The Connection We Long For

The Church: God’s Plan for God’s People

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

January 21, 2024

The Connection We Long For

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Eph. 2. We’re going to read the verses 1-22 but our focus will be on vv. 11-22. I’m reading from the NIV this morning.

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Paul describes the state of mankind without Christ: dead in our sins. Following the ways of the world and the devil which leads to eternal death.That was our state, but God full of love for us, full of mercy towards us, wanting to display His infinite kindness, plucked us out of this living death and made us alive in Christ! We are saved by grace through faith! We want to give God praise for His amazing grace!

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—

Paul encourages the Ephesian Gentiles to remember where they were before God rescued them. Let me pause right there – it is good for us to remember where we were before Christ. And what he described in the first verses as death he now describes in terms of relational brokenness and disconnection:

¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 

You were on the outside looking in, disconnected from Christ, disconnected from the people of God (Israel), disconnected from the promises of God. There’s nothing left! There’s no hope left. We were truly without hope and without God in the world.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The hope we couldn’t find in the world we can find in Christ Jesus. Jesus came to restore the relationships sin broke.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.Eph. 2:1-18 NIV version

Barriers. Dividing walls of hostility. Everywhere we look we see walls. Walls between Israel and Palestine; between Iran and the United States, between Ukraine and Russia, between China and Taiwan. Walls between whites and blacks. Walls between conservatives and progressives (I have a feeling it’s going to get crazy!). Families have walls between husbands and wives, children and parents, brothers and sisters.

Sometimes they’re not walls of hostility, they’re walls of isolation, walls of disconnection.

ILL: Janice and I went out to dinner the other night and when we sat down there was a couple in the booth next to us and the guy was on the phone and his wife was sitting there eating silently. The guy stayed on the phone chatting for the entire time (10-15 minutes) they were there. Then they got up and left and another couple sat down in that booth and they both immediately got on their phones. In the half hour we sat there the only words spoken was the woman talking…to us! We had asked the waitress about something and she leaned over and offered a answer.

Not judging, but I got the sense that we just saw two lonely couples. Not because they were alone but because they were disconnected. Being with people doesn’t solve loneliness, being connected does. Inside we all long to be connected. We long to belong. We long to be loved and to love. God didn’t create us for isolation, He created us for community. And that’s what Jesus came to build.

The walls and disconnectedness all around us are the consequence of our broken relationship with God. Sin created a wall between us and God and only the cross can tear down that wall. Only the blood of Jesus can wash us clean of all our sin and present us holy and without blemish to God. In the temple there was a thick curtain between where people could be and where the presence of God resided and when Jesus died that curtain was torn. The separating wall was torn down so that in Christ we can approach God as our Creator and Father.

No one comes to the Father except through Jesus, but when we put our trust in Christ we can approach the Father confidently, knowing He loves it when we come into His presence. Jesus tore down the dividing wall! There’s no wall.

When Jesus tore down the wall between us and God he tore down the wall between each other too. When Jesus connected us to the Father he connected us to one another too.

He is our peace…

He made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier…

He created one new humanity…in one body to reconcile both of them to God

He preached peace to those who were near and those who were far away…

Through him we both have access to the Father…

Jesus doesn’t just connect us with God, he connects us with one another too. That’s what the church is: the people of God connected to Jesus and to one another. That’s the connection we all long for. Not just to one another but to God and not just to God but to one another. Introverts, extroverts, or in between, it doesn’t matter. We all long to belong. We long to love and be loved. We were created for relationship - relationship to God and with each other.

The church is the people of God being built together into a home for God to live in:

¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. ¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Eph. 2:18-22

We are fellow citizens…members of His family…a building joined together. Living stones being built as a house that God lives in by His Spirit. That’s the gospel – better than just a ticket to heaven, a reconnection to God our Creator and Father and a reconnection to one another as a people, a community, a family, a church.

That’s what we are, but it doesn’t always feel like it. We have work to do, but it’s worth it! And it’s what Jesus commands us to do. So the challenge falls on everyone of us. Don’t fall into the “they syndrome”. They aren’t very loving. They aren’t reaching out to others. They aren’t doing this and that.” They are you! And me! Forget they, it’s us!

1. Remember where we were before Christ and that our fellowship is built on the gospel of Christ

What binds us together is Christ. We may have differences but in Christ we have way more in common than we have differences. The bind that ties us is Christ and when we get together we always want to build up each other’s faith in Jesus. We want the Bible to be at the center of our fellowship as much as possible.

The big goal isn’t to help each other have fun, it’s to help each other grow in Christ. When the storms of life hit, that’s when being built into a church family can mean so much. That’s when we don’t want to be disconnected.

Let’s challenge ourselves in 2024 to make it our church’s goal to connect in Christ more deeply. And remember they are us! They is you! And me!

2. Remember relationships take investment

I’m not a big phone person. If it was up to me, calling or face-timing my kids once or twice a month would be enough but Janice is so faithful after a week or so she always says I miss Jennifer…Jared…Matthew. She wants that connection. So do I and it’s always more than worth it but sometimes I’m not feeling like being on the phone. But relationships take investment. If we don’t invest in a relationship it will drift.

I love the fact that people hang out after church often for an hour or more. But even that’s not enough. Community group is a good context for getting to know each other better. Our men’s breakfast has been meeting every Saturday for two and a half years!It takes time to get to know each other. To get comfortable with each other. For love and affection to grow.

If your only connection with church is once a week, no judgment but no way that will be enough to connect on a deeper level. Let’s challenge ourselves in 2024 to invest in our relationships in our church family.

3. Remember love is a two-way street

Sometimes the greatest thing God has for you or me is being used to encourage someone else. It’s not all about me. It’s not all about you. People walk in our doors hurting, lonely, feeling lost. You may be the one God uses to meet them and minister Christ to them.

Let’s challenge ourselves in 2024 not to settle for the American idea of church: it’s a meeting I can take or leave. I’ll go when I feel like it, take a pass when I don’t. That view of church has completely lost view of what God intends the church to be. We’re to challenge one another to love and good works. That view has lost view of the rescue mission we are called to. Eternal souls are at stake.

We are right if we think of the church that they are meant to reach people, pray for people, encourage people, and love people. And they are us! According to Eph. 2 we all have a part and that part is a two way street. If Grace Community Church is your church, we need you if we’re going to see God reach more people through us. It’s the connection we all long for.

It’s a challenge but I think by God’s grace we’re up for it.

Let’s pray.