Killing the Hostility

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon Christian Church. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 2.

Mirroring of v. 1-10 and v. 11-22.

Begins with the bad news- Spiritual death and community separation.

What is the new reality of believers, both in relationship with God and in relationship with others.

Read Ephesians 2:13-16- “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

Pray.

Pam’s funeral- Our faith and salvation are not meant to be isolated or private.

10 pieces of a puzzle being put together

1. Remember.

What all are we to remember?

Not only who we have been, but who we have become.

This is how we know that Paul is not merely trying to shame people.

We often favor one over the other. Paul instructs us to remember both.

2. But now.

Clear parallel to v. 4- But God.

Reminder that after being described in the first few verses, God doesn’t leave us where we are.

In both, reminded that it is God who acts apart from human effort.

3. We have been brought near.

The problem of distance has been dealt with.

Once far from Jesus, far from Israel, the Law, the covenants of promise.

All of the language of v. 11-12- distancing language- separated, alienated, without

Now brought near. Language of inclusion.

Incredible expression of the gospel.

In Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near.

Most personal language possible.

Ice Deli- “Come in, We’re Open.”

4. The blood of Jesus.

How is this all made possible?

We may pass over this too quickly. Yes, Jesus died. But consider all that this represents.

We are far removed from a culture that is well-acquainted with blood.

Kids bleeding. More often than I’d like, but quite rare.

For us, it simply means death. For the biblical audience, it means sacrifice.

We would do well to remember the context- Jesus was offered as a pure and perfect sacrificial lamb.

5. He Himself is our peace.

Notice the wording. Not simply that Jesus in His death brings us peace, but rather that Jesus IS our peace.

Not only a dealer that gives peace between God and man, but Jesus is literally the peace that is necessary.

To better understand, consider the concept of eternal life.

I came that they might have life. I am the way, the truth and the life.

Jesus is the peace.

Major implications. God sees His child as He sees His Son Jesus.

Peace with God represented in the wholeness of the trinity.

Not just an absence of warfare, but a wholeness of well-being. A blessedness. That’s peace, living life with God as it is meant to be lived.

Far different from a worldly way of thinking.

It is not the ending of religion that creates peace.

It is not the blending of religion that creates peace.

It is the worship and honoring of Jesus Christ that is meant to give all people peace in this life and for all of eternity.

6. Made us both one.

What has God accomplished in making peace through the sacrifice of Jesus between Himself and man? This is where Paul turns his attention next.

By making peace between God and man, God has taken two people groups who could not get along and made them one.

Consider what has been communicated about the Jews and Gentiles already in v. 11-12.

Jews even had a derisive name, a slur, for the gentiles. Uncircumcision. Beasts, Pagans, Filth.

Believers in Jesus Christ will be known, or recognized, by their love for one another.

The love of the Church is a proclamation of the gospel.

7. Broken down the dividing wall.

Some of my favorite language in the entirety of our passage.

How did God create peace? By breaking down the wall of hostility.

Likely referring to an actual wall in the temple that divided the Jews from the gentiles.

But lets simplify the text a bit- can you imagine what Paul is saying here.

What has been broken down is a wall of hostility. Can you imagine how many of those we have in our world today?

Not only in our world, but in the church.

Walls of hostility. Those qualities of other people that cause us to look down on them, the way the Jews looked at the gentiles.

Race, gender, social status, spiritual maturity, denomination, beliefs about secondary issues, background, political views, the list goes on.

These walls of division quickly become walls of hostility.

The church becomes one when we recognize that these walls no longer matter as they have been brought down.

How? With the necessary blood of Jesus.

We all find ourselves on an even playing field.

If we are in Christ, then we are in Christ, and nothing ought to be there to cause division.

8. Abolishing the commandments expressed in ordinances.

This answers the question of how God broke down the walls of hostility.

He abolished the commandments of God that were communicated through observing ordinances, or rules.

Not God’s moral law, not the 10 commandments, but instead the rituals, the ordinances that were put in place in order to create separation between God’s people and Gentiles.

Fascinating that these ordinances were put in place in order that the Gentiles would have no impact on the way of life of the Israelites, but at the same time the life and faith of Israel was meant to bleed out into the rest of the world.

Ultimately, Jesus was the fulfillment of all of the OT Scriptures, all that was in the law and the prophets.

God still desires for us to live according to His moral law, but those things that made the Israelites Jewish were abolished.

9. Created one new man.

Already saw that two become one, but here is an important distinction.

New.

Both Jews and Gentiles require being made new.

God didn’t bring one entirely to the other fold.

Gentiles didn’t become Jewish, and Jews didn’t become Gentiles.

Instead, God created a new man. A unified man.

Crysostom- Statue of gold and statue of iron thrown into a fire and out comes a statue of gold.

Two kids outside in the yard fighting.

Bring them both to me with the desire that they will both become what they are not presently.

God has made both Jew and Gentile a new creation, and as a result, has brought peace between the two.

10. Reconciled us both to God.

This is the outcome of it all. Both Jews and Gentiles brought together as one, experiencing peace with one another.

But also, peace with God.

All sinners in need of reconciliation.

We recognize in the gospel our need for one another.

Not just the need of Gentiles for Jews and vice versa, but all of our need for others who are not like us.

We approach the throne of God together.

Creates a certain beauty when we all sing together in worship, when we all read and hear the Word of God together, when we receive communion together and pray together.

We are reminded that God is not merely saving individual sinners, but that He is creating His bride, His Church.