Sermon Tone Analysis
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The Temple of Artemis
The city of Ephesus was considered the second most important city in the entire Roman Empire, next to Rome.
Its harbor on the Aegean Sea made Ephesus one of the most prosperous cities in the ancient world.
At the center of all things Ephesus, including its economy was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis.
Artemis was the goddess of the moon, of wildlife, and of chastity.
Her followers caused the great missionary Paul all sorts of grief when he traveled to Ephesus and planted a new church.
The impact of the gospel was so great, the economy in Ephesus suffered a downturn because its biggest money maker was the worship of Artemis.
Fewer worshipers meant loss of income.
So they rioted against Paul in the 25,000 seat ampitheater near the center of town.
The riot was dissipated when cooler heads among the city leaders prevailed.
The city’s businessmen had a legitimate cause for concern.
The Temple of Artemis was one of the largest buildings ever built in the era of the Greeks and the Romans.
It was the center of worship.
It functioned as a bank.
It was home to merchandising and commerce.
It also functioned as a place of refuge for those who feared for their lives.
Ephesus was one of the greatest cities and the temple was its masterpiece.
One ancient writer believed no other man-made architecture rivaled Artemis.
It was a masterpiece.
Until it was burned to the ground.
This masterpiece was temporal, subject to the whims of the economy and political power.
That masterpiece is nothing compared to the masterpiece God is working on in Ephesians 2. Paul writes to the church he planted there in Ephesus.
The very place where they rioted.
The very place where the city’s businessmen zealously guarded their income from the goddess.
Paul tells the church, in that difficult situation, they are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece.
And it’s that masterpiece Jesus is using to fill all corners of Ephesus with more Jesus.
Their church was made for more.
Live.
Learn.
Play.
Work.
We’ve begun a series on just what it means for the church to be made for more.
What does it mean for Jesus to fill all things with His body the church.
Where are we to expect Jesus to be working?
People often ask me what the logo means.
It’s not so hard to see the cross, and then the vegas gold of the table.
But what about these boxes?
These boxes are homes, people, community gathered by the cross around the table.
But for this series I want us to think about these boxes in light of Paul’s point in Ephesians: that Jesus is using the church to fill all things with more of Himself.
This means all of life.
Where we live.
Where we learn.
Where we play.
Where we work.
Jesus is more.
The church is made for more.
And it is all fueled by our story that begins in the cross and His Table, the Lord’s Supper.
Through us, the Word of the Cross and the Sacrament of the Table begin to fill every aspect of our lives.
We gather on Sundays because we need and must have the Word and Sacrament.
But our mission is not simply to gather.
Christ's mission is for us to be sent and to illuminate the fullness of Jesus in a lifestyle of worship and mission where God has perfectly positioned us already where we live, work, learn and play.
Whose work is it?
It’s a pretty tall task.
How can we be expected to fill all things with the Good News of Jesus?
After all, we’re a broken mess.
Life doesn’t look all that great.
I can point to each one of those areas and think to myself, yeah… good luck with that, Bresson.
The great news is… it’s not up to me.
This is Jesus’ work.
It’s his filling.
And I’m not alone.
We’re all in this together.
Immediately after saying that Jesus is going to fill society with himself through His church, Paul talks about the new life that God has given to His church.
In fact, he tells us our story, a story true of every saint who has ever lived.
In the first three verses Paul says this:
Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air.
That’s all of us without Jesus.
Dead in our sins.
Walking in the ways of the world.
In bondage to the evil one, the devil himself.
Note here that Paul says “you”.
That “you” here and throughout this entire letter is plural.
We tend to personalize and individualize the “yous” in these verses, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
This is my story.
This is your story.
But we always have to remind ourselves that this is our story.
We were collectively dead in our sins.
As a group.
In bondage to Satan, sin, and death.
That’s OUR story.
But that all changed.
One of the greatest statements in all of the Bible is in verse 4:
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses.
You are saved by grace!”
Are you kidding me?
BUT GOD.
God steps into the darkness and the sin and the bondage and he makes us alive with Christ.
With no help from us.
We were dead in our sin and God made us alive in Jesus.
And as if to make his point he says this:
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.”
You.
There’s that plural “you” again.
This is our story.
We are saved by grace through faith.
It’s not our doing, it’s God’s gift.
It’s nothing we do, it’s nothing we deserve.
We deserve the death and bondage because of our disobedience.
And God steps into our story and gives us life.
He makes us new.
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