Blessings Of Following Christ #3 - We Get A New Family Series

Blessings of Following Christ

#3 – We Get a New Family

Ephesians 2:19-22

November 4, 2007

NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT USED IN MY MESSAGES IS BORROWED FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."

Introduction

We’ve been looking at different benefits or blessings of following Christ – living for Him, and not just giving Him lip-service.

One of the things that’s easy for preachers to do is to continually call for a commitment of some kind. And I’m going to be doing that today as well.

But I’d really like to spend most of the time talking about how awesome the family of God is and why it’s a blessing to be part of it.

We: I think all of us, whether it’s obvious to us or not, long to belong. We want to be part of something that is living and active, and that makes feel like we’re a vital part of that.

Families are the ideal place for all of that. That’s part of the way God designed families. Successful families are made up of people who are made to feel like they belong and that their contributions to the family, no matter how small, are appreciated and valuable.

When you put your faith in Christ, you become a member of the family of God. The heavenly Father becomes your Father. You’re adopted into His family as His child. And that’s no small thing, let me tell you.

John 1:12-13 –

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

You gain a heavenly Father, and you gain a heavenly brother as well.

Hebrews 2:11 –

Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

And not only do you gain a heavenly Father and a heavenly Brother, you also gain a great and wonderful family comprised of millions and millions of people who have joined that family as well, and who want only the best for you as you become part of it as well.

This church is part of that awesome family, and it’s my desire that this part of the family becomes all it can be to love and support the family of God in our area.

God: The passage that I want to deal with today goes a bit more into what being part of the family of God is all about.

Ephesians 2:19-22 –

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

[Thanks to Jim Drake for the following outline points (SermonCentral.com)]

This passage gives us three things that each member of the family of God shares with one another:

1. The family shares a common foundation (vv. 19-20).

It says here in verses 19-20 that God’s household is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and even that foundation is built on the cornerstone of Christ.

Without Christ, the whole thing crumbles. It exists because of Christ and survives because of Him.

You don’t get into without Him.

God’s family is built on Christ – He is the one who sets everything in the right direction.

Unfortunately, sometimes some of the “bricks” seem to think they need to go in a different direction, and the wall can look kinda funny.

And if it goes too far, that whole portion of the building can collapse – because they’re no longer building on the foundation but on their own shaky strength.

So we need to be careful that everything we do in life is based and built on the foundation of Christ and His Word.

Then we can count on the blessings of God in and through His family.

The second thing we have in common is that…

2. The family shares a common design (vv. 21).

Verse 21 tells us that in Christ the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple to the Lord.

This doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.

All of us are different – we have different gifts, talents, different temperaments, different financial situations, different jobs, different clothing styles…

But for some reason God saw fit to take all that and make it work for His grand design to make us a temple of God.