In Ephesians 4, Paul describes the body of Christ. We should not be like my uninterested third period health class when we cover this material! We should listen closely to Paul for we are part of this body as Christians! And should pay attention because, unlike a lot of changing health opinions, this is eternal truth.So what is the nature of a healthy body of Christ, and how does it function? That’s our question.Let me point out three marks of a healthy church. A Healthy Church is Marked by Spiritual Unity, Spiritual Diversity, and Growing Maturity. This is like a physical – a spiritual check up for us.
A lot of believers only pray when they have no other option. Oh, they may have some routine prayers that they pray – like at meal times, or on a Sunday – but when it comes to actually seeking God with desperation, they only do that when they have exhausted all of their human wisdom, when they have worked through every possible strategy, and they are at the end of their rope – they close their eyes, throw it deep, and hope something good happens. But this is a mistake. Why? It’s because the whole Christian life is supposed to be one of desperation. A lack of desperation shows that we don’t think much of God’s ability, and we think a whole lot of our own. Instead, we should remember how great God is when we come to him, and we should remember how much we need him.
Paul desires for us to see in this passage the radical nature of the gospel and the uniting of two in one, In Christ! In making us fellow heirs in Christ. God is displaying His plan for the World, namely that Jew and Gentile will be fellow heirs with Christ, through the ministry of Paul and the Mission of the Church. This is set in the context of suffering, the imprisonment of Paul which is discouraging the Ephesians people, but in the midst of this Paul wants us to see the radical nature of the gospel and the people that it is forming the church is signaling to the World the end of their reign and the coming reign of Christ.
In Eph 2:11-22, Paul describes a hostile rivalry that was deep and complex, between Jew and Gentile. Gentiles were non-Jews. The word is “ethna” in v 11 (non-Jewish ethnicities). It was religious. Gentiles didn’t know the God of Israel. It was cultural. Jews had all of the rituals, feasts, and ceremonies that distinguished them from the nations. It was racial. The Jews could boast of “having the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob flowing their veins.” Yet, through Christ, these two enemies have become friends. (Paul says this unity proclaims the mystery of the universe [3:10]).
Verse 1 begins with “And You.” Who is he talking to? The Gentiles. Then he says in verse 3a, “all of us” and then “like the rest of mankind…” (3b). Paul covers everyone with these phrases. Paul is not about to describe some degrading segment of society, or some cannibalistic tribe somewhere. He’s talking about everyone. This is the biblical diagnosis of our sinful nature. Paul draws our attention to the depth of depravity, in order to magnify the mercy and grace of God in saving us; like a black back drop to a diamond, and he does so with two of the sweetest words in the Bible… “But God.” This is our biography. God’s gracious initiative and sovereign action stands in wonderful contrast to verses 1-3.
