Page 27 - Ephesians

source of unity. This is your foundation. This is the basis of the
spiritual Church. Unity is mutual headship; everyone who is right
with Christ is automatically right with each other. If you have a
problem on the horizontal level, if you have any social relationship
problem, it’s because you aren’t right vertically. It’s a dead
giveaway. It’s always a spiritual problem.

There’s a second illustration that He loves to use. The “Temple.
This idea that we are His habitation and His home. When you
read chapter 2:20-22 and other verses on the “temple”, don’t miss
the thrill of it. We’re so far removed from that time period that it’s
hard for us to feel the impact and significance the Temple had to
early Christians. They had a temple in those days and it was
beautified and enlarged by Herod. It was overlaid with gold and
was one of the most beautiful things on earth. It was dazzling in
the sunlight and would blind you if you stared at it. It was rich and
plush. When they thought temple, they thought riches, brilliance,
magnificence and awe. That earthly beauty and wealth was just
the tiniest picture. So when He said, “You are My temple”. In
their minds they thought about that temple in Jerusalem. He said
that which you see physically, you have spiritually. “You are My
home and I live in you”.

There is one other figure in chapter 5:25-27. The Church is the
Bride. The Bride of Christ. What an exalted picture of the
spiritual Church. Do you realize that the moment you were saved.
In that moment, you were married to the Creator and Redeemer
of the Universe? I remember when I married and pledged to
share my worldly goods. Fortunately it only meant that I would
have to give up my guitar, because that was all the goods I had.
Fact is when I got married, I was in debt. Fact is, I didn’t have a
job. It meant very little when I said to Lillian, “With all my worldly
goods I thee endow.” But watch. The moment you trusted Jesus
Christ as your Savior, the Lord Jesus said to you what the groom
says to the bride, “With all my worldly goods I thee endow.” He’s
rich and you are rich in your relationship with Him.

Why am I so rich, and why are you so rich, and why is the Church
so rich? The answer is because we are His Body. Because we