God's Upside-Down Community - The Foundation
Eph 2:11-22
When I say the word "Church", what is the first word or image that comes into your mind? Is it building? Is it a denomination? Is it a group of people who barely know each other but get together once a week for an hour or so? How many you had as your initial thought about the church as the upside down community of God?
How about this: Think about the awesomeness of God. What comes to your mind? His power in creation? His sovereignty over all things? The fact he would send Jesus to die for the sins of all who would believe in him? Or maybe its the promise of a remade world where we will be able to see him face to face. How many of you thought what is awesome about God is that he gave us the church?
I'm asking these questions because they are the questions that have been pressing on me for some time. What is the church, really? And why does so much of the New Testament seem to drive us to the conclusion that the church is a really big deal to God? And, the more I have prayed and studied, the more convinced I've become that one of the major themes of the New Testament is that the church is amazing gift of grace and that no Christian was ever intended to live in isolation from the body of Christ.
It has also become obvious to me that there is more to say about God's awesome, gracious gift of the church than could be said in one sermon. At this point, I'm viewing this sermon as the first part of a trilogy. My goal today is to lay a gospel foundation for the awesomeness, the beauty and the necessity of the church. Lord willing, some day in the future I will be able to present the core of what drives the church and also what impact the church has on us, both as a community of believers, but also on a dark and dying world.
Its important to remember as we begin diving into Eph 2 that this letter, written to the Christians in the church at Ephesus, has a prominent Gentile focus. Dan spoke of the huge barrier of prejudice that Spirit had to overcome in the hearts of the Jewish Christians in Acts 10 and 11. But what barriers did the Holy Spirit need to overcome in the hearts of the Gentiles who were now coming to faith? More than that, how was God going to merge two cultures that had been diametrically opposed for millennia? I trust the 2nd half of Ephesians 2 will give insight into the answer.
In addition I think it is important to hear the relational words Paul was inspired to use and connect them to your own spiritual journey. The beauty and the power of God's word is that although these words were written for a specific audience with specific goal in mind, God can bring those same words and intentions forward and speak them directly to us today. So as we consider the impact of God bringing Jew and Gentile together under the cross, ask yourself what do these relational terms mean to us here in La Crescent, MN, in the year 2013.
Look with me again at verses 11 and 12. What do we do with these strongly negative relational words? Separated. Alienated. Strangers. No hope. Without God. It is almost as if Paul wants us to see that we were not simply any of these, but all of them. At one point we were completely and permanently separated and distant from God. How often do we consider these things when we think about where we were before Jesus invaded our lives?
When I say the word "Church", what is the first word or image that comes into your mind? Is it building? Is it a denomination? Is it a group of people who barely know each other but get together once a week for an hour or so? How many you had as your initial thought about the church as the upside down community of God?
How about this: Think about the awesomeness of God. What comes to your mind? His power in creation? His sovereignty over all things? The fact he would send Jesus to die for the sins of all who would believe in him? Or maybe its the promise of a remade world where we will be able to see him face to face. How many of you thought what is awesome about God is that he gave us the church?
I'm asking these questions because they are the questions that have been pressing on me for some time. What is the church, really? And why does so much of the New Testament seem to drive us to the conclusion that the church is a really big deal to God? And, the more I have prayed and studied, the more convinced I've become that one of the major themes of the New Testament is that the church is amazing gift of grace and that no Christian was ever intended to live in isolation from the body of Christ.
It has also become obvious to me that there is more to say about God's awesome, gracious gift of the church than could be said in one sermon. At this point, I'm viewing this sermon as the first part of a trilogy. My goal today is to lay a gospel foundation for the awesomeness, the beauty and the necessity of the church. Lord willing, some day in the future I will be able to present the core of what drives the church and also what impact the church has on us, both as a community of believers, but also on a dark and dying world.
Its important to remember as we begin diving into Eph 2 that this letter, written to the Christians in the church at Ephesus, has a prominent Gentile focus. Dan spoke of the huge barrier of prejudice that Spirit had to overcome in the hearts of the Jewish Christians in Acts 10 and 11. But what barriers did the Holy Spirit need to overcome in the hearts of the Gentiles who were now coming to faith? More than that, how was God going to merge two cultures that had been diametrically opposed for millennia? I trust the 2nd half of Ephesians 2 will give insight into the answer.
In addition I think it is important to hear the relational words Paul was inspired to use and connect them to your own spiritual journey. The beauty and the power of God's word is that although these words were written for a specific audience with specific goal in mind, God can bring those same words and intentions forward and speak them directly to us today. So as we consider the impact of God bringing Jew and Gentile together under the cross, ask yourself what do these relational terms mean to us here in La Crescent, MN, in the year 2013.
Look with me again at verses 11 and 12. What do we do with these strongly negative relational words? Separated. Alienated. Strangers. No hope. Without God. It is almost as if Paul wants us to see that we were not simply any of these, but all of them. At one point we were completely and permanently separated and distant from God. How often do we consider these things when we think about where we were before Jesus invaded our lives?
I don't know about you, but I've spent more time and have heard more sermons on the first 10 verses
of Ephesians 2 than second 12. Because of this, we may have developed a distorted view of the
gospel. The first half of this chapter clearly and concisely address the judicial aspects of our sin and
the redemption we have in and through Christ. And because its focus is judicial, its focus is on us as
individual believers.
But, as Paul moves into the second half of this chapter, he wants his readers, both the Ephesians and us, to know that there were additional problems beyond the reality that we were dead in our sins and the we were walking in step with Satan. These things were true of each of us, to be sure, but Paul wants us to know there was relational divide as well as a judicial one.
Think about it. Did your sin and rebellion offend a holy God? Absolutely. But didn't that same sin also alienate you from your loving Father? When someone sins against us, we may be able to forgive the actual offense, but the relationship may not get restored so easily. And if this is true of us, how much more true is it of God as he regards the sins of those who are not believers in Christ.
Before I move on, indulge me for a moment. Let these words linger in your mind. Consider your relation to God before he reached out to you. And, if you are here and you have not trusted in Christ alone for your salvation, these words are painfully true of you today. Separated. Alienated. Strangers. No hope. Without God.
Brothers. Sisters. As Paul will make clear in the very next verse, this is what Jesus restored for us. We should be rightly in awe of the forgiveness that Jesus purchased for us and gave to us without cost or obligation. But we should be doubly in awe because he has also restored a relationship that has been broken since the garden.
Look with me now at verse 13. In a contrast that is every bit as profound as the one in verse 4, Paul lays on us the stunning relational reality of the gospel. Since we can so easily slide right by this, let's savor this magnificent truth: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
And, to add to the awesomeness, this relational restoration is not limited to individuals. Paul intentionally uses group language to show this restoration is corporate as well. Its as if Paul wants to say, we all have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
It was here that I began to realize that maybe my familarity with these truths had deminished their awesomeness in my eyes. Thankfully, the Spirit brought me some passages outside of Eph 2 to highlight the grandure of what Christ has restored to us. Mt 6:9 to my mind: Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." and Gal 4:4-6 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” and Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
But, as Paul moves into the second half of this chapter, he wants his readers, both the Ephesians and us, to know that there were additional problems beyond the reality that we were dead in our sins and the we were walking in step with Satan. These things were true of each of us, to be sure, but Paul wants us to know there was relational divide as well as a judicial one.
Think about it. Did your sin and rebellion offend a holy God? Absolutely. But didn't that same sin also alienate you from your loving Father? When someone sins against us, we may be able to forgive the actual offense, but the relationship may not get restored so easily. And if this is true of us, how much more true is it of God as he regards the sins of those who are not believers in Christ.
Before I move on, indulge me for a moment. Let these words linger in your mind. Consider your relation to God before he reached out to you. And, if you are here and you have not trusted in Christ alone for your salvation, these words are painfully true of you today. Separated. Alienated. Strangers. No hope. Without God.
Brothers. Sisters. As Paul will make clear in the very next verse, this is what Jesus restored for us. We should be rightly in awe of the forgiveness that Jesus purchased for us and gave to us without cost or obligation. But we should be doubly in awe because he has also restored a relationship that has been broken since the garden.
Look with me now at verse 13. In a contrast that is every bit as profound as the one in verse 4, Paul lays on us the stunning relational reality of the gospel. Since we can so easily slide right by this, let's savor this magnificent truth: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
And, to add to the awesomeness, this relational restoration is not limited to individuals. Paul intentionally uses group language to show this restoration is corporate as well. Its as if Paul wants to say, we all have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
It was here that I began to realize that maybe my familarity with these truths had deminished their awesomeness in my eyes. Thankfully, the Spirit brought me some passages outside of Eph 2 to highlight the grandure of what Christ has restored to us. Mt 6:9 to my mind: Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." and Gal 4:4-6 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” and Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
How easy it is to forget that without Jesus, God would not be our Father. Nor, would we be near him.
Listen to the terrifying words of Mat 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many
will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and
do many mighty works in your name? ’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
me, you workers of lawlessness. ’
How easy it is to forget that without Christ we would still have the veil of the Jewish sacramental system separating us from God. We would be like the Israelites in Ex 20 when they saw God engulfing Mt Sinai and told Moses “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” And the result was that the people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
But Paul doesn't stop with simple relational nearness. He is moving toward a major point in his letter to the Ephesians and he wants, in a sense, to overwhelm them by what God has accomplished and what Christ has restored. In verses 14 - 17 he talks of peace, breaking down of walls and the killing of hostility and the establishment of reconciliation. The centerpiece of the entire passage is that this peace and reconciliation, this removal of hostility was accomplished through the cross.
Please note that the peace that Paul is referencing is not the simply defined, shallow peace of the 21st century. If I would ask "is there peace in your home?" or "is there peace in that church?", the question you would probably answer would be "is there an absence of conflict?" This kind of peace is usually pretty easy to achieve. I can achieve this kind of peace with Sally by understanding what makes her happy and doing it. The same goes for my kids, my boss and my friends. But is this real peace? Is this really what Christ died for, to simply appease an angry sovereign? Some folks may think so, but the peace Jesus brings is so much more.
The peace Paul attributes to Jesus' death on the cross the peace of Shalom. According to one Hebrew scholar, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight--a rich state of affairs in which natural seeds are satisfied and natural gifts are fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. In other words, it is the way things ought to be.
This is the peace, the wholeness, the restored meaning and purpose that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. And, if that isn't enough to bring awe into your hearts and minds, Paul states that Jesus himself is our peace. Jesus doesn't simply give us peace or somehow broker a peace treaty between us and God. He is the one who empowers the shalom and sustains it for all eternity.
But, starting in verse 14, Paul begins to weave in a secondary, yet very important theme. This theme is crucial for our lives not just as individual followers of Christ, but as a community of believers. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul's says that Jesus, who is our peace, has made us both one.
How easy it is to forget that without Christ we would still have the veil of the Jewish sacramental system separating us from God. We would be like the Israelites in Ex 20 when they saw God engulfing Mt Sinai and told Moses “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” And the result was that the people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
But Paul doesn't stop with simple relational nearness. He is moving toward a major point in his letter to the Ephesians and he wants, in a sense, to overwhelm them by what God has accomplished and what Christ has restored. In verses 14 - 17 he talks of peace, breaking down of walls and the killing of hostility and the establishment of reconciliation. The centerpiece of the entire passage is that this peace and reconciliation, this removal of hostility was accomplished through the cross.
Please note that the peace that Paul is referencing is not the simply defined, shallow peace of the 21st century. If I would ask "is there peace in your home?" or "is there peace in that church?", the question you would probably answer would be "is there an absence of conflict?" This kind of peace is usually pretty easy to achieve. I can achieve this kind of peace with Sally by understanding what makes her happy and doing it. The same goes for my kids, my boss and my friends. But is this real peace? Is this really what Christ died for, to simply appease an angry sovereign? Some folks may think so, but the peace Jesus brings is so much more.
The peace Paul attributes to Jesus' death on the cross the peace of Shalom. According to one Hebrew scholar, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight--a rich state of affairs in which natural seeds are satisfied and natural gifts are fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. In other words, it is the way things ought to be.
This is the peace, the wholeness, the restored meaning and purpose that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. And, if that isn't enough to bring awe into your hearts and minds, Paul states that Jesus himself is our peace. Jesus doesn't simply give us peace or somehow broker a peace treaty between us and God. He is the one who empowers the shalom and sustains it for all eternity.
But, starting in verse 14, Paul begins to weave in a secondary, yet very important theme. This theme is crucial for our lives not just as individual followers of Christ, but as a community of believers. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul's says that Jesus, who is our peace, has made us both one.
I don't know about you, but this raises a some questions for me. First, who are "us both"? In other
words, who has Jesus made one? It seems pretty clear from the context of the prior three verses,
Paul has primarily Jews and Gentiles in mind. We can only imagine how huge a statement this would
have been to a reader from either camp. For a Jew with over 2,000 years of religious isolation as their
heritage and sincerely believing that the only way to be right with God is to not only follow God's
commands but theirs as well. To that, God says I have abolished, done away with, destroyed, that
whole system. It will no longer appear to be a means of salvation, and it also no longer be a source of
hostility.
And, to us who are Gentiles, the Spirit says basically the same thing, but on the other side of the equation. Because of Jesus, there is no need for circumcision. Because of Jesus, there is no need to follow the multitudes of extra rules that were added on top of the laws which were appended to the commandments. And, because of Jesus, we are no longer separated from God or from our Jewish neighbors.
That really leads to a second question from verse 14. What does Paul mean, "made us both one"? One what? Or more to the point, one in what sense? As we have seen so far, the main thrust of this passage, and I would dare say the entire New Testament, is that both Jews and Gentiles both can now be one with God through Jesus. The judicial payment for our sins, the giving of his righteousness to us, the drawing us near, the being our peace and so much more belong to all who trust in Christ, not just to those with a Jewish heritage. The reason this may not lead us to awe in part because it is too familiar to us. But to the Gentiles sitting in the church in Ephesus, these words would have been stunning.
But there's more implied in this oneness language. While Paul's main concern is that we grasp the vertical oneness we all have with God through Christ, almost by implication then, we have oneness with each other. If what kept Jew and Gentile apart was that the Jews were rightly related to God, but the Gentiles were not but now both are rightly related to God through the cross, what is there to separate them as brothers and sisters in Christ? If, in the past, the Jews were given rules and laws, not as means of salvation, but as mark of belonging to the family of God, but now those boundary markers has been replaced by faith and repentance, what barrier is there to fellowship between Jews and Gentiles?
My friends, this is an awesome reality that I think we often fail to grasp in significance. This is a fairly homogeneous church in a fairly homogeneous community in a fairly homogeneous part of the country. But, how do we view people who claim to follow Christ from say San Francisco, or New York, or Papua New Guinea or Ghana? I'm not asking do you think they are saved. I'm asking do you really think of them as brothers and sisters in Christ? Whatever barriers there were: racial, cultural, linguistic, economic or educational are broken down in the flesh of our savior.
As Paul moves through his statements about Christ's reconciling work on our behalf, the horizontal distinctions become less and less distinct. We've been joined in one body in verse 16. We are no longer strangers or aliens in verse 19. By verse 22 all Paul can see is the singularity of God's community. He expresses a very similar thought in Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And, to us who are Gentiles, the Spirit says basically the same thing, but on the other side of the equation. Because of Jesus, there is no need for circumcision. Because of Jesus, there is no need to follow the multitudes of extra rules that were added on top of the laws which were appended to the commandments. And, because of Jesus, we are no longer separated from God or from our Jewish neighbors.
That really leads to a second question from verse 14. What does Paul mean, "made us both one"? One what? Or more to the point, one in what sense? As we have seen so far, the main thrust of this passage, and I would dare say the entire New Testament, is that both Jews and Gentiles both can now be one with God through Jesus. The judicial payment for our sins, the giving of his righteousness to us, the drawing us near, the being our peace and so much more belong to all who trust in Christ, not just to those with a Jewish heritage. The reason this may not lead us to awe in part because it is too familiar to us. But to the Gentiles sitting in the church in Ephesus, these words would have been stunning.
But there's more implied in this oneness language. While Paul's main concern is that we grasp the vertical oneness we all have with God through Christ, almost by implication then, we have oneness with each other. If what kept Jew and Gentile apart was that the Jews were rightly related to God, but the Gentiles were not but now both are rightly related to God through the cross, what is there to separate them as brothers and sisters in Christ? If, in the past, the Jews were given rules and laws, not as means of salvation, but as mark of belonging to the family of God, but now those boundary markers has been replaced by faith and repentance, what barrier is there to fellowship between Jews and Gentiles?
My friends, this is an awesome reality that I think we often fail to grasp in significance. This is a fairly homogeneous church in a fairly homogeneous community in a fairly homogeneous part of the country. But, how do we view people who claim to follow Christ from say San Francisco, or New York, or Papua New Guinea or Ghana? I'm not asking do you think they are saved. I'm asking do you really think of them as brothers and sisters in Christ? Whatever barriers there were: racial, cultural, linguistic, economic or educational are broken down in the flesh of our savior.
As Paul moves through his statements about Christ's reconciling work on our behalf, the horizontal distinctions become less and less distinct. We've been joined in one body in verse 16. We are no longer strangers or aliens in verse 19. By verse 22 all Paul can see is the singularity of God's community. He expresses a very similar thought in Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So what is Paul trying to communicate to the church at Ephesus and to us? First, I think this passage
fits in the general euphoric tone that carries through chapters 1-3. Its as if Paul sat down to write
about the greatness of Christ and simply couldn't stop. One layer follows another. First one aspect,
then another, then another. Paul is simply in awe of Jesus.
Second, it seems clear that Paul wanted those who would feel rightly distant from God to know that in Christ, they have been brought near. He wants us to grasp that the hostility our sin has caused has been absorbed by Jesus. He wants us to grasp that we can truly call God our Father, even Abba, Father, because of the perfect obedience and sacrificial death of Christ. In fact Paul states verse 18 that through Jesus we all have access in one Spirit to the Father. Such a statement opens up the whole idea and topic of prayer, which deserves a whole sermon by itself. Yet, Paul's basic premise is that it is Jesus who makes our prayers possible and acceptable to the Father.
Because of all of this, our horizontal relationships can be restored. Christ himself is our peace. Later in the book Paul will call us to forgive as we've been forgiven by God in Christ. While our distinctions are not erased or diminished, they are subsumed into the greater glory of Jesus crafting one new man out of the two.
But there is another awe inspiring aspect to what Paul is building toward. He starts verse 19 with "so then", which should clue us in that he is going to make is own concluding comments. The first conclusion he states is that we have gone through a change of affiliation. We are no long aliens and strangers; outsiders looking in. We are now fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Paul is drawing the connections between the ideas of nationality and family. Whatever our status before Christ, we are now citizens of the kingdom of God. And, when the earth is restored, there will only be one kingdom. It won't be Rome and it won't be America. It will be the kingdom of God.
Along side our citizenship, we are also in the family of God. Its awesome and amazing to think that we have been placed in the kingdom of God because of Christ, but it is another thing entirely to think we are in God's family. That level of intimacy seems almost too much, as if Paul went to the well of the glories of the cross one too many times. And yet here it is, with its manifold familial implications. God is tender and loving and patient with his children. He wants what's best for us and is not out to trick us or trap us. As Matt Chandler is fond of saying, God not only loves us, he actually likes us. Isn't this the implication from Jesus in Lk 11 that I mentioned earlier?
But Paul is still not done. As he uses this inclusive, expansive, relational language, he begins to weave in a building metaphor. First he states that Jesus is our cornerstone. The cornerstone of our faith, to be sure, and he is the source of our citizenship and the reason we are in the household of God. But he is also the cornerstone of a holy temple. But how are we to relate to this imagery?
Think back for a moment to the Old Testament. Consider the progression of how God met with his people. First it was in the vague generalness of Mt Sinai. Then it progressed to the more specific and ornamental, yet temporary and somewhat obscure tabernacle. Then, with Solomon, God
Second, it seems clear that Paul wanted those who would feel rightly distant from God to know that in Christ, they have been brought near. He wants us to grasp that the hostility our sin has caused has been absorbed by Jesus. He wants us to grasp that we can truly call God our Father, even Abba, Father, because of the perfect obedience and sacrificial death of Christ. In fact Paul states verse 18 that through Jesus we all have access in one Spirit to the Father. Such a statement opens up the whole idea and topic of prayer, which deserves a whole sermon by itself. Yet, Paul's basic premise is that it is Jesus who makes our prayers possible and acceptable to the Father.
Because of all of this, our horizontal relationships can be restored. Christ himself is our peace. Later in the book Paul will call us to forgive as we've been forgiven by God in Christ. While our distinctions are not erased or diminished, they are subsumed into the greater glory of Jesus crafting one new man out of the two.
But there is another awe inspiring aspect to what Paul is building toward. He starts verse 19 with "so then", which should clue us in that he is going to make is own concluding comments. The first conclusion he states is that we have gone through a change of affiliation. We are no long aliens and strangers; outsiders looking in. We are now fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Paul is drawing the connections between the ideas of nationality and family. Whatever our status before Christ, we are now citizens of the kingdom of God. And, when the earth is restored, there will only be one kingdom. It won't be Rome and it won't be America. It will be the kingdom of God.
Along side our citizenship, we are also in the family of God. Its awesome and amazing to think that we have been placed in the kingdom of God because of Christ, but it is another thing entirely to think we are in God's family. That level of intimacy seems almost too much, as if Paul went to the well of the glories of the cross one too many times. And yet here it is, with its manifold familial implications. God is tender and loving and patient with his children. He wants what's best for us and is not out to trick us or trap us. As Matt Chandler is fond of saying, God not only loves us, he actually likes us. Isn't this the implication from Jesus in Lk 11 that I mentioned earlier?
But Paul is still not done. As he uses this inclusive, expansive, relational language, he begins to weave in a building metaphor. First he states that Jesus is our cornerstone. The cornerstone of our faith, to be sure, and he is the source of our citizenship and the reason we are in the household of God. But he is also the cornerstone of a holy temple. But how are we to relate to this imagery?
Think back for a moment to the Old Testament. Consider the progression of how God met with his people. First it was in the vague generalness of Mt Sinai. Then it progressed to the more specific and ornamental, yet temporary and somewhat obscure tabernacle. Then, with Solomon, God
commissioned his temple. Given the reality that God is omnipresent, it is also true that there was a
special manifestation of God's glory which dwelt in the temple. (For extra credit, read Ezk 8-11,
noting the change between 8:4 and 11:23)
Now, in the New Testament, where does God's glory dwell? To be sure, it is still in the temple, but not a temple made with bricks and mortar. In one sense we individually are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19) But here in Eph 2 and in 1 Cor 3 as well as in other places, God has inspired Paul to declare the church, this collection of blood bought believers in Christ as his dwelling place by the Spirit.
As I reflect on this reality, I have to admit I'm a bit stunned. I can track with the Old Testament progression of mountainside to tent to building, each more concrete and glorious and representative of the nature and character of God. But the church? But the glory of God here, in this ordinary, mid- western collection of redeemed sinners? If we are honest, this is hard to track. It really seems antithetical to where God's glory should dwell and his honor should be displayed. In a word, it is upside-down.
And yet, recall Andrew LeClaire's sermon from a month or so ago. One of his main points and the main point of the second part of 1 Cor 1 is that God's wisdom and our wisdom are flipped. Jesus' birth in a stable? Foolish. Proclaim the message that will change all of history to twelve common men? Foolish. Allow mankind's only hope of restoration to a holy God to be captured by vengeful religious and political leaders of his day? Foolish. Permit the torture, execution, death of the innocent one? Foolish. Rise from the dead and appear not to the ones to killed you but to the ones who abandoned you at your time of need? Foolish? Entrust the good news of God's redemptive plan and Jesus' saving death to ordinary people who would tell ordinary people? Foolish. And dwell among those people as a demonstration of your glory and majesty and a manifestation of your multifaceted wisdom? Foolish. Foolish. Foolish.
And yet God has done all of these things. He has done them to demonstrate that his economy is different than ours. He has done this to show the immeasurable expanse of his love and grace. He has done this to declare that he alone is God and that to him alone belongs glory and honor and praise.
So, where do we go from here? Part of the impetus for this sermon was the growing realization in my own heart and mind of the incredible value Jesus and apostles had for the church. The more I read both the Old and New Testatments, the more I see God pouring himself out not just for you or for me, but for us. Do you recall Jesus' promise to Peter in Mt 16 after Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ? Jesus proclaims: "I will build my church".
On top of that, I think we need to be called back to the radical, upside down nature of God's community. Take a slow, reflective read through Rom 12-15 or 1 Cor 3-14. Even here in the book of Ephesians, I challenge you to make sense of Paul's heart outside of the context of the gospel working in the blood bought family of God.
And at the end, I come back to awe, which leads to worship. There is much I haven't even touched.
Now, in the New Testament, where does God's glory dwell? To be sure, it is still in the temple, but not a temple made with bricks and mortar. In one sense we individually are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19) But here in Eph 2 and in 1 Cor 3 as well as in other places, God has inspired Paul to declare the church, this collection of blood bought believers in Christ as his dwelling place by the Spirit.
As I reflect on this reality, I have to admit I'm a bit stunned. I can track with the Old Testament progression of mountainside to tent to building, each more concrete and glorious and representative of the nature and character of God. But the church? But the glory of God here, in this ordinary, mid- western collection of redeemed sinners? If we are honest, this is hard to track. It really seems antithetical to where God's glory should dwell and his honor should be displayed. In a word, it is upside-down.
And yet, recall Andrew LeClaire's sermon from a month or so ago. One of his main points and the main point of the second part of 1 Cor 1 is that God's wisdom and our wisdom are flipped. Jesus' birth in a stable? Foolish. Proclaim the message that will change all of history to twelve common men? Foolish. Allow mankind's only hope of restoration to a holy God to be captured by vengeful religious and political leaders of his day? Foolish. Permit the torture, execution, death of the innocent one? Foolish. Rise from the dead and appear not to the ones to killed you but to the ones who abandoned you at your time of need? Foolish? Entrust the good news of God's redemptive plan and Jesus' saving death to ordinary people who would tell ordinary people? Foolish. And dwell among those people as a demonstration of your glory and majesty and a manifestation of your multifaceted wisdom? Foolish. Foolish. Foolish.
And yet God has done all of these things. He has done them to demonstrate that his economy is different than ours. He has done this to show the immeasurable expanse of his love and grace. He has done this to declare that he alone is God and that to him alone belongs glory and honor and praise.
So, where do we go from here? Part of the impetus for this sermon was the growing realization in my own heart and mind of the incredible value Jesus and apostles had for the church. The more I read both the Old and New Testatments, the more I see God pouring himself out not just for you or for me, but for us. Do you recall Jesus' promise to Peter in Mt 16 after Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ? Jesus proclaims: "I will build my church".
On top of that, I think we need to be called back to the radical, upside down nature of God's community. Take a slow, reflective read through Rom 12-15 or 1 Cor 3-14. Even here in the book of Ephesians, I challenge you to make sense of Paul's heart outside of the context of the gospel working in the blood bought family of God.
And at the end, I come back to awe, which leads to worship. There is much I haven't even touched.
What drives and sustains this upside down community? How can we really be one in Christ if we are
so different? What is my commitment to you and what is your commitment to me? Some of these
questions may be addressed in future sermons as the Lord allows.
But today let us simply stand in awe of God. He has done something beyond amazing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And, he is doing something equally amazing by joining weak, frail clay pots into the dwelling place for his Spirit to be the demonstration of his manifold wisdom to a lost and dying word and to all principalities and powers in the heavenly realms. And we, by God's grace, are all participants in it.
To God Alone be the Glory.
But today let us simply stand in awe of God. He has done something beyond amazing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And, he is doing something equally amazing by joining weak, frail clay pots into the dwelling place for his Spirit to be the demonstration of his manifold wisdom to a lost and dying word and to all principalities and powers in the heavenly realms. And we, by God's grace, are all participants in it.
To God Alone be the Glory.
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