Being built up... (8)

Brought near by the blood of Christ...

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong? Maybe you had gone to a certain club and you didn’t have membership, or you were always that last to be picked for the baseball game, and the one captain would say to the other, “You can have him on your team. We don’t want him.”

This morning, I’m going to share something quite personal. After graduating from Bible College, I moved to Ontario. I lived there for about 9 years. After I moved back to the farm at Whitewood, I turned 31. You’ve maybe noticed, but if you haven’t, there doesn’t tend to be a lot of people in small town Saskatchewan between the ages of 25-35, and even less that are single. There just weren’t a lot of eligible young ladies in the churches where I’d go to preach.

I’d have neighbours encouraging me to date non-christian women that had just been divorced. Awkward conversations.

One place that became hard to go was to weddings. Friends or neighbours’ kids were getting married. There would be couples and families at weddings, as a single thirty something, it became a very uncomfortable place to be.

Maybe you have been places where you felt like you just didn’t belong. This morning, I want you to know that if you haven’t found your place, God has a place and He wants to bring each of us near to Him.

Let’s read our Scripture this morning:

Ephesians 2:11–13 NLT

11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders...

As I started this morning, I talked about not belonging, not being a part of an exclusive club.

I don’t want to get too graphic, but I have to be graphic enough so that you get the point that I’m trying to make.

Circumcision...

Circumcision was something that set the Jews apart from everybody else. Circumcision was the cutting away of flesh. It was an outward surgery done to men, and mostly to 8 day old boys in Jewish culture.

The first place where it was seen in the Bible was in Genesis 17. Abraham, Ishmael, and all of Abraham’s servants were circumcised when Abraham was 99 years old. Isaac was circumcised when he was 8 days old.

This became a covenant between God and Abraham, and it was to be for all of his male descendants.

This was a covenant between God and Abraham that set his descendants apart from everyone else on earth. This didn’t make Abraham right with God. Abraham was made right with God based on faith.

This became a ritual for all Jewish boys. They were to be circumcised at 8 days of age, regardless if this happened on the Sabbath day it had to be done by the priest. I wouldn’t want that job.

Even though all the peoples of the earth were to be blessed by the Jews, and we know that this came through Jesus. Many of the Jews trusted in circumcision for their salvation.

This was never God’s intention.

Habakkuk 2:2–4 NKJV

2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

Some translations say that

“the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

If we depend on anything but Ephesians 2:8-9 which says,

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

We are trusting in another gospel. If you read the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul was contending that the gospel was not based on the Law, or on circumcision, but on Christ. If you or I, or even an angel comes preaching another gospel than Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we cannot and we must not accept it.

Here’s what the second half of verse 11 says,

Ephesians 2:11 (NLT)

11 ...You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

For many Jews, they were depending on works to please God.

but

Romans 1:17 NIV

17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

As Christians, we need to examine ourselves and guard against things that make us look righteous before God, but do absolutely nothing to cleanse our hearts.

It could be the way that we dress, the things that we eat or refuse to eat, it could even be our attitudes towards others that see things a little differently than we do.

Could you imagine, how hard it would have been for someone who wasn’t born into a Jewish family, who didn’t follow the rituals or could only make it to heaven by becoming a Jew.

Pastor, isn’t that how it is with Christianity? Don’t you have to become a Christian to go to heaven?

The word Christian was first used at Antioch. It was meant to ridicule people that followed Jesus.

Christ-ian = like Christ

Yes there is only one way to come to God and that is through Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:12 NIV

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

It’s not by learning a secret handshake. It’s not by joining a certain church. There is only one way, and that’s faith. We are made righteous by faith, and as we come to Christ, we learn to live by our faithfulness to God.

What about people who have never heard the message about Christ?

That’s a really good question. The answer is two-fold. We as followers of Christ have been given the Great Commission to go and make disciples.

Here’s the second part:

Romans 1:20 NIV

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

I believe that to whom much is given, much will be required. God is just. He will judge each heart according to the revelation that He has given, but those who have heard that Jesus died for them, and that He loves them should be most concerned because they have rejected Christ.

Ephesians 2:12 NLT

12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

According to the Life Application Commentary, There were

5 disadvantages that Gentiles had

as compared to Jews before they heard the gospel

1. They were living apart from Christ

They weren’t looking for a Messiah.

When Jesus was sitting at Jacob’s well near Sychar. There was a Samaritan woman he was talking to. This is what He said,

John 4:22 NIV

22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

2. They were excluded from God’s people, Israel

Even though it was possible for someone to become a proselyte through extensive training, as well as, baptism and circumcision, they were never really citizens.

3.They did not know the promises God had made

Let’s remember, we’re talking pre relationship with Christ.

They had never heard about God’s promises of blessing. They didn’t have the promise that God would never leave them nor forsake them. They didn’t know that God would guide them with His loving eye.

For some of us, we can hardly comprehend that somebody has never heard about God. For many of us, we have heard about God’s promises since we have been old enough to remember.

This morning, I want to take a couple of minutes just to remind us what we have to praise God for.

Psalm 103:1–6 NKJV

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 6 The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed.

We have so much to be thankful. We have good news that we can share, a message that brings life.

4. They were without God...

Many Gentiles were polytheistic. They had many gods. You’ve maybe heard of Greek mythology. Many other people worshipped nature. They worshipped the creation rather than the creator. They worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, the rocks, the trees, the water, the land, and the list can go on and on. Others worshipped idols that they had made with their own hands. They would make them from wood and overlay them with precious metals. Then they would worship them.

When God had brought Israel out of Egypt, God gave the 10 Commandments. Here’s the first two. Exodus 20:1-6

Exodus 20:1–6 NIV

1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

5. They were without hope

According to Warren Wiersbe,

Hope was not a characteristic of the secular world in the first century ... The word was seldom used. Only occasionally do you find it in writings of that time period. When it was employed, it was almost always used in a context that refers to something illusory or even wishful thinking. Secular burial inscriptions reveal no content suggesting hope of an afterlife. In fact, one secular burial epitaph from Paul’s day says:

I was not

I became

I am not

I care not.

{Warren Wiersbe, "Be Ready," p. 83}

How dismal it must have been for people from the 1st century who had not found their hope in Christ.

We live in a day and age where many have not found their hope in Christ. Probably half of Canadians would nominally call themselves Christians, but don’t identify with Christ.

We find our hope in verse 13.

Ephesians 2:13 NIV

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Everybody can come near. It doesn’t matter how far you have wandered away from God, we can be brought near by the blood of Christ.

He is still the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He is the only way to the Father.

For many of you, you have heard Gordie’s testimony. If there was one person in our town who seemed too far gone, even for God to reach, it was Gordie. He has been brought near by the blood of Jesus.

But now in Christ...

This is so crucial to everything,

In Christ...

There is only one way to come near to God, and that is in Christ. If we think that we can please God by doing good works, if we think that we can please God by following the law, we are actually doing the opposite of what we want to do.

Galatians 5:4–6 NLT

4 For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. 5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.

As we close today, let’s be careful not to fall into the temptation that we can earn our righteousness by following a religious code of ethics. We can only be made clean by the blood of Jesus, and it is through His blood that we have been brought near to God.

Our faith expresses itself in love. Let’s look for ways that we can show God’s love. We don’t have to look very far to see need. Let’s be found faithful when Jesus comes.

Let’s pray!