Ephesians 2:19-22

Please turn in your bible to Ephesians chapter 2, where our attention this morning will be devoted to vv19-22.

Good morning fellow Saints

Good morning fellow Saints I am very excited to be up here this morning. I am excited to bring to you God's goodness and kindness from His Word this morning.

seeking to make our worship of Christ more authentic.

Our fellowship more caring.

And it’s outreach more compassionate.

I am very excited to be up here this morning. I am excited to bring to you God's goodness and kindness from His Word this morning.

Please turn in your bible to Ephesians chapter 2, where our attention this morning will be devoted to vv19-22.

What. I. Am. About. To. Read. is the innerant. Sufficient. Word of God Himself.

God is going to graciously address each one of us this morning. :

19 "So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 "In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 "In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.” ()

Let's read from our hymnal and page 354.

Does that seem strange to you?

How does it make you feel?

Does it make you feel awkward at all? Think about the words…

When is the last time that we shed tears for Gods people?

Do my prayers regularly send on her behalf?

Is she the object of my care?

Do I toil for her?

Do I love the church?

These really aren't expressions of love that we are used to.

These are expressions of priority that we are not used to are we?

We're just not used to these kinds of expressions for the church or

expressions of this kind of priority to the church.

And I think it's telling reality that if we want to sing a song about the church that

expresses this kind of love and affection and commitment,

we have to go back a couple hundred years to find one.

If we believe this song and that it should be singing with authenticity.

That is believing that the church should be a top priority in our lives and that

it should be up most in our affections,

that immediately puts us in a position where we are swimming against the stream.

Not only in our culture in general but against the stream of the wider Christian culture

in which we live where the church esteemed

very little and irrelevant.

The church is often seen as an optional and voluntary society.

If that works for you… That's fine… For you!

But really spirituality is the rage of our day and

organized religion is mostly out.

Being in community... well that is hip

but actually belonging to a church is lame and oppressive and irrelevant and

who really needs clergy and authority structure and liturgies and sermons and worship services.

Well if we believe the holy Scriptures we all do!

[RC sproul quote]

“I doubt if there have been many times in our history when there has been as much anger, hostility, disappointment, and disillusionment with the institutional church as there is today. It’s hard not to be critical of the church because in many ways the church has failed us.”

Some of that is justified I am sure. But the response, very often, is to leave the church behind. To give up on her… To dis her. Instead of working to make her healthy! No, I don't need to remind you but we do not follow these trends. Why?

OUCH! He goes on to say: “But if the church has failed, that means we have failed. We are called to serve the church in the power of God the Holy Spirit.We, the church, have been made for this task by the indwelling presence and power of God’s Spirit. Yet, we are called not so much to rise up but to bow down. And if we bow down to our Lord, as Paul says in , the church will be the church, and our light will pierce the darkness.”

Some of that is justified I am sure. But the response, very often, is to

leave the church behind.

To give up on her…

To dis her.

Instead of working to make her healthy!

No, I don't need to remind you but we do not follow these trends. Why?

The answer is because we follow Jesus.

We follow Jesus… That's what it means to be a Christian.

And to follow Him is to be like Him. And so to follow Jesus is to swimming against the cultural stream and unfortunately and

very tragically and many times

against the streams of the wider Christian culture in which we live.

Here's what I know to be true about Jesus.… He loves the church! It's his church. And so it's his priority.

How much does Christ loved the church?

Look over in Ephesians five and we see how much Christ loved the church and gave himself for her (v25).

He loves the church so much that he gave his all for the church.

He died, bearing the penalty for our sins so that we could be the church!

And he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and what happened next?

happened. "And he (God the Father) subjected everything under His feet, and appointed Him as head over everything to the church" So he's head of the church.

And if he's head of the church, you better believe that the church is His priority.

And what's he doing now as head of the church?

Well he told us when he was here on earth when he made this promise "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" Christ is, as our head, building and protecting the church that he loves.

That's what He does. He loves the church and so it is His priority.

Now, think about it.

Isn't it true that we, as the followers of Jesus, lovers of Christ and who are committed to becoming

more and more like him, shouldn't we love what Christ loves?

And shouldn't our priorities match His?

I mean, when you love someone you just instinctively care about what they care about.

And so if we love Christ, first and foremost, as we are called to, we will for His sake love what He loves.

And what he loves most deeply is His church! You!

And so as we grow in our love for Christ we will also grow in our

love and affection and commitment to His church!

The first thing that we need to do to accomplish that goal is

The first thing that we need to do to accomplish that goal is

to kill any notion that the church is an

obstacle and a voluntary society.

And our text this morning in chapter 2 verse 19 and following does just that

"So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers"

You, Christian. You who are trusting in the death and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and free eternal life.

You are no longer strangers and foreigners.

You no longer live alone you no longer live removed from God and his people you know longer live apart. That life is over.

And here's what’s now true. "but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household""20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put TOGETHER, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built TOGETHER for God’s dwelling in the Spirit."

Does that land on you? I don't believe I even need to comment on that… Because you should say: whoa!

It's amazing! Every person that God saves He adds to His church, His household.

He doesn't save us and just leave us wondering as strangers and foreigners.

No, he accepts us as citizens of his kingdom.

That's not all. It's not just part of his kingdom but He says come and be part of my house.

What can be more intimate than being invited into someone's home?

Families live together in households. We are part of God's family!

We are now brothers and sisters!.

Which means that everything that once divided us is just torn down by the cross of Christ.

Nothing can divide us now

Skin color cannot divide the true people of God.

Cultural preferences cannot divide the true people of God.

Language cannot divide the true people of God.

Worship style preferences cannot divide us

social preferences can't divide us why?

Because the church is one new man. Isn’t that what v15 says?

He saved us to create in Himself one new man from the two resulting in peace!

Boy, in Christ and because of what He did on the cross, He can heal any division in a local church.

He can heal any marriage.

The Church is one household, one temple. Did you see that?

We who were once foreigners and strangers are now joined together by God as His church, His household, His temple.

And notice as we are joined together as His church according to verse 21 that's how we grow! “being put together, grows...”

We grow into the holy temple in the Lord. And notice very specifically it's done together! It's together that we grow!

And as we are joined together as a holy temple what happens in verse 22?

"In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit."

Notice it again, it's together, as the church, that we become the very dwelling place of God.

Alternately we are all bricks in God's main dwelling place! And the brakes must come together to form that temple where God resides in a unique and powerful way.

Alternately we are all bricks in God's main dwelling place! And the brakes must come together to form that temple where God resides in a unique and powerful way.

Alternately we are all bricks in God's main dwelling place!

And the bricks must come together to form that temple where God resides in a unique and powerful way.

So we can say without a doubt our hesitation that the church is the greatest place on earth!

Here's how unique and powerful God resides in His temple.

In chapter 1 the apostle Paul describes the church like this, it's His body, it's Jesus's body

"which is His body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way." (1:23)

So I think it's safe to say and I believe that you would agree with this:

that the church, this institution, this organization

that contains the fullness of God is the

is the most important and most significant institution in the whole universe! The fullness of God fills all things in the church.

most important and

most significant institution

in the whole universe!

The fullness of God fills all things in the church.

Oh the wonderful wisdom and the mystery of God.

Only he could take a divisive and disagreeable and sometimes difficult people

as we can sometimes be and

only he could take us and form us together as the temple of His praise and

be the dwelling place

where His fullness is made known!

In the assembling together of you His people

we are all individual bricks that make up that one temple together.

The God who has joined us together as a church and indwells us together.

God is here….He is here in you and me and the person sitting next to you, all who are born of God spirit.

You see, the church is not optional for God's people.

The church is who we are!

It's who we are together, citizens of God's kingdom.

Members of God's family, bricks that make up God's holy temple. It's amazing!

God has joined us and is building us together for a very specific purpose.

We have a purpose, a God given purpose. This church.

Our small little church as people look in from the outside and see a seemingly unimpressive people.

We come and assemble together here, just ordinary people.

The same preacher preaching

the same doctrine together

preaching to the same people,

here the same sermons together,

fellowship together Sunday after Sunday.

This church is central God's purposes on earth.

We are part of the redemptive plan of God to carry out His purpose here on earth, specifically in Roselawn.

Our value, and importance, and significance has nothing to do with the size of the church or

how ordinary we might appear to many on the outside.

Our significance, value, and importance is found in the reason we exist.

And we exist to fulfill God's purposes in the world.

And if you were at our house on Friday you would see that our purpose is to [view slide]

worship Christ, that our purpose is to

be in community together to reflect this temple in this household that we are part of,

and our purpose is to

be on mission with God as He seeks and save the lost!

And there is absolutely nothing of more value, or important, or significant than that.

And do you want to know something?

As we remember the purpose for why we exist that will become the fuel for our passion.

WORSHIP: Our passion to get to the house of God

so that LIFE: we can be with the people of God and

lift high the name of Christ MISSION: what did Jesus say in John's Gospel chapter 12?

"As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.” ()

Knowing our purpose becomes the fuel for our passion.

So if our love for the church is dull…

Maybe the church has slipped down a couple notches in the priority list in life.

It's probably because we have neglected our purpose.

Because purpose ignites passion. And it’s only in the context of doing life together that we can do the second half of Ephesians.

Our passions fluctuate all over just read the second half of the book of Ephesians. Chapter 4 we should be

passionate about unity and growing each other and

being equipped for the work of the ministry so that we can participate in building up the body of Christ in love.

To become passionate about renewing the spirit of her mind and

putting on the new self which is a created according to God's likeness and righteousness and purity of the truth and so

we want to speak truth to each other

we don't want to be a angry and sin

we want to work an honest days wage we want to have no foul language come from my mouth but only that which is going to build up each other

we don't want to grieve the Holy Spirit

we want to let all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be removed from us

we want to be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving one another just as God in Christ for gave us

we want to imitate God as His dearly beloved children

we want to flee sexual immorality.

I want to submit to one another in the fear of Christ

we want wives to be submissive to their husbands

we want husbands to love their wives like Christ loved the church

we want children to obey their parents in the Lord because it is the first commandment with promise

we want fathers to not stir up anger in their children but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord and

finally we want to be strengthened in the Lord and by the power of His might

we want to put on the whole armor of God, So that we can stand against the devil's wiles and

we want to pray constantly with every prayer and requests and

we want to stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints

we want to pray that the message of the gospel may go forward

and that the mystery of the gospel would penetrate the hearts of sinners and

finally (in the last two verses) we want peace for our brothers and sisters in love with faith from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ

we want God's grace to be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

I tell you that's a fluctuation of passion!

And that passion is fueled by knowing and understanding our purpose

as a people that of been put together by the Lord himself!

And for some of you who have been saved for a long time,

as a result of the fall of man into sin

we can easily grow dull and fuzzy minded and forgetful

about our purpose for why we exist as a people together.

And we so easily become distracted by lesser things and

such that what has excited us and energized us

doesn't affect us much at all anymore.

Maybe today you feel kind of sluggish when it comes to the church.

I think maybe the longer you been here there is more danger of this happening. This happens.

Many folks have come forward and professed their love for us and their love for the church

only to walk away because

they lose that purpose

they lose that vision

it becomes fuzzy and distorted and no longer affects them the way that it once did.

Here's what I want to tell you when (not if), but when you feel that things are becoming

fuzzy and distorted and

you no longer have these wonderful affections for the church of Jesus Christ

what I want to tell you is to press in and wait upon the Lord!

Do not leave the church.

Wait for God! He will renew your passion for the church.

And, as He did for me this last week, He will remake all that you are as part of God's household, His holy temple!

The truth that you're no longer alone, and that you have a greater purpose and eternal purpose to fulfill as a member of God’s church!

Of this local church!

So what exactly is our purpose?

Here it is: our purpose is to make disciples who delight in, display, and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For the sake of time we're going to read some scripture on the board.

6 "I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 "everyone who bears my name and is created for my glory. I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”” ()

9 "I will delay my anger for the sake of my name, and I will restrain myself for your benefit and for my praise, so that you will not be destroyed. 10 "Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11 "I will act for my own sake, indeed, my own, for how can I be defiled? I will not give my glory to another.” ()

He does everything, including delaying His anger and restraining Himself for our good and for His praise! He’s not going to give His glory to another!

14 "But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.” () Why does God act?

14 "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the water covers the sea.” ()

And if you read in you’ll find repeated phrases like we were adopted so that we would praise His glorious grace! (v6).

That we’ve recieved the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace! (v7).

That as we put our hope in Christ this would bring praise to His glory (v12).

That we’ve received the Holy Spirit as the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory!

So what’s God’s Mission?

God does everything He does to the end that He might be praised.

God’s desire is that the knowledge of his glory would cover the earth as the waters do the sea.

God’s mission is the making known His magnificence by displaying His glory. What is God’s glory?

It is God going public with His infinite worth. His glory is declared and made known when you treasure and value God supremely. God displays His infinite worth as He transforms you into what He wants, which is to value Him and treasure Him above all things!

It is God’s desire that he might be known and enjoyed for his nature and character which is displayed thought you and your words and actions.

God seeks to be recognized as supremely valuable, supremely worthy, and supremely splendid. That is His glory, a glory that is most clearly seen in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That’s God’s mission, which becomes our mission and how is our mission carried out?

18 "Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” ()

By making disciples we carry out God’s mission to display His infinite worth!

LIFE: Teaching others to obey Christ in the power of His Spirit.

Then MISSION

17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 "Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 "That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” 21 "He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” ()

God makes His appeal to sinners through us! The church, the place where He fills all and is in all.

So what’s our mission as a church? Well, obviously it’s to be on mission with God.

The mission of the Church universal is to glorify God by making disciples through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God’s mission and the mission of his Church are inseparably linked.

As those who have been reconciled to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are now ambassadors of reconciliation to a lost and broken world.

We plead, reason, pray, serve, preach, teach, and gather to see God glorified through the reconciling power of the gospel.

If we remember who we are TOGETHER… as His temple, His Household, and we remember that we are members of God’s family, then we will constantly be

seeking to make our worship of Christ more authentic.

Our fellowship more caring.

Our fellowship more caring.

And it’s outreach more compassionate.

And it’s outreach more compassionate.

There are a couple of examples of the glory of the Lord filling the temple in the Old Testament.

And as amazing as these incidents are they pale in comparison in to the glory that God is revealed in his living temple, the church of Jesus Christ.

Look over in chapter 3 verse 16. As followers of Jesus, we are now the temple of God, and God is building us "with power through his Spirit in our inner being" (v16)

He is doing this so that (v17) "Christ (and not merely a cloud, as in the Old Testament) may dwell in your hearts through faith"

And he desires to overwhelm us with "The love of Christ… That surpasses knowledge – that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (3:18-19).

The message of is that you, the people that God has entrusted to me to serve as your pastor,

who, together, are the very dwelling place of God, and

that God desires to build you up and fill you up with unspeakable glory.

His desire is to overwhelm you with the breath and the length and the height and the depth of the love of Christ.

He wants to meet with you so that you can be filled with "all the fullness of God."

When I pray for you I am not just praying my own desires for you

but I'm trying to pray the will of God –

that God will do what He loves to do, namely, well in His people and bring glory to His name.

Recently I have found myself focusing entirely too much on the sins of the Lords people and the shortcomings of the Lords people and I eventually grew discouraged.

Recently I have found myself focusing entirely too much on the sins of the Lords people and

the shortcomings of the Lords people and I eventually grew discouraged.

But when our focus is on what God has done and on what he wants to do,

there is great reason to press on in prayer and seeking His face.

Our church is it just a collection of sinful and broken people. You are the building blocks of God's temple.

You are still under construction, of course, and this is exactly where God wants to work.

This is his plan and the focus of his attention and desire.

And God's desire for our church is that we will all become experientially familiar with his presence and power.

And God's desire for our church is that we will all become

experientially familiar with his presence and power.

He desires you, as His people, to be overwhelmed by his love.

When we are overwhelmed in this way we can actually pray what is written in Chapter 3:20–21.

To God be the glory...