Build Me
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever had your identity stolen or have you ever misplaced something that tells your identity?
If you have you know it is an awful thing to have to deal with.
If it was a debit or credit card you have to work out with the bank what you purchased and what others have.
And then you have to wait for your new card to come in the mail
If it was your drivers license you have to get a new drivers license and then I believe you have to set up different protections through other companies to insure that no one steals your identity.
If someone steals your social security number that is probably an issue.
But regardless whenever your identity is either stolen or misplaced it causes huge issues in our lives
and some of the results of this can be so bad that they could potentially ruin our lives.
And cause a lot of pain
And today what we are talking about it our identity that we have in Christ.
Because to often we allow our identity that we have in Christ to be misplaced or stolen by something else.
and when that happens something has to be done about it or we will start to see this pain enter our lives and it is not a fun thing to happen.
So I am going to invite you to turn to Ephesians 2:1-22 and this is the beginning of our new series called “Identity”
And like I mentioned already this series talks about our identity in Christ and really it talks about how that identity is played out practically.
And if you look at the book of Ephesians the first 3 chapters of this book actually tells us what our identity is.
But then the second 3 chapters tell us because we have this identity this is how we are supposed to live.
And so our major focus today will be talking about our identity we have in Christ, and then the rest of this series will be us talking about because we have this identity this is how our lives should play out.
So Once again we are in Ephesians 2:1-22 and since it is a little bit of a larger passage we will be jumping around in the passage and we are starting with just the first 3 verses. It says:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
Basically these first three verses tell us that we either have or had a problem in our life.
and I love how the ESV version words this because it says that this problem was that we were walking the wrong way.
And if you have ever gotten lost walking around the city you know that when someone tells you that you have walked the wrong direction and you have been walking that way for a long time it is an awful feeling!
and Paul is telling us look your identity the way you have lived it either is wrong or was wrong.
Because you lived a life where you walked in sin.
and really he says you lived by this code where it was selfish. If you wanted something you got it.
And you just did whatever you liked.
But look at verse at verses 4 and 5 because there is a big change that takes place here it says this:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Basically something in your life changed because of the gospel message of Jesus in your life.
and this is the first point I want you to get:
That our lives either were or are spiritually dead, until we accepted Jesus Christ.
Basically we were stuck walking in the wrong direction and we kept getting further and further away.
But even when we were far away Jesus pursued us.
In a way it would almost be like if your kid ran away from home and they left you this mean note
And in it they say how they do not even want to, be associated with the family anymore.
And then they just kept going further and further away.
And if that is your kid you would probably say to yourself “well they were really mean to me, I don’t know if I want them to come back” Right?
NOOO!!!! You are probably going to find your child and do whatever you can to get them back.
And if we would do that as parents, don’t you think God does that for us?
When we get further away, Jesus pursues us all the more.
so we do not have to run away but come home and embrace our identity that we are a child of God. Amen?
Well look at verses 8-10 because we have our identity back as a child of God.
but this explains how it happened and what it means for us. It says:
Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Basically this verse says that this happened not because of something you did but because of God.
All you did was respond.
You know we are never saved because of something we do. We just aren’t .
Its like if you were on a cruise ship (and if you have ever been one, most of the time you are just in the middle of the ocean and never see land).
But what happens is you fall off. I do not care how good of a swimmer you are, you are not making it to shore and you are done for unless someone is able to help you.
And when you get help all you have to do is accept it.
And really this is what this passage is saying that the only way you are able to be saved is through Jesus Christ. All you do is say “yes, I want that.”
And I love it and we talked about this a little last week, but this passage says we are His workmanship.
it really paints this picture of a carpenter working on a piece of wood where He is chipping away area in our life and is making this piece of wood more and more to where He desires it to be.
And thats what God does to us because He sees our imperfections and He convicts our hearts
and He will chizel that part of our life that is not glorifying to Him and will constantly be shaping us to follow Him. We have a fancy were in the church that describes this called “Sanctification”
But we need to remember that it is God who saves us and God who “sanctifies us” or gets us to walk deeper in our relationship with Him.
And look at this last point because it is you are being reconstructed for Christ.
Verse 14 says this:
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
So this talks about a wall that was built up and if you know what walls are walls are meant to separate (crazy stuff)
and a lot of scholars believe that this passage is talking about the temple walls or gate that was built up.
And if you were impure or were not Jewish you were not aloud to be in the temples gates. So there was this wall separating the everyone from for the Jewish people was the dwelling place of God.
And you know in our lives before we accept Christ we have a wall of sin like this one that separates us from God.
But it says that God broke down this wall that separated us from Him. and He crumbled it .
So now we are no longer separated from Jesus but we are made alive in Him.
Because look at verses 19-22 because it says this:
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, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Basically we are not just torn down and left there but Jesus actually builds us back up. (build up blocks)
where we grow closer to Him and it actually paints this beautiful picture of our identity individually being built in Christ, but also of identity as a church being built on the foundation of Christ, but also joining with each-other.
God built us to be in relationship with each other, and not just come to church, but be joined together.
and it says that when this happens us individually and us corporately as a church we are being built into a dwelling place for the spirit of God.
I do not know about you all, but I want my life to be built to be a dwelling place for God.
I do not know about you guys I want our church to be built to be a dwelling place for God.
And I believe that even in a time where we are not together God can dwell in our church because you are the church.
Guys I believe that this morning God wants you individually to be a dwelling place for Him and I also believe that God desires that for all of our lives.
So this morning can I just encourage you to allow God tear down that wall of sin that separates. You do not need to live like that, but you can live a life alive in Jesus Christ becoming a dwelling place for Him.
Will you Pray with me
