Becoming A Brick In The House Of God

You would think that God would feel this way around human beings. Each one of us is filled with sin – all kinds of selfishness, all kinds of pride. You would think that God couldn’t stand being around us. You would think that God would want to get rid of us. All that pride and selfishness would hit God in the face like a bad smell. Why would God want to use you as brick in his house?

We learn why in verse 13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” Once you were far away from God because of your sin. But now, you have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Something happened on the cross, when Jesus shed his blood. Something truly amazing. Even though you hadn’t even been born yet – your sins were taken away. All your sins of pride. All your sins of selfishness. Every sin you have ever committed, no matter how great or small – your sin was taken away through the blood of Jesus Christ.

How many of you have ever painted with oil-based paint? I’m sure some of you have. When you get oil-based paint on your hands, and try to wash it off with soap and water – what happens? It doesn’t come off. When I was a child helping my father paint, by the end of the day, I was completely covered with oil based paint. I remember feeling helpless when I tried to wash that paint off, but it wouldn’t come off. What am I going to do, I wondered.

But then my father introduced me to a wonderful substance known as mineral spirits. As many of you know, it’s a funny-smelling clear liquid, and when you rub that liquid on your hands, the paint comes right off. I remember how happy I was as a child, bathing myself in mineral spirits many years ago.

My friends, there is nothing you can do to get rid of the sins of pride and selfishness in your life. You can try to be a good person all you want, but your sins won’t go away. You can become a faithful Muslim, or a Buddhist priest, but your sins won’t go away. You can go to a cathedral and light a thousand candles and say a thousand prayers, but your sins won’t go away. You can take a trip to Rome and kiss the pope’s hand, but your sins won’t go away. There is no human activity you can do that will make you presentable in the eyes of God.

But there is the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, purifies us from all sin. And when you put your faith in the blood of Christ, and not in all those human sorts of things – suddenly, you look, and your sins have gone away! You are clean in the eyes of God. That’s why God doesn’t plan to throw you away. You have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. This is why God loves you.

And this is why he chooses you to be a brick in his house. Remember when we talked about how incompatible people are, how they don’t get along? What happens when all these incompatible people have their sins taken away? What happens when they put their faith in the blood of Jesus Christ? Look at the second half of verse 15: “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” This is what truly brings people together. Those Jews and Gentiles that were once enemies – now, many of them were believers in Christ and getting along as members of the house of God. You see, no matter how different two people are – when both of them believe that their sins have been taken away, there is a bond that develops, a bond that brings all kinds of people together to become bricks in the house of God.