Built Together
Ephesians 2:11-22
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
June 30, 2024
So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth,called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a circumcision made in the flesh by human hands—remember 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.But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us,abolishing 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 to God in one bodythrough the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near,for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow 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;in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,in whom you also are built together spirituallyinto a dwelling place for God.
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Last Sunday I spoke some about my Southern Baptist background. When I traveled in those Baptist circles, every now and then someone would share a “Baptist” joke with me. Baptists, as you may already know, have long been known for their tee-totaling stance when it comes to alcohol. So here’s a joke I heard a lot in those days:
Why should you never take a Baptist fishing with you? He’ll drink all your beer.
Instead, take TWO Baptists with you; they won’t drink ANY beer.
Here’s another one:
What’s the difference between Baptists and Methodists?
Methodists say hello to each other in the liquor store.
Now Baptists are known for more than their anti-alcohol stance, as evidenced by this next story:
A Baptist fellow was shipwrecked and ended up alone on a deserted island for years.
When he was finally rescued, one of his rescuers noticed something interesting about the habitat the man had built for himself on the deserted isle:
“I notice you have three huts there . . . what are they for?”
The Baptist fellow said, “Well, the hut in the middle—that’s my home.” Then donning a rather self-righteous look, he continued. “And the hut on the left—that’s my church!”
The rescuer said, “Oh how nice! What about the hut on the right?”
The Baptist fellow said, “Oh, that place?”
He flashed a smug sneer and said, “That’s the church I used to go to.”
Baptists aren’t just known for tee-totaling, we’re known for division as well. Yay.
To be fair, Baptists aren’t the only ones known for division. Division in the church is as old as the New Testament itself.
As we’re reading through the book of Ephesians, written by (presumably) Paul to his friends in the church at Ephesus, we get the sense that there was some division within the church. Now, in other letters, Paul names out loud some individuals who are creating division in the church. In his letter to the church at Philippi, he calls out two women who aren’t getting along, saying: “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.” (Phil. 4:2) Can you imagine being one of these women, and hearing your name mentioned like this as the letter is being read aloud to the entire congregation?
In Ephesus, Paul doesn’t call out any individuals for conflict, rather it seems that the entire church is caught up into two factions: the “circumcision” and the “uncircumcision.” What a weird thing to argue over! But not to first-century Christians. Of course, circumcision was an outward symbol for Jewish men, which again, just seems weird to our modern sensibilities. So the division (or at least the underlying tension) in the church at Ephesus was between the “circumcision” (Jewish believers) and the “uncircumcision” (Gentile believers).
Now, this conflict was not a new thing in the early church. In fact, Acts 15 recounts the First Jerusalem Council which was all about circumcision. As the Gospel was being spread out beyond Judaism, many Gentile converts were joining the church. This stretched the Jewish Christ-followers more than a little (you may recall that the Gospel was first spread by Jesus’ disciples, who were all Jewish). Some Jewish Christians were telling Gentile Christians that they must be circumcised to be saved. As you might imagine, this caused the Gentile Christian men much consternation. At that First Jerusalem Council, church leaders decided unanimously that Gentile converts did not have to be circumcised to be saved (to the great joy of many Christian Gentile men)!
Now it’s roughly 10-12 years after that decision at the First Council of Jerusalem when Paul writes this letter to the church at Ephesus, and some Jewish Christians are still going around calling Gentiles “the uncircumcision.” There still seems to be an “us” and “them” thing going on in the church at Ephesus between Jewish and Gentile believers.
So Paul writes them to encourage unity within the church—to help them understand that they are one people whether circumcised or uncircumcised, Gentile or Jew.
I admit that maybe it’s hard for us to relate to this story in some ways. When was the last time you heard someone argue over circumcision? In other ways, this story is completely relatable, because the church in every generation faces division. The nature of the debate changes from generation to generation, but the reality of division unfortunately remains the same. Given that reality, we’d better figure out how to unify, so that we might honor one of Jesus’ final prayers, “That they might be one as we are one.” (John 17:21)
I’ve been thinking a lot about division lately, as another presidential election this year reminds us how divided we are as a nation. But as I’ve been thinking about how every four years we go through this planned vitriol, I’ve started wondering if we’re being reminded once again of our division or if we’re being made to believe we’re divided by those who benefit from division. Perhaps there’s some truth to both. Either way, this cultural division has a way of seeping into the Church (capital “C”).
I wonder what Paul might say to the Church in America if he were to write us a letter today? I suspect what he might write to us would sound very similar to what he wrote to his friends in Ephesus:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us,abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two.
Paul envisions a united Church—what he calls “one new humanity”—suggesting that Christ “has broken down the dividing wall.” It sounds wonderful, beautiful even.
Let’s spend the remainder of our time today considering how we, the local expression of Church here at Chapel by the Sea, might live into that ideal—that dream for the Church that Paul articulated so clearly. How do we embody this unity about which Paul wrote and for which Jesus prayed?
First, we must understand what unity DOESN’T mean:
1. Unity does not mean uniformity. Chapel by the Sea, like our great nation, is a “melting pot” of sorts. In the same way that the United States is a nation of immigrants (save for Native Americans!), the Chapel is a church of “religious immigrants.” Most of us here immigrated into this interdenominational congregation from some denomination. As I already mentioned, I immigrated from the Baptist tradition. I know that among us are some Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Presbyterians to name a few. We bring with us different ideas about the nature of God and about how to “do” church. Yet somehow, we find a way to embrace unity without mandating uniformity of belief. It may require a little give and take here and there, but we unify around what’s most important and relax a little around less important matters. Unity without uniformity.
2. Difference does not mean division. Recently I said something in a sermon that a few of you disagreed with. Here at Chapel, it’s ok to disagree with the pastor! I did a little math on this idea. My average sermon is 20 minutes long and I preach an average of 50 times each year. If you were to listen to all 50 of my sermons in a given year, that means you would hear a solid 1,000 minutes of me talking. That’s nearly 17 hours straight of nothing but Rhonda. That’s a lot of Rhonda! It would be unusual, strange even, to listen to someone talk for 17 hours straight (if they are talking about anything substantive) without disagreeing about something they said, right? So not only is it ok to disagree with the pastor here at Chapel, it’s downright expected! It would be weird, cult-like even, if you agreed with everything a preacher ever said. In the same way that we can have unity without uniformity, we can have difference without division.
So now that we know what unity ISN’T, let’s talk about what unity IS. Let’s start by looking again at Paul’s language toward that end:
You are fellow 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;in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,in whom you also are built together spirituallyinto a dwelling place for God.
Paul compares the people of the church to a building:
· The foundation of this building is the apostles and the prophets,
· The one cornerstone is Jesus, the Christ.
Let’s pause here and consider this idea of Jesus being the “cornerstone.” Unlike today, in which cornerstones are largely ceremonial, in ancient building practices, the cornerstone was critically important as it was the first stone set. The cornerstone would determine the position and orientation of the entire structure. The cornerstone would be meticulously placed to ensure that the building’s walls would be properly aligned and structurally sound. The cornerstone served as the principal reference point for both the horizontal and vertical lines of the structure, ensuring that the rest of the construction would be accurate and secure.
So when Paul compares Jesus to the cornerstone, he is helping his readers understand just how important a Christ-orientation is to the whole system.
And once the Cornerstone is in place, then the rest of the pieces can come together:
In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,in whom you also are built together spirituallyinto a dwelling place for God.
Paul then compares each of us to parts—pieces of God’s “holy temple”—that we are “built together” in Christ as a dwelling place for God.
Many different pieces must come together in building, including:
· Concrete (for foundation)
· Bricks/Blocks/Siding (for walls)
· Lumber/Wood (for framing and support structures)
· Nails/Screws (for joining materials)
· Roofing materials (e.g., shingles, tiles)
· Windows & Doors
· Insulation
· Plumbing materials (pipes, fixtures)
· Electrical materials (wiring, outlets, fixtures)
The parts serve different functions in the building of a complete structure, don’t they? Some of us are windows, and others are toilets! (Just kidding!) What if the doors said to the bricks: “You’re doing it wrong! You should be swinging open like we do!” It would be ridiculous to have an entire house made of nothing but doors! Or what if the roofing shingles said to the faucet, “You’re doing it wrong! You should be keeping water out like we do!” How ludicrous to try and build a house with nothing but shingles!
In Paul’s analogy, we are the many and varied pieces that must come together, not because we are all alike, but precisely because we are different. Through our difference, we make the house of God more complete, more functional, and even more beautiful. Thanks be to God!
Being a member of a church is kind of like being in a marriage . . . I’ve never known of a married couple to be completely void of differences (if they’re being honest). I’ve been married 18 years now (some of you have been married way longer). For a marriage to last, you’ve got to find a way to work through differences. A healthy marriage requires a great deal of respect and what I think of as “ongoing forgiveness”—looking past the inconsequential daily challenges of living together. I find a way to forgive my husband a little every day for the way he puts the toilet paper on the roll the wrong way. However, my husband doesn’t need to forgive me, because I am perfect (kidding!)
As a church, back to using Paul’s analogy, we’re not just living together in a house, we ARE the house. “Built together spirituallyinto a dwelling place for God.” And each person has a vital role to play.
These next few months are going to be interesting in our country. These next few months are going to be interesting in our church. There’s plenty of opportunity for division if that’s what we want. We can choose to divide ourselves along political lines. That would be easy to do. We can choose to divide ourselves over the color of the carpet or the color of the wood stain. That would be easy to do as well.
The challenge, as we are called to be “one dwelling place for God,” is for each of us to do the work that God gives us to do, without expecting everyone else to play the same part that we are called to play or to believe all the same things that we believe. That takes a great deal of self-knowledge, and it might even take a healthy dose of “ongoing forgiveness.”
These next few months will test us as we live through the discomfort of another presidential election, and closer to home, the discomfort of a major building project. It will be easy to forget that difference does not mean division and that we can find unity without uniformity. But what I’ve learned about you, Chapel by the Sea, is that you see beyond the little stuff that might divide less faithful Christians. For that reason and so many more, I am so proud to be your pastor!
A challenging season is ahead nationally and congregationally. I wouldn’t want to go through it with any other people.
I invite you today to have each other’s backs through challenging days ahead, through the following actions that we can practice with one another:
1. Pray for one another (like the prayer of loving-kindness I taught you recently).
2. Posit the best about one another (instead of being quick to judge).
3. Practice ongoing forgiveness (recognizing that no one is perfect, not even ourselves).
4. Perform the work God calls each of us to do (which will give us little time to judge the work of others).
As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “God is Unity, but always works in variety.”
May we celebrate God’s variety expressed in and through one another in the days ahead!
