Ephesians 2:17-22

Friday, October 04, 2013                     Ephesians 2:17-22

In the previous passage Paul emphasized that God, through faith in Jesus, has brought all people together. A line in a liturgy I use for weddings summarizes Paul’s teaching: “Where Christ is present there is surely equality as well as unity.” Paul takes this teaching even deeper in today’s reading, which reminds me of Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).

Paul draws his inspiration from Psalm 118:22 which Jesus quoted in his parable of the Tenants, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone” (Mark 12:10). (In Acts 4, Peter also quoted this verse in his defense, as he and John were brought before the Council.)  In Ephesians 2, Paul is showing us that together, the Body of Christ is the new Temple of God, “And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself” (Ephesians 2:20b).

The next time you are gathered with the church for worship, look around at all the people, and then take a few minutes to meditate on the truth that your gathering is a holy temple for the Lord. You are a “part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22b). How do you think your participation in worship may be impacted by your acute awareness that Jesus is actually present with you?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.