Ephesians 2:11-22 ‘Church is essential’

 

On one occasion when Melvin was on a visit to Cape Town he was invited to preach at a little church in the black township of Lavender Hill.  Despite the beautiful name this was a socially deprived place.  It was so deprived that one day they found a decapitated body on the doorstep of their building.  But the amazing thing is that this church had accepted a white Afrikaans man, to be their vicar.  This man had in fact being a leading member of the National Party, who were the architects of apartheid.  There was a time when he would not have even shared the pavement with a black person.  But God had changed his heart.  Before church he travels in a battered old minibus picking up old women who can’t make it to church by themselves.  His love for Christ meant that he wanted to serve those who he had formally hated.  More amazingly, the love of this black congregation for Christ meant that they were willing to let a former white bigot be their pastor.

Church can be a beautiful thing when old enemies become brothers and sisters in Christ.

The church only exists because of grace (11-13)

Therefore, remember.  Given that you were once dead in transgressions and sin, following the ways of the world, following prince of the power of the air and satisfying the passions of the sinful nature, don’t forget what God has done for you.  You have been brought near to Christ by the blood of the Christ.  What do you feel when you remember who you used to be and who you are now?  Remember that the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7), so how do you look back on those sins you have committed as a Christian? 

You are not to look back on your past with a feeling of guilt, because there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  You are not to look back on your past with regret, because godly sorrow leaves no room for regret (2 Corinthians 7:10).  You are not to be imprisoned by thoughts of who you were and what you have done, because you are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  But you are to look back with a sense of thanksgiving, praise and humility. 

Look at what God has done for sinful people like us!  Isn’t He wonderful.  Paul marvels that he, a former persecutor of the church, who considers himself the very least of all God’s people, has been the given the privilege of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8).  Even your messed-up past is not beyond the redeeming plans of God for you, and now by the grace of God you are what you are (1 Corinthians 15:10), and that grace can work powerfully in you (Colossians 1:29).

Paul is addressing Christians who had come from a Gentile (non-Jewish) background.  They were called ‘the uncircumcised’ by the Jews.  That was a term of derision.  Notice that Paul calls the Jews ‘the circumcised, which is made in the flesh by hands’ (11).  Circumcision was the covenant sign in the Old Testament.  But as an act of human hands it did not save you.  You needed the work of God to save you.  Similarly, today we have some baptisms.  But these acts of human hands do not save you.  There is no magic in the water.  What saves you is God’s grace which came as you put your faith (or trust) in Him.  Baptism pictures that you have died to your old way of life, and raised with Christ and so have had your sins washed away.

The gentiles had the disadvantage of being separate from the community in which God was working in the Old Testament.  They were not part of the Old Testament’s covenant people, Israel.  They weren’t hearing about God’s covenant and promises.  In sum, they were separate from Christ, without hope, and without God in the world.  However, then we come to another big ‘but’, ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Jesus’ (13).

There was an old Latin proverb that says, ‘nothing ages quicker than gratitude’, Don’t stop thanking God for what He has done for you.  Whether He has saved you from a background of smug self-righteousness, and respectable sins like pride, or whether he has saved you from a background of more open and public sin.  Remember the church of God’s ‘saints’ only exists because of grace.

Church should be multicultural (14-18)

There used to be a principle among church growth gurus called the ‘homogenous unit principle’.  The idea was that churches grow faster by targeting a particular group of people and then creating the sort of community that they will be comfortable with.  You don’t ask people to cross cultural, ethnic or other boundaries.  If you want to attract middle age Irish men, you create the sort of community middle age Irish men like.  That principle might gather a crowd, but it will not encourage spiritual depth.  It is certainly not what Ephesians teaches us that the church should be.

Now Jews and Gentiles hated each other in the first century.  If you were going to operate the ‘homogenous unit principle’ of church growth you could have planted separate churches for those who had been saved from a Jewish background and those saved from a Gentile background.  That would have certainly been easier for people.  But it would have denied the beautiful truth that Christ is our peace (14).

Christ has abolished the law of commands to reconcile Jews and Gentiles.  The Law of Moses had many commandments that served to separate the Israel from the other nations.  His purpose was to create one new man out of two (15).  There was even a point in the temple in Jerusalem beyond which a Gentile could not go on pain of death.  Whatever your background, we are one person in Jesus, and because of what Jesus has done on the cross, we have access to the Father by one Spirit (18).

We are not an Irish church.  We are a church in Ireland.  We don’t belong to any cultural group, and being a part of any cultural group should not make you feel that you belong more of less to this family.  We live out this vision on an island where there have been deep hostilities between Catholics and Protestants, and where as a nation we have been slow to let go our grievances about the past.  We now live in a country that is being blessed by having many migrants come to these shores.  We should be glad that we have over twenty-five countries represented in our church community.  What a wonderful opportunity to show how our God creates a multi-ethnic person in Christ!

Church is essential (19-22)

During the lockdown there were those who were pointing out that church is essential.  Church is essential.  But I am not talking here about whether we have to meet in person or can have church on Zoom.  I am saying that church is essential because every person who becomes a Christian is joined to the church.  The church in Ephesians refers to the global body of Christ, but that body meets in local fellowships, of which we are one.

As Christians we are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household (19).  Whether or not you are a part of the membership list of this church, if you are born again you are a member of God’s church.  If this is the local church that are committed to serving, then you are a member of this local church.

Paul uses the metaphor of a building.  But remember that this is a metaphor.  Church is not a building that you go to, but it is like a building—the household of God.  It is a building that is built of the foundation of the apostles and prophets (20).  Remember that in the book of Acts we see that the early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42).  We have the teaching of those apostles in our Bible.  Christ Jesus is the chief-cornerstone.  In fact, we are to preach Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:23).

Christians are being joined together.  Christians are a part of a church community.  I have heard people say things like, ‘the forest is my church, it is where I meet God.’  But we don’t become a part of a church to simply meet God, we are a part of a church to walk with His people.  Watching your favourite preacher online is not a substitute for church.  Neither can your small group or Christian Union simply be your church.

Being a part of the church does involve a commitment to our main weekly family gathering, but it is more than that.  How much more than that?  The answer to that is not about a rule for what meetings you are to attend.  It is about the inclination of your heart.  Do you see these people as your family?  Are we carrying one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)?  Do we accept one another (Rom. 15:7)?  Are we forgiving one another (Col. 3:13)?  Are we confessing our sins to one another (James 5;16)?  Are we refraining from grumbling against each other (James 5:9)?  Is our heart apart of the church?

Remember that in Ephesians this church is the whole global body of Christ.  This local church is a part of Christ’s worldwide church.  This global community of Christians is a holy temple to the Lord (22).  We don’t go to a building to meet with God, instead we meet with God’s people and celebrate the fact that he is in our midst (Matthew 18:20).

Notice the emphasis on growth.  We are being joined together (21).  We are being built together (22).  That is because mission is at the centre of what we do.  We are called to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:20).  We want to see God bring more people into this church and we want to plant new churches.  We happen to be a part of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland.  The tag line of Baptist Missions is ‘Proclaiming Christ and Planting Churches.’  We have signed up to being a church planting fellowship.

Conclusion

The church exists because of grace.  Remember that we are a people who are still imperfect (Phil. 3:12).  We are in the process of being made like Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18), but we fail to be like him every day.  That means we will let each other down.  But if God does not treat us as our sins deserve but according to His loving kindness (Ps. 103:10), then we need to lean on Him for the grace to forgive and love each other.

The church is multi-ethnic.  It might not be people of different racial groups that you struggle with.  It could simply be just that you struggle with different types of people.  We are all different, and that difference is good.  But that difference can be challenging.  Lean of God for the grace to enjoy each other.

Finally, church is essential.  In the New Testament walking away from the community of the church is linked with walking away from Jesus (see Hebrew 10:25 and 1 John 2:19).  Beware of churches that can’t get on with other churches.  Beware of Christians who can’t find a church good enough for them.  Beware of a shallow commitment to life in the church.  The church is the body of Christ and we need to be connected to it.