Get a Life: Join the Church not the Gym : Ephesians 2:11-22
When you are buying or selling a car what is
the most critical factor? The age of the car? The mileage? The price? The colour?
There is something more vital than any of these. If you are looking for a safe
reliable car what is the critical issue? Whether the car has a service history
or not. A car with no service history or only a partial service history is worth
less than a car with a full manufacturers service history. Why?
Because you don't know how it has been treated. You don't know how reliable
it will be. You are taking a gamble. Statistically, high mileage cars that have
been serviced regularly are going to be more reliable than newer cars that have
not been serviced regularly. It is a fact that cars with a full manufacturers
service history command a higher price than those without it. If this principle
applies to cars it should come as no surprise that medical science reveals the
same principle applies to our souls and bodies.
According to medical research published this week by the National Institute
of Health Care Research you are better off coming to Church than going to the
gym. An analysis of 42 different research studies investigating the role of
religion in health, in which 126,000 people were interviewed reveals a simple
but profound truth. Regular attendance of a place of worship will seriously
improve your health and increase your life expectancy. Here are some of the
other findings. Compared with those who do not regularly attend Church you are
more likely to live longer and you will be less likely to suffer from stress,
high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, depression or obesity. One particular
study of 21,000 people found that those who never attend church were almost
twice as likely to die in the following nine years than those who attend church
weekly. They calculated that life expectancy for a 20 year old attending church
regularly is seven years longer than those who do not.
The article listing the findings is written by Dr Raj Persaud who is a consultant
psychiatrist working at the Maudsley Hospital in South London. If you want a
copy visit his web site: www.psychologypsychiatry.com
The findings of this major study simply corroborate what the Bible has been
teaching for thousands of years. When we follow the makers instructions and
keep to the recommended service intervals we remain covered by the manufacturers
warranty. Jesus said "The thief only comes to kill, steal and destroy but
I have come that you may have life abundantly." (John 10:10). He meant
it because it is true. Satan is in the demolition business of wrecking lives.
Jesus is in the construction business, rebuilding, remaking broken lives.
It is an eternal principle that we will live longer and enjoy a higher quality of life if we obey the makers instructions and keep to the recommended weekly service intervals. Our passage from Ephesians 2 explains why this is so.
Paul uses three very important words to summarise life before and after coming to know Jesus Christ. Separation, Reconciliation, and Unification. Our past, present and future.
1. Separation
: What We Once Were 2:11-12
Paul starts by reminding them of what they were before they
came to know Jesus. He dwells on their spiritual poverty. Paul is primarily
comparing the privileges enjoyed by the Jews with the Gentiles who made up the
majority of the Church in Ephesus. His description however is equally applicable
to any one who is not yet a follower of Jesus Christ. It explains the reasons
for the findings of that medical survey. It helps us see why our friends and
family will never enjoy their full potential without knowing God through Jesus
Christ. They are:
1.1 Separated from Christ
1.2 Excluded from Citizenship
1.3 Foreigners to the Covenants (Aliens 2:19)
1.4 Without hope
1.5 Without God in the world
That is what we were once like. Aliens, foreigners, without hope, without God
in the world. No wonder stress levels, drug abuse, alcoholism, divorce, suicide,
and mortality rates are higher and life expectancy is shorter outside the Church
than inside. Can you remember what it was like to feel a stranger in a new place,
an outsider at school? an alien or foreigner on a trip abroad? What did it feel
like? This week the Queen met Camilla Parker Bowles for the first time. It is
expected to lead to an invitation to join the royal family at a family party
at Windsor Castle. (read opening paragraph of article). That is what we once
were. Outside the Royal enclosure. That is how the Bible describes people living
in God's kingdom but without access to the Kings presence. That is why ones
life expectancy is shorter, and quality of life lower. Without the Makers Instructions
there are no answers to the basic questions in life - "Who am I?"
"What is my purpose in life?" "Where am I going?" "On
what should I build my life?" "How can I cope with the unknown future?".
No wonder people think happiness and contentment will come with the bigger house,
the higher salary, the latest car, the newer wife.
Now do you see why our neighbours, our family and friends need Jesus? Next time they say religion is just a crutch for the weak invite them to your fitness gym. Maybe you are saying to yourself - hang on a minute Stephen, that is me you are describing. I identify with this description. Then face the truth of what God is saying to you right now, listen carefully to the second point and get a life. Separation - what we once were.
2. Reconciliation
: What We Now Are 2:13-19
The "but now" of verse 13 parallels the "but
God" in verse 4. Both speak of the gracious intervention
of God on behalf of the lost sinner. God has taken the initiative in Jesus Christ.
2.1 Reconciliation between Jew and Gentile
2:13-15
As you read the story of the Church in the Acts of the Apostles
you will see that the problems really begin from chapter
10, when the first Gentiles - the family of Cornelius became Christians. There
was a lot of debate and heated argument over whether the Gentile Christians
had to become Jews first.
The Church leaders held a conference recorded in Acts
15 and agreed that it wasn't necessary because in Christ God had broken down
the historic barriers between Jews and Gentiles. There was no longer any difference.
They were all accepted before God on the same basis. Grace not works. Faith
in Jesus not racial pedigree. That is because God had removed the enmity between
them and Himself. Reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles, because there was
now,
2.2 Peace Between God and Sinners 2:16-19
Jesus Christ is our peace 2:14
Jesus Christ made
the peace 2:15
Jesus Christ preached peace 2:17
As the judge Jesus could have come to declare war but he didn't. He came instead
to accomplish peace, and it cost Him His life. God has reconciled us to himself
and that brings life changing consequences. At the cross, Jesus takes away our
guilt, our sin, our shame, our greed, our fears, our doubts. From now on nothing
can separate us from the love of God. No wonder the experience of that love,
that forgiveness, that peace has physical and psychological consequences in
improved health and life expectancy.
According to James Dobson 50% of all psychiatric patients could be discharged
tomorrow if they knew they were forgiven. Indeed 100% of people would be released
from guilt and fear if they accept the peace and forgiveness that comes through
Jesus Christ. And you know what I find more amazing still? Unlike the Health
Service, there is no waiting list for treatment. You don't even have to go private
and pay for your treatment. Jesus has paid the price. Peace with God is available
24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Claim it for yourself and share it with your
friends. Separation - what we once were. Reconciliation - what we now are.
3. Unification : What We Are Becoming
2:19-22
Paul has already repeated the word "one" on several
occasions to emphasise the unifying work of Jesus Christ.
made both one 2:14
one new man 2:15
one body 2:16
one spirit 2:18
Paul uses three pictures to illustrate the unity of
the Church as it continues to grow inwardly knit together in harmony, upward
toward heaven in holiness and outward around the world in witness.
3.1 One Nation 2:19a
I have grave misgivings about the loss of British sovereignty
and democratic accountability in the European Community and the idea of a single
currency. Its strange to watch Europe seek greater
integration while all over the world smaller and smaller people groups are seeking
autonomy and independence from one another, and fighting each other to achieve
it. Our citizenship in heaven should be more important to us than our citizenship
of any nation on earth. There is no place for segregation or racial distinction
in the Body of Christ or the local Church. We are one nation.
3.2 One Family 2:19b
Through faith in Christ we enter God's family. This means
ever Christian in the world is my brother or sister, of every colour and race.
Yesterday I got an email from a young man called Stephen Sizer. He was born
in Lowestoft. His father was my cousin. We have never met. We didn't know of
the others existence and only yesterday discovered we have the same name and
belong to the same family. I look forward to meeting him. Whether yours is a
close or distant family it is a fact that when we trust in Christ we join a
supernatural family which often provides deeper and closer relationships than
even those of our natural families. One nation, One
family.
3.3 One Temple 2:20-22
More precious even than the analogy of one nation or one
family is the notion that we are part of one temple. We are part of the very
temple, the dwelling place of God's Spirit. The magnificent Temple in Jerusalem
was destroyed by the Romans in 66 AD. The massive Temple to Diana at Ephesus
looked equally impregnable, but it is no more. The temple of God however has
been growing upward and outward for 2000 years and it is growing larger every
day. How? Because Jesus is its cornerstone. The apostles and prophets its foundations.
The Holy Spirit is its life and we are its bricks and mortar.
The very Spirit of God indwells us. No wonder our
life expectancy is improved. No wonder our quality of life is superior. God
is working his purposes out in and through us building one nation, one family,
one temple of God. Neither Spiritual death, nor physical distance can separate
us from His love, nor defeat the power of His grace at work in us. Although
we come to faith one by one, He has not only saved us individually, He has also
made us a part of His temple. One nation, one family and entrusted to us the
privilege of enabling others to become citizens of heaven also. Its our privilege
to make that invitation personal and deliver it individually to everyone we
know. Lets pray.
"For this reason, ever since I heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have
not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also
that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the
hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like
the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised
him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far
above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be
given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed
all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the
church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every
way." Ephesians
1:18-23
I am grateful to John
Stott, Warren Wersbie, Steve Motyer and Donald Guthrie for their commentaries
and ideas used in this sermon.