"The Grace Effect" 2012

Ephesians 2:12-22 1 Corinthians 3:9-16

Ephesians 2:12-22

12remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

1 Corinthians 3:9-169For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. 16Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Southwest Airlines does not assign seating,

but allows passengers to choose where they want to sit.

Those who board first

usually spread out leaving empty seats beside them,

and those who board later

fill-in whatever empty seats they can find.

So imagine

you are sitting on the plane with an empty seat beside you,

and you see the line of passengers coming down the aisle…

… who would you hope doesn’t take that empty seat next to you?

What sort of person would be welcome,

or less welcome, particularly on a long flight?

Do you think God’s grace should guide and effect

our behavior and attitude toward others, toward strangers?

Considering the life, ministry and teaching of Jesus Christ,

one of the most significant issues of conflict

between Jesus and the religious authorities …

… was that sinners and outcasts rejected by the religious,

were welcomed and accepted into fellowship by Jesus;

such as lepers, tax-collectors, Samaritans & prostitutes

deemed unworthy and unacceptable by the authorities.

The core and fundamental theme

of almost every parable that Jesus ever told,

of most of the sermons and lessons that He taught,

and of nearly every miracle that He performed;

… almost everything

that Jesus ever did or ever said as recorded in Scripture

was about the limitless grace and hospitality of God

that reaches out with invitation and welcome

to the outsider, the unworthy & undeserving.

And his command to the apostles, to the Church He left behind,

was to continue to live and proclaim God's hospitality

by preaching and teaching about Jesus as an invitation

into a relationship that shares and spreads

God’s grace and mercy out into the world…

… by breaking down walls that separate us from God and other people.

But we humans do tend to build walls and find ways to separate.

We categorize & make hasty judgments, and even among Christians

we assume our views & experiences are more valid than others.

Authentic Christian faith and a living faithful life of grace,

calls for much more than just our own encounter with God,

but also includes a life lived together in community that

demonstrates and extends God’s mercy and compassion.

But this has never been an easy task.

In Judaism,

they saw themselves as uniquely, the chosen people of God;

somehow superior and more loved by God than anyone else.

So we can well imagine how difficult or even inconceivable

it would have been for those early Jewish Christians

to accept that former pagans who once worshipped idols

could actually be equally loved and precious to God.

How could a person,

who had always worshiped false gods and idols in pagan temples,

and who knew almost nothing about the Holy Scriptures,

possibly be as righteous and acceptable to God

as one who grew up steeped and nurtured

in the Old Testament teachings and traditions? …

… or a deathbed conversion as loveable as a life-long Presbyterian?

The book of Ephesians was a later New Testament letter

from a time when Christianity was spreading in the Roman empire

and drawing in more Gentiles than Jewish believers.

Clearly there was conflict and tension between these two groups,

… vs. 11~14

So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, … remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, … But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. … he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.

The point is, whatever differences and divisions

that once existed between Jews and Gentiles,

those distinctions were no longer significant or mattered

because of the grace given through Jesus Christ…

… just as you wouldn’t notice a flashlight in bright sunshine.

At one time religions rules governing diet and ritual purity

kept the Jewish people separate from those around them,

and that holiness guided their worship and access to God.

But now God’s grace has eliminated all that

as Christ broke down the walls of separation. vs. 15-18

He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross.

This does not mean throwing out biblical morality and ethics,

but, that the Old Testament law and ordinances

about ritual separation from the culture around them…

… have been replaced because that purpose was accomplished

by God’s saving grace and mercy given through Jesus Christ.

vs. 19-20

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

A cornerstone was the first stone put in place during construction

that sets & establishes the pattern for the rest of the work…

… meaning that Christ

as the cornerstone sets the pattern of the Church.

The author's point is that the grace of God through Jesus Christ

is the decisive element of salvation;

for both Jews and Gentiles required that same grace.

It is God’s grace and saving purpose, and not our human works

that determines our status before God … which was

the same issue that Paul addressed in First Corinthians.

Paul had first brought the Gospel message to Corinth.

He started the church and trained their first leaders,

and when he moved on to evangelize elsewhere,

other teachers and preachers came along,

some quite critical of Paul and his ministry.

Imagine how difficult that must have been for Paul,

to see someone else building on his good work,

and criticizing the fruits of his labor and efforts.

Probably just as difficult as was for Jewish Christians in Ephesus

to accept Gentile Christians as equals,

and as saved solely by the work of grace through Christ.

For Paul it had come at high personal cost

when he laid down the foundation of that church,

for as he put it, they were his field, his building.

But then as he explains his role, vs. 9-11

For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.

It’s not really his foundation, but as Paul recognizes,

the true foundation is Jesus Christ … who was and is à

the foundation upon which the people of God will be built.

So how do we discern God’s foundation, truth and will,

or suppose a builder isn’t faithful or obedient to Scripture?

What about false teaching, or someone in it mostly for themselves?

Paul explains: vs. 12-15

… the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

We are assured that in the end, all of us,

all our words and ideas, our works and deeds

will have to pass a final-exam -- the blowtorch test …

and anything wrong or unworthy God will burn it away.

The challenge is, in the meantime, how do we make decisions?

My experience is that it’s a slow and reflective process

of trying to listen through prayer, meditation & Scripture,

of conversation among faithful and spiritual leaders …

… and not manipulative or sneaky ways seeking a quick win,

or that circumvent honor, integrity and trusting in God.

Our church has a long history of faithful ministry and mission,

and when I think about those who proceeded us,

sometimes I wonder what they would think of our ministry,

and more importantly will God approve and be pleased

with what we are building, or will it be burned?

Or right now our officer nominating committee is meeting,

and they are considering the important question,

of who is God calling to serve and build on this foundation?

As those who have received grace and who walk with God,

the Lord has called and equipped us all for ministry,

and we are promised, the Lord is with us and will lead us.

vs. 21-22

In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Or, as Paul explains to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

In the original Greek, in both of these passages,

the word, "you" is specifically plural,

and does not refer to just a single individual…

When we welcome Christ into our lives as our Lord and Savior,

the Holy Spirit does enter our lives to guide us,

but that’s not what, you are God's temple means in this passage.

… 'Do you not know that all of you together are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells among all of you together.'

The new temple and dwelling place of God,

is the Church, the community of faith among the people of God,

where together we become the dwelling place of God …

… for it is the indwelling presence of God among all of us

that makes us the true Church of Jesus Christ, along with

all Christians everywhere, of every time and place.

Together, as the followers and disciples of Jesus Christ,

we are being built spiritually into a dwelling place of God,

into a community that practices the mercy & grace of God.

The measure is not the bricks and mortar of the cathedrals we build

but our relationship with God, the lives touched with compassion.

The primary aim of our Christian life in faith community

is not to feel safe, satisfied, secure or comfortable; à

but to live faithfully following the way as demonstrated by Jesus.

One time when I was a younger pastor,

a man stayed awake during a sermon, and acted on it.

He had been engaged in a long and bitter unresolved dispute

with a neighbor over some adjacent property they both claimed.

They stopped speaking and rancor grew into hatred.

I had preached about honor God through our relationships,

and so when he got home after church that day,

he walked over and talked with his neighbor,

and they were able to reach an agreement.

We don’t see or hear about such things happening very often,

and that one I chalk off as clearly a God-thing …

… a most unlikely reconciliation happened,

became testimony before the world and God was honored

… and an effect of God’s grace was made visible to us all.

It was when the Christian community gathered in worship

that he heard and experienced God’s gracious call,

and effected by God’s grace, he acted in grace,

… which transformed a situation of hatred and rancor

into a demonstration of Christian hope and reconciliation,

of new possibilities when grace takes effect.

Stanley Hauerwas, a Christian ethicists has written:

"For Christians and the Church, their most important task is nothing less than to be a community capable of hearing the story of God we find in Scripture and living in a manner that is faithful to that story … which can be judged by the kind of people it develops … a community capable of forming people with virtues sufficient to witness to God's truth in the world."

Our call:

to live together with courageous and tenacious gentle strength

that reflects the stories, truth & grace of Jesus Christ,

and makes the effects of God’s mercy and grace visible

by our words, deeds and attitudes in this world.

Colossians 3:12~15

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. … And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.