The Promised Reconciler

Prayer

Separation (The Brokenness of Sin)

I’m assuming that most of you have heard about the tragic shooting, the massacre, that took place at Bondi Beach in Australia. If you haven’t, it was two men, a father and son, who shot repeatedly into a crowd of people who were there for a celebration marking the 1st night of Hanukah, killing 15 of them, ages 10 to 87. Hard to fathom the level of hatred, of animus, that would drive you to simply pick up a gun and start shooting people at random simply because they are different from you. Not because those people have done you any harm, but simply because they practice a different faith (in this case, radical Islam versus Judaism). That mass shooting is an extreme example of one of the saddest consequences of sin - separation. To kill someone is the ultimate in separation, you cannot separate more than death.

We see separation as a consequence right from the beginning of human existence, as soon as sin enters in with Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God. As we talked about last week, they hid from God, they avoided him, they separated themselves from him. And then they did the same to each other, pointing the finger of blame, Adam at Eve, Eve at the serpent. Right from the beginning, relationships were breaking apart.

Their story ends with God removing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, from paradise. Because of their sin, because they were now stained by sin, they - and this is true for us, too - could not be in full relationship with a holy and perfect God. Our disobedience always inhibits this. You can’t have a full, loving, trusting relationship with God if you are in rebellion against him. When we choose ourselves, our ways, over him, we separate ourselves. We can no longer be fully with God.

It doesn’t take long to see how terribly our sin has caused separation, has distanced us from God and from one another - we are a long way away from the perfect loving relationships that we were created to be in. We were made to walk with the Lord, to be with him. As well as with each other.

Hostility, such as radical Islamists against Jews, is just one terrible example. And there is literally a wall of separation between those peoples - if you go to the West Bank, to area of Judea and Samaria, there is a thirty-foot concrete wall, that separates that area from Israel. If you have to go through a heavily guarded security gate if you want to visit Bethlehem, to go, ironically, to visit the Church of the Nativity, the place where it’s believed that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was born.

Let me be clear, I’m not saying that all walls are bad - they can be a necessary protective barrier. But they demonstrate the brokenness of our world, either our efforts to protect ourselves from possible evil, or simply to keep out undesirables. People we want to separate ourselves from. These walls can be as expansive as a border wall, or as personal as a fence between bickering neighbors.

Sadly enough, this separation exists within families. You may have experienced this yourself - family members, parents and children, or siblings, who haven’t spoken in years. Some of this may be from slowly drifting apart - other times it’s because of hostility, a fight erupted that broke the ties. Separation can even exist within the same household - spouses who rarely talk to each other and use the walls in the house to separate themselves from each other, staying in different rooms.

This brings us to our last promise we see fulfilled in the person of Jesus, the child born to us. Over the season of Advent, we’ve been looking at all the promises of God that are fulfilled in Jesus. This is what we celebrate at Christmas, that this Jesus came to save us from all the different ways that, as expressed in the song, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear “the world has suffered long”. Jesus came to save us from our suffering.

We started in our first week of Advent looking at Jesus as the promised King, the one who would take the government on his shoulders, and rule over us, establishing a kingdom that will last forever, a Kingdom of peace and righteousness and justice.

Two weeks ago we looked at Jesus as the Promised Savior, the one who would rescue us from our sin, from the deepest layers of our sin - that unconscious sin, those hidden motivations, and from our attachments, those idolatries, the things we’ve been clinging to because we foolishly believe that they will give us life. This is what Jesus saves us from, bringing us instead healing and freedom and life.

Last week we looked at Jesus as the Promised Light, recognizing that we are a people living in deep darkness, under the power of Satan, ensnared by evil, by lies. Jesus comes as the true light that gives light to everyone. And he invites us to come into the light, into goodness and righteousness and truth.

This morning, we’ll take a look at Jesus as the Promised Reconciler, the one who came to be with us - so that we might be with God and with one another, no longer separated. We saw this promise in the Gospel of Matthew, right after the angel’s visit to Joseph, telling him about the child his betrothed was carrying. Matthew 1:22-23, All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

We’ve seen God demonstrate that he is rightly over us, Jesus as the Promised King. And we’ve seen how God is absolutely for us, Jesus as the Promised Savior and as the Promised Light. Here, we see God’s desire to be with us, Jesus coming to us as the Promised Reconciler, as Immanuel, God with us. So we no longer have to be separated, so that we can be with him.

Drawing Near to God

Paul speaks exactly to his in the second chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, how it is Jesus who has brought us - we who were separated, far away - near to God and near to one another.

Ephesians 2:12-13 -  ...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.

Paul’s point - don’t forget, you used to be separated from Jesus. You were excluded, on the outs, with no way in. Then that phrase, it’s a rough one - without hope and without God in the world. All alone. But now, in Jesus, through him, through his blood, you who once were far away have been brought near. Reconciled to God. We can now be with him, with the one who came to be with us, Immanuel.

But Paul goes on to describe how this reconciling work is not just between us and God, but between us and others as well. Listen to Ephesians 2:14-16: For he (Jesus) 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.

Now Paul here is talking specifically of the division between Jew and Gentile, about the wall of hostility that divided them. But his reconciling work destroys all barriers. In Jesus, we can have peace with each other. As Paul writes, that was his very purpose, to make one new united humanity out of the two. all of us reconciled to God through the cross. The separation is broken as we gather together at the foot of the cross.

Paul’s point is this, as we experience Jesus’ forgiveness, we can offer that to offers. As we recognize that we have been saved not because we were so good ourselves, but because of the grace of Jesus Christ. Because we stand in the grace of Christ, we can acknowledge our own wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness. Rather than live in the dynamic of “I’m right, you’re wrong,” or “I’m the innocent one here, this is all your fault” we can offer grace to each other.

And because of that, because of Jesus, dividing walls can come down. Marriages healed. Family fights ended. Church conflicts lovingly resolved. Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will toward men - that’s the Promise of Christmas, the birth of the Promised Reconciler.

Paul offers a beautiful picture of what that looks like at the end of this passage, but before we read that part, it’s helpful to get some historical context for what Paul is writing here in regards to the temple. In the temple area, there was the main sanctuary, within that space, the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies. This was the place that God’s presence was represented by the ark of the covenant. Only the high priest could enter there, only once a year on the Day of Atonement, after having made sacrifices for his sins and the sins of the people.

Outside that main sanctuary was the court of the women, because women were not allowed to go all the way into the main area, that was reserved for Jewish men. Beyond the court of the women was the court of the Gentiles. It was so abhorrent for a Gentile, a non-Jew, to go past the court of the Gentiles, that if they entered further into the temple area, they could be put to death. They’ve actually found stone blocks from the temple area warning exactly that. This was the only occasion in which the Jews had the legal right under Roman rule to execute someone.

Another point - Paul was writing the letter to the Ephesians from prison - he had been imprisoned because he was falsely accused of bringing a Gentile into the restricted area, past the wall of separation. Gives you a sense of how deep that dividing wall of hostility went.

So, this is how Paul finishes his teaching here about Jesus and his reconciling work in verses 19-22: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,  20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

You’re not foreigner or strangers any more. You no longer excluded, you’re in. Fellow citizens. Part of the household. And then he turns to this temple language, except now the temple is not a building made of stones, the temple is the people of God, all those - Jews and Gentiles - who have been reconciled to God and to each other through Jesus.

Temple built on the foundation of the apostles, Jesus himself the cornerstone. It’s in him the whole building comes together, a big, beautiful, holy temple in the Lord. It’s here, among his people, unified, as one, that God chooses to dwell. The Holy Spirit doesn’t simply dwell in each of us personally, he dwells in us corporately, as one body, together. That’s the amazing hope of the Kingdom of God.

So, knowing that Jesus has done all this, all this smashing of barriers, reconciling us to God and to others, what are we to do? The answer is simple: Draw near. Get close. Be with God as he is with us, Immanuel. Listen to Hebrews 10:19-22: Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Notice again that we have temple imagery - it’s an invitation to enter into the Most Holy Place, into the very presence of God. Before only the high priest could, and then, only once a year. But now, it’s wide open, opened up by Jesus, we enter through him. He is the curtain, his body. That’s a reference, of course, to his death, his dying on the cross, taking our sins, being the sacrifice himself, so our sin, our stain, no longer prevents us from being with God. That wall of separation has been torn down.

Because that’s true, as it says here, let’s draw near. The writer of Hebrews is saying, “What are you waiting for, let’s go be with Jesus” (which is the first goal of being an apprentice of Jesus). I can’t help but think of that lesson I learned years ago from Grover on Sesame Street, difference between near and far (clomping his way back and forth, “this is near”...”this is far”...We want to be near. Let’s do it!

And do it with confidence. We don’t have to hesitate, wondering if it’s alright. Does he want me to? Is it ok to? I’ve been messing up a lot lately. I don’t know, I just don’t feel right about it. NO! Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance, absolutely confident - because we trust and believe that in Jesus we are forgiven. Washed clean. No more guilty conscience. Draw near to God in the same way that we draw near to anyone we know and trust their love for us - I don’t hesitate when I see my family members, when I see you - no, draw near!

To that point, it’s not just draw near to God, but to one another: Hebrews 10:24-25,  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Notice the underlying assumption, we are meant to be together, to keep meeting together, that should be our habit, what we do regularly. We don’t want to give that up.

The reason we don’t want to give that up is so we can impact each other for the good. We can encourage one another (like we did on Wednesday night, at our Christmas Celebration Dinner, that was awesome!). We can spur one another on toward love and good deeds. When relationships are good, when they are at their best, that’s what happens, we impact each other for the good. We help each other become better - better followers of Jesus, better friends, better neighbors, better husbands, wives, parents, and on it goes.

This is what Jesus came to do, what we celebrate at Christmas, he is Immanuel, God with us. He came to die, so that those dividing walls could be torn down - and we could be with him and with one another in beautiful community.

Spiritual Practice - whole purpose of what we encourage on a regular basis, engaging in spiritual practices, is to be with Jesus. Or, as we’ve been talking about here this morning, to draw near to God. To be with Jesus as he came to be with us - our Immanuel. So let me challenge you two ways this morning, two ways to put this into practice, this ministry of reconciliation.

One, as we approach the end of 2025, to reflect on the Rule of Life you put together. How has it been working? Do you need to make adjustments (add, subtract, modify)? And if you haven’t put one together, do so! Make a plan to draw near to God. Jesus paid a heavy price to make it possible, because he knew this was the only way for us to experience full, forever life. At the very least, daily time alone with Jesus in prayer and Scripture.

Second, as way to practice Community, seek reconciliation. If there’s a broken relationship in your life, an ongoing conflict, tension, seek to be reconciled. Seek forgiveness. Humbly ask for forgiveness for your role in the conflict. If you hold hostility in your heart (resentment, envy), bring that to Jesu. Seek his forgiveness. As much as you can, live at peace with others.