Because of His Great Love - Ephesians 2

Thank you for joining us as we continue to dig into our Keeping it Real series on Ephesians.In Ephesians chapter 2, we start to get a glimpse of the Apostle Paul’s vision for the churchin Ephesus and how Christ’s work of salvation reconciles us to God and to oneanother. Paul shows us how the gospel of Christ ministers peace to both pulldown and build up.First, peace pulls down the dividing walls of hostility between God and oneother. Humans throughout history go about inventing new ways of dividing,race, politics, class, sex and religion. The gospel says “no more”. We all standequally sinful, and we stand equally as recipients of grace if you ask for it.Second, peace builds up, giving us a new way of building our identity. Ratherthan building our identity on our achievements, gifts, or status, we build ouridentity on the foundation of Christ, He is our cornerstone.Here’s what this building up looks like. Firstly, we are fellow citizens. Then hesays, we are members of God's household. Thirdly, he says, we are stonesjoined together in God’s temple. Each one gets more intense with regard to ourrelationship with God. A king lives in a country with his people, but a father livesunder the same roof with his children and a temple is where God lives. Theimages also get more intense regarding our relationships to each other. If you'reco-citizens, you may live kilometres from each other. But if you're are growingup in the same home, you live just metres from each other. If your stones in abuilding, there's no distance at all.In summary, what Paul is trying to say is that if you want the surpassing powerof the gospel to be at work in and through your life, you have to deeply commityourself to His community. As we do, we together are formed into God’smasterpiece, a gallery of glory declaring the testimony of God’s salvationavailable to all.Reflection Questions1. What themes stand out to you in Ephesians chapter 2?2. Ask Holy Spirit to reveal any walls of hostility that you need to pull down(Hint: we all have them).3. Ask Holy Spirit to reveal any areas of your life where your identity or self-worth is based on your own efforts rather than Him. What areas of your lifeneed building up by the gospel of peace?4. What is a personal application you can make based on some of the truthsrevealed in this chapter? In other words, what does it look like for you to“live this out” in your daily life.Thanks again for joining us. We pray you were blessed by this message.Connect with us on:https://www.instagram.com/dayspringchurch/https://www.facebook.com/dayspringchurchwww.youtube.com/@DayspringChurchAUListen to Dayspring Worship https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCQM5_jWUv_VAOxpvK7D571Qhttps://open.spotify.com/artist/331972RySiV4WcoYTTJHeB?si=4b8N7CVQT2ysAeBiMGr1BAhttps://music.apple.com/us/artist/dayspring-worship/1035339614