Built Together
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Unity in Christ on display through the church.
Unity in Christ on display through the church.
Introduction:
If a football team is unified, it does not mean that everyone is playing the same position. It does mean that everyone is going to the same goal line.
When an orchestra is harmonious, it’s not because they are all playing the same instrument, but they are playing the same song.
If a choir is singing a great harmony, it’s not because they are all singing the same parts; it’s because they are adding their part to the same song.
It’s the goal that produces unity. Unity is not sameness, Unity has to do with same purpose.
Jenn and I celebrated 22 years of marriage yesterday. The longevity and unity that we enjoy is because we have both commited to resting in God’s design for our family. We play very different roles, but we have joy in this relationship because we are both seeking the same thing. To honor God, to be faithful with the things we are entrusted, and I want to be in the stands when my wife is in front of Jesus and he says to her, “Well done!”
He preached peace…
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
No longer do Jews have exclusive access to God, but all people can now approach God as Father
We see a trinitarian truth here Through Christ, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have access to the Father.
The Message of Ephesians c. The Reconciliation of Jew and Gentile to God (Verse 16)
Thus the highest and fullest achievement of the peacemaking Christ is this trinitarian access of the people of God, as through him and by one Spirit we come boldly to our Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
No longer strangers and aliens = The wandering life outside of Christ, now finds stability in the new Kingdom of God’s new society
We no longer live on passport, but we have our birth certificates (born again).
Gentiles are now part of the new humanity and no longer cut off from the blessings available to God’s people.
Instead, we have all been made into one “new humanity” which consist of all peoples “In Christ”
Notice it transitions to the personal “YOU”
Being members of a new society is great - It’s another thing to have “fridge rights”.
We are more than fellow citizens under God’s rule; we are children together in his family.
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
Paul moves again into the metaphor of the temple:
Once there was a dividing wall of hostility that separated people
Now, this new humanity is God’s temple.
God’s Glory is not just on display in a small temple in a fixed location.
The foundation of a structure is key to it’s final alignment. If the foundation is not solid the entire building will collapse.
The parable of the two houses with builders illustrates for us the importance to have secure foundation.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
“hears these words” both men went to the same church.
Both built houses that were seemingly stable. (family, career, legacy)
Both men found themselves in the storms of life.
Only the man who build his home on the firm foundation of rock was able to endure.
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Notice, it is the “apostles and prophets” here, suggesting that the foundation is the teachings of the New Testament.
These two offices both have the function of teaching and the foundation is not in a specific person/apostle, but in their confessional truth.
They were divinely inspired by God the Holy Spirit to record for us the foundational teachings and the New Testament our founding documents.
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The term apostle here is not just a reference to those sent into the mission field, but to a special group:
Jesus Chose as authorized to teach in his name
Were eye witnesses of his resurrection
The corner stone is the first stone laid when the construction process begins. The rest of the building finds it’s alignment with the position of the corner stone
The entire building found stability in the cornerstone
There was a monolith excavated from the southern wall of the temple that measured 38 feet 9 inches (a massive cornerstone).
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
The church universal is the “whole structure” that finds cohesion in the person of Christ
Jesus is the chief cornerstone
Notice that with Jesus the church finds unity “joined together” and we find “grows”
Jesus is the foundation upon which we are built, and the morter that holds us together.
Christ is the secret of both.
Disunity in the church is a symptom of building on the wrong foundation
If we fail to build upon the correct foundation the consequence is either
disunity that leads to disintegration
The new temple on display to reveal the Glory of God is to be the church.
No longer does God’s Glory dwell behind a veil only to be accesses once a year, by the high priest, after ceremonial cleansing.
Now, we all are temples of God, where the presence of God is always available and always present.
Both Jew and Gentile find unity and purpose has dwelling places of God
At one time the shekinah, the Glory of God, was in the inner walls of the temple to symbolize the truth of God’s dwelling among his people
Now a new spiritual temple exist:
It’s an international community
It has a world wide membership that exist where Gods people are found.
A key function of temple worship was community:
While the temple is no longer geographically centric to Jerusalem the element of community continues to be important.
See. this truth is Paul’s theology against racism and division.
We are joined TOGETHER
We grow TOGETHER
We are built TOGETHER
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
You can’t love Jesus and HATE his BODY/TEMPLE
The temple is a type or shadow of the coming Christ and it is a fascinating study to look at all the elements of temple worship and how they find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
Remember: we spoke of Paul’s desire for our hearts to be enlightened, for us to fully experience Christ.
So much of our emphasis on knowing Christ is focused on the personal relationship.
The close personal relationship is desirable
The close personal relationship is intimate and available
But Christ didn’t save you so you can isolate yourself away from the family.
You will be unable to experience the fullness of Christ without connection to his redeemed family.
Family can be hard! I get it…
Family is where we learn to forgive
Love
Ask for forgiveness
Lay down our pride
Make decisions that benefit others more than they do us.
To learn the joy in sacrifice (babies)
To endure difficult times
To have accountability
To learn morals develop social skills
Family is where I am the most vulnerable… It’s where I burp and I don’t have to say excuse me.
In all seriousness, When Jesus spoke of the future of the faith:
He prayed for Unity
He said he would build his church.
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The word church there is Jesus’ called out ones. All of us.
Family can be painful…
I have had just as many bad experiences within the context of God’s family as good.
Pastors aren’t supposed to talk like this, but pastors are people too:
I’ll never forget some of my first experiences in ministry:
Loose weight / Shave
In between services being challenged on the delivery of the text
I don’t want to disparage the body of Christ. He died for this!
But here’s the thing that has kept me going.
IF i genuinely believe that God is working all things together for good Romans 8:28
The trials I have had within the body/family of Christ have been allowed
Through them they have shaped my perspective and theology about church.
In my reflections this week thought about how my experiences as a pastor up to this point have shaped my thinking about the church (called out ones).
For example: If church is family…
then we will fight for unity and never give up on each other.
When things get sticky we believe the best about each other
We will seek to listen and understand one another
We wont cut and run when it gets hard… so many have short circuited the process of growth God has designed in the trial instead of remaining in the discipline to seek what He is teaching.
We will be corporately accountable… my sin doesn’t just hurt me, it hurts you… I am part of something bigger
I will love you and trust you, do life with you, but I will only entrust my heart to Jesus.
We sometimes put people within the church on a high pedestal. And yes, we need good leaders that we can imitate as they imitate Christ, but remember… They are imitating Christ!
When church family fails and disappoints, it doesn’t excuse me from acting like Jesus.
Mike - did I put my foot in it yet?
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
For even in the church there is often alienation, disunity and discord. And Christians erect new barriers in place of the old which Christ has demolished, now a colour bar, now racism, nationalism or tribalism, now personal animosities engendered by pride, prejudice, jealousy and the unforgiving spirit, now a divisive system of caste or class, now a clericalism which sunders clergy from laity as if they were separate breeds of human being, and now a denominationalism which turns churches into sects and contradicts the unity and universality of Christ’s church.
Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (pp. 110–111). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
When Jesus died on that Cross he did something amazing!
We have become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is within us.
The veil was torn from Top to Bottom. Where once the glory of God was on display inside a temple
Now we are to be temples on display for God.
Becoming living examples of the Gospel
But we need Gospel lives to produce Gospel churches.
The Message of Ephesians Conclusion
It is simply impossible, with any shred of Christian integrity, to go on proclaiming that Jesus by his cross has abolished the old divisions and created a single new humanity of love, while at the same time we are contradicting our message by tolerating racial or social or other barriers within our church fellowship
We cannot rebuild the dividing walls of hostility that Jesus Christ died to destroy
The Message of Ephesians Conclusion
We need to get the failures of the church on our conscience, to feel the offence to Christ and the world which these failures are, to weep over the credibility gap between the church’s talk and the church’s walk, to repent of our readiness to excuse and even condone our failures, and to determine to do something about it.
Image for a moment, a church full of people, of all different walks and colors. Old and young, rich and poor, brother and sister.
Imagine this place is living and preaching the message of Christ as peacemaker...
What a powerful witness that would be.
What holds us back?
Regardless of what you may feel is holding you back in this moment, it is not greater than the Love of God for you.