No Longer Strangers and Aliens

In one paragraph

This message walked through Ephesians 2:11-22, tracing the story of God's covenant people from Abraham all the way to the church today. The sermon showed how Gentile believers fit into a promise that was never meant only for one ethnic group. By the end, the point was clear: Jews and Gentiles are one household now, built on Christ and sent into the world for the same purpose Israel always had. The...

Read together

1. Hebrews 4:12 opening statement on the word of God being living and active
2. Ephesians 2:11-12 first section read aloud, describing Gentiles as formerly separate from Christ and the covenants
3. Genesis 15:5-6 God takes Abram outside to count the stars and promises descendants; Abram believes and it is reckoned as righteousness
4. Genesis 15:17 smoking oven and flaming torch pass between the pieces; the Lord makes a covenant with Abram
5. Genesis 17:6-8 God promises to make Abraham exceedingly fruitful and establishes an everlasting covenant
6. Genesis 17:9-11 God instructs Abraham and his descendants to keep the covenant through circumcision as a sign
7. Deuteronomy 14:2 God chose Israel to be a holy people for His own possession
8. Genesis 12:2-3 God promises to bless Abraham and that all families of the earth shall be blessed through him
9. Genesis 22:18 all nations shall be blessed in Abraham's seed
10. Isaiah 49:3 God calls Israel His servant in whom He will show His glory
11. Isaiah 49:6 God will make Israel a light to the nations so salvation may reach the ends of the earth
12. Jeremiah 13:11 God made Israel cling to Him for renown, praise and glory, but they did not listen
13. Ruth 1:16 Ruth declares loyalty to Naomi, her people and her God, joining the family of God by faith
14. Joshua 6 Joshua spares Rahab the harlot and her household; she lived among Israel
15. Exodus 12:37-38 Israel journeys from Ramesses with 600,000 men and a mixed multitude who joined them by faith
16. Revelation 5:9 believers in heaven sing that Christ purchased men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation
17. Ephesians 2:13-18 second section read aloud on Gentiles brought near by the blood of Christ and the breaking down of the dividing wall
18. Mark 15:38 the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom at Christ's death
19. Hebrews 10:19-22 confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus through the veil that is His flesh
20. John 10:15-16 Jesus as the good shepherd who has other sheep not of this fold who will become one flock
21. 1 Samuel 20:15 Jonathan asks David not to cut off kindness from his house; they make a covenant
22. 2 Samuel 9 David seeks to show kindness to Jonathan's house and restores Mephibosheth, who eats at the king's table
23. Romans 9:30-33 Israel pursued righteousness by works rather than faith and stumbled over Christ the stumbling stone
24. Romans 2:28-29 true circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit, not outward in the flesh
25. John 5:23 anyone who does not honor the Son is not honoring the Father who sent Him
26. Ephesians 2:19-22 third section read aloud on believers as fellow citizens of God's household built on the cornerstone Christ Jesus
27. 1 Peter 2:4-5 believers as living stones being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood
28. 1 Peter 2:9-10 believers called a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, once not a people but now the people of God
29. Revelation 21:3 the tabernacle of God among men in heaven, where He shall dwell with His people

Talk about it

1. The sermon pointed out that Abraham's faith came before the covenant and before circumcision, and that this was five hundred years before the law. What does that tell us about what God has always been looking for from people?
2. Ruth, Rahab, and the mixed multitude who left Egypt with Israel are all given as examples of Gentiles who joined the family of God by faith in the Old Testament. What do those stories say to you about who God was willing to include, even then?
3. The sermon says that the veil of the temple being torn connects directly to the new covenant, and that the veil represents Christ's flesh. How does it change the way you think about access to God, knowing that the separation between God and man has been put to death through the cross?
4. The illustration of Mephibosheth eating at David's table was used to picture how Gentiles have been brought into God's family. How does that image sit with you personally when you think about your own standing before God?
5. Wiersbe is quoted as saying that when the church is least like the world, it does the most for the world. The sermon connected this to Israel's failure to stay distinct from the nations around them. Where do you see that tension showing up in your own life or in the life of this church?