The Gospel Family (Ephesians 2:11-22)
September 25, 2016 Speaker: Rev. Frank Wang Series: Ephesians - The Gospel Life
Topic: Sermons Passage: Ephesians 2:11–22
- Listen
- Downloads
We’ve been working our way through the exceptionally meaty texts of Ephesians this fall, and this week’s text isn’t any different. We’ll be working our way through Ephesians 2:11-22 and seeing how we are being built together into “The Gospel Temple”.
Last week, Dr. Dave reminded us that our deepest problem is sin and that Christ had decisively dealt with that problem through Christ who has saved us by grace through faith. This week, Ephesians begins to unpack how sin works itself into our relationships. Conflict has been front and center in the minds of Americans in the past few years. Terrorist attacks in France and the specter of ISIS highlight external conflicts that we are embroiled in. Race riots in Ferguson and Baltimore as well as a rash of highly publicized shootings of black people by white cops have highlighted the tensions, conflicts, and hostilities that divide our country racially. The presidential campaign this year seems to be filled with more vitriol than in previous years, and fear has run rampant as a talking point. Conflict seems to be omnipresent.
Church congregations are not really any different. Congregations are just that: groups of people made up of radically different people, coming together for a singular purpose. If we look around our churches, there are often folks that we would not have picked to be a part of our group of friends. In the face of this diversity and the fact that these differences often produce friction and conflict, how can we be “built together into a holy temple in the Lord” when we sometimes find people in the church really, really annoying? Not surprisingly, it’s Christ who brings us together. Ephesians calls us to be one. As we work through the passage this Sunday, I hope that we will have the courage to take a long hard look at what the Bible is calling us to with regards to our church community. I know that I for one have been challenged deeply by the radical nature of our call to be one in Christ.
More in Ephesians - The Gospel Life
November 20, 2016
The Gospel Armor (Ephesians 6:10-24)November 13, 2016
Those Gospel Roles (Ephesians 6:1-9)November 6, 2016
The Gospel Marriage (Ephesians 5:18-33)