THE
CHURCH-GOD’S NEW SOCIETY
Who is the
church?
Ephesians 2:14-22
July 12, 2009
Jerry A Collins
SCC
v What is the nature of the church?
v How did Chris establish the church?
v What role does the HS play in the church?
INTRODUCTION
Yesterday I purchased a new shelf for our garage. It
was on sale. We have a metal mesh type shelf that is held together by corner
knobs that you click the four corners of the shelves into and it is flimsy. It
cannot bear the weight of the stuff we need to place on it and it sways back
and forth and constantly needs to be toyed with to holds it place. So it was
time for something new, more sturdy, and appropriate for the role in our
garage. I pulled out the old shelf and cleaned up around it, put the new on
together and put it in it’s place. Stacked all of the stuff on it and I have a
whole new feeling now when I step into the garage. God has established
something new not in his garage but in His program. He has replaced the old
program and established a whole new one with you and me in mind. What he has
established is a brand new union. He has taken Jews and Gentiles into one ‘new
humanity.’ But how has he done that? And what are the consequences of this
whole new program? Why is this eve important and how does it effect us?
INTERPRETATION
CHRIST
RADICALLY ALTERED OUR IMAGE, OUR DESTINY, AND OUR OPPORTUNITY 14-18
Jesus Christ has changed your life! There can be no
more significant relationship you could ever have anywhere, anytime or any
place. Your life has been radically altered.
1. Christ has
radically altered our image 14
a. Everything about Jesus bleeds with peace. He is a
peacemaker by day and at heart. That is His day job. The first thing he did was
to tear down a wall. That is what peacemakers attempt to do. Break down walls
between people and try to enhance common ground that removes hostility. The
root of the problem has to be addressed. Christ has our well being in mind and
tangibly manages this by removing hostility and making factions friends. He
Himself is our peace by having made both factions into one essence. How did he
do this? He tore down a wall that separated the factions.
b. Not a literal wall but a kind of a metaphorical
one. It was a wall that set one party against the other. It was a partition
that naturally created hostility from one toward the other. There was hostility
between Jews and Gentiles. This was motivated by a misuse of the Law. They
turned the law inside out. The law was to protect them from surrounding nations
as a witness to them of who God was. But they viewed themselves as superior
because they had it. They viewed Gentiles as sinners, dirty, unclean,
unacceptable by them or by God. So hostility resulted. The gentiles despised
them too and have and still do because they are seen as haughty and stubborn.
To solve this problem, the law was made inoperative as a ruling principle in
God’s program. Jews and Gentiles in Christ would not have the law in play any
longer.
c. Christ nullified the law as an operating system
for the believer—either a Jewish one or a gentile one. A brand new operating
system is not being used and the glitches in the old one have been modified in
the new one. It is a superior operating system. He did this in his flesh—his
life and death on the cross was the cost involved to break down the wall and
remove the basis of the hostility so there could be absolutely no reason for it
once and for all. He fulfilled all of it stipulation, commandments, ordinances
fully and that applies to both groups equally. The ordinances and decrees for
Israel in the Law of Moses are null and void. They cannot look down on us and
we do not regard them jealously any longer. We have a new image.
2. Christ has
radically altered our destiny 15.
Now that the old operating system is useless, he has
built a new one, sleeker, smarter, and sweeter. He has taken both groups and
molded them into a brand new group—a third entity. He has taken both of them to
a new destiny, a higher plane. Neither groups is superior or inferior. He has a
new program in place and both Jewish and gentile believers together have peace
established between them. Both groups make up a new humanity. Gentiles did not
become Jews or Jews gentiles but believing Jews and gentiles are united as one.
So we now have similar destinies. It is not one kind of ministry to Jews and
another to Gentiles. This is the church and both need the gospel and both need
discipleship. We are united into one body and we have one mission. What God has
planned for national Israel in the future has no bearing on our ministry today
in this new operating system either for gentiles or Jews. We do not perform the
law today—unless specifically taught in the commandments of Christ, but we do
apply whatever we learn about God’s thinking from it.
3. Christ has
radically altered our opportunity 16-18
a. 16 In the process Christ has reconciled believers
from both groups to God Himself. This new entity we are in came at an
exorbitant price—the death of God’s Son. It also made reconciliation between
the groups possible removing the operating system that was used to provoke it.
His death put to death the enmity between us.
b. 17 The death of Christ preached something—namely,
(1) there is now peace between the factions and (2) peace between them and God.
Those ‘far off’ are we who are completely outside God’s covenant promises to
Israel. Those ‘near’ as Jews who had those promises. Both groups accepted the
peace Christ made (Acts 2 Jews, Acts 10 Gentiles) and each entered into a new
image and destiny together.
c. 18 We also have a new opportunity—access to God.
We both together have this access equally in one spirit to the Father. Because
of Christ’s work for us God is approachable. So all 3 persons are involved:
Thru Christ’s work, unite din one Spirit, believers (J &G) can approach the
Father! God has done something new now. He did newness before the law and
people operated by conscience and nature found God; then by promise; then by
law; then by spirit; then by kingdom.
THE CHURCH IS
GODS GROWING TEMPLE INHABITED BY THE HS 19-22
1. We are in a
new relationship 19.
Negatively we are no longer strangers and aliens
with no rights, no claims as before in OT. Positively, we are fellow citizens
with the saints of Gods household. This is with all believers of all ages who
give praise to God. We are a new household and one of God!
2. We are in a
new establishment 20-22.
1. It has a new foundation and cornerstone 20. The
foundation is consisting of the apostles and NT prophets. These historic
persons first formed the universal church. Both received new revelation and
were used to begin a new program.
2. It has a new cornerstone 20. It is the most
important stone in the whole building because all other stones were to be in
line with it—its angle, its size. So Christ is the one, which measures all
else. All the apostles and prophets making up the foundation must be aligned
properly with Christ.
3. It is a new building 21. It is a living and
growing building always with the same blueprint but as a household is
continually being added to in successive generations. New people are joining
the household. This building is a place set aside for God-His holy temple—the
unified growth of believers into a temple!
4. It has a new habitation 22. Believing Jews and
Gentiles are constantly being pieced together into its new walls. We all have a
place there. And it is growing everyday. We hear stories of new believers
regularly and discipleship goes on as our responsibility. With all believers
indwelt by the spirit the body they are part of is the holy temple of God where
He dwells! The church!
APPLICATION
1. Our gospel message should include the teaching
that Christ’s death on the cross ended the significance of being Jewish.
2. Our gospel message should include the teaching
that believers today do not become part of Israel. They become part of God’s
household built on NT apostles and prophets Christ being the cornerstone not OT
laws.