A Persuasive Appeal

Text:  Ephesians 4:1-16

Theme:  "A Persuasive Appeal"

10th Sunday after Pentecost

August 5, 2012

First Presbyterian Church

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called ; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^[c]? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Along with the topic of the triple figure heat in Texas,  water cooler chat at the office these days has to include a comment or two on the Olympics in London.  In terms of the number of medals won, the USA's Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian that ever lived.  The rising star, bubbling with personality, is American swimmer Missy Franklin.  And who can forget the mega-watt smile and massive talent of Gabby Fisher who won gold in women's gymnastics.  That takes us to last night.  On NBC's expansive coverage, we saw Great Britain's Jessica Ennis win the women's heptathlon.  England, seemingly united as one, was cheering her on with Prince William and his bride, Kate, high-fiving each other as the cameras rolled.  Then there's USA basketball, headed up by Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, racking up 156 points in a single game.  Three point shots were falling like confetti. 

All of these superb athletes have not reached the pinnacle of their respective sports by some miraculous accident.  With fierce dedication, over many years, they achieved greatness.  And yet, there is more to it than spending countless hours working out.  These Olympians have the added benefit of supportive families who sacrificed much to position them for medal-winning.  And then think of the coaches down through the years who have told them what to do, what not to do.  They observed them; they made suggestions;  they encouraged them; they pumped them up; they made persuasive appeals to their athletes to achieve the very best. 

For just a moment this morning, consider yourself an Olympic athlete!  You are at the peak of your game.  You've made it through the semi-finals and the quarter-finals.  And now, within minutes, you're about to begin the event that you've spent a lifetime preparing for.  This is for real; we're playing for keeps; this is it; this is for all the marbles.  Your coach and mentor approaches you and gives you a big hug.  Nothing really needs to be said that hasn't already been said countless times before.  Still, holding your shoulders and looking you straight in the eye, the coach, with a look of happy determination, makes one last persuasive appeal:  "You're the best; go out there and show the world!"

The holy catholic church -- of which First Presbyterian Church in Denton is a part -- is, carrying our analogy through, God's team.  More precisely, we are the body of Christ and individual members of it.  We are not playing for silver or bronze; we are going for the gold.  Borrowing language from the New Testament, we seek to run the race and finish the course.  For we know that a crown of righteousness awaits us.  And this morning, one of the church's great "coaches", if you will, issues a persuasive appeal.  We hear a powerful word of encouragement.  It's as if the Apostle Paul, in his words first penned to the Ephesians, is grabbing us by the shoulders, looking us in the eye, and saying:  "You're the best.  Now go out there and show the world."

This past week, LA Fitness, the local gym where I train, observed its third anniversary.  They had balloons and bunting and such.  Local fitness-related vendors were on hand to peddle their wares.  One booth was set up for a new business called "Kaleo".  The title caught my eye, and, having studied the Biblical languages, I thought:  "That sounds Greek to me."  It was. This local business made green tea smoothies, and I sampled one.  "Kaleo" is a Greek term which means to call, or invite, or to encourage, to make an appeal.  "Kaleo" means to "urge" or even to "beg". 



The Greek word Paul uses is parakaleo.  The "para" bit means "to come alongside" or "to come up next to".  Thus, in language that football players in particular might resonate with, Paul is saying:  "Huddle up!"  "We're going to have a quick team meeting, and I've got something important to say." 

At the time, Paul was in prison.  He couldn't get out there and play the game as he would have preferred, but he was able to shout out a word of encouragement to the team.  It is not a rule; it is not a mandate; it is not a resolution passed by a general assembly;  it is not a motion brought forth by a committee and approved by a majority of ruling elders.  No, it is an appeal, a persuasive appeal.  He says:  "Live a life worthy of the calling you have received."  There will always be those who talk the talk.  "My encouragement to you," Paul seems to be saying, "is to walk the walk! There will always be armchair quarterbacks; there will always be critics and cynics and pessimists and editorialists.  Let them talk the talk.  I want you to walk the walk.  'Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.' Before you speak to me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people. Before you tell me how much you love your God, show me in how much you love all His children.  There is no room for talk of the Lord whom we have not seen without a corresponding concern for the neighbor whom we can see."

All of this starts with our team:  the holy catholic church and our little part of it at First Presbyterian.  Saint Paul continues:  "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." 

One of the American Olympians who truly experienced the highest high and the lowest low was a girl named Jordyn Wieber.  In gymnastics, she was expected to participate in the round that would determine the best individual gymnast.  Shockingly, she didn't make it.  I saw the look on her face, and it was pure devastation.  But contrast that look with the tears of joy that flowed after she helped her team win the overall competition. 

In the church, we don't have free agents; we don't have  individual competition.    We are together; we are team.  When one is in sorrow, we all are in sorrow.  When one rejoices, we all rejoice. We all have different gifts and abilities, to be sure.  But all of them were given for the "common good", the Bible says.  There is a kind of political communism which says "What's thine is mine."  Then there is a communism of love which says:  "What's mine is thine."  In other words, we willingly share our unique and individual gifts -- our time, talent, and treasure --for the common good.   As if to hammer home this point, the apostle says:  "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called ; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."  The emphasis here is not on individuals or individualism, but on unity and what we share in common. 

To get us to where we are today, all that we need has been provided by our Lord:  apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers.  They've taught us, coached us, mentored us, and helped to bring us.  They will equip us to serve  -- which is what this life is all about.  And all along the way, as we take the field and play the game, we grow into a deeper and richer maturity.  We learn, the apostle says, "to speak the truth in love."  What is this except what Jesus did?  It's exactly what Jesus did.  It cost Him His life!  But the way of life was vindicated when He rose again from that grave! 

Some folks -- and we've all heard them -- speak the truth.  But they don't speak it in love.  They speak it in a mean-spirited and even bigoted fashion.  Others sound as though they are very loving, but, for whatever reason, they leave out the truth.  They sound loving and reassuring and sweet, but the sweetness is like high fructose corn syrup:  it isn't good for you at all.  The art of Christian life and living is to learn to speak the truth in love.  And what a great truth we have to speak:  that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and not counting our sins, anyone's sins, against us!

As my namesake, the apostle Paul, encouraged the Ephesians, I, too, want to make a persuasive appeal to you as well.  We're not the biggest church; we're relatively small in number.  There have been problems and pains in this church's history, but that's the case in any church that's trying to be true to God and His Word.  We've had periods of up and periods of down, segments of weal and segments of woe. But all the resources we need have been there, and I've seen you; I've watched you for over two years now, and what a privilege it has been to serve you in a small way.  If every Christian church throughout the entire world could have just one person with the quality of faith and life and commitment to God, to one another, and to the neighbor that I've seen in so many of you, something would happen -- and I'm totally convinced of it. There would be a worldwide renewal in worldwide Christianity.  The message of the gospel, with its truth and love, would crown the world with blessings heretofore unknown.  Huddle up, First Presbyterian Church!  You're the best.  Now, go out there and show the world! 

Amen.