24.1.10
THE BLESSING THAT COMES FROM BELONGING TO CHRIST
EPHESIANS 2:11-22
OPENING PRAYER
Lord we are assembled here as your holy temple, the family of God, a gathered congregation as an army of the Lord --
And as soldiers of Christ we want to be equipped by you today to win victories in battle for your glory and take ground for your kingdom
As the body of Christ we want to excel in the harmony of unity in diversity -- ministering powerfully in the gifts of the Spirit and serving with you as we build one another up with encouragement and faith.
Lord -- come to your temple today, and let your shekinah glory fall -- Dwell amongst us in grace and power and be glorified in the worship we offer you today.
Our prayer is for the hearing ear. Lord, we remember your challenging word, 'he who has ears to hear, let him hear' And Lord we long to hear from you today and in the coming week.
Break down every barrier that stands defiantly before us seeking to hold us back from spiritual breakthrough as a church or in our personal lives.
In faith today we defy in Jesus name and We demolish every argument and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Lord Revive us
LORDS' PRAYER
INTRO
I wonder what it was like for the early church believers in Ephesus when they met together. Were they very different from us?
Can you imagine the folks getting together and one of the Elders saying to them -- 'Hey, another letter from Paul has arrived -- and I'm going to read it to you this morning'
What would have been their response?
Enthusiasm? Apprehension? Indifference? Concern in case they couldn't understand it? Fear that they might be challenged by it? Or eagerness because here was another opportunity to hear a message from God?
POINT
No doubt they were just like us in many ways. Some would have come to the assembly worrying about their health or that of their loved ones. Others would feel the burdens we all feel concerning the pain and struggles of those we love -- in particular those of family members.
But what we would have in common with them would be that they wanted more than anything else to hear from God.
POINT
Have you ever read somebody else's mail? Come on, admit it. Surely there was a time you can remember when you saw an opened letter somewhere and you invented some reason why it would be the responsible thing to do to read it! Or perhaps I'm preaching to a congregation of truly wonderful saints this morning who would never have dreamed of reading someone else's mail.
And yet when it comes to reading the New Testament letters the strange thing is that, though it is very apparent that this is someone else's mail, the true Author the letter(God the Holy Spirit) knew full well that others would be reading it also, and so he was inspired to write it in such a way as to make it relevant for us also.
What might God be saying to you and I today?
READING Ephesians 2:11-22
What single words describe what this is all about? We could summarize the message with the word: UNITY or BELONGING or THANKSGIVING because here is a call to remember with praise and thanksgiving what God has done for us in uniting all believers together in Christ, causing each one of us to belong to God. But the word I would choose from all of these is the word BELONGING.
ILLUSTR/ANECDOTE
I went to a local garage in order to take my car in for some essential work this week and I was speaking to the garage owner who I've known for a few years now. We exchanged greetings and he asked me how things were going. As I was sharing with him how well things are going spiritually at present it struck me just how much this guy was missing out, not having discovered Jesus and what it means to be saved and be at the centre of what God is doing today and what really matters -- so I told him! I told him just how much he was missing out, and that he really should get himself down to our local Church and begin to enjoy what life is really about. And in addition to this make sure he's right with God for eternity.
He responded with good humor and said something about going to church as keeping your foot in the door just in case. But he knew that I was, as they say in the West of Scotland, 'Half joking, whole earnest' in what I had to say, and I wonder what it would take for him to respond.
POINT
It's only those of us who have discovered the meaning of what the Bible describes as having 'passed from death to life' and who have been saved and are part of the Lord's Church who can really appreciate something of the 'life in all its fullness' that Jesus came to give to us.
Yes, life for us has all its struggles, stresses, difficulties and challenges, but as Christians we have a strong sense of hope, assurance, meaning and purpose in life.
And here Paul draws the attention of the Christians in Ephesus to this.
He says 'REMEMBER'
1. REMEMBER THEIR CONDITION BEFORE THEY WERE SAVED
POINT
It's a not nice to feel that we don't belong -- to feel alienated -- to feel that others are all together on the inside, but we don't share with them what they all enjoy together.
But when it comes to the Church this need not be the case for anyone -- and it need not be the case for you.
Paul encourages the Christians to cast their minds back to the time when THEY were outsiders -- those who did NOT belong; who had no meaningful relationship with God as their Father.
They felt the way they did because they WERE outsiders:
Paul uses expressions such as:
SEPARATED FROM CHRIST
It's a terrible state to be in if we are separated from Christ. And this is our default position. We must receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour in order to be joined to Christ.
Paul argues that to be separated from Christ means to be:
EXCLUDED from citizenship in Israel
I don't think we will ever truly understand the depth of the division that existed between Jews and Gentiles in the time of Christ.
And the fact that the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles as Peter preached the Gospel to the Jews who had believed in Jesus as the Messiah was utterly remarkable. It was a world shattering truth to them that the Gentile believers had been received as equals alongside Jewish believers.
This is the spiritual Israel that is being described here.
ILLUSTR Citizenship has always been highly prized and costly to attain
[As Greg and Jenny found out when the learned what is involved in the process of coming from South Africa and applying to become British citizens and they will tell you some surprising truths]
But once a person has become a citizen they are protected by the same laws, and have access to the same privileges as every other citizen. [It's why the Romans who flogged Paul became very afraid when they learned that Paul was a Roman citizen, because they themselves had broken he law]
To be separated from Christ means to be:
FOREIGNERS to the covenants of promise
What was the essential difference between Jews and Gentiles?
The Jews were the subjects of God's covenants of promise.
And circumcision was the sign.
But the Gentiles were excluded from God's covenants of promise and they had no such sign.
Their way of life was characterized religiously by enormous ignorance -- that there was a God somewhere who was unknowable.
And in character their lives were characterized by hideous sexual degeneracy.
Christian author John Driver wrote:
"To be fully a person in ancient Israel, one needed to participate in a family whose story included a past of covenanted grace, a present of covenant faithfulness and a future of covenant promise. In this grace story, each succeeding generation participates"
To be separated from Christ meant to have none of this.
To be separated from Christ means to be:
WITHOUT HOPE and WITHOUT GOD in the world.
Apparently archaeologists , having excavated many 1st century cemeteries all over Greece and Rome have consistently found tomb stones with a Greek or Latin inscription which reads "No hope"
ILLUSTR -- And it's getting more like this in our society today -- in particular with the rise of Humanist funeral services.
Though humanists may seek to offer comfort to grieving families the one thing they cannot offer is hope.
Hope is something only believers have.
Paul says 'remember'. Remember that you were without all this before your received Christ
APPLIC
[Gospel challenge to those who have not yet come to Christ and are as yet separated from Christ, without hope and without God in the world]
Paul then helps them to REFLECT
2. ON WHAT GOD HAS DONE
Ephes. 2:14-15
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
POINT
Barriers, hostility and division are the opposite of
Reconciliation, love and unity.
This too is about relationships -- our relationship with God and our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world [Including Messianic Jews]
We are all one in Christ.
In 1871, a temple wall was discovered with the inscription "Let no foreigner enter within the partition and enclosure surrounding the temple. Whoever is arrested will himself be responsible for his death which will follow" (Hoehner). This confirms Josephus' descriptions of the wall (Ant. xv 417)
This wall is an apt symbol of the barrier that existed between the Jews and Gentiles of the time. The Jewish Law and covenants were the barrier that stood between Jew and Gentile.
But this barrier was done away with through the death of Christ.
God established a NEW COVENANT through his shed blood -- one he enters into with every believer in Christ, whether Jew or Gentile.
APPLIC
On the subject of relationships, as we shall see later on in the letter to Ephesians, the Bible is hot on the subject of unity among Christians and good relationships being maintained among believers.
We are instructed to 'maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace'.
CHALLENGE
What barriers are there that exist between either you and God or you and other believers?
From your side these need not exist -- You can dismantle them by repentance towards God or showing forgiveness towards others.
And we can go on to be proactive in showing Christian love to one another.
We could compile a very long list of commands in the Bible about the way we are to relate to one another including:
Love one another, be at peace with one another, encourage one another, forgive one another and bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
RECAP: Remember how things were
Reflect on what God has done
Paul then encourages the to REJOICE
3. IN WHAT GOD HAS ACCOMPLISHED
READ vv19-22
POINT
We are built together as the dwelling place of God.
The Construction:
The foundation: "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets"
A
The cornerstone:
"Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone"
The first stone that is laid is the most important = all others take their reference from this one. It has to be placed correctly.
A holy temple
Indwelt by the Spirit of God
ILLUSTR (Peter - Living stones)
Background
The temple was built with stones which were prepared off-site so that no sound would be heard of their preparation on the temple ground.
APPLIC - (Place for preparation to worship as we come together = worship is God's calling on our lives.
ILLUSTR Great projects (life the Forth Road Bridge) had their parts constructed off-site according to design.
POINT They come together because each part is made and measured ACCORDING TO THE DESIGN.
APPLIC
What we bring when we worship fits in with what everyone else brings.
CONCL
PURPOSE
I Pet 2:9 'But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light'.
Belonging together we witness to a fallen world and declare God's praise.
