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TRANSFORMED LIFE Week 5: Belonging to His family
WE ARE THE CHURCH: THE HOPE OF THE WORLD
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘Church’? Growing up, many of us may have been‘strongly encouraged’to go to church at least once a week. A couple of things might stick out in your mind –ancient buildings or uncomfortable clothing.The church we may have attended with our parents might have met in a medieval building with one of those special ‘heating’systems that seemed to be able to turn a summer’s day into a winter’s day and a winter’s day into an arctic blast.
Maybe you were made to wear youstiff starchybest clothes or the legendary Christmas jumper your granny used to knit–with those special string cuffs and neck that were so tightthat once it was on it could not be taken off for a week.
Perhaps Church seemed to be not onlyuncomfortable but also out of date and rather boring –a rather quaint irrelevance in the then 20th century.
Now, contrast this fairly common view of the Church today with that of the author Bill Hybelsin his book Courageous Leadership,‘there is nothing like the local church when it’s working right. Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources to those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden and the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addiction, frees the oppressed, and offers belonging to the marginalised of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the Church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness. Still to this day the potential of the local church is almost more than I can grasp. No other organisation on the earth is like the Church. Nothing even comes close.’
I believe that if Paul –the authorof the book of Ephesians –had been here today he would have been on his feetshouting ‘amen!’to that last quote.
Paul had a very high view of the Church –so high that all through his writings he gives us different word pictures of the Church so we can grasp something of the wonder of it.Today we’re going to home in on just three of these that can be found in Ephesians 2:19–22:
‘You are …fellow citizenswith God’s people and also members of his household…and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.’
Over the last few weeks we’ve seen how God transforms our individual lives when we become a Christian –giving us an amazing new sense of identity and purpose.We see today how He does even more than that –that living the transformed life is also about finding where we fit, meeting our deep need for a sense of belonging.
As we look at Paul’s description of the Church today–whatever your current gut response to the word ‘Church’–I want to encourage you to raise your view of the Churchand to see that those of us who are in Christarethe Church and this is the hope of the world.
The first picture Paul gives us of the Church is this…
1. We are fellow citizens with God’s people
Have you ever had an experience of feeling rejected from a group you really wanted to belong to?
There’s a story about a man originally from Yorkshire who had since lived elsewhere. When he returned to meet with some old friends at a caféhe got a rude awakening. Using his perfect Yorkshire accent he was conversing with the natives in their own dialect–and was pretty confident they thought he was ‘one of them’–until the moment when he made the innocent mistake of asking the waiter if they had any decaffeinated tea.The waiter just looked at him with that awful mixture of disappointment and disbelief–he never answered the question but just exclaimed,‘decaffeinated tea!’in a tone of voice that gave the clear message that,‘no Yorkshireman I know would ever drink that!’and then walked offmuttering to himself,‘decaffeinated tea!’
Needless to say, the man felt like he was on the outside looking in.
Did you know that before you became a Christian you were in an even worse position than that of the man in our story in terms of finding your place of belonging?
In verse 12 Paul says this about our position before we were placed in Christ:
‘At that time you did not know about Christ. You were foreigners to the people of Israel, and you had no part in the promises that God had made to them. You were living in this world without hope and without God’(Ephesians 2:12, CEV).
As we read the Old Testament–before Jesus–we see that God picked out a man called Abram, whose descendants became the Jewish nation –a nation chosen by God to be His special people, a nation on whom His favour rested. They were given amazing promises and enjoyedHispresence guiding and leading them. God gave them protection and victory in battle, pouring blessing after blessing on them, though theyrarely walkedin the fullness of that blessing.
The only way to be part of that race –to be one of God’s people –was to be born into that race.Before Christ, you and I were in an utterly hopeless situation and there was nothing we could do–we were ‘foreigners’,‘outside’the promises of God and,as Paul puts it here,without God and without hope.
Thankfully though,God’s plan had always been not only to bless the Jewish nation but all nations on earth. In verses 13–19, Paul says this…
‘But nowin Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought nearby the blood of Christ…consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,but fellow citizenswith God’s people’(Ephesians 2:13–19).
When you were placed in Christ,you and Iwere ‘brought near’to God, so from that momentyou are no longer treated as an outsider but as one actually born into the nation of God’s people–as Paul says here, you are now a fellow citizen.
Imagine for a moment you could create a nation out of all your favourite characteristics of different countries.
You might have the food of India and Sri Lanka, the protective power of the USA, the chilled out nature of the West Indies, the weather of Australia, the wealth of Saudi Arabia, the beauty of South Africa…your capital city might be Prague or Paris…you might have the organisation of the Germans and the architecture of the Italians…the leader would have the political skill of a Ban Ki Moon and eloquence of Obama.
You would probably feel pretty good about being a citizen of that nation.
How about this –tomorrow morning andduring this week, whenever you look in the mirror,remind yourself that you are a fellow citizen with God’s people. You no longer have to live with the sting of rejection or feel like an outsider any more.And what a people to belong to! Our leader is God the Father–more eloquent than even the best orator. His supernatural protectionis better than any army and His riches way beyond any country on earth.Our capital city is far greater than London or Paris–it is heaven itself! And the food and drinkof this kingdomwill satisfy the deepest longings of your soul.The people have arich heritage and glorious futurethat totally outstrips all others.You are part of a people who will last for ever!
No other citizenship on earth can compare.This is the Church –the people of God.If that was all Paul had to say about the Church, that would be amazing on its own –but he now adds another aspect for us: not only are we fellow citizens with God’s people, but…
2. We are members of God’s family
One of the many things I love about the Church is how God is creating an amazing, unitedfamily out of people from so many differentnations and backgrounds.
It shouldn’t work–all of the elements are there for many of the problems of our day–sexism, racism, ageism, classism, the north/south divide and so on.Any ‘–ism’you can think of. But it works! In fact, it is amazing–though not always easy –to experience the joy of this disparate family doing life together.
Why does God’s family work? Because when you are placed in Christ not only do you come into right standing with God but you also find a dramatic change in your relationship with other people–especially those who are also in the family of God. Paul explains in verses 14–16how Jesus’death removed the barrier between two particularly hostile people groups –Gentiles and Jews.
‘For he himself is our peace,who has made the two groups oneand has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,by setting aside in his fleshthe law with its commands and regulations.His purpose was to create in himself onenew humanity out of the two, thus making peace,and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross,by which he put to death their hostility’(Ephesians 2:14–16).
Through Jesus’death, the walls of hostility that divided people have been torn down, and just as Jesus was able to pull down the walls of hostility between Jew and Gentile, so He now does the samefor us and for any other group of people.
If you are in Christ today, the walls of hostility that previously separated you from other people have been torn down.As He says in Galatians 3:28:
‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free,nor is there male and female,for you are all one in Christ Jesus’(Galatians 3:28).
No matter how serious the walls of hostility that have previously divided us –in Christ they have been torn down.This is what our world needs –this is the Church, thehope of the world.
How many of you know that it’s also possible to put up those walls again? Walls of rejection, anger, hatred, fear, isolation–in such a family there is always the opportunity for disagreement and misunderstanding.No family is perfect and the Church is the same–maybe someone has failed you, hurt you or let you down, or done something you don’t understand. Or perhaps you realise you have done this to someone else–the question for all of us really is not ‘will someoneoffend you?’but rather ‘what will you dowhen they offend you?’
In Ephesians 4:3 Paul says:
‘Make every effort to keep the unityof the spirit through the bond of peace’(Ephesians 4:3).
Here Paul says that on the basis of what God has done for you –now make every effort to be unitedwith the family.What Paul is sayingis that when you became a Christian you became a saint –a beloved child of God –now live like it!
And that includes making every effort to keep the unityof the family.What would that include?Forgiving people –seeking to be reconciled–believing the best of each other.This is part of the wonder of being a member of God’s family–it’s not that we don’t have problems but we that we seek to sort them out.Is there anyone you need to forgive today? To reach out to and connect with again?Are there any walls you have built up that you need to tear down?
Remember who you are in Christ and then go and be reconciled –guard the unity of God’s family.
As wonderful as those first two points are –in some ways it feels as though Paul has been building towards this incredible third truth about the people of God–not only are we fellow citizens with God’s people and member of God’s family, but also…
3. We are part of God’s temple
There were two mischievous brothers aged 8 and 10.They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, the two boys were probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually.
The mother sent the 8 year old in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon. The preacher, a huge man with a deep booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, ‘do you know where God is, son?’
The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.
So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, ‘where is God?!’
Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.The preacher raised his voice even more, shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, ‘where is God?!’
The boy screamed, bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his bedroom,slamming the door shut behind him. When his older brother found him, he asked, ‘what happened?’
The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied,‘we are in big trouble this time! God is missing, and they think we did it!’
I think everyone wants to know where God is–where we can find the presence of God.
In verses 21–22 Paul writes:
‘In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy templein the Lord.And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit’(Ephesians 2:21–22).
What a fantastic picture!The picture Paul is painting is one of a temple –of a place dedicated for the specific purpose of hosting the presence of God Himself.All the way through the Old Testament –before Jesus –we see how the people of Godcreated a physical space for Him to dwell with His people and for them to meet with Him.The portable tabernacle with Moses, the amazing temple with Solomon and then its later rebuilding…but now –in Christ –that dwelling place is no longer just a specific building –but the people of God.Together,you and I, we are the dwelling place of God. When we come togetherwe become the very place within which God Himself lives.Yes, He has come to live in each of us by His spirit but there is also a profound sense that His presence and power are magnified when we come together.
That’s why, when we gather together,literally anything is possible–the sick can be healed, the broken hearted restored, the lost found,needs can be met…
The Church istotally unlike any other organisation in the world!
How different would the Church be if we could all grasp this!
If the Church really is the dwelling place of God –where anything is possible–then I am going to want to be part of it all the time.
Reverence, awe, passionate worship and service.I am going to come to church with a heightened sense of anticipationabout what might happen.I am going to want to bring my friends to our gatherings –Sunday by Sunday –because here the very presence of God dwells.
I want to encourage you to raise your level of expectancy for when we gather together.Take time this week to meditate on these verses –if you have theTransformed Life devotional,chew on the statements we’ve been given in the ‘Belonging’section on day 50.As you do –expect your faith to rise.
Conclusion
We are Church –the hope of the world.We are fellow citizens with God’s people, members of God’s family and parts of God’s temple.
As I bring this message to a close I want to encourage you to ask God for an increase in passion for the Church and askGod what He wants you to do in response.
Do you need to get connected again? Is there anyone you need to be reconciled to? Do you need to raise your level of expectancy for what God wants to do when we gather?