Scripture: Ephesians 2:11-22
I want to make three points in today’s sermon, which is sermon number four in our current series on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: Point Number One, “Churchianity” Versus Christianity. Number Two, Lifestyle Evangelism. And Number Three, “Membership Has Its Privileges.”
But first, Point Number One… “Churchianity”…
I made that video that we just saw back in 2012. That was on one of two trips that I made to Kenya, in East Africa. I went again six months later, in 2013. I went there to teach Christian history, Wesleyan church doctrines, and worship liturgy to a group of indigenous Methodist clergy there. I was nervous about the first trip for many reasons, some of which I’ve shared before. But I was also nervous because the lives of these pastors in Kenya seemed so different from mine. Most conspicuously, as a middle-class American, I was much, much wealthier than they were.My lifestyle and my experience seemed so different from theirs! And about a third of them didn’t even speak English, so for their sake I had to use a translator. So my overriding concern was, would they accept me?
I went to Kenya both times with a fellow Methodist pastor and friend named Susan. Our first day of class—with about 50 Methodist pastors as students—started around 3:00 p.m.… And Susan and I had only just gotten started—after a time of worship and prayer, after making our introductions, after talking through the course syllabus, etc.—when students in the class began to seem restless. “Uh-oh,” I thought. “It’s already happening! They’re already not listening to me. We’re already failing to be effective teachers.”
Until finally, their superintendent spoke up, with his lovely British-inflected accent, “Excuse me, Pastor Brent and Pastor Susan. We’re wondering when we’re going to have afternoon tea.”
Afternoon tea? That’s a thing here?
Indeed it was… And before long people at the conference center brought out not only tea, but tray upon tray of this fried dough known as “mandazzi,” to go with the tea. And it smelled wonderful. And when I saw it, I realized that what these Kenyans call mandazzi, I knew and loved by a different name: beignets—French doughnuts—that wonderful New Orleans-style pastry… one of my favorite desserts in the world! And here they were, right in front of me!
And I looked at my friend Susan and said, “I could get used to afternoon tea.” She’s like, “Me too!”
And for the first time in a couple of days of travel and orientation to our unfamiliar surroundings, I felt right at home. “These Kenyans and I are not so different after all.” We felt a bond. We felt a connection. Because we all loved beignets!
Well, that’s a trivial example of feeling connected, of course… More importantly, these Kenyans and I soon enjoyed a far deeper bond… one that I’ve often experienced when I’ve traveled outside of the United States… It’s the bond of family.These are my brothers and sisters… in Christ!
In today’s scripture, the apostle Paul writes about this deep bond that he and and Christians like him—that is, his fellow Jewish believers—have with Gentile believers.
To say the least, we’ve come a long way since Acts chapter 10. You may recall that Peter had a vision in which the Holy Spirit tells him to go to the home of a Gentile named Cornelius. When he arrives at the man’s home, Peter says, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.” 1
Prior to Christ, Jews didn’t associate with Gentiles… except from a careful distance. Remember Jesus’ trial before Pilate? The religious leaders who handed Jesus over didn’t want to enter the headquarters where Pilate was staying. They spoke to Pilate from outside. Why? Because Passover began at sundown, and if they entered his private space, they feared they would become contaminated by his Gentile cooties… become ritually unclean, in which case they would have to miss celebrating Passover.
But things have changed now! As Paul reminds his readers in verses 15 and 16 of today’s scripture, Christ “ended the system of law with its commandments and regulations,” and “our hostility toward each other was put to death.” As he writes elsewhere, “in Christ there is no longer Jew nor Greek…”2 We are all one in Christ.
And that’s one of Paul’s main themes here in Ephesians chapter 2.
But in the first paragraph of today’s scripture, Paul reminds these Gentile Christians of what their relationship with Judaismwas like before they believed in Christ. He puts it as bleakly as possible in verse 12: “You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”
But in these days before Christ, the Gentiles knew this for sure: This God that their Jewish neighbors worshiped and believed in… this God whose laws prevented them from eating the same foods that the Gentiles ate… prevented them from worshiping in the same temples that Gentiles worshiped in… prevented them from making or worshiping idols of any kind… and prevented them from associating with the same people that Gentiles associated with… These Gentiles knew for sure that the God of Israel, whoever he was, was not their God… and this strange religion that their Jewish neighbors practiced was completely incompatible with their own religion!
Let’s face it, we don’t live in a culture like that anymore. I know from personal experience that most people in this community are convinced that they’re already Christians… already in a right relationship with God, whether or not their lives bear the fruit of regeneration—the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of submitting to Christ as Lord of their lives… whether or not their lives show any evidence of a heart transformed by the power of the Spirit… They still say, “Yep, I’m a Christian.”
But it’s a kind of Christianity that asks very little of us. And it’s a dangerous problem in Toccoa, Georgia—and probably many, many other places like ours.
After all, lost people today are no less lost without the God revealed in his Son Jesus. But unlike with these first-century Ephesians, you’d have a devil of a time convincing them that they were “without” this God. The form of Christianity they’ve embraced is a counterfeit. It’s often based on intellectual beliefs, for instance, that live in someone’s head… “Yes, yes… I believe in those doctrines.” Or it’s connected to membership in a particular church. Or it’s based on something that’s happened in their past… sometimes their distant past: You know, “Fifty years ago I walked down an aisle and prayed a sinner’s prayer that one time. So, yes, I’m a Christian.” “I got baptized when I was an infant and got confirmed when I was twelve. So I’m a Christian.”
Whatever this false kind of Christianity is, it’s centered around church—with all of the external trappings that go with it. Church is little more than a status symbol—like belonging to a particular country club or civic organization. You pay your dues, and you belong… and you get some benefits from being a member…
Back in the ’90s, I had a professor in college who told our class one day—I don’t remember why it came up… but he said, only half-jokingly, “I’m not so sure about Christianity, but I hold church membership in First Baptist Atlanta… just in case.”
A few months ago I had my semiannual visit to the dentist. And I love my dentist. His name is David. He’s in the Atlanta area—which, I know, is a long drive. But I’ve been seeing him for 24 years. We go to lunch sometimes! We talk a lot! We’re friends, I guess. We have so much in common… except for religion, I’m afraid. David is anEpiscopalian—that alone isn’t a problem.
The problem is, he only goes to church a couple times a year.
And at my last appointment, David turned to his hygienist and said, “Let me tell you something that Brent told me one time.” And he proceeded to remind me of that time, many years ago, when I was pastoring the Methodist church in Hampton, Georgia. He said, “I told Brent, ‘Maybe I should start coming to your church. How far of a drive is it? Forty-five minutes? I think I can do that.’
He said to his hygienist, with a smile on his face, “And can you believe what Brent told me? He said, ‘Please don’t come to my church! We’ve got enough C.E.O.’s already.’” David said, “By ‘C.E.O.’s’ Brent was talking about Christmas and Easter Only Christians! Isn’t that hilarious?” he said
I had forgotten I said that! That was unusually bold of me!
And he’s like, “No, no, no… I’m glad you said it, Brent!” He said he needed to be reminded that there’s so much more to Christianity than going to church every once in a while!” Like it’s Rotary, or Kiwanis Club, or the Masons.
My point is, this outward, external form of Christianity is far less than the real thing!
And I call it “Churchianity,” rather than Christianity. And I guess, over the course of the last five-plus years I’ve declared war on Churchianity. I’m simply unimpressed by Christianity that consists almost exclusively of having one’s name on a church roll… or having even good friends in church… or even having gotten baptized or confirmed or something like that in the distant past. If you read the Bible this past year, you know about the New Testament’s many warnings against backsliding. They are warnings to us, brothers and sisters! Backsliding can happen to anyone.
Don’t get me wrong. I love “Churchians,” but it’s my responsibility to warn them, “Repent and believe the gospel. Take no comfort in Churchianity… It’s a lie from the pit of hell!”
Look at something that Paul says in verse 11 about his own people—his fellow Jews: “You were called ‘uncircumcised heathens’ by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.”
“Proud of their circumcision”? Paul understands that many of his fellow Jews were treating their own faith like a status symbol—something based not on church membership in their case, but on some otherexternal thing—which, like a church building, Paul says, is even made by human hands. In the case of Paul’s fellow Jews, of course, he’s talking about circumcision.
And in so many words, Paul says this: Now that Christ has come, who cares about some external marking on your body… when you can have a living relationship with God through faith in his Son Jesus?
That’s what these Kenyan Christians had… They didn’t have “Churchianity”; they had the real thing… which is so much better!
So to anyone who is a “Churchian,” rather than a Christian, I want appeal to you: Don’t settle for less than the real thing! The real thing is so much better than you know!
That’s Point Number One… “Churchianity”…
Point Number Two… lifestyle evangelism…
When I was a young Baptist Christian in the 1980s “lifestyle evangelism” was considered something of a dirty word… Because it was considered a way of doing “evangelism” without using words… and using words, let’s face it, is usually the scary part of evangelism, right? So “lifestyle evangelism” was considered by some of my Baptist friends as a way of “wimping out” when it comes to evangelism… of avoiding the hard part.
But that’s a false choice! It’s not one or the other, lifestyle or words; it’s both…
See, the problem in Toccoa, Georgia, and in other places in the so-called “Bible Belt,” is that too many people already know the words. That wouldn’t have been the case in Paul’s day, when he and his fellow missionaries brought the gospel to Gentiles for the first time. But it is often the case now. Many people have already heard the words. They grew up hearing the words. Like a vaccination, they’re inoculated to the words… they’ve gotten just enough of Christianity to be immune to it. They have a hard time even listening to the words anymore. It’s often because, as I say, the kind of “Christianity” they grew up with, the kind that was role-modeled for them, was counterfeit: it was “Churchianity
So what they desperately need now is to see those words lived out. They need to see lives transformed not by human words, but by the Word of God; they need to see the difference that having a living relationship with Christ makes in our lives!
If that’s “lifestyle evangelism,” we need more and more of it!
[When I was in sales with AT&T… Alec…
Is our lifestyle indistinguishable from the “Churchians” and other non-believers—in which case who needs the real thing?]
If there’s a crisis of counterfeit Christianity, or “Churchianity,” as I argued in Point Number One, let’s live in such a way that shakes people out of their false belief! Let the counterfeit Christian say, “I thought I was a Christian, but oh my goodness… I certainly don’t live like those people! I don’t have what those people have. I don’t know the joy, the peace, the patience of those people! They treasure Christ in a way that I don’t, and they seem to find their lives deepest desires met in him. If only I could live that way!” And then… that’s where the words of the gospel come in!
Look at verses 21 and 22… This is what church is supposed to be all about: “We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”
This image of the church—by which I don’t mean the building but the people… but the image of the church as the Temple points back to the Temple in Jerusalem, and its inner sanctuary, known as the “Holy of Holies,” where the very presence of God dwelt in a powerful way. Paul implies that when God’s people show up for worship, that same powerful Spirit is in our midst in the same way! You can’t get that by staying home on Sunday, or by watching church on a screen. You can’t get it through children’s sports activities. You can’t get it on a lake fishing or on a golf course on Sunday mornings.
A church is not about preaching, or programs, or property, or even people… That’s “Churchianity.” No… A church is primarily about God. I know it often seems like it’s about preaching, programs, property, and people… But we remember the banner hanging in the corner: “But God…” Looks are deceiving: God is in this place. God is changing lives here! God is doing powerful things!
So I want us to be a place where we simply don’t dare miss church because we don’t want to miss out on what God’s going to do when God’s people at Toccoa First gather on Sunday.
And that’s Point Number Two…
Point Number Three… “Membership Has Its Privileges”
That expression comes from an old ad campaign from American Express… It was a way of stroking people’s egos, telling them, “If you could only join this exclusive and elite club of people who are members of American Express—and you probably can’t because you’re not good enough… But if only you could, it would open doors for you in life… it would get things done for you… it would protect you… it would mean benefits and rewards… it would mean that you’re extra special.”
But if that’s true for something as trivial as a credit card, what do we make of verse 19: “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.”
Remember earlier, in verses 11 and 12, Paul said that these Gentile Christians used to be “outsiders” and “excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel”? Not any more! They are “citizens along with all of God’s holy people.”
Citizenship… There are three places in the Book of Acts where Paul pulls out his “Roman citizenship” card. And citizenship, like membership in a club but even more so, has its privileges.
In Acts 16:37-39, Paul and Silas are in Philippi, where they’re arrested, beaten, and put in jail. The city officials realize this was a mistake and send word to the jailer to release Paul and Silas. Listen to what happens next. Beginning with verse 37: “But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!” When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city.”
And how about Acts 22:25-29? Paul gets arrested in Jerusalem. The Romans whip him. And Paul “innocently” asks, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?” And when they confirm that Paul really is a Roman citizen, Luke writes in verse 29, “The soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped.”
And finally, how about Acts 25:10-12? The Roman governor Festus wants to turn Paul over to Jewish authorities for trial—where Paul knows he’s be unfairly tried and killed. Paul tells him,
“If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!” Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!”
For Paul, citizenship meant things like protection, power, privileges, safety… These were non-negotiable guarantees to Paul from the Roman government.
Paul knows exactly the privileges that come from citizenship. So what do you think Paul has in mind for us Christians when he talks about citizenship in God’s kingdom? Does the Creator of the universe who is sovereign over everything care about us less than Roman governors and emperors care about their citizens? Perish the thought!
At the very least, it means we shouldn’t worry nearly as much as we do!
I want to share one of my favorite promises in scripture with you. And when you hear it, you’re going to think, “Well, what’s the big deal with that verse?” I promise I’ll explain it. The promise comes from Isaiah 59:1. These are words that the the prophet Isaiah speaks to God’s stiff-necked, rebellious people in Judah: “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.”
In its original context, God was telling these disobedient, idolatrous, sinful Israelites, “Don’t think that because I’m not rescuing you right now from your enemies; don’t think that because I’m not saving you from all the trouble that you’re facing because of your sin; don’t think that because I’m not preventing you from being conquered by the Babylonians and sent into exile; don’t think that my apparent ‘failure’ to act is because I don’t hear all of your prayers. I know far better than you do exactly what’s going on in your lives, and I hear every single one of your prayers. No, contrary to what some people are saying, I can hear just fine.
“Moreover, just because I’m not rescuing you right now from all your trouble, don’t think for a moment it’s because somehow I don’t have all the power at my disposal to rescue you. I do! And if I wanted to rescue you right now, I would. And since I’m not rescuing you right now, you need to trust me that I have my good reasons, that I have my good purposes. But it’s never, ever because I don’t hear you. And it’s never, ever because I don’t have the power to rescue you.”
Unlike these Israelites, who were being punished for their sins, for us Christians, our sins have been wiped out, blotted out, obliterated, vanished, gone… forever… never ever to be held against us… ever!
So we who are God’s children through faith in Christ can know this for sure: Our Father knows what we, his children, need better than we do; he always hears our prayers… And God has all the power in his mighty hand to give us precisely what we need, when we need it, and when we ask for it. And because he loves us, and because we enjoy his favor—always—we can be sure that he always will use his mighty power to help us, to love us, to show us his favor! Always!
To say the least, “membership has its privileges.”