Ep 22 – Ecosystem of Faith

Hi there, this is tom Mahairas again with Vicki. Uh and we’re inviting you again to come and join us as we discussed, The greek word ecos. And we’re going to talk about the ecosystem of faith, how faith impacts one another as a family as a church, the interconnectedness of the believers. And we invite you to come and understand what God wants us to understand concerning how each ligament our each muscle, each tissue, each bone is connected to one another and how we need to work with one another. So come and uh I invite you to hear the discussion with me and Vicki, my wife. So as students of God’s Word, we’re seeing that the spiritual world and the physical world have some parallels and comparisons. And today we’re gonna be looking at the ecosystem of faith. Now we’ve studied faith from every which way and today we’re looking at the ecosystem of faith. What do I mean by that? Well everything inside the house of faith in the Book of Ephesians for instance, the church is viewed as a body. Uh and christ is the head. Uh The church is also a building in christ is the cornerstone. We’re gonna look at that. The house. Uh Ephesians 2 2022 especially starts at 19. And then the church is a wife and jesus christ is the husband uh in Ephesians five. These are different metaphors, pictures of jesus and the church. And uh so the church is a body christ is the head of the church is a building christ is the cornerstone Ephesians 2 2022 the church is a wife christ is the husband. This this is found in Ephesians and a phenomenal new testament book. But the ecosystem of faith, the whole interconnectedness. That’s what we want to see, how we are interconnected with the rest of the people who are in the house. Uh it used to be just jews and then the gentiles and now the Church of God is in the house and it talks about this in Galatians 6 10. I’ll have Vicki pick it up. Vicky. You can just read a little bit here. What what how it works for you. The household of faith Galatians 6 10. So then we have as we have opportunity Karos let us do good to all people and especially malice to very much to those who are of the household of faith. So these are our primary people. When we’re in this, when we’re in the ecosystem of the church, we need to be family. We need to have love and and respect and and an honor for one another and let people have different opinions but biblical opinion, you know, it’s interesting that most the natural inclination is that a family. Well we let our hair down and we, you know we’re not really careful sometimes when you’re at home. You know when visitors come, you want to be at your best and as if that is more important than than really treating your own Children and your wife and your husband and with the most utmost respect. So God has it the other way God says, we need to love everyone, we need to, we need to, as as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people were supposed to be that way with everyone, but especially malice to the household of faith. So important that God says that we need to really put the brother and the sister and the family member of God on a higher pedestal than anyone else who is in the world who does not know jesus christ. So let’s let’s look at this passage of scripture. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are God’s household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, christ, jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple, in the Lord in whom you also are being built up together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. So it’s really amazing here that it actually identifies who’s in the household, what are we supposed to be doing with one another? The apostles, the prophets christ. The cornerstone, we are being built up, we were talking about the sinew and the muscles and the bones and how each of us, this is a a a physical picture of the spiritual reality, how how God has brought us together in one body. I love what it says here concerning the acro go neos he is the cornerstone and being fitted, the whole body being fitted together seen our molo yellow is growing into a holy Io’s temple now announced and this is the only place Vicki in the whole new testament where you have to work a euros and now us together like this in Ephesians two where this is the holy of holies, talking about jesus christ, the cornerstone, the apostles, the prophets of the foundation and we are being built into a holy of holies. This is the whole new covenant that God is now in this body but each one of us and not just and not just in the church corporate but in the church individual and in this church in new york city, the Manhattan bible church or that church in California, that church and wherever they are, those churches and those individuals are connected together in making the body of christ. That’s what that word cinema low, Yale is growing up into a are your holy now as in the Lord in whom you also are being built. Sinar see Nikko the mel together into a dwelling Katica Terrian of God in the spirit. So God is putting us together into this ecosystem of faith. What do you get from, from that honey, I think that you know there was a thought also there that were joints in the body. Yes, I think of you know when you don’t have any hands and you have no eyes in the body and you have no feet. I mean every little part in every little joint is so important and each one of us, some of us are the eyes in the body. Some of us are the hands and the feet and we should honor each part of the body as being special. And when it says holy it means that everyone is set apart therefore different and because we’re special to the Lord now. Oh that’s a fabulous word. Why don’t you why don’t you pick it up right there. The distinction between the Iran which is the whole temple mount or in in the jewish temple. It was the outer courts of the gentiles. It was the court of the women, the court of the men. Uh the inner court. There were two rooms in the inner court that created the holy of holies. What did you explain that from the text, The narrows is a place to dwell properly. A sanctuary, A divine dwelling place. And it was the most sacred abode. It was the place of divine manifestation, the Niles we would say the holy of holies. So these are these two inter compartments. It talks about the holy place where the priest could enter the location for the show bread lamp stand and author of incense. But also the holy of holies where the high priest could only enter once a year on the great day of Atonement. So these are, this is what it looked like, literally. It was, it was pretty big mound, but there was this one very special place where you had the ark of the covenant and you had the the tablets of moses that were in there in the ark and of course the top lid was on it. They would that was they would take blood, they would sacrifice blood. And and the high priest would go in there once a year like you said with fear and trembling literally because he had to be right with God. I’ll get to this in my monologue when I when I share and I preach about this very section. But as you can see it was a pretty vast and the measurements of this thing were vast and uh it was overlaid with gold inside the temple these various places. Uh in contrast uh he had on is the whole temple mound refers to the full enclosure of the temple with all its outside uh precincts. And uh and of course the analysis right there where the Holy of Holies was, I want to go a little bit further and say that the application to this is first Corinthians chapter six verse 19 and 20 don’t you know that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and it uses the word now also doesn’t use here on it’s not just a holy place, It’s the very holy of holies our body. What do you say to that, whom you have from God that you’re not your own. You’ve been bought with a price. It says therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s. And then trying to show where the Apostle is using the greek now. So I want to take you to some of the and there are other verses that we could go to. For instance, Second Corinthians 6 16 maybe you could read that one as well Vicki before I showed them some of the greek temples or what agreement has the temple of God with idols For we are the temple of the living god. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. The Greeks. The Greeks had incredible temples. And just to show you this is referred to as the Alone. If you went to the Acropolis, Acropolis meaning the city police across the top of the mount. And it would be referred to as the Koran, the holy place. But there was one place in the Acropolis which housed the it was the the Parthenon which literally means Virgin. And in there was the actual image statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and right at the base of that statue would be the holy of holies or the the narrows to the Greeks. Of course these were idols and paul was disgusted with the thousands of miles. This particular one was the patron goddess of Athens Athena, the goddess of wisdom. And so this word now comes from this idea. The mound up there at the Acropolis had Poseidon’s temple, had other temples, had obviously the Parthenon, but there was only one spot right at the footsteps. And by the way that idol, that great statue was made out of elephant tusk and gold. I mean it was, it was a massive 45 ft high and at the base of it was the narrows, the holiest place for the idolaters of the, of the first century. There the Greeks and Athens. So God uses this word in the new testament to tell us that our bodies are the holiest place of all, but he’s referring to the temple that he is talking about the old testament. Temple, uh, Solomon’s temple and then of course the rebuilt temple of Solomon. And uh, so we’ll stop right here with the beauty of the uh, the temple that God had implemented and he doesn’t say that we are all this, the holy place in the temple or even outside or the at the court of the women or the men, but we are the very bodies, our hands, our feet, our eyes, our mouth. God says, don’t you know, that’s your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the narrows of the Holy Spirit that is in you that you have from God and you’re not your own. If we if we just grab that thought, if that thought grabs our heart in our mind, what was the last word you want to say? I think it would change the way I do certain things. I would be more careful what I say and do with my body and my mind and and really try to be a better example. That’s the word tom and Vicky. We’ll see you again next time. So as you’ve seen, the whole concept of faith is pictured in different ways. One of them is this ecosystem of faith and I want to jump in right away and just show you that in the scriptures, Ephesians talks about different pictures concerning the church and jesus christ for instance, the church is a body christ is the head. That’s in chapters 1 22 23 2, 15 to 16. And then the church is a building christ is the cornerstone. That’s the key one that we’re gonna be looking at chapter two verse 20 through 22 then the church is a wife and christ is the husband. And when we look at these images concerning jesus christ and the church, the concerning the ecosystem. The first that I go to escalation 6, 10, it calls us and says, So then while we have opportunity to get us, let us do good to all people, that it’s everyone in the world especially molly staff, especially those who are in the household of faith uh in Ephesians chapter two, when it talks about this. So then you are no longer to be strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, you are of God’s household. When we come to jesus christ, we hear the gospel, we accept him as our personal savior. Then he puts us into a spiritual house, we become part of the family. We sit at the table like Mephisto Chef did, even though he wasn’t part of David’s uh family or even close to it, He was Saul’s son and and here you have a situation where he brings him by grace into his favor and puts them at the table in his family. That’s what God did for you and me. You know, even though we’re crippled, even though we can’t do very much, we come to christ and he brings us in, he forgives us, he saves us, he changes us and we become part of where we’re sitting with the king of kings and the Lord of Lords in his table. And this is what it’s saying here. And jesus christ is the cornerstone, the apostles, the prophets are the foundation and then it says in whom the whole building being fitted together. Cinema low yell, that’s a phenomenal word is growing into a holy IO’s now as a holy temple in the Lord. So what God is saying is this ecosystem of faith brings us into a whole new experience of the holy of holies in this life. It’s not in some uh Tabernacle in the wilderness, it’s not in a temple that Solomon built. It’s not even in the rebuilt temple of Solomon or Herod’s temple, it is in the very body of believers now that the holy of holies is in our body and each one of us is a is a piece of that structure, the spiritual stones, the spiritual bricks, the spiritual mortar, the spiritual windows, the spiritual chandeliers and steps and curtains and lights in the building. We are that mouse that holy of holies according to Ephesians two verse 19 through 22. And we are growing into a holy temple in the Lord now watch verse 22 in whom you also are being built a scenic all the mail. We are together, not we are together being built into this holy temple together into a dwelling to ticket irian of God in the spirit. So the spirit of God is take is the, is the master builder. He’s using the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, teachers to equip the saints to do the work of serving in Ephesians chapter four and verse 11 and he continues building this body and bringing it together until we become mature and we actually understand who jesus christ is that he created the universe. That jesus christ is the Lord of Lords, the king of Kings, the creator of the universe and that we’re getting closer and closer to him and we are part of his body. This is incredible and the spirit of God is living inside of us and we are part of his temple, his his uh narrows, I just love it so that God would dwell in us. Do you understand that you and I are part of the dwelling of God? And so in the old testament you had in the holy of holies was uh two rooms and of course there was the holy place and then it was the holy of Holies where the Tabernacle actually was and outside you had the court of the women, the court of the menu had the court of the gentiles around that even, but the ones that were closest that were right there, where was the high priest? Once a year would go in and with the sacrifice on on the holy day Yom kippur and that was, that was a special thing. Here we are the holy of Holies. Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. That’s what it says in his word. And so we continue here. I I just love the way these, these pictures are for us to see the way God wants us to think of what he’s done for us first Corinthians 6 19 and 20. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and that you’re not your own. You have been bought or purchased with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body. This is what the whole intent of this message is. That we who are those who say we believe with our mouth. We know jesus christ in our heart, we confessed it. We’ve repented of our sins. He’s come into our life. Now we need to glorify God in our body with with our eyes, with our mouth, with our ears, with our hands, with our feet, with our thinking with what our desires in this world are, what our passions, what our priorities with our money, all of it. And of course this physical temple that you see here behind me was a picture of the spiritual temple that we are. We’re the Temple of the living God. And there are many, many places like Second Corinthians 6 16. On the bottom what agreement has the Temple of God with idols that we need to ask on every day of our life. We are the temple of the living God. Just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their god and they shall be my people. Let me let me hasten on uh we covered this week and I covered a lot of this and how God used this word from the heathen, The heathen worship of Athena and Zeus and other gods beside of the of the narrows to illustrate because it was written in greek to illustrate that we very our very bodies are this very temple of God and not some image, not some building the bible talks about uh in various places and like in romans chapter 12 and verse three that he has given each of us a measure of faith. Every time you you think about this interconnectedness, God says, listen, I’ve given a measure of faith to one to be an evangelist. I’ve given a measure of faith to another one To be a pastor. I’ve given a measure of faith to another one to have the gift of giving. I have, I’ve given a measure of faith to another one to have mercy or a leading or encouragement or mercy. It’s just so amazing that God distributed different gifts to different people in Metro and the measure, it says this both in Ephesians chapter two and Chapter four. It says this in romans chapter 12. It says this in Second Corinthians chapter 10. Using this particular word, it also says this in relationship to going out of our ecos system of faith where we are right now in the body and going out to places where they’ve never even heard of the Gospel and it takes a Metro of faith. It takes this is what Second Corinthians chapter 10 was talking about that the Apostle Paul was referring to the fact that he had faith to go to places where the gospel had never been preached before. Uh in in romans chapter 15 he does the same thing and going to places where the Gospel had never been preached before. What a fantastic thing that God is giving us. And then in first Peter chapter two verse five and nine, it says you are also living stones. You’re being built up as a spiritual house. Uh first peter 25 Holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices where are acceptable to God in verse nine. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. I’m gonna put the computer down. I want to go to the scriptures right now and just show you in several places, like in the book of Galatians. In chapter three verse 28 it says there is neither jew nor greek, there is neither slave nor free. There is neither male or female. For you are all one in christ. So the different variations in the body of christ jews and Greeks, slaves and free male and females notice what it says in colossians. Here it is in colossians chapter three and verse 11. This is a renewal in which there is no distinction between greek and jew, Circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian skin thean slave and Freeman. But christ is all. And then all, all of these people are in the ecosystem of faith. It continues like this all the way and I’ll take you to the last one and there’s many here. But I’ll go to the Book of Revelation where in chapter five, it’s so clearly identifies us and it says That in in verse nine and they sang a new song saying Worthy Art Thou to take the book and to break its seals Revelation 5 9 for Thou was slain and its purchased for God with Thy Blood. Men from every tribe and tongue and people and nations and nation and they and that’s how has made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth. Now, you see God has brought us into the cripple and the lame and the blind, he’s brought us into the body of jesus christ. Those of us who were broken and sinful for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, jesus went after us, found us and brought us in. Listen, you cannot escape the love of God because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life and in this ecosystem of faith. When we come in, each of us get a gift. Each of us have a ministry. Each of us are there to love and serve the others. And it’s not about ourselves, it’s about lifting up the head. The Lord jesus christ, you know, I think of the, the end of the scriptures where the lord jesus in revelation in chapter 22 says I jesus verse 16 send mine angels to testify to you these things from the churches, I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and the morning star. Look, look at what he says, the spirit, the bright the Bride say come the Spirit that’s the Holy Spirit and the Bride, that’s the church say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the water of life without any cost. Listen, it’s not gonna cost you anything to ask God to forgive you, just lift up your heart if you want to get into the ecosystem of faith say father God, I confess I’m a sinner, jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me come into my heart and save me. I believe you died were buried and rose again from the dead in jesus name. Now I hope you continue following. So you can grow and learn with it’s all greek to me with tom and Vicky my Mahairas God bless you until next time.