HOOK

This morning I’m going to do the most controversial thing I have ever attempted from the pulpit. I am going to use Harry Potter as a sermon illustration. Send your complaints to brady@mountainspringscc.com. If you look past all the fantasy elements of wizards and magic and flying broomsticks the story is a classic tale of good vs evil. This is, at its heart, the core of all the greatest stories from Star Wars to Rocky. Well, this particular illustration comes from the movie, the Order of the Phoenix. Harry has tried to sound the alarm that the evil villain Voldemort has returned, but no one believes him and his claims have left him feeling ostracized and alone. While out walking with one of his peers — a girl named Luna — he remarks that everyone has abandoned him. She thinks out loud that this is probably not true, but then says something quite thoughtful. “Well if I were You-Know-Who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else; because if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.”

I often think that’s how Satan looks at each of us. If it’s just me alone, I’m not as much of a threat. Alone my effectiveness is diminished, and substantially more vulnerable to spiritual attack. Let’s put that in our pocket for later and take a look at our passage for this morning.

BOOK

Ephesians 2:19–22, NKJV — 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

LOOK

Prayer

[God help us to seek unity and allow your Holy Spirit to work in us]

Setup

So back in the summer of 2006 I was 23 and doing a summer internship as Youth Director at a church in BC when this super cute girl got hired to be our Preteen Director. We worked together lots and got married the following summer … but that whirlwind timeline is a story for another day! What I remember most was Kelly teaching for the first time as the Preteen Director. She is a wonderful and caring people-person, but public speaking is not her favour activity. She was teaching about the church and started off with a quick note that “as we know” the church is not a building. I should mention at this point that 99% of the students in our groups were unchurched, from non-religious families. So the questions came fast and loud and with great confusion. “What!?” the protested, “But aren’t we INSIDE the church… right now?” Kelly’s message that day became about 80% explaining that the church isn’t a building and 20% whatever she originally planned to discuss. The Next-Gen Pastor and I were both in the back of the room watching this message evolve in real time and quite enjoying ourselves. The reason I bring that up is that when Pastor Joel announced our Spring into Summer series and told me I was preaching on “The Church As… The Building” my mind immediately went back to this message from the summer of ’06 and I thought… how do I preach this?? Then, as I studied this passage in Ephesians 2 I was absolutely dumbstruck at how unreasonably relevant it is to Mountain Springs Calvary Chapel — our church — right now.

Turns out our God knows what He’s doing. And it shows the power of listening to that leading, even it is not clear where that road is going just yet. With that said… let’s take a look at the book of Ephesians.

Paul’s Argument

Pastor Joel told us that when we see the word “therefore” we need to ask ourselves what it’s there for. Of curse what it means is that the argument / statement / circumstance that precedes the ‘therefore’ gives cause to the argument / statement / circumstance that proceeds it. And Ephesians is RIFE with ’therefore’s. Here’s a quick and exceptionally concise overview:

1. You are Gentiles, BUT you are converts. CONVERTS! This means you have been saved (1:1–14)
2. Therefore recognize that you have power over the influences of this world through Christ who has good works planned for you (1:15–2:10)
3. Therefore you are no longer separated from the Jewish converts because there is only ONE family of faith. (2:11–22)
4. Therefore LIVE in a way that is worthy of that covenant promise, operating in the gifts of faith that promote unity! Because your flesh desires to STOP that work! (3:1, 4:1–24)
5. Therefore put aside the desires of the flesh so as not to grieve the Holy Spirit who is administering those gifts (4:25–32)
6. Therefore follow Christ’s example! (5:1ff)

Verse-By-Verse

We are on Step 3. So, let’s dig a little deeper into that.

19

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 

NOW THEREFORE — Because you have been saved, Christ has given you power over the influence of the world and despite what some of the Jewish converts would have you believe with their name-calling you are united as one family of faith in Christ Jesus.

YOU ARE NO LONGER STRANGERS AND FOREIGNERS — It used to be the case that you were at arm’s length from God’s people. Note that I said God’s People and not God Himself. 

Let’s take a quick trip to TANGENT TOWN. We see throughout the Old Testament that outsiders are brought into the line of God, Rahab and Ruth stand out to me. Neither was a native Israelite, yet BOTH are in the lineage of David and Jesus. And even in the Old Testament we see Psalms of David and Asaph that declare that the Lord doesn’t want your sacrifice. Even then He wanted our HEARTS! Of course Let’s be clear, though. God certainly DID want those sacrifices, but He did not MERELY want the sacrifices! The same is true today. Our faith is not a series of checkboxes. Imagine if our faith was just a bunch of ticky-boxes…

• Fellowship — [walking by] Hey bro, God is good!
• Prayer — Thank you Jesus, amen.
• Scripture — [opens BIble] “the”. Nailed it.

It sounds goofy when I put it like that, but if you think you’re nailing it because you come to church, say grace before meals, and have Christian friends over to watch the game, I might have some bad news for you! Faith is about a deep, transformative relationship with God, not just outward rituals. This brings us back from TANGENT TOWN to our Gentile converts. They are no longer separated from the People of God as “strangers” and “foreigners”. Interestingly the two words used in the Greek that are translated as “strangers” and “foreigners” actually both translate to “foreigners”. So then the natural question is… well, why use the same word twice? Great question! I’m glad you asked! The words are actually different in the Greek with one meaning someone with no civic status ( a non-citizen) and the other being someone with no domestic status (not at home). Which show the contrast between their former and current states as Paul goes on to say…

BUT FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE SAINTS AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD — “fellow citizens” has given us the full citizenship status that was lacking as foreigners, and “members of the household” offered a home: the church. This is the unity that Paul is encouraging the churches in Asia to strive for throughout this book. Paul goes on to write that while we are all unified as one family under one God, each has separate gifts of grace and those gifts are to be used — quote — “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13) and Jesus himself prayed in John 17:

20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20–23, KNJV)

And it’s worth noting that Jesus and Paul are not taking about uniformity, but real, true unity. Unity born of transformation of the inner self, the real you. Paul expands on this in Philippians 2:1–2, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

Note as well, that this word “household of God” means the church. The church of God. The Bride of Christ. Not Mountain Springs, or First Ave, or Rockpointe, or Centre Street, or First Assembly, but the whole global church. We should be striving for unity. Jesus isn’t coming back for his 100, or 50, or 20 or even 2 Brides. Just one. His church. 

20

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 

HAVING BEEN BUILT ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS — We’re still talking about the church here, and if you’re like me, your first thought after reading this sentence was from Matthew 16, Jesus renames Simon saying, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Now, the apostles being referred to here are like the 12, and the prophets are those New Testament who have the gift of grace that is prophecy, which you can read about more in Ephesians 4:1–16. Both groups are people empowered by the Holy Spirit under the new covenant.

So then the obvious follow-up question for those who hav been paying attention through our 1 Corinthians series becomes, “How can the Apostles and Prophets be the foundation!?” A great question, because back in 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul wrote, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”. Does this mean Paul has changed his position between the writing of 1 Corinthians and Ephesians? No. As Kevin McAllister would say, “I don’t think so!” In fact, if we keep reading, we find…

JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF BEING THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE — “Chief Cornerstone” is a fairly redundant, which I find rather interesting. See, the cornerstone was a massive stone that set the foundation from which the rest of the building was constructed upwards and outwards. This was the solid foundation that kept the structure from shifting. Such stones can be seen in the foundation of the old temple in Jerusalem. Just one of them is some 38 FEET long. BUT Jesus is not any cornerstone, he is the chief cornerstone. The ideal cornerstone. The cornerstone that is big enough to be the whole foundation.

With that in mind, I would phrase this verse as follows — one again breaking out Conrad’s Unofficial Version, “having been built on the same foundation as the apostles and prophets, which is Jesus Christ Himself, the complete foundational cornerstone.”

21

in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 

Verses 21 & 22 outline the two mirrored purposes of this unity. One that benefits the church, and one that benefits the individual. Here in verse 21 we read about the benefit to the church. Some among you might wonder why the church is first and what that means… I don’t think the order is significant. I suspect that Paul is merely making his case for the unity in the church, then adds on that a similar work is happening with each of us individually as well.

IN WHOM — The phrase “in whom” — the whom being Jesus — means “in union with” or “joined closely to”. We should understand this to mean that the work we do, in order to be effective, must be done in union with Jesus.

THE WHOLE BUILDING BEING FITTED TOGETHER — The “whole building” means the universal church. Every local church congregation is like the parts of a body Paul will talk about later in Ephesians. You could almost think of it like pieces of a puzzle coming together with their own shape, and colour, and beauty to form a beautifully complex whole.

GROWS INTO — This is an ongoing process of growth. And not just indeterminate growth, but growth to a goal. This Greek word actually means “to grow to the extreme limit”! And we should not understand this simply to be a growth in size as the Gospel message spreads and the salvation of Christ is more and more experienced by those around the world, but we should also understand this growth to be in maturity. Just as any good church will focus on growing in width (evangelism) AND depth (discipleship)… where do you think we get that idea from? This is God’s plan, we’re just trying to keep up!

A HOLY TEMPLE IN THE LORD — The Old Testament was translated in Greek and that translation is called the Septuagint. The Septuagint uses the exact same word translated here as “temple” as the house of the Lord. We see it several times:

• Genesis 28:16–17 — After Jacob has his famous ladder dream his declares the place to be the House of the Lord
• Exodus 23:19 & 34:26 — Refers to the Tabernacle as the House of the Lord
• 2 Samuel 7:12 & Ezra 1:5 — Refers to the Temple in Jerusalem

The church grows and serves as the House of the Lord. The place where God is rightly worshipped. And I’ll tell you, when I lead worship one of my very favourite things to do is cut all the instruments and step back from the microphone. There is nothing, NOTHING as utterly transcendent as hundreds of voices lifted in praise to Jesus Christ. That is what God is building. That is what we get the privilege to be a part of!

22

in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

IN WHOM YOU ALSO — Paul wants to highlight that there is something similar happening with each of us as individuals.

ARE BEING BUILT TOGETHER — No person is an island. We are being built together, individually but collectively, in community. My favourite verse in the whole Bible is Proverbs 27:17 which reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” This isn’t a passive happenstance. This is both the responsibility and expectation of friends. We are all wrong sometimes and we need — somebody say NEED — we all need someone to tell us when we are being morons! I need that! I need someone to tell me when I’m being reckless or thoughtless or arrogant or just plain stupid! And I need to CARE about my friends enough to tell them the same. And that will lead to this scenario described in 1 Peter 2:5, [Y]ou also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

FOR A DWELLING PLACE OF GOD IN THE SPIRIT — This should also sound familiar to you if you have been following along in our 1 Corinthians series. In 3:16 Paul writes, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

TOOK

Here’s the rub, gang. If we want to be the church we need to be un unity. Again, that unity NOT uniformity. Cohesion not conformity. This isn’t a call to “fit in” or “not rock the boat”. This isn’t a call to sit down, shut up, and be nice. This is a call to desire radical transformation of our hearts, resolute desire for Christ’s best, and real love for our brothers and sisters.

It might seem at first blush like the divisions of Jews and Gentle that were front-and-center in the churches in Asia seem long ago and far away to us now, but we still find plenty to divide over. Race, nationality, income, class, politics… I once participated in a multi-hour meeting about changing the material the pulpit was made out of for fear of the backlash that would come!

And why is it so critical that we do not allow these divisions to come between us? I think there are a number of reasons, but I would like to highlight the same two Paul did:

1. The witness & growth of the church.
2. The witness & growth of the individual.

With regard to the first, theologian F.F. Bruce puts it this way, “If the same divisions of class and race and color as we see in the world are tolerated in the Church, her witness is nullified; the salt of the earth has lost its taste and has become good for nothing. That this is a necessary and humbling reflection today needs no emphasizing.” [F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition, An Open Your Bible Project (Bath, UK: Creative Communications, 2012), 14–15.]

With regard to the second, this is where we pull that thought out from the beginning. If it’s just me alone, I’m not much of a threat. I don’t know what it is about the spiritual realm, but Satan can see through us. He knows where we are weak or vulnerable. He not going to launch an attack on your strong side… he’s going to hit you where he can cripple you. Where he can bring you to your knees.

• Struggle with anger? Satan’ll make sure you notice something that sets you off.
• Struggle with gossip? Satan’s going to dangle a juicy morsel in your ear.
• Struggle with pride? Satan is more than happy to bring some objectionable action to your attention that YOU probably would have handled better.

And what does this result in? Anger divides us. Gossip divides us. Pride divides us. Then we end up alone. We end up weak. We are fully prepared to be picked off and it was all self-sabotage! Folks! Church! The call is coming from inside the house! And if we have no brother to sharpen us… if we have no sister to sharpen us… then we are in real trouble. Because there is no one serving as the prayed-up, armoured-up, Holy-Spirit filled hands and feet of God to yank us off the ledge of self-destruction.

This is why unity is so very, very key. If we want to grow we need to invest in ourselves, our brothers and sisters, and our church. This is why ticky-boxes simply are not good enough! That’s the law mindset! That’s sacrifices for their own sake! God neither wants nor recognizes those offerings. He wants your heart! Give it to Him! Why? Because the church is the Bride of Christ and we are her members. We need to seek to build her up on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. See because “The Church As… the Building” is not a noun! It’s a verb! We are called in no uncertain terms to invest in her!

If Satan has been attacking your weak side and driving a wedge between you and your community of faith here at Mountain Springs, let’s give that to Jesus right now. Let’s submit those weakness to Him and allow Him to shine both to us and everyone around us who sees Him stepping into the gap of our weakness. If that’s you today, and you’re feeling a separation from His church I want you to take a step of faith and stand with me right now. No one’s going to judge you for this, we’re on your side. And if you were thinking about judging a “stander”, you probably need to stand as well! We’re going to pray the Armour of God from Ephesian 6. And if you call yourself a Christian in the room today, please stand with us too. It’s like sunscreen, apply frequently and liberally as needed. Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

I come before You today in the name of Jesus, seeking Your protection and guidance as I face the challenges of this day. I put on the full armor of God so that I may stand firm against the schemes of the enemy.

Lord, help me to buckle the belt of truth around my waist. Let Your truth be the foundation of my life, holding everything together. Keep me grounded in Your word and help me to live with integrity and honesty.

I put on the breastplate of righteousness, which guards my heart against the attacks of the enemy. Thank You for the righteousness I have through faith in Christ. Help me to live in a way that is pleasing to You, reflecting Your righteousness in my actions and decisions.

I fit my feet with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace. Wherever I go, let me bring Your peace and good news to those around me. Help me to stand firm in Your peace, ready to share Your love and truth with others.

I take up the shield of faith, with which I can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Strengthen my faith, Lord, that I may trust in Your promises and protection. Help me to rely on You in times of doubt and fear.

I put on the helmet of salvation, protecting my mind from the lies and deceptions of the enemy. Remind me of the hope and assurance of my salvation in Christ. Guard my thoughts and keep me focused on You.

I take up the sword of the Spirit, which is Your word. Empower me to wield it effectively, speaking Your truth with boldness and wisdom. Let Your word be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, guiding me in all I do.

Lastly, I commit to praying in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. Keep me alert and always praying for all the Lord’s people. Help me to intercede for others and to stay connected with You through constant prayer.

Thank You, Lord, for equipping me with Your armor. I trust in Your strength and protection as I go through this day. May I stand firm in faith, confident in Your victory over all the powers of darkness. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Amen? Let’s worship the Lord — the cornerstone of our faith — together in unity!