A Dwelling of God, Eph, 2:20-22

Alright, now I want to get into the passage here, and one of the things you'll notice is we start in verse 20, something jumps out at you, and that's that, beginning in verse 20, we're in the middle of a sentence, okay? We've suddenly jumped into this middle of a sentence, and so what we're starting with is, having been, okay, we're starting in the middle of a sentence, that's why we had Hal read verse 19. But we're starting in verse 20 in our study.

Alright. We looked at this chart here, which is kind of the big picture. Last week, we started off in verse 19, and it says, you, that is you Gentiles in the church, are no longer strangers and aliens, but, in sharp contrast, are fellow citizens with the saints and of God's household. Now, that, though it looks like the major part of the chart is only one verse, this three verses we're looking at today is a temple of the Lord. the last section of this sentence that we're looking at. So it's the temple of the Lord is the theme that we'll be seeing here. And so together, 19 through 22 is all one sentence and one thought. Paul is drawing upon, as we get into 20, 21, and 22, an illustration saying that the church itself is a temple.

You know, at times here people talk about, building of the house of God, and we're very thankful that we have it. It's very helpful in the ministry that we have. I'm thankful that we've got deacons looking after over lots of details about it. But nonetheless, the house of God, as we see here illustrated, is indeed the church, the people. And that's Paul's point here.

And so we want to ask you, are you ready for this historical tour? We're going to be taking a historical tour of the temple. So are you ready for that? Okay, everybody's ready. Okay. Not that temple. A different one. Okay. All right. Now, what we have, and you have on your handout as well, is a timeline of the temple reconstruction. It starts like this.

This guy named Herod the Great, who, by the way, was anything but great, okay? Herod the Great, in 20 BC, said, let's start doing a major upgrade on the temple. And of course that was a wonderful thing, unless you were paying the taxes for it. So they started doing this major upgrade on the temple, and as they began doing so, even by the time Herod died in March of 4 BC, it was nowhere near done.

The progress of that construction of the temple continued on through the life of Christ, and even up until the time of the crucifixion, In the last week of the time before the crucifixion, just three days before our Lord was crucified, Jesus is in the temple. As a matter of fact, He's been at the temple. He's leaving it.

And the disciples remark, Boy, aren't these fantastic, amazing stones that you see here. And so they make this remark there in Matthew 24, verse 1. And it's at that point that Jesus says, See these? See all these stones? I'll tell you what He said later.

Then, the book of Ephesians that we are studying now was written some 30 years later, that's right, about three decades later, just prior to the completion of the temple in 63 AD. So here is Paul writing, and what you find is Paul himself and the people that he is writing to, if they are Jews, have seen the temple under construction basically their entire lives. The temple has been just under construction, and for a great many of them, the foundation stones had already been laid before they were born. Now, finally, you get to 70 AD, just seven years after the temple is done, and what happens?

After spending decades and decades finishing it, the Romans come in and tear it down, fulfill Jesus' statement to the disciples in Matthew 24, not one stone will be left on another. The temple got, whether by accident or intent, we'll let the historians argue, the temple got lit on fire, the gold, of which there was quite an abundance, melted in between the stones, and the soldiers just pried one stone from another to get the gold out. And not one stone, as Jesus had prophesied several decades earlier, was left on another. Every stone was taken apart and the entire Temple was shoved off the edge, taken apart. Okay. Now, in New Testament times, I say early New Testament times, before the temple was destroyed, the temple, looking at a model of it from an angle here, would look something like this.

The court of the Gentiles would be on the outside. Why do they call that the court of the Gentiles? Typically, Jews would be more interested in looking at the temple. But the Gentiles were allowed to go into this area and no further. As we brought out previously, there was these signs, and this is actually a remnant of one of those signs that was found in the rubble. A half of another sign has also been found. Those were posted each side of the door, and each of them said, Gentiles shall not go past here. If they do, they will have themselves to blame for their death.

And so the Gentiles are not allowed to go past any of the three entrances to that area into the next court. The next court was called the Court of Women. And we have to specify here, it's actually the Court of Jewish Women, because Gentiles weren't allowed to go there. The women, Jewish women, were allowed to go into this court. Of course, all the Jewish men could as well. And that, however, was the door beyond which they could not go. Another sign. Don't go past here.

There were administrative and priestly offices. The genealogical records were kept in these offices. That's why you would find in the New Testament various genealogies of so-and-so related to so-and-so, descendants of so-and-so. They were kept right there. Anybody who questioned, is Jesus descended from David?

Go look in the records. You can find out for yourself. They're right there. You could check it out. They were there until 70 AD when the Romans came in. We don't have them anymore. Right in here, kind of behind this wall, is where the temple sacrifices were done. There was an altar there as well as kind of a preparation area for the sacrifices. This would be a typical scene, a couple of priests at the altar. Leviticus 6, 12 and 13 says they have to keep the fire going all the time, non-stop. You cannot let it go out. Constantly, you must keep the fire going. There was a curtain in front of the Holy of Holies. Exodus 26-33 and Matthew 27-51 each speak of the curtain, including Matthew 27 talking about the curtain being torn from top to bottom at Christ's crucifixion.

The Holy of Holies, the very back of the temple, was the dwelling place of God. This is called that by Christ himself in Matthew 23. Now, the entire temple area, the whole thing, including all these porticoes, that's these porch-like structures around the perimeter, that's called the hieron. It's mentioned in John 10, 22, and 23. And by the way, that's the only mention of Hanukkah in the New Testament.

And then this little area that is specifically that special building where only the priests, and in dealing with the sacrifice, the male Jews could go, was called the Naas. That was the special temple area. Now, the western wall, the retaining wall, was at the corner of this temple mount.

That is actually still remaining, and so this is a photograph. Some of the larger stones in this, and this would be an example of the kind of things were marveling at would weigh as much as 50 tons. Typically, I'm told, although some of the joints at the edge are weather-worn, you could not slide a knife anywhere between the stones where they're not weather-worn and where they're originally constructed. The temple building, there's no question about it, as originally constructed under Herod's direction at the start, was a really impressive structure, but it was not quite done. the foundation had been completed. All the time, however, during the whole New Testament era, up until that time in 63 AD, the temple was constantly under construction, except that the foundation had already been laid.

In Acts 2, 9 through 11, it was a custom of the Jews from all over to gather around, we see that, including those from Asia. That's the area where Ephesus is located. to visit during the temple feast. So what would you find is that the Jews in Ephesus, the people getting this letter, the Jews in Ephesus would be well aware that this temple was under construction and that the foundation had been laid long before they were born. And as they would travel to the temple, they would see the temple under construction and be aware of its status. Now, back in the Ephesians passage here, Having been built is the way Paul starts off this passage we're looking at here this morning.

And notice the past tense verb. The foundation is done, it's completed. Was he talking about the temple in Jerusalem? Well, no, this is the church. But notice, it parallels with the history of where things were at with the temple. Also, when we get farther on there, look at what's still going on and in progress. These are works in progress. Being fitted together is growing, being built together. Ah, the foundation is completed, but the progress is still in motion, still happening with the rest of the temple and with the church here.

Notice too, as we put these words together, last week we brought up the use of these oikos family of words. I made a little joke about pigs or something, but forget that. The oikos family of words, he keeps using those words here. In verse 20, having been built, 21, building, and in 22, two of them, building, built together, and dwelling. All these, he keeps using these oikos family of words, so what doesn't come across as consistent in the English all the time is certainly there in the Greek.

Now, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, He's saying that the apostles and prophets are an essential and critical early part of the construction, but they are completed at some point. Ever run across any churches that still claim to have apostles? There are some out there, still claim to have apostles. And they say, we've got apostles, we've got prophets. But what does this say?

They're a foundation. I know when I was building my house 20 years ago, I stopped building the foundation at some point, right? My walls don't go up 20 feet. on the foundation wall. You stop building the foundation at some point, and you go on with the construction of the rest of the building.

The Lord did the same here. He said we have apostles and prophets. They're foundational to start. You must have them, but there is a point at which their particular place is done. From there, we build something else. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, these apostles were special messengers. That's the meaning of the word there.

They were sent by the Lord to convey the good news of Jesus Christ. That's their business. Not just the good news for salvation, yes that and most certainly that, but also all the other truths that we need. Essential truths, those are also part of the good news. The good news is not just the gospel that you need to be saved initially, but the gospel you need to grow on.

The prophets served an interim role in the Church before we had the books of the New Testament. Here's the Church. Can you imagine? The Church has begun. They've got the Old Testament. Good. But they don't have Revelation. They don't have the New Testament that they can look at and study like we're doing this morning.

So how was that accomplished? The Lord said, in the interim, you will have prophets, people who will convey truth to you and lay things out that is specific to the church, deals with the situation you're at, because you don't have the New Testament yet. That was their role. And so they had apostles to establish the foundation and largely be responsible for the writing of the New Testament and to get things established. and the prophets to provide revelation specific for the needs of the church until the New Testament is completed. These are not Old Testament prophets. These are New Testament prophets. Now, so we've got to ask, are apostles profitable? Apostles, yes, they are profitable. And what we find here, the apostles are spelled out here.

We see this passage in Ephesians 2.20 we're looking at now. having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, but this pair, Apostles and Prophets, keeps showing up. Ephesians 3, 5, next chapter, he talks about it has now been revealed to his holy Apostles and Prophets. Interesting, the pair keeps showing up. Shows up again, next chapter, and he gave some as Apostles and some as Prophets.

Something we notice as we look at each one of these verses, but you see, having been built, who did the building? God. It's now been revealed. Who did the revealing? God. And He gave. Who gave? God. God is the one who owns the verbs here. Still, He is the one taking the action to make sure that the church is founded well.

What we see as we go through that is the message He's already given us in Ephesians 2.10. We, not just individually, but also corporately as a church, are His workmanship.

This having been built in Ephesians 2.20, what you see is God has established a foundation for the church and is building the church. Step one.

The next thing that comes out, and we'll see as we get into the next chapter here, God has delivered the truth, that is, the faith, to the church through the apostles. So the apostles are there to found, the apostles are there to deliver the truth, And then one of the things that you notice, he gave some as apostles and prophets, conveying revealed truth by means of his gift to those who are truth conveyors in the church, people who have the task of communicating the truth. In the initial founding of the church, the apostles and prophets were the ones who had that job. Now that the church is beyond the foundation stage, There are evangelists, pastors, and teachers who have the continuing task of conveying that. Either way, these are all gifts, truth conveyors to the church, aren't they? It is those who have been given the task of conveying His revealed truth to the saints, to the body of believers.

He says, having been built on the foundation, and he puts that in the past tense, but then he spells out, Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, And what they would do in those days is before they build the rest of the building, before they'd build or even just start laying foundation stones at random, they would say, let us first set the cornerstone.

From that cornerstone, which they would want to get set very carefully and make sure it was all square, the rest of the foundation stones would be set. So first they would set the cornerstone. Everything from the rest of the foundation would be set off of that cornerstone, measured lines.

Nothing would be built without first and putting that cornerstone in place It's real interesting this passage in Isaiah 28 16 in the first half of 17 Says therefore thus says the Lord God behold. I am laying in Zion a stone a tested stone That is this is the stone that's ready. Everybody's checked it. It's square. Okay has the right dimensions We're going to build off this so it better be right.

Okay a tested stone a costly cornerstone for the foundation In the Greek Old Testament, that word there for cornerstone only occurs in the whole Greek Old Testament right there. And in the New Testament, it only occurs in this passage we're looking at in Ephesians chapter 2 and in 1 Peter where he quotes Isaiah 28. It's a very special word. It is a costly cornerstone, one laid with Jesus Christ Himself is the cornerstone.

Nobody would have thought of building a substantial building without first laying that cornerstone carefully. It had to be a solid, well-founded, square stone that everything else was set off of. He didn't say, hey, I think I'll just start laying out some apostles. No. He first said, we lay the cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ.

That is the basis and foundation from which everything else will be built. But unlike the stones, he's not a stone, but like the cornerstones, which were the basis on which everything else was built, everything was to conform to that cornerstone in the church. What are we being conformed to? We're being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. He is the basis on which everything else is built.

Now, in this passage here, one of the patterns that you'll see is you've got this in whom that shows up twice, the beginning of verse 21 and in verse 22. Not only is Christ the cornerstone, but all the rest of the verbs in this passage are in Him. Did you see that? Anything that takes place is in Him. It's all in Him.

You look at the verbs, being fitted together, is growing, are being built together. Everything that is happening in the building process of the Church is in Jesus Christ. That's good news, by the way. Notice the description, the whole building, a holy temple in which you also, you are the subject of the action here, you also are being built together into a dwelling of God.

All this is happening in whom? In Christ. And each of these verses ends up with, in the Lord or in the Spirit, as we'll see here in a minute. I think there's a little different slant on the in the Spirit, but we'll get there. But here's the pattern that shows up. These verses, Paul uses Hebrew poetry patterns. And Hebrew poetry goes like this.

In our culture, we like for our words to rhyme. If I say some little piece of poetry to you and I don't rhyme the words, it kind of rubs wrong on the ears, right? Kind of tough on the ears. Among the Hebrews, their culture said, I don't care if it rhymes or not. I want the meanings to rhyme. Interesting. You can look at it, if you'd like, study it on your own. Psalm 6 has several good examples of that. Here's what he does. He goes and makes this Hebrew poetry pattern. Look at this. In whom and in whom is the start on each one. Next follows with the whole building, which is you also. You're the whole building. Then we see being fitted together and are being built together. Matches.

It rhymes. It's not exactly the same thought, but it rhymes. Then we see the Holy Temple, and it is a dwelling of God, the rhyme. And then finally, in the last, in the Lord and in the Spirit. So we see this rhyming pattern. He's written clear Hebrew poetry. Now this is where it gets fascinating. We have this Hebrew poetry parallel where the meanings rhyme, not the sounds, the meanings rhyme.

And so he creates like bookends with these. And what does he do? He's built up this Hebrew poetry. Each verse has bookends, starting with in whom and ending with in the Lord or in the Spirit, with the construction in between of the process of the building and its status as a dwelling place for God. And he writes in this amazing parallel. Now, here is the head-scratcher in this.

Who is the you also written to? It's the Gentiles, right? He's wanting to let the Gentiles know that they're included. But what is amazing, why does Paul align these verses to fit the progress of the temple in Jerusalem and also write in Hebrew poetry? And yet say, you Gentiles, do you get the significance of what he's doing? He's writing, you Gentiles, all the way he is shouting out, hey you Jews, get this. He is giving them an illustration parallel to the very progress of the temple that they've been watching for decades, and which every single one of them had been growing up with, he writes the last two verses in Hebrew poetry, and as he's doing so, he says, you Gentiles are being built into the temple.

What an amazing thing to do. To speak directly to the Gentiles, but in the form of what is written, to speak directly to the Jews, and say, Jews, make sure that you let the Gentiles in. They're part of this temple too. You see, we've got to look at this thing here because it's a ready, aim, right situation.

Here Paul is lovingly giving a message to the Jews as he's speaking directly to the Gentiles. It is the Jews who would be the ones inclined, as we see Peter do, and Paul addresses it in Galatians chapter 2, slip back into the law, to slip back into their separation. Easy for the Jews to do that, and what does he do? He doesn't point the finger directly at the Jews.

He just writes in a form that tells them very clearly, hey Jews, I mean you. Lovingly, gently, but unquestionably telling them you need to understand that the Gentiles are very much equally apart, even while I'm saying you using the pronoun to the Gentiles. And what does he say in verse 21?

They're being fitted together. One of the things we notice, this is a verb that's ongoing. You see that? It's a process that's happening. It's sunamalogeo. It's used here in Ephesians 4.16 and nowhere else in the entire New Testament. And sunarmalogao sounds, I know, like sun and an arm and a log, but it has nothing to do with that. It doesn't even have anything to do with the Oreos over the top of it. Sunarmalogao is a word that appears that Paul invented, but it's a compound word that has the idea of building together as a process, to bring together all these pieces.

The pieces were it not for God's involvement would never come together. You wouldn't put the Gentiles and Jews together except that this is God's creation. This is God who is doing the fitting together. It's His accomplishment. Is growing. You see that? It is not a static process. Here it's done. There you go. Now you've got a church. It is an is growing process. It is a process that is taking place even now.

Here at Holly Hills, we're inclined to talk about our individual spiritual growth as believers, and that is indeed what we should be doing. We most certainly should be talking about that. But he also underscores that that individual spiritual growth as believers also is a part of and contributes to our growth together as a body. See that? The growth that we have as individual believers is abundantly and profoundly important. but our growing together as a church body is also important and is also God's process.

That is an amazing thing. The other thing to look at is it's active and dynamic. It is something that is going on. It is something that continues to go on. It does not stop. The church is not just an earthly organization. The church is an organism. The church is indeed an organism, not just an organization. He says it's growing into what?

A holy temple. This word holy, and actually in the Greek it's reversed here, so keeping it in the English order, holy hagion. We saw this related word as we started the book of Ephesians. He says saints, all the saints at Ephesus, hagios. So here's a related word.

The holy temple and the holiness of them as saints is not by accident. is a characteristic of God himself. So this temple, this corporate body of believers, this church that's been created together is holy as well. And notice the word he uses for temple, na'as. That's the word that is used for that very holy part of the temple, not just the big yard and plaza outside. A temple in the Lord.

In the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that at the very introduction of Ephesians 1-2 and at the very end. Interesting how Paul continues to make bookends like we saw in Philippians. He uses this passage in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning and at the end. So he's using it in short form here. And that's the in whom that we see connected with here in the next verse that he follows with.

And in you also, he's pointing to the Gentiles, it's real clear. 2.11, you, the Gentiles. 2.19, you are no longer strangers and aliens. So he's continuing to talk to the Gentiles, even while he makes a parallel with the Jewish temple under construction, even while he writes in Hebrew poetry. He is doing so, talking directly to the Gentiles. What an amazing thing to do. Here's the court of the Gentiles.

The Gentiles, if they ever made a trip to Jerusalem, were always told, don't go past here. We've got these places here. See those signs? If you go past here, you're dead. You're dead meat. Okay? And now, what is he saying instead? You are a part of the most holy place. Not just allowed to go in. You're a part of it. You're a part of the building. That is amazing. That is phenomenal. you are being built together, being built together, Jews and Gentiles, and any other division you want to put in there.

It's in the passive voice. God is the one doing the building. We don't build the church. God is the one doing the building. It's His process. It's His project. Look at all these are passive. That is, God is the one having built the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the cornerstone. He is the one that is written of in verse 21, being fitted together, and finally in verse 22, being built together into the dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Now, into this word dwelling here. It's not a casual dwelling. He didn't just say a house, okay? This particular word that he chose is a casual dwelling place. His intent is not to come by and say, okay, I'm coming to visit Holly Hills and visit the saints there and just kind of say hi and go on to the next place. His intent is to be deeply settled here among the believers.

Individually, yes, but corporately. us, corporately, together, as a dwelling. That is what God has designed. To be deeply settled among us. Deeply settled among us. It's a dwelling of God, and actually in the Greek it's got the definite article, digat, that specific one. Not just any one that you come up with. a settled dwelling place of the one God.

That's what he's pointing to here. And finally, in the Spirit, and the King James there has through the Spirit, which I think is actually a better rendering, it conveys the sense that we see in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, where he places every believer into the body of Christ. It is by means of the Spirit's doing. that each of us is placed into the body of Christ and the temple is therefore built. We are indeed the temple, the dwelling place of God, and it is by the Spirit's doing that each of us are made and built into that temple. This is, as we pointed out before, another reference to the Trinity. The three persons of the Godhead are involved in your being made a temple.

God the Father is the one who is credited with every spiritual blessing on the heavenlies. So therefore, he is the one who has had the idea, he is the one who is said of in Ephesians 1, 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And finally, references to in Christ, in whom, in whom twice here, it's the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive the action, They're from Him. And then finally, through the Spirit in verse 22.

So all three persons of the Godhead are not only responsible for creating the church, but also for building us dynamically into a temple of the Holy Spirit as a church body. All right, now I have some math that doesn't make sense here. One plus one equals one? What is that all about? What's happening here is that we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all involved in making us one body. That's what the math is about here.

There's nothing about our position in Christ, or the active will of the Father, or the ministry of the Spirit, which is going on here in the body, which creates or promotes any disunity. There's nothing that you see described in here that creates or promotes that. Our position as believers is unchangeable in the heavenly. Nothing can touch that.

But the character of this temple that he has here is dynamic and active. Our position is unchangeable, but the temple, notice, it's growing, it's being built, it's a process. So here we have this unchangeable position, and yet we're being built into an organism that is alive and active and moving and dynamic.

Each one of us is a temple individually, and we see that in 1 Corinthians 6.19. Together, we're also a temple. Both are true. Scripture teaches both.

And one of the things that's amazing, too, as we look at that, he makes it clear, as Paul spells out the last verse here, that the Lord is intending to deeply settle among us. His presence among us is not intended to be shallow or passing. but deep and settled and permanent. And that should be comforting to us when we get in the midst of all sorts of things that pull us different ways. What we are as together a temple of the Holy Spirit and a local portion of God's universal church, what we are is a people with whom God is deeply settled, deeply seated. And finally, we find that God is not capricious in His being with us.

God is not coming and going. Have you ever maybe even heard songs talk about, oh, the Lord come back, or come visit us, or those kinds of things? There's none of that here. The Lord is continuing with us. We are a temple. The Lord isn't coming and going. And finally, here too, the church is not intended to be stone cold.

All these earthly temples, and you've seen things called temples, they might be magnificent. This one was magnificent, even to the point where the disciples are leaving with Jesus and they're saying, boy, look at these stones, this is phenomenal. Nonetheless, it's all whatever the temperature of the air around is. It's not active and it's not living.

What Paul describes the believers is active and living. So while he compares the church to a temple, it doesn't mean we're stone-cold dead. And that's the next point here. We are not intended to be God's frozen people. Chosen people, yes, but not frozen people.

God's work in the church, as you see this fitted together, built together, because he uses those soon words, God's intent is that we be together as a body. It is possible for churches to get kind of real distant and sparse, and people just sort of happen to come together on Sunday morning. That's not God's design. God's design is that we be built together as a body, joint to joint.

And that's why He uses that sunamalogeo word that He comes up with later on in chapter 4. He uses it in fitting together as tightly as a joint fits together. At least I hope your joints fit together tightly like that. The connection is intended to be intimate. The connection is intended to be something that functions because all the parts are closely connected and fit together.

And when we get into storm clouds, whatever those are, how comforting to know that whatever those clouds are, they may look like these overhead here, they don't overwhelm. who God is. It doesn't matter how dark they are. We've had some dark ones here lately. They never, ever overwhelm His presence among us, no matter how dark.

So isn't that an amazing thing that the Lord has put together? Rather than having these walls and doors that divide, instead, He has built us all as that holy place A fellow who, from time to time, I've sung his songs, I won't sing this morning, he wrote a song that says, we are the holy of holies, don't veil the door, don't veil the door. We have a spirit controlling, don't hide the source, don't hide the source.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you as we look at this. Boy, how precious and marvelous is your word. And Lord, what an amazing thing that you're doing. Something that this world does not comprehend. And we pray that as we see the revealed truth and the richness of your word here this morning, that we would Begin to see, as we continue to tour through this amazing book, the marvelous and deep and rich truths about who we are in you. Not just each of us individually, but together as well. I praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.