The Holy Catholic Church, The Communion of Saints

Ephesians 2:11-22

Catholic in the creed is spelled with a “small c”. 

It does not mean a denomination. It means universal: 

one church, called out of every nation and every century, belonging to God.

Holy means set apart for the purposes of God. 

Saints are not the spiritually elite. 

In the New Testament, saints are all who follow Jesus Christ.

The Father calls and claims a people. The Son sanctifies (makes them Holy) and unites them by His blood. The Spirit indwells them and makes them one.

1. HOLY, BECAUSE HE BROUGHT US NEAR
2. Ephesians 2:11-13
3. We were separated, alienated, without hope, and without God. Then verse 13 turns on two words: but now.
4. BROUGHT NEAR. The verb is passive. 
5. We did not close the distance, and the cost was the blood of Christ, not our effort.
6. HOLY: Holiness is not evidence that we have arrived. It is evidence that God set us apart.
7. CATHOLIC, BECAUSE HE MADE ONE NEW MAN
8. CATHOLIC: Universal
9. Ephesians 2:14-18
10. The wall Christ tore down was a God-given distinction, the most defensible wall in human history. 
11. He demolished it at the cross.
12. If that wall came down, no wall we are still maintaining has any standing at all.
13. The question is not which walls exist.
14. The question is which one you are still standing behind.
15. ENTRANCE: Through the Son, in one Spirit, we have access to the Father. 
16. Our unity is not our achievement. It is Christ’s peace applied by the Spirit.
17. COMMUNION OF SAINTS, BECAUSE HIS SPIRIT DWELLS HERE
18. Ephesians 2:19-22
19. Three pictures, each deeper than the last: 
20. Fellow citizens
21. Members of the household 
22. A dwelling place for God.
23. DWELLING: 
24. The purpose of the church is not program, activity, or influence. 
25. It is to be the place where God dwells.
26. YOU is plural. 
27. You cannot be a temple by yourself.
28. Being built together means being fitted, and fitting means friction. We are shaped by believers we did not choose.
29. SENT FROM THE DWELLING PLACE
30. Acts 1:8
31. The presence comes first, then the sending. 
32. A dwelling place is not a bunker we retreat into. It is a source we are sent from.
33. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the end of the earth is not an itinerary. 
34. It is a list of walls.
35. The far-off people, brought near by the blood, are sent to the far-off people.

Far off. Brought near. Built together. Sent.

Reflection/Application Questions

1. Paul begins by telling the Ephesians to remember what they were: separated, alienated, without hope, without God. 
2. Why do you think he insists on that memory before he says anything about who they are now? 
3. What changes in you when you actually remember it?
4. Verse 13 says we “have been brought near.” The verb is passive, meaning it was done to us. 
5. Where in your own life have you been living as though closeness to God is something you have to maintain by your effort?
6. Paul calls the Corinthians saints while their church is in real disarray. If that title belongs to every believer and not only the mature ones, how should that change the way we speak to and about one another in this group?
7. Which of the walls, ethnic, political, generational, or the quiet wall between insiders and newcomers, is the one you personally find hardest to see past? Be as honest as you can.
8. What does it cost you to be built together with people you did not choose? 
9. Where have you felt the friction of being fitted into this body?
10. Name one specific person or place in your life that is still far off. 
11. What would it look like this week to go there as someone who was brought near rather than someone who was always close?

Close by praying for one another, and if your group is willing, pray by name for the person each of you identified in question six.

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHILE READING SCRIPTURE

What does this reveal about God?

What does this reveal about you in relation to God?

What do you need to do about it?