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. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT
These verses give us a very clear idea of who we are as ‘the church’. Remember the ekklesia are those ‘called out from and called into’. I stress this because once called out we can never allow ourselves to look back. We are no longer of this world. ‘No one having put their hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom for the Kingdom of God’. It was a snare to the children in the wilderness to hold a longing for the things left behind.
These verses from Ephesians emphasize a membership in God’s family, which has been carefully joined together in him. This family has become a holy temple where God lives by his Spirit, declaring that we too, are a holy people.
From Helps Word Studies we learn this Greek word for holy is…
[40 (hagios) implies something "set apart" and therefore "different (distinguished/distinct)" – i.e. "other," because special to the Lord.]
Holy describes to us what the ekklesia is ~ those ‘called out from and into’ have now been ‘set apart for’.
We have been ransomed and redeemed by Father with the price of His son’s life. We have been set apart, different, distinct, special and now we are no longer our own.
1 Cor. 6:19 …do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your bodies.
Our entrance into this family, this community, came by invite from the Father. Once we accept, we find were called unto His full sonship. Once received, it is recognized sonship comes with discipline, learning to yield our will, submitting to the Father of spirits. Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered and we learn the same way. Discipline doesn’t seem pleasant at the time it is administered but when submitted to, yields righteousness. These things are to be freely and willingly embraced.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Matthew 16:24
Every disciple chooses to follow. It is the first requirement of becoming a part of the ekklesia. Calling upon His name indicated a surrender of our rights to self. We didn’t abdicate our will, we submitted it to the Father of Spirits for life. He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. Discipline trains us unto the peaceful fruit of righteousness, Hebrews 12. 7-1, thereby enabling us to express to the nations what is right in the heart and mind of God.
We ‘know’ this but we need to actually show it, for this world holds great criticism against ‘the church’. We are called a peculiar people; a chosen generation to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness and into His marvellous light.
Citizens along with all of God’s holy people, we are now members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord and through him we are being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
May we live in the grace He pours our enabling us to live holy.