Good Morning Friends,
Over the course of the trauma and tensions of the last couple of years people have been evaluating the strength of their organizational structures to deal with life. And by this, I mean the physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and relational ability of them to withstand stress. Think about bridges and how they fail but think about it in human terms. And appropriately in today’s lectionary selection we have an example of weak links and issues of structural integrity that relate. You see, there is a privilege and peril for every person that they might be inspired by God and be strong in the Spirit on a firm foundation of Christ or choose a cornerstone of their motivation that is not of God. Jesus stayed up all night considering the selection of his disciples to build his ministry and still one fell away. You see, relationships are the building blocks of our very salvation. And it all starts where the heart is. To explore this we ask, What Is The Connection Between Our Relationship With Christ And The Strength Of Our Homes?
Scripture: So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (NRSV)
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Luke 6:12-16 (NRSV)
Message: When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he addressed Gentiles who were now Christians. He wanted them to remember their previous condition as strangers and foreigners, and then provoke them to gratitude to God who was building them together as a community. Their status had changed and now they were members of the household of God. They were now citizens in the Kingdom and identified with others who enjoyed the same relationship with God in the building of a stable home on the foundation of strong relationships with Christ as the cornerstone and a peace that surpassed the Pax Romana. Friends, this is not about admiring roadside architecture but about living and loving in a society that is built to withstand the storms of life. If you are a member of the household of God, this statement should renew your gratefulness to God and your daily devotion to Him. You see, the household of God is well built, unlike nations and institution of our own creation. Not only can we rejoice that we have been accepted as a member of God’s house, but we can also know that the structure is well built and will stand. The household of God was built on and stands today on the truth of Jesus Christ. The flood of cultural unrest will take down structures that do not conform to His high standard.
And So, if we are not seeking to find our identity in all of Christ’s love first, then we are seeking it in something else to our own detriment it is easy to be shortsighted. For even though we believe our identity is in Christ we typically do not make it a priority and as a result fail to experience how this relationship is to change the way we live in practical ways. It is love that transforms us. We typically discount this identity that gives strength to the structure of our lives and get it all mixed up with being a spouse, parent, employee, and member of one group or another. As the Apostle Paul came to the end of writing the second letter to the Ephesians, he explains that the Christians in the church in Ephesus had a new identity. They had transferred their allegiance from their former way of life, and they now had a new identity in Christ. Paul writes about their citizenship alluding to citizenship of God’s kingdom. Here the Kingdom of God is not a territorial jurisdiction, it is God himself ruling his people and bestowing upon them all the privileges and responsibilities which divine rule implies. Here God’s purpose in each of us brings a peace and purpose designed to bring peace to the world. To this new international God-ruled community, Gentiles and Jews, slave and free, male, and female, belonged on equal terms. Interestingly, Paul is writing while the Roman Empire has yet to show signs of its coming decline, let alone of its fall. Yet Paul sees this other kingdom of God, the one inside us, as more splendid and enduring than Rome’s. And so, Paul rejoices in its citizenship more than in his Roman citizenship. It is a kingdom made possible by the resurrected body of Christ that is to strengthen our relationships in every place we call home. The walls and locked doors and boarders are no barrier to the resurrected Christ. Here Jesus ushers in this new kingdom proclaiming a relationship of peace but also displaying the marks of suffering on the Cross, all as witness that though the Lord has been crucified, he has most surely risen from the dead so we too might be changed. So, friends, this morning be confident that having one’s primary identity in Christ will produce peace. Thegreat purpose in our lives is to identify with and become more like Christ. That is how resilience is assured.
Pray we delight in the peace and strength offered by a resurrected Jesus. Pray that we have a legacy that is built to last because it is not built on pride. Pray we have an identity as citizens of God’s Kingdom in a place we can call home. Pray we have an identity as members of God’s family, sharing the same Father. Pray we understand that we are stones of God’s Temple to abide in a place of eternity. Pray we realize that God is the architect of our existence forming us to fit into a divine purpose. Pray we be at peace despite our skepticism because Christ is our Cornerstone. Pray we be without fear of the future because the Father of Creation is our foundation. Pray we realize that we have no need to judge or compare ourselves to other stones in the Temple but to serve Christ, in whom our identity is hidden as part of a greater whole. Praywe are built together in the Spirit as a dwelling place for God. Pray we are secure in the household of God. Pray the whole of our relationships are fit together so that we need not fear the collapse of the structure. Pray we realize that we are not just a guest or occasional visitor but a permanent member of the family of God, dwelling with God in a home upheld by the divine power of holy relationships. Pray we bring worship into our daily lives and homes with Christ as the cornerstone.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 