Strong Foundation

Opening illustration: A young African refugee who goes by the name of Steven is a man without a country. He thinks he may have been born in Mozambique or Zimbabwe. But he never knew his father and lost his mother. She fled civil war, traveling country to country as a street vendor. Without ID and unable to prove his place of birth, Steven walked into a British police station, asking to be arrested. Jail seemed better to Steven than trying to exist on the streets without the rights and benefits of citizenship.

The plight of living without a country was on Paul’s mind as he wrote his letter to the Ephesians. His non-Jewish readers knew what it was like to live as aliens and outsiders (2:12). Only since finding life and hope in Christ (1:13) had they discovered what it meant to belong to the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). In Jesus, they learned what it means to be known and cared for by the Father He came to reveal (Matthew 6:31–33).

Paul realized, however, that as the past fades from view, a short memory can cause us to forget that, while hope is the new norm, despair was the old reality. May our God help us to live in security—to know each day the belonging that we have as members of His family is by faith in Jesus Christ and to understand the rights and benefits of having our home in Him. (Mart DeHaan, ODB 03/10)

Introduction: It’s easy to feel lost. Apostle Paul knew some of his readers felt that way. In his letter to the Ephesians, he wrote to them about being part of God’s family. They were no longer “foreigners” and “excluded” (2:12) but were “fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (v. 19). How does knowing you are part of God’s family help when you feel lost and alone?

In this text, we see that we who once were far off as Gentiles, without hope, and God-forsaken in this world have now been brought near by the blood of Christ. We were far off. But now, we have been brought near.

How is your foundation built?

1. What You Were? (v. 19)

Let me illustrate it like this. We have had an influx of asylum seekers in our country over the last many years or so. When they enter our country, they are strangers and they know it. They do not speak the language they do not know the culture they are looked at as foreigners they are treated as foreigners. They do not have the same rights as those of us who are born here, those of us who are residents here.

If you have been on holiday in a foreign country, you will know what it feels like to be a foreigner in someone else's country especially if you do not speak the language. You know that as a holidaymaker you are treated differently from those who are permanently resident there. Well let's imagine that an asylum seeker is granted permission to stay in our country and is allowed to work. He then becomes an alien living in our country but still without the full privileges that an American would have. Then one day he decides that he wants to be a permanent Citizen of the USA. So, he applies and goes through the procedure and eventually becomes an American citizen. Now that person has the same rights as every other American citizen and can now rightfully call himself American if he so desires.

Well this is what has happened to these Gentile believers at Ephesus only they have not become citizens of some country but they are now fellow Citizens with God's people but they are more than that for they are members of God's household. These Gentiles now have the same privileges and the same rights as every believing Jew has, they now belong to God's household they are now in God's family the believing Jews are now their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Indeed, he goes on to say that the Gentiles were looked down upon by the Jews -- they were "called 'Uncircumcision' by the so-called 'Circumcision.'" There was a division: those who were God's people by birth, versus those who were not God's people. He then describes the Gentiles in five ways:

• Separate from Christ.

• Excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.

• Strangers to the covenant of promise.

• Having no hope.

• Without God in the world.

Now of course what is true of these Gentiles is also true of us as well. We once were foreigners and aliens to God and to God's people. Perhaps before we were saved we went long to a gospel church for a while. But we just didn't seem to fit in. We were made very welcome but there was a difference between us and those who were members there. Although we were part of the church in the sense that we went along and even gave some money to it we knew we were not part of it. We were not invited to take the Lord's Supper, … and we were unable to enter into the spiritual conversations that were going on. But then God in Christ brought us near to himself through the cross, we repented and believed and suddenly everything had changed. We now belonged to God's household we knew we were in God's family and soon we entered into the full rights of membership within God's local church. We were without any foundation.