Sabbath 8/25/18 Alfred Station Seventh Day Baptist Pastor Ken sermon “The Building”

Sabbath 8/25/18 Alfred Station Seventh Day Baptist Pastor Ken sermon “The Building” Ephesians 2:19-22


In our text there are four metaphors: Citizen, Household, Building and Temple. All are literal but are also metaphors trying to help us feel, understand and gain a mind picture. I believe these metaphors talk about relationships more that they talk about the great invisible church we are all a part of. They talk about the relationships that ought to be between you, me and other believers.

In verse 19 it say we are Citizens. We all here are citizens of United States. My friend is a citizen of USA and a citizen of Canada. To be a citizen means something and the first thing it means is that I’m not a stranger. We are not strangers anymore because we have taken and put our home in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have bought land in the Promised Land and we are fellow citizens in the Kingdom of God. So the relationship we have is that we don’t put down our brother and sister because they are fellow citizens. I look at them as being fellow citizens which means they have the right to be in the Kingdom of God. They have believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior. They have identified with Jesus thru baptism and that’s why they are where they are. They are citizens. Now we call it something else in the church. We call it membership. Jesus must be your Lord and Savior to become a member and you must be baptized.

The second thing is the Household. In verse 19 there is God’s household and you belong to it. Remember the sitcom “Cheers” on TV and their theme song sang “everybody knows your name”? Well in God’s household, God knows your name. We belong to God’s household, where everybody knows your name. Today in the congregation, is there anybody here that you don’t know their name? If there is, it’s not their responsibility to get up, shake your hand and say my name is…. It is your responsibility to go to them and ask their name. Why? Because God our heavenly Father already knows it because they are a believer in His household. God knows who they are already. The church should be a place where everybody is welcome. We are to welcome people and particularly the believers who are a part of God’s household.

In verse 20 it says we are going to be a Building. All of us like to be buildings, right? No…I want to be a person. That is why this is a metaphor. You are going to be a building if you are in Christ Jesus. It says you are a building whose foundation is the apostles and the prophets. Remember Jesus told the parable about two men who built their houses. One built on a rock and one build on sand. The rains came down and the house on the sand crashed down. But the house on the rock stood firm. I believe that the text is talking about something that occurs in Ephesians the fourth chapter. There it gives us the fivefold ministry of the church: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists. The early church was equipped by sent ones who came into the assembly and said “I am a sent one by God”. They said ”I am building where no one else has built before”. There were prophets who told the Word of God, they knew Jesus and that’s the foundation that was laid.

Now looking further into it, there was a Cornerstone. Who is the cornerstone? Christ Jesus is the cornerstone. I found out that a cornerstone is where you have two walls coming together and this is the piece that’s called the cornerstone. The cornerstone is also the place where everything starts. Everything in Christianity starts with the cornerstone Jesus the Christ. You want some doctrine, run it thru Jesus. You want to interpret scripture, run it thru Jesus. You want to know salvation, run it thru Jesus. Everything works thru Jesus who is the cornerstone.

Our next verse talks about relationships between us. It says we are being built into a building built with others who are also in relationship with Jesus. We are being fit with one another. We are being chiseled down, struck down to be made to fit. The Good News is that you are being built. I am being build. You are a living stone, according to Peter. I am a living stone, according to Peter. But God is going to make us fit. He is going to chisel us. He is going to strike us until we begin to fit with our brothers and sisters in the assembly. You want to be obstinate, you want to fight God? Go ahead, it will just make it harder on you. God is going to make you fit. He’s going to make us fit together in Christ Jesus.

We are not just being fit with our brother and sister in terms of relationship but you are being turned into something else. You are being turned into a Temple. In the Temple we worship God. The relationship you have with your brothers and sister should be one of worship. It’s okay to talk about the weather, sports or our weight gain. But…we should talk about worship and we should spend time praying together. We are the temple of God. When two believers get together, the Holy Spirit is present in between us. Good News…God is in us, God is between us and God is with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. This is what our text is saying today. We are a temple of God built by God and we are filled with the Holy Spirit by God. Our relationship with our brothers and sisters is one of the Spirit. We live, we move, we have our being in the Lord Jesus and this is thru the work of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN
 
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