Ephesians Devotionals
Bob Morris
We Are God’s Household (Ephesians 2:19-20)
Consequently you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone.
What kind of church do you belong to? These days there seems to be a multiplicity of choices: seeker friendly, contemporary, traditional, liturgical, extemporaneous, large or small, denominational, community and so on in endless variety. Robert Webber, in his book The Younger Evangelicals sees a growing trend toward people wanting what he calls an “ancient-future” faith. He describes a type of church or service which is very much 21st-century but which draws heavily on the historic expressions of worship in the church’s liturgy, doctrine, art and music.
That is the kind of “household” Paul is describing here. The new-found sense of belonging the Gentiles had was built on the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles, with the living Christ as the chief cornerstone, the stone which aligns the whole building and keeps it steady. So it is with us. Our fellow citizens have often come from very different pilgrimages than ours, but we are members together of God’s family.
The Bible uses many different images of the church to describe its character. There are what Paul Minear, in Images of the Church in the New Testament calls minor images - salt of the earth, a letter from Christ, the fishnet, the boat, unleavened bread, vineyard, God’s planting, God’s building, elect lady, bride of Christ, citizens, exiles, ambassadors, the poor, and so on. Then he deals more extensively with each of “The People of God”, “The New Creation”, “The Fellowship in Faith”, and “The Body of Christ”. Virtually all these metaphors are collective nouns; that is, we are what we are in Christ together. The Scriptures know nothing of solitary believers other than those with a prophetic role such as John the Baptist. John the disciple of Jesus goes as far as to say “Those who claim to be in the light but hate a fellow believer are still in the darkness” (1 John 2: 9).
The challenge in serving in a culture different from our familiar one is that local believers often worship and serve in a way very different from what we are used to. It takes real effort to identify with them and do things their way. When the house church movement in England was at its peak, mission recruits were coming to the Indian subcontinent and encountering the historic church in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The local church was often a “union” church which had resulted from the merger of Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and other denominations and looked a lot like the churches the newcomers had left in order to find a more vibrant worship experience. The local indigenous church services were livelier but tended to be led by charismatic individuals who allowed for little interaction.
The common reflex of the newcomers was to start their own church fellowships that reflected more of what they had come to see as the “ideal”. The problem was more than lack of cultural identification. Their action confirmed the accusation of the non-Christians that Christians are always fighting amongst themselves. Even more, it contradicted an important sign of the Kingdom and a powerful witness to the gospel. Jesus prayed, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” How we relate to fellow believers has great significance for mission.
Father, forgive me for how easily I tolerate disagreements with fellow believers. Help me and all my fellow members of your household to take after you, and thus be the kind of community where outsiders will feel welcomed.
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