Ephesians 2:19-22
The Church Where God Lives
What is the church? What is a church? Is it a building? An institution? I grew up as a Catholic. We were taught that the Catholic Church is The Church. It is an elaborate institution, with churchs, cathedrals, basilicas and the Vatican, which is the ultimate church, the centre of The Church. The Catholic Church has priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope who head of the Catholic church. But even if we are not Catholics, does the church have to have a steeple, stained glass windows to be a church? As protestants, baptists, we are not into elaborate churches. Even though our churches are simpler, is the church the building? Or is it an institution, employing thousands in various things such as social work, community work etc.
Some have reacted against this so called institutionalised Christianity. For example, there is the emerging church. Wikipedia says about them:
The emerging church is a Christian movement of the late 20th and early 21st century that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants can be described as evangelical, post-evangelical, anabaptist, liberal, post-liberal, reformed, charismatic, neocharismatic, post-charismatic, conservative, and post-conservative. Proponents, however, believe the movement transcends such "modernist" labels of "conservative" and "liberal," calling the movement a "conversation" to emphasize its developing and decentralized nature, its vast range of standpoints, and its commitment to dialogue. Participants seek to live their faith in what they believe to be a "postmodern" society. What those involved in the conversation mostly agree on is their disillusionment with the organized and institutional church and their support for the deconstruction of modern Christian worship, modern evangelism, and the nature of modern Christian community.
So for the emergent church, church has become a conversation. Others abandon traditional church structures altogether. They meet in coffee shops and perhaps the topic of God will come up. For them, that is church. Some stress the universal, invisible church. They say that there is no need to go to church, no need to meet together. The church is all Christians all over the world and there is no need for formal gatherings.
So what is the church? And if Christians cant agree, what is the worlds perception of the church? Aussies go to Europe as tourists, or see in movies, beautiful, old buildings with stained glass windows. They are great tourist attractions but are they anything more? Lately in the news we here the perception that it is a corrupt institution run be paedophile priests. Is it an irrelevant institution, out of date with 21st century morals and values?
What is the church?
Weve discussed what society thinks of the church, what various Christians think of the church. But what do YOU think of the church? If you are a Christian, do you see yourself as part of the church? More specifically, part of a particular church, for example, Gympie Baptist Church, or perhaps another if you are visiting with us today? What is it that you are a part of? - or do you just come along? Do you value it? Is it important to you?
Today we are going to look at what the church is. We are not going to look at what 2000 years of history says it is although that can be important in its place. We are not going to look at what the latest trends say it is or should be. But we will look at what the Bible says it is. That is, what God says. The Bible says a lot about the church. Ephesians says a lot. And these few verses Eph 2:19-22 say a lot.
But lets recap what weve looked at in Eph so far. In chapter 1 we talked about our spiritual blessings. In Eph 2:1-10 we talked about death to life. We were dead in our sins but through the death and resurrection of Christ, He made us alive in Him, if you believe and trust in Him. He made us His workmanship, created for good works. In Eph 2:11-18, the last time we looked at Ephesians, remember that we were alienated from God and excluded from being part of the people of God. But through Christ, God has broken down that division, so we have access to God.
But what is it we have access to? Yes, the access is to God, but it is also to Gods community, Gods people, which is the church. And Ephesians 2:19-23 describe the church.
What is the church? In Greek the word is εκκλησια / ekklesia. It simply means assembly an assembly or gathering of people. This tells us straight away that the church is not a building. It might own a building, such as we have here. But the building is NOT the church. The church is us. The actual building we can call it the church building. We can call it the place where the church meets.
The church is not primarily an institution, although for legal reasons a church may incorporate, and be a legal entity, so it can own property, have a legal basis for membership as we do. And larger groups of churches may found charities and mission societies to fulfil their goals.
But at a basic level, the church is an assembly or gathering of people. It is not just a group of people, because a group may not necessarily meet together. But the meaning assembly refers to the fact that this group meets together regularly. So you cant be a member, a part, of the church, unless you meet regularly with the other members of the church. Today our verses - tell us more about what the church is how it is built.
EPH 2:19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
First let us look at verse 19. It tells us of two contrasts, which continue the theme from last time. We are no longer foreigners and aliens, but instead verse 19 says we are fellow citizens and members. But fellow citizens of what? Members of what? We are fellow citizens of Gods people. We looked at that in detail last time, how as Gentiles, through Christ, we have been included in Gods people. And how, as it says in vs 15 out of two people he has made one. And we saw that in the group called Gods people, we have all sorts of people. Different races, cultures, languages, socio-economic groupings, educations, ages. But we are bound together with one thing in common. We are all in Christ. The beginning of Vs 21 and vs 22 say In Him - in Christ. We are bound together, despite our differences, in Christ.
We are also in vs 19 it says we are members of Gods household. Now that is getting intimate. Fellow citizens of a nation have solidarity. But fellow members of a household this speaks of family, which is a much closer relationship. Thats why as Christians, we can call each other brothers and sisters. We are part of the same household the same family, despite our differences.
And now in verses 20-22, Paul uses the imagery of a building to describe the church. Not meaning that the church is a physical building, for in Pauls day there were no church buildings. He is referring to this group of people, the assembly of people who meet the church - and compared them to a building. The way he does this tells us a lot about the church.
What is the most important part of a building? The outside? The appearance? In Central Asia for example, appearances very important. What is on the outside is regarded as the most important. But what is hidden, not seen, like the foundations, - no one really cares about. We can be like when we want to build our church.
We have a nice looking building, a professionally run programme. It is exciting. And these are not necessarily bad things they can be good things. But what is most important? The foundation.
Earlier this year there were 2 earthquakes one in Chile, the other in Haiti. The one in Haiti was 7.0 on the richter scale and there were up to 230,000 dead, almost million. The one in Chile was 8.8 richter scale, 500 times more powerful, but there were only about 500 dead. Why such a difference? There are many reasons, but a major one is how the buildings were built. What were their foundations. The buildings in Chile had better foundations than the ones in Haiti.
So what is the the foundation of the church, or what should its foundation be? Here we see in verse 20, that the foundation is the apostles and prophetswith Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone. This is really important. Perhaps it is easier perhaps to understand Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone.
What is the chief cornerstone? The corner stone was used at the corner of the building and the rest of the building is aligned according to it. Apostles and prophets are the foundation, but what are they aligned to? The cornerstone. In other words the cornerstone sets the direction of the foundation, and the rest of the building. And that is none other than Jesus Christ. The church the true church- is based on none other than Jesus Christ. How can you tell what is the true church, or what church is a true church? Look at its cornerstone. What is everything based on? What does everything revolve around? Is our desires? Our wants? Our needs felt or otherwise? Or is on Jesus Christ? Yes, there are many things that are good for a church to do, to be involved in, but if the cornerstone is not Christ, then it is not really built properly. We can have programmes that attract people, we can seek to meet peoples real and felt needs, and indeed, many of these things we need to do. But if they are the cornerstone, and not Christ, then that is not right. There is only one cornerstone Christ.
What does it mean to have Christ as our cornerstone? We have looked at that in the last few weeks. Eph 1.3 tells us that we have every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Eph 1.15 tells us we have faith in Christ. Eph 2.5 tells us we were dead but now have been made alive with Christ. Eph 2.10 tells us we are created in Christ for good works. Eph 2.13 tells us we were alienated from God and His people but have been brought near in Christ. Eph 2.18 tells us we have access to the Father through Christ. Everything we do as a church, needs to have Christ as it cornerstone its guide. Our direction is from Christ.
And how do we know what that is? Well it says here, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. What does that mean? At time of writing this book, there was no New Testament as it was still being written. How did people know the teaching of Christ? How did they know how we are to live as Christians,
when there was no New Testament? They knew, because God gave the early church apostles and prophets. People like Matthew, Mark. Like Peter, John. Like Paul. And these people about this time began to write and this became our New Testament. Matthew, Mark, wrote Gospels. Peter, Paul, wrote letters and Ephesians is one of them. John wrote a Gospel, some letters and Revelation. So while today we have no apostles and prophets in the New Testament sense of the word, we do have their writings in form of the New Testament. So our foundation to build the church is the teaching of the apostles and prophets, that is the Bible the record of the apostles and prophets.
Thats why, when we build our church and make decisions about church life, we always need to ask, what does the Bible say? and then build our church on that revelation. The revelation of the apostles and prophets, as given to us today in the Scriptures. There is a lot out there that tells us how to build our church. Some of it is good, some not so good. It is not just a matter of asking which material quotes scripture because a lot of material does that, finding out of context Scriptures to back up its teaching. But its a matter of finding which material is based on scripture, has its foundation on Scripture. Material that starts with the Bible as its foundation and then builds on that, rather than builds on other ideas and then looks to the Bible to try and find verses to fit. Thats why at Gympie Baptist Church we search the Scriptures
to base the way we do church on how the Bible says we should do it.
So the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, whose revelation we have in the Bible, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of that foundation.
But a building is not just the foundation. It is also the structure that goes on top the building we see. It is made of materials whether brick, wood, stone etc. These materials are built together to form the building. And what are these materials? Verse 22 says In Him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit Thats us! We are the ones being built to become a dwelling in which God lives - the church.
But notice it says, built together. Together. Verse 21 also says the whole building is joined together. Together. Can you imagine a building where the building materials are not joined together? What would happen? It would collapse. In fact, in Haiti in 2008 before the earthquake, a school collapsed killing 91. The schools owner admitted he had barely even used morter to hold the concrete blocks together. No wonder it collapsed. How do we build the church? How do we build Gympie Baptist Church?
In Australia we have an individualistic culture. We like to do our own thing, and this is reflected in the church. This country is full of churches which are full of people who really dont have much to do with each other. They are not built together. They are not joined together. They see each other on a Sunday, in a crowd, and thats it.
But that is not biblical. We are not saved to be Christians living apart from each other, but to be joined together.
What about us here at Gympie Baptist Church? Ask yourself if this is your church home, am I joined together with the people here? Or do we just pass like ships in the night on a Sunday? As we grow it can be harder to be joined together. In a church of 30-40 it is easy to know everyone. But as we get to our size about 150- it hard to know everyone well. This doesnt mean you have to know everyone well. In a large building, bricks on one side arent joined very closely with bricks on the other side of the building. But they are joined with quite a number of bricks close to them. Are you linked in, joined with, a number of other people here at Gympie Baptist Church?
Maybe you ask how can I do that? Home groups is one great way. On a Sunday we worship together, communion, here a sermon, chat afterwards for half an hour. But is it enough to be joined together? Home groups are smaller groups. They are less formal, less structured. In smaller group we have and easier number of people to relate to. They are less formal, so there is more time for sharing, chatting about what God is doing in your life. It is a time for joining together, bonding together. If you are not in a Home Group, consider joining one. There is a list on the window and back wall of the church. We would like to see most people who come reguarly here involved. If the current times and or locations dont suit talk to me, because we will need more Home Groupss if most of us get involved.
Other ways you can be joined together is through the Mens working shed, Know Your Bible, Garden and social club, youth group and other church activities. Informally, you can invite people over. When was the last time you invited someone over for lunch, dinner or afternoon tea? Or to McDonalds for a coffee? On 16th May we have exchange a meal put your name down for that. Get to know each other get joined together, knitted together. So that we as a church are a biblical church, as it says here joined and built together. Or more accurately, notice in verse 22 it says being built together. That is, it is happening now, it is a process. Let us work on being joined together as the Gods people.
And now what happens as we do this? Something wonderful! We become Gods temple!
Vs 21 - 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
What is a temple? What was the temple for the Jews? Althought they knew God lived everywhere, the Temple symbolised Gods very presence, the place where God lived among them. Of course, God is everywhere. Heaven is His throne, the earth His footstool. But the Temple symbolised in a special way the presence of God. And now Paul teaches us that as we, believers, are joined together, we become a holy temple in the Lord. What happens in this temple?
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
It is dwelling where God lives by His Spirit. Now thats exciting! The church it says here as its members are knit together, joined together, with the teaching of the apostles and prophets (that is , the Scriptures) as the foundation and with Christ as the cornerstone, becomes a holy Temple the dwelling place where God lives by His Spirit! Thats exciting!
Are you a member of this Temple, the dwelling place of God? Are you a Christian in fellowship, joined together with other Christians? Are you working to build our church here at Gympie Baptist Church on the foundation of the prophets and apostles their teaching we have in the Bible? With Christ as the cornerstone?
The first step is, are you a Christian? Are you in Christ? Have you been rescued from death to life? If not, repent, turn from sins, turn to Jesus to ask forgiveness and become joined with other Christians, in the church.
If you are a Christian, think about these three things:
- are you joining together with other believers in this church (or your own church if you are a visitor).
- are you basing your life on the foundation on the apostles and prophets the teaching of the Bible?
- and is your cornerstone Christ?
