God's Household, Part 1

People are born with an innate craving to belong. We're wired for relationships.

In fact, isolation from others has a damaging impact on our psyche. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll helps us understand that our emotional need to belong goes far deeper than a psychological longing. It's rooted in theology defined by God the Creator, whose death, burial, and resurrection provided a means for belonging that could never be broken. Because of Calvary, we're no longer strangers in a foreign land. Chuck titled today's study in Ephesians 2, God's Household. It was really a great day in my life when I realized that Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God through the perfect and willing sacrifice of his life. What a glorious truth that was to discover. And yet, our acceptance of God's gift of salvation and reconciliation with him merely inaugurates our relationship. Our newfound faith promises to change us in profound ways, not only in our character, but also in the way we relate both to God and to God's people. Because Christ brought peace, we now have access to God through Christ, joining other believers as part of his family on earth.

What a magnificent thought. Now this profound truth is found in our passage for today. And I'm referring to verses 17 through 22 of Ephesians chapter 2. Since many of you are reading through this book with me every week, your Bibles are probably automatically opening to this passage by now.

So let's do that. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2, where we will begin our reading at verse 17. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have our 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 are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. You're listening to Insight for Living.

To search the scriptures with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message titled God's Household. Let's pray together. Too many years of our lives our Father have been spent getting, watching out for number one, grabbing every opportunity to advance our ambition. And this is one of the few places where we learn to put things in proper perspective, and we learn that you're more important than we are, and others in fact rate at a higher level than we do. And so teach us the pleasure of returning to you the gift of love. We don't know a better way to do it than have you touch us where our heart is. We commit to you these few moments together in Christ's name.

Everybody said amen. Reconciliation is a wonderful thing. Stop and think. Two people who once got along great, because of some rift, some usually, some almost trivial thing, something comes between them and then they no longer talk, and then they no longer laugh together, they no longer converse, and before you know it there's no relationship at all. And then one of them decides it isn't worth the silence, it's not the way it ought to be, and so one of them takes the first step and the other comes back and meets them halfway, and before you know it they're back again enjoying a relationship. It's called reconciling their differences. Sometimes the rift is so great it takes a third party to prompt the action to bring about reconciliation. I read about three or four weeks ago of two brothers who had enjoyed a relationship from the time they were kids. They grew up, bought an acreage of land, and decided to build their homes so that they would have the similar backyard, far enough away to stay good friends, and yet close enough to relate and to raise their families together, and they did that. They farmed the same land, they were involved in the same projects, sharing the cost of them, they shared the backyard for games and holidays and birthdays and parties together, and it was just great until there was a rift that came between them. Before long the rift led to an ugly silence, and finally they just stopped altogether, even remembering the other was there.

They had related closely for almost 40 years, and now no longer. A knock came at the door of the younger brother's home one afternoon, and it was a handyman. He had his toolbox at his feet, and he said to the owner of the home, do you have a job or two that I could do?

I need the work, and this is a big place, maybe you need a hand. And the younger brother said, I sure do. Come on in. He walked him through the house, and he came to the kitchen, and they looked out a big bay window, and he looked across, and he said, you see that home over there? He said, yeah. He said, my brother lives over there. He said, you see that creek running between our homes?

He said, yeah. He said, I need to tell you, that used to be a beautiful green meadow where we played and laughed and had fun and enjoyed life together, but we've had a falling out, and we don't talk to each other anymore, and not too long ago he took his bulldozer, and he cut into the levee of the river, and he's let this creek flow through us, and when the rain falls it's even larger. And I tell you what, I've decided not to take that sitting down. I'd like you to take that stack of lumber out there by the barn, and I want you to build a fence. I don't want a six-foot fence.

I want it eight feet, and I want it to be substantial, and I don't want any gates. I'll show him who can break this relationship and make it permanent, and looked at the handyman. He said, I'm gonna be gone for several days, so you're on your own. You understand what I want? He said, yeah.

I think I understand what's needed. The man left, went out of town, was gone three, four days, and by the time he came back the job was done, and the handyman was wiping his hands as the owner came back in the backyard, and was amazed to see a bridge had been built instead of a fence. Had a nice firm handrail, and it was wide enough for several people to walk across, and of all things, while the younger brother was staring in disbelief, he looked up and saw his older brother walking toward him. Had his arms out, he said, oh what a great idea. Said, I had no business causing this creek to come between us, and furthermore, we have no business living in silence with it. Come here, he said to his younger brother, and they stood there and embraced each other, and younger brother didn't have the heart to tell him that it wasn't his idea, but it was a bridge was built anyway, and he said, boy this is wonderful, and they both turned and said the handyman stick around. We've got a number of things we want you to do, and he said, no.

He said, actually I've got to be on my way. I've got other bridges I need to build for a few folks. That's reconciliation. There was a period of time that lasted for centuries when Jew and Gentile were separated by a great creek, where racism ran deep, and where if you were Jew, you were the privileged, and if you were Gentile, you were the dog. There were names used for you. Where the Jew had one God whom they viewed as keeping them separate from contamination with the dogs, the Gentiles had many gods.

Take your pick. None of them could be satisfied, so what was the use? But there came a moment in time where Christ built a bridge, and not only built a bridge for sinners to know the living God who is holy and righteous and just and full of forgiveness and mercy and grace for which we have just given him thanks, but he also bridged the gap between Gentile and Jew. You see it when you come to Ephesians chapter 2, and you realize neither Jew nor Gentile came up with the idea it had to be a third party, and Christ was the one chosen by the Father. Beginning in chapter 2 in verse 13, those great words, but now in Christ, sounds a lot like verse 4, but God being rich in mercy. Verse 4 talks about bridging the sinner back to God.

Verse 13 talks about bridging the relationship between the Jew and the Gentile. You who were formerly far off, that's the Gentile, have been brought near by the bridge. The bridge is built by blood, and it's the blood of Christ. In fact, the bridge has a name. He himself is our peace. The bridge is named Shalom.

Shalom, Gentile, Shalom, Jews. There's a bridge there, and it has brought you together in peace. He made both groups into one and broke down the fence. He didn't let the fence stand. He tore down the dividing wall by, our Bibles read, abolishing. A word like nullifying would be just as good, and the word flesh could be through his death. By a nullifying in his death, the enmity which the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man. Jesus didn't Christianize Jews. He didn't Judaize Christians. He didn't create a half-breed. He didn't create a half-breed. He created a new breed, called here a new man. He linked them together as one new race, if you please, a third race, called his body the church. Isn't that great? He built a bridge, and he didn't have to.

He chose to in grace and mercy, and we who walk across it regularly and enjoy that sense of oneness with those completed Jews and those converted Gentiles, and we have a relationship that's like none other on this earth, so that the world stares in amazement. They've never seen such a thing. I had a vivid illustration of this last Thursday. At Dallas Seminary, we have a couple of days each semester that we set aside to invite in our prospective students for the years to come. We send out letters. We hear from them through the year, and we find out their interest in the school, and so we bring them from all the states. Sometime, well this time, we had one from Puerto Rico, had several from Canada. We bring them from all around on the campus, and we just pump them full of DTS propaganda.

I mean, we are nicer than we ever are any other two days of the year. We open our classrooms. We invite a man. We bring him to chapel, and they sing with us the diadem, which is our school song, all hail the power of Jesus' name, and if you can sing all four stanzas without tears, you're part Philistine.

That's all I can tell you. You did something wrong, and we're all standing there, and tears are there, and we're singing. Bill Bryan, our chaplain, is playing his trumpet full force. I know someday Bill is just gonna drop dead playing that trumpet like he plays it.

He just, veins come out in his neck, and it is wonderful. Then the whole thing ends about 3 30 to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. We have an ice cream social, and some of the students or potential students have already applied, and if we finish their application and the approval, we let them know at that session at the ice cream social that they're in, which is always great. We give away wonderful prizes, caps and beer mug, coffee mugs, and old habits are hard to break here, sweatshirts and t-shirts and books and all kinds of stuff, and then somebody wins the big prize, which is a stack of books by an author, and so we'll have these books sitting here. Hey, we can't sell them. We give them away, man.

It doesn't matter. So the guy that wins the final prize, he always gets the other major applaud and everybody's happy. Well, the man who was accepted as a student and got the final prize is named Jason Gentile.

I promise you. Jason Gentile. Well, we happen to have in the same group a converted Jew, and as Jason Gentile walks up to take the books, it's a great moment, he turns around and the guy walks over to him and says, hi, I'm Joe Jew.

I'm glad to meet you and to welcome you. Joe Jew, Jason Gentile, one together. That is reconciliation. They're all brought together in one grand family and in the embrace of each other where they can feel the breath of each other on the neck of each other. They forget that they were born on the other side of the creek because Christ bridged the gap.

That's what this is about. This is not some theological or historical history that ties in truth important to the first century believer. Oh, it impacted them to the point of audacity, but it's still exciting every time I meet up with a fellow believing Jew and a brother or sister Gentile.

Look at it. Verse 17, he came and preached peace to you who were far away. If you haven't done so already, circle that and put Gentile in the margin. To you who were pagan Gentile. And he did the same. He came and preached peace to you who were near in the margin. Put Jew. He drew together Gentile and Jew, and he broke down the dividing wall. He refused to build that fence with no gate.

He tore it down. And he said, we are one in the bond of love. It was in the 19th century John Oxenham put it this way, in Christ there is no East or West.

In him no South or North. But one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth. Join hands then brothers of the faith, whatever your race may be, who serves my father as a son is surely kin to me.

Isn't that great? Who serves my father as a son is surely kin to me. Now I read that and I think like you do about the blessing of reconciliation.

And I find myself, which is so like me, asking, so what? Big deal Chuck. I got it. You know, let's go on to things that are important. This is important. In fact, in the final verses of the chapter, I find four things we have in common because the bridge has been built. Four things. I really want you to write them down in the margin of your Bible.

Just a word or two here and there. Because the bridge is built and because we are one together, first we have a common access. You can even circle the word in verse 18. We have a common access.

For through him we both, that's Jew and Gentile, we both have our access in one spirit to the father. Prosegoge is that funny sounding Greek word used in several ways. It was used for bringing a sacrifice to God. You would prosegoge God. You would access God. We have the word used in the computer world.

You access this or you access that. Here they accessed God with a sacrifice. It's used for bringing people into the presence of God to be consecrated for service. They went through a process or a ceremony of prosegoge. It's used for making a speech, being introduced before a large political gathering so that you might be respected as a speaker. You were introduced.

You were accessed to the group. But it's used above all for introducing a person into the presence of the king. In fact, there was a person who did that. Prosegogeus was his name. He was called the introducer. He was the one who brought an insignificant individual into the presence of royalty. He gave access.

Now you know what this is referring to. This is prayer. This is prayer. Gentiles never knew if they could access their gods. I mean how many sacrifices do you have to make to keep him from frowning?

It's carved into his forehead of wood or stone. Most gods of the idolaters are angry. The Gentile never knew which one to choose for whichever was the wrong that had been done. He accessed his God.

It was not a pleasant experience. That's why when you watch idolaters practice their false religion, you don't see smiles and happiness and hear songs of joy because they never know if they've pleased him. And the Jew always came through the priest, came through another, and was always with a sense of sacrifice because the payment had not been paid for the sins and according to the work of the priest would be the success of the sacrifice. But here we have access. We have immediate access. In fact, if you look at 3 12, just across the page, chapter 3 verse 12, we have boldness and confident access through faith in him.

Isn't that great? Now, it isn't arrogance. It's not the same as confidence. And it isn't a brashness. It's boldness.

It's an unfearing trust. I come before him confident. He is awake. He cares. He loves me. He's forgiven me. He's hearing me.

And he will respond with what is best. That's accessing the right source of power. And we have a common access. Through him, through Christ, who preached peace to Gentile and Jew, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. Isn't that great? The next word is citizenship. We have a common citizenship. See verse 19, so then, you're no longer strangers and aliens, but you're fellow citizens with the saints.

I love that. You're no longer aliens and strangers. Ever been either one? Probably have, if you have traveled enough. You have been the foreigner, if you will. Not a politically correct word.

That's why I like using it. There are still foreigners. And when you go across the seas, you are often told, don't be the ugly American. I remember when our troop ship was about a mile off the dock of Yokohama, Japan, and our company commander with a chest full of medals and full of uniform stood in front of us.

He had been there for other reasons on a number of occasions. He looked at us and our, many of us, just raw Marines, fairly soon out of training, he said, for the first time in your life, you are the foreigner. You treat these great people with respect.

You're the stranger. I'll never forget that speech. He said a few other things I won't share with you in this gathering, but he got our attention. He said, I don't want to hear one remark from one official or citizen of Japan that you men acted anyway, but in your best behavior, because you are for the first time the stranger. If you've lived overseas, you know what it's like to live without citizenship. And you know you spend some of your time with hat in hand gaining a hearing, because aliens and strangers are often viewed with suspicion and dislike.

You earn their respect. But he said, you know, that's, there's a common citizenship now. Isn't that a great thought? There's a common citizenship.

You can even enter his presence and go right to the throne. Back in 1871, archaeologists were digging around the temple in Jerusalem, and they uncovered a remarkable stone with an inscription in both Hebrew and Greek. It dated all the way back to ancient days when there were warnings placed in the temple. This sign that they uncovered almost intact with very little destruction over time, read here this way, no man of another race is to proceed within the partition and enclosing wall about the sanctuary.

Anyone arrested there will have himself to blame for the penalty of death, which will be imposed as a consequence. In America, we just have two words, keep out. Just two words, two monosyllable words, keep out. In America, we just have two words, keep out.

Just two words, two monosyllable words, keep out. God broke down the barriers so that both Jew and Gentile alike are now part of the family. You're listening to Insight for Living, and there's much more in this second chapter of Ephesians that we need to address. Chuck Swindoll titled today's message, God's Household. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org.

In order to fully understand the letter of Ephesians, it's important to respect the time in which it was written and the cultural issues that Paul referenced. To help you dig deeper on your own, I'll remind you that Chuck has written an in-depth commentary that includes this attention to historical detail. And unlike many commentaries that are somewhat technical and academic, Chuck's book includes additional features that make this resource very practical and even fun to read. It's called Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary on Galatians and Ephesians. You can purchase a hardbound copy at Insight for Living's website by going to insight.org slash store, or call us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888.

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That's 1-800-772-8888. Or give online by going to insight.org slash monthly companion. Thank you for generously supporting the nonprofit ministry of Insight for Living. Tomorrow, Chuck Swindoll continues his encouraging message about God's household, right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, God's Household, was copyrighted in 2000, 2001, and 2009, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.