we are the house of God

Ephesians 2:19-22

Paul uses two word pictures here: first, citizenship and adoption. Paul says (connecting to the previous paragraph) that because Jesus has provided with access to God (even though we were aliens and foreigners) we can have citizenship in the kingdom of God. However, we are not just second class citizens - we are equal to the Jewish Christians in that we are both adopted into the kings household.
Then Paul switches word pictures - perhaps using a big of a play on words, he now compares us to bricks or stones in the house of God that have been built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles (interesting how he equates the two offices - in the OT the prophets were pretty important and in the NT the apostles are at least as important). Of course, the whole house of God is built up on Jesus.
There are a couple of things that I find interesting. The first is that the Body of Christ becomes the temple of God. This is further evidence that Jesus came to abolish religion - we don't need a religious ceremony or preists to gain access to God, we can have access to God on our own through Jesus. This is pretty radical stuff and most of us have a hard time grasping that. I think that even though Christianity was built on the premise that we don't need that stuff, we quickly rebuild the systems and the rituals and make them hoops we have to jump through to access God. I understand how this works (because I love structures and liturgy and rules): we do something and we encounter God in that moment and we immediately think that it is the structure we just used that allowed us to encounter God and because we want to encounter God again we go back that structure until the structure itself becomes what we focus on.
This must be very frustrating to God. I can remember preaching a sermon at our o2 service about how we are the temple of God - that God does not reside in buildings but in the Body of Christ. I finish, get off the stage and walk to the back. One of our young adults gets up to make some announcements while wearing a cap. One of the members leans over to me and whispers, "Can you tell that guy to take his hat off in the house of the Lord?" AARRGGHH! Weren't you listening to anything I said? This building is not God's house - we are!
Anyways... the second thing that sticks out is that we make this temple thing very individualistic but I think it is corporate. Yes, I believe that God dwells in me as an individual by his Spirit and that my body is a temple of the Lord but in this passage I think that Paul is addressing the church. We are the temple of God. Actually, to be precise, we are becoming the temple of God according to Paul. I think that Paul's reminding us that there are still stones to be added and that I still need to mature before the temple will be complete.
God, help me to not focus on structures, rules and liturgies. Remind me that access to you is simply by grace. Remind me, as well, that the temple is not complete and that there are others that need to be added to this holy dwelling.