Ancient Church, Present Cross

  • Nate Peterson
  • Oct 21, 2007
  • Series: Topical

Key Idea: The Church is a continuation of Israel, as seen in three forms: the people of God, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit, with Christ as the Head of the Church and the one who accomplished our purpose as the Church on our behalf.

I. Introduction

A. Statistics

  1. Roughly 100 million Americans are unchurched (if seen as it's own country, this would be the 12th largest nation in the world)

  2. 13 to 15 million of these are "born again" adults

  3. 42% of residents in the West are unchurched (the highest of any region)

  4. 61% of young adults have been churched at one point, but they are now spiritually disengaged (not attending church, reading the Bible, praying etc.)

  5. 19% of young adults have never been involved in a church (that's a total of 79% unchurched young adults)

  6. Young adults were 70% more likely than their elders to substitute interaction with other believers for church attendance

  7. Only 3% of 16-29 year-old non-Christians express favorable views towards the evangelical church

  8. 87% of non-Christians believe Christianity is too judgmental

  9. 85% of non-Christians believe Christianity is too hypocritical

  10. 78% of non-Christians believe Christianity is old-fashioned

  11. 75% of non-Christians believe Christianity is too involved in politics

  12. 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of church-goers believe Christianity is anti-homosexual (this went beyond just the idea, but that, "Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians.")

B. We get distracted as to the focus of the Church often. political activism, moralism, biblicism, charismatic ends, end time prophecy, creationism, etc.

II. Ephesians 2:11-22

A. Intro to Ephesians

  1. A letter written to be shared with many of the churches that had been started through Paul's missionary trips. It is timely for us as we evaluate who we are as a Church, since the topic of the letter is the Church. Paul examines God's purpose in establishing the Church and how we, as the Church, respond to what Christ has done.

B. Summary of the letter

  1. Paul starts off his letter declaring to the churches the wonderful work that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit played in choosing and redeeming a people for God's sovereign purpose. We, the Church, belong to God because God chose us, redeemed us, forgave us, lavished His grace upon us, and sealed us with His Spirit while we were dead in our sin and found in opposition to God. While we were concerned only about our own passions and desires, Christ came to us and gave us grace, so that we might be His and used by Him. This is where we find ourselves in the letter. Let us read it together.

C. Read the main text

  1. "Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision' by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands- 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."

III. Distinction from Israel

  1. "Therefore" is referring to the previous 10 verses, which is a single sentence in the Greek text. Not only were they not a part of Israel, but they were alienated from God due to their own rebellion. They were "the uncircumcised", the others in God's family, the unclean. They had no rights of citizenship in God's Kingdom, no expectation of a coming Messiah to bring light to their darkness, and no part with God or His promise.

  2. The Jews viewed their status before God very differently. They were children of the promise, eagerly anticipating the coming Messiah, and members of God's household.

  3. The gentiles were constantly being reminded that they were not Israel, God's chosen people. But God was doing a new work through Christ. They were no longer "separate from Christ" and "far away". This "dividing wall of hostility" was the rail in the Jerusalem Temple separating the Court of the Gentiles from the main area of the temple open to the Jews. On this barrier were stones inscribed: "No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death." This fence was placed about the temple, just as the religious leaders created a fence around the law. Paul saw this barrier as being removed by Christ at the cross, and Israel and the gentiles becoming one in Him.

  4. The metaphor Paul uses for this union is very telling. The idea is that there are two men, represented by the nation of Israel and the gentiles. These two men are fused together to create a new man, abolishing the alien status of the one, and judgment by the law of the other. From these two groups of people, God makes a new people, His Church: a body fused together, a building composed of two types of stone. In order to understand the metaphors used regarding the Church, we must look first at Israel and how she was redeemed as the Church.

IV. The Church as the People of God

A. Who are the people of God?

  1. God covenants with Israel that they will be His people: Lev. 26:12 says, "I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people." He makes this clear through several metaphors. Israel is God's son, His spouse, His vine, and His flock. They are His people, called to live in obedience to His commands and be a blessing to all nations.

  2. Yet, they were not obedient to His decrees, nor were they a blessing to the nations. Israel was a wicked and idolatrous people, constant covenant-breakers until God brought judgment upon them, ultimately scattering them by means of Assyria and Babylon. Those who were called His people were His people no longer: Hosea 1:9 says, "And the LORD said, ‘Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.'" God declares this through graphic imagery to Ezekiel when He shows Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones. These bones are Israel, dried up and without life.

  3. God promises to breathe life into Israel, not because of their merit, but for His own glory. He promises to indwell them with His Spirit and make them His people again. He makes a new covenant with them, with a sign not of physical circumcision, but circumcision of the heart. He will call a new people by changing their hearts - taking the hearts of stone and giving them hearts of flesh. This new people was two different people, Israel and the gentiles, made to be one people - the people of God, the Church.

  4. The difference between this new people of God and Israel is that Christ accomplished what Israel was called to do and yet failed. Christ was obedient to the Law of God and a blessing to all nations, freeing His people from this burden. Instead of being obligated to fulfill God's purposes, we are freed to fulfill them. We can rest knowing that we are accepted as His people. Our identity has been totally reformed from enemies and orphans to friends and adopted children. As the Church, we are called Christ's flock, branches of the True Vine, His bride, His body, His temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and the house of God. As the Church, we are "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God." (1 Peter 2:9)

V. The Church as the Body of Christ

A. What is the Body of Christ?

  1. We have not just been made a people of God through Christ's scandalous grace, but we have been joined together as His body. We were united together with Him in death and resurrection in the Gospel. It is not just with poetic language that Paul says, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him ..." (Rom. 6:5-8). Christ was our representative whose death made us one, united with Him. We are united together with Him as our head.

  2. The metaphor of the Church as one body emphasizes the oneness we experience under Christ. In Romans 12, Paul uses this example to show how we as individuals can be one. God has gifted us uniquely, and yet our oneness amidst a diverse group of people declares the power of God. Our love for one another is a declaration of the power of the Gospel. God has chosen to reveal Himself through a diverse people who are each being transformed through the death and resurrection of Christ, and functioning on His behalf as His Body. As the Body of Christ, we must be in close community with one another, knowing that Christ cannot be divided. As the Body of Christ, we must be serving others through our Spirit-empowered gifts. Since we have been crucified with Christ (as His corporate body), we no longer live, but Christ lives through us. The potential of Christ at work in our lives gives a vision for what we can accomplish together as His body.

VI. The Church as the Temple of the Holy Spirit

A. The previous two metaphors define the Church through "being" while this metaphor has a sense of movement and growth. Paul talks about the collective Church as being built into the household of God, growing into His Temple. 1 Peter 2 also discusses the Church, as living stones, being built into a spiritual house for God. We are currently being built by God so that He might live in us; the Holy Spirit is building us so that He can indwell us. This is the significance of the specific use of the temple as our building.

B. The temple is what housed the glory of God. His shekinah glory was made manifest in the inner sanctum of the temple, which was the special dwelling place of God. This foreshadowed the coming of Christ who would be a living temple, God dwelling among us. He mentioned multiple times how if the religious leaders would destroy the temple, (meaning His body), He would rebuild it in three days.

C. Again, we find our identity in Him, as a people being built into the dwelling place of God. We, as the Church, are the temple since God dwells with us. We are to house the glory of God as the Holy Spirit lives in us and encounters other people through us. This provides a missional identity for us, in that we are no longer calling people to come to a permanent temple. Rather, our community is a temple, able to go to others and allow them access to God in us. In other words, we are not just called to declare the Kingdom of God to others or live out the Kingdom of God through our relationships with other believers, but we must preview the Kingdom of God wherever we are and in whatever we do.

VII. The Cross

A. The Church is called to manifest the Glory of God through these three metaphors, and yet fails in each.

1. The Idolatrous People of God

a. The truth is that though we have been freed, we make the same mistakes as Israel, trying to commend ourselves before God while in reality worshipping ourselves.

b. We get "Gospel Amnesia" frequently as believers. The Gospel continually leaks out of us, and we need to be reminded of the Gospel.

2. The Paralyzed Body of Christ

a. Because we become self-worshippers, we fail to see the needs of others.

b. There is divisiveness that emerges amongst the greater church in San Diego.

c. We are unable to bear with one another's burdens, serving those in our community in need.

3. The Insubstantial Temple of the Holy Spirit

a. There lacks a weightiness to our lives as we live unaware that we declare the glory of God to this world-we are to be a preview of His coming kingdom.

b. We do things for our own glory rather than the glory of God.

c. We expect people to come to us, rather than us responding in mission to this world.

4. Freed by the Gospel to be the Church

1. Christ as the Covenant Keeper

2. Christ as the Resurrected Son

3. Christ as the Rebuilt Temple

VIII. How then do we respond

A. Missional Communities

B. Sunday Morning

 

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