“Oct 14, 2024 - Remember Your Roots”

Sunday, October 13, 2024

Remember Your Roots

Reading:  Ephesians 2:11-22
    
    It is hard to appreciate where we are if we don’t remember where we’ve come from.  “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh…remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world”(Eph 2:11, 12).  Prior to their conversion, these Gentile believers were hapless and hopeless.  They had no share in the Messiah, the people of God, or the promises to Abraham.  They had their gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and the like—but they were gods you didn’t want to cross, not gods you had legitimate hope in.  The Gentiles were on the outside looking in.  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”(Eph 2:13).  The death of Jesus signals a glorious bridging of the gap, so that a distant people are ushered into the people of God.

    The cross unites us (Eph 2:14), removes the “dividing wall of hostility”(Eph 2:15) of the Law of Moses, and ultimately “(reconciles) us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility”(Eph 2:16).  Now there is peace between Jew and non-Jew.  Now there is peace between God and all believers.  Now all people can have access to the Father through the Spirit (Eph 2:18).  Yet appreciating these blessing hinges on a memory of where we started:  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”(Eph 2:19).  Now we are part of the holy temple God is building, in which the Spirit dwells.  

    Paul wants believers to remember their roots—not their physical origins, but their spiritual lostness outside of the cross.  Only when we have experienced exclusion do we appreciate belonging; only when we have been hopeless do we appreciate optimism; only when we have been lost do we appreciate being found.  Our actions have excluded us from the blessings God offers, yet he has put away our sins at his own expense at the cross.  Remembrance does not mean merely wallowing in our old sins, but maintaining the humility that acknowledges what we truly deserve.  Remember your roots—your spiritual rags-to-riches story—and give glory to God.

-----------
One Thing to Think About: What do I remember about my past that leads me to glorify God?

One Thing to Pray For:  A healthy memory
 

Share