In Ephesians 2, Paul is writing to the Ephesian church about a building. Not a literal building, but a metaphorical one. In Christ, God is building a new structure from believers:

So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22).

This new structure is made up of living components from a diverse variety of backgrounds. But in Him, they are all being fit together. But notice, too, that this building isn’t done; it is unfinished:

• In him the whole building, being put together…
• …grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 
• In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit. 

These are things that were happening in Paul’s day, and are still happening in ours. In other words, the finished work of Christ has led to the unfinished building of the church.

This happened to you if you’re a Christian. At some point, someone shared the message of the gospel with you. And when they did, you became a part of this building with the rest of the people of God. And every time you share the gospel with someone else, they also have the chance to be fit together in this spiritual house. That means this building is always growing. And in that growth, it’s not the kind of building that is Frankensteined together. It doesn’t have pieces and parts that sort of exist on the periphery like add-ons. No – here every new piece that comes in actually belongs.

I remember when Jana and I first moved out of the town where I grew up and had lived for 20 years to Birmingham, AL. I was there to go to seminary, and Jana was there to pay for me to go to seminary. She was also there because she was, and is, a very excellent teacher. So she began to teach 6th grade at Homewood Middle School with the students not realizing that she was only about 10 years older than they were. 

She came home after the first day and recounted the story for me about how she introduced herself to her class, told them about her likes and dislikes, the rules of the class, and then asked if they had any questions for her. And the students looked around at each other until one young man raised his hand and asked, “So who are you for?”

Jana didn’t know what he meant. But she quickly discovered that this was a question about Alabama or Auburn. For in that classroom, in that city, there was no middle ground. Pick a side. Declare an allegiance. Belong somewhere.

She was being asked to declare to whom she belonged. To identify with a group of people. To love what they love and value what they value. And that’s a question we seem to always be seeking to answer, for in all of us, there is a desire to belong. To know the inside jokes. To be accepted. To be deeply known. We want to – no, we need – to belong.

This building in Ephesians 2 answers that question for us. 

Where do we belong? We belong in the people of God. Our days of being on the outside looking in are over. This is good news. This is news of freedom. It means we don’t have to try and figure how what group to identify with on a daily basis. It means we don’t have to be enslaved with the pressure of constant self-discovery and reinvention. It means that no matter what job we have, no matter how much money we have, no matter what title we have, and even no matter how we feel, the question of who we are has already been answered, and it’s been answered like this:

“You are mine,” and by corollary, “you are with us.” You belong here. In this building. And so does every new person who calls upon the name of the Lord to be saved.