Remember, Remember!

Illustration

Remember, remember the 5th of November. An English nursery rhyme told to children to help them remember an infamous event. The first weekend of November is called “bonfire Night” or Guy Fawkes night, and all around the English country people gather to let off fireworks and have bon fires to commemorate Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up Parliament.

Interestingly Fawkes wanted to blow up parliament in an attempt to bring Catholic rule back into the government and the work to translate the new Authorized Version or King James Bible was the final straw that lead to this wicked plot to destroy parliament a kill the king.

Remember, remember, the 5th of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament

Three score barrels of powder below

Poor old England to overthrow

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match

Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring

Holler boys, holler boys

God save the King!

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November.

Talk about divine intervention.

This story really doesn’t have a direct connection to the passage we are going to read, but like I spoke a few weeks ago, God wants us to remember some very important things. In Ephesians 2 Paul wrote urging the readers to remember some very important things about their life.

Let’s get into our Text.

Our text is Ephesians 2:14-18

Like Zach, I’d like to read the previous verses for context.

Also note Paul wrote “Remember” twice.

listen for emphasized words

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Structure of Ephesians (reminder)

I talked about these things a few weeks ago, so just a reminder.

Ephesians is a letter from Paul to the churches in Asia Minor, so the entire letter in read as a continuous thought.

This is why you see a conjunction, therefore, but, now, in every passage connecting it to the previous passage.

The letter starts off with a long list of the blessings that come along with salvation, then Pauls prayer for the saints.

The theme of the letter is Reconciliation, but Paul lays it out like this

What you were before Christ

What Christ did

What you are now.

and you will see this repeated theme as we journey through the letter.

We are in Ch. 2:14-18 What Christ did.

Let’s dig into the text

He is our Peace

Christ brought peace between, not only Jew and Gentile, but also peace between mankind and Himself

The word Gentile is ethnos, where we get the word ethnicity. The word implies nations that are not Israel.

He broke the dividing wall of hostility

this phrase is used only once in scripture, but the concept is inescapable through out the scriptures.

Mount Sinai

The tabernacle

levitical inner camp and the outer camp

The Temple

holy of holies

inner courtyard

outer courtyard or courtyard of Gentiles

there was a wall separating the Jews and the Gentiles

archaeologists have found 2 stones, one whole and one in fragments. These stones are from Herod’s temple and they have inscribed on them in Latin and Greek

“No foreigner is to go beyond the balustrade and the plaza of the temple zone. Whoever is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his death which will follow.”

that sounds like a wall of hostility!

2 things happened at the moment of the death of Christ.

Go back to the cross

1. Matthew 27:50–51 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”

according to the Mishnah or Jewish encyclopedia

the veil was 60 ft long and 30 ft wide and as thick as man’s palm.

it took 300 men to lift it when it was wet

God tore the veil at 3pm, at the moment of Christ’s death, symbolizing sinners access to God.

2. God brought those who were far (Gentiles) near by breaking down the wall of hostility

Paul wrote “broke down the wall of hostility” as a metaphor for what Christ did on the Cross

But,… it was not just figurative, it was a reality!

God brought Jews and Gentiles together, in one body (the church), in peace toward God

40 years after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, in AD 70 the actual dividing wall between the court of gentiles and inner court was torn down, when the Romans destroyed the Temple.

Remember, Remember!

This text is simple, yet complex. The new Christian can read the text at face value and glean some great understanding, and the mature Christian can keep digging in and find many wonderful treasures.

But what I’d like us to walk away with today is

Remember, Remember!

Remember, what you were,

dead in your trespasses and sins,

you were rebels and failures in the sight of God

separated from God

you had no koinonia, communion with God or His body

you were not part of any covenant with his people

nor did you care to be.

you were DEAD-DEAD, and alienated

you would not, you could not come near to God.

Remember, What God Did,

But now!

Jesus the Christ our redeemer shed His blood

to bring peace to both Jews and Gentiles

He brought us both peace toward Himself

we may now come close, and dwell in Christ, for now we have ACCESS TO THE FATHER

How great a gift, to have access to the Father

BUT, How easy a thing to forget living our day to day lives, that we have communion with God, and with His body (the Church)

How easy to forget the life you were brought into.

I am a Christian now, just easy sailing until the end. I think not.

Because Christ did what He did and is who He is, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Remember, Remember

Who you were and What He Did.

In the New Covenant, Christ gave us Communion, the Lord’s Supper, to have communion with Him in fellowship of the Church.

call Mary to play communion music