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Last week- We were told to “remember” (11, 12) to not forget that we were separated from the hope that was going to come in Christ and without the clarity of who God is.  Those promises and hopes were only known to Israel.  BUT…In Christ (13) we Gentiles were brought near and the dividing wall of hostility between Gentile and Jew was destroyed/demolished. 

The purpose of drawing us together was to create one new humanity (15) thus bringing peace between us and together being brought to the Father by one Spirit.

What does this mean for the now and into the future?

Read Ephesians 2:19-22

Three Consequences of Christ removing the barrier between Jew and Gentile.

1. God has created one kingdom where Jew and Gentile—one people. (19a)
   
   
2. God has made one household out of the two—one family. (19b)
   
   
3. God is building us into one holy temple—one church. (22) 

God has created one kingdom where Jew and Gentile—one people.  (19a)

• Israel is still Israel with the Covenants and promises that point to Jesus both now and into the future.
  • God will continue to draw Jews through the Law and the Prophets that point to Jesus.

• Gentiles are blessed by all that God has accomplished through the Covenants and through their fulfillment found in Christ.
  
  
• Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus are now citizens of a greater Kingdom that is superior to anything on earth.

Philippians 3:20-21 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

• We do not operate with a mindset that this earth is our home. We have a passport that says we belong to Kingdom of Heaven—God’s family.
• This means that we hold loosely our concerns for earthly kingdoms—grateful for them yes, but not primary.

1 Peter 2:9-12

• YOU ARE—a chosen people, royal priesthood, God’s special possession. (9)
• At one point we were not a people, but now you are under mercy. (10b)
• Live as a foreigner among non-Heavenly citizens. (11)
• Live in a manner that shows who your dad is. (12)
  • Illustration: Behavior identifies where we are from.

God has made one household out of the two—one family.  (19b)

• We are siblings, have the same genealogy, the same redeemer, and the same father.
  
  
• As siblings are different and unique, so are we as Jew and Gentile.
  • It was prophesied to Israel that through them the Gentile will be blessed.
  • That blessing has come, but there remains hope for Israel despite their prevalent rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.

• In God’s household we have the same rights, same birth order, and the same inheritance.
  
  
• God’s household, God’s oikos is us—both Jew and Gentile.

God is building us into one holy temple—one church.  (22)

• The first two consequences are immediate at new birth, but this consequence is a process.
  
  
• This is a process of sanctification—making us holy.
  
  
• This building process began with the teaching and leadership of the prophets and continues to the apostles. (20)
  
  
• Jesus alone holds this church together as the chief cornerstone. (21)

1 Peter 2:4-6 “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

• We become walking temples of God and when we gather as one, we reflect the work of Christ building the Kingdom of Heaven.