Destroying Racial and Cultural Barriers

Introduction...

Rivalries -

Republican vs. Democrats

North vs. South

PC vs. Mac

Coke vs. Pepsi

Twins vs. White Sox

Vikings vs. Bears

Gentiles verse Jews

Paul is writing to the early church, made up of Gentiles (Non-Jewish people) with some Jewish people who had been dispersed from Jerusalem. The Jews had a covenant promise with God. The Gentiles did not. But when Jesus came he destroyed the barrier of racial and cultural hostility between the Jewish people who claimed the covenant promise with Abraham through circumcision and the Gentiles who were called ‘The Uncircumcised, without a promise.

The Jews thought they were the only ones worthy of God’s Covenant promise and the gentiles are referred to as the ‘Uncircumcised.’ Simply put, there was plenty of ethnic, racial, Religious, and cultural hostility among them. The Key to reconciliation or harmony and unity between the two groups of people is Jesus. That is the message that Paul is trying to get across to the churches for which this letter was intended, Ephesus, clearly being one of them. In Christ, they have now become one

The Cross made the difference - Both Vertically and Horizontally.

Paul wants them to remember so they and we may live with a greater sense of gratitude for God and what he has done through Christ for us AND a greater love and gratitude for one another.

Read...

Ephesians 2:11–22 NIV

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 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. 14 For he 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. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 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.

Remember your Past Position Without a Promise

They were a people without a Promise. The Israelites were a people with a Covenant Promise from God that He would be there God and they would be His People.

He made this promise with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (whose name was later changed to Israel). He carried it out through Moses

The Promise is found in . Joseph reminds the people again in The Gentiles were excluded from the Covenant promise that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel)

Separated from Christ...

Excluded from Citizenship...

People without a promise...

People without hope...

People without God...

How discouraging would that be?

Pauls says, this is what you ‘Once’ were! They had no idea that God cared about them. They did not know that they could even be considered as a citizen with the Jewish people, which included all the rights and privileges. They had no real hope as to what would happen when they died. They had no real god… all they had were objects created to be something that they were not.

Before you became a Believer; a Christian; a Follower of Christ, what was life like? The past is only something that is meant to reflect back upon, but not to live in. It is meant to reflect back upon so that you can see the progress you have made and are making, and perhaps need to still make.

Paul says in a letter written to the church in Philippi, which may have also been a letter that went from church to church… he writes in

Philippians 3:13–14 NIV

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Racial, social, cultural, religious divide has always been something that society has had to deal with. Even now, we know there is tension between different religions; different moral standards, different political parties. So much so, that in some cases it seems hopeless. But with Jesus, nothing is impossible. So what Paul is saying, were there is divide; where they is hostility, Jesus can bring reconciliation with peace. This is the message that Paul is giving to the Gentiles within the churches throughout the Roman Empire at the time. It is still a message for today.

Paul goes on to say that in and through Jesus Christ, there can and should be peace and harmony among people who believe in Jesus, because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile.

Colossians 3:11 NIV

11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Jesus came to ‘Destroy’ barriers and any dividing walls. To destroy is to wipe it out; to annihilate it as if it never existed.

Where there once was ‘No’ hope, Paul brings them to a place were they can ‘Know’ hope! it is based on who they are in Christ Now!

Remember your past position without a promise… NOW

Remember your Present Position With a Promise

Ephesians 2:13 NIV

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

You now belong! Not because of your race, social, Religious, or cultural status. Paul wanted to bring clarity to those who are uncircumcised AND to those who opposed the uncircumcised. In

1 Corinthians 7:18–20 NIV

18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

Colossians 1:19–23 NIV

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

This is God’s promise to all who believe. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is; it doesn’t matter how checkered your past is. It really doesn’t even matter what other people think of you or may say concerning you. If you are a person who has said yes to Jesus, you are forever HIS. God says, through Christ you are made new. So focus on who you are Now and look at the purpose for which you have been called with a promise.

Remember His Purpose with a Promise

Jesus came to reconcile all people to himself.

The barrier between Jews and Gentiles was overthrown when Christ effectively disposed of the old law with its meticulously defined sanctions enshrined in its innumerable decrees. Paul explains elsewhere that in itself the law is right and good, but that unregenerate man is incapable of complying with its demands

Wood, A. S. (1981). Ephesians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon (Vol. 11, p. 40). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Romans 3:19–24 NIV

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Create one ‘New’ man (vs. 15) - Meaning that both should be and are reconciled through Christ. They become one body… One church… One family…

The Church is a place to be, to belong, to believe, and to become all that God intended you to be. He created us to do a good work which He prepared in advance for us to do. Now Paul is saying to them, they were to do it together; We are to do it together.

You have a citizenship with all its privileges and duties! It is based on Jesus shedding his blood for all who believe in Him and yield to His authority.

Remember His Peace with a Promise.

Pauls says, “He Himself is our peace.” (vs. 14) He came and preached peace (vs. 17) Peace meaning tranquility. To create a place where there would be no hostility.

Several years ago I serve on a board where the consultant that was brought in made this statement: In a board meeting you adamantly disagree with one another, but when you leave that board meeting, you can be and still should be friends. You should be able to put your arm on the shoulder of another and say, “Let’s go do lunch.”

The Peace that Jesus is talking about is where people who were once a polar opposites will find peace when Christ is at the center. If he is not, there will be hostility, anger, hatred, bitterness, resentment, and who knows what else. But in Christ, we have the promise of peace.

So, what does this mean for us?

He has made you one with each other.

The preposition ‘with’ in the Greek is ‘syn’ It show us how ‘IN’ Christ we have been synced with God and by the cross with other people. we have become “Fellow Citizens”. We have been “Put together” with other cultures. We have been “Built together” as one building.

He has reconciled us to be a holy people without blemish and free from any further accusations.

Colossians 1:22 NIV

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

People shouldn’t bring up the past and focus on that; nor should you about yourself or others.

This means that we all have access to God and can approach him with freedom and confidence

Ephesians 3:12 NIV

12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

In

Colossians 1:12 NIV

12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Jesus came to make us ‘One’ in Him and ‘with’ others. In Christ we have citizenship … we are part of God’s Kingdom. We are no longer refugees or aliens.

In Christ we have become part of “His Family” We have the same ‘Father’ We have been ‘Adopted’ into God’s family, we are brothers and sister. We also have responsibilities, with roles to fill. When each person fills there role the church is complete.

In Christ we are a temple where God lives through the Holy Spirit in each one of us. The foundation is Christ. He is the cornerstone.

He brings us together as a church, built together as one. Belonging to a church is to say, I also belong to God. The church is not a building we go to or an event we attend. The church is a family, living life together on mission. it is not a place to visit occasionally; rather it is part of our identity in and with Christ.

In the church, there is neither black or white; we are one. John Piper writes this...

But let us also dwell on this: that God ordained the death of his Son to reconcile alien people groups to each other in one body in Christ. This too was the design of the death of Christ. Think on this: Christ died to take enmity and anger and disgust and jealousy and self-pity and fear and envy and hatred and malice and indifferences away from your heart towards all other persons who are in Christ by faith.

‘Let us

We are to value people of other ethnicity. Paul says, we are one in Christ. If they are not in Christ, then our mission is the gospel to bring light into their world through love, because we understand God’s love for us, who have sinned and have been forgiven and extended His grace, and mercy.

God intends for us to live out our faith in love for Him and one another. In community. One author wrote. “It is an incredible gift of God’s grace to have a family of faith. It is a gift of grace to gather corporately and stir up one another to faith and good works () It is a gift of grace to love one another as Christ has loved us (John13:34-35) It is a gift of grace to carry one another’s burdens () It is a gift of grace to encourage one another and to be encouraged by one another ()

This passage confronts us to be one in Christ. To be a church where all people can be, belong, believe, and become. It is as one person reminds us, a place to come to become clean. You don’t have to get cleaned up before you come… you come to get clean once you come.