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The Building Fitly Framed Together. Ephesians 2:8-22. House of Cards. v. 10 we are his workmanship. v. 13 we are made near by the blood. v. 14 Christ has broken down the partition wall. v. 15 Christ has abolished the enmity and made one new man, resulting in peace.
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The Building Fitly Framed Together Ephesians 2:8-22
v. 15 Christ has abolished the enmity and made one new man, resulting in peace.
“The gospel is designed for all, and it will bring together in church capacity men and women who are different in training, in character, and in disposition. Among these will be some who are naturally slack, who feel that order is pride, and that it is not necessary to be so particular. God will not come down to their low standard; he has given them probation, and the necessary directions in his word, and he requires them to be transformed, to perfect holy characters. Every one who is converted from sin to righteousness, from error to truth, will exemplify in words and acts the sanctifying power of the truth.
The people of God have a high and holy calling. They are Christ’s representatives. Paul addresses the church in Corinth as those who are “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” And he adds: “For we are laborers together with God; ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Again he says to them: “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
To the saints at Ephesus he writes: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” Says Peter, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
These passages are calculated to impress the mind with the sacred, exalted character of God’s work, and with the high and holy position his people are to occupy. Could these things be said of those who do not seek to be refined by the truth?
The Jewish temple was built of hewn stones quarried out of the mountains; and every stone was fitted for its place in the temple, hewed, polished, and tested, before it was brought to Jerusalem. And when all were brought to the ground, the building went together without the sound of an ax or hammer. This building represents God’s spiritual temple, which is composed of material gathered out of every nation and tongue and people, of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant.
These are not dead substances, to be fitted by hammer and chisel. They are living stones quarried out from the world by the truth; and the great Master-builder, the Lord of the temple, is now hewing and polishing them, and fitting them for their respective places in the spiritual temple. When completed, this temple will be perfect in all its parts, the admiration of angels and of men; for its builder and maker is God. Truly, those who are to compose this glorious building are “called to be saints.” (The Review and Herald, May 6, 1884)
From the stars that in their trackless courses through space follow from age to age their appointed path, down to the minutest atom, the things of nature obey the Creator’s will. And God cares for everything and sustains everything that He has created. He who upholds the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, at the same time cares for the wants of the little brown sparrow that sings its humble song without fear. When men go forth to their daily toil, as when they engage in prayer; when they lie down at night, and when they rise in the morning; when the rich man feasts in his palace, or when the poor man gathers his children about the scanty board, each is tenderly watched by the heavenly Father. No tears are shed that God does not notice. There is no smile that He does not mark. (Steps to Christ, p. 86)
If we would but fully believe this, all undue anxieties would be dismissed. Our lives would not be so filled with disappointment as now; for everything, whether great or small, would be left in the hands of God, who is not perplexed by the multiplicity of cares, or overwhelmed by their weight. We should then enjoy a rest of soul to which many have long been strangers. (Steps to Christ, p. 86)
