Pastor's Pen: “…another (important) brick in the wall”

It’s been great to revisit the truths of Ephesians over the past weeks and be reminded just how great is our salvation; giving us a new identity that is grounded in the finished work of Jesus but also being established with the ongoing work of God’s Spirit at work in us and through us.

We saw last week in the sermon that “we are God’s workmanship (or handiwork), created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” (v10) This week we see God’s creativity being displayed in the corporate building of “God’s household” (v19-20). We see from the flow of the text from verses 11-18 that the building work being undertaken by God is not using first rate bricks, straight off the religious pallet –so to speak. No, rather God is building His house, “a holy temple in the Lord” (v21b) out of the reject bricks that can be found in the rubbish pile. This can be seen in the language Paul uses in verse 12 of being “excluded” “foreigners” and “without hope”. So, while we all come into the hands of our God ugly and misshapen our pre-exiting state does not stop the plan of the Master-Builder of building us into a strong structure. Sure, He is knocking a few rough edges off us in the process but we can be overjoyed to know that once a reject, I am now being strategically placed into the walls of God’s holy temple.

This is where we see clearly the truth that, while God has saved us as individuals, He has a great purpose for us together. A house will never achieve its purpose if all the bricks laid around the paddock on their own. It’s in their coming together that the real purpose of the builder is seen. So too we as God’s people, “are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” (v22) You may disagree with or dislike the spot God has picked just for you, but that’s where we have to remember that He is the builder and we are the bricks. You may further be offended that God says that even you didn’t come with the pre-existing qualities to slot straight into His project. No, each one of us have some reshaping to experience so we can properly take our place in the corporate building of God’s Holy house. It’s important to keep some perspective here. You and I are, after all…one brick among many in the wall of God’s house. But even with one brick missing the house remains incomplete. So let’s be ready to be placed where God wants us as members of God’s holy household.