Jesus Wants To Build A New Life For You! Series

Jesus Wants to Build a New Life for You!

Ephesians 2:11-22

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The Book of Ephesians

(Prepared April 4, 2024)

BACKGROUND:

*Today we will finish chapter 2 in Paul's letter to the Christians in Ephesus. J. Vernon McGee gave this background: "Around the year 60 A.D. four men left Rome bound for the province of Asia, which was located in modern-day Turkey. Each man carried a Holy Spirit inspired letter written by Paul. Officers in the Roman Army had no idea of the heaven-sent power and importance of these letters from this little known prisoner. But if the empire had known, those four men would have been arrested and the documents destroyed.

*When the four Christians said goodbye to the Apostle Paul, each was given a letter to carry to his particular church. These four letters are forever part of God's Word. And they are called the 'Prison Epistles of Paul,' since he wrote them while he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul was there waiting for a hearing before Caesar Nero who was the ruler of the Roman Empire. As a Roman citizen, Paul had appealed his case to the emperor, and he was waiting to be heard.

*The four men and their home cities can be identified: Philippians 4:18 tells us that Epaphroditus was from Philippi, and he had the Epistle to the Philippians. Colossians 4:12 tells us that Epaphras was from Colosse, and he had the Epistle to the Colossians. In Philemon 1:10 we see Onesimus. He was a runaway slave from Colosse, and carried a letter to his master Philemon. The last of the four men was Tychicus. We will see him in Ephesians 6:21, and he carried the letter we are exploring." (1)

*Author John Phillips reported that "Ephesus was a large and important city in Paul’s day, with a population of about 350,000 people. It was on the western coast of modern day Turkey, midway between two continents. There east met west. Crowds of government officials, Roman soldiers, and Jewish businessmen rubbed shoulders with Eastern pilgrims flocking into Ephesus to worship at the pagan temple of Diana. That temple is famous as one of the wonders of the ancient world, but it was also a shrine to a false goddess who was "worshiped" through sinful sexual ways.

*Ephesus was Paul’s headquarters during his third missionary journey. He stayed in the city for nearly three years and established a large, influential church. His fellow workers and the new Christians fanned out from Ephesus to the surrounding territory. There they planted new churches in city after city." Later, the church in Ephesus was blessed to be led by the Apostle John. With this background in mind, let's begin by reading Ephesians 2:11-22. (2)

MESSAGE:

*Most people here in the United States tend to think of churches as buildings. And I am thankful for our church buildings, but it's important to know that if a tornado came through tomorrow, and knocked all of these buildings down, God's Church would still be here, because Jesus is building His Church with people. He is building it with everyone who has put their trust in Him.

*And here is something that may seem strange at first, but Jesus is making all Christians into a living, spiritual temple for the Lord. He has been working on this temple for over 2,000 years, and the Lord is still working on it today. That's why 1 Peter 2:5 tells Christians we "as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house."

*But this great project requires a transformation in people. It takes a whole new life. And in today's Scripture, Paul was writing about how Jesus had transformed the Christians in Ephesus. Jesus was building a new life for them all. And now Jesus wants to build a new life for you! How does He do it?

1. FIRST: JESUS SAVES US FROM OUR SINS.

*All of us desperately needed the Lord's salvation, because our sinfulness made us spiritually dead forever, and hopelessly separated from God. In vs. 12-14, Paul was talking our hopeless condition without Christ, so please listen to this paraphrase from the New Living Translation:

12. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

13. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.

14. For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.

*Jesus Christ is bringing all Christians together as living stones in His spiritual temple. But it took a maximum effort. Don Schultz asked Christians, "Are you surprised that God has chosen you to be a living stone in his spiritual temple? You should be. According to the Bible, you aren't the best of building materials. First of all, you, and other people don't fit well together. People clash with each other.