Oikos tou Theo: The Household of God
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22
Introduction
I’ve been sad and disappointed lately...and it has to do with a few families that decided to leave the church and other individuals who are pondering it themselves. And even though some have told me that those people were planning on leaving for a long time, I still took it personally and it got me thinking about something I didn’t notice and care about in the past. And it has to do with this epidemic among American Christians of floating, leaving and switching churches.
• Call it church shopping, hopping or swapping, it seems like thousands or even millions of Christians in America approach the church like they do with buying a home or a car – they look for a place that has great preaching, great people, great children’s ministries, or great looking singles to meet with and hopefully marry. And like the shoppers or consumers that we are, we judge one church or another as being really with it or out of touch or a good place for me – or not.
• Sadly, millions of supposed Christians don’t even go to church at all. If the U.S. Census is correct, it says that over 90% of Americans say they believe in God – that’s about 250 million people. But of those 250 million, how many belong to a local church?
o The Barna Research Group estimates that about 100 million Americans are un-churched (from 2007).
o Americans also approach church in a variety of new and non-traditional ways...a growing number of Christians who attend church do so over the internet or belong to a house church or go to two or three different churches.
And so self-confessing Christians, it seems, tend to float around to different churches or belong to multiple churches or don’t even go at all. And never does it seem that we approach our call to a church as arising from God or as a response to his leading. Instead, we presume that the decision to join or to remain with or to leave a church begins and ends with us and perhaps we might say we prayed to the Lord about leaving, but in reality, it’s still us who decide where and for how long and under what conditions we will be with church A or church B or church C.
And into this reality of church shopping here in America, we see the Word of God speak to us as Paul relates a vision of the church that is perhaps far deeper, grander and more wonderful than we ever imagined. And this morning we want to recover what the Bible says about who we are as the Church, the people of God.
Teaching
Ephesians 2:11-12 – Remembering Who We Were
REMEMBER...
Before Paul describes who they are in Christ, he wants them to remember who they were. Before they can delve into the tremendous privilege of being the people of God, Paul points them back to what they were prior to Jesus Christ...
• Speaking to the Gentiles
Literally translated, ‘the masses’ – the word for Gentile among Jews meant the heathen, the hoards, the peoples excluded from God’s promise. The word wasn’t a kind word or flattering in the least bit. It was meant to convey those heathen who are outsiders...
o The Uncircumcision
Not merely a medical procedure for men, but it represented a rejected caste of people who were outsiders of God’s promise. To be a Jew was to be truly blessed of the Lord (common thinking), but to be a Gentile was to be cursed.
• Separated from Christ
The sobering truth about unbelief is that not only does one not believe in Jesus Christ, one is separated from him as well. A lot of people think that belief is something personal without understanding the consequences. If someone doesn’t believe in God – it’s his or her own choice. What they fail to recognize is that unbelief results in exclusion, separation and being cast out of God’s presence.
• Alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel
As Gentiles, they were a people without a promise. They were not set apart and chosen specifically by God as his very own. From the perspective of Jews, the Gentiles were truly the dogs, the wretched outsiders and to be pitied and disregarded entirely.
• Strangers to the Covenants of Promise
As the Jews were a people of promise given to them by Yahweh, the Gentiles had no such inheritance. They were not chosen by God and therefore had no part in his inheritance and blessing. Too bad for them!
• Without Hope and Without God
Just a hopeless, pitiful and pathetic condition. Not only were the Gentiles separate from Christ, but their destiny was one of total exclusion. They weren’t merely sinners, they were also spiritual orphans with no way of entrance into the warmth of fellowship that those in Christ had.
o Back when my parents lived in southeast Asia, the disparity between the have’s and the have-not’s was twice as stark as it is here. Over there, there was virtually no middle class – and so the majority of the people lived in poor conditions while those who had wealth lived in gated communities with their own drivers, maids and nannies. The differences between the rich and the poor was extreme.
In a similar way, Gentiles were not merely outsiders, but they were doubly excluded from the privilege of being part of God’s family. Their predicament was much worse than they imagined or realized.
THIS WAS OUR REALITY PRIOR TO BEING SAVED BY JESUS CHRIST. FOR WE WERE CUT OFF FROM THE PROMISES OF GOD, WE HAD NO STAKE IN THE INHERITANCE OF GOD’S PEOPLE, WE WERE DESTITUTE AND WITHOUT HOPE, SEPARATED FROM CHRIST AND DOOMED FOR AN ETERNITY APART FROM HIM.
Ephesians 2:13-18 – What Christ Has Done For Us
• BUT NOW...
This word ‘but’ is one of the most significant found in Ephesians as well as the entire bible, for it reveals a radical, groundbreaking change in the destiny of the Gentiles...
• In Christ Jesus we who were far off have been brought near
Look at verse 13...it is an amazing work of God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ to take those of us who were far away from God, cut off and without hope...to bring us near and into the very center of God’s family.
• He himself is our PEACE (Verse 14 and following)
The word for ‘peace’ is the word erene from which we get the word serene, serenity, tranquility, and calm. Jesus Christ is our peace. I find it fascinating that Paul describes as part of Jesus’ identity what he did to make peace possible...
JESUS CHRIST BECAME OUR PEACE BUT NOT IN A PEACEFUL WAY. JESUS LITERALLY WENT THROUGH HELL IN ORDER TO MAKE PEACE POSSIBLE FOR US. For the means of making peace with us and God meant that Jesus took on the full measure of God’s wrath and punishment which we deserved – and he bore our sins himself and became for us the sacrificial Lamb of God who through his death made it possible for there to be peace between us and the Father.
NOW I THINK MOST OF WHAT I’VE SAID SO FAR SOUNDS FAMILIAR, DOESN’T IT? WE’VE HEARD IT BEFORE. I SPOKE ABOUT IT EVEN AS RECENTLY AS OUR STUDY OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (WHICH WE’LL BE RESUMING THIS FALL). WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT IS THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION. JESUS TOOK UPON HIMSELF THE VERDICT OF DEATH THAT RIGHTLY BELONGED TO US SO THAT THROUGH HIS DEATH WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OR BE MADE RIGHT ONCE AGAIN WITH GOD.
BUT THE RADICAL NEW THING WE MAY NOT HAVE SEEN BEFORE IS THAT NOT ONLY DID JESUS MAKE PEACE BETWEEN US AND THE FATHER POSSIBLE, BUT NOW HE WAS CREATING AN ENTIRELY NEW THING – THE CHURCH. A NEW MAN WHERE ONCE THERE WAS TWO. A BRINGING TOGETHER OF THOSE WHO ONCE WERE ALIENATED FROM EACH OTHER TO NOW BECOMING ONE NEW BODY OR COMMUNITY RECONCILED TO EACH OTHER.
• He broke down the Dividing Wall of Hostility
What is this dividing wall of hostility? It is the enmity and bitterness between the Jews and the non-Jews. It is an enmity that may be as old as the jealousy between Sarah and Hagar and the resulting enmity between Isaac and Ishmael...and it continues to this day as war, hostility and enmity is part of the landscape in the Middle East.
But let’s not contain it there...enmity, hostility and rivalry is alive and well today in places all over the world...between Kurds and Iraqui’s, between black and white, between Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics, between the French and the Germans, between the Japanese and the rest of Asia...between USC and UCLA, between south side vs. east side...between...you fill in the blank.
And even in the church there exists walls of hostility and separation between different ethnic groups. They say that Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America as our churches reflect – for the most part – a preference to remain within our clans and tribes and to sing and preach of the love of God, but to not demonstrate it in practical ways.
o EXAMPLE OF THE WORLD CUP...
• In order to make one new man in place of the two – creating PEACE
Getting back to the text...look at verse 15 again...”that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”
Paul says that the work of Christ to reconcile us back to God didn’t end there. FOR THE WORK OF CHRIST IS ALSO TO DESTROY THE DIVIDING WALL OF HOSTILITY BETWEEN EACH OF US IN ORDER TO MAKE ONE NEW MAN (not singular, but plural, corporate) OR BODY IN PLACE OF THE TWO.
HERE WE’RE BEGINNING TO SEE THE SEED OR ORIGIN OR RATIONALE OF GOD BEHIND THE FORMATION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, THE CHURCH.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST IS GOD’S PRONOUNCEMENT TO A WORLD FULL OF WAR, HATRED AND ENMITY THAT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! CHRIST IS OUR PEACE AND HAS MADE PEACE BETWEEN US AND THE FATHER POSSIBLE, AND HIS WILL IS TO MAKE PEACE BETWEEN US AND OUR ENEMIES.
Ephesians 2:19-22 – Who We Are Now – the Church
So far, we’ve remembered who we once were as people separated from God and cut off from his people. Then Paul points us to the work of Christ who is our peace and who has reconciled us both to God and to each other. Not here in verses 19 and following we see our new identity or status in Christ.
• SO THEN you are no longer strangers and aliens
First off, we are no longer strangers and aliens. Our status as Gentiles has been changed. Our ethnicity remains – we are not transformed into Jewish Christians ethnically. But our status has changes as Gentiles. We are no longer the hoards, the heathen, the outsiders or the refugees...
• You are now Fellow Citizens with the saints
In fact, we are now fellow citizens with the saints – the Jewish Christians. We are part of the commonwealth of faith. We who once were foreign dogs and outsiders are now made citizens with all of the privileges that comes with citizenship.
• You are now Members of the Household of God
In Christ, we are part of the family. THE ROOT WORD FOR ‘HOUSEHOLD’ IS THE WORD ‘OIKOS’! Citizenship may reflect our legal status before God as his people forgiven by his grace. But members of the household of God signifies something even deeper – we are part of the family.
• Built on the apostles and prophets
The Ephesian Christians needed to see that their status as Gentile outsiders was radically changed to that of fellow citizens and members of God’s household. And Paul links them up as well with the entire history of God’s people all the way back from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, down through Moses and Joshua and Isaiah and Jeremiah and the apostles Peter and James and John...The Ephesians were truly certified as 100% authentic members of the new body of Christ, the Church.
Our identity as the people of God, the Church, is not merely isolated to those of our generation. We exist today as Oikos – but before us came a whole slew of churches and movements and works of God. The Church as she stands today is built on the shoulders of our spiritual fathers, mothers and ancestors who fought the good fight and ran the race before any of us were born.
• Christ Jesus being the cornerstone
And to cap it all off – literally – is Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone of our faith. He is the linchpin around whom all of who we are as a church depends. Without him and what he has done, we wouldn’t be around today. We would still be separated from Christ and cut off from God and his people and his promises.
But praise be to God for in Christ Jesus we are the Church and he is our cornerstone!
• Being joined together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord
But wait, there’s more. Paul continues to say that us Gentiles who have been brought near by the blood of Christ are presently being built into a holy temple in the Lord.
o The Jews believed that the temple in Jerusalem was where the presence of God resided – inside the ark of the covenant within the holy of holies. God resided in the inner sanctum of the temple in the city of David.
BUT PAUL STATES THAT SINCE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM AND THE RENDING OF THE VEIL OR CURTAIN WITHIN THE TEMPLE, THE PRESENCE OF GOD NO LONGER RESIDED IN THAT PLACE.
BUT INSTEAD THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY WOULD RESIDE OR TABERNACLE WITHIN AND AMONG HIS PEOPLE – THE CHURCH.
• Verse 22 finishes off this radical idea that each of us belongs to this new thing called the church in which the dwells the very presence of God by his Holy Spirit. IT’S AS IF THE ARK OF GOD RESIDES IN THE MIDST OF US AS WE COME TOGETHER AS A PEOPLE CALLED THE CHURCH.
Summary of Ephesians 2...
And so Paul calls the Ephesian Christians to remember who they once were – that they were Gentile outsiders, uncircumcised heathen who were separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and without hope and dead in their sin.
But then Christ Jesus came and brought them who were far away from God close to his heart. And he made peace with God possible through his death and resurrection. But this peace was also horizontal as the dividing wall of hostility between the Jews and Gentiles was being demolished in order for a new creation to emerge – the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ.
And now the Ephesians can rejoice in their newfound identity as insiders who are fellow citizens with the Jewish saints and members of the household of God. They were part of God’s family, and being built into God’s building, a holy temple in the Lord.
THIS IS THE AMAZING RECONCILING WORK OF JESUS CHRIST TO FORM A NEW COMMUNITY CALLED THE CHURCH – A PEOPLE WHO THROUGH CHRIST KNOW PEACE WITH BOTH GOD AND ONE ANOTHER.
NO OTHER ENTITY OR COMMUNITY ON EARTH WOULD RESEMBLE WHAT GOD IN CHRIST HAS MADE POSSIBLE IN HIS CHURCH. WE TRANSCEND WHAT HUMANITY CANNOT DO – EXPERIENCE AND KNOW PEACE WITH GOD AND PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER! PRAISE BE TO GOD!
Implications for Oikos...
YOU ARE THE CHURCH
• Getting back to our discussion early on about the ho-hum attitude of church, this is what the Bible says that we are. We are a people who have been reconciled both to God and to one another through the cross of Jesus Christ. Regardless of who we think we are, this is what the Bible says we are.
GOD’S WILL IS FOR YOU TO BE PART OF THE CHURCH
• Each of you matter to God. YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH ALONE! WHEN CHRIST RECONCILED YOU TO GOD THROUGH THE CROSS, HE BROUGHT YOU INTO A COMMUNITY OF OTHERS WHO WERE RECONCILED TO GOD.
• Imagine if each of us thought that God is definite, but church is optional. Our personal relationship with God is all that matters, but dealing with his people is too tiresome, tedious and messy. Let me have Jesus, but I’ll skip on his people.
• BUT GOD NEVER INTENDED IT THIS WAY. THE CROSS OF CHRIST MADE PEACE WITH BOTH GOD AND ONE ANOTHER. WHEN WE CAME TO SAVING FAITH IN CHRIST, WE INHERITED EACH OTHER. NO LONGER WERE WE OUTSIDERS FAR AWAY FROM GOD AND HIS PEOPLE, BUT NOW IN CHRIST WE ARE PART OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.
o HERE AT OIKOS, IF ONE INDIVIDUAL LEAVES OR A FAMILY LEAVES – THAT’S LIKE 5% OF THE ENTIRE CHURCH! If you or I decide to leave the church for other pastures and we remain aloof and unattached to the local church, then we miss out on a huge part of God’s will for our lives – to be connected with God and to be connected to one another.
CHURCH WAS NEVER OPTIONAL! WE COULD NOT TAKE CHRIST, BUT SKIP OUT ON THE CHURCH. THE TWO WENT HAND IN HAND!
WE MUST REPENT OF OUR INDEPENDENCE
• Next Sunday, we celebrate Independence Day in the United States, but perhaps we should repent of our independent spirit and reinvestigate what it means to be the Body of Christ, the Church, the people of God who are called to both God and to each other.
• We need to repent and change our stubborn independent spirit and repent for the state of millions of Christians in America who figure that church is optional.
• We need to pray that the Lord would bring back the scattered and restore unto us a healthy, biblically based understanding of the Church and being the Church.
Conclusion
TO THE OUTSIDER, THEY SHOULD LOOK AT US AND BOTH BE BEWILDERMENT AND MARVEL IN AMAZEMENT...HOW STRANGE THAT THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN GOD, BUT THEY ALSO FEAR HIM AND WANT TO PLEASE HIM...
HOW ODD THAT THEY MIX WITH EACH OTHER – AND THEY DON’T LOOK ALIKE OR BEHAVE LIKE ONE ANOTHER...(OUR WORLD BASES FRIENDSHIP ON COMMONALITY – SIMILAR STAGE IN LIFE, SIMILAR INTERESTS, HOBBIES, ETC.) BUT IN THE CHURCH GOD CALLS TOGETHER A BAND OF DIFFERENT ODDS AND ENDS AND PIECES HERE AND SCRAPS THERE – AND HE BUNDLES US ALL TOGETHER AND THROUGH THE WORK OF CHRIST AND THE INDWELLING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, HE SOMEHOW MANAGES TO GET US TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER AND FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER AND KISS AND MAKE UP AFTER WE’VE HURT ONE ANOTHER...AND HE’S TEACHING US HOW TO BE A NEW, HEALTHY, REDEEMED HUMANITY...
AND TO THE WORLD, THIS WILL LOOK ODD, STRANGE, AND WONDERFULLY OUT OF THIS WORLD...
