, these Gentiles had been brought into the family of God.
These outsiders have been invited in. Those who have nothing are being given every-thing. They have been transferred to a whole new world.
And to these people Paul says, “Give thanks always and everywhere for everything.”
United Methodist Bishop William Willimon tells about “a friend who had a terrible heart valve defect. He was told that he would surely die without a very risky operation. He sought out a great surgeon and submitted himself to the operation. The operation was successful.
“A few years later, when he and I were in a bad situation due to the malfeasance of some of our co-workers, requiring us to work late nights and to expend a great deal of time and energy, I noticed that my friend seemed not to be in nearly as much misery as I. He was his usual, cheer-ful self, despite the difficulties he had been put in. I asked him, ‘Why?’
“He looked at me like I was a fool and responded, ‘Well, when you have nearly died, and been brought back from the dead, and have your life given back to you, well, you tend to be grateful.’”
Sometimes we forget how we got here—here, in the church, in the great foretaste of the Reign of God, saved and sealed for Christ. We didn’t get here because we were especially suc-cessful at loving Jesus. We didn’t get here because of any spectacular achievement on our part. We got here as gift, grace. And that’s why we sing. That’s why most of our music here tends to-ward praise and thanksgiving.
To those on the outside of the church, the world awaiting this message, it may sometimes seem that we Christians are those who must work hard to do good, to live moral, responsible lives in order to please God, in order to “get in good with the Almighty.”
How little the world knows! Christians do whatever good we do and live the lives we live in response to the God who has graciously given us so much. We have had our lives given back to us. We have been invited to take up residence in a whole new world. That invitation, that for-giveness, that embrace, and that gift is what makes thanksgiving possible at all times and in all places. That has to be why Paul doesn’t merely say, “Give thanks at all times and places.” He says, “Give thanks at all times and places in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I had a very proper and fastidious aunt. When I was a young child and someone would give me a gift, hardly a moment passed between the time the gift left the giver’s hands and ar-rived in mine, before my aunt would say—what? The same thing your mother or father (or aunt) likely said to you, “Say thank you to the nice person for the gift.”
Thus Paul says for us to be “filled with the Spirit” so that we might give thanks “to God the Father at all times and for everything.”
So here we sit in church on a summer Sunday morning, and here we pause and think about our lives, about all the opportunities we’ve been given, all the gifts we have been given, and it is as if the Holy Spirit says to us, “Say thank you to the nice Savior for the salvation.”
If you’ve ever wondered, that’s why we put the offering—the collection of our gifts—after the Scripture reading, after the sermon, and after the prayers. Having heard the Word, hav-ing considered our lives and our relationships to Christ, it’s now our turn to say, “Thanks.”
I don’t know where life will take you in the coming week. I don’t know what challenges you will face, what pain or heartache may come your way. I don’t know all the ways you might be asked to serve Christ by some act of risk or charity. But I do believe this: No matter where you find yourself in the coming week, it is possible for you as a thankful follower of Jesus—anywhere, anytime—to give and to live in an attitude of gratitude: My sisters and brothers, “Give thanks at all times and places, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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PRAYER
Blessed God, who calls us to worship and to follow you—thanks.
For all the Scripture that is larger and deeper and more difficult than our ability to under-stand—thanks.
For all the tasks to which you call us that are more risky, more demanding, and more time-consuming than tasks we would have taken up on our own—thanks.
For times of illness and times of pain when we experience the limitations of our physical bodies and are reminded of the blessings of times of good health—thanks.
For people who don’t always agree with us, or like us, people who challenge our opinions of ourselves, people who demonstrate to us the limits of our ability to love—thanks.
For the church, that can be such a pain, the church that so often disappoints us and aggra-vates us, reminding us thereby of the wonder of your love for the church—thanks. Amen.
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