http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrsa/ephesians/passage/?q=ephesians+2:14-19 (Ephesians 2:14-19) What do you think of when you hear the word “church”? Someone might say, Well, I think of a building, a nice-looking place. Or, It’s a place you go on Sunday. Others may say, Well, I think of the denomination – like ‘I go to the Lutheran Church.’ Some people have rather distorted images of the church. For some, the church is like a gas station. It’s where you go to fill up your spiritual gas tank when you’re running low. It’s where you can get a good sermon to keep you going for the week. For others the church is like a movie theater, it’s a place to offer some entertainment. For an hour you can escape, get comfortable seats, leave your problems at the door, and come out feeling better than when you went in. For others, the church is like a drugstore where you can fill a prescription to deal with the pain in your life. Many churches are therapeutic. The church is seen by some as a big-box retailer. They see it as a place that offers the best products in a clean and safe environment for you and your family. It offers great services at a low price – an all-in-one stop. The church is a producer of programs for children, young people. Some see the church in a negative light. A book came out years ago that said, “People love Jesus, but they don’t like His Church.” Some see the church as an afterthought, something man-made. But really, we know from reading the Gospels, the Church was God’s idea. John Stott, an evangelical scholar from the last century wrote, “The Church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It’s not a divine afterthought. It’s not an accident of history. On the contrary, the Church is God’s new community.” Today I would propose to you that the Church is not something you go to; it’s not something to be devalued. It is what you are if you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ. This past year, a show came on television that was a very surprising blockbuster entitled, This Is Us. It’s the story about a family looking back on their past as they deal with the present and come to grips with who they are within the family. In the New Testament is a book that could very well be entitled the same thing – “This Is Us”. It’s a letter written by the Apostle Paul to some Christians who were trying to figure out what it meant to be the Church. He tells them in the opening parts of the letter how wonderful it is to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This is what has happened to them. Once they were dead, but now they are alive. But then, in the nitty-gritty of the whole letter itself, is a talk about what it means to be Church. Paul says, I want to talk Church with you. He holds up different images for them and says, This is us – you and I – the Church. One image he uses is today’s passage where we read we are family. “So now, you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.” When you become a follower of Jesus Christ, you inherit brothers and sisters who are connected through Christ to each other. An interesting thought to consider is, How does one become a member of our earthly family? It is through birth or adoption, right? Well, we enter Christ’s family the same way. In John chapter 3, we find Jesus talking with a religious man named Nicodemus about the importance of being born again – born into the family of God, becoming a new person in Christ. We’re adopted into God’s family through baptism. This description of church families is a very intimate image when you think about it. We, as families, would probably die for each other. As a parent, I would die for my kids. Some of us would even admit that we would be willing to kill for each other. Family is where they have to take you in. It’s a place where you belong! I imagine those people who received...