Title: CHRIST’S PROJECT—THE CHURCH
Focus: Christ’s saving work centered on reconciling Jews and Gentiles to God, thus forming the universal church in which God dwells by his Spirit.
Function: To emphasize that the church stands at the heart of Christ’s atoning work. No one should lightly dismiss the church as irrelevant to the world or to Christian living.
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22
Perhaps I’m a bit sensitive about this subject, but it strikes me that a lot of people today do not have much good to say about the Christian church. It’s not hard to find “what’s-wrong-with- the-church” or anti-church books such as Why Men Hate Going to Church, by David Murrow, and The Church Impotent—the Feminization of Christianity, by Leon Podles, and such books as unChristian—What a New Generation really Thinks About Christianity, by David Kinnaman.
To be sure, I’m not adverse to fair and helpful critique of the Christian church. We do need voices and mirrors of reflection, so that the Christian church continues to be a credible witness for Christ. It’s when I hear people say that the Church is irrelevant to the world, or irrelevant for today’s generation of Christians. It’s when I hear voices that say that they can live as Christians without being a vital and vibrant part of the church. Then I shake my head.
It’s when I hear the popular cry “Give me Jesus any time! But forget the church! I can do without the church!” Then I get defensive. And when I hear stories of people who have left the church because they have been hurt by church members—and there are many such stories—then I feel sad.
Here’s why: The church is Christ’s project. The Christian church stands at the core of Christ’s atoning work. No one should lightly dismiss the church as irrelevant to the world or to Christian living. Nor should anyone simply leave the church because of challenging relationships, disappointments or imperfections. For the church is always under “construction.”
This truth rises from the passage in Ephesians 2:11-22. For there we learn that Christ’s saving work centered on reconciling Jews and Gentiles to God, thus forming the universal church. As such, the church is Christ’s project, where God’s people are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
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Consider the passage. The apostle Paul is doing some heavy lifting or “theological reflection” upon the work of Jesus. Yet, it’s not difficult to analyze Paul’s flow of thought. In verses 11-12 Paul speaks about the alienation of Jews and Gentiles; and he tells us what we (Gentile Christians) once were—we were “far away.”
In verses 13-18, Paul focuses on the sacrificial work of Jesus as he shed his blood and died on that cross at Calgary. Jesus, then, is at the center of these verses. In verses 19-22 Paul tells us what we (Gentile Christians) have now become. Because of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, Gentiles have a new status. Once we were “far away.” Now we “have been brought near.”
You could summarize the flow of thought in this passage by way of pictures: First, we have a picture of a group of people who are alienated from the Israelites. Then we have a picture of Christ, bringing the two groups (Jews and Gentiles) together to God. And the last picture is a portrait of God’s new community—the church (cf. John Stott)
Now there are two threads that hold these three pictures in this passage together. They are the thread of “alienation” and the thread of “reconciliation.” Keep one eye on these three pictures, and the other eye on these two threads—and you’ll see that the church stands at the core of Christ’s atoning work. And you’ll notice that Christ’s saving work centered on reconciling Jews and Gentiles to God, thus forming the universal church in which God dwells by his Spirit.
In the first picture we notice the thread of alienation. Listen: “…remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcision’ by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)—remember that at that time you were separated….” In other words, Gentiles were alienated.
From what, you ask? Listen: “…separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” There was in essence, what Paul calls in vs. 14 a “barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.”
In the fifties, sixties and seventies, the great Berlin Wall divided the eastern, communist world from the western world of democracy and freedom. That wall is gone today. In the days of Jesus, there was another dividing wall. It was right there in Jerusalem, where the Temple of Israel’s God was located.
Not every one had access to God in the Temple. There was the outer court—Gentiles could enter that court, but no further, lest they would be executed for crossing the barrier that kept them from access to God, and from participating in God’s covenant promises to Abraham’s descendants.
Then there was the court of women. Only Jewish women could enter that part of the temple, but no further. Then there was the court of Israel—only Jewish men could enter that part of the temple, but no further. And then there was the court of the priest—only Levites, appointed for temple services and sacrifices could enter that part of the temple. And one part of the Temple was only accessible to the High Priest, who once a year could enter the Holy of Holies and atone for the sins of God’s people by presenting a sacrifice.
Over the centuries the sons and daughters of Abraham had learned to think of Gentiles as inferior to them, as idolaters who were far removed from God. The Israelites had forgotten—more or less—that God sought them to be a “blessing to the nations of the world.”
That blessing would be realized in the coming and atoning work of Jesus Christ. He would abolish the dividing walls. In fact, Jesus would make it possible for his Spirit to “temple” or dwell in a new “building,” in a new community, in a new man, in a new “body”—the body of Christ, the church.
That work of Jesus is pictured in vs. 13-18, where Paul talks about Jesus’ work on the cross. Listen: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two (Jews and Gentiles) one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.”
Desperate and brave Berliners (from both the east and the west) knocked down the Berlin Wall in the early 80’s. It was the Lord Jesus who knocked down (or abolished) the great barrier between Jews and Gentiles that blocked access to God. Jesus shed his blood, said Paul (vs.14). By his death, Jesus abolished “in his flesh” the law with its commandments and regulations.”
In other words, Jesus fulfilled the Law and paid the price of our sins and transgressions of the perfect law of God. Thus Jesus “himself is our peace.” And thus you and I, as Gentiles, “who were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” And thus it is through Christ that “…we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access to the Father by one Spirit.” Whereas there were two bodies, two entities—two nations (Jews and Gentiles), Christ has abolished the barrier of hostility between the two and Christ has made us into one entity, one body, one new man—the church. And thus Christ reconciled us to God by his work on the cross. The church is Christ’s project; the church stands at the heart of Christ’s atoning work. No one should dismiss lightly the church as irrelevant to the world or to Christian living.
The apostle Paul underscores Christ’s work by shining the spotlight on Christ’s project, the church. That’s the third picture in the passage: Paul says to us (Gentile Christians): “You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people.” He tells us that Gentile Christians are “members of God’s household.” And he stresses that in Christ we are being built into “a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Here we notice that Paul refers to that “one new man,” that one “new body,” that one new community called the church in terms of God’s kingdom (we are fellow citizens with the Israelites); in terms of God’s family (we are members of God’s household, adopted as sons and daughters of Abraham through faith in Christ Jesus); and in terms of God’s temple (we are being built together to become a dwelling in which God dwells by his Spirit).
And here is the mortar, the cement that unifies the church: we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Christ is the chief cornerstone; believers in Christ (Jews and Gentiles) make up the individual bricks or stones by which, God—in Christ—is constructing his temple—the church. Christ reconciled us to God by his work on the cross. The church, then, is Christ’s project; the church stands at the heart of Christ’s atoning work. No one should dismiss lightly the church as irrelevant to the world or to Christian living.
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So what is God saying to us here today through this passage? Let me give you some pointers:
· The Christian church is being built; it’s not a finished project. The church is not yet a perfect(ed) community; it is a “gathering of forgiven sinners called to be holy and dedicated to service” (Contemp. Testimony, 42) When through faith in Christ, God joins us as members of Christ’s body (as symbolized, signed and sealed in baptism), we do not walk away from it when disappointed, or hurt by the failures or shortcomings of other members. Rather, we hold each other accountable and make the church a better place by our modeling of faith, and by growing in love and grace and knowledge. For we are all under construction. The church is Christ’s project.
· Reconciliation (the getting rid of hostility or the making of peace) stands at the heart of Jesus’ work. Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to each other through the cross. And Christ has reconciled us to God himself. We have peace with God—and with each other. And we must learn to live in peace.
Divisiveness, disunity, and the building of walls between fellow Christians—whether slaves or free, male or female, young or old, black or white or any other race—these hostile gestures have no place in the church. For Christ has made us one, joined us into one man, body, or building, or temple called the “church.” We do well to seriously examine ourselves and pay attention to our conduct toward each other. Am I divisive and raising up walls or barriers of hostility in the church? Or am I practicing and seeking unity and reconciliation within the church? Reconciliation stands at the heart of Christ’s work on the cross.
· Here’s another pointer: Speak well of the church. Speak well of her leaders and members. During the last 27 years, I have met parents who were in the habit of bitching and complaining about “this and that and anything else” in the church. They would do so in front of their children. And then they would express surprise and disappointment when they discovered (too late for most) that their teenage or adult children were leaving the church.
If we, grownups, do not value the church of Christ, our children will get the message. If we do not invest ourselves and commit ourselves to the ministry and public worship of the church, we should not be surprised when our sons and daughters hook off and turn their back to the church. And once they turn their back to the church, they will quickly lose any love and devotion for the Lord of the church.
Therefore, speak well. And if you can’t say anything good about the church, then be silent and get to work. Make the church a better place. Be a healer, be a worker, be a servant for the Lord of the church.
The church is his project; the church is the apple of the Lord’s eye. Speak well of the church and do not lightly dismiss the church as irrelevant to the world or to Christian living.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.