Enduring in Unity

Texans believe that everyone who is not from Texas is a Yankee. When you live in Savannah, you come to learn that unless you are born in Savannah (and probably for many generations), you will never really be from Savannah. We are prone to divide ourselves from one another in big and small ways.

· This is not a quality unique to the U.S., but a tendency that is at the heart of humanity.

· Paul continues to explain the new reality of the Ephesians because of the saving work of Jesus Christ.

· He has just finished explaining the resurrection they have experienced by the grace of God, but now he will turn to examine the former state of the Ephesians more closely.

· He will give particular attention to their state as Gentiles.

· The ancient world was a deeply divided place.

o The Greeks considered all non-Greeks to be barbarians.

o The Romans judged themselves superior to every other culture (and if you disagreed, the Legions would be happy to educate you).

o The Jews considered non-Jews (Gentiles) to be dogs.

o And Pagans considered the Jews and Christians to be anti-social atheists.

· The problems of racism, social snobbery, political elitism, and religious discrimination are not new.

· Paul has already introduced the idea that God’s redemptive work in human history was to unite all things to Himself in Christ.

o God promised that one day He would remove all divisions and restore unity to His creation in an age of universal blessing.

· We must understand that the Ephesians are Gentiles and not Jewish, because the vast majority of us come from such a background according to the flesh.

· Ephesians 2:11–13 (ESV)

Ephesians 2:11–13 ESV

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

· Therefore, Paul is adding to his previous statement about the Ephesians' former fallenness in sin and the grace that they have received.

· Chapters 1-3 of Ephesians are given almost completely over to what God’s redemptive work indicates to the Ephesians about who they are in Christ.

o Here in 2:11, we have a lone imperative, a command. Remember.

§ Remember who you were before God intervened in your life.

· The Ephesians were Gentiles, a category of people that included everyone who was not of the nation of Israel. Direct descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel.

o The Israelites were primarily not by their ethnic make-up, but by the practice of covenant circumcision that marked them as God’s chosen people according to the covenants that He had made with Israel through Abraham and Moses.

· Thus, they considered everyone else with hostility, calling them “the uncircumcised” as a derogatory term.

· However, Paul subtly indicates a leveling of the playing field, because the circumcision of Israel was made in the flesh, indicating that there was a greater scope to this practice that had eluded the Israelites.

· Jeremiah 9:25–26 (ESV)

Jeremiah 9:25–26 ESV

25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”

· Nevertheless, Israel enjoyed unique privileges as God’s people.

· Romans 9:4–5 (ESV)

Romans 9:4–5 ESV

4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

· Being a Gentile was of no benefit when it came to a relationship with God.

o Paul lays out several deficiencies that they had in contrast the the relative blessedness of Israel.

· Separated from Christ—

§ This is not to say that Israel was in Christ.

§ But they had been given several promises that God would one day send a Messiah to deliver Israel.

· Gentiles had no such hope in these promises.

· So, the Gentile who was aware of their sinfulness would have no answer for how they could possibly be delivered from their sin.

· Alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel—

o The Israelites had enjoyed certain privileges as God’s chosen people, including the promises regarding the land.

o Gentiles would have only the knowledge that they were not God’s chosen people and had no part in such a nation. Forever foreigners to God’s country.

· Strangers to the covenants of promise—

o Israel enjoyed nothing more precious than their covenant with God.

§ It was through the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants that Israel could be assured of a relationship with God…particularly through the regular temple practices.

· It was through the Temple sacrifices that the Israelites could be assured of the forgiveness of their sins and of their ongoing fellowship with God.

· Having no hope and without God in the world—

o In summary, the Gentiles were adrift and apart from God and from any hope of being in a right relationship/fellowship with God. Hopelessness and Alienation set apart the Gentiles more than anything.

· All that was in the past for the Gentiles, but now everything is different.

o In Jesus Christ, Gentile sinners have been brought near, fulfilling the promises given in Isaiah 57:19 (ESV)

Isaiah 57:19 ESV

19 creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.

Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him.

o This reversal allows Gentiles to be included in the commonwealth’s privileges and the covenant relationship.

The amazing work of Jesus Christ is not purely in the fact that Gentiles enter into a saving relationship with God, but that it points to an even greater reality, one that changes the world as we know it.

· Ephesians 2:14–18 (ESV)

Ephesians 2:14–18 ESV

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 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, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

· Jesus doesn’t just bring peace; He is peace.

o Peace, as a biblical concept, has to do with the idea of shalom. (wholeness/fullness of life)

o This peace was broken in the fall, and alienation and separation took its place.

· When Jesus came, His message was centered upon Himself.

o John collects this message into his “I am” statements:

§ I am the bread of God

§ I am the light of the world

§ I am the good shepherd

§ I am the resurrection and the life

§ I am the way, the truth, and the life

§ I am the true vine

o Jesus preached that He was the answer to the needs of sinners.

· Matthew 11:28–29 (ESV)

Matthew 11:28–29 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Controversially, Jesus didn’t call people to a pattern of life, a program, or a philosophy, but rather to abide in Him. To be united to Him.

· So, the believer’s being united to Christ has some amazing add-on consequences.

· First, that Jew and Gentile are made one in Christ: what does this mean?

· The dividing wall of hostility: I could not understate the level of hatred between Jew and Gentile that was the status quo in the 1st century cannot be understated.

o There was a literal and a spiritual wall between the people.

o The Temple complex at the time of the writing of Ephesians included many concentrically oriented courts.

§ The standard temple courts (Holy of Holies, the Priests Court, the Outer Courts) were only accessible by the people of Israel.

§ Outside the main temple grounds was a larger court called the court of the Gentiles.

§ A 4.5-foot-thick wall separated the outer courts from the Gentiles.

§ A sign was posted around the outside of the wall to warn the Gentiles from entering.

No foreigner is to enter with the railing and enclosure around the temple. Whoever is caught shall have himself to blame for his consequent death.

o This physical separation reinforced the spiritual separation that the Gentiles had from the relationship with God that the Israelites enjoyed (and took for granted).

§ After all, their covenant was not supposed to instill a sense of self-righteousness in them, but humility (The Pharisee and the Tax Collector).

· They should have realized that God’s purpose in Abraham was to bless all the earth.

· But they had not understood this, and misunderstood their separation from the world as a source of hostility and became proud and disdainful towards everyone else.

§ And so, even a God-fearing Gentile was excluded from offering sacrifices to God at the place of His dwelling.

· But Jesus Christ has torn down the walls that hindered the Gentiles from coming to God and has invited those who are near (Israel) and far (Gentile) to draw near by faith.

o There is an absolute unity and equality before God in Jesus Christ, as people come together to worship the Savior at the foot of the cross.

· How did Jesus tear down the wall?

o By abolishing the law—wait, didn’t Jesus say?

· Matthew 5:17–18 (ESV)

Matthew 5:17–18 ESV

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

o 😉 You are wise indeed…no, the Law has not been rendered useless.

§ Jesus fulfilled the moral law of God, which applies at all times in all places for us.

· So there is no more need of temple sacrifices.

§ Jesus abolished the law as expressed in ordinances.

· The old ceremonial law is expressed by the food laws, Sabbath restrictions, and circumcision.

o Jesus abolished the ordinances that separated Israel and the Gentiles.

§ Holiness before the Lord is no longer on the basis of outward obedience, but upon inward faith.

· Bringing about a horizontal and a vertical result.

o First, he has created one man in the place of two.

§ No longer is there Jew and Gentile, but something new…a Christian.

o Second, he has reconciled us in one body to God through the cross.

§ We are united by the common faith we have in our one savior, and are made right before God as one new people.

Reconciliation in the world is made possible by the reconciliation made by Jesus Christ on the cross, where vastly different people become one body, the church.

· We know this is true because Jesus came and preached peace to both Israel and the Gentiles.

o Both in his life, and through the work of the Holy Spirit inspiring the apostles’ teaching.

· Jesus may have never physically walked the streets of Ephesus, but in His body (the Church), He did.

o Because Jesus is the message of the church.

The gospel is a message of peace; an end to hostilities and a return to good relations with God and with one another.

The church has been a part of this delegation ever since.

· 2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV)

2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

· Why can this peace exist? Because we all have access in Christ to the Father by one Spirit. (Trinitarian redemption)

o Jew and Gentile do not have different access to God, but equal and full access through the unity we have in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Having established the grounds for peace, Paul proceeds to explain the implications of the new man.

· Ephesians 2:19–22 (ESV)

Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

· So then, indicates that Paul is explaining the logical consequences of the reconciliatory work of Jesus Christ for the Gentile Ephesians as a part of the new body of Christ.

· No longer strangers/aliens, but fellow citizens.

o They may fully partake of the covenant promises of God.

§ They have become fully “super-naturalized” citizens in the kingdom of God, in the place of the previous physical citizenship enjoyed by only the Israelites in the Old Covenant (connected to the land, Temple, and tribes of Israel).

God’s people are not identified with a particular nation or country. We are now an international, interracial, multicultural kingdom.

· No longer sojourners/foreigners, but members of the household of God.

o They enjoy the rights and privileges of family members.

§ The Christian is an adopted child of God (Eph. 1:5).

o In this, every Christian has confidence in the Father’s good disposition towards his children, as well as His protection and provision.

Christians should welcome one another as beloved family, for nothing preaches a clearer witness of the gospel than the way we love one another.

· The foundation of the church is illustrative of the new unity of the church: the apostles and the prophets.

o The authoritative and normative teaching of the Old and New Testament writers, which is derived from divine revelation (God’s Word).

The church is built on the message of salvation promised in God’s Word (both Old and New Testaments).

· Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. This picture is introduced in Isaiah 28:16 (ESV)

Isaiah 28:16 ESV

16 therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

o The cornerstone is the most important stone in the foundation of a building.

§ It bears the weight of everything on it, and it ties the walls together.

o Paul is crystal clear about the importance of Jesus’s message: 1 Corinthians 3:11 (ESV)

1 Corinthians 3:11 ESV

11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the anchor of the foundation that is built upon by the apostles and prophets through their oral and written proclamation, which is the gospel.

When a church drifts from Jesus’s atonement of and victory over our sin, it will become unmoored and will become adrift in the world, “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

The church stands or falls on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

· The believer is a citizen and a family member, but also a living stone in God’s new temple.

o This contains two senses of growth in the church.

o We are built up, indicating spiritual growth in holiness and righteousness and love for God and one another.

o But this temple is not yet complete…this indicates that there is growth in numbers…as new stones are added and the temple grows toward completion.

We are meant to grow in both ways. This means we need to keep our eyes on the work of disciple-making (evangelism and discipleship).

· Paul completes this passage by indicating that the Gentile Ephesians have become something very special indeed, the dwelling place of God.

· Under the old covenant, there was a specific place where God made His presence to dwell in the midst of His people (the Tabernacle first, then the Temple).

o In the New Covenant, God makes His dwelling place in the hearts of His people, the Christians by His Holy Spirit.

The church is universal and eternal. It transcends all barriers (including space and time)

· And so, the Ephesians, once Christ-less, homeless, friendless, hopeless, and godless, have now become:

o Citizens in God’s kingdom.

o Members of God’s family.

o Together, the dwelling place of God.

· We need to make a practice of remembering more.

o God’s people were commanded to remember their past slavery in Egypt and how God had delivered them because it should have taught them to be humble and faithful.

o So too are we instructed to remember our former situation, that we were once separated from the God who created us, but have been brought into fellowship with Him by grace.

In a world that focuses so much on the future (politics, eschatology, etc.) we are called to slow down and reflect on God’s faithfulness to us in the past.

In God’s past faithfulness to us, we learn better how to trust him in the future.

· We are now reconciled and reconciling people.

· Reconciliation is central to the continuing work of God in His church and toward the world.

· We need to understand the basis for all reconciliation is found in Jesus Christ alone.

o We are at peace with God by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

o We are made one new people in His flesh.

o We find this peace at the foot of the cross.

Without peaceful relations with God, we will always ultimately fail at fostering peace in all other relationships.

We recently bore witness to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. This event has contributed to an increasing sense of tension and conflict in the country.

But as people wonder whether peace and cooperation are still possible in such a divided country, I would like to draw your attention to what took place at his memorial.

His wife, Erika, took the stage to speak, and in a moment that will go down in history, she publicly forgave her husband’s murderer.

She was able to do this because, as she said, it is what Jesus Christ did for her, and what her husband (a Christian man) would do.

We will not be able to overcome the varied strife that divides us apart from being rooted in the great work of reconciliation that Jesus Christ undertook for us.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only message that can bring peace to the world.

In Jesus Christ, all people become one.

· Galatians 3:28 (ESV)

Galatians 3:28 ESV

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

· 1 Corinthians 12:13 (ESV)

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

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.

· Colossians 3:11 (ESV)

Colossians 3:11 ESV

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

And in the new creation, Christ’s peacemaking work will be vindicated in us.

· Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV)

Revelation 7:9–10 ESV

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

So, the mission before us is clear. Go and engage the lost; be bold and contend for the faith in love for those who God would be at peace with….those who are far off.

The gospel applies to all people, at all times, and in all places.

Where the world would divide people on the basis of race, class, creed, etc., Jesus proclaims peace in him and invites all people to come to him and become one in worshiping Him.

· Revelation 5:9 (ESV)

Revelation 5:9 ESV

9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

Often, the local church doesn’t reflect the reality of the Revelation 5 church because barriers to entry are thrown up that make people feel like less than fully integrated members.

As we preach peace to those who are far off. We must beware of preaching a false gospel by actively or passively holding other Christians at arm’s length.

Jesus has brought us near and has entrusted us to be his ambassadors her in Spring Lake, to make peace with others and bring them the message of peace with God through His Son.

· Isaiah 52:7a (ESV)

Isaiah 52:7 ESV

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation,

Enduring in Unity

Introduction

Context

Remember Your Former Alienation (Eph. 2:11-13)

United Through Peace with God (Eph 2:14-18)

United in One Church (Eph. 2:19-22)

Conclusion