A Walk of Faith – Ephesians 3:1-21

While a Jew by birth, a Pharisee by training and a devoted follower of Jesus Christ,   Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and the change of his name from Saul to Paul had made a lasting impression on him.  He knew from that moment that he could do nothing else with his life than to dedicate it wholly to the one who had blinded him on the road and then led him to a place where he was accepted by those whom he had persecuted.

Paul’s walk of faith led him to go beyond the bounds of the nation of Israel and to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to people who had never heard of the God of Israel – or if they had heard of him, never imagined that they could be loved or accepted by this God.   But even though it was clear that the faith of these people was real, there were those in the early church who sought to deny the reality of their faith choosing to judge their faith based on outward physical markers.

In this letter to the Ephesians, Paul made it clear that the faith of the people in Ephesus was real. He encouraged them not to be dismayed or ever believe that they were not part of the household, of the family of God.   He emphasized to them that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross – the blood of the Lamb shed for the forgiveness of sins – was a sacrifice as much for them as it was for the people who had been called by God centuries before.

In fact, it was the will of God to not only draw the people near by but to draw people from the wider world. While the people had not been part of the covenants of promise given to the people of Israel and while they had not had the hope that others experienced with God, that time was now over. The gospel of Christ, the message of hope and peace brought by Jesus was now given to anyone willing to accept and believe. For Paul the divisions that had existed between Jew and Gentile were gone.  There was no more the God of Israel – there was only the God of the world. All were created in the image of God and no one could be considered inferior or undeserving of the love, grace, mercy and forgiveness of God.

In Genesis, there is no mention of a nation specifically called to be the people of God. The nation known as Israel began with the man called Abram.  Most of what has been preserved for us is the history of this people with God but Paul has come to realize that the God of the people of Israel is also the God of the world.  And that world was bigger than the bounds of one nation.

Paul envisioned a new humanity – one that was not determined by race or by culture.    If the old is truly gone and the new has arrived, then we need to let go of our old ways of viewing one another.  All who accept Christ and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit are members of the household of God. Those who have come before   laid the foundation for those who are living in their time. Christ - as the eternal Word of God declared by John to have been at the beginning of all time – is the cornerstone upon which the whole temple is built. And while we may think of cornerstones as ornamental in a building, the cornerstone was what ensured the stability of a building as it was constructed.  If it was not perfect, the whole structure would be subject to collapse.  For Paul, there is no chance that the Temple of the Lord, the household of God will ever collapse for its cornerstone is Christ and it has been built by those who were called to faith walking according to the will and commands of God.

To have the strength to take a walk of faith in this world is a gift of God. Paul knew that if not for the strength of God, he would not be able to carry on no matter what may befall him.  His faith in Christ was strong and his determination to go where he was called was firm.  But his faith was not based on just words or emotions. He had experienced in his inner being the power of the Spirit of God and the presence of Christ in his heart and soul.  His life was grounded and rooted in the love of God.

In his letter to the church community in Rome, Paul had expressed more fully his conviction concerning the love of God that his life was grounded in. Here he prays that the people may come to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of that love and to know that the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge.  Paul knows that he can never fully explain the love of Christ in words because it goes beyond whatever words he can find. He can only point out where it may be found and once found pray that it may fill people with all the fulness of God.

The mystery of faith, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of God is something that we can never adequately or fully explain to anyone including ourselves. It comes from a place beyond anything we can imagine and yet it is as real to us as anything we may experience in this world.  How or why we are drawn to God and are given the gift of faith is a mystery and there is nothing wrong with that.

Today we remember the Rev. Bob Hill whose path in this life led him to a call to ministry.  His time here in Westport is fondly remembered by young people to whom he ministered as a student for ministry and then as an ordained minister.  I first met Bob when I was ordained and sent to be an ordained missionary to the churches of Petawawa and Point Alexander.  His support and that of the congregation that he was serving at the time – along with others in the Presbytery – made all the difference to what God was able to do in my time there.  The determination to walk in faith with the people of the communities I served was most welcomed and appreciated.  While I have forgotten many of the gems of wisdom I received from Bob, I never forgot how much I appreciated his presence.

I want to close this message with the words from Ephesians that have so often been used as a benediction:

Paul said: Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. AMEN