Household of God

Labor Day weekend always seems to come with mixed emotions as it signals the end of summer vacation.  It’s usually about this time that our family enjoys a stay-cation, in our own home.

One of the things I love about our house is that it suits our family, with a living room and dining room big enough for family gatherings and dinners.

Its appeal reminds me of my childhood home which also had a large living room and dining room where we built years and years of wonderful memories.

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September 2, 2012
Ephesians 2: 13- 22, Household of God
Mary Scheer, Brewster Baptist Church

 

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[powerpress]
When my dad died two years ago, the next door neighbor bought his house and then tore it down, to create a bigger yard for his property.

What was so painful was that he tore down the house, pulled up every tree and shrub, he dismantled the terraced fishponds, the award winning gardens and literally removed any trace that four generations of my family had ever lived there.

Fortunately, I have many pictures which are comforting reminders of the lives of people who were shaped in that space.

I have talked in the past about our family traditions of all the children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews often piling together with grandma and grandpa on my parents bed to eat popcorn and watch Disney movies.

The living room was the more formal place where we hosted company.  Except on Saturdays and Sunday, we all watched Family Classics and the Wonderful World of Disney on the color tv.

It’s large round coffee table supported generations of children as they were learning to stand and walk.  They would go round in circles holding its smooth edges.

Sunday, we always had formal dinners after church at the dining room table, set with my mom’s prettiest table cloths.

Our kitchen table hosted anyone who came to visit at dinner time.  All of the world’s problems were solved at that table and I learned about God at that table during morning and evening devotions.

I could go on forever talking about the unique qualities of each room and its history. In all my growing up years and all my friends’ houses that I visited, there was never a single home that I liked better than my own.

Because mine was where my parents and my sisters lived, it’s where I grew up and learned about life. it’s where I knew I was safe.  Though the house is gone, it does not diminish the power it had on my life.

Do you have special memories of a favorite house and your family time there?

I think our homes can have such an impact on us?  Because we are created and shaped for family and for home.

Sermon Text:  Ephesians 2: 13- 22 (NIV):  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Paul is talking about family unity.  Perhaps he is especially missing his home and family, because he “writes to the Ephesians from prison after he has been falsely charged with taking a non-Jew inside the temple in Jerusalem (Acts 21:28).

Taking a non-Jew beyond a particular dividing point in the temple was such an important breach of Jewish law that the Romans even permitted Jewish leaders to execute violators of this law.” ^[1]

You and I did not always have access to God’s house.  We were once far away.  The Hebrews’ were the holders of the promise.

Paul said, ^“the people of Israel, theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.  Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”^[2] (Rom. 9:4) (Gal. 3:16)

The law divided people into two groups, those who were part of God’s family and those who were not.

At one time we were the outcast, gentiles, foreigners and strangers, orphaned, without family, home or inheritance.

But, Ephesians says, “now in Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

He is our peace.  That one five letter word has enormous power.  The word for peace here means serenity, tranquility and calm.

Not only did he make peace between us and the father.  He did a whole new thing.  He made a way for all of us who were separated from each other to become one new body and made it into a new family.

And, ever since then we have all lived together in unity and harmony right???

Unfortunately that has not been the case.  Even though we are a new family, we still have our issues.

Sometimes these issues can become so big and spiral out of control that  families, neighborhoods and churches wind up divided.

It’s particularly painful when division happens inside the church.

“In the Old Testament, the only division in the temple was between priests and laity, but by Paul’s day architects had added barriers for non-Jews and for women (contrast 1 Kings 8:41–43);

Paul says these barriers are abolished in God’s true, spiritual temple.

“Around the time Paul was writing these words, arguing for racial unity in Christ, Jews and Syrians were massacring each other in the streets of Caesarea, a city where he had been a little while earlier (Acts 23:23).

Here Paul does not simply mimic a common stand against racism in his culture; he condemns racism and segregation of a religious institution even though he has to challenge his culture to do so.”[3]

He said, “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28 NLT)

Jesus himself, tore down the dividing walls of hostility.  This references the literal walls in the middle of the house that divide the rooms that keep people apart.  He tears down anything that separates us, so we can all be together.

So, it does not make sense then that folks once separated by the law, brought together by Christ through grace, then go on to divide themselves again because of differences and disagreements.

“God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory.

And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.

So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.^” (Heb 2:10-11)

He offers us salvation, he becomes our family and leads us home.

Our Father doesn’t just ask us to live with him, he is a home for us.  As Paul wrote, “For in him we live and move and have our being.”  (Acts 17:28 NIV)

Jesus said, “If my people love me they will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23).

One author says, “Dismiss any thought that God is on Venus while you are on earth. Since God is Spirit (John 4:23), he is next to you:

God himself is our roof. God himself is our wall. And God himself is our foundation. Moses knew this. “LORD,” he prayed, “you have been our home since the beginning” (Ps. 90:1).”[4]

Our home in God, “is no typical house. Conjure up your fondest notions and this house exceeds them all.

A grand castle has been built for your heart. Just as a physical house exists to care for the body, so the spiritual house exists to care for your soul.”[5]

We think of God as someone we pray to, yet he is also a house to live in.

“David, said I’m asking Yahweh for one thing, only one thing: to live with him in his house my whole life long.

I’ll contemplate his beauty, I’ll study at his feet. That’s the only quiet secure place in a noisy world”[6]  (Ps. 27:4–5 MSG).

He is talking about experiencing home, here and now while still on this earth.  Let’s have a look.

As you walk toward God’s house, you notice a white picket fence.  Jesus turns and smiles at you.

In order to enter God’s house, you have to walk through me, I am the gate and the door.

We enter through the door into a sweeping grand view.

In his book, “The Great House,” Max Lucado writes, “In the living room a painting hangs over the mantle.  The owner of the house treasures it.

He invites all who enter to begin their journey gazing at the picture and learning more about their Father… Let a million look at the canvas and each one will see himself.

And each will be right. Captured in the portrait is a tender scene of a father and a son. Behind them is a great house on a hill. Beneath their feet is a narrow path.

Down from the house the father has run. Up the trail the son has trudged. The two have met, here, at the gate[7].

Once through the gate we see our home is built on solid ground.  Jesus is the foundation of our faith and our future.

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  (1Cor.3:11)  “God’s solid foundation stands firm.” (1 Tim 2:19)

A special part of the foundation is the cornerstone and capstone.  Isaiah said, “this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.”

And Peter said, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” (Is. 28:16 TNIV; Mt. 21:42; 1 Pet. 2:6-7)

This large stone was normally placed at the foundation of a wall angle to bind two walls together.  The capstone sat on top, as added security.  (Ps 118:22; Zech 4:10)

The one who aligns it also holds it all together.

Every part of God’s house is special and contributes to our growth and well-being.

The roof is our covering of grace.  Without the roof, we would be exposed and vulnerable.

The kitchen feeds hungry souls even as we pray, “give us this day our daily bread.”

Jesus, invites us to the table to share a meal with the one who is living bread and water.  We are nourished and refreshed with an endless supply of provision.

From the hallways you can reach any room in the house.  In the hallways we pass people from every nation, tongue and tribe.

All of us sons and daughters of God are united together in Gods household.

There’s much more, but we only had time for a quick tour.

From a prison cell, Paul reminds the Ephesians that the differences that once separated and divided them does not exist anymore and does not belong in the church.

At home and at church God calls for unity.  One of the ways we work toward this is by remembering who we are and where we came from.

After all, don’t we as believers;

• Have the same father…and pray saying, “Our Father…”
• Enter through the same door, being Christ.
• We Live together in the house of God.
• We all take shelter under the roof of grace.
• We are all nourished at God’s table.
• We are safe on a solid foundation.
• We are loved, cared for and fed, by the one who calls us son…the one who calls us daughter.   (idea adapted from “The Great House.”)

The Apostle Paul says, we are all visitors on this earth, but our citizenship, our real home is with each other in Christ.  (Phil. 3:20)

Right now have a home for our heart, a spiritual shelter from the physical world.  Spend time there.  Visit during your prayer or devotions time.

I started doing this years ago after studying about visual prayer.  One day when I was in Wisconsin, I was walking down a path that had beautiful trees on either side.  There is a clearing in the path with a bench on the right side that looks over a pond.  I sat down on the bench and imagined Jesus walking down the path with me and sitting next to me on the bench.  I can still picture Jesus with me on walks, I can imagine walking around the house of God, sitting at the table in the kitchen having coffee with him, or sitting by the fire in the living room having a chat.  I do this in my prayer time.  We can all do this.  Be intentional about drawing close to God and imagining his presence with us as we pray.

The purpose of the images is to help you experience God in a more personal and intimate way.  Take visual snapshots and write about them in your prayer  journal.

If Dave and I are in the car together and he is driving, I sometimes put my head back and imagine myself walking up the front walk to God’s house.  I enter and experience relief and joy, no matter what’s going on in my life at the time.

One writer said, we must, “Learn to linger in the living room of God’s house. When the words of others hurt you or your own failures distress you, step in here. Gaze at his painting and be reminded of your God:

It is right to call him Holy;

we speak truth when we call him King.

But if you want to touch his heart, use the name he loves to hear. Call him Father.”[8]

May you grow to love this home, because it’s where your family lives, because it’s where you are safe and always loved.

Let’s Pray:  Dear Lord, thank you for adopting us into your family and making us your sons and daughters.  Help us to understand more fully how to live as your children in ways that bless you.  Help us to work at strengthening our unity and root out things that cause division among us.  When life gets tough, help us to remember our home in you.  Prompt us to visit you there often.  May our time at home nurture and shape us so that we grow more and more in your likeness.  I pray for those who need some time at home today to rest, to receive grace, to be strengthen and renewed.  May the reality of our place in your family fill us with overflowing joy today and always.  In Jesus name.  Amen.