Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Last week we began answering the question: “What is the church?”

And to begin with, we looked at the picture of the Flock and the Fold.

First of all we understood the context of the man born blind.

Jesus healed the blind man in such a way, making clay to put over his eyes and having him wash in the pool of Siloam, that He (Jesus) annoyed the Pharisees.

This became such an issue, because it forced a decision on the identity of Jesus (was He of God or not), that the Pharisees ended up casting the man who had been blind out of the synagogue- which in effect meant they cast the man out of the nation of Israel.

They made it impossible for him to continue being a Jew.

Then we get to John 10 and we learn that actually, Jesus was Himself, as the Good Shepherd, leading the man who was blind out of the fold.

We discovered that the fold was National Israel.

And because Israel as a nation had rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God temporarily set them aside, and started something new.

That something new Jesus calls a flock.

He led out Jewish believers from the fold, and he gathered non-Jewish believers (Gentiles) and combines them together and makes of them ONE FLOCK with ONE SHEPHERD.

Last week we drew out from this discussion several implications that help us to answer the question what is the Church.

One of those implications was the nature of the unity of the church.

The unity that we have within the church is no longer external (there is no longer any fold), instead the unity in the FLOCK is organic, it is attained by following the shepherd.

There are no external walls that contain the FLOCK- they stay together as a FLOCK because of their common following of the Shepherd.

This week we are going to once again look at the idea of unity within the church.

Is there anything else, besides our common following of our Shepherd that gives us unity?

In other words, following our Shepherd is a very subjective task.

Is there any objective source of unity within the church?

Yes there is an objective something that takes place that constitutes the church.

And to see that we need to turn to Ephesians 2

In our passage, in Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul wants the believers in the local NT church in Ephesus, to remember several key truths.

And in commanding these believers remember key truths Paul lays out for us some very important teaching concerning the NT church.

We also, as believers in the local NT church in Oconomowoc, must remember several key truths if we are going to grasp God’s teaching concerning the NT church.

What truths does Paul want us to remember?

I.

We must Remember our former position without Christ (vv.

11-12)

A. Our Separation (vv.

11-12)

Main command of the paragraph: “Remember!”

(Pres, Act, Imperative, 2nd, pl)

You used to be Gentiles in the flesh

You used to be mocked by the Jews as being separated from the people of God.

Paul says you used to be called “Uncircumcision.”

The meaning of this word is rather lost in the English translation.

This word was actually an insult that Jews used to hurl at Gentile people.

They would insult them by calling them “Uncircumcision.”

Actually, in the Greek this term means the part of the physical body that gets removed.

It is really an insult.

And would call them this insulting term?

Those who are called “Circumcision.”

But notice it was those circumcised in the flesh made by hands.

In other words the ones insulting them were ethnic Jews, those who came from Jewish decent.

Those within the fold.

Important difference between circumcision made with hands and those without hands.

So what Paul is saying, is that at one time there was great division between the Jewish race and the Gentile race.

God never intended it to be that way.

God intended for his chosen people to be a beacon to the world to invite other people to know God in a personal way.

But Israel instead twisted their privilege and became proud and instead of reaching other nations for God, began mocking other nations because of their status as the people of God.

And naturally the Gentiles nations responded in turn.

And so there developed hostility between Jewish people and Gentiles.

You were separated from Christ

You were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel (body of citizens) i.e. (if we use the John 10 imagery) they were outside of the fold (the external set of criteria that made one a Jew)

Being outside the fold, in the OT, meant that you were also strangers to the covenants of promise

Having no part in God’s covenants meant that you were not part of the people of God, which meant that you had no hope and were without God in the world.

This is all speaking of your former position in relation to God.

In vv.

1-3 Paul detailed what that meant practically in your everyday life.

B. Our Sinfulness (vv.

1-3)

Practically, you were dead in your trespasses and sins

You lived your life according to the course of this world (the destructive thinking and habits that permeate secular society), you bought into the lies of the prince of the power of the air, who is the spirit at work in the sons of disobedience.

In other words, before Christ you were so dead in your sins that you too would have bought into homosexuality, transgender-ism, 3rd term abortion, and the list goes on and on.

You used to follow (hook, line, and sinker) the course of this present world.

You used to live only according to the lusts of your flesh

You indulged in the desires of the flesh and of your sin cursed mind

You were children of wrath

Paul wants you to remember this.

He wants you to remember where you came from, what you were like before Christ.

And where were we?

I think he sums it up best in v.12- we had no hope and were were completely without God in the world.

Remember!

I used to be dead in my sins, separated from Christ, outside of the possibility of participating in God’s promises- hopeless, Godless.

BUT ALSO! Remember!

II.

We must Remember our present reality IN CHRIST (vv.

13-18)

A. IN CHRIST we have been brought near (v.

13)

Remember our former position without Christ.

You were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel (body of citizens) i.e. they were outside of the fold (the external set of criteria that made one a Jew)

Being outside the fold, in the OT, meant that you were also strangers to the covenants of promise

Having no part in God’s covenants meant that you were not part of the people of God, which meant that you had no hope and were without God in the world.

BUT NOW (One of the great contrasts in Scripture)- You (Gentiles) are made nigh (you have been brought near).

γίνομαι- (Aor, Pass, Ind) to enter or assume a certain state or condition.

At a point in time in the past, by means of something external to yourself, something other than you did this.

You (Gentiles) were made nigh, how?

By the blood of Christ.

Where once you were without hope and without God, now you have been brought near to God, near to hope, only by means of the blood of Christ.

IN CHRIST you have full hope and full access to God’s presence.

Gentiles were not brought near to the fold (national Israel, remember John 10), instead they have been brought into the flock.

Does this remind you of another passage of Scripture that we just looked at recently?

You are commanded to REMEMBER this.

I don’t mean that you should simply and only nod your head in agreement.

I don’t mean simply that you should remember this here and now today as you sit in church.

I mean, and Paul means for you to constantly remember this.

I mean that when you wake up in the morning you should speak to yourself and say, “Self, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Preach that message to yourself daily.

Reckon it to be true of you.

Remind yourself repeatedly and passionately until it changes how you live on a daily basis.

Sometimes we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say to ourselves, “I am no longer dead in trespasses and sins, I no longer walked according to the course of this world, I no longer live according to the lusts of my flesh, I no longer indulge the desires of my flesh and my sin cursed mind.

I am no longer separated from Christ, I am no longer without hope, I am no longer without God.

No, indeed!