“Three Angels of our Better Nature”
Ephesians 5: 1-4
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.†
In need of Angels
When Abraham Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address, he finished his remarks with:
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
The better angels are human motivations—empathy, self-control, conscience, and reason —that can orient us away from violence and towards cooperation and altruism. Those better angels are needed in today’s America every bit as much as in Lincoln’s.
For Lincoln, the better angels were virtues crucial to preserving the union—a call to rise above what divides us and chart course transcending the lowest and meanest of motives.
For us, such angels still have work to do. I want to suggest three angels as a complement to last week’s three monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, but first a bit of background to our text.
“imitators”
First century poet Antipater of Sidon documented the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, crowning the collection in Ephesus:
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand"
First century Ephesus, a port city on the southwest coast of Turkey, bustled with trade, wealth, leisure, and pleasure. The Temple of Artemis guaranteed huge festivals and a booming market for tourism.
The temple contained a statue of the goddess Artemis, which was said to have fallen from Heaven (Jupiter,literally).
Artemis—Diana to the Romans—was goddess of the hunt, wild animals, virginity, and childbirth. She was the ultimate Amazon, standing in as the personification of Mother Nature, and her statue and temple were the pride of Ephesus.
In Acts 19, we hear the story of an Ephesian named Demetrius, spokesman for the local silversmiths’ guild. It seems Ephesus did a brisk business in silver souvenirs. Replicas of the temple or of the famous statue of Artemis seemed to be in high demand, especially when you consider that each imitation of the statue and temple were believed to contain something of the spirit of the goddess herself. This was paganism and idolatry, yes, but it was also the standard for a healthy economy.
The Pagan Businessman’s Association of Ephesus was up in arms against both Jews and Christians because their fourth quarter numbers were way down. Jews and Christians had been telling everyone (including tourists) that these were not gods. The businessmen rallied and protested in the streets. They paraded their way to the local amphitheater and dragged in a couple of Christians as scapegoats for their poor profits.
For two hours the people chanted: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”, shouting down any and all who wanted to speak or otherwise make sense of things. Finally, cooler heads prevailed and the mob disbanded, having heard a wiser head say, “There’s a proper way to do this; this isn’t it”
Paul’s word to the Christians of this town wa to be imitators of God.
In a town of people who had made a living imitating the image of Artemis, believing that the imitations contained the full spirit of the deity, Paul directs the Christians build their lives imitating the image of God in Christ.
v.15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
In the same way local idolators contained the power of Artemis in handcrafted images of the goddess, Christians are to contain the Holy Spirit of God in their own persons.
How do we imitate God? We imitate the Father by loving like the Son. I’ll suggest three angels of our better nature to illustrate that imitation.
Angel 1: Michael
Michael means“Who is like God?” Michael, the defender of Israel, is one who sees God for who God is. In contrast to “seeing no evil” we might rather focus on seeing God’s goodness all around us.
In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, we are told “it’s a sin not to see the color purple.” as if to say that God worked pretty hard to come up with it, so it is a kind of insult to pass it by without appreciation.
Throughout the gospels we are told that there are those who have eyes to see with but do not see. We need to be those who see—those who get it spiritually. We get it when we see that God is God and begin to live with gratitude. As Christ is the logos, the one through whom all things are created, he is the creator and source of all beauty, all truth. We are given our eyes in order to see the beauty of Christ everywhere in all things.
That goes for seeing other people as well—each one as a masterpiece upon which is the proud signature of our Lord. It comes down to us practicing one of two attitudes:
We either advocate with God, standing alongside him aligned with his great love and valuing of every person—every creature he has made and upon whom is his signature—or we stand opposed to that love and approval. When we stand against our neighbor—or even our enemy!—we stand against God’s love that goes out to that person.
Surely our hope is to be aligned with God’s love! A good start is to see God’s signature upon every other person.
What kind of people can do this? What kind of people see God’s beauty in all things every day? How do you describe someone who sees every other human being along the lines of God’s love for them? You call them happy. In their seeing, they are imitations of Christ.
Angel 2: Gabriel
The name Gabriel means “God is my strength.” Gabriel is the bearer of God’s message—the one who delivered God’s Word to Mary and Zechariah. When Gabriel speaks, he speaks not his own will or message, but relays the Word of God. Here, in contrast to the “hear no evil” monkey, we have and angel who calls us to hear God’s Word.
Again, we have a world of people who have ears to hear with, but may not be hearing God’s Word.
God’s Word can come to us in many ways, as Jesus can speak to us through all things. We meet the Word in nature, in the faces of the poor or of dear friends, and most certainly through Scripture.
Karl Barth says:
“God may speak to us through Russian Communism, through a flute concerto, through a blossoming shrub, or through a dead dog: We shall do well to listen to him if he really does so."
God can speak to us through anything, but has clearly and decisively speaks to us through the revelation of Jesus Christ through Scripture.
We need to have open ears and open hearts—all receptive to hearing God’s Word wherever it may be found—but where we may hear God speaking through anything, we must expect and be tuned in to hearing his Word every time we open up Scripture.
The Bible is the Word of God by the work of the Holy Spirit who opens our ears and hearts whenever we open its pages.
Angel 3: Uriel
Most Christians are probably unfamiliar with the name Uriel. The name Uriel means“The Lord is my Light.” He is associated with Sunday and poetry. Uriel is the angelic companion to the third monkey, speak no evil.
Paul exhorts the Christians at Ephesus that there be
no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking,
but rather
let there be thanksgiving.
The world around us speaks a lot of darkness in very dark terms. Some of it is “humorous,” but in general, what the eyes and ears take in will shape the tune of what emerges from one’s the mouth.
There are people who see only darkness in the world—hypocrisies, lies, deceptions, greed, selfishness—and the result is lots of hot air and groaning.
As we were given eyes to see the beauty of Chirst and ears to hear God’s Word, so we are given mouths to express gratitude and praise.
When we see or hear God, praise is the appropriate and natural response. The one who sees God will irresistibly proclaim that God is good. The ears that hear him will break out in song (figuratively, at least)>
We were given mouths in order to praise God and to participate in the eternal song of his glory.
This being Jazz Sunday, we would do well to think of ourselves as instruments. Like this saxophone, we are imperfect. Our brass has tarnished spots, the leather pads are wearing thin, and the reed may be worn or even split. We are imperfect, but the song can come through us nonetheless.
Isn’t this our hearts—yours and mine? Is there a deeper prayer to prayed other than: “Lord, let me be an instrument of your peace, grace, love, and praise!”? What is our prayer life if not a constant invitation for God to magnify his Holy Spirit within us—that he would become more and we would become less?
Is there any clearer personal path to growing into the image of Christ other than to become utterly self-emptying, inviting and allowing the song that comes from God’s own heart to flow into us and through us, emerging from us as the music of praise to God’s glory?
This is what we are after: to be instruments in God’s hands. To be vehicles of his Spirit, relays of his Word, collectors and amplifiers of his goodness.
Brothers and sister, I am no fan of musicals (God bless you all who enjoy them), but I think the Christian life should be replete in those moments when the simple dialogue begins to swell and you know a song is coming on.
For us, it is seeing and hearing God all around us—meeting us every day—eliciting from our souls songs of joy. We, like David, live our lives wanting to dance before the altar, enjoying with great joy the privilege of walking this life with God!
What kind of people do that? Happy ones—ones that increasing look like the life of Christ.
All That Jazz
The world around us is filled with lots of noise, lots of it dark indeed. Closing our eyes, ears, and mouths to evil may protect our innocence and defend our spiritual temples from pollution, but we are here for a purpose greater than self-defense; we are here to take part in the eternal glorification of God, which is our eternal joy as well.
We—the Body of Christ—are very much like a jazz band. We are as different one from another as a saxophone from a piano, a drum kit from a stand-up bass, but the song that comes through us by the Spirit unites and combines us to produce an amazing song.
We need that unity in a divided America today. We need that song to be heard by broken and despairing hearts. America’s eyes and ears are searching for something true and good to believe in and follow.
May we—you and I—become carriers, couriers, and transmitters of that song. We learn the tune by having open eyes and ears; we play that song whenever we open our mouths in thanksgiving or praise to God.
C’mon cats! and a one and a two and a….†