Proper 11th LCMS 3 Year B

Proper 11th LCMS 3 Year B

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Sullivan

Ephesians 2:11-22

In Him & Through Him

We begin as those separated. Separated from God, and separated from one another. If you don’t believe me? Just look around. We are always,always drawing lines of division between one another. Between the usand the them. We draw lines across racial, financial, political, and religious divisions. And then we go and take it to the streets to fight about it, to protest about it, to defend our own group-identity and attack the other group that we perceive to be a threat against us.It was no different in Paul’s context. As Paul says, you, the Gentiles according to the flesh, are called the “un-circumcision” according to those who were circumcised in the flesh. Imagine that, to live in such an us-vs-them world where you are calling people; un-whatever you consider yourself. We do this all the time. Insane, irresponsible, incapable, unbeliever, un-saved, un-churched, un-like us. It shouldn’t be news to you that this is the world that you live in. And the sad part is, these divisions make sense. These divisions are proper. Because we live in a society of sinners. And sin, separates. It separates us from God. And it separates us from one another. In a sense, just as we now call those outside of the faith “unbelievers” the Jews rightlycalled the gentiles the un-circumcised. Because it was not what they were that was most important, but what they were not. Itisn’t so much that one is a hindu, but that they have notreceived the gospel of Jesus Christ. That alone, is what will matter on the last day. For all who do not have a part in God’s Kingdom, His covenants, His promises, the Christian Hope, will all be lost, atheist, Jew, Muslim, and Hindu alike. Before the early church’s ministry, that is what the gentiles were. They had no Word of God, no scriptures, no prophets. They were, as Paul says, “far off.” That is, far away from Christ, separated from God. They were stumbling around in the darkness without any light, suffering without any hope. But this is not how it was meant to be. Our separation from one another, our separation from God, is not something that God created, not some kind of “beautiful diversity” as some have taken to calling it, but even the cultural division, the ethnic division, was and is still a product of sin, resulting from man’s pride, in their building of the tower of Babel. It is not beautiful diversity, but estrangement, separation, confusion, and alienation.

You see, it was at that place, at Babel, where our pride got the better of us. We wanted to build higher and higher and higher, to make a name for ourselves. Butwhat happens when you have a group of narcissisticindividuals striving together to achieve power and glory? Soon it is no longer enough to be part of the construction team at Babel. They wanted to make a name for themselves and there is no “us” in name. And so they departed and divided among themselves. They could no longer understand one another. They no longer cared for one another. God had let sin do its work. But hope wasnot lost. For while the tower of Babel serves as thetouchstone forseparation and divisionbetween groupsof people and is the root of all cultural, linguistic, and ethnic divisions, Pentecost isthe touchstone for Christ’s work of reconciliation, where though many tongues were spoken, everyoneunderstood itas if it were in their own language. At Babelman’s pride led inevitably to schism and division, but at Pentecostthe Holy Spirit overcame our deafness to one another and used languages that were alien and unknown to us for the proclamation of the gospel. Our Lord is always bringing all things under submission to Himself. Even evil things, such as schism and division, and even death, are fitted to suit His purpose and His will, which has always and will forever be the salvation of humanity.

Just so in this same way, through Christ’sdeath, an evil thing,the result of our sin taken upon His shoulders,we were reconciled not only to God, but to one another. The gentiles who were far off, who didn’t have any place in the Kingdom, in the covenant, in the promises, or the Hope, were brought near. Not by anything that they did. Not even with their cooperation. But before they had even heard of Jesus, they were brought near by the blood of Christ shed for the forgiveness of their sins. For in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself – 2 Cor 5:19. That is to say, God does not ask you if you want to be reconciled to Him, He is telling you this morning that He has accomplished this through Christ’s death and resurrection. He has already reconciled you, and all things to Himself in Christ Jesus who is your Lord. A Lord does not ask. A Lord may give and a Lord may take. But a Lord does not ask. Much less will he ask you if He can be your Lord.And in the same way, nobody asks or does anything that brings reconciliation between themselves and God, but God works that reconciliation and proclaims to them that it is finished. Paul does not say, if you now do this... thenyou will be reconciled by the blood of Christ. But he says, you have been reconciled by Christ. He does not say, Christ canbe your peace today ifyou... _, but he says, Christ is your peace. He does not say,if you have faith, thenthis will be so. He says, it isfinished, I am your justification, believe this. The gospel is not something that may be yours if you have faith. It is the very thing that you have faith in. The gospel can never be an IF/THEN statement, lest it becomes simply a “good” Law. For it to be news it must be finished, and for it to be good news, it must be given as gift, done to youby another. It is not a good opportunity. But it is good news. It is not in youthat He reconciles you to the Father, but in His flesh, that God is reconciled to all men, it is in His flesh, that men are reconciled to one another. Male and Female, Slave and free, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile... not in that they are merely friends, and no longer enemies, but in that they are created into one new humanity, through His own flesh, and Hereconciled that new humanity within Himself to God. And now in His flesh, in the sacrament of the altar, in putting on Christ through Baptism, in His sacramental presence in the Word read and preached He grants you peace, through His flesh.

It is through Him, that this one new humanity has access to the Father by the Holy Spirit. No longer are we strangers to the family of God, but now sons and daughters of the Father through Christ. No longer aliens, strangers, or visitors, but citizens in the kingdom of God. No longer do we stand far away from God or His promises or covenant, only to look on at a distance, but God has made us His dwelling place. All walls are broken down. What the Jews once called the dwelling place of the Lord, a glorified box of stone, has been thrown down, not even a stone still lays upon another. And He will not build up another one. You were once far away from God and far away from other people, but in the body of Christ, the true temple of God, which was torn down and raised up again in 3 days, you haveall been made one through Him.

It’scrazy to think that we got from where we started, separated from God, separated from one another, and have now come here, to being one new humanity with those who do not speak our language, who do not know our customs or share our afflictions, and to being not only no longer enemies with God, but His very own place of dwelling. And all this change, from one Christ, one cross, one resurrection, and not any of it is posed to us as an opportunity, or as a hypothetical, but as good news and as free gift. And that is something that faith can grasp.

I pronounce to you now, the Word of the Lord; you have peace with God, through the crucified and risen flesh of Christ your King, believe this.