Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

WEDNESDAY JUNE 3


SOMETHING NEW

READ:
Ephesians 2:10
____________________________________________________________________________________
It was only scrap wood, but Charles Hooper saw much more than that. Salvaging old timbers from a long-abandoned com-crib, he sketched some simple plans. Then he felled a few oak and poplar trees from his wooded property and painstakingly squared them with his grandfather's broadax. Piece by piece, he began to fit together the old lumber with the new.

Today you can see Charles and Shirley Hopper's postcard-perfect log cabin, tucked away in the trees on Tennessee Ridge. Part guesthouse, part museum for family heirlooms, the structure stands as an enduring tribute to Charles' vision, skill, and patience.

Writing to a Gentile audience, Paul told the church at Ephesus how Jesus was creating something new by bringing together Jewish and non-Jewish believers as a single entity. "You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ," Paul wrote (EPH. 2:13). This new structure was "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the hole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (vv. 20-21).

The work continues today. God takes the brokenness of our lives, artfully fits us together with other broken and rescued people, and patiently chips away our rough edges. He loves his work, you know.

**Lord, we can't thank You enough for Your passionate love for us.
Help us to see that You bring us together in this beautiful body of
believers known as Your church.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Our rough edges must be chipped away to bring out the image of Christ.

**************************Today's Bible Reading __ Ephesians 2:10-22*************************
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we
should walk in them.

11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the
flesh_who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the
Circumcision made in the flesh by hands_ 12 that at that time
you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ
Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the
blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and
has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having
abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of command-
ments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one
new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might
thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 and He came and preached
peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For
through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household
of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being fitted together, grows into
a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built
together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The Jews believed they alone were God's
favored people (GEN. 17:9-14), so God would never save the Gentiles
(EPH. 3:4-8). Correcting this, Paul says that Christ through the cross
has torn down the wall of hostility that separated Jews and
Gentiles (2:12-14) and has brought them together into a new unified
humanity__the church (vv. 15-18).