We are learning how to serve, a hard process sometimes. (“Student at Table by Candlelight,” Rembrandt, c. 1642, AIC.)

Christ’s Body in Motion
Ephesians 4.15-16
Matthew Raley (5-20-12)

Alexander the Ephesian has a new identity in Christ.  He no longer serves Dionysus.  His new identity has exiled him from the theater and the Ephesian ecclesia, but has created a new role for him in the ecclesia of Christ.  He now composes hymns for the church.

But there’s a problem: Christ’s body contains Jews who were hostile to the idolatry he had led so well.  He used chant and lyrics to excite his Greek fellow-citizens to ecstasies that included false worship and immorality. Truth be told, he loved his power.  It brought him honor and wealth. If Alexander does in the church exactly what he did in the theater, it will bring shame to Christ, not least because of the selfishness in his artistry.

So, Alexander explores the Jewish Psalms, and rethinks his own art piece by piece.  He listens to a Jewish brother named Simon sing.  He learns the imagery of biblical poetry, studies the history of the Father’s work in Christ.  He also experiences how the Lord cares for him.  He prays over his wife for the safe delivery of their baby, refusing to make any offering to Artemis.  When she delivers the boy safely, she too converts to Christ.  Alexander is ready.  When he stands in church and sings his new hymn to Christ, putting all the fruit of his new knowledge and experience into it, the people are confused. He feels like a clumsy apprentice actor.

When Paul described the body building itself up in love in Ephesians 4.15-16, this is the kind of thing the Ephesians might have thought about. The real process of discovering our grace-equipment in Christ is hard. It involves the confrontation of our selfishness. In today’s sermon we will explore this process, using Paul’s statements in Romans to illustrate.

Audio: May 20, 2012

God makes the same person express many aspects of his grace. (“Black, Grey, White,” Jennifer Bartlett, 1991, MoMA.)

Christ’s Body in Motion
Ephesians 4.14-16
Matthew Raley (5-13-12)

There is nothing more striking about Saul of Tarsus than his cruelty. He tortured, imprisoned, and even killed people.  But after he is struck blind by Christ on the road to Damascus, Saul encounters a man named Ananias, who not only heals Saul’s blindness but treats him tenderly in the process.  That is how the grace-story of Jesus Christ specifically met Saul.  It changed his identity.  From a “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” Saul became Paul, the ambassador to the Gentiles.

Our character Alexander the Ephesian has had a similar experience.  He was devoted to Dionysus: he made poetry, plays, and music to honor him.  When his identity changed, he could no longer make his living this way.  So his skills as an artist were also converted to Christ.  He had the challenge of making new art forms for the new community of believers. That involved dealing with Jews who previously hated his art.

In today’s sermon we will see that the process is the same with each one of us.  Our identities are changed by God’s grace, and that change creates a new role for us in Christ’s body.

May 13, 2012

Unique tools for Christ’s purposes. (“Five-bladed Saw,” Jim Dine, 1973, MoMA.)

Christ’s Body in Motion
Ephesians 4.15
Matthew Raley (5-6-12)

Alexander the Ephesian has come to believe Paul’s message and has begun living according to his new identity. He refuses to participate any longer in the Dionysian orgies, or to honor Dionysus during festival processions. Because of this he can no longer be an actor. His wife is pregnant, and enraged because he will not pray to Artemis for a safe delivery. He is shunned by the ecclesia of Ephesus, and now only participates in the ecclesia of Christ.

Alexander’s new identity is creating a new role for him in Christ’s body. He is now being paid to adapt the Dionysian hymn forms for the worship of Christ, composing new words and chants to tell the grace story of the Father.

Everyone in the body of Christ has a new identity. In today’s sermon we will see how each one of our identities changes when we receive the grace of God, and how we are equipped by his grace for specific roles in Christ’s body.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to technical problems with master recording, Pastor Matt’s sermon has been edited to eliminate 5 to 9 second gaps in the content.  What you will hear is an abridged version of Pastor’s sermon which he approved for publication on the web.  Most of the edits restore the original logic and train of thought.  However, in spite of our best efforts there are two sentences (one near the beginning and one at the end) that could not be fixed and begin in the middle of a thought.  Nevertheless even those are intelligible enough for the listener to understand the idea.

Audio: May 6, 2012

Who am I, and what is my role in life? (“Baucis Landscape,” Rene Magritte, 1966, MoMA.)

Christ’s Body in Motion
Ephesians 4:7-16
Matthew Raley (4-29-12)

When we started our study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, I described a character named Alexander to help us understand what Paul wrote.  Alexander, the 1^st century Ephesian, as an actor is a follower of Dionysus. As a free Ephesian citizen—and thus a member of the city ecclesia—he is also devoted to Artemis.  Alexander assumes there are many gods and goddesses, none of whom have any particular interest in him.

If Paul’s message about Jesus Christ is true, then God, as a Father,  is specifically interested in Alexander. Such a message is no mere novelty. It is a threat to who he is, as an actor and as a citizen.  The source of spiritual life is not the risen Dionysus but the risen Christ, who has his own ecclesia that worships him alone, one that includes men and women from all cities. Thus, Paul’s message upends Alexander’s life as a citizen, a professional, a husband, and a father.

Alexander, like the vast majority of people who have ever lived, has a strong identity and role in his culture. He knows who he is.

In contemporary America, however, we have lost the two words identity and role in the sense in which Alexander understood them.  Having little connection to the past, to authority, to ethical principles, or even to family—the different kinds of glue that hold people together – many Americans live disconnected from one another.  Lacking strong roles for men and women, young people are expected to make their own identities.  We’re better able to express ourselves more than ever, yet people are less able than ever to be confident of who they are.  We have a new society now: You are what you consume.

Churches have redesigned their ministries to accommodate this new society, and in so doing have made the body of Christ inert and the very message of the Gospel inconsequential. In the consumer church, Christ is the way to become the person you really want to be.  In today’s message we will learn that if we recover the words identity and role the way Alexander and Paul understood them, we will see a revolution in church ministry.

Audio: April 29, 2012

We need to focus on the right target. ("Why We Fight, No. 4," Anthony Veiller, 1943, MoMA.)

A Biblical Response            To Gay Marriage                  1 Corinthians 6.13        Matthew Raley, 4- 22-12

We, the followers of Christ, are not currently in a battle over the deep structure of America law and culture.  Most Americans are in that battle, but we are not. Our battle is another in the war God has waged to redeem human beings ever since the Fall.  We are in a battle over what it means to be human.

For the better part of two centuries, the Enlightenment view of human nature has been dominant in Western intellectual circles, and in the twentieth century that view became dominant in the masses. The Enlightenment view is that human nature is the property of human beings. To be human is to own yourself.  The biblical view, on the other hand, is that human nature is the property of God. To be human is to be His.

In today’s message we will find that the current battle over gay marriage is just another front-line in this larger landscape.  If we pour our forces into this small sector of the fight, we will lose the battle.

Audio: Morning Sermon, April 22, 2012

We are called to be different from our culture. ("The Hekatompedon Pattern," Alfred Jensen, 1966, MoMA.)

A Biblical Response to           Gay Marriage                            Various texts                    Matthew Raley, (4-15-12)

We confront the reality that we are living in a culture that no longer holds the biblical concept of marriage. In today’s sermon we will be asking what are our duties as Christians in this new reality?

This question, we will find, is not, “How shall we teach our society to live according to God’s law?” Nor is the question, “How can we show our society God’s truth in terms it will recognize, like social science?” We are not asking about persuading outsiders at all. We are asking how we, those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, should live now. This is an issue of how to be a strong counterculture.

This means that for us the only issue is how God defines marriage. His word must set church policy and our duties as Christians.

Audio: April 15, 2012

A lot of people are waiting for Jesus to do his stuff. ("Waiting Room," Paul Graham, 1984, MoMA.)

Resurrection Sunday     Luke 24: 13-35                  Matthew Raley (4-8-12)

The Jesus of the Gospels has many strange qualities.  For instance, he finds ways to delay performing miracles.  Sometimes he maginfies the impossiblity of a situation.  The disciples tell him the five thousand people in his wildereness audience are hungry.  He says, “You feed them.”

At other times he seems to say “no” to a request.  A Gentile woman asks him to cast a demon out of her daughter.  His reply seems devastating.  “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  On still another occasion he simply sleeps, as he did in a fierce storm while the disciples’ boat was sinking.  Jesus is kind but not always sympathetic. He requires a great deal from needy people.  He requires them to put their needs second.

Today we celebrate Jesus’s resurrection from the dead.  The significance of this event is incalculable.  His resurrection means that by placing your faith in him you can live eternally. It means his life can empower you now.  Most tangibly it means you can meet him and begin a relationship with him today.  What would it be like to meet Jesus?  How would he treat you?  How would he respond to your needs?

Today we will hear the story of two men who met Jesus after his resurrection and see how he interacted with them.

Audio: April 8, 2012