The Benefits of Belonging

Introduction

The old slogan – Membership has it’s privileges. For years it did. American Express was an exclusive membership of people who were able to have it. Over time, the exclusivity of it gave way to inconvenience and high fees. The card was no longer a benefit, but a nuisance when you walked up to most counters an they wouldn’t accept it. Credit cards began to cater to their card holders While American express held to it’s policies.

1. Synthesized (11-13)

Explanation

Synthesized – meaning to combine (a number of things) into a coherent whole.

We, Jews and Gentiles, are synthesized, or combined into a coherent whole as the people of God in what Christ has done for us

What we were:

Gentiles were called the “uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision – The Jews would call the Gentiles the uncircumcision (literally the “foreskins”) while referring to themselves as the circumcision (περιτομη). This was a term of derision and shows the racism that existed between the two groups of people Separated from Christ – true statement, although so were the Jews. The statement is one that refers to the Greek term for Messiah. The Jews did hope in a Savior to come, while the Gentiles knew of no such hope Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel – The Gentiles did not know the glories of loving in a “promised land” filled with the blessings of God Strangers to the covenants of promise – They did not have the absolute promises of God that the Jews had – no certainty of future nor the full blessing and covenantal love of God Having no hope Without God in the world – They did not know the true God

Paul makes the point that the Gentiles were once far off from God – they were not chosen and they did not have the blessings that the Jews had before God. That changes in Christ – He died for all! By what Jesus did, he opened up this relationship with God to all men, Jew and Gentile, that allowed for forgiveness and reconciliation. We were brought near by the blood of Christ which can cleanse the sin of the most self-righteous to the most dreadful of sinner.

Jews relied on a ritual performed by human hands, but our hope is in what Christ did. It is perfect and lasting.

verses below that Jesus died for all people to reconcile us to God

Bible Verse

1 Peter 3:18 (ESV)

18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Bible Verse

John 3:16 (ESV)

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Bible Verse

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (ESV)

18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Illustration

Application

We, in Christ, have all the benefits and hope of the people of God

It is available to all people In Christ we are all forgiven Christ becomes the one and only gateway to the Father – We enter though Him by faith in Him

If your faith is in Christ you are given all the full benefits that he gives to all in His family – We have a covenant, we have a hope, we have a heavenly citizenship! We have all we need in Christ and no one can take it away from us. We are brought in to this body of Christ, his people

2. Rectified (14-15)

Explanation

Rectified – set right; corrected. Jesus alone has rectified our sinful condition. It was not through the law, but through the cross

V 13 notes the way that we were made on in Christ – by His blood. – This points specifically to the cross of Jesus where He died to take away our sins. We are justified full in Christ. We who were ones alienated sinners kept from the glory of Christ are brought near because Jesus died taking the penalty of our sin and effectively making us righteous before God

He, Himself, is our peace – He alone was the one who could set straight the problem of sin and separation between sinful man and a holy God

He has made both the Jews, the covenantal people of God, and the Gentile believers one – Both are sinners who needed a perfect sacrifice and we find it in Jesus.

He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility – This existed between the Jews and Gentiles. The Jews looked down on Gentiles and there was no love lost the other way. What is found in Christ is that neither is better than the other and that God has made one way of salvation for both – Christ Jesus

How did He do it? – By abolishing the law

The source of self-righteousness for the Jew A source of frustration for the Gentile who could not keep it

When the only way to find forgiveness and hope in God is through faith in Jesus all become one

So making peace – the ultimate goal of our salvation

This peace is not made through ordinances and laws, but by the Cross of Jesus

Illustration

Application

The greatest thing about belonging to the body of Christ is that we are made right with God because of what Jesus has done

Apart from Christ doing this work in our lives, what could we do to save ourselves – NOTHING!

We are made right in Christ – It is eternal, it is complete, it is finished in Him!

3. Allied (16-18)

Explanation

Allied – Allies in a war are two who are separated by countries and ethnicity, but in war are brought together for a common goal

We have been allied with Christ and with other believers

And might reconcile us both to God – Both Jews and Gentiles

We are brought in to a right relationship with God through the cross of Jesus

Reconciliation means that the relationship that was once broken is now restored We are no longer in fear of the judgment of God, but we have a new and right relationship with Him He now lives in us and interacts with us because of what Jesus did on the cross

We become one body – All who are believers in Jesus

This has radical implications for all who are believers

This is the hope of racial reconciliation – When we are saved we become brothers in Christ with all believers of all races IT breaks down all dividing walls between people – Social, economic, Once we come to Christ and find our salvation in Him, we all become one

And He did it graciously – He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near – He is literally talking about the Jews and Gentiles. Some felt they were near due to the covenants, others felt far because of the separation between Jews and Gentiles. When Christ opened the door of salvation, any who came to Him in faith were forgiven and saved equally. All were brought near

We both, Jews and Gentiles, have access to the Father

God’s work through trinitarian process: through Jesus, in the Spirit, access to the Father It is now the only access to the Father, but it is for all people We have access through faith in Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation We are no longer cut off from the Father because of our sin, but brought near to Him by faith

Illustration

Herd of Red Deer Still Blocked by Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain has been down for quite some time, but things haven’t changed for everybody.

For years the Iron Curtain (actually, a fence) separated two populations of red deer living in the forests encompassing the border between Germany and what is now the Czech Republic. When government officials began to dismantle the fence in 1989 (around the time the Berlin Wall fell), the physical barrier between those populations was removed. But when wildlife biologists began studying the deer in 2002, they quickly realized that the deer living in Germany were not migrating into the Czech Republic, and the deer living in the Czech Republic were not migrating into Germany. In other words, both populations of deer were still behaving as if the fence remained intact.

One deer in particular has become a microcosm of the entire population. Her name is Ahornia, and her movements in the forests of eastern Germany were tracked for several years by a GPS collar fitted to her neck by biologist Marco Heurich. During the time she was monitored, Ahornia’s location was tracked more than 11,000 times in Germany—but not a single time in the Czech Republic. She was tracked at the border of the two countries several times, but she never crossed over.

Two elements of Ahornia’s story are particularly noteworthy. First, she was born 18 years after the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the fence that comprised the Iron Curtain. She has no physical memory of the fence’s existence, and yet she is still blocked by it. Second, the land formerly occupied by the fence and its guard towers has now been turned into a large and thriving nature preserve. In other words, the land beyond the fence has become a haven—the perfect home for deer like Ahornia and her family—and yet she will not enter.

Marco Heurich and his team of biologists have come up with several explanations for the deer’s strange behavior. Most deer travel across traditional trails, for example—ones that are passed down through generations by modeling and repetition. It’s possible that Ahornia and the other members of her herd simply haven’t ventured beyond the beaten path.

But wildlife filmmaker Tom Synnatzschke, who often works in the area, has a different explanation. According to Tom, “The wall in the head is still there.”

This illustration was first heard in a sermon by Walt Barrett at Riverside Community Church in St. Charles, Illinois.

Associated Press, “Deep in the Forest, Bambi Remains the Cold War’s Last Prisoner,” The Wall Street Journal (11-04-09); submitted by Sam O’Neal, Geneva, Illinois

Application

In Christ all are equal and all are equally saved

We, who were once enemies with God and His people have now become one with them. We are allies in Christ

4. Naturalized (19-20)

Explanation

Naturalized – admitted to the citizenship of a country. A person who is becoming a US citizen is naturalized when they take the oath.

Countries have borders and requirements for immigration. In the US, you have to apply and be accepted by our country on some legal basis. For Lisa it was on the basis of marrying a US citizen.

In the same way, we become citizens of Heaven

No longer strangers and aliens – If you were not Hebrew in Israel, you were, for the most part, and outsider. You were known to be outside the holy covenant of God and, while there were laws for proselytes, it was extremely hard to do, and you were still not a Hebrew by birth and they would look down on you. There was nothing you could do. Instead, you are fellow citizens with the saints – Enjoying the full benefits of being the people of God Members of the household of God – this is family. We enjoy the adoption of God. We are sons and daughters. It is not not a contractual relationship we have with God where if we break the contract he will punish us. Instead, it is a family relationship where the love of God’s covenant with us will never be broken. We may receive chastisement, we may fall under the consequence of our sin, but we will never escape the love of our heavenly Father. He brought us in to His Family by the blood of His own Son with omnipotent knowledge knowing every sin we would ever commit. He didn’t save us on the basis of our righteousness, but on the basis of His and His will never be diminished.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets

It would seem that this is the authority of the OT and the NT – Prophets being OT and Apostles being NT He is saying that the prophets pointed towards the grace of Christ and the Apostles proclaimed On the basis of both of these we know the good news of Jesus and find the hope of His grace

Christ Jesus, Himself being the cornerstone – The one that lays between both pulling them together

Illustration

Application

Being a part of the family of God means that we are family

We have privilege of having an equal share in this family with every other believer

There is a common bond that each of us share that should bind us together

All are sinners saved only by grace We all are loved equally by God We are all saved by Jesus dying for us We all have a common hope in eternal life in Christ We all have a common share in the inheritance of God

5. Utilized (21-22)

Explanation

Paul refers to the people of God as the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord – We are the temple, the dwelling place of God.

You are a dwelling place for God – the Church is

Why would God want to dwell in us? – To do His work in the world that He would be glorified in us

We are to be utilized by God as His dwelling place

Illustration

Application

How would God want to use His church?

As an agent of peace and hope in a world where little exists As the mouthpiece to tell others about Christ As the oasis of goodness in the world As ministers to those in need To make sure that biblical truth continues to be told in the world

We must realize that we are given the privilege of being brought in to this wonderful body of Christ for His purposes and not simply for our own enjoyment. We are to allow God to utilize us in the building of His Kingdom

Conclusion

So? what will you do about this important community to which you belong? Will you see it as a privilege and a responsibility or will you sit idly and let others do God’s work?

You are called to belong for a purpose that is greater than yourself

If you have faith in Christ, you belong to this body. Let us be the body

If you have not put your faith in Christ, I invite you to Belong to Him – BY faith in Jesus Christ