back to indexWed Bible Study Ephesians Lesson 8
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- All right, hello, church family, those of you guys tuning in from home, I pray that 00:00:09.820 |
And what a blessing it is to be able to, even like this, be able to study the scriptures 00:00:16.340 |
And we do again ask that just efforts be made to have some type of interaction where you 00:00:21.500 |
can discuss your findings and your observations about the passage, and also your personal 00:00:27.660 |
reflections and applications as well so that you can mutually encourage each other. 00:00:35.260 |
We do pray that you guys are following along in the study, and also in terms of announcements 00:00:41.800 |
and updates that you guys are being informed through the website and our Facebook pages. 00:00:47.180 |
Now before we begin the study, I do want to make a quick shout out to our sound booth 00:00:51.700 |
I just want you to know you can't see him, but we are together alone in the massive sanctuary 00:00:57.460 |
and this is going to be a blessed experience. 00:01:00.100 |
And as a benefit to him, I'm going to be preaching directly at him. 00:01:03.820 |
All right, well, take a look at our passage in Ephesians chapter two, starting from verses 00:01:14.220 |
Before we get there, we always do have to look at the passage in context. 00:01:18.680 |
And so we want to review for a moment the things that happened already in chapter two. 00:01:26.140 |
Remember that in chapter two, we were reminded in part one about the amazing truth of the 00:01:31.140 |
gospel, that although previously we were absolutely dead in our transgressions and sins, that 00:01:40.820 |
And this he was doing to show his surpassing riches of the grace and kindness towards us 00:01:48.600 |
And then in the section immediately after part two of chapter two, verses 11 through 00:01:53.840 |
22, we notice that he was revealing the relational reconciliation aspect of the gospel. 00:02:03.280 |
And so this in your packet is a blank for you there to jot in that God was showing 00:02:09.560 |
within this passage, the relational reconciliation in which, although we were incredibly far, 00:02:16.120 |
although we were separate, although essentially we were without hope and without a God in 00:02:20.720 |
the world, through Christ he has brought us near. 00:02:26.040 |
And as a matter of fact, that to us then is our greatest gain, that we have access relationally 00:02:34.640 |
Now one thing to highlight, this portion today, verse 19 through 22, is the ending portion 00:02:43.480 |
It was just one long paragraph that we split into because there was so much there. 00:02:49.400 |
And so with that said, we want to then go into looking at our passage. 00:02:57.040 |
Here I'll read it for us, starting from verse 19. 00:02:59.240 |
It says, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with 00:03:04.600 |
the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles 00:03:10.040 |
and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being 00:03:15.360 |
fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built 00:03:21.320 |
together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." 00:03:25.760 |
Let's all take a moment to pray, to ask God to bless the study of his word. 00:03:34.320 |
Father, your truth, scripture says, is unshakable. 00:03:39.200 |
Though many things fade, especially we as humans, Lord, in generations we fade, God, 00:03:48.360 |
And we thank you, God, that you are giving to us your word, your precious word, and God, 00:03:53.440 |
that you are teaching us your incredible gospel. 00:03:56.720 |
We pray, Lord, with both appreciation, gratefulness in our hearts, we will continue to learn of 00:04:05.080 |
Now, taking a look, let's see, here, into the very first section, what I like to do 00:04:17.440 |
is just go through the questions, the study questions that I had laid out, and one by 00:04:23.040 |
one go through the questions and answer them, and that's how I'll review the passage for 00:04:28.000 |
Now, in question one, I asked this question, in verse 19 through 22, what is the relationship 00:04:35.120 |
with this portion, with the previous section of scripture, as it's supposed to belong together, 00:04:42.240 |
Well, recall again, that if the section was saying that you were dead, and then you were 00:04:48.040 |
made alive, and if in chapter two, we were being taught that we were far off, but now 00:04:53.120 |
we're being brought together, here, in verse 19 through 22, we are being shown the ramifications 00:05:02.240 |
of those gospel truths, that as Christ is working the gospel, meaning working out salvation, 00:05:10.640 |
this has then ramifications about what it means for us, what we become, who we are, 00:05:16.640 |
and that begins already in the previous section. 00:05:19.440 |
Here, if you notice the PowerPoint, I highlight for you the ramifications that the passage 00:05:25.560 |
is already teaching us, that Christ, in doing so, in causing us to be reconciled, is making 00:05:34.400 |
In Christ causing us to be reconciled and brought to God, he's bringing us in one body 00:05:39.320 |
to God, and so already we see the ramifications of what Christ is doing in salvation, and 00:05:47.440 |
so in our section today, we're looking here, and I'd like to highlight for you, as I 00:05:51.480 |
read this section one more time, that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you 00:05:56.600 |
are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, and if you notice, I 00:06:03.600 |
bolded the words at the beginning, so then, as a means to show you that kind of ramification, 00:06:09.520 |
and then what's more, the second half of this portion, starting from verse 20, it says, 00:06:13.480 |
"Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself 00:06:18.160 |
being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy 00:06:24.440 |
temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the 00:06:33.000 |
Spirit," and therefore, we can say what salvation means for us then, is that we, as 00:06:43.160 |
These are, yes, metaphorical pictures, but these have incredible ramifications for us, 00:06:49.360 |
and if you notice, after each metaphor, after each picture, I placed a little arrow, because 00:06:56.080 |
those metaphors, those pictures then have ramifications even of their own, that this 00:07:04.080 |
This is what every single person, every believer in the church should be trying to reflect, 00:07:10.440 |
that then we are actually emulating or fulfilling this picture that God has for us as a believer, 00:07:15.960 |
as one body, one household, one temple, a dwelling place of God. 00:07:21.680 |
And so, as you think about this, primarily, in chapters one through three of the entire 00:07:31.120 |
There is a movement from personal salvation and the ramification of what that means for 00:07:37.960 |
And so, as a matter of fact, the book of Ephesians has incredible, incredible things to say, 00:07:44.400 |
teachings, instructions of how we are to both conduct ourselves within the church, but more 00:07:53.800 |
And so, I want to give a quick, brief challenge. 00:07:56.720 |
When we were supposed to be thinking about the blessings of God, let's not be so myopic 00:08:02.120 |
to think just about how we are blessed as a person, but let's really think how we are 00:08:07.520 |
blessed as a church, as a community of God, because there's so much for us within the 00:08:12.680 |
context of what God is doing, not just for the one individual you, but for the collective 00:08:21.600 |
So then, that's how the two passages connect, verses 18, sorry, verses 11 through 18, and 00:08:27.520 |
then today's passage, verse 19 through 22, we are seeing the ramifications of what that 00:08:37.080 |
And then so, the next question is, what is the contrast between strangers and aliens 00:08:42.440 |
versus the citizens with saints and household? 00:08:45.240 |
Now, I apologize when I released the previous handout, I forgot to include the word household 00:08:50.880 |
into this question, but we see the contrast there immediately, and if you look upon the 00:08:55.800 |
PowerPoint, I highlight the contrast for you there. 00:08:59.160 |
He pits these two terms, strangers and aliens, against the ideas of citizenship and becoming 00:09:09.240 |
We can just begin by saying this contrast is absolutely huge, right? 00:09:14.280 |
And we talked about it a lot in the previous session, so I'm not going to necessarily be 00:09:17.920 |
talking about it as much right now, but I'm going to just simply highlight what it really 00:09:25.080 |
But by way of reminder, let's just recall that this contrast is so big. 00:09:31.180 |
To be strangers and aliens meant that we were, I guess the best way to put it is, foreigners 00:09:38.920 |
We're illegal, okay, aliens within this place, so to speak. 00:09:43.800 |
And so, if you take a moment to just think about that, to be a foreigner into any place 00:09:49.560 |
where you're not supposed to be there, it is actually very, very scary. 00:09:54.640 |
I mean, if you were to sneak into a theater, you know you have this anxiety like, "Oh, 00:09:59.360 |
my gosh, I'm going to get caught and kicked out." 00:10:01.320 |
You go into a gym and you're not a member, you can't use any other stuff. 00:10:04.920 |
If you are not an actual citizen, then you have no rights, you have no protection, you 00:10:11.440 |
have no provisions, no opportunities, no right to labor, you have no stake in the kingdom. 00:10:24.000 |
And the contrast is that actually he calls us citizens with the saints. 00:10:30.040 |
Take a moment to meditate and reflect on that. 00:10:33.120 |
If just a moment ago I said, "Think about all that it means to not be a citizen. 00:10:37.520 |
Think about all the things that it means to be a citizen. 00:10:40.720 |
But think about also what it means to be a citizen, not just of any old nation. 00:10:46.360 |
You're not becoming a citizen of a nice nation. 00:10:49.160 |
You're not becoming a citizen of even, let's say, a great nation like the US. 00:10:55.960 |
But you are becoming a citizen of a kingdom with a powerful king. 00:11:02.040 |
You are becoming a citizen of a kingdom in which whose kingdom has no end. 00:11:12.240 |
You have a king who has all good intentions in his heart for his people. 00:11:20.720 |
I remember one time watching this military movie about 12 individuals who were in Iraq 00:11:26.800 |
and they had to traverse with Iraqi soldiers in order to go into the depths of the nation, 00:11:34.040 |
And within that, of course, they hit many moments where it's dicey. 00:11:37.680 |
Many moments where it's dangerous and there's high risk. 00:11:39.960 |
And what's really interesting about it is one of the Iraqi soldiers turned to the American 00:11:44.080 |
soldier and said, "You've got nothing to worry about. 00:11:47.520 |
You don't have to worry them and you don't have to worry us. 00:11:50.400 |
Because if you get hurt, your country comes after you." 00:11:56.180 |
If you are a citizen, the country has your back. 00:12:01.440 |
And if you think then the privilege of becoming a citizen of God's kingdom, God's kingdom 00:12:08.040 |
has then his protection, his provision, his banner over you. 00:12:16.660 |
And so we want to be able to see that contrast, to appreciate prior to you had none of this, 00:12:25.720 |
but through Christ, now you are fellow citizens with the saints. 00:12:32.220 |
I want us to turn to a passage in the book of Romans, Romans chapter nine. 00:12:36.360 |
Because it's a lengthy verse, I don't have it on the PowerPoint. 00:12:39.080 |
I would like you to turn there in your Bibles to take a look. 00:12:43.000 |
It's Romans chapter nine, verse 22 through 24. 00:12:50.780 |
Prior to coming to faith, we were, you can think of it like this, second class citizens. 00:12:58.660 |
And so we weren't even, we have no privileges. 00:13:05.380 |
Romans chapter nine, verse 22 says this, "What if God, although willing to demonstrate his 00:13:11.420 |
wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared 00:13:22.540 |
Vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, who are they? 00:13:26.660 |
Does that include only the wicked nations of the past, the Babylonians and the Assyrians? 00:13:32.480 |
Or does that actually include every nation so far? 00:13:36.180 |
Does that include every Gentile, every ethnic? 00:13:40.880 |
Verse 23, "And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, 00:13:45.980 |
which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom he also called, not from among the 00:13:51.300 |
Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles." 00:13:56.180 |
Now turn again in Romans chapter 11, verses 13 through 21. 00:14:04.520 |
This passage continues on this thought, this amazing truth that God has not only called 00:14:10.380 |
from the chosen nation of the Jews, but he's called then of those nations who were to be 00:14:20.460 |
Even from among them, God has chosen some to be vessels of his mercy. 00:14:30.660 |
He says, "But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles." 00:14:34.060 |
So listen up, because that includes all of us. 00:14:36.420 |
"Inasmuch as then I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. 00:14:42.060 |
If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. 00:14:47.260 |
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be 00:14:54.700 |
If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. 00:15:00.700 |
But if some of the branches are broken off and you, being a wild olive, were grafted 00:15:05.900 |
in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not 00:15:13.700 |
But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who support the roots, but the 00:15:20.300 |
You will say then, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' 00:15:24.060 |
Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. 00:15:32.940 |
For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either." 00:15:39.140 |
You have to appreciate the great contrast so that you would stay humble. 00:15:45.700 |
To believe and think, "Of course God would save us, He has to," right? 00:15:54.100 |
To think that it has always been, it is now, and will for always be that God's immense 00:15:58.820 |
love would just save all of us and so be it, we're just all the entire church from before 00:16:07.100 |
There is a clear contrast He wants you to understand before you had nothing. 00:16:15.060 |
And only now in Christ you have everything as a citizen and you have to appreciate that. 00:16:21.340 |
And what's more, let's look at the concept of the household. 00:16:27.660 |
To be called a citizen would be an immense, immense, rich, rich mercy for us. 00:16:34.540 |
That we would be called citizens of the kingdom of God. 00:16:37.940 |
But then, not only to be placed from an outside foreigner, to be brought into the kingdom, 00:16:44.980 |
and then to be brought into the king's household. 00:16:54.020 |
That we are brought into his household and that God considers us fellow heirs. 00:17:02.740 |
That Christ would bring many brothers into his household. 00:17:07.460 |
And so, scripture says, a passage I want to highlight for you is Galatians chapter 4, 00:17:14.340 |
If you have a moment, take a moment to turn there in your Bibles. 00:17:21.140 |
"When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born 00:17:26.620 |
under the law, so that he might redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive 00:17:33.700 |
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 00:17:41.140 |
Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 00:17:48.300 |
You were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 00:17:52.540 |
But now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, how is it that you 00:17:57.820 |
turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be 00:18:06.140 |
And that passage is just, asks you this rhetorical question. 00:18:09.180 |
It doesn't even make sense that you would even desire, even for a moment, to turn away 00:18:17.300 |
Just to have the privilege to call God Almighty your Abba Father would be to you like going 00:18:29.980 |
And that's the whole question in Galatians chapter 4. 00:18:39.220 |
Do you understand what it means to go from absolute stranger and alien to then citizen 00:18:44.300 |
of His amazing kingdom and then to be a member of His household? 00:18:50.420 |
Now because today we're talking a lot about church, take a moment to ask this question. 00:18:55.740 |
Is it appropriate then for us to think about our church in this way, this metaphorical 00:19:07.420 |
Many portions of scripture, as a matter of fact, will say to those leaders of the church, 00:19:12.660 |
teach the congregation how to conduct oneself in the household of God. 00:19:18.860 |
For many people, their citizenship into a nation, to them is both their refuge, their 00:19:28.300 |
The church in many ways should that be for the believer. 00:19:31.660 |
And what's more, for a lot of people, their household, their household then is the cause 00:19:49.580 |
Now we're going to talk more and more about how the church should be, but that challenge 00:19:53.980 |
there is for us there in the metaphor itself. 00:19:57.500 |
If God is conceiving us, depicting our salvation to lead to this, that by identity we would 00:20:04.220 |
be then fellow citizens and also fellow members of the household, we have to think about the 00:20:10.980 |
Now let's move forward to question number three. 00:20:14.620 |
What is the metaphor of the cornerstone trying to communicate? 00:20:18.540 |
And so again, what is the metaphor of the cornerstone trying to communicate? 00:20:22.400 |
And so in thinking about this, let's take a moment to look at the passage, okay? 00:20:27.660 |
Take a moment to look at the passage where it says, "Having been built on the foundation 00:20:32.660 |
of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the 00:20:38.260 |
whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you 00:20:43.700 |
also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit." 00:20:49.060 |
Now what I'd like to do for you is highlight several key terms. 00:20:53.940 |
As we ask the question, what is this metaphor trying to communicate and teach us? 00:21:02.220 |
Notice how there are certain verbs that I circled, which is this household of God is 00:21:10.100 |
This building of God is being fit together, and this temple of God is being built currently. 00:21:18.420 |
So right now, we have to get our mind into the mode of construction, into the build. 00:21:23.460 |
And what I'm talking about is many other portions of scripture tell us that God is 00:21:28.700 |
building up within the church, his holy building, his holy temple, his holy household. 00:21:35.920 |
For example, 1 Peter 2, verse 5 says, "You also, as living stones, are being built up 00:21:41.900 |
as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable 00:21:50.600 |
So what's going on is there is construction going on. 00:21:57.760 |
And just a few years ago, we were all part of it for our church building, right? 00:22:01.260 |
And so many times throughout that process, you know what happened? 00:22:06.520 |
There was inspections as to the integrity of the structure. 00:22:11.680 |
There was questions as to the integrity of the concrete foundation. 00:22:15.320 |
There was questions as to the integrity of every bolt. 00:22:18.040 |
There was questions as to the integrity of every strut and every beam in the roof. 00:22:22.760 |
I want you to think about that because then what it's talking about is that when there 00:22:28.160 |
is a build going on, there is a question to the structural integrity. 00:22:37.200 |
And when the passage says, "Christ himself is the cornerstone," you then have to understand 00:22:44.160 |
there is a question about how is this being built? 00:22:47.460 |
And the answer is we have a sound, unshakable, absolute, precious, and costly foundation 00:22:58.240 |
This building is amazing, essentially is what we're saying. 00:23:02.640 |
If Christ is a sure foundation, then we have a strong foundation that will last, unshakable. 00:23:09.760 |
Basically, the way I want to put it is like this. 00:23:13.360 |
Typically, when anybody builds a building, they start going through the cost, right? 00:23:17.920 |
Even, you know, Jesus, when he did in parables, like, nobody begins a building project and 00:23:26.320 |
And then the thing about it is in an ideal world, you would have just an endless budget, 00:23:31.920 |
But I want you to take a moment just to think about what I just said. 00:23:39.120 |
What an amazing fantasy it would be if the next time you were thinking about your home 00:23:43.880 |
remodeling, if the next time we were thinking about our church building, that there was 00:23:55.060 |
We used all of the highest, not just good stuff, not just medium stuff, not just safe 00:24:00.900 |
stuff, but we used all the highest, most quality material to build. 00:24:05.640 |
And when the inspection came, it was like, "Wow, you spared no expense for this." 00:24:11.300 |
I want to highlight for you an interesting passage. 00:24:17.300 |
The scripture says, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am laying in Zion 00:24:22.360 |
a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. 00:24:29.480 |
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.'" 00:24:36.380 |
I mean, just think about any kind of structure. 00:24:38.880 |
You put the walls in, you put the foundation in, and then you put its load, you put its 00:24:43.920 |
weight on there, and it doesn't creak, crack, or it doesn't even move. 00:24:49.520 |
Christ has said he's going to establish his church. 00:24:53.640 |
And Christ, he is the one who created this world. 00:24:57.080 |
And you will notice, as Apostle Paul talks about the beauties of the church, all of a 00:25:00.880 |
sudden, randomly, just randomly within the context of the passage, he'll say, "Who created 00:25:13.240 |
And so figuratively, Christ being the chief cornerstone is everything to the church. 00:25:18.640 |
He is the chief cornerstone who sets the parameters, who sets the weight, who sets the direction. 00:25:25.840 |
Everything is set upon Christ, the firm foundation. 00:25:32.880 |
And earlier, what I said is the church is going to be tested. 00:25:41.580 |
And I want to turn to an interesting passage where Apostle Paul describes this. 00:25:45.700 |
He says in 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9, "For we are God's fellow workers, 00:25:57.940 |
According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid 00:26:05.540 |
But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 00:26:08.160 |
For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 00:26:14.220 |
Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, 00:26:20.540 |
straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it, because it is to 00:26:29.520 |
And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 00:26:34.420 |
If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 00:26:38.920 |
If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so 00:26:44.900 |
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 00:26:50.460 |
If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is 00:27:04.540 |
There is so much good teaching here of how the churches should be built. 00:27:11.620 |
As a matter of fact, I mean, sometimes people ask us like, "What's your model of discipleship? 00:27:20.940 |
Now in some sense it's difficult because seasons change, our congregation may look different, 00:27:26.940 |
We have different struggles through different stages of our growth. 00:27:30.860 |
But there's a sense in which church philosophy is easy because it's already set for us in 00:27:37.820 |
You guys know so many times in church history and now, even for our leadership, people have 00:27:43.580 |
all sorts of opinions and ideas about how church should be done. 00:27:47.780 |
I mean, there are so many ideas and criticisms, and then sometimes there are not only criticisms, 00:27:55.260 |
Sometimes there are all sorts of things that come out of our way that kind of pressure 00:27:58.440 |
us on one side or another to do something about the church, to grow it in a certain 00:28:04.660 |
There have been people who want to essentially try guinea pig with the church. 00:28:07.780 |
The church has become sometimes a lab rat for people who like building stuff, entrepreneurs, 00:28:22.940 |
Sometimes people want us to try different business models. 00:28:25.780 |
And there has even been a movement in recent church history called the Emergent Movement, 00:28:30.220 |
which was essentially to say, "Let's redefine church." 00:28:35.340 |
There is a meta-narrative, and that narrative is ever-developing, they would say. 00:28:40.180 |
That the church story is ongoing, and therefore, it must be developing and changing. 00:28:46.260 |
And to that, we just say, "No, that's not what the Scripture says." 00:28:52.420 |
We don't get to just say there's this big, grand story that we think is going to be developing 00:28:59.220 |
Our Lord, God, Christ our Savior, He is once and for all delivered up for us. 00:29:07.540 |
And He has become already the chief cornerstone that has already set the trajectory of the 00:29:13.940 |
And by Him, He is going to determine whether this has been built correctly or not. 00:29:21.300 |
He's going to come, and He who holds the seven stars in His hand is going to judge every 00:29:26.140 |
church for the content of its build, for the quality of its foundation, for the fruit of 00:29:36.580 |
And so for us, we have to have all that in mind when we think about Christ being the 00:29:45.260 |
It must be that Christ is the sure foundation. 00:29:49.360 |
And so I ask you, if for you, what you hope that the church would become, like what you 00:29:57.740 |
think of the church when you think, "Oh, this is a really good church." 00:30:03.380 |
If it doesn't have the character of Christ in it, if it doesn't have the structure, if 00:30:07.540 |
it doesn't have the foundation, and if it doesn't have the purpose of Christ in that 00:30:11.740 |
picture, you have to radically redefine what's happening here. 00:30:19.560 |
Lastly, let's move on to question number four. 00:30:24.260 |
What else does this passage teach us about the church? 00:30:27.880 |
We're asking the question a lot about what does this passage really teach us about the 00:30:36.740 |
As we take a look at the passage again, I'll read it for us, and it says, "In whom the 00:30:40.500 |
whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in 00:30:46.580 |
whom you also are being built together into dwelling of God in the Spirit." 00:30:53.020 |
Now again, I think it's pretty amazing that Apostle Paul, without specifically using the 00:30:58.220 |
term church, he's given now such a vivid, a vibrant picture of what the church should 00:31:06.020 |
But amongst this picture, obviously we see that he is emphasizing and repeating the idea 00:31:11.300 |
that the church should be the temple, the holy temple, which is a dwelling place of 00:31:25.260 |
God is active to cause us as a church, a Berean community church, to be holy for himself. 00:31:33.820 |
And he desires that his very presence should all the more be evident within our church, 00:31:41.540 |
So the church should truly be a place where the presence of God is more transparent because 00:31:47.020 |
we are actively exercising our faith, because we as Christians are emulating and mimicking 00:31:53.140 |
his character of holiness, because we as Christians are mimicking and emulating his love, his 00:31:58.540 |
great patience, all the stuff that we do in faith, in likeness of our God, should make 00:32:16.380 |
And what's more, I want to highlight this point, that the church is in the process of 00:32:23.500 |
The church is in the process of emulating, is radically changing, it's being transformed, 00:32:31.980 |
all the weak joints are being strengthened, and that's what I want to highlight for you. 00:32:36.780 |
And so I'd like to say again, when we think about the church, and perhaps in the process 00:32:45.920 |
We get very frustrated because it's like, "Ugh, it's just not what I think it should 00:32:51.780 |
Do we have that thought that's rolling in our heads, and that's the context. 00:32:55.660 |
God is working to cause us to be holy, reflecting his character, but this is a process of the 00:33:00.140 |
build where he's fitting many pieces together. 00:33:04.460 |
And if we've never been a part of any kind of process that takes many years, a long time, 00:33:10.100 |
it takes time where sometimes we think people should be here, people should be there, people 00:33:14.340 |
should be in certain maturity, and sometimes that maturity doesn't happen, are we going 00:33:17.860 |
to be frustrated and say, "Ugh, forget this then"? 00:33:23.340 |
Maybe the plan is wrong, maybe God had a silly idea. 00:33:31.320 |
But in humility, our interpretations have to know that God is building this church. 00:33:37.780 |
And in as much as it might not seem like it's working, it might not seem to be going as 00:33:42.060 |
fast or developing like the way that we want it to be, we have to humbly invest ourselves 00:33:50.980 |
And so let me ask you, was there ever a time where you just fed up with the church? 00:33:56.140 |
Was there ever a time where you just disappointed, just flat out disappointed? 00:34:00.560 |
Was there ever a time where you critiqued the church? 00:34:03.180 |
And on the flip side, was there ever a time where you just said, "You know what, this 00:34:07.140 |
As a matter of fact, I like it the way it is, let's not change anything"? 00:34:13.060 |
On both sides of the spectrum, whether you want the church to radically change because 00:34:18.700 |
you're just fed up with it, or you want the church to stay the same because you don't 00:34:22.500 |
want it to move, or you don't want to adapt to the changes, we recognize the church is 00:34:33.340 |
And so finally, I want to just give you some takeaway thoughts. 00:34:37.200 |
From today's passage, we recognize, wow, the church is vitally important in the current 00:34:47.020 |
If God is saying that the church carries with it the significance of citizenship in a kingdom, 00:34:54.660 |
I mean, you have no idea how important citizenship really means. 00:35:01.420 |
There are people literally lined up for years. 00:35:04.540 |
There are people who have signed up for US naturalization, it took them 12 years. 00:35:09.100 |
In certain countries, I just did a little bit of research, there's a country called 00:35:13.740 |
There's an individual who's been waiting 30 years to become a citizen of that country. 00:35:18.100 |
And as a matter of fact, pretty much, unless both your parents are citizens of that country, 00:35:25.660 |
I mean, if God is putting into the church such a value because He sees it that way, 00:35:31.500 |
because He wants it to be this, that He's putting the value of His household. 00:35:36.420 |
Think about how vitally important the church should be in our attitude, in our perspective. 00:35:42.740 |
And so what's more, when we think about the church and its program, it is so, so important. 00:35:49.300 |
It's not just to be like, "Okay, let's hold it up here." 00:35:55.280 |
As each and every one of you, we learn to use our gifting personality and everything 00:36:03.780 |
Because by you doing that within the church, God wants to reveal aspects of His own character. 00:36:11.660 |
God wants to make more manifest His very presence. 00:36:15.420 |
You playing your role as the arm, as the feet, as the nose, whatever it may be. 00:36:24.460 |
You exercising greater self-discipline, your desire to grow in holiness and righteousness. 00:36:30.340 |
Do you understand that God is using every piece of that to make sure He is more evident, 00:36:39.900 |
And especially in this session, I mean, just recently, I hope that you guys saw Pastor 00:36:45.260 |
Peter's post of how because we're not able to meet right now in person, in many ways, 00:36:53.100 |
it causes us to even appreciate and long for fellowship all the more. 00:36:58.660 |
And I know every single one of you can resonate with that. 00:37:01.580 |
And especially during now, when I see people volunteering in the midst of when it's difficult 00:37:06.780 |
to volunteer, in the midst when we have to weigh the options of do we do this and do 00:37:15.500 |
Because we're not able to meet right now and because we're not able to physically be together, 00:37:21.060 |
it's all the more long, there's all the more longing. 00:37:24.460 |
And I hope that even especially given this passage, when we think about the value that 00:37:29.060 |
God places into the church, then we all the more say, "Yes, Lord, we hope to be a part 00:37:46.420 |
We recognize, Lord, that every angle, every need that we have, you have thoroughly blessed 00:37:54.140 |
Through the study of Ephesians, you have already tended to the greatest need that we have, 00:38:01.980 |
which was, Father God, we had no life without you. 00:38:11.420 |
And as our Heavenly Father, you also meet the needs, Father God, that we have. 00:38:16.660 |
And what's more, as our good God, you use us in your kingdom. 00:38:21.340 |
And what's more, Father, you use us for your glory. 00:38:27.300 |
I pray, then, that God, as we study, we would learn to appreciate and then buy into what 00:38:39.660 |
Help us, Father God, not to have our own depiction of what we would like this thing to be. 00:38:44.060 |
But God, help us to realize, Lord, you are piecing us together, and you're building 00:38:50.620 |
That, God, we would be a holy temple, a pleasing dwelling place for you.