The new house

So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God’s people and members of the family of God. You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. (verses 19-21)

Read Ephesians 2:8-22

It was time to replace the old house with a new one. The new one would be larger and made of modern materials, but it would also incorporate some of the fine timber and the sturdy foundations of the old one.

This kind of process was going on when the Christian church started. The Jewish people had been chosen by God, centuries before, as the first step in his plan to save the world. Now that Jesus had come, that part of the plan had been completed. From now on there would be a new chosen people. It would incorporate the old, the Jewish people, as well as all the new people gathered from every other race and nation to form the Christian church. This new house would be united on the one foundation, Jesus himself.

These days this church is divided – at least on the surface – into various denominations and traditions. I should not let this prevent me from seeing it as one family, one house, since all of us have Christ as our Saviour.

Lord, thank you for my membership in your household. Help me to relate to all others who also have Christ as their Saviour as brothers and sisters. Amen.

By Richard Hauser, in “God’s Peace for each day” (LCA, Openbook Publishers (2005)

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