One in Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22)

We are in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

We're going to be covering verses 11 through 22 as we continue on, as we've seen at every point so far, the riches of God.

How he wants to bless us, his sons and his daughters, as Amy was saying or we were singing about.

He wants to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, as we saw in chapter 1.

And we're just going to see so many more blessings here today as we read through this.

So if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?

Ephesians chapter 2, starting in verse 11.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised, by those called the circumcised, which is done in the flesh by human hands.

At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

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

For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

In his flesh he made of no effect the law, consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, by which he put the hostility to death.

He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who are near.

For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

In him the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him, you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that we get to gather here this morning and dig into it and allow it to wash over us, allow it to affect us, allow it to mold us and shape us into the sons and daughters that you desire us to be through the power of your Holy Spirit.

We thank you for all that you have for us that we might not even know yet.

And we pray that you would do your perfect work in each one of us so that we can become more like Jesus today.

That we could leave here changed people because of your word and because of the work of your spirit in us.

We pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

So last week we talked about God being rich specifically in mercy and in grace.

Because of his great love and kindness, as we saw, he sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we might be resurrected to spiritual life with Christ.

And therefore, today we can be found blameless in Christ, seated with him in heaven, sharing in his inheritance, no matter where we've come from, really.

Because he's writing, if you remember, in Ephesus, this is a largely Gentile church in a Gentile city in Asia Minor.

And Paul's writing this part here today to let them know that being a Gentile doesn't make them second-class citizens in the kingdom of God.

As I said last week, nobody in the kingdom of God is going to be able to brag.

We're not going to get to heaven and find a bunch of braggers.

That just doesn't happen.

We're all on the same level playing field, and it's all because of what Christ has done for us, not anything that we have done.

You know, Jewish people in this time really had no reason to boast that they were worshiping the one true God before anybody else was.

And Gentiles didn't need to feel bad that they came from an idolatrous, self-serving background before they got saved in Jesus Christ.

You know, in Christ, we are all new creations.

We're all, as we said last week, a blank canvas in God's hand, and our identity is now in Christ and nothing else.

So let's start in verse 11, where Paul picks up here, and he's reminding them of who they were before Christ.

So verse 11 says, So then remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised, by those called the circumcised, which is done in the flesh by human hands.

And I think to really understand what Paul is saying here in this verse, and it's going to help us with all the other verses as well, but I think we need to be a little bit more familiar with the history and the purpose behind circumcision that God gave to Israel specifically.

You know, God ordained circumcision as one of the symbols of the old covenant that he made with Israel.

That would really, it's one of the things that would set them apart from everybody else.

It was a physical act that God asked them to do that was symbolizing their spiritual commitment to be God's people.

But it was not only that, there's much more symbolizing, symbolism, symbolizing, that's a new word, symbolism behind circumcision.

You know, when we see the term flesh, like we see here in verse 11, it's speaking not only of the cells that make up our body.

So it's much more than the skin and the bones and the muscle and whatever else is in there.

It also speaks of the sensuous nature of man.

You know, the definition for this word is so long in the Greek dictionary, it would take three slides for us to get through it.

So I just want to highlight a few things from that definition.

So, as I said, the sensuous nature of man, when we see the word flesh, it also means the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin.

And then another part of the definition says the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.

So flesh here speaks to the part of us that craves the things that might be pleasurable for a moment, but lead us to misery.

You know, I had a roommate in college.

He was a really good wrestler.

Every year he made it to the NCAA National Championships.

He was always ranked in like the top three in the U.S.

for his weight class.

He wrestled 197 pounds.

Big guy, no fat, just cut.

Very disciplined in his diet and his exercise and his practicing.

And he was always trying to maintain that perfect weight, maintained with that perfect strength that he needed to wrestle in that class.

But he loved ice cream.

He loved soft serve vanilla ice cream from AMPM down in Slope.

That was like not only was that bad for his wrestling and maintaining his weight and his strength and all those things, he was lactose intolerant as well.

So after his home wrestling matches, this is all 100% true.

I'm not making any of this up.

After his home wrestling matches at Cal Poly, he would reward himself by stopping at AMP.

He would grab his ice cream cone and then come back to the house and he would just walk in with the biggest smile.

Just eating his ice cream cone.

Just so happy that for this moment he gets to take pleasure in this thing.

And he would just sit on the couch, just oh, this tastes so good, making all these noises.

He called me V, by the way.

It was never Chris, it was never Vinoli, it was just V.

And then about 10 or 15 minutes later, after enjoying this cone, he would be writhing in pain on the couch, grabbing his stomach, and just saying, Oh, V, V, it hurts so bad.

Why'd you let me eat that?

Me and we had one other roommate as well.

We got to the point where if we saw him with an ice cream cone, we were just stop, Dave, just stop, dude.

I wasn't supposed to say his name, but you didn't hear that.

But we would plead with him just to not eat that ice cream cone.

But isn't that a picture of sin, though?

Our flesh is saying, it's gonna taste so good going down.

It's gonna feel so good in that moment, so pleasurable, so satisfying in that moment.

What our flesh doesn't tend to mention to us is that it's going to leave you with so much regret after we do it.

So much pain after we give in to that sin.

You know, as we suffer the consequences of what we've just done.

You see, our flesh doesn't consider consequences, does it?

It just says, gimme, gimme, gimme.

I want instant satisfaction and I want it now.

You know, with no regard for the consequences for you or for anybody else.

So as Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, we have this internal struggle that's constantly going on this side of heaven within us.

You know, where the flesh says, give me the ice cream.

I deserve it.

And our spirit, influenced by the Holy Spirit, says, You're lactose intolerant.

You're going to be in pain.

The consequences are not going to be worth the satisfaction that you had for that moment.

God, knowing all of this, gave Israel this physical symbolism.

He gave Israel the removal, literally the removal of flesh, that was symbolic of the spiritual cutting off of the flesh.

Cutting off the old man that cries out for the pleasures of this world and that leaves us in so much pain and regret afterwards.

You know, as early as Deuteronomy, we start to see things like in chapter 30, verse 6 the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love him with all of your heart and all of your soul so that you will live.

God wants all of our heart.

He wants to cut the flesh out, to circumcise our heart so he can have all of it.

You know, in Romans, Paul wrote in chapter 2, verses 28 through 29, he said, For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh.

On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the spirit, not the letter.

He's speaking of the law there.

It's by the Holy Spirit inside of us, influencing our spirit, that allows us to deny our flesh in the first place.

That reminds us of the pain and the consequence that comes with giving into the flesh.

God wants our hearts set apart for him completely.

But this side of eternity, we're in this battle.

This battle of us finding ourselves giving in to the flesh when we don't want to, continually having to repent of those sins and turn away from those things.

You know, even Paul, our author, had the same problem.

You know, God used Paul mightily to plant churches.

He wrote almost half the books that we have in the New Testament.

But in Romans, he readily admitted to them in chapter 7, verses 18 through 19.

For I know that nothing good lives in me that is in my flesh.

For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there's no ability to do it.

For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

That's Paul, our author.

Those are his words right there.

Now look back here to verse eleven.

Says, so then remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised, by those called the circumcised, which is done in the flesh by human hands.

Jesus' redeeming work on the cross was not just to reconcile God to man.

That was part of it.

Big part of it.

But also man with man as well, humans with humans.

The Jews, as he's talking about right here, the Jews and the Gentiles were a part of that.

God set Israel apart from the rest of the world as his chosen people, as we see in the Old Testament, not to isolate them, but so that they could be really his missionaries to the rest of the world.

His example, his light to the rest of the world.

So that he had this group of people in which other nations could look at and say, okay, when you follow God, that's what it looks like.

And look at the benefits that they have.

Look at all of the things that God has blessed them with when they're worshiping the one true God.

But Israel, instead of being missionaries, they decided to isolate themselves.

And look really at anyone that was not a Jew with absolute disdain.

They isolated so bad that if a Jew visited a foreign country, on their way back into Israel, they would shake the dust off of their sandals, not wanting to pollute Israel with Gentile dust.

That's how far they took it.

Jews saw things like circumcision that we're talking about this morning as a superiority, as opposed to being a light to others, to other nations.

They took pride in being different from the Gentiles as opposed to loving them and showing them the light of God.

But Paul's about to point out here that those walls have been broken down by Christ.

And that all they needed was spiritual circumcision for this Ephesian church, which is done by the Spirit when we are found in Christ.

Now, Paul's going to paint a very bleak picture of where these Ephesians were before coming to Christ.

Look at verse 12.

At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in the world.

That sounds awful, doesn't it?

When you just think about the picture that's painted right there.

This is everything they did not have access to before Christ.

They didn't have the benefit of growing up in the Jewish faith that would have taught them about the one true God, that would have taught them about the Old Testament writings, that would have taught them about the old covenant and the promise of the new covenant to come.

He said they had no hope when they were in the world and of the world, living under the influence of the prince of the power of the air, as we saw last week.

Basically, they were lactose intolerant and they were eating ice cream every day.

I think is the best way we can think about it.

Things were not looking good for those in Ephesus.

But, look at verse 13.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Gentiles in this time were born into disadvantage.

For all the reasons that Paul just mentioned in verse 12.

So what Jesus did is he came and he leveled the playing field for all in the new covenant.

I mean, think of the gaps that Jesus closed for those that were in Ephesus that Paul's writing to when they came to faith in Christ.

They had no shit citizenship in Israel to citizenship in heaven.

They had no old covenant into the new covenant.

No hope to hope in Christ.

Living without God to God living in them.

Those are huge gaps that Jesus closed, not only for Ephesus, but for all Gentiles.

Probably the vast majority of us here today, those are the gaps that Jesus closed for us.

And look at the unity that that brings here in verse 14.

For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility in his flesh.

You know, when Jesus died on the cross in his flesh, as it says, he not only tore the veil in the Holy of Holies in the temple, you know, allowing us really to be one with him, removing the barriers between God and man.

He tore down the wall that separated us from each other as well.

You know, in the temple there were dividing walls all over the place.

And one that specifically separated the Gentiles from the Jews.

You know, and on that wall that separated them, in 13 different places, it said, were warning signs for Gentiles to not cross that barrier, and the penalty was death.

That's part of the reason that Paul's imprisoned where he's writing this letter from, because there's an accusation that he brought Greeks into the temple and defiled it.

And we have a picture here.

It's a model taken from a museum, a picture of a model taken from a museum in Israel.

But you see this wall that goes all the way around here.

That was the wall that separated the Jews from the Gentiles.

This is Gentile court here.

Only Jews could go this far in.

The men and the women could go into this court.

It's called the woman's court.

But then this wall right here was another barrier that only the men could pass.

And then the temple itself, only the priests could go in.

And then in the temple was a dividing wall, the veil, from the holy place to the most holy place.

And only one person, the high priest, could go in once a year because that's where the presence of God was.

So it was barrier, barrier, barrier, barrier, barrier.

Just all over the place in the temple.

But Galatians 3, 27 and 28 says, For those of you who are baptized into Christ have been closed, clothed with Christ.

There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, since you are all one in Christ Jesus.

There's no hierarchy in the kingdom of God.

As a pastor, I am no more saved than a new convert.

As a man, I'm no better than a woman.

Being white, I'm no better than any other skin color.

When we come to faith in Jesus, we are all one in Christ.

All of the barriers, all of the walls have been torn down.

The walls of hostility have been torn down by Jesus Christ.

He tore down the dividing walls of hostility and has not only made peace, it says here that He is our peace.

So I think each and every one of us here today, we have to ask ourselves, what is preventing us from being one today?

Not just in here, but with other believers as well.

What are the dividing walls that we need him to tear down in each one of us?

What are our prejudices that we have that elevate ourselves to a place of looking down upon others?

I think we have to ask ourselves, who do we despise?

Maybe a better question, who do we avoid?

How have we isolated or even insulated from those people?

Have we acted like Israel in the Old Testament in any way?

You know, this is they had the attitude, Israel did, of kind of like, this is our little group.

We're gonna isolate from everybody.

Everybody else is really icky, so we're just gonna stay away from them.

As opposed to being a light that invites everyone into the love of Christ.

That's what God intended for them.

That's what God intends for us.

But what walls does God want to break down in our hearts this morning in order to make that happen?

Look at verse 15.

He made of no effect the law, consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in him.

Himself, one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

One of the big differences before Christ between Jews and Gentiles was the law, obviously.

One group trying to follow it, one group largely unaware of it altogether.

Verse 15 here says, Jesus made the law of no effect.

Your translation may say that he abolished it or that he ended the system of the law.

There were no more barriers between God and man.

And no more barriers between humans either.

Between Jews and Gentiles.

There were no more barriers at all.

Like the temple, I think God had no problem with the walls in the temple being torn down in 70 AD.

Because that's not where his presence was anymore, and those dividing walls were not necessary under the new covenant anymore.

And it says here, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

You know, it's said that early Christians used to call themselves a third race.

Not Jews or Gentiles, but one new man from the two, as it says right here.

That's how they thought of themselves with those walls of hostility no longer being there.

And verse 16 is why.

Look at it with me.

He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.

Christians cannot be divided.

There are no longer Jews and Ephesians in the body of Christ.

There's no longer Jews and Americans in the body of Christ.

There's no longer really Baptists and Lutherans and Presbyterians and Reformed and non-Reed and Calvinists and Armenian and Arminians.

You know, if our faith is truly in Christ, and that's the key, if our faith is truly in Christ, we are all one in the body of Christ.

Look at verse 17.

He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who are far away, and peace to those who are near, spiritually speaking.

Verse 18, for through him, speaking of Jesus, we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

So no matter how different we are from any other follower of Christ, no matter how hard it may be to get along with another follower of Christ, we have the same spirit inside of us.

We need to act like it.

Both having access to the Father through Christ in one spirit.

You know, that commonality alone should make us want to do everything we can to get along with those that share our same standing in the kingdom of God.

Look at verse 19.

So then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints.

That simply means holy ones, and members of God's household.

We don't get just get to live in heaven.

We get to live there as sons and daughters of the king, as royalty with each other.

Eternity is a long time.

It's hard for us to even wrap our head around.

But wouldn't it be better to start getting along now?

Doesn't that make sense?

Because God's shaping us and building us into the temple that He's creating that we're going to get to here in a little bit.

Because God's plan is for us to function together.

Which is laid out in the next three verses, where we see through these verses our foundation as believers together, our formation as believers together, and our function as believers together.

So look at verse 20.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

Now, not only were the apostles and the prophets some of the first stones to be laid in this building that is the church, the body of Christ, apostles were those sent out to proclaim the word of God, the good news of Jesus Christ.

The prophets were those sent to speak the word on God's behalf in the Old Testament and the New Testament, which God used those to write our Bible.

The foundation we have is Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

And here we are all these thousands of years later for us here today.

We're still building on that foundation that was laid for us as we study his word.

You know, this symbolism of God's church being a building is used throughout Scripture.

1 Peter 2, 4 talks about us being living stones in this building.

A spiritual house being built to be a holy priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices accepted to God through Jesus.

And this building starts with the chief cornerstone.

You know, in stone construction in this time, you start with the corner foundation stone.

You know, a stone that had to be perfect in every way.

And then placed perfectly in the perfect direction and perfect, perfectly level as you built this building out from it.

Because everything else from that cornerstone was measured from that stone.

Was built out from that stone in both directions.

Was built on that stone as well.

You know, if you lay a cornerstone off by just a little bit, it affects the whole rest of the building.

I did a little math this week and then I and I had it double checked by two engineers in our church.

So those tables that are back there, they're roughly probably about 40 feet.

Maybe the pews are about 40 feet.

If you have a two-foot by two foot by two foot block that is your cornerstone, say this is ground level for the sake of this illustration.

Okay, the top of my podium is ground level, so you can all see it.

If you lay that stone, say I want to go for my podium right through that pillar right there, right back to those pews, if you lay it just off by one inch, that's it, just one inch.

By the time you get back there, it's going to be off by 20 inches.

And if it's not level, just say you go down accidentally just by one inch in that two feet.

This stone wall, this first row, would almost be underground by the time I got back to those pews.

That's how perfect the stone has to be, and how perfect it has to be laid.

Jesus is the perfect cornerstone.

He's the chief cornerstone that God placed with perfect accuracy, that everything else is measured from and built on.

That's our foundation.

Jesus Christ, the word of God.

Now let's look at formation.

Verse 21.

In him, still speaking to Jesus, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Do you remember what Ephesus was known for when we're going through the city and we're doing the intro to this book?

One of the seven wonders of the world, as we talked about, it was the temple of Artemis.

This awe-inspiring temple, amazing feat of architecture, art, and wealth that people would come from all around just to witness for themselves.

It's also estimated in Ephesus at this time that there were 25 other temples to pagan gods.

So this is an illustration that Ephesus is going to be able to really relate to.

So Paul talks about another temple that is being built in the Lord.

A beautiful temple where each stone is carefully crafted and set with Jesus as the foundation.

And it's a temple that's not done yet.

With stones that have not been completely fashioned yet, that haven't been set yet.

We're still being put together, it says.

Stones that are still being fashioned by the Holy Spirit.

And this theme of oneness just really continues on.

One church body being fit together, joined together, being formed together by the Spirit.

Not only one with present believers, but one with apostles and prophets of 2,000 years ago.

Growing into a holy temple in the Lord, where we get to serve as priests for the praise and glory of his name.

Which gets us to the function in verse 22.

In him you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.

Behind the veil, in the tabernacle, and then in the temple as well.

When Jesus died, Scripture tells us that that veil, that dividing wall, was torn in two in the temple from top to bottom.

Something only God was able to do.

Access to God was now direct, and no longer through earthly priests, but through our high priest and chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

And the Holy Spirit was given to dwell in our temples, our bodies.

But here it says that we are being built together in the spirit.

What has to happen to stones in order for them to fit together?

Even in stone construction today.

Shaping.

There has to be shaping that's taking place, right?

Chiseling.

Knocking off the rough edges so that we can be joined together.

For the function of being God's dwelling place.

Being the place that God resides.

God doesn't dwell in this building we're in right now, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.

He dwells in the believers.

You see, we're not simply a bunch of individual dwelling places stacked on top of each other to make a church.

As a whole, we are a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.

You know, when we're not here, this is not a church.

You know, if somebody asks you this week, where do you go to church?

Or where is your church building?

Just tell them, I don't know.

The church is probably all over the place right now.

It's only the church when we're here.

When God's dwelling in the midst of his people.

Now I alluded to this a little bit earlier, but have you noticed when we worship God as a body of believers, there's something different about how God's spirit moves.

Than if we're simply at home worshiping or maybe worshiping through song.

And I really think it's a glimpse of what verse 22 is talking about here.

There's a reason that we're told in Hebrews 10 to not neglect the gathering of the church, but to actually provoke love and good works in one another.

You know, you can't do this if we're apart.

You can only do that if we're together as the body of Christ, being built together, as it says in this verse.

We can't rekindle each other or fan into flames the giftings that God has given us if we aren't together.

I was just telling you.

Like, I don't know of a time I'm more encouraged than when I'm sitting with believers worshiping through song and hearing that collective voice as a body of believers.

He wants us built together for his dwelling in the Spirit.

That's why we can't have barriers.

We can't have walls between each other.

Those are walls that Jesus died to tear down.

If there's any sort of reconciliation that needs to take place between you and another believer, here or somewhere else, take care of that.

If you can't take care of that today, it doesn't mean you need to become best friends.

But if we're avoiding one another, if we can't have conversations with one another, if we can't be near them, you know, as much as it's up to us, we need to try and bring reconciliation with those brothers and sisters.

Matthew 5, 23 through 24 says, So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you.

Leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

We can't be built together if there is a wall of hostility remaining between us.

That just does not make sense, does it?

When we're thinking of stones specifically.

You know, if we put all of this together, in all of 11 of these verses that we've covered here today, if your faith is in Christ, think of all of the blessings and riches that God showers us with.

We are all one in Christ, all on the same playing field as we're talking about.

We're all brought near by the blood of Christ, as he has broken down the walls of hostility.

Jesus gave us access in one spirit to the Father, making us citizens of heaven and children of God, so members of his royal family, built on the foundation of Christ, God's word, being formed by the Spirit to be joined together for the function of being God's dwelling place and bringing him praise.

Wow.

That's a lot, isn't it?

He did all of that for us through the blood of Christ.

Yo, when somebody encounters us, I think especially as a whole, gathered as a church, they should be able to see how different we are from the rest of the world.

They should be able to know that something supernatural is happening that we couldn't muster up on ourselves because God is dwelling among us.

You know, this time together should be like nothing else that anyone, including us, ever experience in the world.

The world's fighting right now, if you've watching the news.

Everybody's fighting, everybody's divided.

That shouldn't be the case when people come here, when we come here.

There needs to be unity and oneness in Christ.

We have the same spirit dwelling in us if we are in Christ.

And we shouldn't be excluding outsiders like Israel did to the Gentiles.

You know, we should not have that mentality of a club that wants to isolate.

And if we do, shame on us.

Visitors should say, you know, something is so different in them than what I've experienced in the world.

We should come in and say, this is so different than what I experienced all week.

You know, and I think that that is especially shown to visitors when we love somebody that's very different from us.

Because that's not normal.

That's not normal in the world.

I think that is what really stands out as well.

So I want to challenge you with something.

Myself as well.

Would you please commit to pray about how God wants to specifically use you to love those around you here at Abide?

And not just here, outside as well, but specifically here in the church.

Would you get in the habit of when you're on your way here the Sunday morning when you wake up, or maybe you're going to a Bible study or a home group, whatever it might be, before we gather, would you get in the habit of gathering with the mentality of Lord, how do you want me to love your church?

How do you want me to walk in those doors or meet with that person and show the love of Christ in unity and love the people that are around me?

You know, I think we're pretty good at this already.

I think we do a pretty good job of that.

But there's always room for improvement for each one of us.

So would you pray about how God might want to use you more specifically to bless those that are sitting around you here this morning?

You know, how did Jesus say that the world would know that we are his disciples?

By the love that we have for one another.

Amen?

Would you please pray with me?

Lord, when we look at your riches that you've showered on us, when we look at how you want to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, I pray that we would be in awe of that.

So we see all that you've done for us and why you've done it, and the opportunity that you've given us to be one with each other and to be one with Christ as Christ is one with the Father.

It still blows my mind, God, that you desire us as your sons and daughters to be welcomed into this royal family for all of eternity, sharing in the inheritance of Christ and all that that means.

We do not deserve it.

There's nothing that we have done on our own to earn that, but we thank you that you sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sin and was resurrected to life three days after, so that we could be resurrected with Him to life, seated with Him in the heavenly places.

That just blows my mind, Lord.

And I pray that that would continually blow all of our minds of how much you love us and all that you've done for us.

Lord, help us to accept that gift with all gratitude in our hearts, and that we would continue to live out our faith, not out of duty, not thinking that we're earning anything, but live out our faith because we love you so much.

And we desire to please you, and we desire to see people come into your kingdom.

So use our lives, use this fellowship, use us collectively as a body to be a light to the world around us and everybody that we come in contact with, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.