A Well Rounded Christian
By Rev. Jonathan A. Malone
Preached at the First Baptist Church
Sunday, July 26, 2009; East Greenwich, RI
Ephesians 3:14-21
“…he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,…”
Movement 1 – The Gallery of Christianity
William Cowper is attributed for the famous saying, “variety’s the very spice of
life, that gives it all its flavor.” This is a well known quote, something that is repeated
again and again in favor of breaking the homogeneity that often occurs in the routines
and monotony of life. Johnny Carson responded to Cowper’s quote saying, “If variety is
the spice of life, marriage is the big can of leftover Spam.” Ouch.
All this is to say that we look for variety in life and we find it. We look for
multiple options and opportunities in our life and they are not difficult to discover. We
have moved beyond the black Model T Ford to a cornucopia of motor vehicular options
for transportation and that makes life interesting. Variety is the spice of life. We go to a
neighborhood and see many houses, all built in the same manner, all with the same model
of construction and yet all with different lawns, topiary and shrubbery. Variety is the
spice of life.
I have noticed this especially in evening drama television. On one night I could
watch Law and Order, then the next night I could watch Law and Order: Criminal Intent,
and the Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. In-between the booming bass of the Law
and Order scene changes I could watch C.S.I, and then C.S.I. Miami and then C.S.I. New
York. Has anyone noticed that one could watch six straight evenings of television, not
repeat a show and see really only two shows? This is variety.
Think of Christianity. If you were to turn on the Christian station TBN (Trinity
Broadcast Network), you would have a number of Christians who praise Jesus in
different ways, who weep and weep (thanks Tammy Faye), who pray with such fervent
emotion as you sing the good old gospel songs with a large degree of variety. This is a
station that purports to offer a variety of Christian television for a variety of Christians
(Protestant, Catholic and even Messianic Jews). Turn on this station and you will find
happy Christian after happy Christian after happy Christian. They are all ready to praise
God, all ready to proclaim the greatness of the Lord and this is good. Regardless that the
television shows seem to lack the Christian who is sinking in doubt, the Christ who is
wondering about interfaith dialogue or the Christian who is questioning the presence of
God in their life, but there still is a great amount of variety.
Think of Christianity and the variety there within. TBN aside, there are a
multitude of types, shapes and sizes of Christians. From academic, rational Christians
who reason everything out and have a logical answer for everything to the super-sensitive
feeling Christians who wear their hearts on their sleeves, cry at the drop of the hat and
always follow their gut. There are liturgical Christians, there are the high liturgical
Christians (like the anglo-Catholics) and then there are the Eastern Orthodox Christians
who put everyone else to shame – liturgically speaking. There are Christians who can
quote scripture like a computer and Christians who know a line of a sermon from every
popular preacher in the last decade. There are quiet, contemplative Christians and loud,
outgoing Christians. And we haven’t even considered the diversity of denominations.
1
We could even narrow it down to the Baptist movement which is not lacking in
variety. We have the American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Conservative Baptists,
Progressive Baptists, National Baptists, National Progressive Baptists, General
Association of Regular Baptists, General Six-Principle Baptists, Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit
Predisterianian Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Regular Baptists, Reformed Baptists,
Sovereign Grace Baptists, and on and on. If you really wanted to choose a Baptist group,
it could be overwhelming.
In Ephesus there was a great depth of religious diversity and variety. There were
people from a great variety of religious walks and talks, pushing different ideas and paths
to embrace. This was a costal town, a town where people were coming in and arriving
from all corners, all parts of the world, bringing with them a great variety. It was a major
cosmopolitan area, growing at the time in prosperity. In any major urban location you
know you will find a great variety of people, cultures and customs. Walk through Times
Square in NYC, walk through Quincy Market in Boston and you will have a taste of the
variety found in Ephesus. It was a city with a lot of spice, religious, cultural and
otherwise.
Even within the nascent Christian movement was already a growing variety. Peter
emphasized reaching out to the Jews. Paul reached out to the Gentiles. Some encouraged
an embrace of Judaism on the behalf of the Gentiles while others an embrace of
Gnosticism, and even others an attempt to carve a completely new path. Some were
struggling to understand the role of grace, and the behaviors that would be acceptable,
while others struggled to understand the presence and person of Jesus Christ. It was an
exciting time to be a part of a movement, still in its infancy, still trying to understand its
own identity and yet at the same time influenced with so much diversity. There was a
diversity, a variety within Christianity.
The problem with variety, with real variety is that the experience can be
overwhelming. Barry Schwartz writes in The Paradox of Choice that the greater amount
of options we have the more difficult it is to make a decision. Go into the supermarket,
stand in front of the cereal boxes and try to make a simple, quick choice of what to eat.
Try to make a snap decision when faced with the overwhelming options of morning
goodness. The choices are overwhelming. Go to the Berkeley Bowl supermarket in
California and you will be overwhelmed with the great variety of choices before you. The
Berkeley Bowl is renowned for the great diversity and variety of fruits (as well as other
food products) and it is easy to become paralyzed by the amount of options and variety
before you. Variety, real variety can be overwhelming and paralyzing but it is the spice of
life we all enjoy and embrace.
Look at the breadth and the depth of Christianity and it is like walking through an
art gallery with painting after painting after painting. They may all be of portraits, or all
of trees, but the variety is overwhelming. This is the gallery, the variety of Christianity.
Movement 2 – Haunting Self-Doubt
Where do we fit? Ask this question as you enter into the marketplace of
Christianity? What happens when you stroll the aisles and see the great diversity of
Christians before you with this question on your mind? You are new to the faith, still
trying to name and claim your identity, still trying to shape your following of Jesus and
2
you aren’t sure how to live and believe and you want to know, where do we fit. What
kind of Christian are you?
Maybe you have been fortunate enough to avoid this question in your life. Maybe
no one has asked this of you, but I have faced it from time to time. When meeting other
pastors and other Christians this question often comes up, “what kind of Christian are
you?” When sitting in a bar with some of my pastor friends, enjoying a drink and talking
about Christ and the church this question has come up. When I have emphasized the need
to save the poor over the need to condemn the individual, the need to show love over
hate, and the open and honest admittance that Christians often get it wrong I have been
asked, “what kind of Christian are you?” Where do we fit in, what kind of Christian shall
we be?
This was a struggle of many of the communities to which Paul wrote. The
Galatians struggled with their identity and leaned towards adopting a Jewish connection
so strong that grace was lost for the sake of works. The Corinthian community was trying
to understand itself and gave in a great deal to the corrupt society around them falling on
the excuse that grace allowed the fallen and faulty works. The Ephesians community was
a multi-cultural community, a mix of Jews and Gentiles and that very diversity within the
community pulled at the identity of the community. Were they to be Christians who
believed in the divinity of Christ to the detriment of Christ’s humanity? Were they to be
Christians we embraced the humanity of Christ to the detriment of Christ’s diversity.
Were they to be Christians who always looked to the sky for Christ’s return, or kept their
hopes closer to their chest wondering if Christ would ever return? What kind of
Christians should they be?
The pull, the pressure, the influence must at some point lead to a place of self-
doubt. To be surrounded by so many who are so sure of where they are in the faith while
you still wonder must lead you to a place of questioning your own relationship with
Jesus. It is a sense, a wondering, a questioning if you are doing things right. You hear the
Jews with their deep tradition and wonder if that is the way to go. You hear the Gentiles
with their cultural awareness and cosmopolitan sensitivities and you wonder if that is the
way to go. Look at the marketplace of Christianity and you many very well wonder about
your own faith.
When I peruse the marketplace I am led to question. I watch the happy Christians
on TBN and wonder if I should be preaching in the same way with the same rhetoric and
hold the same nature and tenets of beliefs. I meet many of my Presbyterian (PCA to be
specific) friends who seem to have their doctrine so clear and focus and wonder if I
should be a little more focused and direct with my own beliefs. I meet a Franciscan
brother who seems so much at peace with the world and himself and with God and
wonder if I should work to embrace the contemplative life. I wonder row after row and
then look in the mirror and not like what I see. I observe the strong Christian after the
strong Christian coming for such a variety of walks of faith and then look at myself and
do not like what I see. Maybe I should be more versed in scripture. Maybe I should be
more passionate about issues of justice. Maybe I should have a stronger prayer life.
Maybe I should try to live in a more perfect way. Maybe I am just not the right kind of
Christian.
It is like walking through a mall. You see the models in the shops, you see the
trendy clothing, the perfect bodies and then you look in the mirror and realize that you do
3
not match up with any of the perfect paragons of physic and clothing and you wonder
where you fit. The great diversity does not only paralyze us, but can very easily lead us to
a place of self-doubt and wondering if you are not firmly in one camp or another. So we
voice our questions to our God:
What is the perfect Christian?
How are we to be the good Christian?
What kind of Christian should we be?
We question and wonder and wait for a response, an answer to our doubt and wondering.
Movement 3 – Comprehension
Paul seems to be aware of the struggle of the Ephesians, their struggle to claim
and form an identity that is true to Christ. In this intercessory prayer, he calls the
Ephesians and implores them to be full and well rounded Christians and at the same time
calls us to be good, well rounded Christians. Paul is aware of the tension that many in the
community are facing. Paul is aware of the questions and the wondering and offers some
focus and direction in this kind of intercessory prayer. Walk through and join Paul in the
adoration of God, walk through and connect with the strength of the Holy Spirit (we will
come back to that later) and then listen, hear what Paul is exhorting the community to do.
Listen for how to be a Christian.
Paul offers what some commentators suggest as three areas of focus in becoming
a well rounded Christian starting with comprehension. “I pray that you may have the
power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and
depth….” The power to comprehend, the power to understand, to know is the first call
and exhortation of Paul. This means learning, studying, and trying to understand that
which is beyond our understanding. Paul is hoping that we will have more than just some
knowledge about God and Christ, but a knowledge that is deep and broad. Paul is calling
on us to learn. The power to comprehend.
In the church we tend to stop at Sunday school. In the church we tend to stay put
in our religious education with the children songs and felt board stories, but there is so
much more. Imagine a character like Dr. House or Monk as a Christian, someone who
has a deep and well versed knowledge of Christianity. They observe, they listen and they
know what is going on very quickly. They have this encyclopedic knowledge that drives
their ability to solve problems. I have seen this kind of knowledge in the “Bible Answer-
Man.” Hank Hanegraaf offers knowledge, depth and insight for anyone’s questions about
the bible on his radio show. This is a man who knows his scriptures inside and out. He
has that level of knowledge.
Yet it is not just memorizing scripture, it is knowing what happened in that time,
it is knowing the history of Christianity and the history of this church. It is knowing the
problems that theologians have worked on, the struggles they faced as we face our own
struggles and problems. Paul prays that we will have the power to comprehend, to know
and to understand, so we look to learn, to study and to gain understanding. Paul is calling
us to comprehend at a broad and deep level with the saints – can we engage in that level
of study and learning? Study your ethics, study your history, study your Bible and grow
in your comprehension, grow in your understanding and continue to study and grow for
we are never done learning.
4
The hymn, “How Great Thou Art” capture the passion in the learning we are
called to embrace:
O Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the world’s thy hands have made
I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power thu out the universe displayed
-
Then sings my soul my savior God to thee
How great thou art how great thou art
Then sings my soul my savior God to thee
How great thou art how great thou art
Yet hear this note of caution – you will never be done. Hear this note for
hesitation – you will not find God in your learning. Yet something still seems to be
missing. I know people who have amassed such mountains of knowledge, who
understand so much and yet still struggle with their faith. Something is still missing.
You can know about all of the verses and the stories of the Bible, but there is
something deeper that we are called to comprehend. You can name all of the saints of
Christianity, their dates and great successes but there is something deeper that we are
called to comprehend. You can make brilliant and complex theological arguments but
there is something deeper that we are called to comprehend.
What is the ground and the source of all that is? What is, as Paul Tillich says, “the
Ground of Being?” What is it that all the saints, the great Christians before us looked to
for hope, inspiration and guidance but our Lord. We are to look to understand, to
comprehend, with all the saints, the breadth and length and height and depth of our Lord.
We are called to begin to comprehend, to look to comprehend, realizing fully that we
cannot, the breadth and length and height and depth of our Lord.
Movement 4 – Knowledge
Perhaps that is why Paul goes on, furthering his push for us to become well
rounded Christians. He calls us, “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…”
Now we go beyond just encyclopedic knowledge. Now we go beyond just understanding
the scriptures and history and theology. Now we go to the love of Christ. This starts with
knowing Christ. This starts with understanding who Christ was, what he did, and in what
way. This starts with learning the words that Christ spoke, watching the actions that
Christ did. Notice who Christ reached out to. Notice who caused Christ to stop and take
notice. Notice the message of Jesus and you will start to learn and come to know the love
of Christ.
You may read about a person in history. You may read about Martin Luther King
Jr., about Abraham Lincoln, about Gandhi or Roger Williams but no matter what you will
never know these people by just learning about them. In the movie Bill and Ted’s
Excellent Adventure two slackers go back in time not just to learn about Freud,
Beethoven and Socrates but to get to know them, to understand who they are as people.
Paul is calling us to do the same with Christ, to know the love of Christ beyond just
understanding and comprehension but at that deep and intimate level.
5
Remember what Christ did. He went to the poor, the downtrodden, the lost, the
sinner, the rejected and objectionable. He went to the lame, the blind and the crippled. He
went to those who were afflicted with demons, those who were afflicted with greed and
those who were pulled by the powers of the world. He went to them all, spoke love to
them all and called them all to a different, a better and God blessed life. Only out of anger
does Christ condemn, but he always leaves a space for repentance and return. Only out of
rage does Christ reject but he always leaves room for that lost sheep to return. Come and
know the love of Christ.
Listen to his words of hope for the poor. His words of blessing for the mourning.
Listen to his words of comfort for the wounded and words of liberation for the oppressed.
Listen to his words of conviction to the powers and the principalities. Listen to Christ’s
words, read the sermon on the mount, read the sermon on the plain, read the discourses in
the Gospel of John and come to know the love of Christ.
We read all of this and then we realize – Christ went to the broken and offered
hope. We are broken, we are hurting, we are struggling and we need hope. We need that
love in our lives for we face insurmountable difficulties, for we face the brokenness of
our own lives. We need that hope and it is offered to us. Through the cross we find the
love, the grace, and the hope of Christ. Know that love!
Look at Paul – a man who challenged, chased and convicted Christians again and
again. Look at Paul – a man who rejected Christ, who refused to give Christ space and
who was chosen, convicted, redeemed and blessed by the grace of our Lord. Look at Paul
who by all rights should still be asking for forgiveness, yet Paul knows of the deep way
of the love of Christ. Paul has experienced the deep way of the love of Christ. Paul has
embraced the deep way of the love of Christ and now lives it for all others to experience,
to know and to see. It was not just the blinding light that brought Paul to his senses, but
the overwhelming and overpowering love of Christ that sent Paul out to the gentiles, to
offer the love and grace that he had received. This is the love of Christ.
Explain this love for me. Tell me what this love means. Give me the formula for
this love. You will be speechless, you will be stuttering and find that you cannot give an
answer, you cannot explain, you cannot make clear the love of Christ. This is a love that
goes beyond understanding, a love that goes beyond knowledge, all you can do is know
the love.
I want to push this a bit, for this knowledge is more than a pencil to paper kind of
knowledge. You know how people in the Hebrew Scriptures again and again come to
“know” each other? Sarah and Abraham “knew” each other. Isaac and Rebekah “knew”
each other. David and Bathsheba “knew” each other. You get the idea. While the words
are not exactly the same, there is a depth, an intensity and intimacy to knowing the love
of Christ. It is not just knowing Christ’s first name, or being able to spout a formula that
makes sense, but really knowing and living the love of Christ. Watching as he loves, as
he serves, as he shares with humanity. We know of the love of Christ and we can only
respond with our own love:
I Love you Lord,
And I lift my voice
To worship you Oh my soul, rejoice
Take joy my king
6
In what you hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears
We are called to know and to live the love of Christ.
Movement 5 – Experience (Letting Go)
We are not yet finished. We are not yet the well rounded Christian that Paul calls
us to be. We are called to comprehend, we are called to know, and then finally we are
exhorted to, “be filled with all the fullness of God.” Be filled with the fullness of God. Be
filled with the grace, be filled with the glory, be filled with the fullness of God. Here is
the tricky part about this last bit: there is nothing we can do. We study and we learn so
that we may comprehend. We look to Jesus so that we may learn of his love and we
accept his love. But what can we do to be filled with the fullness of God? What can we
do to bring God upon us? Nothing. There is nothing we can do but to be open and ready
for God’s holy and redeeming presence.
Bernard of Clarvioux writes in his work, Journey of the Mind to God that in
becoming a Christian one must follow a number of steps. One must study history,
theology, philosophy and scripture. One must study and study and then finally at the last
step, let go and fall into the abyss of unknowing. Let go and open yourself up to God. Let
God and wait for God to fall upon you. This is being filled with all the fullness of God.
Jonathan Edwards, a great theologian of America, preached for a full body
experience of God. He preached during the First Great Awakening that Christians should
have a conversion experience, an experience when one is changed and transformed by the
presence and activity of God, yet he was clear that this experience could not be forced.
This was not an experience that could be contrived but would happen in its own time. All
one could do is be open for the presence of the Lord. We need to understand, we need to
know of the love and then we wait for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is the action of the Holy Spirit. This is the presence of the Holy Spirit. It fills
us, uses us and sends us out. When the disciples were sitting in the room on the Pentecost
festival they could not dictate the terms of the Holy Spirit’s arrival. All they could do was
to be open and ready for the presence of the Spirit which fell upon them, filled them, and
lead them to do amazing and powerful things. Be ready to be filled with all the fullness of
God. Be open to be filled with all the fullness of God. Be open to be filled with all the
fullness of God.
Spirit of the living God
Fall afresh on me
Spirit of the living God
Fall afresh on me
Melt me
Mold me
Make me
Use me
Spirit of the living God
7
Fall afresh on me
Be filled with the fullness of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Movement 6 – A Well Rounded Community
What kind of Christian do you want to be? With the great amount of choices, with
the diversity of options, what kind of Christian do you want to be? Don’t look to the
examples or pulling or models of other Christians, but follow Paul’s exhortation. Strive to
comprehend the height and depth of God. Look to know of the love of Christ. Look to be
filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Do this in a way that is true to who you are. Do
this in a way that is honest to who you are and you will be a well rounded Christian.
Yet don’t do this alone. Paul is not writing to an individual. Paul is not just
writing to one person but to a community. Paul claims that the glory of God can be found
in Christ and in the church, the ekklesia, the gathering of God’s people. The glory of God
is not found in one solo Christian’s actions, but in the gathering, the community of
Christians known as the church. The Spirit works through the community. The presence
of God is felt in the community. The love of Christ is known through the actions of
people in the community. In the community we grow, in the community we learn
together, we pray together and we become better Christians together.
As a church, let us work to stay true to Paul’s exhortation. Let us be a church that
looks to comprehend the height and depth of God. Let us be a church that strives to know
the love of Christ. Let us be a church that waits with a profound openness for the
movement and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then when people ask what kind of
church you attend, you will not say that we are a charismatic church, a contemporary
church, a classical church, a conservative or liberal church. Instead you will say that we
are a church striving to be well rounded in the eyes of the Lord. We are a church that is
full of Christians looking to comprehend, to know and to experience the grace of our
Lord. We are a church that is open, honest and striving to be true to our Lord.
We need not copy anyone else but Christ. We need not follow anyone else but
Christ.
AMEN
8