God's Nation, Family & Temple
February 10, 2013 Ephesians 2:17-22
Pastor Mike Clark Church of the Valley, Apple Valley, CA
Television shows us many reminders of our human desire to belong. Who did not want to be one of the “Friends” to hang around with Chandler and Rachel? Who did not want to walk into the “Cheers” Bar and have your name called out, because “everybody knows your name and their always glad you came.” These days you can visually belong to the friends in the “How I Met Your Mother” group or even find your place as a nerd among the friends on “The Big Bang Theory.” Young and old now try to amass a huge group of friends on Facebook. I use Facebook mostly only to keep up with my family, so I have very few friends on Facebook. However one of my daughters has 513 friends on Facebook while my very outgoing other daughter has 1047 friends and that number is climbing.
God created humans as social beings and we want to belong. We want to belong in loving, caring relationships where we are known and we know; where we receive care and give care. We hunger to belong because so many have been separated and isolated from meaningful relationships. We feel hurt from rejections, separations, and breakdowns of our marriages, families and friendships. It seems so hard to make a true friend and so easy to lose one. I recall the heartache I felt when one of my daughters almost lost a good friend. One moment they were playing together so nicely. The next moment my daughter came to me (she was about 8 years old at the time) with tears streaming down her face. She told me her friend had left and she did not know why. So I walked out the door and called out to the little friend as she was walking away. I asked her what happened and talked her into coming back and working things out. I don’t remember what went wrong, but I do remember how glad I was when those two started playing together again. They remained great friends and still keep in touch. It is too easy to lose friends. We all want to be accepted and belong.
God knows this and He knows how much we hurt when our relationships break. So here is the great news – God is in the reconciliation business. God wants all to be together with Him and each other. God wants you to know you belong with Him and His family. He wants you to know His great love and that He will never leave you nor forsake you. You never have to be alone when you know God and when you belong to His Family. We know that truth because God took the ultimate step to make sure we knew of His love and acceptance. He sent the very best person He could to reconcile us to God and His family - His own Son. Here is what the Apostle Paul says about this great news in Ephesians 2:17-22:
17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Wow, that is great news indeed! We are no longer foreigners or strangers with God or His people. We are no longer enemies in conflict with God or each other. There are too many conflicts around our globe where tribe fights tribe and nation wars with nation. Even religious groups who should seek peace fight for centuries: Jews and Palestinians, Catholics and Protestants, Shiites and Sunnis, Hindu and Buddhist. Humans fight over everything; land, control, resources, the color of the carpet in a Sanctuary. It is all so sad. Into the midst of humanity’s obsession with conflict and separation, comes the Saving Lord who removes the barriers that separate us from God and each other.
Jesus came sent by God the Father on a mission of peace and with an action plan for unity. He showed us how to live with God and each other in right, healthy and loving ways. He taught us in words and modeled to us with His life the way to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. He demonstrated this to the full with sacrificial love on the cross. He overcame the weapons of hatred and evil with the greater weapons of love. He absorbed the blows and beatings, tortures and injustice with His own body. By His wounds we are healed. By His blood shed, we are forgiven. Then by His resurrection, we too are resurrected into eternal relationships with God. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we receive reconciliation with God the Father. When we receive Jesus’ forgiveness, we receive God the Father’s merciful pardon. We experience a peace with God we have never known, full of love and acceptance. And once Jesus restores our relationship with our Heavenly Father God, that means we also experience restored relationships with each other. Once our vertical spiritual relationship with God gets established His love can flow down to us so we can share that love within our horizontal human relationships. We can find peace with each other in our families, communities, nations and world in Christ.
We belong together in Christ. You don’t have to be alone, a stranger or a foreigner with Christ or with us here at COV. The Apostle Paul gives us 3 illustrations of how we belong together in Christ; as citizens together in God’s Kingdom, as members of God’s Household (God’s Family) and as living stones (actually priests) together in building up His Holy Temple. Let’s examine these illustrations and two more found frequently in the New Testament; those of being part of one Flock of sheep under the Good Shepherd’s care and of being part of one Body in the Church of Jesus. With all five of these illustrations, I hope you grasp and treasure that you belong when you live in Jesus’ love.
We belong together in God’s Kingdom with all the rights of its citizens. When I think of belonging together as citizens of God’s Kingdom, I think of Independence Day celebrations with fireworks and street parties. On the 4th of July we gather in our communities across America and remember the freedom won for us to be a nation. One town I lived in had an Independence Day parade in which all the Little League teams, Boy and Girl Scout troops, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and any other group in town put on their uniforms and marched down Main Street. In another town the people of some streets put up flags on their lawns and closed off their blocks. They rolled barbecues out into their streets and set up game areas for children. All of this to celebrate the independence of America and the life of freedom, justice and liberty for all.
So also in God’s new Kingdom, one King came to rule over us so that all would be free. Free from the tyranny of evil, injustice and hatred. Free to live for God and each other. Free to enjoy the full rights of citizens in God’s eternal kingdom. In this new Kingdom, out King does not oppress us but lifts us all up. Our King does not reign for His own comfort and pleasure but for abundant life for all. We have a King who benevolently rules for the best of all. This is a true theocracy, not a democracy. The majority does not oppress the minority. The error of human thinking does not overrule the rational thought of wise leaders. The King of kings rules with an eternal truth and justice that is indeed for all. In this new kingdom, great rights of all citizens are protected and encouraged. As citizens we stand up for each other, defend each other and commit to each other’s rights and freedoms before looking to our own. The weak are as honored as the strong, and the poor as valued as the rich. Those who lead, lead as servants for those who follow. This is the vision of one true nation under God, one kingdom in which all find peace, prosperity and promise. God is with us and we belong to His eternal kingdom as citizens.
We belong together as members of God’s House in His Family. The image I see here is of siblings loving each other in a great family reunion. I hope you have experienced a wonderful family reunion. When our families get together, the joy multiplies. We began having reunions with just my wife’s Mom and Dad and her sisters and their husbands. Then we all began to have children and the reunions grew. Now those children are having children. In the last 9 months, 6 new grandchildren, great nieces and great nephews have been born into our family. I look forward to the next family reunion.
We have that kind of family reunion here at COV every Sunday. We gather as spiritual sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, grandparents and grandchildren together in Christ and our joy overflows. You know how it is when families get together. Inevitably, conflict breaks out between siblings. Cries of “unfair” or “she hurt me” or “He took my… whatever” break out. Yet there is always one very wise adult who steps in among the children to sort things out and bring peace. So here in the Family of Christ at COV, we have One Parent over us to bring peace to our conflict and reconcile us to each other. Here at COV we learn to love each other in spite of our differences. We come from so many different heritages, races, traditions, and political persuasions. It would be easy to fall into old patterns of separating into cliques and factions. No, we are learning to forgive when we hurt each other, not hold someone’s past against them, and learn to lift each other up to God by caring for each other. If you are here to know Jesus, you are in the right place. If you are here to join with God’s family, then you belong here. If you want to discover God’s truth for healthy life and God’s direction for better living, we are here to help you. We are not a social club or country club, although we like to celebrate, eat and play together. We are not a service organization, although we like to help others in need. We are not a political PAC or a single interest lobby group, although we appreciate and promote Biblical values. We are a family of brothers and sisters united in one place by our One loving Father God.
It is amazing to me to think of all the deep relationships I discovered with brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world. Sometimes those relationships only occur for brief periods; a few hours, days or a few weeks, yet it seems like we have been brothers and sisters for so much longer. That is the effect of sharing the love of Jesus together. I have travelled to many nations and met wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ that I will never forget. We became instant friends for life and beyond. I may not see them again in this world, but I know we will be reunited in God’s eternal Family. I look forward to many great reunions in God’s Kingdom. I never knew COV existed until about 5 years ago. Now you are my family in Christ and I am so happy to be among you. We belong together in the Family of Christ.
We belong together as ministers in God’s Holy Temple to serve God in joyous worship. The Apostle Paul tells us this living Temple of God stands on the firm foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone. Builders carefully lay the chief cornerstone first in place to be completely level and to give the rest of the foundation and thus the building its orientation and strength. Building out from the level cornerstone, all the other foundation stones take their level and alignment to make the foundation straight and true. Then other building stones get placed carefully above them so the building stands tall and strong against any violent shaking or weather. When a building correctly takes its strength and alignment from its chief cornerstone, it can withstand huge amounts of energy hurled against it. I sat in a townhouse I owned in Morgan Hill, California and witnessed it sway back and forth not by inches but by feet, but still held together when a 7 point earthquake struck there in 1989. It had been built well with the walls anchored to a firm foundation.
The Apostle Peter echoes Paul’s teaching in 1 Peter 2:4-5, “You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” Jesus our High Priest leads us in our ministry together. We are the living stones God places carefully upon the truth of Jesus and His Apostles, strongly mortared together by the power of the Holy Spirit to stand in glory for God here in the High Desert. When we rest upon the truth of Jesus and share in His love, nothing can shake this Temple of God. When we look to God’s glory before our own, we celebrate the eternal work of Christ for all time. We are all holy priests; not just the 2 pastors, but all 460 members of COV. When we minister together in the name of Jesus, we offer our spiritual sacrifices that please God and point others in Jesus’ direction. We belong to God’s Temple together in Christ.
We belong together as one Flock of the Good Shepherd. Christ, The Good Shepherd, calls and leads us to green pastures and living water, abundant and rich life today and forever. He anoints us with oil to remove and inhibit the pests that bother sheep. He prepares a wonderful feast for us, even in the presence of our enemies. We find peace together in the presence of the Good Shepherd. Sheep are prone to squabbling and fighting together to establish a dominance order, but the presence of the Good Shepherd calms them down. When He stands among them, they don’t worry about who is in charge. They know He leads and rules over them. The Good Shepherd protects His flock from evil predators. Here at COV Christ alone is our Good Shepherd. My role as your pastor is to be an under-shepherd who serves the flock of the Good Shepherd. Did you know that the word pastor comes from a Latin word that means shepherd? My role is to lead you to Christ’s truth and protect you from false teachers. Becky’s role is to comfort you and care for you as the Associate Pastor ministering with the Deacons. Together you belong with us as one flock among many flocks of the Good Shepherd.