Fellow Citizens
By The Will of God, A Study Through Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 36 viewsI am not sure about you, but I love to be included in things. I love to think that I am welcome somewhere. What Christ did for us was to provide the opportunity to be welcomed into the chosen people of God. To no longer be strangers or aliens. What exactly does that mean for us? What should it mean for those we come in contact with? What must it have looked like to the Jewish believers? What would it look like to us? What does it mean to become a "Fellow Citizen" and what does it mean to welcome others to become "Fellow Citizens"? Watch this weekend's message to learn more about being and allowing for "Fellow Citizens".
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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— 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. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 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, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
I am not sure about you, but I love to be included in things.
I love to think that I am welcome somewhere.
Do you remember what it felt like to not be inlcuded?
Were you ever picked last for a sport or game?
It was like the super athletes had to settle for me, you.
Sometimes when we read these passages we forget that Israel would have felt very much this way to an extent.
The gentiles were receiving the Holy Spirit! What in the world is wrong here!
What Christ did for us was to provide the opportunity to be welcomed into the chosen people of God.
To no longer be strangers or aliens.
I want to ask a series of questions today and see what we can learn from these verses.
I want us to think from a different perspective this morning and then move around to our current viewpoint. I believe if we will do this, it will help us to embrace the ministry that we have been truly given.
What must it have looked like to the Jewish believers?
What must it have looked like to the Jewish believers?
But Paul was a Jew. He knew his Old Testament well. He lived in the hope of that book. And so there was a problem with seeing the church as the embodiment and "fullness" of the glory of God and his Son. The problem was that this was Israel's destiny. God had made these promises to Israel. Now Paul is saying that the church, made up of Jews and Gentiles, will be God's people, the glory of God's Son and the fullness of the Messiah's glory in the world.
The Jews were the chosen people of God. They had the commandments. They had the profits. They had Abraham for goodness sake. How could the Jews have followed God for all these years and now the lowly gentiles were welcomed in. They would have been incensed.
Listen to this parable
And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Israel must have felt much this way as they witnessed the gentiles coming into their congregations.
The pagan believers, with their traditions and lack of bible knowledge must have been disturbing.
They had indeed been far off V.13. They knew nothing of Abraham, David or the other profits. They knew little of the law and less of the traditions of the nation of Israel.
They were saved and growing but they had no traditional knowledge to draw from. They were babes to the knowledge of God.
I was them, we are they.
Paul is helping the Jews to know that the gentiles are not second class citizens in these verses.
What exactly does that mean for us?
What exactly does that mean for us?
He is also helping the gentiles to be encouraged despite the fact that did not have all the religious knowledge or language or custom to know that were indeed brought near (v.13) by the blood of Christ.
I means that were truly accepted into the chosen people of God. The dividing wall has been broken down. We now become the Body of Christ regardless of our background.
My past is now no determiner of my future. The blood of Christ has brought me near!
Now, we celebrate this barrier being broken down for us, but do we celebrate it being broken down for others?
What would it look like to us?
What would it look like to us?
We need to also take a quick minute and acknowledge that Paul is not saying for the church to become more like the gentiles.
He is clearly stating that the gentiles need to remember that they were once far off, their old lifestyle was not near to God, but now they have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Our lives need to be looking more and more like Christ but, he is saying that the gentiles were not there yet and not to feel second class because of that.
What do you think would happen in our church tomorrow if all of a sudden 2-300 people were saved from a life of addiction, poverty, sexual immorality or rough living?
Imagine for a minute that next week, we were able to all meet together again and you walked in to find our congregation was double in size.
At first you might be ecstatic.
However, it wouldn’t take long to realize that most of these people had little to know knowledge of Church as you know it. They want to do things differently than you always have. They like to dress different. They might be tattooed, pierced, still struggling with old habits or all of the above. They are trying to grow in Christ but the journey has just begun.
They do not even realize that they shouldn’t smoke in the parking lot or eat in the sanctuary.
If we were not careful, we would quickly make them feel like second class citizens. Like we were more religious than them or maybe even more saved.
What should it mean for those we come in contact with?
What should it mean for those we come in contact with?
As Christ is the cornerstone for us all,
I want to tell you that if you are listening to this and you have ever felt that way, I apologize of behalf of my sinful brothers and sisters in Christ. Christ died to bring them near and He died to bring you near as well.
There are no second class citizens in Christ or in heaven.
You are Fellow Citizens with us!
You are Fellow Citizens with us!
What does it mean to become a "Fellow Citizen" and what does it mean to welcome others to become "Fellow Citizens"?
What does it mean to become a "Fellow Citizen" and what does it mean to welcome others to become "Fellow Citizens"?
It means that we all, long time believer or short term convert are all being built into a dwelling place for the Lord.
It means that we accept the fact that we have been redeemed from our circumstances and others will be redeemed from theirs.
It means that we who have been believers have a responsibility to humbly help welcome, nurture and help them bridge the religious gap so to speak.
It also means that new believers need to receive love and patience as well as extend love and patience.
We will mess up. We will do things wrong, and so will you.
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Why? because we are not perfected yet. We can get injured and we can injure all too easily sometimes.
John Piper once wrote “God aims to make the church, the body of Christ, into a showcase of the glory of his perfections. God will fill the universe with the glory of his Son by putting the body of his Son, the church, on display. He will hold up the church and say to heaven and hell: this is the glory of my Son, his bride, his body, his church.”
John Piper once wrote “God aims to make the church, the body of Christ, into a showcase of the glory of his perfections. God will fill the universe with the glory of his Son by putting the body of his Son, the church, on display. He will hold up the church and say to heaven and hell: this is the glory of my Son, his bride, his body, his church.”
To be a fellow citizen is to be a part of that glory revealed. The glory of Jesus is his ability to reconcile jews, greeks, church goers and church beginners.
If we can remember that as Brennan Manning put it in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel,
“Through no merit of ours, but by His mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son. This is the Good News, the gospel of grace.”
Manning, Brennan. The Ragamuffin Gospel (pp. 20-21). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
In another part of his book he states
“Often hobbling through our church doors on Sunday morning comes grace on crutches—sinners still unable to throw away their false supports and stand upright in the freedom of the children of God. Yet their mere presence in the church on Sunday morning is a flickering candle representing a desire to maintain contact with God. To douse the flame is to plunge them into a world of spiritual darkness.”
Manning, Brennan. The Ragamuffin Gospel (p. 30). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Let us embrace each other as fellow citizens.
Let us embrace each other as fellow citizens.
Let us encourage and exhort more than we correct and rebuke.
Let us encourage and exhort more than we correct and rebuke.
We must be a reconciling people because we are a reconciled people.
We must be a reconciling people because we are a reconciled people.
Not a people who do not offend and get offended. But a people who are soon on the road to reconciliation.