Key Verse: Ephesians 2:19, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household."
Have yo ever wondered how you ended up in your family? I've wondered that about my family. I'm completely different from my parents, and I'm also fairly different from my brother. So how did we all get thrown together? We do have one major thing in common: Our last name. Whether we like it or not, we're all in the same family. And as different as we are, we have the same blood linking us.
The same is true for the Church. The New Testament church was made up of an assortment of very different kinds of people who had previously lived separate lives. What could possibly connect all these people? They now had the same bloodline-the blood of Jesus. Because of Jesus' sacrificial death, everyone who places their faith in Christ-regardless of their race, gender, or cultural background-is a part of the Church.
When Jesus rose from the dead, he began to build his family-the Church. And it was composed of people he loved and who love him. But the members of his family would also love each other. While imprisoned in Rome, Paul wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus to help them understand their common lineage in Christ. Through this letter Paul tried to help the Ephesians see that all people are welcomed into the church family regardless of their differences.
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