The Lutheran Hour
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"Under Construction"
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Text: Ephesians 2:4-10
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Some people are born “fixer-uppers.” They just love to be in a house where the paint is peeling and the plumbing is leaking, the kitchen’s too tiny with not enough bedrooms and not any closets. And you know, they don’t see this as a deterrent. They rather see this as a quality of something they can tackle and accomplish. These types of people, these fixer-uppers, aren’t any more happy than when there’s sawdust in the living room and holes in the bathroom. They’re eternally happy when they are under construction.
Oh, but that’s not me. I am more like the other type of fixer-upper who tries and tries and finally gets a project done and I’m happy it’s over. Usually more than likely I’m satisfied but not always completely. And, you know, it’s through my struggles and work I’ve realized it’s by means of money that a house is remodeled, through knowledge and skill, and by great perseverance. It just doesn’t happen on its own. All of us, actually, are under construction. Our lives–for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. This is not of yourselves. It’s a gift of God so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Why? Well, for God, as it goes on to say in verse 10, we are God’s workmanship created for good works in Christ Jesus, for which He has prepared in advance for us to do. Hm-m-m. This last verse is an interesting one. “We are built up.” We are actually God’s good work. God is the ultimate fixer-upper and He doesn’t stop. It’s a life-long construction process.
I remember one of my first repair jobs on my first house. There was a panel missing over this one spot on the wall and a friend said, “Oh, just use some liquid nail and put it on the back and stick the panel up.” OK, I thought. So I got a caulk gun and this liquid nail stuff and squeezed it out. It came out as thick and round as a pencil. It didn’t look quite right so I took a finger and kind of spread it around and stuck the panel up. But as I stuck the panel up, I noticed this glue on my fingers was getting all over the walls. So I tried to wipe it off and it smeared. I wiped it on my pants. It was such a mess–I didn’t get that stuff off for days. Well, afterward, I was happy to have that one over. I realized, sometimes, a lot of times, that’s what life is like when we try to clean up our lives because of our sin. Trying to cover it up, gloss it over, make it look good, wipe it away, we just make it messier and messier.
Well, many years had passed and I did another project and thought this time I was more experienced. This was a bathroom faucet. My friend John helped me many times on construction projects and he showed me about faucets and how to take them apart when they leaked, and how to replace those rubber gaskets. So, this bathroom faucet was leaking and sure enough, I knew what to do. I’d take it apart and fix it. Sure enough, there was a washer. It looked like two nickels stuck together but they’re rubber. It’s at the end of this shaft and you just replace it. Well, when I got it apart, it looked different. So, I called John up on the phone. “Hey, John, this doesn’t look right. I’m confused,” I explained. He said, “I don’t know.” So with the water off, I went to the hardware store. “Well, we don’t really have that part.” We finally made something do, put it back together, and it still leaks–five years later. We actually have a little bucket stuck underneath the faucet to catch the drips. Even though I talked to the experts and tried to make it work, it didn’t work. By means of money houses are remodeled, through knowledge and skill, and by great perseverance. Well, you probably know as well as I do, money runs outs. Knowledge and skill sometimes just doesn’t get it because that part just won’t do what you want it to! Perseverance? Finally, it’s just give up. Why do it anyway?
Our lives need remodeling. That’s why it’s by grace we are saved through faith. God came to be part of our world. He gave the gift of His only Son, who when He died on the cross, took all the problems, all the brokenness, upon Himself. But He didn’t stop there. He came back alive, and He comes back to you and me to change and fix what you and I can’t change and fix. It took someone from the outside. That’s why Jesus came from heaven–God Himself–because you and I, although we try to fix our broken lives, were broken. How can something that’s broken fix something that’s broken? That’s why it’s a gift; grace through faith. So often people think of faith as something we think, say, or do. Really, faith is that, but even more. It’s more like a relationship.
Many times I’m traveling on the road in my position (head of Blind Missions) and I’m away from my wife two, three, sometimes five days. Though I can’t hug her, or kiss her, or speak to her in the same room, it doesn’t mean that I’m not married to her. I’m still married to her and when I have an opportunity, I will embrace her and give her a big hug and a kiss. With my kids, too, they come running from 20 feet away to give me a huge welcome home hug. That’s faith. It is faith that clings to the other. And so we hold tight to God who gave us this gift we call salvation. A walking, knowing, living connection with our living God who is in the process of fixing us up so we can do good works in helping others know Him, as well.
So faith is a relationship clinging to one another. We cling to God. The spirit has come within us and wraps its arms around our loving brother Jesus, depending upon Him to work in us, to re-create, to fix us up, to do good things so that others might be touched by Him, and know His love as well. But God wasn’t broken. He took our brokenness so He can fix us. Boy, thanks be to God that He is the eternal fixer-upper. Our text says He’s rich in mercy and continues to pour out His grace on our lives. It’s only through His grace, or you might say His love, that it can happen.
The writer here, Paul, when he wrote this, was totally amazed, even used that word and similar words to the unifying, uplifting gift of grace itself that He offers us. Paul even puts this in a picture, you might say–the “before construction” and “after construction.” Paul wrote in Ephesians: “As for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sin in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world. And the ruler of the kingdom of the air, this spirit who is at work and those who are disobedient, all of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature. And following its desires and thoughts, like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:1-5).
The “before” picture is really quite grim. Those who think they are alive, but if they don’t have Christ, they’re declared dead. We all can probably think of such people who live that way. It might be somebody who cut you off in traffic yesterday. Maybe it was somebody at work who stabbed you in the back. Maybe it was someone at home who not only hurt your feelings, but betrayed your very trust. These actions tend to emphasize the fact that we all are part of this sinful world. Because none of us, you or I, are any different than any of them at any given time.
This “after” picture speaks of things being good. God said, “Let there be light. And there was evening and morning, the first day of our new life.”
Homes, houses, apartments, like our lives, are always in need of care and attention– fixing up. Even new ones after a short time need some care and attention. That’s the same with our lives. By God’s work, we are under construction. Through His Word, through His Sacraments, through the mutual care and help of brothers and sisters who are also in a relationship with God, we are being built up, repaired, and under construction. Sin tries to tear us down, but God is always building us up. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for March 30, 2003
ANNOUNCER: Once again, we’re with Pastor David Andrus. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor Andrus, thank you once again for being with us today.
ANDRUS: You’re welcome. It’s a pleasure.
ANNOUNCER: You first spoke on our program back in December 2001, I believe. What has happened in your Ministry to the Blind since then?
ANDRUS: God has really opened up the doors. Actually, because of that program, we had several phone calls. Now we have two new outreach centers directly connected to people hearing.
ANNOUNCER: We also collaborated with you during this past year on some radio spots. Could you tell us what those were about and how they were used?
ANDRUS: Yes. We made special spots to go on the closed circuit radio stations around the country that blind people hear. We were looking for leaders to help start new outreach centers. And we’ve probably had a half a dozen responses from that.
ANNOUNCER: What does this center do or accomplish?
ANDRUS: The center tries to do two specific things: It uses a blind person to reach out to the blind community. Who better knows the problems and difficulties than somebody who’s going through it? They invite people to come and when they come, usually for a meal once a month, we also try to meet other needs they may have. In this way, people are shown just basic human care and compassion. That gives us the opportunity to say we do this because we have a God who loves us. Secondly, when we work with these people, we make sure that everything we promise, we do. So people then experience the fact that these are trustworthy people, and, therefore can trust God they’re speaking about.
ANNOUNCER: You said it’s important for them to know you will keep your promises. Why is that so important?
ANDRUS: We have found about 95% of blind people are unchurched. They aren’t in churches because they’ve had so many promises broken. It might be minor from, “Sure I’ll pick you up” and then the person doesn’t show up to, “I’ll make sure you get that material,” and it doesn’t happen.
ANNOUNCER: What relation does the center have to a local congregation?
ANDRUS: A center is based in a congregation for two reasons: One, we want to make sure it’s a faith based organization. Secondly, it helps provide willing volunteer hands to assist. There are many needs that arise–from driving, to helping with a meal. Then thirdly, our goal in Blind Missions and with these outreach centers is to transplant people. First and primary is to transplant them into heaven so we’ll see them there. But if they move along far enough in their faith walk and move into society, we hope and pray we can transplant them also into a congregation.
ANNOUNCER: You mention there are 16 centers currently operating?
ANDRUS: Yes.
ANNOUNCER: And I imagine there is quite a bit of difference between them, because of the local situation or the type of people that come.
ANDRUS: Yes, very much. The center tends to draw the type of people like the leaders. You tend to go to the same places other people like yourself go. And so it is with blind and visually impaired people. Though they don’t get out much, but when they do, they occasionally tend to bump into other people just like themselves.
ANNOUNCER: People who are not connected to the center, are they also disconnected from other blind people?
ANDRUS: That’s an interesting thing. Most blind people are isolated and separated, but they do know about other people. There seems to be a network and once you start tapping the network and working through it, you start to make many connections with people.
ANNOUNCER: If somebody is listening today and would like to know more about this and would like to get in contact with you, how could they do that?
ANDRUS: Anybody can certainly call. Our number is 800-433-3954 and my extension is 1323.
ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Pastor Dave Andrus, Director of Blind Missions for The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Pastor Andrus, thanks again for being with us.
ANDRUS: Thank you.
ANNOUNCER: The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, “Save Me.”