Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - United to One Another

Episode Date: September 16, 2024

There’s a problem. We aren’t what we are. The book of Ephesians is ultimately about the church. Paul very directly talks about what the church is and who the church is. These are some of the most powerful passages on that subject that you’re ever going to find. And in Ephesians 2, we’re being told 1) what we were, 2) what we are, and 3) how we can really become what we are. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 13, 2011. Series: A Study of Ephesians: Who is the Church? Scripture: Ephesians 2:19–22. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Thanks for listening to Gospel in Life. Today, Tim Keller is taking us through a series on the book of Ephesians, a book that is all about what it means to be Christian and what it means to live in unity with other believers. After you listen, we invite you to go online to Gospelinlife.com and sign up for our email updates. Now here's today's teaching from Dr. Keller. Tonight's scripture comes from the book of Ephesians chapter two verses 19 through 22. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of

God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. This is the word of the Lord. So we continue to look at the book of Ephesians, and we've said that the book of Ephesians ultimately is about the church.

And starting last week, or starting in the middle of Ephesians two, starting verse 11, all the way through the rest of the chapter, all the way into chapter 3, all the way into the early, most of chapter 4, Paul very directly is talking about what is the church, who is the church, some of the most powerful passages on that subject you're ever going to find anywhere. Now the one we're looking at here, it's short because it's so packed. And in here, we're being told what we were, then what we are, and last of all, how we can become what we are.

You see, there's a problem. We aren't what we are. What we were, what we are, and how we can really become what we are. What we were, what we are, and how we can really become what we are. First of all, Paul tells us what we were. Consequently, you were no longer, see we were, foreigners and aliens. Now a foreigner and alien is a cultural linguistic outsider,

or put it another way, if you happen to find yourself in a land where you don't know the language, you don't know the culture, you don't know anyone, you can't communicate with them and you can't understand what's going on around you, you're a foreigner, an alien. It's a very, very uncomfortable experience and of course it's one of profound loneliness. Now Paul says to his readers, you are no longer, you were foreigners and aliens. Now who's he talking to? He's used this term twice because up in verse 11, 12, we read this last week, he used the same terms and he says, you were separated from Christ, foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Foreigners, without hope and without God in the world. Now, they weren't literally foreigners. They were living in their native land, they knew their own language, they were surrounded by the people they grew up with. They weren't literally foreigners. Well then in what way were they foreigners and aliens? Spiritually. Paul is saying at one level,

of course you're not, but another level you are. Because the human heart and the human soul is only at home in God. You know, Psalm 90, he's our eternal home. What's home? What is home? If you've actually created a home, if you made a home, home is where things are the way you like them. Home is where you have things set up the way you like them that fit with your desires. And what Paul is saying

here is something that actually is one of the main themes of the Bible. That in our natural state, spiritually speaking, we're not home. We're exiles. We're homeless. We're living in a world that does not fit with our deepest desires at all. That's the reason why, for example, Martin Heidegger, famous 20th century German philosopher, said that all human beings were characterized by what he called unheimlichkeit.

Don't you love a language that can make up words like that? Unheimlichkeit means homeless, alienated, radically out of place and profoundly lonely. He was an existentialist, whatever that means. Albert Camus, French, agreed. In his famous novel The Fall, Albert Camus, there's a passage in which two people are talking to each other and one of the characters says this. He says, beauty is unbearable. It drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out

over the whole of time. Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone without God and without a master, the wait of days is dreadful. For most the approach of dinner, the arrival of a letter from home or a smile from a passing girl are enough to help them get around the loss, but the person who likes to dig into these ideas finds life impossible. That is so close to what Paul is saying. Paul says if you're without God and without hope, you're spiritually homeless.

Camus is saying this, he says, okay, home is where things are the way you want them. Things fit your desires, all right? So spiritually speaking, what is it that the human heart wants? Some very basic things. One is you want love never to end. You want to find love and then you want it to go on forever. And you want to do a few things that count. You want to do some things that actually count that make a difference. And Albert Camus says, if there is no God, or if we just can't find God, he says, if

you're without God, you're without hope, then the fact is that all the deepest longings of your heart are going to turn to ashes. A world without God means the most basic things you want are complete illusions. They're going to turn to ashes. And therefore you are unheimlich, you know, they are alienated. You're radically out of place. And then, by the way, Camus goes far enough to say, most people hide that from themselves.

You hear what he said there? He says, for most, the approach of dinner, the arrival of a letter from home or a smile from a passing girl are enough to kind of get them around the loss. But for those who like to dig into ideas, which is another way of saying, people who actually stop and think, if there is no God, I'm homeless. I'm a foreigner. I'm cut off.

I'm cut off. I'm alienated. And Paul says, you were all that way until you found God through Jesus Christ. That's what we were. Secondly, okay, now, what is it that we are? And what we are is three images that Paul uses very deliberately, very important to notice what every one of them is telling us, three extremely interesting images about the church. He says, first of all, we are fellow citizens, then he secondly says, we are members of God's household,

and thirdly, he says, we are stones in a temple being built up for God the Spirit. First of all, we're fellow citizens. That's the image of a nation. We're God's people. Secondly, we're God's household. We're his children, his sons and daughters. That's the image of a family.

And thirdly, we're a temple. We're God's dwelling place. We're stones being built up as a habitation for God's glory and spirit. Now those deliberately, those three images are incredibly important and each one is deliberately more intense than the one before. Have you noticed that? First of all, each one gets more intense with regard to our relationship to God. Because a king lives in a country with his people, but a father lives under the same roof with his children. And a temple, God actually lives in the temple.

He doesn't just live near the stones, he lives within them. And also the images also get more intense with regard to our relationships to each other. Because if you're co-citizens, you may live miles from each other. But if you're a boy and a girl growing up in the same home, brother and sister, you don't just live miles from each other, you live just feet from each other. And by the way, if you're stones in a building, there's no distance at all. You're cemented to each other.

And each one of these images is more intense. It's more relationally intense. Now what's Paul saying? He's saying this. The more powerful the force that shapes you, the more you're fitted to anyone else who's been shaped by the same force. The more powerful a force that shapes you,

the more fitted you are to everyone else or everything else that is shaped by that same force. So for example, culture is powerful. If you grow up in the same country, that means that you find somebody else in the same country, you feel a certain affinity. But family is more powerful than that. Who your parents are, who your siblings are, how you were treated growing up,

we all know that's even a more powerful force and therefore the people who are in the same home are even more fitted. But now here's where the metaphor gets mixed. Sorry English majors, but if you're actually a brick being shaped, say in the oven or shaped by someone with a chisel or so you perfectly fit in with the brick next to you,

then there's like no distance at all. And Paul is trying to say, in each case, the more powerful the force that shapes you, the more fitted you are to everything else, everyone else that has been shaped by the same force. But the most powerful force of all then would be the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because Paul is saying, if the gospel has touched you,

it's more powerful than how your country or culture has shaped you. It's more powerful than the way your family has shaped you. Why, what powerful than the way your family has shaped you. Why, what is he saying? He says, Christians who meet other Christians from other families and other nations and other cultures feel more of a bond with each other

than they do with someone who doesn't believe who's in the same culture or same family. Because what Paul is actually saying is there is no more profound shaping force than the gospel. It completely changes the way in which you even, your identity, we talked about this last week, it completely changes your very understanding of yourself, it's a worldview that completely changes the way

in which you look at everything. And as a result, all human beings that have been shaped by the gospel are now bonded more tightly than they are to one another than they are by any other force in their life. We are one. We are united to each other. Now, you know what that means. Can you square these images with just coming to church on Sunday, you know, three times out of four and saying, I go to church on Sunday, three times out of four, and saying, I go to Redeemer. You see what I'm saying? Can you square the intensity of these images

with just sort of showing up in church every so often? No, of course not. If you're a Christian, you're being called to deep relationships, deep involvement in a Christian community. You say, how deep? Ah, I'm glad you asked me that question. What a mistake that you asked me that question

when I still have so much time left. Actually, let's take a look. Let's get some real markers here and we can look at the images. How deep should your relationships be with other people in the town where you're living? Christians in the town where you're living, the church where you're going,

how deep should relationships be? Deepen them until you get to three points. First, deepen them to the point of personal accountability. Family. You're in the same family, members of the household. Now, one thing you know about growing up in a family, when you're little kids and you're growing up with your brothers and sisters in a family, transparency.

They know who you are. You know who they are. They wiped your nose. They wiped your bottom. They changed your diapers. There's, facades don't work growing up in the same home. You know who you are. You know your strengths. You know your weaknesses. Transparency. When the Bible says you are members of God's household, what there's, what, what Paul is saying is, are you members of a Christian community in which there's that spiritual transparency? Are there people that know about your besetting sins because you've told them

and then you've given them a hunting license to come after you if they see you indulging in them? You can't be private about your faults. You can't keep your faults and your struggles private. And if you are, if there's people who live geographically around you, go to church with you, and you're keeping that private, then you're actually not being who you are, members of God's household. So you need to deepen your relationships

to the point of personal accountability. Secondly, the images here say you need to deepen your relationships to the point of personal accountability. Secondly, the images here say you need to deepen your relationships to the point of whole life hospitality. Students in a school study together, but that's pretty much all they do. Colleagues in an office work together, that's pretty much all they do together. Hobbyists in a club hobby together,

because you get together to do tennis or whatever. But a family, you live together. In a family, you share each other's space, you share each other's things, you eat together, you play together, you work together. You really, hospitality means letting people into your real life. Not just showing up at events as if you're a student.

Not just showing up at events as if you're a hobbyist. Not just showing up at events as if you're a colleague. Brothers and sisters, whole life hospitality. Not just letting people into your home, but sort of letting people into your life, sharing your purse, whole life hospitality. Not just letting people into your home, but sort of letting people into your life, sharing your purse, sharing your things. Whole life hospitality. So you can't keep your faults and struggles private.

Secondly, you can't keep your things private from brothers and sisters. Now thirdly, deepen your relationship to the point of personal accountability, whole life hospitality, and lastly, corporate spirituality for lack of a better term. Look at this temple imagery. God comes down not into you as an individual brick. You know, God doesn't come into the individual brick.

He comes into the temple. He inhabits us together. It's when we're together, when we're praying together, when we're sharing our hearts together. What I mean by that is I know plenty of people, and it depends. Men more than women, some cultures more than other cultures, nevertheless.

In general, we want to keep our actual relationship with God private. We don't want to talk about how our prayer life is. We don't want to talk about how real God is to our heart. We don't want to talk about what God's teaching us through the Bible. Partly, we don't want to talk about it because frankly, we're not having much of a spiritual life,

and that's embarrassing. But partly, we just are uncomfortable doing it. And yet it is absolutely crucial to not just talk about your relationship with God, but to approach God together, approach God in prayer, approach God, two people praying together, a bunch of people praying together and talking about what God's doing in your life.

It's easy to assume that if we understand the gospel and preach it faithfully, we will be shaped by it. But this is not always true. How can we make sure that our lives, churches, and ministries are being shaped by, centered on, and empowered with the gospel? Tim Keller's book, Shaped by the Gospel, is meant to help congregants, lay leaders, and pastors understand how to make the gospel the center of all ministry. In Shaped by the Gospel, Dr. Keller shows how gospel-centered ministry is more theologically

driven than program-driven. As you read, you'll discover how reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the patterns of the gospel lead to renewal in your churches and ministries. This month, when you give to Gospel in Life, we'll send you Dr. Keller's book, Shaped by the Gospel, as our thanks for your gift. Just visit gospelinlife.com slash give. That's gospelinlife.com slash give.

And thank you for your generosity, which helps us reach more people with Christ's love. This is the idea behind that quote that I quote so much, I'm not going to read it because some of you have heard it. It's actually in the bulletin, in the front piece. C.S. Lewis in his book, The Four Loves, has a chapter on friendship. And there's an idea in there that has changed my life years ago, and that's why I keep referring to it. But it's very important. It helps me make this particular point. C.S. Lewis, who was called Jack by his friends, was one of three friends who were essentially

co‑best friends. Jack, Ronald and Charles. They were co‑best friends. One was not a better friend than the other. They were equally bestbest friends. One was not a better friend than the other. They were equally best friends with each other. And then, great tragedy, Charles died. And Jack Lewis, as he was thinking about this, as grieved as he was, he said, well, I got Ronald and if anything, we'll be closer than before. Because now that Charles is gone, we're best friends. And if anything, now that Charles is gone, I'll have more of Ronald than I did before. And as the weeks and months went by after Charles died,

Jack found he was wrong. His intuition was wrong. He actually did not have more of Ronald, he actually had less because there was a side of Ronald that Charles brought out that Jack could not, and it was lost. And then he began to think about it, and C.S. Lewis in this chapter began to say,

it takes a community to really know a person because he says I, he was talking about himself, he says I am not enough by myself to draw the whole person forth. Got it? People are complex, they're deep. And you can't know somebody by yourself. It's only as you see them relating to other people

or when we're relating together, do you actually see all the, it takes a community to draw the whole person out. And then suddenly, C.S. Lewis says, well wait a a minute if that's true about a human being How much more true would that be? Of the Lord himself You will not know Jesus by yourself

You cannot know Jesus by yourself kind of a little teeny slice You've got the deeper you get into the spiritual lives of friends, the deeper you will get into Jesus himself. Are you keeping your faults and struggles private? Are you keeping your money and home private? Your things? Are you keeping your relationship, your prayer life, your relationship with God private? You must stop. You must deepen your relationships to the point of personal accountability, your prayer life, your relationship with God private, you must stop.

You must deepen your relationships to the point of personal accountability, whole life hospitality, and corporate spirituality. And before moving on to the third point, let's just stop and reflect for a second. Do you see the strength of what Paul is calling you to do? It may I, this is the trouble with preaching each week on a few verses.

If you're reading the book of Ephesians through, all at once, which is what you really should do, you would remember that the first chapter is all about the power of God. Paul keeps saying, there's this mighty prayer at the end of chapter one, in which he's praying for his readers, for us, that we would know the surpassing power of God

in the world. And then he starts talking about the church. And the implication, and it's very strong, and nobody doubts it's there, he's really saying, if you want the surpassing power of God in your life, you have to plunge yourself into a community because God's power works in your life to the degree that you were involved in community.

Now I'm not saying, by by the way you can't be saved without belonging to a church or you can't have a relationship with God belonging to a church. I mean we're Presbyterian Redeemer. The old Presbyterian confession which is Westminster confession, it's been you know centuries old, has a great little spot at which it says that you can be regenerated and born again without being says that you can be regenerated and born again without being baptized, and you can be baptized without being regenerated and born again. What that's saying is, in other words,

you can be in the church and not really know God, and you can know God without being in a church. It's not being in a church that saves you, it's faith in Jesus Christ that saves you. But, having said that, in light of what Paul is saying here, let me ask you another question. Does God ever really work powerfully in your life apart from Christian community,

apart from Christian relationships? Does his surpassing power ever flow through your life and change your life apart from deep and profound relationships? No. Most Americans, when asked by pollsters, say, you can be a good Christian without having anything to do with church, and the Bible says no, it's not true. Good Christian, I don't even know what they mean.

But the fact of the matter is, if you want to believe that me and God, without having to get involved with the church, oh the church is such a mess, it is a mess. Oh, it's hurt me, of course it has. I just want to have a relationship with God, without having to get involved with the church, oh, the church is such a mess, it is a mess. Oh, it's hurt me, of course it has. I just want to have a relationship with God, I want him to change my life, and I don't want to be that involved in church

where you're going to have to go make up a God of your own, if you want a God like that, because the real God's not like that. You will have the power of God, the surpassing the power of God, flowing through your life to the degree that you deepen your relationships and you get involved with the Christian community to the point that we're talking about. Now lastly, having said that, I'm not unrealistic.

You know, ministers and church leaders are always saying to people out there, you got to be involved in church, you got to join the church, you got to get in a small group, you got to, all right. And don't you see what the Bible says? There's tighter bonds between two Christians of different races and different classes than you have with non-Christians in your same race and class. Don't you see the bonds? I know what some of you are thinking. And it makes sense to me. You're out there saying, I don't feel that tied to other Christians. I don't. I do meet Christians that are very different than me. And I don't particularly like them. And I'm not, I just don't feel these incredible ties. I don't feel like every Christian I meet is my brother, my sister. I don't feel

that we're cemented. I don't feel this incredible unity or meet is my brother, my sister, I don't feel that we're cemented, I don't feel this incredible unity or anything like that. So what am I gonna do about it? Well then, I suggest listening to my third point. It would be a step in the right direction. The third point is this, according to Ephesians, we must become what we are. In Ephesians four, verse three,

we'll get to that in a few weeks actually, Paul says, maintain the unity of the spirit. He doesn't say attain it, he doesn't say create it, he says maintain it, and there's your balance. On the one hand, you can't create the bonds we've been talking about. They're automatically there if you've been formed by the gospel, if you've been shaped by the gospel.

You can't create those bonds, they're there. The unity of the spirit is there, but you still have to express it, you still have to realize it, it can be weak. There's something you have to do about it. We are that, and yet we must be what we are. In fact, it comes out a little bit, even though it comes out stronger

when we get later on in the book to chapter four. But even here it says, in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling. So there's a process going on. And those of you who say, actually I don't like a lot of other Christians and I don't want to give it my privacy and I don't feel this deep bond.

Well, here's what I would suggest. See Jesus as the cornerstone. That will help. That will help you maintain. That will help you come closer together. That will help you deepen. How? Well, notice where it says,

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone. Now that verse means a lot of things. First of all, most commentators understand that the apostles and prophets is referring to the Bible. The writings of the apostles and the prophets, New and Old Testament, actually. And therefore, we're being told that the church is based on truth, which is true. And yet, what I think is important here is the thing that brings us together is not merely cognitive.

Because what is the Bible about? The Bible's about Jesus. And who is Jesus in this text? The chief cornerstone. What does that mean? It means two things. First of all, the cornerstone was the most crucial block in the foundations.

And this is one of the reasons why I think a lot of folks do not feel much tie to other Christians. Remember how I said, the more profoundly you were shaped by a force, the more fitted you are with anything else that has been shaped by the force. A lot of people who probably are real Christians are actually not all that shaped and formed

by Jesus in their day-to-day lives. Sorry to mix metaphors again on you. But you know, you can have Jesus out in the suburbs of your life instead of having him in downtown. Jesus is downtown, Jesus is your cornerstone, Jesus is the most crucial part of your foundation when you find that you can hardly think without Jesus. You can't feel without Jesus,

you can't deal with any problems without Jesus. That all during the day, you find, you bring Jesus into why am I angry, why am I discouraged, why am I afraid, how am I forgetting how the gospel fits me here, how should I do this, how should I do that, what would Jesus' gospel have to say to me? In other words, when Jesus is the cornerstone of your life, and if he's the cornerstone, if he's at the center

of your life, you're gonna feel those ties. And if he's not, you know, if you really think about Jesus in a serious way, like on Sundays, you're not going to feel any tie. Because the more shaped you are by a force, the more fitted you are to everything else that's shaped by that force. Well, you say, okay, well how can I make Jesus more my cornerstone? Ah, like this. Realize that when Paul calls him the cornerstone, he's drawing on an Old Testament strain of teaching that the Messiah would be the cornerstone of the new kingdom of God, but only after

being rejected by the religious leaders and the builders. You see, for example, in Isaiah 28, 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. Now to you who believe this stone is precious. But then in Psalm 118 it says, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is a prediction of what? That Jesus, the chief cornerstone, would save us by being rejected. You know what's so wonderful about this, if you read all of chapter two together,

it says you were foreigners and aliens, but now you're in God's household. You know what that is? That's radical hospitality. You know what the word hospitality means? A foreigner is, in Greek, is zenus or xenoi. And where we got our word, xenophobia. Do you know what the word hospitality is in Greek?

Much better than in English. Do you know what the word hospitality is in Greek? Philosenia, the love of the weird person. The love of the strange person. The love of the person that other people say, ooh, let's just stay away, oh no. Hospitality is you bring the alien, you bring the strange person,

you bring the person who's different than you into your home and you love Philizonia. You love the stranger. Foreigners, you bring them into your household. But you know what's amazing here? We're being told in Ephesians 2 that you and I, if you're a Christian, we are the objects of the most incredible act of hospitality in history. We were foreigners and we've been brought into God's household. How? Hospitality

is always expensive. That's one of the reasons a lot of people don't like to do it. It's very costly, but nothing like this act of God's hospitality. When Jesus Christ came to earth, did you not notice during his life he was homeless? Unheimlichkeit. Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

And then in his death he was homeless. He was forsaken. He was crucified outside the gate in the cold and dark. Why? Jesus Christ, who was in God's household, he was the son, the son, was turned into an alien and a foreigner was cast out so that we, the foreigners and aliens, could be brought into God's household. Why? Because we deserve to be cast off by God. We deserve to be excluded. We deserve to be in exile. Because even though God has created us and made us and we own everything, we live our own little lives the way we want. We live as if we're our own masters. We take credit for all that. And

as a result, God should just, he should just expel us but Jesus Christ came and was expelled. He was radically lonely. My God, my God, why is thou forsaking me? Not only everybody forsook him, even his father forsook him. He went to hell. He experienced the cosmic aloneness. He became a foreign and an alien so we could be brought into the household. He lost the house so we could get in. That will take Jesus into the center of your life. That will make him the cornerstone. Do you believe that? Do you know that?

Do you think about that? Do you rejoice in that? Do you speak to others about that? That will make him a more formative power in your life shaping you and that will fit you more for the other people who have been shaped by the gospel too. You know this is what you really want. One of the things I hated about raising teenagers, I never knew where they were.

And you know why? Because you would say, where you going? You say to the kid, where you going? He's out, out where? With my friends, but where are your friends and you going? Out. And you know what that meant? All that matters is relationship.

That's all that matters, not where we're going, just I want to be with people, I want to be with my friends. You know how we often say, when you're about to die, nobody ever, just before they die, ever says, I wish I'd spent more time at the office. They always say, I wish I'd spent more time with my family, my friends. Love is what life's about. Community is what life's about. And don't you see what you're being told? Camus is right. Without God, the deepest desires of your heart absolutely going to turn to ashes. And with God, the

deepest desires of your heart will be fulfilled. This is what you've been looking for. This is the love you've been looking for. This is a community of love that will last forever. Not just the love with God, just the love with the people around you in the community of believers. This is the love that's going to last forever. This is what you want. Comfort one another with these words. Let's pray. Our Father, how grateful we are that though we were foreigners and aliens, you have made us fellow citizens, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and you've also even made us a place where you indwell. Together as we praise you, you inhabit our praises. As we pray to you, as we repent, you inhabit our prayers and our repentance, and you come in.

Father, we thank you for the fact that through Jesus we can have a love relationship with you and with one another, and we pray that you would allow us to take this text seriously and give ourselves more to each other, and thereby give ourselves more to you. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching.

We trust you were encouraged by it and that it gives you a deeper appreciation for God's grace and helps you apply it to your life. You can find more resources from Tim Keller by subscribing to our quarterly journal at GospelInLife.com. When you subscribe, you'll receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other valuable resources. We also invite you to stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Today's sermon was recorded in 2011.

The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.