Claimed, gathered and sent

20-21 There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: “ Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us? ” 22-23 Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip together told Jesus. Jesus answered, “ Time ’ s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24-25 “ Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you ’ ll have it forever, real and eternal. 26 “ If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you ’ ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment ’ s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me. ...

That's right! This is the message I shared with St. Timothy Lutheran Church I preached the same message at St. Mark Lutheran Church with minor changes. The text is Ephesians 2:1-10. Humanity has a problem. That problem is death. Our situation was desperate. We too were dead. However, in today's reading from Ephesians, Paul is not speaking about physical death, but spiritual death. Paul's imagery is vivid concerning our former condition without Christ. We have the images of the corpse, the slave and the condemned prisoner demonstrating how bad things were. Each image portrays a devastating predicament which they are powerless to change. Helplessness pervades these first few verses. We followed the course of this world and the ruler of the power of the air, in other words, Satan. Paul has a solution to our spiritual death. It's summed up in two words: But God. It is upon these two words that everything hinges. But God is the game changer for u...