Fellow Citizens

Good morning, welcome to NHCC. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 2.

Remember. Remember. Remember.

Past and present, both are entirely necessary.

Seen this through all of v. 11-18. We see it with complete clarity in v. 19.

In some ways, v. 19 is a sharp summary of what we have already read, but it draws our attention to new areas with new words.

Read Ephesians 2:19- “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,”

Pray.

Again, Paul’s desire is for his readers to see not only what they were, but what they have become, and the great distance between the two.

Concentric geographical circles that are moving inward.

1. Strangers and aliens.

A couple of words are used by Paul to describe life outside of Christ. We have covered these before, but let’s look at each of them a bit more closely.

paroikos- strangers, sojourners, exiles.

Acts 7:6- “And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.”

xenos- strangers, foreigner, unheard of.

Acts 17:21- “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.”

Hebrews 13:9- “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.”

Why use these words?

Yes, Paul is describing the former state of Gentiles, but he is likely explaining something else.

You are no longer these things.

Gentiles likely lived as though these two words were still true of them.

If we are honest, perhaps we still live as though they are still true of us as well.

paroikos- We live as sojourners. Here but a stranger. Simply feel that I do not belong in the household of faith, the body of Christ.

For many, we simply feel out of place in the body of Christ.

We look at everyone else and feel as if they’re quite different than us, as though they’ve got this faith thing a bit more figured out.

xenos- We live as though we are foreigners, entirely foreign to God’s people and family.

Individualistic faith. On the outside looking in. Or worse, wanting nothing to do with other believers. Truly separate.

We will do this on our own, it’s me and God and that’s all I need.

Paul reminds us that neither of these notions are reality.

This was the life that you once lived. You were separate, now you are brought near. You were rejected, now you are accepted.

And it is time to live as though such a change has truly taken place.

Paul is going to attack each of these ideas, one at a time.

2. Fellow citizens with the saints.

We move inward in our geographical concentric circles.

No longer foreigners, but instead fellow citizens with the saints.

The idea that you are somehow a foreigner to God’s Kingdom is opposed with language that states that you’re a citizen.

Most basic understanding is citizens of God’s Kingdom. Brought from the kingdoms of this world to the Kingdom of God.

What does it mean to be a citizen of any country?

Offered the privileges and protections that accompany citizenship.

Paul has already been explaining so many of the privileges.

Protected by the King, whose sovereign rule extends over all of creation.

All attacks against you by the prince of the power of the air are allowed by God and used for your spiritual benefit.

With the saints.

Have you ever considered the fellow men and women of your spiritual country?

Hebrews 11.

Fellow citizens with the saints.

Our home is elsewhere.

Doesn’t make light of our existence on this earth, but reminds us that we aim for another home.

Colossians 3:1–4- “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Mexico. My greatest desire was simply to be back home.

Parallels to life in this world while belonging entirely to another home.

3. Members of the household of God.

Now we move furthest in with our geographical concentric circles.

From strangers to citizens of God’s Kingdom to members of God’s household, or family.

Again, Paul claimed that you were once sojourners, not in your own home, but now you find yourself belonging to a home, a family, a household.

This is no mere nicety to make us feel warm and fuzzy, Paul speaks it as a reality. He doesn’t say it is as though you’re a part of God’s household, but instead that you are a part of it.

1 Timothy 5:8- “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

John 1:12–13- “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Baby dedication- Members of a family will be brought up, for as long as we have them, in the context of another family. God’s family.

Our Lydia.

Remember what you once were, and remember what you have become.