Don’t Be Discouraged: Salvation Is Yours :: Ephesians 3:13-21

Saint Paul writes: Therefore, I ask [you] not to be discouraged in my tribulation on behalf of you, which is your glory (v 13). 

[Prayer]

Lord, we know that everyone in heaven and earth will bow before you, and that those who confess your name will receive eternal life. Grant us courage to be faithful to you in the face of any opposition from a world hostile to the Gospel. Help us to remember those who have gone before us and who sacrificed much, even their very lives, rather than dishonoring your name by denying the faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

[Introduction]

It’s easy to become discouraged as a Christian ... Isn’t it? It’s easy to lose heart ... that is, to give up in the face of tribulation ... to say you want nothing more to do with the church and those YOU think are Christian in name only ... Isn’t it? It’s easy to feel persecuted for the faith that God gave you ... Isn’t it? 

Whenever you feel this way, I think from now on, I will commend to you Saint Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. Amid trial and tribulation, amid sin and death, amid the struggle to preserve orthodoxy in the church ... you know, the correct doctrine of the church ... Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus (3:1) ... Paul, who had been shackled by the Gospel and imprisoned for preaching it ... Paul, who once persecuted Christians for the same faith, reminds us ... not to become discouraged when we perceive the same strife swirling around us that he faced ... not to lose heart when we perceive discord among the faithful ... not to give up when we feel unhappy (v 13). Why? Because as he says today, you, who have been rooted and grounded in Christ, [you will be strengthened] to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and width and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (vv 17b-19a). 

And this brings great joy.

1. But it’s easier to become discouraged as a Christian, because let’s face it: You didn’t join a country club. 

You have probably never thought of your church as a country club before ... at least not with such a precise term, have you? And perhaps your specific congregation is not one. But a church might be considered a country club if the goal of the church is to keep members happy, joyful, and fit so that they won’t leave as soon as tribulation rears its head. A church might be considered a country club if the leadership measures success by the bottom line or if participants are cut off when they don’t pay their dues ... or if members are focused on themselves and pay no attention to outsiders ... or if members ignore their own sin while complaining about the sin that surrounds them. Country clubs exist to serve their members. They are hyper-focused on taking care of the club ... on their exclusivity. 

The Holy Christian Church meanwhile exists to serve the world by sharing the love of Christ through Word, sacraments, and deeds, teaching people about Jesus. As such it will face tribulation, discord, strife. I note all of this because the goal of being a Christian should never be about being hyper focused on taking care of the club. Tribulation comes with the call of being a Christian. That means there will be times when you will feel like losing heart. 

2. But don’t be discouraged: Remember that the world hated Jesus first (Jn 15:18). Therefore, the world will hate you too.

In his epistle to the Romans, Paul says that God has predestined his children to be conformed to the image of his son (Rm 8:29; also Eph 1:5, Php 3:21). What he means in that verse from Romans 8 is that while it’s true that eternal joy awaits everyone who is baptized in the name of Jesus ... who confesses the name of Jesus ... who bends a knee to Jesus ... will face tribulation because it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me (Gal 2:20). 

Jesus did not enter into glory without first going through suffering. He was mocked and spit upon for being good. Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame (Hb 12:2). Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous one on behalf of the unrighteous, in order that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit (1 Pt 3:18). He did this because, All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each to his own way, we have turned. But God loved the world in this way, YHWH has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him (Is 53:6) ... that is, he laid on Jesus the sin of our perversity, the sin of our injustice to each other. 

While you were gossiping with each other about everything that is happening on someone else’s manicured country club lawn, Jesus took all of your sin and iniquity and transgression upon himself. While you were ignoring the outsiders among you, Jesus shed his blood to pay the price of your sins ... first on the whipping post of the Romans ... then through the nails on the cross. By bleeding and dying on a cross for you, Jesus suffered more persecution, more torment for our sin than we can ever possibly imagine. Then because God is just, he raised Jesus from the dead, giving you the hope of eternal life. 

In our epistle reading today, Saint Paul recognizes this truth. God exceeds our expectations, Paul declares. Death has no dominion over you because He is Risen! ... He is Risen indeed! ... And you who are baptized in Christ have died with Christ so that just as Christ was raised from the dead we too might walk in the newness of eternal life (Rm 6:3-4). 

3. Now hear Paul’s plea for you not to be discouraged by his own tribulation.

Although Paul doesn’t detail his own tribulations in his letter to the Ephesians, the church there certainly knew of them. Paul spent more time with the Ephesians than any other church; three years in fact. The Ephesians therefore undoubtedly knew what Paul told us in 2 Corinthians, how he had received the forty lashes minus one five times ... how he was beaten with a rod three times, stoned once, shipwrecked thrice. Night and day I [spent time] in the sea in many travels, Paul wrote, in danger of rivers, in danger of robbers, in danger of my own family, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness ... in danger among false brothers, in toil and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, in many fasts, in cold and nakedness (2 Cor 11:24-27). 

And now Paul is imprisoned. But even though both he and the Ephesians know that he will soon be martyred for the only Gospel ... that there is no salvation apart from Jesus (Acts 4:12) ... Paul doesn’t lose heart. So why should you? Instead, Paul takes a knee knowing the will of God will prevail. 

It is for this reason I bend my knees toward the Father, out of whom every family in heaven and upon the earth is named, so that he may give to you, according the riches of his glory, power to be strengthened through his Spirit into the inner man, Christ dwelling through faith in your hearts in love (vv 14-17a).

4. [Catechism]

Please now open your [Lutheran Service Book] to Page 324 and join me in confessing our faithful doctrine on prayer. ... What is the Third Petition? ... What does this mean?

5. So don’t be discouraged: You know the will of God is always best.

God has blessed every one of us ... He has chosen every one of us ... He has predestined every one of us to have faith ... to have trust ... to have confidence in the work of Christ, who lived and died and rose for you. God has accepted you and me on account of the blood Jesus shed (Eph 1:3-14). This is Paul’s Word we need to hear.

Whereas, You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, according to the age of this world, according to the rulers and powers of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we once conducted ourselves, in the desires of our flesh. ... 

But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ... by grace you have been saved ... and he raised us up with him, and seated us with him, in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:1-6).

And you who believe this are saved. When Christ returns in glory, you will be raised just like the Widow of Nain’s son. The Faith that God gave to you apprehends that no matter what challenge the church faces, no matter what trial or tribulation you encounter, the redemption that Christ secured for you through the blood he shed is such an extraordinary act that there is nothing in all of creation that will separate you from salvation as you receive him. 

So follow your savior, Jesus Christ, no matter how difficult you think it may be ... no matter how disruptive the world around you becomes. Keep returning to your baptism. Keep confessing your sins and hearing absolution. Keep proclaiming his name. Keep seeking catechesis with your pastor. Keep receiving the Divine Service to you. The body that he gave up for you and the blood that he shed for you will sustain you until that day when our Risen Lord comes again. 

Now to him who is able above all to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power working within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen