You Are A Dwelling Ephesians 2:11-22

Thinking about what it is we're going to look at in god's word today, got my mind thinking this past week about a historical event that I vaguely remember. So vaguely in fact that I actually had to Google it to figure out exactly when it was that it occurred. I knew I remembered parts of it but I didn't understand what was going on but it was something that happened that captivated the attention of the world in November 1989. [00:37:40] (30 seconds)  #FallOfBerlinWall

Here's the truth though that I want you to see and what got me thinking about the Berlin Wall in light of what we're going to read from scripture. Long before, there was a wall separating the east from the west. Long before a wall separated the communist from the capitalist. Long before that wall appeared, there was a greater wall. A wall that separated humanity, not from humanity, but a wall that separated humanity from god. [00:39:44] (34 seconds)  #SeparationFromGod

Last week, you may recall we read one verse of scripture, verse number 10. That was it. The entire sermon came from one solitary verse in God's word. This morning, we read a little bit larger of a chunk but there is so much material that is gathered here for you and I to behold. There's there's no way with the time that we have I could get to and do justice to all of but there are some things I want you to see [00:43:09] (27 seconds)  #SermonFromScripture

because if our identity in Christ is that of a dwelling, first of all, what does that mean? Second of all, how on earth did we get here? And what does that mean for everyone else? So to help us see and answer these questions, there are three things that I want to draw your attention to this morning. Three things that will help you hopefully understand your identity as a dwelling. The first thing that I want you to see is this. Number one, I want you to see more than a memory. [00:43:36] (32 seconds)  #MoreThanAMemory

Now, what on earth do I mean by that? Well, if you look at this, we we take it kind of like the the second half if you will of chapter two of Ephesians. One of the things that you will find and come to notice is that Ephesians two really kind of starts to end the way Ephesians two began and to be perfectly honest with you, Ephesians two begins with some unbelievably all the time bad news. [00:44:08] (28 seconds)  #Ephesians2

There is no good news that is spoken of at the first part of Ephesians chapter two And then here, after we set through a sermon on grace and after we set through a sermon on god's workmanship in us, how we are created in Christ Jesus, it kind of brings us back around again reminding us of that bad news. Think about what we're told there in these verses of scripture. Look at verse eleven and twelve again real quick. [00:44:36] (30 seconds)  #SermonOnGrace

In those two verses, verse eleven and twelve, we find a word repeated twice. The word is remember. Remember, remember. Why on earth is that so important and why do we have to keep rehashing and rehearing and relearning and reliving this bad news? Why on earth do I want to remember remember all the bad? As the language the Bible uses tells us having no hope and without God in the world. I want that gone from my memory. [00:45:32] (36 seconds)  #RememberTheBad

So why is Paul writing to believers? To whom this truth no longer applies. They no longer have no hope. They are no longer without god in the world. Why does he keep telling them, remember, remember. Because for you and I to understand this relationship, for you and I to understand our place and our status as a dwelling, we must understand what god has done for us. [00:46:08] (33 seconds)  #RememberOurPast