Andrew Fountain - The Church as the New Creation
- Artist: Andrew Fountain
- Title: The Church as the New Creation
- Album: Newlife Church, Toronto
- Track: 4
- Genre: Ephesians
- Year: 2012-10-21
- Length: 35:12 minutes (14.1 MB)
- Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 56Kbps (CBR)
Full sermon notes - Ephesians pt4: The Church as the New Creation
- First a summary of last time:
- Big picture—jigsaw puzzle
- If you don’t look at the big picture on the box, it can be hard to fit the pieces together
- What is the big picture?
- Last week I talked about being “united with Christ”
- If we fully grasp this then it will have a big impact on us
- What have we to fear—we are secure
- Illustration of the large ship that went down
- Now we come on the the end-goal of what God is doing:
Ephesians 2:11–22
2:11 Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, those called “uncircumcision” by what is called “circumcision” in the flesh done by hands, 12that you were at that time without Christ alienated from the community of Israel and strangers of the covenants of the promise, not having hope and Godless in the world.
19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the capstone, 21in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a temple holy in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Version: NET Bible
- A few words about the way it is structured
- Many scholars suggest this semi-poetic structure is related to the fact it was to be read aloud
- Certainly this way of writing was common in the ancient world
- Notice the direction he is going
- All the promises that originally belonged to the ancient nation of Israel, now belong to this new person
- The “new person” in v.19 is literally “new human”, alluding to a “new Adam”
- The final goal of where he is going is v19–22
- a new temple, a new body
- But what is this new Adam, this new body, this new temple
- He says: “It’s a mystery!”
- Anne and I like watching detective mysteries.
- Usually someone has been murdered and the question is “WhoDunnit?”
- You have to try and work it out, but right at the end it is revealed
- What would you think if you got to the end of the movie and were never told who did it?
- It was left uncertain!
- For myself, I would not be happy!
- The mystery has been revealed by God to Paul, and he explains the two parts to it:
- Why are the books of the Bible in the order they are?
- Certainly God has providentially allowed the current order
- The first 5 books of the N.T. have virtually always been in the same order, even from very ancient times
- Matthew Mark & Luke are called the “synoptics” because the give a “synopsis” which means a condensed story of Jesus’ life
- John assumes you know the story, and picks out seven miracles or signs and focuses on the underlying meaning of it all
- Acts picks up the story after Luke
- Why did John get put there?
- In the Old Testament we have a story that begins with creation and goes right through the account of the history of the nation of Israel
- John is the one who explains the mystery that has been hidden
- In the beginning God created the world by speaking words and it happened
- Genesis speaks of 6 days of creation, then a day of rest
- John gives us 7 signs-miracles corresponding with the week of creation
- Then on the first day of the second week, the Sunday, he rises again, a new creation
- Next we have the story of the tower of Babel
- Then a new community of love was formed—the new creation people, living how they were intended to live.
- We are hardly scratching the surface of what God intends us to be
- Meeting once or twice a week is only the start
- In our Christian culture we have lost so much
- We need to consider one another as parts of our own body
- You can have this new-life.
- You can be part of the new creation—have the Spirit of Jesus breathed into you—simply by asking him
- Just pray: Jesus, I would like to follow you and be part of your new creation
Take away this old life and give me a new one
Breathe your Spirit into me and give me your life
- If the Old Creation was breathtaking, how much more is the New Creation?
- The stars, mountains
- Yet the New Creation is the pinacle of God’s work
- The local church is the expression of this new creation
- You are amazing!
- The people around you today are an amazing and beautiful new creation of Jesus
- New life flows as love is expressed to one another
- Practical suggestions:
- If you are not part of a homegroup, then join one!
- Call someone this week and have coffee together—being part of the body is not just for Sundays
Updated on 2013-01-17 by Andrew Fountain
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