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The Sermon for Sunday, March 15th, 2026, The Fourth Sunday in Lent, or Mothering Sunday
The Lessons: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:1-14; John 9: 1-13, 28-38
The Text: Ephesians 5:1-14
INTRODUCTION
Athletes illustrate what it means to truly believe in a person in authority.
A high school basketball player, for example, who believes in his coach because that coach is a former NBA champion will do whatever that coach says. He believes the coach is right. If the coach says to change his technique in his shooting motion, he will do it even if it feels awkward and initially causes him to shoot worse. If the coach says to run four miles a day or lift weights thirty minutes a day, he will do it even though it hurts. If the coach says to pass the ball more and shoot less for the sake of the team, he will accept that role.
Why? Because the athlete believes the coach knows better than he does what makes a winner. When you truly believe in a person in authority, you follow that person in complete obedience.
The athlete who does not truly believe in the coach will not fully follow. He may believe things about the coach – that he is a former NBA champion, that he is honest, that his name is Michael – but believing certain information and believing in someone’s authority are two different things.
Those who believe in Jesus not only believe the facts about his deity, atoning death, and resurrection, they believe in his right to direct their lives. True believers follow.[1]
In Holy Baptism, the parents and godparents take this stand of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of their child or godchild.
Today is an important day in our church’s life, since Boniface Benjamin will be baptized! For those who might wonder why it is the tradition of our Church to baptize infants, I give the explanation that the parents and godparents take the vows on behalf of the child, to renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all its covetous desires, and the sinful desires of our human nature, to believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith, and to obey God’s will and commandments all the rest of their lives. The parents and godparents have the responsibility to intercede for the child, to teach him the Christian faith, and to encourage him to remain faithful to Christ. The goal of this is to prepare the child to receive Confirmation from the Bishop, before whom he will take these vows for himself. In the later first century A.D., when the Christian Gospel was being proclaimed throughout the Mediterranean world, the culture of the Roman Empire was predominant. An essential characteristic of this was the “paterfamilias,” the man who was head of his household. He held authority not only over his wife and children, but over all the slaves in his ownership, as well as over freedmen who performed services for his household in exchange for his patronage. Not only did he exercise authority over his household, but he had a fatherly responsibility for them, which Roman society expected him to discharge for the good. When the head of a Roman home decided to be baptized, it meant his whole family and all his slaves and clients (freedmen who performed services for his household) had to be baptized as well. Therefore, even in the first century A.D., infants were baptized. This is likely the case in the account of Cornelius the centurion’s conversion (Acts 10) and the conversion of the jailer at Philippi (Acts 16).
EPHESIANS 5:1-2: IMITATORS OF GOD AS BELOVED CHILDREN
In view of all this, I preach today on Ephesians 5:1-14, which has so much to teach us about leading a holy, righteous life as a result of our Baptism. St. Paul begins this section by telling the Ephesian Christians to be followers, or imitators, of God as his dear children and to walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and given himself for us as an offering and fragrant sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:1-2). At the end of chapter 4, St. Paul urges them to be kind, compassionate and forgiving of one another, as also God in Christ has forgiven them (Ephesians 4:32). The whole Christian community is called upon to do this, and then to be followers of God as beloved children, walking in love, as Christ loves us and gave himself for us. The word used for “walk” means “live your lives.” Since the whole Christian community is called to live their lives in love, corresponding to Christ’s love for his Church, so parents must teach their children to live their lives in Christ’s love also. Children can be influenced in so many ways by teachers, peers, social media, and even by those who mistreat them. So often they are influenced to lead the wrong kind of life. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism shows that parents and godparents are undertaking to teach their child to live the right kind of life, a holy, righteous life that pleases God, and a life that reflects the love of Christ.
After this, St. Paul proceeds to list the sins, or vices, that Christians should not even name, in their resolve to avoid them: sexual immorality, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking and coarse jokes. Instead of talking about these things, we should be giving thanks to God or directing whatever we say to be a source of edification to those around us. As parents and godparents, we must watch carefully to see that in our own households, our children are not exposed to such things either by our own conversation, or through TV and computer games. When they tell us about such things being spoken of at school, we must teach them to think of and speak of good things, as St. Paul reminded the Philippians:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
(Philippians 4:8, KJV)
While we ourselves think on these good things, we must teach our children and those we love to do the same, for if our minds dwell on sinful and evil things, the danger exists, that these evil things become deadly sins that develop into habits of mind and ways of life. St. Paul warns that no-one habitually living in immorality, any kind of sexual sin, covetousness, which is idolatry, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:5). We see, even in our own day and age, that some of those who have become very wealthy and powerful have used their wealth and power as a cloak for many sins, including child trafficking. All of us have a responsibility to avoid every form of sin, for we were once darkness, but now, through our Baptism, we are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8). For this reason, we must live as children of the light, doing the things that are good, right, and true, reproving “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11a) by our witness.
CONCLUSION AND APPLICATION
The world around us is a web of tangled sin and darkness. Christ calls each one us Christians to disentangle ourselves from it, awake spiritually, rise from the dead, and we will know the illumination of Christ shining on us (Ephesians 5:14) through his word and his Spirit. This requires watchful prayer, careful discernment, perseverance in offering ourselves to God continually to do his will, listening to the Holy Spirit speak, and teaching our families to do the same.
[1] p.35, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers, from Craig Larson and Leadership Journal. Baker Books, 2002, 2nd Printing, 2008.