Ephesians 2:19-22 - So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Message: The Apostolic Church
Time: Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians sometime in AD 60–61, around the same time he wrote Colossians and Philemon. Ephesians deals with topics at the core of being a Christian - faith and practice, no matter the situation.
What the Lord is Saying:
The final part of the study of the Apostles Creed is in regards to ensuring that what is being taught and in practice with the church is the same as what the Apostles taught. This was the goal of the early church and remains our goal today.
Previously, I have looked at church unity in many various lessons. The church is one by decree and not one completely. By decree, we are a visible church or the church that we can see with our eyes, and we are also invisible which we can't see, but God sees because He is omniscient. Only He knows who is really part of the church because only He sees into our hearts. We have been declared Holy by God and yet we continue to grow into Holiness. And we are a universal church. Granted, we are often identified by our differences, calling ourselves Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Methodists, Church of Christ, non-denominational, Bible churches, and so many others and yet within those identifications we are still one universal church throughout the world, throughout countries, nations, states, and even cities. We have common and shared beliefs resting in the biblical gospel and yet there is diversity in what we hold to and what we emphasize as we belong together.
In being Apostolic, our hope is that we demonstrate adherence to what the Apostles first wrote and taught.
Jude 3 - Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. This faith delivered is God's word. In Charles John Ellicott's (1819-1905) commentary he writes the faith - "that which is believed by Christians: not the expression of the doctrine, nor the holding of it, but the substance of it." I love this. It is not the way it is expressed which matters and the way we are expressing it in all of the different forms of identification I mentioned above, but rather what is key is the substance of it and making sure we hold to this.
Jude is writing with a sense of urgency. He is appealing that the apostles writings is what we focus on and not those of false teachers which have crept into the churches. The Apostles is who the Lord Jesus delivered His Gospel to and those are the ones who wrote it down for ages to come. Thus, what we are to hold to and contend for strenuously is these words. We are to preserve people from error.
Today's passage from Ephesians cements this idea to us in that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. As believers now and then we are (1) fellow citizens with all people from all tribes and tongues throughout history, (2) united by being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets teaching, thus apostolic, (3) with Christ Jesus being our cornerstone. Our allegiance is not simply to people, but it is to Christ. It is to God. We are united in Christ, in Him.
We must continue through the ages to stand even closer to God's word and continue every day to be even more committed to it. I think there is a danger to align ourselves more with the world in our churches, thinking that we must in order for the gospel to be heard. And yet, in that process, people are being led astray and our separate-ness and distinctive-ness is giving way. Instead, we must continue to stay close to the Word and error on that side of things, not conformity. There must me no doubt what we are about.
Summary: Fellow citizens built on the foundation of the apostle and prophets, teaching the biblical gospel of Jesus our cornerstone.
Promise: To stand with Apostolic teaching, we must know it. That can be accomplished only through the regular study of Scriptures.
Prayer: O God, I continue to love the reading and study of Your Words. And I want our world of believers in you to be United in Faith and I pray that we continue to be about this and work toward this. We get deceived rather to focus on our differences, but let us focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ and it alone. Thank you for the apostles which you called and spoke to and equipped to write these words that I study and learn from and abide by. Thank you for the message that continues to penetrate me. Let there be no doubt to anyone about what I am holding onto. Be glorified in Me and through us as members of your visible church that is hopefully also invisible or your true called out ones.
Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am now working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of August is about the Body of the Lord - the Church recovered in the Reformation; July was the right use of God's Law; June was justification by faith alone; May about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation, Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.
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