FROM FOREIGNERS TO FAMILY
Text: Eph. 2:19-22
Introduction
1. Illustration: Leslie Lynch King, Jr. was born on Monday, July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents separated sixteen days after his birth and were divorced the following December. His father was abusive and had a drinking problem. His mother took her baby and moved back to her parents’ home in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she later married a man named Gerald Ford, a paint salesman. Ford later adopted young Leslie and gave him his own name. Later in his life, Leslie Lynch King became Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States. Born Leslie Lynch King, by adoption, Gerald Ford entered a new family and was given a new name. He became part of a royal line of men...….all because he was adopted into a new family with a new father. When we were saved by faith in Jesus Christ, God the Father adopted us and placed us into His family. We were given a new name, written down in the Lamb's Book of Life in Heaven. We were placed into the royal line of believers from the beginning who follow Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. We have a new father, a new family, a new name, a new destiny and a new life!
2. Once we were foreigners, strangers, outsiders and, worst of all, sinners.
3. But God sent Jesus, his own son, to die on the cross for us. As a result, we became his children and he adopted us into his family.
4. Because of what Christ has done we have become…
a. God’s Family
b. God’s Temple
5. Read Eph. 2:19-22
Proposition: We have a responsibility to live not only as God’s family, but also as people with God’s very presence living inside of them.
Transition: Because of what Christ has done we have become…
1. God’s Family (19).
A. No Longer Strangers
1. One of the great terms in Christian teaching is the concept of transformation. It brings to mind the illustration of the caterpillar, who transforms from the ugly worm to a beautiful butterfly.
2. That is what Paul is talking about here; what we once were is compared to what we have become. In v. 19, Paul writes, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.”
a. You’ll notice the two terms that Paul uses here, strangers and foreigners. Both of these words describe people who live in another country not their own who have no rights compared to natural born citizens.
b. If you recall, last time we talked about the fact that these Gentiles were considered outsiders and people without hope by the Jews.
c. But here Paul tells them that they are no longer strangers and foreigners. They are in fact citizens with all of God’s people, once outsiders but now insiders.
d. More importantly, they are now members of the family.
e. They were now full members of the family, not servants, but sons and daughters with all the rights and privileges of natural born children.
f. One of the first things I say to someone who has just accepted Christ into their lives is, “welcome to the family!”
g. Before we came to Christ, we weren’t even citizens, we were foreigners and strangers, but now we’re not just citizens were family, God’s family.
B. Abba Father
1. There are seasons when doubts and fears abound, and so suffocate us with their fumes that we cannot even raise a cry. Then the indwelling Spirit represents us, speaks for us, and makes intercession for us, crying in our name, and making intercession for us according to the will of God. The cry "Abba, Father" rises up in our hearts even when we feel as if we could not pray and dare not think ourselves children. Then we may each say, "I live, yet not I, but the Spirit that dwells within me." On the other hand, at times our soul gives such a sweet assent to the Spirit’s cry that it becomes ours also. Then, at that time, we more than ever own the work of the Spirit, and still call out to him the blessed cry, "Abba, Father." Notice a very sweet fact about this cry: it is literally the cry of the Son. God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, and that Spirit cries in us exactly according to the cry of the Son.
2. We are no longer strangers and foreigners, but we are the children of Abba Father.
a. So, you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.” (Rom. 8:15-16).
b. From a spiritual point of view, we were once foreigners and strangers.
c. In the summer of 1982, I had the opportunity to go and work for the summer as a musical missionary in Amsterdam, Holland. This was the first time I had ever been away from by myself. I flew from Cleveland, OH to NYC, and from NYC to Amsterdam. Now let me tell you, when I got there I was scared. I had no idea where to go or what to do. I was told to take the airport shuttle to the Central Train Station. Again, I got to the Central Train Station and felt absolutely lost. Fortunately, before I left a friend had bought me stencils and black spray paint, and we painted my name on the top of my guitar case. Someone from the missionary organization saw my guitar case and said, “You must be Mark!” All of the sudden I was no longer alone; I was part of a family!
d. That’s what it’s like when we come to Christ. We are no longer alone anymore; we are a part of God’s family.
e. We are accepted as the children of Abba Father.
f. We are adopted children, but we are not treated like adopted children. No, we are treated just as if we were born naturally into the family.
g. Not only are we treated like natural children, but we are given all of the rights and privileges as everyone else in the family.
h. The promises of God now belong to us.
i. We are now heirs of all the promises of God, and co-heirs with Jesus!
j. We are now family!
Transition: However, we are so much more than family. We are also…
2. God’s Temple (20-22).
A. Together We Are His House
1. Paul now makes a rather abrupt change of pace and moves from family to a building. In v. 20 Paul says, “Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.”
a. Paul refers to the church as God’s house. Now every building has to have one very essential element, a good foundation.
b. Without a good foundation the building, whether it is a house, or a larger building has to have a good foundation.
c. The foundation of this house is the apostles and prophets.
d. The apostles refer to that limited few who were Jesus’ original followers and eyewitnesses to the resurrection. They were the ones who were “sent out,” to preach the Good News about Jesus.
e. Since they had first-hand experience of hearing Jesus preach, teach and do miracles, they were also important as preachers and teachers in the early days of the church, and it way they who wrote most of what we know today as the New Testament. Therefore, they played a vital role in establishing the early church.
f. Another group that is mentioned as part of the foundation is the “prophets.” Now these were probably not a reference to Old Testament prophets, but rather prophets in the New Testament.
g. The apostles and prophets laid the foundation of the church with their teaching and writings. All Christians, as a part of God’s house, are founded on what they taught, wrote and did.
h. But every foundation also needs a solid cornerstone on which to build.
i. “Cornerstones in ancient buildings were the primary load-bearing stones that determined the lines of the building. Such stones have been found in Palestine, one weighing as much as 570 tons” (Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (p. 138).
j. This is what Jesus is, the Cornerstone. But he is not just any stone, he is the stone that holds everything together.
k. Although the apostles and prophets are mentioned because of their teaching, Jesus is mentioned because who he is and because of what he has done. He makes the building possible, including the rest of the foundation. He is that immovable rock that holds it all together.
2. So, Jesus, the apostles and prophets are the foundation, we are the rest of the house! Look at what Paul says in v. 21, “We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”
a. We are the are the body of believers, have been joined together and we continue to grow.
b. Each part of the building, each believer, fits perfectly into the building, and all the pieces fit together with Jesus has our cornerstone.
c. The structure is not complete and won’t be complete until Jesus returns.
d. Until then, we have a two-fold task: 1) to continue to be the part of the body that Christ made us to be, and 2) to see that the building keeps growing.
e. This last part means more than just growing in numbers, but also in spirit.
f. We are called to “go and make disciples.”
g. This means more than bringing people to church but leading them into becoming followers of Jesus!
3. We are also a holy temple.
a. We become a holy temple because we have a holy God. The word for “Temple” here refers to what was the inner sanctuary (the Most Holy Place) in the Jewish Temple.
b. And none of this could happen without Christ Jesus!
4. That’s why Paul says in v. 22, “Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”
a. It is through Christ that we are joined together, brick by brick, to become the place where God dwells. God dwelled with his people in the Old Testament in the Temple.
b. But now, God lives not in a building but in his people. He lives in us by means of the Holy Spirit living in us.
c. Most importantly, we are all a part of God’s holy temple.
B. Temple of the Holy Spirit
1. A Bug's Life (Disney) Overview -- Hopper explains to his gang that one ant may be harmless and unable to stop them, like throwing one seed at a gang member. Hundreds of ants joined together, though, could bury them as surely as hundreds of seeds do. This speech rallies his gang to crush the ants' spirits before they can rise up. Point of illustration: Christians sometimes think they can't change the world. We ask, "What can one person do?" Yet a timid Christian voice can become a roar when the voice joins together with the voices of others in a congregation and the voices of the entire body of Christ. Voice illustration: One person say "Jesus." Now this section say "Jesus." Now this section say "Jesus." Now everyone say "Jesus." We will only truly impact the world by joining forces with other believers. The mission of a coordinated body of Christ can change the world on an unimaginable scale. Now I want you to think for a minute, what if this person wasn’t here today? Would we have heard them?
2. As Christians, we are temples of the Holy Spirit.
a. “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Cor. 3:16-17)
b. Everyone here is a temple, a temple with the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you.
c. Therefore, individually we have power, the power of God’s Spirit, at our disposal.
d. If we have the power of God living inside of us, and that power at our disposal, do you think there is anything we can’t do?
e. Now, take that individual power and add it together. Is there anything we can’t do?
f. We need to harness that power and put it to work!
3. As Christians, we are the body of Christ!
a. “But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” (1 Cor. 12:18-21)
b. What happens to a body if one of the parts is missing?
c. The rest of the body suffers because it has to work harder to make up for the part that is missing.
d. So, when people don’t show up for church it hurts the church.
e. Now, please understand me, I’m not trying to guilt people into coming to church. But I am saying I want you to be here every Sunday because you want to be here!
f. I want you to be here because I don’t want you to miss what God is doing!
g. I want you to be here because the rest of us need you!
h. I want you to be here because we are better together!
Conclusion
1. Once we were foreigners, strangers, outsiders and, worst of all, sinners.
2. But God sent Jesus, his own son, to die on the cross for us. As a result, we became his children and he adopted us into his family.
3. Because of what Christ has done we have become…
a. God’s Family
b. God’s Temple
4. What’s the point? We are both God’s family and God’s temple. For this reason, we are all in this together, and we need to work together to see the church grow and reach it’s full potential.
