Ephesians 2:21-22

Ephesians 2:21-22 - In him the whole building is joined together and rises
to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together
to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

These two small verses are jam-packed with both individual and corporate meaning. Just prior to these verses, Paul proclaims Christ as the Chief Cornerstone to a household of believers that have been gathered and built through the centuries on His foundation.

The foundation of Christ is essential in our lives. Corporately, as a church, our feet must rest firmly on Christ. Pastor Neil Cole said, "The core reality is Jesus Christ being followed, loved and obeyed. Christ alive, forming spiritual families and working with them to fulfill His mission...the church really is an embodiment of the risen Jesus." (Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, 2005) As individuals, we should so thoroughly soak in the love of God, allowing ourselves to be filled with His Spirit that we can't help its overflow into the lives of those around us.

When we assemble as Christians, God is joining us together to become a holy movement for His purpose. "Simply gathering a group of people who subscribe to a common set of beliefs is not worthy of Jesus and th sacrifice He made for us." (Neil Cole, 2005) We must bear fruit. That fruit isn't seen in pews being filled or membership growing, it is seen in the transformed lives of those we have found and discipled in the ways and love of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

From the very beginning, God's blessing to Abraham found in Genesis 12:2-3, was a blessing that gives a foundation to our Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20).

God says to Abraham, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless
you;I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."

Today, we as believer's share in that blessing. We learned in Ephesians 1 that we have been adopted into that blessing. As we are blessed, we are called to be a blessing. Pastor Andy Lauer, shared with us in one of his sermons that there has got to be something more. "If not us, then who?" Who will be the hands and feet of Jesus today? We as a church and as individuals are called to bless others because of the blessing that is being built within us through the Holy Spirit.

God has joined us together so that we might be about His business, that we might be fulfilling His purpose not our own! So that through Christ we can be someone else's hope! That is the foundation that Paul is talking about. Christ is our Chief Cornerstone, in Him we can do the will of the Father who sent Him. How can you be someone's hope today? Are you looking at life through the eyes of Jesus? Are you seeing people with the compassion and grace that God saw you?

Ephesians 2:11-20

Read Ephesians 2:11-20.

Paul begins here talking about circumcision. The Jews were required by their law to circumcise their male children. It was by this mark that one would "prove" they were a Jew. I've often wondered how it is that circumcision would be an outward sign of a relationship with God. My mind wonders how that is outward at all, being covered by clothes and robes? Anyways, Paul tells us point blank that circumcision was a physical thing, not a spiritual act. It wasn't a change of heart, just a change of physical characteristics that made them who they were.

Remember these baby Christians in Ephesus were being told (not by Paul but by other converts), "you have to become like us." "It's not good enough just to believe, you must become a Jew, you must act like us, you must look like us." Paul combatting that mentality says, No! Christ died to break down barriers between people. You can be in Christ a new creation and not have to become a Jew.

Today, many in our world are so hopeless. They know nothing of God and the hope that is offered through Christ. How can we witness today of God's love to the hopeless? How can we follow Paul's example? Is it by loving and accepting people without forcing them to become like us - to dress like us, to worship like us, to look like us. Expecting a change, because we are promised to be new creations, but to allow them to be who Christ says they are, instead of who we think they should be?

If we go back to last weeks lesson, we begin to see that Paul was saying, remember who you were and the hopelessness that you had because people all around you are in that position today and need to be loved. In him "our hostility toward each other was put to death." Christ died so that all may live in Him, not so all would be like alike, like little clones of each other. First Corinthians 12 points out how in Christ we are all different, given different gifts and yet still one body in Christ.

It is because of Christ's sacrifice we can come before God as a family of great differences and yet as holy because Christ makes us holy. What great joy we have in knowing that we have a Father in heaven who loves us for who we are. That He saw us where we were and sent His Son to redeem us and give us new life.