We are the Church

Ephesians 2:19-20 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,”

그러므로 이제부터 너희는 외인도 아니요 나그네도 아니요 오직 성도들과 동일한 시민이요 하나님의 권속이라

너희는 사도들과 선지자들의 터 위에 세우심을 입은 자라 그리스도 예수께서 친히 모퉁잇돌이 되셨느니라

1. INTRODUCTION

a. I’ve been thinking through about what it means to be the church. I think many people know the definition of what it means to be the church and yet, we struggle to actually practically understand how we are to live as the church.

b. This caused me to think and decide that I should preach and teach about the church. To me, the church is everything. To me, if Christ is the most important person in my life, than the people of God, the church must also be the most important people in my life. Recently, I was asked a great question that caused me to think about this topic. The question that was asked was, “Can I love Christ but hate the church?” Is it wrong for me to hate the church?

c. Well first, we might say that the word hate is too strong. I am using this term in regards to 1 John 2:9, where it says, “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.” Remember, in the book of 1 John, if you don’t love your brother, you hate him. Loving your brother in the book of 1 John deals with loving his soul, caring for your brother and being committed to your brother. So much to the point that in 1 John 3:17, it says, if you see your brother in need and you close your heart against him, you actively choose to close yourself from them, how can you say the love of God is in you? So the question is, can I love Christ and hate the church? Can I actively choose to close my heart against a brother in Christ and still say the love of God is in us?

d. Now the generic answer is, no of course you can’t hate the church. That’s wrong. But the question is why? Why can’t or why should we not hate the church? Well, you can’t hate the church because it’s the people of God. How can you hate the people of God?

e. Ok, you can’t hate the church then. Ok then let’s tone that question down a little. Can I love Christ and dislike the church? Can I love Christ and be apathetic to the church? Can I love Christ and live my life by myself?

f. All of these questions are the same question. The question at hand is, Can I love Christ and hate the church? It’s the same question, just tempered differently. So we have to answer that question today. Can I love Christ and hate the church?

We are no longer strangers and aliens (2:19a)

We are citizens in God’s household (2:19b)

2. BODY

a. We are no longer strangers and aliens (2:19a)

i. So I want to tackle this idea of what is the church? What does it mean to be the church? I like Wayne Grudem’s definition where he defines the church as “the church is the community of all true believers since Pentecost.” Acts 2:4 is the birth of the church where it says that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They were literally engulfed by the Holy Spirit. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit marks the birth of the church.

ii. So although the church itself, the community of true believers started in Acts 2, there were true believers in the Old Testament too. True believers existed prior to Acts 2, as we saw all through the Old Testament. But there’s a difference between those believers and the church. Those believers were never called the church. They were called to as an assembly of God’s people. They were the ones who were called out by God. But in Acts 2, the word church is used to define that now, after Christ Himself laid the foundation of the church through His life, death and resurrection, the church was now born.

iii. This is why Matthew 16:18 is huge when Christ says I will build my church. He doesn’t say I have built my church but it is still future. His church will be built when He dies, and is resurrected. Because He is the cornerstone of the church. He is the foundation for the church.

iv. So now that the we know that the church is all true believers since Pentecost, what is the church in view of our verses for today? Paul outlines 3 truths about who we are as the church.

v. The first point that Paul tells us in verse 19 is that we are no longer strangers and aliens. Paul writes first in the negative to tell us what we are no longer. This idea of stranger and aliens goes back to verse 12, where Paul wrote that we were separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.

vi. This idea of stranger and alien are important because they both speak about a person who is allowed to live in a country but without any rights. The only slight difference between the two terms is dealing with the temporary stay. A stranger is a person in a foreign land, whereas the alien is a resident alien. To understand this better, a stranger is like a tourist traveling in a foreign land where they receive a travel visa to give him travel rights. The second is a legal person with a green card to live legally in the country.

vii. So when Paul tells us that we are no longer strangers and aliens, He is reminding us of the reversal in our status. Legally, we are now no longer strangers and aliens in our land. There is a legal, judicial declaration that is ratified.

b. We are citizens in God’s household (2:19b)

i. Notice right after the fact that we are no longer strangers or aliens, Paul writes, but you are fellow citizens with the saints. Paul is telling us that these people were now citizens, with other believers. Think about what this means in today’s day. This has special meaning to those who don’t have their US Citizenship or are struggling because of it. We are no longer strangers in our own land. Rather, we are citizens because of Christ. They were separated and estranged but now, in the words of verse 13, but now in Christ, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

ii. What is so beautiful about this picture that Paul is painting is that you were cut off and separate but by the blood of Christ, you have been reconciled and joined into the family of God. Because of the blood of Christ that was spilled on our behalf, we who were separate from the covenants of promise, and with no hope in the world, now, in Christ, we have received all of these benefits.

iii. What does this all mean? We were in the kingdom of darkness. We were hellbound sinners because of our sinfulness. Because we are sinful, not because we sin. No, we were hellbound because of our sinfulness. Many people fail to understand this point. This misunderstanding causes people to ask questions like “How is God fair for sending people to Hell if they don’t know Him?” You see they are asking, how can they go to Hell if they don’t know they are sinning? The answer is because they are sinful. It is obvious that everyone sins. But the reason we were bound to Hell is not because we sin. That is obvious. But what causes us to sin? It is because we are deeply rooted in sin. We were born with sin.

iv. The Bible teaches that everyone after Adam and Eve were born into sin. Ephesians 2:3 tells us that by nature, we were children of wrath. This is the problem everyone has. This is the problem everyone must deal with. And if we are honest, there is no answer to this problem. This is the great conundrum. How does man become right with God when he is born sinful?

v. This is what Paul is telling us in verse 19. We are no longer strangers and in rebellion against God. Why? Because Christ has brought us near, has caused us to become citizens of God through His blood. You see, we have received not only entry into His kingdom, but we have become righteous through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 expresses this the clearest.

vi. We have become the righteousness of God through Christ because Christ was made sin, Christ bore our sin so that we might become righteous. That is why we are no longer strangers or aliens. We are now citizens in this new kingdom.

c. We are built upon Christ (2:20)

i. Paul starts in verse 20 by telling us what the church is. As we have seen previously, the church is the community of all true believers since Pentecost. And as the church, we are no longer strangers or aliens, but now we are citizens in the household of God. But in verse 20, Paul tells us not only who we are as the church, but Paul tells us specifically what the church is founded upon.

ii. I love the language that Paul is using here. Paul tells us that we are the household of God, that we are homes built on a certain foundation. What is that foundation? Paul tells us that our foundation are upon the apostles and prophets. Why is this significant? It is significant because they first proclaimed the gospel to the Gentiles.

iii. I think when we read this, we don’t appreciate this phrase often. But as one who has entered into the ministry, I realize that we shouldn’t overlook this. As I was praying in Saturday morning prayer and thinking about this verse, I couldn’t help myself being thankful not only for the prophets and apostles, but all the other pastors who have followed suite and carried on the task of teaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reminded of Pastor Cho and Mrs. Cho for their faithfulness to VBC, but I was also reminded personally of my own parents.

iv. When I was young, I didn’t particularly appreciate my father. I was thankful to God that he was my father but most of the time, I never really appreciated him. I never understood him and understood why he was the person he was. At times I thought I was better than him and I thought he wasn’t a good pastor or father.

v. But as I have followed in his footsteps, I realize I have learned a lot from him. I think about my father and how he never stopped praying for me and how he still continues to pray for me and my family. I look at how he would go to church even in the snow and clean the church during a storm. I realize now, how grateful I am for my father, for his prayers and his love for the Lord. It taught me that our decisions to serve matter. That God is honored through the decisions we make.

vi. We might think it’s not a big deal, but if we think this, we don’t realize the importance of the foundation built upon the apostles and prophets. Again, I am not saying that pastors are the apostles or prophets, but pastors have the task of proclaiming the Word of God and preaching Christ just as these apostles and prophets. And although they are not on the same plane, we can’t undermine the importance of pastors throughout church history and even the pastors we have in our lives.

vii. But just as we appreciate the pastors who are doing this work of ministry, Paul’s emphasis is the chief cornerstone. You see, the work of the ministry by these faithful men is extremely important. It is upon this foundation that God has built the church. But even within that foundation, God has set that the chief cornerstone, the most important stone in this foundation is Christ.

viii. What is the significance of chief cornerstone? The chief cornerstone is important because it was the first stone laid. The builder was careful to properly set this stone. Every other stone placed would line up with this stone. So if this stone was off, the whole building was uneven. So what Paul is telling us is, although the foundation was built by the prophets and apostles, it was built upon Christ who was the first stone laid. After this chief cornerstone was laid, the apostles and prophets followed.

ix. Paul uses this illustration to show us, that Christ is and must be central to the church. He must be what everything in the church is founded upon. This is why every true believer knows they are saved. Every true believer knows that salvation is impossible without Christ. Apart from Him, nobody can obtain salvation. If the chief cornerstone is anything other than Him, the building will look different. But if the building is built upon Him, it will look like Him. That is the same for our own lives. If our lives are built by this chief cornerstone, our walls might have different color bricks and different brick sizes, but the shape will be the same because the same cornerstone was laid.

x. We can’t focus on our own achievements or failures. The must look to the chief cornerstone and trust him. The Devil will convince us that our building is different than Christ. But every time the Devil tries to convince us, we must admit our failures and say that you are right. Your accusations are right. But despite the fact that what you say is true, Christ has redeemed me. Christ has called me His own because of His goodness not what I have done. I have been brought near by His blood. May we draw closer to Him and cling to Him.

3. CONCLUSION