In Nomine Iesu
Ephesians 5:3-5
November 24, 2016
Thanksgiving Day
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus~
Today’s sermon text is comprised of three brief verses from Ephesians chapter 5:
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous . . . has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (v.3-5).
Sounds like a strange text for Thanksgiving, doesn’t it? If it’s your custom to show up here on the fourth Thursday of November, then there are certain things you’ve come to expect. You can be confident that we will sing “Now Thank We All Our God.” There will be a bountiful display of fruits, veggies and grains adorning the chancel. And Jesus will heal ten lepers; but only one will return to give thanks. That you expected and that you have received.
It’s also customary around here on Thanksgiving to be reminded of God’s First Article gifts, the daily bread that our heavenly Father provides: clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children. And those First Article gifts ultimately point us to the Second Article gifts: the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation that our Savior won for us by His suffering, death, and resurrection. Those are gifts that money can’t buy—undeserved gifts that come to us by the grace of God. Giving thanks for these gifts is what we Christians do—not just on this national holiday, but every day. And this is what you came here today expecting to hear.
What you probably didn’t expect to hear about today were sexual immorality, filthy talk, and crude joking. Yet, as St. Paul penned the verses you just heard, he plopped in the word “thanksgiving” right in the middle of a list of prohibitions and warnings about unholy words and actions: sexual immorality, impurity, crude joking, and the like. “Instead,” Paul writes, “let there be thanksgiving.” He gives us a warning, and—right in the middle of that warning—he gives us a prescription: “Let there be thanksgiving.” We need to heed both—both the warning and the prescription.
First of all, the warning: Good works don’t make you good or holy; only the good work done by Jesus, received through faith, can make you good and holy. Bad works, however, always undermine your faith in Jesus. Bad works like sexual immorality and filthy talk can eat away at your faith, like termites in your foundation—like cancer on healthy tissue and bone. Bad works can eventually cause you to lose your faith in Jesus! It’s not that sexual immorality and crude language are unforgiveable sins. But Paul is clear that these sins can weaken and undermine your faith over time, and leave you with no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ.
Most of the Christians at Ephesus had been converted from paganism. Much of their former lives had been spent entangled in various forms of idolatry and gross immorality. They were constantly being tempted and pulled back into their former way of life. Paul essentially tells them what he also tells us: That’s not who you are! You are pure. You are holy. You are saints redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Have nothing to do with the filth of the culture which surrounds you on every side. That’s the warning.
Then comes the prescription: Instead let there be thanksgiving. Right in the middle of this listing of filthy deeds and words comes this one holy word and deed: Thanksgiving. As you sit here this morning surrounded by a culture that lives and breathes sexual immorality—as you sit here this morning pulled and tempted and seduced to sample from that smorgasbord of impurity—the simple prescription is thanksgiving.
But this word, thanksgiving, doesn’t merely refer to the act of being thankful. It means more than that; it has to. I mean, anybody can be thankful. Think about it: Meth dealers can be thankful for brisk sales of their product. Greedy misers can be thankful as they count up their coins. Abortionists can be thankful for ridding the world of unwanted babies. Being thankful isn’t an exclusively Christian concept.
But by the time Paul wrote to the Ephesians, the word translated “thanksgiving” had begun to take on a bigger meaning. The actual Greek word is eucharisto—from which we get “Eucharist,” another name for Holy Communion. A little later in the same chapter Paul uses the same word (giving thanks) to describe what goes on in the Divine Service, as we sing and make melody to the Lord with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (v.19-20). In other words, when Paul prescribes “thanksgiving,” what he means is the thanksgiving that takes place here. When he writes, “Let there be thanksgiving,” what that means is, “let there be worship.” His prescription is praise and hymn-singing and promise-hearing, and, yes, even the Eucharist itself—the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
Thanksgiving, therefore, isn’t just a thankful feeling for all that’s good in our lives. No, thanksgiving is what we do because Jesus has rescued and delivered us from all that’s bad in our lives. THIS is Thanksgiving! Singing God’s praises and receiving His gifts, including, especially, the Eucharist—the bread that is His body and the wine that is His blood. Are you surrounded by immorality? Let there be thanksgiving! Are you tortured by temptation? Let there be thanksgiving! Have you failed to lead a sexually pure and decent life? Let there be thanksgiving . . . because thanksgiving is worship.
Thanksgiving is when the Lord Jesus plants and plops Himself right in the middle of your sinful, sorry life and gives you His gifts of healing and hope and joy in His salvation. He loves to be here among you as you gather in His name. He comes specifically to save sinners. And on the cross He stood-in as the substitute for every sinner—taking your place, and giving you His place as a child of God.
It’s likely that Paul knew the Christians at Ephesus better than he knew any other congregation. Paul had spent nearly three years living among them—much more time than he spent with any other church. He had taught them and catechized them. He had absolved them. He had preached to them. He had presided at their altar and served them with the Eucharist—the body and blood of Jesus. Paul was a pastor to them. He knew how Satan was targeting them and tempting them. He knew their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This is why Paul didn’t merely tell them to “count their blessings.” There’s nothing wrong with that; but they needed more, and so do we.
Paul said this: “Let there be thanksgiving.” Surrounded by sin and its wages, let there be thanksgiving. Let there be worship. For where there is worship, there is Jesus. Only Jesus can pull you out of the immorality that surrounds you. Only Jesus can cleanse you and purify you from the filth of your own sin. And Jesus doesn’t do partial-purifying. He doesn’t forgive halfway and then say, “Now you earn the rest.” His cleansing is complete. His forgiveness is full. His absolution . . . is absolute.
Perhaps Paul’s warning against immorality, and his prescription for thanksgiving, are best understood in terms of feasting. After all, today is a day of feasting. More calories will touch your lips today than on most days. Paul’s warning is not to sully and soil our lips and bodies with sexual sins and filthy language. Those things will bring death to you. Instead let there be thanksgiving. Instead, let your lips and bodies be purified with the cleansing body and blood of Jesus in the feast of the Eucharist. For when these gifts touch your tongue, that is thanksgiving. That is Jesus for you. And His feast—the feast of the Lamb—is a feast that has no end—as you will see for yourself soon enough. So let there be thanksgiving!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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