40 Days Blog - Day 4
When our family go on holiday we always try and find a church to go to on Sunday. We have ended up in some unusual places, but what we find is that no matter where we are, we still have an immediate understanding and connection together. Though we are strangers we all have the same father. We understand each other. We may be very different but we have the main thing in common.
We read in Acts that when Paul arrived in a new place or city he invariably went first to the synagogue. It was important to him to connect with those who as Jews were awaiting the Messiah. He had good news to tell them. The Messiah had come. But as we know his message was often rejected. Some Jews believed, some vehemently rejected him and hounded him out of town.
On his arrival In Ephesus there appeared to be a fledgling church already there with around twelve men (see
Acts 19). Paul preached in the synagogue over a period of three months but was then forced out. There followed two years of teaching in a public lecture hall so that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the Province of Asia heard the word of God” (
Acts 19:10). *
One circumstance within the early church was the collision of two different root cultures. Law following Jews and those from outside Judaism. Both found it hard at times to be comfortable with each other’s history. Some of the Jews harked back to circumcision as being an incontrovertibly important act of faith. Some of the non-Jews still dallied with their roots in idol worshipping religions. It caused division and cast a shadow across their fellowship.
The Ephesian Christians were well taught in the faith but every day they lived in the culture of a lucrative idol-worshipping city with the great Temple of Artemis towering over it.
In today’s passage it seems that Paul is addressing some of the tension he perceives in this church he knew so well. The Gentile believers are reminded that they were previously excluded from God’s benefit and were without hope (
vs11-12).
The bottom line is that both groups are separated from God. Some were near, some were far off. God’s move to bring them back to Him unifies rather than separates believers (v
17). We all depend equally on Jesus.
Finally, Paul concludes with an object lesson of how these two come together only in Jesus. His picture is of a large, impressive kind of building that would have been familiar to the people of Ephesus. A temple.
First, we require good foundations. The Apostles and Prophets with their teaching are these foundations.
Next, the walls are built. In Paul’s analogy, these are the separate walls of Jews and Gentiles.
But it is the cornerstone that locks it all together. The cornerstone is the first, foundational stone set in place, right at the intersection of two walls. It forms the critical point for the entire structure, orientation, and stability. It takes the weight and holds the whole together. This, of course, is Jesus.
Paul’s encouragement is to look beyond the things that divide and to realise that, in Jesus, we are all fellow citizens. What a privilege it is to be built together in Jesus!
* You may also remember Calum’s recent teaching on the Seven Churches of Revelation. Jesus commended the Ephesian church for its knowledge and good theology, but challenged it on its hard-heartedness. They had a good head-knowledge. But they also seemed to lack compassion and care- these were the qualities that would encourage them to do the acts of good work that we heard of in yesterday’s reading.
A Prayer
Mighty God, thank You for accepting me into your family. Thank You for the fellowship and encouragement that I know through my brothers and sisters in the church. I pray that You will build us closer together as a church as we all draw closer to You.
Amen.
Listen to today's reading and blog post below...