Ephesians - Who I am
Ephesians 1-3
05/08/17 I Am a Building Block
May 8, 2017 • Richard Cimino
A Christian is someone who ��� by God���s doing ��� has gone from being a stranger and an alien to being a citizen in the Kingdom of God. But God���s rescue mission doesn't stop there. More than a citizen ��� every rescued rebel becomes a child of the living God ��� a child of the Creator and the King of the universe! But God has even more than that in mind for the man or woman who is in Jesus! You see, in the second figure, a child has ultimate access to his father who is king. But that child is still an individual ��� outside of his father. So as powerful as that figure is ��� it still doesn���t paint the full picture of our relationship with God through Jesus. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul tells us that God is BUILDING something out of this new humanity. We are, individually, building blocks in a living structure that is His dwelling place on this earth. That means that the Creator and King of the universe penetrates our lives; comes into us. There is nothing higher than that.
05/01/17 I Am a Citizen - I Am a Child of God
May 1, 2017 • Richard Cimino
At the close of Ephesians 2 Paul describes our new and true identity in Jesus in terms of three distinct figures. They follow one upon the other - each an advance upon the previous one. They are packed with truth about WHO WE ARE in Jesus. There is the figure of a kingdom: Verse 19 ��� Fellow citizens with the saints.��� There is the figure of a family: Verse 19 ��� members of the household of God Finally, there���s the figure of a building Verse 21-22 ��� a holy temple in the Lord���. being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Paul uses these figures to speak of reality. There is a literal reality in the word picture Paul is painting. They define the reality of WHO WE ARE. The truth of who we are in Jesus transforms the way we think and live on this side of eternity.
