UNITED WE STAND

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation….  (Ephesians 2:14)

In this chapter, Paul is giving a graphic portrayal of fallen man’s condition apart from Christ, and the transformation occurring from entering a personal relationship with Him.  These verses describe sinners as orphans and outcasts.  All that changes when we meet Jesus.  Sinners become saints—and the result is we become part of the family of God and the estrangement we had from God and His people comes to an end—united with Christ and one another.

The church is a BROTHERHOOD (Eph.2:11-14).  The world loves to think of itself as a great community where all are one.  The reality contradicts such utopian nonsense. Man’s brutality is graphically displayed on the news each day.  The only way true peace comes is when the Prince of Peace brings it!  Our peace with others is predicated on our peace with God available through Christ.  It is through this connection that God becomes our Father.  We may have black skin or white skin; we may be Methodists or Baptists; we may be Jews or Gentiles—we have the same Father and belong to the same family.  Sinful humans like to build walls, but God is in the business of demolishing barriers!

The church is a BODY (Eph.2:15-18).  As a body has many different parts, connected and working together at the direction of the head, so is the church.  God fashioned Adam’s body from the dust and breathed into man His life in the original creation.  In the new creation, He took such unlikely material as we are and molded us together, breathing His life-giving Spirit into us—and the church came to life!

The church us a BUILDING (Eph.2:19-22).  I’ve often heard—and said—that the church is not a building.  That depends—if we mean that the church is not an edifice constructed of bricks and mortar, we are correct, but the church is a spiritual temple constructed by God of redeemed men and women.  The picture is of an architect fitting many different components into a structure—and thus God is the Architect of His church and we are the pieces He puts in place.  The foundation of this temple is Christ the cornerstone and connected with Him, the apostles and prophets, who shared His Gospel in establishing the church.  On that foundation, God is raising the frame.  We are the material He is using.  How exciting that what God is doing in our local church is part of the great eternal temple He is building!

You can be my brother or sister—if God is your Father.  No longer need you be excluded—an outcast without hope—you can be reconciled to God and enter His forever family!  If you have not received Christ—do it NOW!

Those who belong to Him need to employ the unique giftedness He has placed in us for doing the work in this world He wants done.  No more fighting with each other, we are family!  No more laziness, we are the Body of Christ to be His hands to help and feet to go and mouth to speak!  No more complacency in thinking the church is “OK” when He wants the building ever expanding!  Why would we want to build a chicken coop on the massive foundation of Christ’s work which He designed for a heaven-reaching and global-encompassing structure?

CONNECTED IN CHRIST: Our Mutual Acquaintance

 

“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19)

From aliens to citizens and from strangers to sons—this is what happens when we are connected in Christ.  According to Paul we become one with all the “saints.”  That is the birthright of every believer.  It isn’t true of a select few, but is the status of all the elect.

Saints!  We may picture an elite class of Christians—their renown preserved in stained glass or statues.  They are Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Matthew or Saint Bartholomew.  But, that is erroneous thinking.  We dare not omit Saint Bob, Saint Bill, and even Saint Dennis!  And what of Saint Louise, Saint Sue or Saint Polly?  I know a saint named Marilyn!  She is my wife—and living with me requires that she would need to be!  Here is the reality: every follower of Christ—the weakest, the virtual unknown—all are saints.

Right now in our nation there is a great alarm about illegal immigration.  It seems the borders are virtually open to a flood of aliens to enter.

That can’t be in the Kingdom of God.  The border of Heaven is barred to every alien.  None may enter illegally.  The walls are too high and the gates are too strong.  You cannot swim the river—it is too wide.  But, there is a legal way for everyone who desires to enter.  We must pledge allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ—and the moment we do, we are immediately welcomed into citizenship in His Eternal Kingdom!

It would be folly to open your house to any stranger that wanders by.  Instead we have locks on our doors and many even purchase security systems.  Leave the door open and let anybody and everybody in—and that would prove destructive to your property and deadly to your family.

The New Jerusalem is heavily fortified.  Its defenses are impenetrable.  An army of angels guards its gates.  But, all sons of God are made welcome!  Just as your children are given the key to your house, so God takes the stranger and adopts those who follow Christ into His family!  The key of faith in Christ is placed in our hand.

What we were—foreigners and strangers—we are no more.  Now we who are connected in Christ have the status of citizens and sons!  That is true of each of us personally, but is also true of all of us corporately.  Note that, “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” is in the plural.  Our connection to Christ is in context of our connection with one another.  Each of us has the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and sonship.  Those include the privileges and duties of our Kingdom and Royal Family!