Sermon on Ephesians 2:11-22, for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost, "What is the Church?"
Sermon Outline:
1.
Monuments of time and history: Great
Wall, Pyramids, or Brooklyn Bridge. Took a lot of “blood, sweat, and tears” to
build them. Mammoth designs and dangers in construction often meant the injury
or death of the workers. Impressive; standing many hundreds or even thousands
of years, but time and weather endlessly wear away at them and age them. With
ongoing maintenance the effects of time might be stalled—but eventually, even
the great monuments of time will succumb to rubble and dust.
2.
Another structure: far surpassing all
others in glory—the Christian Church. Built for the glory of God, not the glory of man. Stretching through time and to eternity—a
lot of blood, sweat, and tears to build. Not talking about bricks, mortar,
stone, and wood. Not about church buildings. That’s not the “Church” I’m
talking about. Living structure, living stones, members of the body of Christ.
Jesus’ blood, sweat and tears builds it. Different from earthly structures.
Time, death, decay don’t destroy the building. Unique in that when Christian’s
die, they don’t cease to be a part of the church! Alive and well in glory!
3.
So what is the church? At its heart and core; what is central to its
identity? It’s not about a physical building with a sign out front that says
“church.” It’s not any old organization of people united for any good purpose. It’s
not a certain pattern of rituals or ceremonies followed in worship. It’s not
official recognition by the government as a church or non-profit. All of these
ideas could be mistakenly identified as the church. While some may or may not go
along with the church, they all miss what is at the heart of the church. To
clear up the confusion, and get at the heart of the matter, the church is a
very simple thing. Luther said it was so simple that even a 7 year old boy
knows what it is: “The holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.”
The church is, in its essence, in its heart and core, believers who hear and
follow Jesus’ voice. Sheep and their Good Shepherd.
4.
So when Paul calls the church the body
of Christ, or a structure being joined together, growing into a Temple in the
Lord, why does this “spiritual structure” take Jesus’ blood, sweat, and tears
to build? And who are the “bricks/living stones”? Not a simple matter of going
to a brickyard and taking a stack of bricks to lay into a wall. Living
structure, made of people. Enmity, hostility between the people—Jew to Gentile
(all non-Jews). Why the hostility? Jesus “broke down in His flesh the dividing
wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances.” The
Law brought hostility, commands and decrees of God put a curse on all those who
disobeyed. Hostility from Jew to Gentile, and from both to the law and
ultimately to God. Rom. 8:7-8, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is
hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those
who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Jam. 4:4 “Do you not know that
friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a
friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God?”
5.
What kind of curse does the law set on
people? Gal. 3:10 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for
it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in
the Book of the Law, and do them.” Cursed if you can’t keep it perfectly, and
none can. Would that create some hostility? Resentment toward God? Toward those
who think they’re pulling it off, and act self-righteous? Or in the other
direction, resentment toward those who despise God’s commandment and blatantly
disregard or defy it?
6.
Conscience stirred up and afflicted by
the curse—left as strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. Such was our condition. All this hostility and enmity
boils up within us and between us and others because of sin. Not because the
law is evil or bad—rather it is good—unflinchingly good. It gives no relief for
our error. The law gives sin its power over us, because it puts us under that
curse. The law is no friend of sinners, and has no mercy on the disobedient. It
is a taskmaster and prison guard.
7.
So it’s our sin, my sin, your sin that
is the bitter root of all the hostility and enmity. And because it is
pervasive, spread through every one of us, it took Jesus’ blood, sweat and
tears to become our peace, to make us one in Him, in His holy Christian Church.
In His human flesh, He came under the curse of the law for us. Died on the
cross, under the full hostility of sin, so that He could redeem us from the
curse of the Law. Nailed the demands and accusations of the law to the tree.
Emptied it of its curse and power over us, end of hostility.
8.
Made peace with us and with God through
forgiveness. He becomes the cornerstone, the Rock on which the church is built.
Apostles and prophets surround Him as the foundation on which the church, this
living, spiritual building/structure is built. Jesus went through this
tremendous sacrifice and death, to make us members of His body, the church.
Just as individual bricks laying on the ground are not yet a building, so also Bible
doesn’t envision “Lone Ranger” Christians or “hermit Christians” who try to “go
it alone.” We don’t find our greater purpose or sense of belonging apart from
the Church, but as we are “incorporated” or “built into it.” “Incorporated”
literally means “united in one body”—just as we all as separate people are
joined into something greater than ourselves, the Christian church. Not to lose
our individuality, but to belong, and to use our unique gifts and talents in
service to others. No, we are called into community and fellowship with other
believers. We need the mutual support, care, prayer, fellowship, instruction,
rebuking, reconciling, and most importantly, Christ’s gifts of Word and
Sacrament, which form and identify the Church. Reflect on this passage later
today on how many phrases and works show the rich meaning of community that is
found in the Christian Church. That Christ draws and joins us together in Him.
He is our Head, He is our Cornerstone—our life and our peace flow from Him.
9.
Where on earth is this church to be
found? If the Christian church is lambs who hear the voice of Jesus, their
shepherd, how do I find it? After all, this “living building” of the church is
not like the Great Wall that you can plan a tour to go see. Not a cathedral or
a physical building that you can make a pilgrimage to. But then is the church
an entirely invisible or internal thing, with no external marks to identify it?
Faith in Jesus Christ alone makes one a believer and true member of Christ’s
church. But only God can never be deceived, and only God knows truly what’s in
each person’s heart. But this does not mean the church cannot be known.
10. External
marks: The first is the pure teaching of God’s Word. “Pure” because it
is on the pure teaching of God’s Word that we are have healthy growth in faith.
One would not knowingly give their child tainted milk to drink, saying “Well,
it’s still milk.” Rather you would give them pure milk, so they would not get
sick. So when God’s Word is taught in its truth and purity, this is one sure
sign of the church’s presence. Secondly, the Sacraments, or Baptism and the
Lord’s Supper are celebrated according to Christ’s command. These two are
directly commanded by our Lord Jesus, and instrumental in His giving grace to
us. Both visible actions, God attaches the forgiveness of sins through Jesus’
death and resurrection. And they too, like the Word of God, should be used as
Christ commanded. They are not our ceremonies to do whatever we like. They are
Holy and given by Him to be used as He instructed. “Go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
“Take eat, this is my body, given for you. Take drink, this is my blood of the
new covenant, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s
death until he comes.
11. Where
these things are present: the Word of God and the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit
is at work building His Church. With the Word of God, with Baptism and the
Supper, we can be confident that here we are being “built together into a
dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:22) Jesus died to make us what
we are—the Christian Church. To join us together in His One body, to make peace
with us by forgiving our sin and taking the curse on Himself. While we still
labor under weakness and frailty, suffering, and even death, the Church might
not look like much to the world. But when we join the heavenly host, we’ll
truly see why the Church surpasses all the monuments of history in glory, and
why Christ shed His blood to bring us near to Him—and to bring all glory and
honor to God who fulfills all His purposes in Christ and in us. Amen!
Sermon
Talking Points
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- What kind of “structure” does Ephesians 2 say
that Christ is building? In what way could you say that it took a lot of
“blood, sweat, and tears” to make it? Luke 19:41-44; 22:41-44; John
19:31-37. Read carefully in Ephesians 2:11-22. What does it say His blood
and His death accomplished for His people?
- What is this “structure” built on? Eph. 2:20.
How is it different from any earthly structures or physical buildings?
Eph. 2:21-22.
- Use the analogy of individual bricks or stones
compared to a structure of which they are a part, to explain why Christ
puts us in community in the church, rather than leaving us in isolation.
How do we “living stones” retain our individuality and purpose, while
becoming part of a greater whole? Why does this truth lead Paul to mix
metaphors between a building and a body? Eph. 2:14-16, cf. 2:20-22; 1 Cor.
12:12-31.
- How does this body/structure grow unlike an earthly building?
How is it more like a living organism than a static structure? Col. 2:19;
1 Pet. 2:4-5 How does the (physical) death of individual Christians
(amazingly) not lead to the
gradual decay and decline of the Christian church? Rom. 8:38. How do they
remain part of the body, as it continues to grow through time? John
11:25-26
- What “hostility” or enmity did Christ have to
overcome by His death and blood to make us all members of His body, this
“structure” the Church? Eph. 4:18; Col. 1:21. Reduced to its simplest
definition, what is the Christian Church, as every 7 year old (should)
knows? “The believers and lambs who hear Christ’s voice and follow Him”.
John 10:1-18
- Though the Christian Church’s true membership
is hidden from our eyes, what outward signs serve as identifying “marks”
so that we can recognize where the Church is here on earth? John 8:31-32;
14:23-26; 20:21-23; Matt. 28:18-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26.
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