Ephesians 3,14-21. Exaudi

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever 

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

Ephesians 3,14-21        3319

Exaudi 042 weiß

Blandina, Virgin, Martyr in Lyon, France 177
Erasmus, B., Confessor, ✠ 303 

2. Juni 2019 

1. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Highest and seated at the right hand of God the Father, give us pious preachers of the Word and maintain Your Church, so that all Your enemies shall be put under Your feet, and we, through You, overcome sin, death and all things.  Amen. (Löhe 483) 

2. »For this reason I bend the knee before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, so that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength 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 is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.« 

3. To „bend the knee“ is a formal act submission to a king, queen or lord, a recognition of authority and demonstration of fealty. This past Thursday the Church celebrated Jesus’ ascension (Luke 24,51), for He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father (Psalm 110,1; Mark 16,19). Paul says he bends the knee before the Father, and therefore he also bends the knee before Jesus who, at the right hand of the Father, rules in His stead. This explains why Paul often refers to himself and fellow Christians as slaves of Christ Jesus (Romans 1,1; 6,22; 1. Corinthian’s 6,19-20); Christ is our King and we bend our knees in fealty to Him. In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes: »We will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written: As I live, says the Lord, everyone shall bend the knee to Me, and every tongue shall acknowledge me to be God« [Isaiah 45,23] (Romans 14,11).  

4. The Apostle Paul furthermore confesses that the God he bends the knee to is a Triune God: »For this reason I bend the knee before the Father … so that He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit … so that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.« 3 Persons, Father, Holy Spirit and Christ, yet 1 God. So say we all in our Creeds.  

5. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter in today’s Gospel pericope (John 15,26). He promised to send the Holy Spirit when He ascended to heaven. This is an important promise, for God desires us to be filled with His fullness. The frail, corrupted men and women we are often don’t perceive such Divine presence in our lives. More often than not we are painfully and shamefully aware that sin and sinful desires fill us, rather than the holy presence of Christ. We despair of life, feel the pains of persecution and succumb to the temptation to sin. Paul describes us all too well in his epistle: »We were dead in the trespasses and sins … following the course of this world … carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath« (Ephesians 2,1-3). There is no denying that we are heirs of Adam and Eve, sharing in their disobedience and curse: »The soul that sins shall die« (Ezekiel 18,20). That’s the bad news, and news that we must continually be confronted with by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.   

6. Since we share in Adam and Eve’s curse, we also share in their promise. Paul describes it this way: »But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace we have been saved — and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the approaching age He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace we have been saved through faith. And this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God« (Ephesians 2,4-8). That’s the good news, the greatest news, the gospel, and we must continually hear it and receive it from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  

7. Did you catch that phrase Paul placer in the middle of His gospel proclamation to the Ephesians? He wrote: »God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places.« Christ ascended to the right hand of His Father; that is the position of highest honor and a place one takes to rule in the name of a monarch. Paul says we also join Christ at that position of great honor. We join the ranks of angels and fellow believers to gather at the throne of God to worship Him and be blessed by Him.  

8. The believers in the Old Testament understood it this way as well: »You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in Your train …. Blessed is the Lord who daily bears us up; God is our salvation« (Psalm 68,18-19). Paul quotes this Psalm verse in Ephesians 4: »Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore Scripture says: When He ascended on a high He lead a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men« [Psalm 68,18] (Ephesians 4,7-8). 

9. We are blessed, for Christ gives us rich and abundant gifts. Christ sends us the Holy Spirit who strengthens our inner being with power and grounds us in love, for in this power and love we know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. The love of Christ is His vicarious action of suffering and dying in our place then rising from the grave as the first fruits of the Resurrection. Jesus taught His apostles about this love the evening before His crucifixion. »Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you« (John 15,12-15). 

10. Exaudi is Latin for hear, and thus today’s Introit implores of the Lord: »Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; hide not Your face from me« (Psalm 27,7). The love of God is manifested in its fullness on the cross, with the empty tomb and Christ’s ascension to the right hand of His Father. This love has the power to forgive sins, enable us to do good and secures our eternal salvation in heaven. This is the gospel Jesus wants proclaimed, and so we have proclaimed it. Receive it with joy.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O God, Thou reignest over the nations from Your holy throne; send us the Holy Spirit, so that we daily live with the joy and assurance of Your forgiveness through our risen Christ Jesus.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.