B, Pentecost 9 Proper 12 - Ephesians 3:14-21 "Rooted and grounded in Love"

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 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—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, 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.  (Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV)

A lamb is born undersized and it struggles to live not being able to get the colostrums it badly needs to survive.  In fact it will die if left to its own devices.  At this time of year as the frigid air of winter chills our being it’s a simple picture to understand. 

But the farmer and his family step in and adopt this weak undersized lamb.  They faithfully feed it, first by extracting milk from its mother and then continuing with formula that gives the lamb strength to grow. But it is tiny in comparison to where it should be for its age and the family keep it in the warmth of their home for some time.

Similarly Paul tells the Ephesians of their inclusion into the household of God.  They have a home in God’s presence and they are now no longer strangers and aliens.  Just like the pets we adopt into our homes and give names, the Ephesians too are named and linked into the family tree of God the Father.

Think of the names you give your animals. Every year my family get a reminder letter from the veterinary surgery to bring our dog in for a health check. Even on this reminder our black dog is named not just Jett, but Jett Pukallus.  He is a member of our family.  He is included as one of us.

It’s not only the Ephesians that are named; we too are no longer strangers and aliens to God the Father. Paul stresses our oneness with God the Father, the Christ, and the Spirit.  Our heritage is one with God, we are descendants of God; your inheritance is his glory in all its richness.

But it’s the attitude of Paul that needs our focus. His attitude is similar to that of Jesus when he was on his earthly march to the cross.  Paul’s walk from his experience on the road to Damascus is the same as Jesus walking to his death. This is the attitude of humility and trust.

Paul’s life changing experience leads him to bow his knee to God the Father, his Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Father, for a reason.  And here we engage Paul’s reason as our reason as we hear and receive God’s word today.

God’s great pleasure for us is to willing receive and be filled with the fullness of God.  But first we have to be emptied and made nothing so God can love us and make us something.  Just like a lamb on death’s door, God comes and gives us life.

Now I am sure that when the lamb was found abandoned out in the paddock it had no idea what a human was in relation to its survival.  A person could be a saviour as much as a devourer. “Am I going to be fed by this approaching being or am I going to be eaten?”

At first this lamb is not going to have any knowledge of one who comes into its cold environment.  How too are we to have any clue who or what God is, or seek him unless he first comes to us?

Our Heavenly Father has indeed come to us and he roots and grounds us in love.  This is the love of Jesus’ faithful walk to the cross, commanded by God the Father for our forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.  He roots and grounds us by nursing us with this steadfast love, teaching us to receive his goodness and forgiveness as he teaches us how to receive his word.

Paul too had no way of knowing this love of God when he travelled to Damascus to persecute the church.   It was only after being rendered weak through blindness, he became receptive to God’s love and his need for forgiveness.

So he comes to the Ephesians in weakness having been loved by God.  He was rooted and grounded in love. For this reason he bows his knee to God for the Ephesians.  Paul doesn’t make a demand of the Ephesians to fill themselves with knowledge, rather he puts the focus on the work of his Christ and his Spirit. 

By his submission to God, Paul also paints a picture by his example of humility.  He encourages them through his letter to also humbly be rooted, grounded and built up in God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — as opposed to being built up in themselves or in himself.   

So what does this all mean for us in this time of the delta variant, lockdowns and uncertainty?  Since Pastor Mathew was led by the Holy Spirit to the Barossa, Covid-19 has become our reality, and now as I arrive we are still very much in the midst of it. 

It may be hard for us to see the fullness of God and the richness of his love.  In this time of severe social distancing you might be feeling out in the cold, alienated as strangers from others in the kingdom of God. 

But like Paul who couldn’t see for awhile, let God continue to lead you through these days.  Let him feed you his word of life; the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ.  This is being rooted and grounded in love.

Just as Jesus put aside his spirit and allowed himself to be led by the Holy Spirit, just as Paul was led and fed by the Holy Spirit, let the Holy Spirit continue leading you in these days.  This is being rooted and grounded in love.

The little weak lamb responds to the faithfulness of the farmer and his family.  He is fed and led and he is strengthened.  The blessings of these days are that we too realise, as individuals and as a community on this earth, we are weak and helpless in ourselves.  This too is being rooted and grounded in love.

When we have been placing our faith in so many other things we suddenly realise how undernourished we become trusting in the weakness of our human spirit.  When we are rooted and grounded in God’s love, God reveals all our false roots of love and we realise the unstable ground on which we stand.

And so we confess our sin to the Lord!  We allow ourselves the posture of submission, and bear our community, our leaders, and community carers before the Lord.  God uses you to root and ground his steadfast eternal love in a self-loving, loveless world.

We allow the light of Christ to shine in us in these days of darkness, by not demanding others to love as we love, but by loving them with the love of God’s forgiveness, so they too might be rooted, grounded and built in the faith and hope in which we live for Christ and die to the self and the world.

Jesus is the Lamb of God.  You and I are Jesus’ little lambs.

I believe it is God’s will for me to serve you on bended knee so we can serve each other and our communities on bended knees.

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.