Ephesians 2:14-18
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-chap 1-3 - really deal with our position and how we have been saved, all a part of God’s plan and grace not of our doing, chaps 4-6 are a result of our salvation, how we live our lives
-Have you noticed the fences that people build? Just drive around and notice all the barriers, you have some very expensive ones, some that just do not make any sense, that anyone could get through the barrier, we live in a society that puts up barriers, we tend to try to keep people out, if its not a fence it is a sign that says no trespassing, Paul conveyed in this text that Jesus came to remove the fences, the barriers
Sir Phillip Gibbs - Modern progress has made the world a neighbourhood and God has given us the task of making it a brotherhood. In these days of dividing walls of race and class we must shake the earth anew with the message of Christ, in whom there is neither bond nor free, Jew nor Greek, Scythian nor barbarian, but all are one.
-How are those who are far off brought near to God in Christ? peace through the blood of Christ
-for = connects with the preceeding text
-God’s design for the church is unity
Look at Eph. 4,
Identity in Christ
Identity in Christ
-He Himself
-Our peace is only a result of being in Christ
-our peace is not in religion itself, church programs, worldly success, financial gain, pleasing people, and the list goes on
-One must be in Christ
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
-Those who are in Christ are at peace with their fellow brothers and sisters
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
-In regards to peace - Paul had in mind here the peace we have with God through Christ, and the peace we have with one another through Christ
-Paul expressed specifically how Christ has produced peace:
-has made both one
-tore down the wall, refers to an outside wall
-a wall, a curtain that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the Temple
-The point: there was a separation between God and man, and the only one who could tear the veil in two was Christ, through the death and resurrection of Christ we have been made right with God
-There is the other point: Jews and Gentiles were separate from each other, the temple had dividing walls, the outer court, the inner court of the Israelites, the court of the priests, the holy place, and the holy of holies, gentiles could only stay in the outer court, if a Gentile crossed the barrier he would be killed
-Acts 21 Paul was accused of bringing Gentiles in the Temple
-Now think for a moment what Paul conveyed in this text: these two groups have been divided in Temple worship, now Christ has brought the two into one in the ultimate Temple - His body
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
-What is meant that the law was abolished? Didn’t Jesus come to fulfill the law and not abolish?
31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
-the word abolish in greek = set aside, wipe out
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
-so what did Paul mean?
-the Law pointed to Christ, it was not the end in of itself
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
-Does not nullify the law, does not mean that it is not useful to us, it is. But we are not governed by the law of Moses, we are governed by the Law of Christ, the abolishment is of the barrier between Jew and Gentile
-The point: when a Jew comes to faith in Christ he loses his national uniqueness, does not mean he loses appreciation for his heritage, but his heritage is not his identity. When a Gentile comes to faith in Christ he loses his outcast identity, He has been brought near
Created and Reconciled in Christ
Created and Reconciled in Christ
-He set the law aside for two reasons:
-that he might create
-Paul has already touched on this, v. 10, Christ has now created one new human being - His body
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
-that he might reconcile
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
-because of sin there was hostility between man and God, Christ has taken away the hostility and brought peace
Reconciliation is a big word expressing a big idea, namely, all that is involved in turning a state of alienation, hostility, and apartness into a state of intimate, affectionate, harmonious togetherness on a permanent basis.
J. I. Packer
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
-Both groups are reconciled to the one body - the church, regardless of race, backgrounds, economic status
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
-The only way this reconciliation could take pace, Paul revealed was through the cross
10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Access to the Father through Christ
Access to the Father through Christ
Reconciliation is amazing. But this is more wondrous and more amazing. Reconciliation is not the end. Beyond reconciliation, we have access to the Father.
God’s Way of Reconciliation, 316
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
19 creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.
-in relation to the Temple
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
-the proof of the reconciliation = the access, both Jews and Gentiles have access to the Father through Christ the Son as regenerated through His Spirit
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
-John MacArthur told this beautiful story about a missionary who was officiating at a communion service in a certain part of Africa in a very remote area. And he said he sat at the communion table. And to his right sat a man who was known in his native language as Manly Heart. And he was the tribal chief of a people called the Ngoni. And there were many Ngoni, the missionary writes, in the congregation. And the old chief told him that he could remember the days before they heard of Christ. And he said those were the days when the young warriors of the Ngoni went out to bloody their spears with the blood of the neighboring tribes, the Sanga and the Tumbuka. And the old chief told the missionary that they would come back with their spears completely bloodied, behind them a trail of burned and devastated towns. And dragging along with them raped women as their booty, taken from the Sanga and the Tumbuka tribes. But now, the chief said, it’s all different. And the missionary said that’s right, because sitting on his left hand were the elders from the church among the Sanga and the Tumbuka, all three tribes, once thirsting for each other’s blood, now one in the blood, in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what Christianity is intended to do, to break down the fences
-The overall point is this: we are one in Christ, Christ alone is our peace, our reconciler, in whom we have access to the Father
-Stop building fences when Christ has torn them down, that one thing I love about what God has done in our midst, the way there is unity in this body, there is not a we’ve always been here mentality, we are one in the body of Christ