The Genealogy of Grace

Ephesians 2:11-22

Lets take a moment and recognize two of our bulldogs who have been working diligently to Lucille Pierce and Carolyn Victorian

Today, we will explore Ephesians 2:11-22 and discover a profound truth about our identity in Christ—a truth that can be summed up in three words: Genealogy of Grace. That’s our title for today. Genealogy traces our roots, our origins, and our heritage. It tells us where we come from, what we're connected to, and who we belong to. Spiritually, through grace, God has rewritten our genealogy. The book of Ephesians is here to help us connect our purpose with God’s purpose by way of Jesus.No longer are we defined by division, alienation, or hostility, but we are brought into one family in Christ Jesus.

Read Ephesians 2:11-13

Ephesians 2:11–13 (NLT)

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. 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. 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.

Point 1: Remember Who You Were(11-12)

Paul starts by reminding the Gentile believers of who they were before they encountered Christ. They were without hope, strangers to God’s promises, and separated from His people. This reflection is not meant to produce shame but to highlight the incredible transformation that grace has brought. Let me give you an illustration. look at the map on the screen.

Have you ever heard of the St. Lawrence Seaway Project. It joins the Ottawa and the St. lawrence together.

Montreal River in Canada is a great river, over 400 miles long. This great river flows into the St Lawrence, which makes even the Ottawa River look small. It carries the water from the Great Lakes, and not only water; ocean-going boats sail to and fro up its seaway. The two rivers have quite different characters. The Ottawa rises in the cold, northern reaches of Quebec and Ontario. The St Lawrence runs along the twisting border between Canada and the United States with a more warmth climate. Once the two rivers have joined together, just upstream from Montreal, they are simply known as the St Lawrence seaway. They do not become the St Lawrence/Ottawa River. The noble river from the north is subsumed into the larger one from the west. If someone were to paddle a canoe downstream along the Ottawa River, once it had joined the St Lawrence they wouldn’t be able to say that they were still really on the Ottawa. They would have joined the mainstream. The peculiar thing about what Paul says in this passage is that what must have looked to his readers to be the vastly greater and wider river has joined a far smaller one – but it’s the smaller one that gives its name to the river that now continues with the two streams merged into one. teake for example when two people decide to get married, they sit down and look at all their assest and determine what the best way to join, give away and sale. When you decide where to live, you would think its best to move into the house over the apartment. But here Paul is saying

The great, wide river is the worldwide company of Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations stretching across the world and back in time, including the glories of classical Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and the rest of the many-splendoured globe. The smaller river is the single family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, described here as ‘the community of Israel’. Shock of shocks, God Hand picks an old, childless couple, Abraham and Sarah, and promises to make them into a great nation and bless the entire world through them! However, God‘s chosen family often fails to live as He commands. The Old Testament stories feature men and women who sometimes turn their hearts towards God, but other times turn their backs on him. Kingdoms and rulers rise and crumble the curse of the sin is not broken. Then, after the last book of the Old Testament nearly 4 centuries past the people of God find themselves at the mercy of foreign powers. They wonder what about all those divine promises of a glorious future where is the Messiah that prophets talked about? Through Jesus, somehow, in the strange mapping system that God has chosen to operate, he now adds Gentiles and Jews to become unified through Jesus, the Messiah.

And, as the river continues on its way, it bears not only the name of Israel but also the hope that flows from the covenants of the promise made with the Israelite patriarchs. Not only so. As well as the hope, they now have – God! Paul, quite remarkably, describes them in their former state as having no God: the word he uses in verse 12 is the word from which we get our word ‘atheists’. An atheist is someone who does not believe in a god or gods. The word "atheist" comes from the Greek word atheos, which means "godless

This is ironic, because that’s what Gentiles used to call Jews, and then came to call Christians as well, since neither Jews nor Christians had statues of their gods. In the early centuries of the Christian era, both Jews and Gentiles often accused each other of being "atheists" due to differing religious views and practices. This term was not used in the modern sense (disbelief in any deity), but rather as a way of discrediting religious beliefs that didn't align with their own. Applications If we come across someone who does not believe what we believe what do we label them. Finish my sentence, if you don’t believe what Kamila Harris is saying then you must be a Republican

Paul, boldly standing on the same ground as Jewish writers of the same period, declares that the pagan gods are not non-gods. Those who think they worship them are worshiping something that doesn’t exist. At the same time, he’s just as emphatic that those who define themselves by the state of their male members – in other words, Jews who regard their circumcision as the ultimate badge of covenant membership – are equally out of line. Don’t worry, verse 11 implies, about the so-called ‘circumcision’ that likes to call you the ‘uncircumcision’. Circumcision, after all, is something that human beings make with their hands – which is what Jewish writers used to say about pagan idols!

2 Corinthians 5:1, which says, "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens

Point 2: Recognize Who You Are Now(13-18)

In verses 13-18, Paul transitions to our present reality: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (v. 13). Through Christ’s sacrifice, we are no longer strangers and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of His household. Grace has torn down the dividing wall of hostility and made us one in Christ.

Paul is claiming the high ground. Those who belong to the Messiah are the new people of God. At this point, the illustration of the rivers, like most illustrations, breaks down. It isn’t just that one stream is merged without trace into the other. Nor is it just that the new river is simply a combination of the two. It is as though, from that point, the whole river takes on a new and different character.

Paul now shows that this coming together of Jew and Gentile in the one family is achieved – as is almost everything else in his theology – through the cross of Jesus the Messiah. This has brought the pagans close in, from being far away (verse 13). It has torn down the barrier that used to stand between the two families (verse 14). It has abolished the Jewish law, the Torah – not in the sense that God didn’t give it in the first place, but in the sense that the Jewish law had, as one of its main first-century uses, the keeping apart of Jew and Gentile (verse 15). The hostility that existed between the two groups was killed on the cross (verse 16). Paul probably didn’t have in mind the way in which Herod and Pilate became friends at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion (Luke 23.12), but that little story makes the point well. The point of it all, as he says in verse 15, was to create a single new humanity in place of the two. Today’s church may no longer face the question of the integration of Jews and Gentiles into a single family, though there are places where that is still a major issue. But we face, quite urgently, the question which Paul would insist on as a major priority. If our churches are still divided in any way along racial or cultural lines, he would say that our gospel, our very grasp of the meaning of Jesus’ death, is called into question.

Consider a true story: There was a man named John who grew up with a deep sense of rejection, feeling like he never truly belonged anywhere. Then one day, he encountered the love of Jesus, and everything changed. He found a church community where he was welcomed as family. When John looked around at the congregation, he realized something remarkable—people from different races, backgrounds, and walks of life, all worshipping together as one family. This unity, this sense of belonging, was a visible testimony of the genealogy of grace. Do you feel a sense of belonging?

Point 3: Realize Who You Are Becoming(19-22)

In the final verses, Paul describes what God is building—a holy temple where His Spirit dwells. We are not just individual believers saved by grace, but a community being built together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord. Our genealogy of grace not only changes us individually but also corporately. Together, we become a dwelling place for God. Think of a mosaic. A mosaic is made up of many broken pieces, each one different in shape, color, and size. Yet when they are placed together by a skilled artist, they form a beautiful and cohesive image. God, as the master artist, takes our broken pieces and unites us in Christ, forming a magnificent picture of His grace and glory.The genealogy of grace changes everything. We have gone from strangers to family, from enemies to heirs. Outlaws to in-laws. We are now one people, united in Christ, being built into a spiritual house where God’s presence dwells. Let’s remember who we were, recognize who we are now, and realize who we are becoming. Through grace, God is writing a new story in each of our lives.

1. What are some areas in your life where you need to embrace your new identity in Christ?

2. How does the unity of believers serve as a testimony of God’s grace to the world?

3. In what ways can you contribute to building the spiritual house that God is creating?

Genealogy of Grace. By Julian of Norwich

Rightfulness has two qualities; it is right, and it is full. Such are all the works of God. They lack neither mercy nor grace, for they are altogether right, and nothing is lacking in them.

Julian of Norwich (English Spiritual Writer)

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of grace that has redefined our identity. We remember who we were—far from You and without hope. But now, through the blood of Christ, we have been brought near, reconciled, and made one in Him. Help us to live out our new identity as Your children, embracing unity and being built together into a holy temple where Your Spirit dwells. May we reflect Your love and grace to a world in need of hope. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.