Together in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Call to worship
Welcome everyone!
Announcements
Winter Jam (Feb 16th)
Planning Team meeting after service
VBS clinic (March 16th Bowling Green)
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord,
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord,
SERMON
Introduction
This morning we will pick up in the second half of Ephesians 2. If you remember two weeks ago we talked about what the ChristIan Testimony is. Those who place their faith in Christ have been raised from the dead (spiritually speaking) and given spiritual life. They are God’s new creation in Jesus Christ created for good works. That is what happens when an individual comes to Christ. And we heard testimonies of this last week.
In the second part of chapter 2, Paul describes what happens on a corporate level when we come to Christ. What I mean is that our relationship to one another changes drastically. We are born into the church and become part of the family of God. No longer do we walk through this world alone or with the world, but together as God’s chosen redeemed and as God’s holy temple.
A personal relation with Christ will always coincide with a deep, personal, relationship with God’s people. The two go hand in hand, there are no outsiders in Jesus, there are no social barriers in Jesus, there are no ethnic barriers in the church. God’s church is one, we are one bride, we are one people, and we are to function as one body.
Turn with me to Ephesians 2:11-22
1) Our relationship to God’s people before Christ
1) Our relationship to God’s people before Christ
Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Explanation
“Gentiles in the flesh who were called ‘Uncircumcised’”
Gentile just means someone who was not Jewish.
The Jews were God’s chosen people in the OT. They were given God’s promises, God’s Word, God’s blessings and God’s curses if they did not keep God’s covenant.
The Gentiles on the other hand were all those people outside the Jewish race. These were the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Syrians, and so on.
Gentiles were not Jews by blood, and that means they were formerly excluded from God’s wonderful promises to His people.
In fact much of the OT LAW warns God’s people to stay away from Gentiles, do not marry them, do not worship who they worship, do not live the way they do…they were to be set apart to God.
Unless you are from the Jewish bloodline, you are a Gentile just as I am a Gentile. The NLT says, we would have been referred to as “uncircumcised heathens”.
The Gentiles were the pagans, the godless people who worshiped everything except the one true God, who walked in darkness, who lived in ignorance, who were hard-hearted towards God and probably God’s people.
Bridge:
AND PAUL SAYS TO US: (v 12) “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ”
This is a call for us to remember our former lives in relation to God’s people. We walked in darkness, had no regard for God’s Word or His statutes, We had no real love for God, no real love for His people either.
And that makes us a little uncomfortable, but there are spiritual benefits in remembering!
Application:
IDK about you but I find it easy to forget that one time I was lost! I spent 27 years of my life outside of Christ!
I lived in rebellion against God and His people!
I cared nothing about God’s Word, I cared nothing about the church, I cared nothing about His people, cared nothing about the gospel, only hoped that one day He would let me into heaven when I died! I remember I used to tremble at the thought of death!
But by God’s gracious hand, He showed me grace. And that grace that used to be the highlight of my day and I remember in the most difficult times that grace carrying me through.
1) We can get so focused on our current problems, and our busy life, and what all is going wrong that we completely forget that former man or woman that God gave life to.
Just this week, before I ever started preparing this message, I was listening to Philip DeCourcy and he was talking about this very same thing from Eph 1:2 Paul introduces himself and then says to the Ephesians: “Grace to You”.
And it made me just stop and realize how easily I forget the great gift I received as an outsider who deserved nothing, but God gave it to me anyways.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of your selves, it is the gift of God!”
We need to remind ourselves of that daily! Christianity is hard! Ministry is harder! But remembering the great grace that God gave to us as a gift brings us back to child like love that we so desperately need.
Remembering cultivates gratefulness when so much of our lives can be difficult and uphill.
Remembering who were were and what God has done creates a worshipful heart in us. It cultivates a thankful heart no matter how difficult the circumstances we find ourselves in.
2) Forgetting our former life creates pride, and causes us to look down on other people who are where we once were. They are in the same situation we were in, and if we forget that, we can be just like the Jews and look down on them because of their sin, or lifestyle, or whatever it may be.
Notice the hostility mentioned in verse 11, “the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision”
He is speaking about the way the Jews looked down upon the Gentiles
And if we are forgetful of who were formerly were, we can be just as prideful!
Remembering makes me a little more gracious, a little more empathetic, it makes me care more about those who lived like I did! I reminds me that they are no worse than me, they just have not received God’s gift of grace (yet).
3) And we can also forget, that in the same way God saved us who were so far off, God can save others.
What a foolish thing for us to think that there is no more hope for those around us. How ungodly to think that God will not continue to save people, just as He saved us.
God can rearrange lives, God can open hearts, and God will still draw those whom the world as counted as loss, and reconcile them to Himself in Christ.
(v 13) “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”
This is what it all comes down to. We do not come together because of our former way of life, we come together because of the blood of Christ that redeems us.
It is this desperate need that makes us all equal!
No matter what race, what backgrounds, what current status all are desperately in need of the blood of Jesus!
The church belongs to Christ! He chose each one, called them, saved them, reconciled them, forgave them, circumcised them, and makes them one!
Jesus establishes peace with God and peace in the church
Jesus establishes peace with God and peace in the church
For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
Explanation
“For HE Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one”
What is peace? Peace is both the absence of hostility and the acceptance of one another.
Paul says, “Jesus who is our peace” meaning that He takes away the hostility between the two groups and creates acceptance
Before Jesus came, the Jews despised the Gentiles. And most likely, the Gentiles despised the Jews.
They did not get along, they were hostile towards one another.
But now this salvation history has come called the church, and both groups are called to worship together.
And it is only Jesus who can break down those walls, and make these two groups, or three groups into one group.
How does this happen?
(v 16) “and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross”
First, both groups must be reconciled to God.
Paul is referring to the Jews and the Gentiles.
It is not that the Gentiles need to be reconciled to the Jews, or that the Jews need to be reconciled to the Gentiles.
Settling their differences between each other whether in the past or present would not bring the peace Paul spoke of.
What would bring the peace God spoke of was if they were first reconciled to God! In other words they need to come to God through Jesus Christ, place their faith in Him, repent of their sins and then they would have peace with one another!
What separated the Jews and Gentiles then was the Law, the wall of division, and their ethnic backgrounds. But Jesus did away with all of that!
Now what they both needed was to come to Christ and find redemption!
The Old Covenant was gone, and Jesus has brought the new covenant of grace!
Application:
The only way the church will ever become one group is if they are first reconciled to God!
Often times the divisions in the church are created because there are two groups: NOT JEWS AND GENTILES BUT THE SAVED AND THE LOST!
And this does not mean that there should be hostility, or that there even is hostility, BUT there is the absence of genuine fellowship between one another because that fellowship can only come by way of being first reconciled to God.
Why is that?
Because in Christ people become a new creation. People have been made alive in Christ and then live totally different lives than they used to.
But they do not liver different than anyone else who is in Christ! Because everyone in Christ lives by the same principles, is guided by the same Spirit, has the same Lord Jesus Christ!
And Jesus makes us one, His glorious church.
If someone in the church feels like an outsider, it may be because they are outside of Christ! Or it may be that you are in Christ and are in a church that is outside of Christ!
But those in Jesus will certainly be at peace with one another, accept one another, and become one
“and He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who are near”
This call for reconciliation can now be proclaimed to all groups all over the world.
Who is doing the preaching here?
It most likely refers to the apostles preaching the good news by the power of the Spirit of God.
Application
Church we need to be actively preaching peace to the world!
Peace between them and God that will bring them into the church
Are you actively preaching this peace in Jesus?
How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
God takes all kinds His people and fits them together to form the church
God takes all kinds His people and fits them together to form the church
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Explanation
“You are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household”
Now that these Gentiles who were far from God, have been reconciled to God through the cross, Paul says they are not strangers anymore. They are official citizens of God’s covenant family and are of God’s household.
In other words, the Jews and Gentiles are now family members. They are close kin, closer kin than the kinship this world offers!
What does God’s household look like?
There is a closeness, a unity, and togetherness. Just as an earthly family would be close to one another, so the church ought to be this way as well.
Application:
No person in the church today who has been reconciled to God is outside this church family. Being part of a church family means more than surface relationships. It means that we do life together. We share our struggles, we share our victories, we pray for one another, we care for each other on a deep level, we walk through this world as strangers and aliens of the world, but in here we are brothers and sisters.
And if we want the great blessing of belonging to a church, the great blessing that God made it, we must see each other as family.
And we should relate to each other as a family does.
“Having been built o the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone”
The church is built upon the apostles and prophets.
This most likely refers to the church planting work of Paul and others ion Scripture. They worked to establish these new churches, preaching the gospel, teaching truth about Christ, and how the people must live for and relate to God.
In a similar was this church is being built by preaching and teaching! It is extracting truth from God’s Word and explaining it to the people so that we can hear from God and know God!
No healthy church is built upon man’s wisdom, or man’s ways. If it is not built upon the Word of God it is destined tom be a sinking ship.
But it is also built upon “Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone”
A cornerstone formed the base of the foundation of a building
It was the most important stone
It governed the design of the entire building
And upon it all other stones were laid
Jesus is the Cornerstone of the NT church
Everything in the church depends upon Jesus
The direction of the church is dependent upon Jesus
The success of the church is dependent upon Jesus
And we as the individual living stones are dependent upon Jesus
(v 21) “being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord”
Paul wants his readers to imagine themselves as part of a building in the process of growing by being tightly fitted together “with” other believers.
Application:
God has strategically placed each one of us here so that we will be fitted into this church, His body, for His purposes.
God does not build a church with brick and morter, but with people
And God is not done. Notice this building is being fitted together meaning this is an ongoing process.
If we continue to build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, and upon His Word, then God will continue to build His church.
“being built into a dwelling of God in the Spirit”
Just like God dwelled in the temple in the OT, so God dwells in His new temple in the NT His people.
His Spirit is not in the Ark of the Covenant, but in the bodies of His followers.
He uses each on of us as His hands and feet to carry bout His work and bring Him glory.
Conclusion
Where is your place in this household of God?
Have you been reconciled to God?
Is your body a hold temple to be used by Him?
Are you a person who is preaching peace to those near and far?
What a great privalige to be a part of His church.
What is it like to be in Christ?
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
~PRAYER~
RESPONSE
PUBLIC INVITATION
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
OFFERING
We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.
BENEDICTION
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’”