week 5: Unity In Him

Intro:

Hey everybody good to be with you tonight. If we don’t know each other my name is Zach Honnen. I am the student and young adult Director here at The River grand Blanc.

It’s great to be here with you tonight… I just have a handful of announcements before we jump into everything

Announcements:

Family Night Out: Feb 22nd

This Sunday will be our family night out. This is a great opportunity just to connect with the church body. The grand Blanc location will be going to galaxy lanes grand Blanc lanes or roller Haven so whichever works for you would love to see you there.

Mens Retreat:

The men’s retreat is coming up at the beginning of May… This is a great opportunity to connect with other men in the church and learn what it means to be a biblical Man.

But with all that said let’s jump into things…

Over the last couple weeks we’ve been going through Ephesians today if you have your Bibles, we’re gonna be in Ephesians chapter 2 looking at verse 11

Last week, Josh Peterson, brought the word and talked through the biggest but in the Bible… Or Paul says about God being rich and mercy

We talked about the grace and the mercy and love of God last week

But tonight we will be talking about the unity of the body of Christ. We will talk about who we once were and who we are now in Christ.…

But before we get into that, I have a question for you guys and you can answer if you’d like…

By raise of hands… Have you ever been far away from someone you love?

Maybe it was the first time you went to a camp without your parents as a kid

Or a long-distance relationship or your significant other goes on a trip

And when you have been far from a loved one How did you feel?

Sad, depressed grieved all those negative emotions may be a little angry, cause you miss someone so much

Now, how did it feel when you were finally able to be together face-to-face give a hug… How did that feel?

It probably felt amazing euphoric and exciting

Maybe you were overwhelmed with joy…

Maybe all your anxiety finally was gone and you were able to have peace because you were near…

Sarah and my Story (Long distance)

For those of you who don’t know my fiancé, Sarah and I started our relationship in a long distance relationship for a good amount of time we would FaceTime every day.

I would visit once in a while. She would visit once in a while.

And because of that, there was this longing for each other, this sadness this wishing we could be together

And then, finally, when we were able to be together when she moved back to Michigan full-time, there was excitement, and just this overwhelming joy…

In our passage, we’re gonna look at this being brought near to Christ

We’re gonna talk about how we were once far off… And how we were brought near

We’re gonna look at who we used to be and who we are now

And how that should affect our lives… And the lives of those around us

But before we get into it, let’s go ahead and pray…

Text:

Ephesians 2:11 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—

Paul is addressing the Ephesians reminding them of their former standing in society… Reminding them of who they are in the flesh

Paul reminds them of this tension that they have between the Jewish religious groups and the rest of the world…

The Gentiles are viewed differently by the Jewish community. The Jewish community considered the Gentiles to be the kindling to be the fuel for the fires of hell.

And the Gentiles viewed the Jews as religious nut cases who were holier than tho

Paul brings up this separation the distance between the Jewish Faith and the Gentile way of life…

When I worked in construction, I worked with a bunch of different guys and one of my coworkers is a part of a motorcycle club

The difference in the way that we live life or the experiences we’ve had were great

He consider himself to be a pagan, worshiping a multiplicity of gods, and I grew up In the church Worshiping one, God

Paul is bringing up and reminding them that there was a tension…

There was this separation, not just between the people between the people and God on both sides

Paul continues in verse 12

Ephesians 2:12 ESV

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.

Before Christ the Gentiles were alienated… separated… unable to reach God they had no access they had no entry point

They were strangers to the covenant promises of God… .And these promises pointed to a coming savior who is Jesus..

Promises that pointed to a savior who would never leave them or forsake them…

The Gentiles did not have this hope…

All they had was idle worship, hedonism, distractions, and sin, and this led to despair…

This led to pain and separation with no hope for tomorrow…

And this is now describing our culture. This is now describing our world.

A world that is numbing itself.

Distracted.

Addicted.

Chasing pleasure.

Avoiding the reality of death.

Our world lives without hope…

This is who we are before Christ this is who we are apart from Christ

But Paul transitions to talking about who the Ephesians are now and who we are now…

You and I at one time lived without hope…

You and I were:

Separated

Alienated

Strangers

Without hope

Without God

Ephesians 2:13 ESV

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

Remember how I talked about when you finally get to be with someone you love and loves you in return…

Have that moment is just amazing it’s fireworks. It’s joy.,,

This is that moment where you’re brought NEAR this is that moment where you’re now face-to-face with the one you’re Soul longs for…

We were at one time separated from Christ with no hope but now we have been brought near by Christ…

Do you remember this?

Do you remember the joy and the peace and the comfort of when he drew near to you and you Drew near to him?

Does that stir you up? (PAUSE)

Does that give you joy? (PAUSE)

I want you to sit in that… I want it to move you (PAUSE)

I want you to remember how good God is to us…

Because if we can’t even understand how much Christ loves us and how much hope he offers us. How can we offer this hope to others...

And I want to remind you that this world that Paul describes with no hope not knowing the name of Christ, not knowing how to be saved not knowing that there is a savior who loves them

Is the same exact world that we live in today…Your brother, your sister, your neighbor who doesn’t know Christ

The person in the grocery store next to you might not know Christ

They do not know there is a savior. They do not know that there is hope. (We Make the assumption that people know who Jesus is and that’s just not true)

In high school I had a coworker who knew nothing about Christ and it caught me off guard to the point where I didn’t know what to say…

Our world needs help our world needs Christ

Do we recognize this?

Romans 10:14 through 15 says this…

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

How will they hear?

When we read the rest of the passage, it describes this beautiful unity this amazing hope, and Amazing Peace…

but will we share that with others???

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.

You and I were far off and have been brought near… And that needs to move us… that can never become tired. It can never become familiar and comfortable.

It must deeply be embedded in our souls, the gratitude and joy that we have in Christ otherwise, we’ll never have any motivation to share Christ with anyone…

I think back to who I have been over the course of my life and when I’m far from Christ every time he brings me back…

The Bible says that he would leave the 99 to save the one to rescue the one who runs away the one who is far off…

This is our hope this is our joy. This is our good news.

That Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross, removing this dividing wall between Jew and Gentile sinner and Saint

We now all have access to God through his spirit.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

Jews and Gentiles, who hated each other can now come together under one name under one spirit who is Christ

And my question is…Will we share this hope with the world will we share this hope with our communities, will we share this hope at the gym at the store anywhere and everywhere

Or will we assume that they already know his name… will we assume that they already know that there’s hope… will we assume that Someone else will do it?

Those who have been brought near… must call to those who are far off…

(REPEAT)

This is our mission. This is our goal to share the gospel.

And maybe you’re in this room and you don’t know Jesus as your savior or maybe you need to be reminded of how to share the gospel here it is…

The gospel is the good news. It is a good news that Jesus lived the perfect life we could not live.

Died the death that we deserve taking the punishment for our wrongdoing upon the cross

And then He rose again, three days later, giving us the gift of eternal life if we repent and believe

Turning away from our old life, turning towards Christ…

In Romans 10:9 it says…

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So if you don’t know, Chris today, turned to him now… And if you want more information on how to do that, please come talk to me

But for the rest of us, we have this Hope… we who were once far off have been brought near.

But my question is Will we look for others who are far off and bring them near?

And maybe you’re in here and you forgotten the joy of what it is to be Near Christ…

If thats you tonight I want to encourage you to remember who you are IN CHRIST… I want you to remember what he’s done for you…

If you feel far off, you’re not alone many in this room feel far off

But in the book of James, it says “Draw near to God and he will draw your to you”

So tonight, as we head into discussion groups, be honest with yourself: do you need to draw near to God? Do you need to share the good news with someone far off?

But with all of that said let’s pray and break up into discussion groups…