Ephesians 2:21-22
Holy Temple (Living Stones)
Illustration: There is a famous old story where the king of Sparta was hosting another king who had come to visit him. The king of Sparta was boasting proudly of the walls of Sparta. The king who was visiting looked around and could see no walls. And so he said to the Spartan king, "Where are these walls about which you boast so much?"
The king of Sparta pointed to all of his magnificent soldiers. "These," he said, "are the walls of Sparta; Every man a brick."
Every man a brick. That is true of each Christian. Each of us is a brick. Each of us is a living stone. First Peter 2:4-5 says, “As you come to Him, the Living Stone…. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We do not make up the walls of Sparta. Rather, we make up the walls of a greater structure. We are the living stones that God is using to build a new and holy temple; a temple where God dwells by His Spirit.
God used to live in a temple made with human hands, but not anymore. For Paul said in Acts 17:24, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.” God will not live in anything that man has created. God is going to live in what His hands have created for Himself. And God has re-created us in Christ that He might live in us by His Spirit. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” And Paul here in Ephesians 2:22 speaks again that we are God’s temple, “And you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”
Last week we looked at the Foundation and the Cornerstone of this Holy Temple. This week I want us to look at the building on top of the foundation and cornerstone – the Living Stones. Paul is talking about the rest of the Church apart from Jesus Christ and the Apostles. This is us. We are Living Stones.
Built Together (v21)
Notice first that we are being built together, “In Him the whole building is joined together (v21) …… “And in Him you too are being built together…” We are being built together.
The word for “joined together” is “sunarmologeo”, and it literally means “joined together”. It was used to describe the way the parts of your body are joined and the way stones of a building were joined. When it came to construction the term sunarmologeo referred to a whole elaborate process where stones were fitted together. This process included the preparation of the surfaces like the cutting, rubbing, and testing. It also included the preparation of the dowels and the dowel holes and finally the fitting of the dowels with molten lead. The word represents that careful joining of every component of a structure, with each part precisely cut so that it fits snugly, strongly, and beautifully with every other part. Nothing is out of place, defective, misshapen, or inappropriate.
This is the way God is placing each of us in His holy temple. God is cutting away the worldliness in our lives. He is rubbing down the rough surfaces in each of us so we fit nicely with each other. He is preparing us for where He has placed us. First Corinthians 12:18 says, “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”
But notice something important here: We are being built together, not separately. In other words, as God’s work progresses in the Church the stones are brought together to stand side-by-side with each other. If all these blocks in our walls at this church were individually spread on the ground none of them would be of any value. They serve no good laying around individually on the ground. It isn’t until each one of them are placed next to each other, stacked on top of each other, and joined to each other that they have any value. Then, all of them together, form something bigger than themselves that serves a bigger purpose. When that happens, when they come together, we get a beautiful, functional building that we can come into.
You know what this means? It means that there is no such thing as a Lone-Ranger Christian. It means there are no John Wayne Believers. I used to love watching the Duke. I remember one movie where he was a Federal Marshall and he was going to hunt down the bad guy and bring him to justice. And his character was that of a loner. He didn’t have nobody, didn’t need nobody, want nobody. And when there was a lady and a Texas Ranger that wanted to join him in the journey the Duke basically told them, “I don’t need anybody. I work alone.”
There are Christians who think the same way. They think they are John Wayne and don’t need to be in fellowship with the Church. They don’t need anyone, they got themselves and God. But the idea of lone-ranger Christians who “don’t need the Church” is utterly foreign to God. It’s alien to His purpose for the Church. The plain fact is that the will of God is to build us together and weave our lives together. That’s why Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing…”
For someone to remain separated from fellowship with other Christians they are opposing the work and the will of God. God did not buy with the blood of His Son a bunch of stones so they could lay spread out all over the place. God did not buy a herd of sheep so they could be scattered all over the plain. We are to be together. We are to do life together. Monks and hermits who live away from society are not what believers are called to. We are to build each other up, and that requires we be together. “In Him the whole building – the whole society of Christians – is joined TOGETHER…”
If someone claims to be a Christian but does not fellowship with other Christians they are not being built up at all in their faith and they are not in any way building others up in the faith. TV preachers on Sunday morning don’t cut it. We love Charles Stanley and Scudder and others (and we really don’t like others!)
Let me suggest a Biblical doctrine that every believer who doesn’t fellowship with other believers needs to think about:
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body..”This is a reference to the fact that when someone puts their faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit makes that person become a permanent member of the Body of Christ with all other believers. In other words, He joins that individual to the whole community. All in the same moment the Holy Spirit transfers that person from their sin and separates them from the lost world around and puts them into the community of all those who are separated.
That community is just that – a community. We are not separated from each other, instead, we have been separated from the unbelieving sinful world around us. And while all of us are separated from the surrounding godless world we are all brought together in unity, joined together as one in Christ, and are members of a new society called the Church. God brought us together in Christ. Who are we, if we are really one of these separated, would separate from our brothers and sisters? Who, if we are really part of the Church, would have nothing to do with others of the Church? Does the Holy Spirit who is in that man actually compel that man to have nothing to do with others in whom the Holy Spirit lives? No. The Holy Spirit we all have in common. And as He ministers to our spirits, He draws us to one another because He creates unity, not division.
Let me suggest 2 reasons why people who claim to be Christians might avoid fellowship with other Christians:
First, they have unconfessed sin in their life. Their guilty conscience keeps them from being around other Christians because they feel convicted in their presence. Better to suppress and avoid the painful conscience all together and not fellowship. The Cure? First John 1:9, “If you confess your sin God is faithful and just and will purify you from all unrighteousness.”
Secondly, they actually are unbelievers. They truly do not believe in Christ as their Savior, they truly have not been born-again, and while they may know about Jesus Christ they do not belong to Him.
Illustration: I was looking online this week at some pictures of where Ephesus used to be. Right now it’s in Turkey. But they have a lot of tourist attractions for people who want to come and see this old Biblical location. As I was looking at some pictures I saw a whole bunch of markets where all kinds of things were being sold. And then on a big sign I saw something that made me laugh. On top of one of these stands was a big sign that said “Genuine Fake Watches”. This guy was selling fake watches and he wanted you to know they weren’t the real deal. They looked like the real brand, kept time like any other watch, had the name of the real brand, but, it wasn’t the real thing. It was genuinely a fake wathc.
So it is with some people who say they are Christians. Perhaps they are genuine fake Christians, and not the real deal. If that is so, then, of course they may not feel they belong in fellowship with believers – they don’t have anything in common. They don’t have Christ in common. The cure? They need to hear the Gospel and believe it. They need to see that in reality their separation from Church fellowship may very well be a sign that they are also separated from Christ.
All this is to say, we are being built together. How are your relationships with others in this church? Can you characterize your relationships with people here as together? Are you more “together” with people here today than you were a year ago? 3 years ago?
Here is an application point for us: My growth as an individual is directly related to our growth as a community. There is no such thing as a growing, mature Christian who has nothing to do with other Christians in fellowship. Not only are you dependant on others for your growth, but, they are dependent on you for theirs as well. Fellowship is necessary, not optional.
Furthermore, since we are being built by God, there will be growth. Growth comes from the Lord. 1 Cor 3:8 says that some plant,, some water, but God makes things grow. God effects growth. Are you growing? Are we growing together?
A Temple that is Holy (v22)
The last point here today is this: We are to be holy. Look at verse 22 again with me, “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple…”
The building is only holy if the stones it is made of are holy. This building is made of concrete because each individual block is made of concrete. This church however is only as holy as each of us are holy. We are not talking about legalistic moralism we are talking about 1 thes 4:7: “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life”. We are talking about 1 Timothy 6:11: “But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” We are talking about 2 tim 1:9 which says: God saved us and called us to a holy life…” We are talking about 1 peter 1:14-16: “As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires y ou had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
God is holy. And that is why we are to be holy in all we do. Ask yourself this question: do I want God? I can’t see myself really telling the truth that I want God if I don’t really want holiness. Who God is determines what matters. Holiness matters to us because our God is holy - He is not just holy, He is holy, holy, holy. Above the man who lives holy is a God who Himself is holy. If we truly want God we will truly want holiness.
Let me point out something very important here: We are both already holy and being made holy at the same time. Sound strange? It’s not. Let me explain. We are already holy in our position before God even though we are not necessarily holy all the time in our practice. The reason for this is because we are “in Christ”. John 17:19 Jesus prayed, “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” That Greek word for sanctify is the exact same Greek word translated as “holy”. Holy means “to be set apart”. Christ is set apart and when we come to Him in faith He sets us apart with Himself.
But the other way in which holiness is spoken of in Scripture for believers is our practice. This is the day-to-day living as a believers and God expects holiness. This too is the hand of God in our lives. God not only makes us holy in our position, but, He also makes us more and more holy in our Christian living. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Christ. In 2:13, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”
Let me say something here: We cannot destroy the holy position people have, but we can destroy the holy practice people have. We influence each other. Are we a holy influence in each other’s lives? Or, do we diminish the holy living of others? God takes that very seriously. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3 with me. Paul is talking in this chapter about the fact that he laid a foundation for the Corinthian Christians and that foundation is Christ. He said that whoever comes along after him and builds on his foundation will be judged by Christ as to whether what they built is in line with Christ. In other words, other Christians who impact the Christian living of other Christians for better or worse will be judged for that. And then Paul gets to verse 16 and 17, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” Implication: God lives in that believer and is working in that believer to bring about holy living. Verse 17: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” Do you build up or do you tear down the work God is doing in another believers life?
Conclusion:
Here is a question: Do you see each other as living stones in a holy temple together? Do you look at one another and say to yourself, “That is someone God has saved, adopted, forgiven, and built into His Church along with me. Wow!”
**Have the congregation stand up and say:
“The Spartan king pointed to his army and declared, ‘These are the walls of Sparta’. I point to you and declare, ‘You are the walls of God’s Holy Temple’.
Let’s pray
Holy Temple (Living Stones)
Illustration: There is a famous old story where the king of Sparta was hosting another king who had come to visit him. The king of Sparta was boasting proudly of the walls of Sparta. The king who was visiting looked around and could see no walls. And so he said to the Spartan king, "Where are these walls about which you boast so much?"
The king of Sparta pointed to all of his magnificent soldiers. "These," he said, "are the walls of Sparta; Every man a brick."
Every man a brick. That is true of each Christian. Each of us is a brick. Each of us is a living stone. First Peter 2:4-5 says, “As you come to Him, the Living Stone…. You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We do not make up the walls of Sparta. Rather, we make up the walls of a greater structure. We are the living stones that God is using to build a new and holy temple; a temple where God dwells by His Spirit.
God used to live in a temple made with human hands, but not anymore. For Paul said in Acts 17:24, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.” God will not live in anything that man has created. God is going to live in what His hands have created for Himself. And God has re-created us in Christ that He might live in us by His Spirit. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” And Paul here in Ephesians 2:22 speaks again that we are God’s temple, “And you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”
Last week we looked at the Foundation and the Cornerstone of this Holy Temple. This week I want us to look at the building on top of the foundation and cornerstone – the Living Stones. Paul is talking about the rest of the Church apart from Jesus Christ and the Apostles. This is us. We are Living Stones.
Built Together (v21)
Notice first that we are being built together, “In Him the whole building is joined together (v21) …… “And in Him you too are being built together…” We are being built together.
The word for “joined together” is “sunarmologeo”, and it literally means “joined together”. It was used to describe the way the parts of your body are joined and the way stones of a building were joined. When it came to construction the term sunarmologeo referred to a whole elaborate process where stones were fitted together. This process included the preparation of the surfaces like the cutting, rubbing, and testing. It also included the preparation of the dowels and the dowel holes and finally the fitting of the dowels with molten lead. The word represents that careful joining of every component of a structure, with each part precisely cut so that it fits snugly, strongly, and beautifully with every other part. Nothing is out of place, defective, misshapen, or inappropriate.
This is the way God is placing each of us in His holy temple. God is cutting away the worldliness in our lives. He is rubbing down the rough surfaces in each of us so we fit nicely with each other. He is preparing us for where He has placed us. First Corinthians 12:18 says, “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”
But notice something important here: We are being built together, not separately. In other words, as God’s work progresses in the Church the stones are brought together to stand side-by-side with each other. If all these blocks in our walls at this church were individually spread on the ground none of them would be of any value. They serve no good laying around individually on the ground. It isn’t until each one of them are placed next to each other, stacked on top of each other, and joined to each other that they have any value. Then, all of them together, form something bigger than themselves that serves a bigger purpose. When that happens, when they come together, we get a beautiful, functional building that we can come into.
You know what this means? It means that there is no such thing as a Lone-Ranger Christian. It means there are no John Wayne Believers. I used to love watching the Duke. I remember one movie where he was a Federal Marshall and he was going to hunt down the bad guy and bring him to justice. And his character was that of a loner. He didn’t have nobody, didn’t need nobody, want nobody. And when there was a lady and a Texas Ranger that wanted to join him in the journey the Duke basically told them, “I don’t need anybody. I work alone.”
There are Christians who think the same way. They think they are John Wayne and don’t need to be in fellowship with the Church. They don’t need anyone, they got themselves and God. But the idea of lone-ranger Christians who “don’t need the Church” is utterly foreign to God. It’s alien to His purpose for the Church. The plain fact is that the will of God is to build us together and weave our lives together. That’s why Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing…”
For someone to remain separated from fellowship with other Christians they are opposing the work and the will of God. God did not buy with the blood of His Son a bunch of stones so they could lay spread out all over the place. God did not buy a herd of sheep so they could be scattered all over the plain. We are to be together. We are to do life together. Monks and hermits who live away from society are not what believers are called to. We are to build each other up, and that requires we be together. “In Him the whole building – the whole society of Christians – is joined TOGETHER…”
If someone claims to be a Christian but does not fellowship with other Christians they are not being built up at all in their faith and they are not in any way building others up in the faith. TV preachers on Sunday morning don’t cut it. We love Charles Stanley and Scudder and others (and we really don’t like others!)
Let me suggest a Biblical doctrine that every believer who doesn’t fellowship with other believers needs to think about:
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body..”This is a reference to the fact that when someone puts their faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit makes that person become a permanent member of the Body of Christ with all other believers. In other words, He joins that individual to the whole community. All in the same moment the Holy Spirit transfers that person from their sin and separates them from the lost world around and puts them into the community of all those who are separated.
That community is just that – a community. We are not separated from each other, instead, we have been separated from the unbelieving sinful world around us. And while all of us are separated from the surrounding godless world we are all brought together in unity, joined together as one in Christ, and are members of a new society called the Church. God brought us together in Christ. Who are we, if we are really one of these separated, would separate from our brothers and sisters? Who, if we are really part of the Church, would have nothing to do with others of the Church? Does the Holy Spirit who is in that man actually compel that man to have nothing to do with others in whom the Holy Spirit lives? No. The Holy Spirit we all have in common. And as He ministers to our spirits, He draws us to one another because He creates unity, not division.
Let me suggest 2 reasons why people who claim to be Christians might avoid fellowship with other Christians:
First, they have unconfessed sin in their life. Their guilty conscience keeps them from being around other Christians because they feel convicted in their presence. Better to suppress and avoid the painful conscience all together and not fellowship. The Cure? First John 1:9, “If you confess your sin God is faithful and just and will purify you from all unrighteousness.”
Secondly, they actually are unbelievers. They truly do not believe in Christ as their Savior, they truly have not been born-again, and while they may know about Jesus Christ they do not belong to Him.
Illustration: I was looking online this week at some pictures of where Ephesus used to be. Right now it’s in Turkey. But they have a lot of tourist attractions for people who want to come and see this old Biblical location. As I was looking at some pictures I saw a whole bunch of markets where all kinds of things were being sold. And then on a big sign I saw something that made me laugh. On top of one of these stands was a big sign that said “Genuine Fake Watches”. This guy was selling fake watches and he wanted you to know they weren’t the real deal. They looked like the real brand, kept time like any other watch, had the name of the real brand, but, it wasn’t the real thing. It was genuinely a fake wathc.
So it is with some people who say they are Christians. Perhaps they are genuine fake Christians, and not the real deal. If that is so, then, of course they may not feel they belong in fellowship with believers – they don’t have anything in common. They don’t have Christ in common. The cure? They need to hear the Gospel and believe it. They need to see that in reality their separation from Church fellowship may very well be a sign that they are also separated from Christ.
All this is to say, we are being built together. How are your relationships with others in this church? Can you characterize your relationships with people here as together? Are you more “together” with people here today than you were a year ago? 3 years ago?
Here is an application point for us: My growth as an individual is directly related to our growth as a community. There is no such thing as a growing, mature Christian who has nothing to do with other Christians in fellowship. Not only are you dependant on others for your growth, but, they are dependent on you for theirs as well. Fellowship is necessary, not optional.
Furthermore, since we are being built by God, there will be growth. Growth comes from the Lord. 1 Cor 3:8 says that some plant,, some water, but God makes things grow. God effects growth. Are you growing? Are we growing together?
A Temple that is Holy (v22)
The last point here today is this: We are to be holy. Look at verse 22 again with me, “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple…”
The building is only holy if the stones it is made of are holy. This building is made of concrete because each individual block is made of concrete. This church however is only as holy as each of us are holy. We are not talking about legalistic moralism we are talking about 1 thes 4:7: “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life”. We are talking about 1 Timothy 6:11: “But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” We are talking about 2 tim 1:9 which says: God saved us and called us to a holy life…” We are talking about 1 peter 1:14-16: “As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires y ou had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
God is holy. And that is why we are to be holy in all we do. Ask yourself this question: do I want God? I can’t see myself really telling the truth that I want God if I don’t really want holiness. Who God is determines what matters. Holiness matters to us because our God is holy - He is not just holy, He is holy, holy, holy. Above the man who lives holy is a God who Himself is holy. If we truly want God we will truly want holiness.
Let me point out something very important here: We are both already holy and being made holy at the same time. Sound strange? It’s not. Let me explain. We are already holy in our position before God even though we are not necessarily holy all the time in our practice. The reason for this is because we are “in Christ”. John 17:19 Jesus prayed, “For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” That Greek word for sanctify is the exact same Greek word translated as “holy”. Holy means “to be set apart”. Christ is set apart and when we come to Him in faith He sets us apart with Himself.
But the other way in which holiness is spoken of in Scripture for believers is our practice. This is the day-to-day living as a believers and God expects holiness. This too is the hand of God in our lives. God not only makes us holy in our position, but, He also makes us more and more holy in our Christian living. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Christ. In 2:13, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”
Let me say something here: We cannot destroy the holy position people have, but we can destroy the holy practice people have. We influence each other. Are we a holy influence in each other’s lives? Or, do we diminish the holy living of others? God takes that very seriously. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3 with me. Paul is talking in this chapter about the fact that he laid a foundation for the Corinthian Christians and that foundation is Christ. He said that whoever comes along after him and builds on his foundation will be judged by Christ as to whether what they built is in line with Christ. In other words, other Christians who impact the Christian living of other Christians for better or worse will be judged for that. And then Paul gets to verse 16 and 17, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” Implication: God lives in that believer and is working in that believer to bring about holy living. Verse 17: “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” Do you build up or do you tear down the work God is doing in another believers life?
Conclusion:
Here is a question: Do you see each other as living stones in a holy temple together? Do you look at one another and say to yourself, “That is someone God has saved, adopted, forgiven, and built into His Church along with me. Wow!”
**Have the congregation stand up and say:
“The Spartan king pointed to his army and declared, ‘These are the walls of Sparta’. I point to you and declare, ‘You are the walls of God’s Holy Temple’.
Let’s pray
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