Never Saved Alone

Context: Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison in rome. He was arrested for proclaiming what moses and the prophets said came to pass, that the Christ had to suffer and die and be raised from the dead, and that he would proclaim light, not only to the jews but also to the gentiles. This is why Paul says in 3:1 that he is prisoner on behalf of the gentiles. The gentiles of Ephesus who believed what Paul said would have been understandably upset by his arrest. How can what Paul says about the promised messiah of the jews was their messiah If the jews don’t believe him? Do the promises of scripture actually apply to them like paul said or is it only for the Jews? Was the world still divided between Jews and Gentiles? Paul wrote this letter as a circular to all the churches he helped plant in asia, starting with Ephesus to show that the promises of the Old testament are for jews and gentiles, and what that means for them.

Today we too live in a divided nation where our race, economic class, and opinions have separated us into tribes. Saying one thing wrong will get you immediately exiled from the community. our cities are divided by race and by neighborhood. Even our churches are divided. What Martin Luther King said 50 years ago, that sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the US is still true, whether by race, age, socio-economic class, and small theological distinctives. we don’t like worshipping with people who look and think differently from us. We are often isolated from each other: earlier this year, CIGNA did a nationwide survey and found that

When asked how often they feel like no one knows them well, more than half of the respondents (54%) surveyed said they feel that way always or sometimes. • Just under half of all those surveyed report sometimes or always feeling alone (46%) and/or feeling left out (47%). • At least two in five surveyed sometimes or always feel as though they lack companionship (43%), that their relationships are not meaningful (43%), that they are isolated from others (43%), and/or that they are no longer close to anyone (39%).

Being relational is a big part of what makes us human, and yet for many people in our culture, this basic human need is not being met. Does the gospel have anything to say about this? Let us read what paul says in eph 2:11-22

why are we so lonely? What on earth can bring us together?

Let us read what paul says in eph 2:11-22

Big Idea: In Christ we are reconciled together

FCF: we behave like we are still alienated from each other.

Main Point 1: vs 11-12 who we were

Main Point 2: vs 13-18 who we are

Main Point 3: vs 19-22 what we will be

MP1:

what was your condition before coming to Christ? The gentiles in Ephesus came from all over the place! Some were rich, some were poor, some practiced witchcraft, others worshipped artemis in the huge temple, some were slaves and then there were academics from the school paul taught in. Although they all came from all different backgrounds the gentiles in the Ephesian church had one thing in common before knowing Christ, they had all sinned against God and all deserved judgment.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus’ death and resurrection brings forgiveness to you? Unless you are Jewish by birth, you are in the same boat as the gentiles in Ephesus! You are not in any way related to Abraham, what right do you have to sing the children’s song “father Abraham?” What right do we have to the promises that God made to his people through the prophets? What right do we have to pray to God? What right do we have to the hope of eternal life? we have all sinned in terrible ways, what right do we have to grace? What right do we have to the Holy Spirit? What right do we have to call Jesus the messiah? By birth we have all the rights of the children of Adam which because he and we have sinned means we have a right to death and hell!

Every one of us, whether Jew or Gentile has a problem. It’s called sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, their deep relationship with God was broken, and they were cast out of the garden. But in addition to that they sinned against each other and were isolated from each other, from then on there would always be a barrier between people because in our sin we try to destroy someone else to build ourselves up. to this day, sin continues to isolate people from God, and groups from each other, and individuals within that group from each other. before being in Christ, we were not only hopeless before God, we were isolated from each other by the sin of our fathers and our own sin.

God made a covenant with Abraham to begin the process of reconciling all the nations to himself and each other, but by Jesus’ day that covenant was twisted to mean that only those to whom the covenant was given were really people and all others were dogs to be fuel for the fires of hell.

not only are we divided by tribes, but within those tribes we are isolated by shame. One time i was at a concert for a band called the Oh Hellos. one of their songs is called “I was wrong” and it’s about Adam and Eve. The chorus of that song simply repeats “I was wrong and I’m so so sorry.” In that concert hall everybody whether Christian or no was singing along because everyone knows that at least once they were wrong, and they hurt someone and they don’t know what to do with it. everyone feels that burden of being wrong and having broken something or someone, and being unable to make things right. what can fix a broken relationship?

One time i was at a concert for a band called the Oh Hellos. one of their songs is called “I was wrong” and it’s about Adam and Eve. The chorus of that song simply repeats “I was wrong and I’m so so sorry.” In that concert hall everybody whether Christian or no was singing along because everyone knows that at least once they were wrong, and they hurt someone and they don’t know what to do with it. everyone feels that burden of being wrong and having broken something or someone, and being unable to make things right. what can fix a broken relationship?

How many of us have broken a relationship with someone and are afraid to even try to put it back together. How many are afraid to have a deep conversation with your friend in church because if they knew the real you, you are certain they would reject you? How many of you have experienced that betrayal from friends you love and trusted because you did let them in? How often are we afraid to ask for help because we don’t want our brothers and sister to perceive us as weak? How many of us won’t invite our neighbors to church because you don’t think they’d fit in? They look, sound, behave, and smell like someone who doesn’t belong? Brothers and sisters, these things are not the work of the Spirit, but the devil who wants to divide the body of Christ! When you are isolated by sin or shame you are living as if you were still strangers to the covenants of promise. But Paul teaches us a better way by showing us who we are now.

How many of us have broken a relationship with someone and are afraid to even try to put it back together. How many are afraid to have a deep conversation with your friend in church because if they knew the real you, you are certain they would reject you? How many of you have experienced that betrayal from friends you love and trusted because you did let them in? How often are we afraid to ask for help because we don’t want our brothers and sister to perceive us as weak? How many of us won’t invite our neighbors to church because you don’t think they’d fit in? They look, sound, behave, and smell like someone who doesn’t belong to our church? Brothers and sisters, these things are not the work of the Spirit, but the devil who wants to divide the body of Christ! When you are isolated by sin or shame you are living as if you were still strangers to the covenants of promise. But Paul teaches us a better way by showing us who we are now.

MP2:

For you who trust in Christ, that is no longer who you are! Paul teaches us that the blood of Christ does not only reconcile us to God, but to each other. Ephesian 2:1-10 teaches us how Christ by his death and resurrection brought about forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God, but Jesus did not come only to reconcile us to God. Sometimes when we think about salvation we think about it as being just between me and God. I need to believe in my own personal Lord and Savior and I will go to heaven. While this is true, no one can believe for you, no one is ever saved alone, you are saved into a family.

In Paul’s day the world was divided between Jew and Gentile. In those days the law demanded that all of God’s people be set apart by what they ate, how they dressed, how they worshipped, keeping the sabbath, and the act of circumcision. These were to show the watching world what a holy and righteous God the God of Israel is. But they became a point of pride and an excuse to separate themselves from everyone who was different from them. They even built a wall on the temple mount which kept all gentiles from approaching the Holy place. On this wall was written in Greek and latin:

“No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure round the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death”

That is quite the dividing wall of hostility. But Paul teaches us that this dividing wall was torn down by Christ. Jew and Gentile alike are united with Christ, and because of that we are all made completely clean through the death and resurrection of Christ, there is now no cultural boundary that separates us from one another, we are all on equal footing before God, because God does not look at our record and family history, he looks at his son. And together the Jews and gentiles, white people and black people, rich and poor, Bulgarians and Americans, were reconciled to God by being united with Christ on the cross. All our sin was paid for, all our shame is taken away, we are now one people.

And notice that this was not just a work of the son but of the whole trinity, in verse 18 we are told that Through Christ, all of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. The entire Trinity is united in the purpose of crafting a people from every tribe tongue and nation. Because we are united to Christ, the promises that were fulfilled in Christ ie all the promises of the Old Testament are given to us. You are now a child of Abraham! The Story of the exodus is your story, David is your king, and you can cheer his victory of Goliath. We are now the people of God, and the story of his people is our story.

You gentiles are no longer defined by your bloodline, you are defined by the blood of Christ. Whatever your struggles are and whatever your glory is, they no longer define you. Whether you were the smartest person in your family, the most athletic person in your family, or whether you always knew you were the disappointing one, your glory and shame do not define you in the family of God. Wether you were a doctor, professor, thief or prostitute, you are as much a member of the family of God. No matter what anyone tries to hold against you your shame has been taken away by the blood of Christ, you are set free and are fully part of this community. And no matter what you try to hold against others, your right to boast has been taken away by the blood of Christ, you must recognize others as being fully part of your community. If you would be free from guilt and shame and judgment, you are relying on the right savior. If you would rather hold on to your pride and your social station, you are in the wrong place.

You are united in Christ with the rich and the poor, the black and the white, you can call former prostitutes your sister, you can call former drug addicts your brother. You are in the same family as people who can be really awkward, and God is not embarrassed by them, so neither should you be. does it fill you with joy that you are not in this alone, but have a spiritual family you can depend on? does it make you uncomfortable that you must call brother and sister people who actually need something from you? in christ you can invite the lonely into your homes, to care for the members of your church who don’t have anyone else that cares for them. To share with the people that you love the things that you really struggle with that make you really sad, and to show grace to the people who share with you more than you are comfortable with. This is what it looks like to love each other. the world doesn’t have this! That is the mystery of the gospel!

do you see how the gospel frees us? not only did Christ reconcile us to God on the cross, but also to each other. No matter how many people you’ve hurt or made uncomfortable, if God is still your God, you can repent and this church is still your family, no matter what people may say, they are stuck with you. shame can’t keep you away. no matter how people in this church who have hurt you, or made you feel uncomfortable, if God is still their God, and they repent, they are still your family, and you are stuck with them. you have no right to shame them away. If God has not cast them off, you have no business doing so either.

MP3:

God has made us into a new people, and a new family, and that family has a purpose here on earth. what does it mean that we are being joined together? growing into a holy temple in the Lord? In the days before Christ, the temple in Jerusalem was where God’s presence was made known on earth. The people of Israel could look at the temple and know that God was with them. Of course, God was everywhere then, like he is today, but he dwelt in a special way with his people in the temple. We no longer have a building where God’s presence dwells. We no longer have one place on earth that is more holy than any other place. This is because God’s temple is now spread all over the earth through his people. Each one of you, in Christ, are stones that are being built together by the Holy Spirit into a temple. As a community we are all one temple and God dwells in the midst of all of us and we are a visible sign of God’s presence here on earth.

This temple is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. This means that the church, God’s dwelling place on earth is built not with bricks and mortar, or with bloodlines or with social class, but on the teaching of the Old Testament prophets, and the New Testament apostles about what Christ has accomplished in his death and resurrection. God’s glory dwells among God’s people by God’s word.

The verb here “being built together” means that the Spirit is continually in the process of building this temple. God is not done building his church. The Spirit is gathering stones from every tribe and tongue and language from around the earth. We need more African stones, and Chinese stones and Bulgarian stones, or else it will be an incomplete temple. Have you ever thought about how the reason why we do missions, isn’t because we are super holy, and super nice It’s because we need the global church or else we are missing something. this church builds gospel relationships in this neighborhood not only because we want them saved from condemnation, which we do, but because without our neighbors, our church is missing something precious.

And not only that, he is growing the church more and more in love for one another. God can gather enough stones to build a mountain, but if they are not mortared together by love, the whole structure will fall apart. The church acts like the temple by bearing one another’s burdens and by repenting and accepting repentance. When we don’t pursue our brothers and sisters in love, when we hate them because they didn’t repent well enough, or they are a democrat, or a republican, we are tearing apart the temple of God and that does not please him. We are hating someone that God has declared holy and beloved, and saying we don’t need someone that God has declared vital for his community. Do not despise what God has made beautiful. When God’s temple is torn apart by division Satan laughs and the world scoffs and says God is not with his people. Without the church loving one another, the world cannot see God!

If this was all up to us, then there would be no hope. Humans by nature tend to hate people who are different and cling to our own tribes for comfort and security. We cannot make a global church joined together in love. But notice that it is not the church that builds this temple. The Holy Spirit is doing all the work in building us together to a dwelling place for God in Christ. He is the one who grows God’s church and applies his grace to our hearts and he strengthens us and sanctifies us to do the work that God calls us to do. And because it is God at work we know that he will one day succeed. the building of God’s church is progressive just like our individual sanctification and he will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. The people of God will one day be at their full number, there will be people from every tribe and tongue and nation worshipping around the throne of God because this is God’s work and he promised it to be so. And God will make us perfect in love, not only towards him but towards each other. What God has promised he will do! One day all of God’s church will be one, and every nation and every individual will be reconciled with each other and we will love one another perfectly! This is what the new heavens and the new earth looks like! God has promised he will do to this church! So you who trust Christ who are lonely and isolated now, you are loved by God, and one day the rest of the church will see you when the children of God are unveiled!

Conclusion:

So people of God, although you are a gentile by birth, you are in fact in God’s eyes, a citizen of his kingdom, given all the rights of God’s people. Saved by the same grace that saved Abraham, Moses, David and Paul. We are united with Christ and we all receive his same reward. And we are all saved into the same family. Jew and Greek, black or white, male or female, rich or poor, Bulgarian or American, there is no distinction. When we make these distinctions we have seen how we are behaving like we are alienated again. God has saved us for something better than that! Christ died to build a more glorious temple than one made of just our tribe! People of God don’t be alienated again!

This morning we learned from ephesians 2:11-22 that in answer to our loneliness, Paul showed us

Who we were

Who we are,

And who we will be

Because in Christ we are no longer alienated from one another, we are reconciled together.

To what end is God doing this? Why would God be so passionate about making a people from every tribe and tongue and nation? In Revelation we find the end that our Lord is anxiously waiting for

Read

People of God, in the resurrection the Lord will dwell bodily with his people and it will be glorious

Related Media

Related Sermons