8.22.10 – The idea of citizenship has been in the news a lot lately. Specifically, people in the press and politicians and pretty much everyone else is wondering what to do with people who are in the country illegally. I’m not going to address our national situation this morning except to say that it sets us up well for what Paul tells us next in Ephesians.

Remember what Paul has been telling us. As Gentiles, we had no claim to the Jewish inheritance. As sinners, we had no claim on God’s kingdom. But thanks to Jesus destroying the barriers that separate us from God (see Eph. 2:1-18), we have an inheritance in the kingdom of God!!

Now, look at how Paul takes this wonderful news even further!!

Ephesians 2:19-22
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (NIV)

1st – fellow citizens and members of the household of God!

vs 19
That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. (MSG)

Not just legal residents or household guests, but full citizens of the kingdom and members—children—of the household.

Paul—and his audience—could identify with this. There were special privileges accorded to Roman citizens. Remember in Acts when Paul was arrested? They were ready to kill him until they found out he was a Roman citizen. And one by birth, not having purchased it.

Our citizenship has been purchased with the blood of the son of the king!

2nd – built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how we got where we are. As a country, we celebrate days like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July to remember those people who have fought and died to create and preserve our country. As a state or a city, we have different ways of remember policemen and firefighters and others who have worked so hard to keep us safe.

Christianity didn’t just happen one day. Thousands of years of prophets set the stage for what was to come. (Remember when we went through Genesis and saw how God set apart the Jewish people to be not just his people, but to prepare the world for salvation through the Messiah?)

And after Jesus’s birth, death, burial and resurrection, God inspired the apostles to preach and teach and—in some cases—write down his message so future generations can continue to hear and be saved.

Now, I did some research and some commentators believe the prophets here were those prophets of the first century church (see Ephesians 3:5). In either case, we’re talking about divine teaching that may have been presented by man but was not created by man.

vs 20
You are like a building with the apostles and prophets as the foundation and with Christ as the most important stone. (CEV)

It’s more than something that’s been done, though. We need to learn from the apostles and prophets. That’s going to mean study and discussion and prayer. Paul says elsewhere to, “Study to show yourself approved” (2 Timothy 2:15) but I don’t think it’s like cramming for a final, making sure you’ve got the answers in case you wind up on “Heavenly Jeopardy”. God has rescued from the muck and mire of his sin, so we’re digging into the worlds of the prophets and apostles because we love God and want to get to know more about him!!

If you were single but dating someone you think might become quite important in your life, what would you do if you ran across that person’s diary? We consider it bad form to peek, right? But you’re just dying to know what they actually think of you; what you can do to show your love in a way they’ll appreciate.

God’s book is an open book and he invites us to read it and learn all we can about him!

3rd – Jesus is the cornerstone!

In the days before concrete foundations, the cornerstone was the most important part of a building. All the rest of the building was going to be built from that point, so that point better be stable. And square.

Psalm 118:22-24
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (ESV)

Jesus is our cornerstone. Our enemy wants us to build our lives—and even our faith—on faulty cornerstones. Our own health, our ability to make money, our smarts. Sometimes, we even build our faith on our church. That’s not what church is supposed to do. It is a wonderful tool for strengthening our faith and helping us to learn about the apostles and prophets, but if our faith is built on our church, two things will eventually happen a] it will crumble because we’re using for a cornerstone a material not designed for that purpose and 2] it will fail us because our faith should be built on Jesus and nothing else.

Maybe this is why we’ll occasionally see someone who has gone to church for 40 years, been involved and everything, but then they fall away. Maybe their faith was built on the church and not on Christ.

More than a century ago, there was an excellent book written called “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon. In it, several characters pledge to ask themselves “What Would Jesus Do?” before doing anything in their lives. The story goes on to show the incredible transformation such decision make in their lives, and in the lives around them and their community.

What would it mean for your life to live it with Jesus as the cornerstone? With all your decisions based on him and all the bricks coming out resting on that one?

1 Peter 2:6
For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." (ESV)

What do I DO with this?

Remember whose household you now belong to.

Search the Scriptures—hide them in your heart, as Scripture says—and learn what the prophets and the apostles can teach you.

Base your life on Christ! If you do, you will never be put to shame!

Think about what we’ve been seeing in Ephesians. Living your life in Christ is not supposed to be a timid affair, constantly wondering whether you’re saved or not. Paul wants us to live boldly and triumphantly! Secure in the knowledge that we have been sealed in Jesus’s name. Active in our pursuits of holiness, or Scripture, and in doing the deeds God has called on us to do!