Oneness in God's Family : Church Is Not an Ice Cream Truck

Even though there was that shipwreck on the way to Rome, Paul did eventually end up in prison there. And while there, he wrote a letter to God’s Family in Ephesus. With all you’ve learned about Paul, what do you think his letter was about? Do you think his letter was full of “I, I, I” and “poor me, me, me in prison”? No. Of course not. He was still looking for ways to love, so he wrote a letter to the Ephesians encouraging them to stick together as one in becoming more and more like Jesus.

“Blessed is God who blessed us in Christ with every blessing in the Heavenly places! He selected us as His own to be holy and blameless, to be adopted into His Family. By grace… redeemed by His blood… oh what riches and kindness poured out on us. Giving us wisdom and understanding… He was delighted to make known to us the Mystery of His Plan—which is that all things in the Anointed (both in Heaven and on earth) are coming together as one, baby. Boom.”

(We already told you about the Mystery that was the Anointed, Christ inside people, the hope of Glory. Well, Paul just told them that God is gonna sum up or marry together everything that is Anointed into ONE. Everything that belongs to Heaven... everything that hasn’t rebelled or been corrupted... He is drawing together into a New Beginning! Woo-hoo!)

“He’s had His eye on us all along... working out His plan. Our deal with Him is signed and sealed by His Spirit, which is given to us as the first payment of glory, with more glory, more glory, more glory to come.

“Because of this, I’m praying your Heaven eyes will be flooded with understanding so that you’ll know Him better, so that you know the hope of His calling and the glorious riches in His saints and that you’ll know His great raising-the-dead power for those who believe.

“God put Christ in charge over everything. From galaxies to governments, Christ is ruling it all. For the Church, His Community, which is His Body... which is filled with Him in every way.”

Think about it…

Does that sound like Paul’s experience is that “church” is something you attend on some special day of the week? No way. In the Bible, the word “church” never meant that. The Greek word was “ekklesia” and it wasn’t a religious word at all. At its roots the word means “called out” and it was used to describe a community brought together for a purpose. It is this community, this Church that Jesus said He would build, and that Paul is talking about.

“In the past we were all spiritually dead because of our crimes against God. We were all guilty of trying to make our sinful selves happy by doing all the junk our bodies or brains wanted.

“But God’s undeserved kindness is huge. By grace, He gave us a whole new life, raising us up to sit with Christ in the Heavens. What a total GIFT, so that no one can boast or brag about it.

“Some of you grew up knowing about God, some of you didn’t. Some of you grew up fighting each other. But God offers peace to both of you. And not only that, but through Christ you are made into One people.

“Christ Jesus is making a spiritual house out of people, with Himself as the most important stone. In fact, the whole building is joined together in Him. He makes it grow into something holy, special, where God lives through His Spirit.

“God’s purpose is that through His community, His Church all the rulers and powers in the Heavenly world will know God’s wisdom in all its wonderful facets.

“And I pray that you and all God’s holy people have the power to understand how wide and how long and how high and how deep the bigness of God’s love is. If you know it, then you can be filled with the fullness of God.

“With God’s power working in us, God can do way more than anything we ask or even imagine.

(How exciting is that? Because I can imagine a lot, can’t you?)

“To God be Glory in the Church! Live up to the life God is calling you to!

“Always be humble, gentle, and patient, accepting each other in love. The Spirit joined you together with peace, so make every effort to keep that peace. There is one body and one Spirit, and God called you to have one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of everything. He rules everything and is everywhere and in everything.”

O, children, I know that many of you are in very different religious situations. But I have to hold up to you what Jesus and Paul and others who walked with Jesus actually said.

Many of you have been taught that church is something you attend in a building, but it’s not. I know that a very common American “cultural christianity” question you hear is: “Where do you go to church?” But church is not something you go to.

Many of you look out the window as you drive down the road and see all sorts of different “denominations” or “brands”of religion to “choose” from. But nowhere in the Bible did Jesus or His disciples or Paul say ANYTHING that allowed for this idea of different “denominations” or “brands.”

Jesus is not driving along the roads of life in an ice cream truck serving people their favorite flavor of religion: “Step right up. Pick your favorite flavor. Whatever you prefer or like the taste of is just fine with me.”

That was never what Jesus had in mind. Can you see how sad that makes God? Jesus didn’t die so we could pick our favorite flavor of “truth.” No, He is the Truth and He wants all of His Family to be One Together in Him.

So what do we do about it? How can we fix this problem?

To separate from each other based on flavors, styles, opinions, preferences, and culture is exactly opposite of what Jesus taught and opposite of what the first Christians did.

But the solution needed is way deeper than everyone just agreeing to pick vanilla, the same brand. “I know. Let’s just all be part of the same non-denominational vanilla group.” That won’t fix the problem either, because to invite everyone to be included in the same life together when they’ve not surrendered their all to Him, is not allowed by our King Jesus either.

So, a solution starts first with being clear about what a true Christian is, which is someone who at the name of Jesus, their knees buckle in worship and lordship. A Christian is someone who has totally walked away from their self-life so that they can give all their heart, soul, mind and strength to Jesus... and they have made a covenant with Him that is signed and sealed with His blood and with that down payment of His Holy Spirit that gives us more glory, more glory, more glory as we walk in His ways becoming more like Him, more like Him, more like Him every day.

And another part of the solution is what Paul tells them next in his letter. We gotta build our lives together using the gifts He’s given us in other people. When we do that, Paul said that the Church is the support and foundation of Truth. That means that as those who are born again in His Spirit live out His Jesus life together... then His truth becomes clear and draws us close together.

That sounds awesome, huh? Can we agree to go for that... together?

Let’s do better! For Jesus, the beautiful Lamb!