Untitled Sermon (16)

When I was 23, I lived in Seattle. On the outside, it looks like this beautiful city, nestled up against the water with mountains in the background, but as you drive through it and around it and look out your window, in the shadows of the overpasses, you’ll see these tiny underground cities full of homeless people. There’s this massive divide between rich and poor, all existing in the same space, but living completely separate from each other. We live in a world that is very divided.

When I was 23, I lived in Seattle. On the outside, it looks like this beautiful city, nestled up against the water with mountains in the background, but as you drive through it and around it and look out your window, in the shadows of the overpasses, you’ll see these tiny underground cities full of homeless people. There’s this massive divide between rich and poor, all existing in the same space, but living completely separate from each other.

But the worst division I saw was in my high school. In high school, everyone divided up by race, then they divided by age, then by popularity. So all over my high school campus, there were all of these tiny groups, and none of them communicated with the others if they didn’t have to. Then one day, I’m walking up to school and out of nowhere, every one of these groups rushed towards the middle of the campus and had this all out brawl. Cops showed up, people got arrested, I saw a teacher get flipped. It was wild. All of the division and tension got so bad that everyone just snapped.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, one of the greatest divisions that existed during that time was between the Jews and the Gentiles. These two groups of people hated each other. Jews believed that the gentiles were created to “fuel the fires of hell.” It was so bad, that if you were Jewish, it was illegal for you to help a gentile women while she was giving birth.

Gentiles didn’t like the Jews either. They conquered the Jewish nation and felt that they were socially and politically superior to them. So, all of these division existed: political, cultural, religious. But what happened in the city of Ephesus was that the gospel was preached, and both Jews and Gentiles became followers of Jesus. So Paul’s writing to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, and this entire letter outlines the coming together of these two very different groups of people. And what Paul is saying is that

Through the blood of Jesus, God has moved us from alienation from himself and others, to reconciliation to himself and each other. Let’s look at

Ephesians 2:11–18 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.

Alright, so we’re dipping into the middle of the letter, so let me catch us up to what Paul’s said so far. In chapter 1, he’s doing some pretty high theology. He opens with this poem where he gives high praise to God the father for the amazing things he’s done through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, anyone, this means us, can be adopted into God’s family, and in him we find God’s grace. And this grace changes how we understand our lives. Paul writes in 1:10 that God’s purpose was to unify all things in heaven and on earth under Jesus. God’s plan was always to have this huge family of restored people unified under the Lordship of Jesus. He then writes specifically to the Jewish Christians saying: This is our inheritance, this is what we’ve been hoping for since the time of Abraham. But then he writes to the non-jewish Christians, how we were brought into his family through the work of the Holy Spirit, How Jesus saves us and then the Spirit seals us, guaranteeing our inheritance. God has brought both Jew and gentile into the family of Jesus, fulfilling what he promised to Abraham thousands of years before.

After this, Paul goes into a prayer. And he prays that these followers of Jesus would not just know about the gospel, but would personally experience the power of the gospel. That the power that raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him would now energize them and would be at work within them.

Then, in chapter 2:1-10 Paul elaborates on God’s grace, retelling the story of how the gentiles, and how we, came to know Jesus. He says we were dead in our trespasses. We were desperate. We were hopeless. No matter where we’re from, who we are, what we have, we’re in a mess and in need of gospel transformation. But God, in his love and mercy saved the gentiles, forgave them of their sins, and joined their lives to Jesus’ resurrection life and brought them back to life in the process. And he can and will do the same for us. So, when Paul writes “Therefore,” he has in mind all of this.

Looking now at verse 11, Pauls tells the gentiles to remember. And he wants them to remember 2 things. First, he wants them to remember that they were once called the “uncircumcision” by the Jews, who called themselves the circumcision. So right here, right at the beginning, Paul lists this divide that used to exist between the Jews and the Gentiles. And this divide was huge and deep, and it went back for generations. It was, first, a religious divide. The Jews worshiped the one, true God, and Christian Jews knew Jesus, but gentiles, before they knew Jesus, worshiped the Roman gods. They were divided religiously. Then the divide was cultural or social. The Jews had all of these rules and practices that they followed, which were meant to set them apart from all other nations and religions, and this was meant to show the holiness of God, but instead the Jews used it as a reason to separate themselves from the gentiles and to look at them as others or as unclean, or as not worthy of being in the same space as them. But, at the same time, the Gentiles were the ones who conquered the Jewish nation. They’re living on land that’s been owned by the Jews for thousands of years. So, to me it makes sense why the Jews aren’t so friendly towards the gentiles. And so Paul wants them to remember that they were one referred to by the Jews as the uncircumcised. And he’s calling them to remember this because he wants them to see how alienated they once were from one another.

And so Paul wants them to remember that they were one referred to by the Jews as the uncircumcised, which was very divisive and demeaning language. And he’s calling them to remember this because he wants them to see how alienated they once were from one another.

But there’s more than this. They weren’t just alienated from each other. The second thing he wants them to remember is that they were once separated from Christ. And because of this, they were excluded from citizenship in Israel, they were foreigners to the covenants of the promise, they were without hope and without God in the world. Yeah, they were on Israel’s land, but they didn’t belong to the Kingdom of God. The religious and social separation was bad, but this was far worse. They had no Jesus, no home, no friends, no hope, and no God. As Paul says, they were “far off.” Alienated from God and the people of God. And this is us before we knew Jesus, before we’ve surrendered to him, this is our situation. We’re separated from God and his people. Incapable of truly loving God and having community with each other. It’s impossible for us to be bonded together.

And this is us before we knew Jesus, before we’ve surrendered to him, this is our situation. We’re separated from God and his people. Incapable of truly loving God and having community with each other. It’s impossible for us to be bonded together.

Paul is telling the Ephesians to remember where you were before God’s love reached down and found you. Remember how you were alienated and divided from each other. Remember how hopeless and desperate you were.

But he doesn’t leave them there. He says in verse 13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” The gentiles who had no community and no God have now been brought into God’s family. The gentiles, who were alienated and separated from the kingdom of God, who previously didn’t have the promises that the Jews had, have now been adopted and brought near. And this has only occured because of the blood of Jesus. Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, our sins were dealt with, and he is reconciling us to himself.

But Paul keeps going. God has reconciled the gentiles to himself. And in doing so, the tension and division between them and the Jews is now gone. Look at verse 14: “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” This is a very loaded verse. Jesus, who shed his blood is the peacemaker between the gentiles and God and between the gentiles and the Jews. And Paul says he’s destroyed the “barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” This is a wild statement. When Paul wrote this letter, there was still a literal wall around the Jewish temple, excluding the gentiles from coming in. But he’s saying that even though that wall is still standing, spiritually, it’s been destroyed. Spiritually there’s no longer a distinction between Jew and Gentile. Because of Jesus’ work, Jews and Gentiles can worship together in the same space and share in the same promises. But how? How did Jesus’ death get rid of all of the hostility that existed between the Jews and gentiles, and between man and God?

He put and end to the old testament law - the ceremonial laws that the Jews followed.

To be a good Jew, you had to follow all of these rules and regulations. And this put a huge barrier between them and the gentiles, and it was at the center of all of the hostility they had towards each other. And in Jesus’ death these law were satisfied once and for all, because he was the only one capable of truly keeping them. Jesus put and end to the requirements of the law and is himself the way to salvation. He’s the way to God. This removed one barrier between the jews and gentiles.

But Jesus also removed the barrier of the moral law. What I mean by this is that Jesus removed the idea that if someone is good enough, they can get to God. This law is also impossible for us to follow because all of are broken by sin. Jesus fulfilled this law as well, meaning that it is only through him that we can be saved, not through what we do.

The law was a barrier between the Jews and the gentiles, but their faith in the crucified Jesus now unites them.

Why did Jesus do all of this? He did all of this to reconcile us to himself and to each other. He did all of this to create this new, beautiful community that is united under the Lordship of himself. He’s creating this community where even in our differences, because the jews and gentiles still had differences, but even in our differences we can be united because of the work Jesus has done. Through the cross, he’s put to death our hostility towards one another and towards himself, and he’s moved us from alienation to reconciliation.

Ultimately, what this passage is talking about is how two groups of people were reconciled to God first and then to each other, and he’s creating this new community of people who follow him. But, how what does this mean for us today?

First, some of us have to be reconciled to God. There are some of us in here who are still dead in our sins. We’ve heard this message over and over, but it hasn’t sunk in yet. At this point in time, you’re separated from God. You’re outside of his family, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us and to purify us from all unrighteousness. If you surrender to him, allow him to come into your life, he’ll change everything. He adopts you, and he brings you into his family, he takes on all of your baggage, all of your hurt, all of your pain and loneliness, and he gives you a place to belong. You might feel like the gentile - hopeless and alienated, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Some of us might be acting like the Jews who, back in verses 11 and 12, were alienating the gentiles. Among the body of Christ, there’s no place for this. But we do this all the time! We’re at church, and someone new shows up, and we ignore them, making them feel like they don’t belong. We’re like, this is my space. I don’t want to welcome them in. And that may be their problem. They don’t belong. They don’t know Jesus, they don’t have a community, and in the one place that community is supposed to truly be present, the church, they feel alienated. Yo this was me when I was y’all’s age. I didn’t want to go out of my way to make others feel welcomed or loved. If we’re alienating others, we gotta stop. That’s the opposite of the reconciliation that Jesus brings.

But others of us need to remember. We need to remember where we once were, because we’ve gotten complacent in our faith. We’ve gotten complacent in our walk with the Lord. We need to remember that we were once hopeless and dead in our sins, without a place of true belonging and without a savior. Because when you remember that, then you’ll remember and be overwhelmed by the grace that forgave you and is transforming you.

We need to recognize that the barriers have been destroyed. The law created a huge literal barrier and spiritual barrier between the jews and the gentiles, and between them and God. And just as Jesus removed that barrier of the law, he removes the barriers that divide us in our communities. Wait, but how is this true? I look around and see all kinds of barriers. That’s true too. Jesus has removed the barriers, but one of our biggest issues as Christians is we put them back up! We rebuild them, separating ourselves from each other. We create divisions among ourselves. We create divisions based on looks, race, intelligence, athletic ability, popularity, selfishness, church, any number of things. We might create them individually, but often we’ve created them as communities. Never letting others in.

One of the biggest barriers that we have is communication. And a huge part of communication is listening to one another and then responding. What I often do, because I’m bad at this, is I’ll half listen, and then I’ll react to half of what I heard and I’ll end up in a messy situation.

My dad loves Golf. When he was in his early 40’s, he started playing, and he terrible at it, but he loves it. A few years ago … Scotland trip.

What I did was I looked at half of his message, ignored everything else he had said, and I reacted to it and ended up at the wrong airport. What we sometimes do is we listen to half of what someone is saying, and we make an assumption and just go with it. Then we get into huge arguments and go around in circles and communication never actually happens. Part of reconciliation is hearing what someone is saying, hearing how either we’ve hurt them or hearing their forgiveness for how they’ve hurt us. We need to have open and honest communication with each other, with our families, and with the people in our life for us to live together in unity like we’re called to do. This also includes talking. We need to communicate how we’ve be hurt by one another. And this part is hard, at least for me. I like to keep things bottled up for as long as possible, but when we do that, resentment towards that person grows, and we’re creating again a barrier between us and them.

Back to my dad. We had an argument a few years ago that started off really small. I used too much cellphone data, and he got charged an extra ten dollars that month. But this really small argument escalated into this 2 hour long shouting match, and all of the pain and anger I had built up over the years towards my dad just came out. I’d never dealt with it before that, and I never communicated any of it before that. And then, it took days for us to actually reconcile, to come back together. But we were able to because of the work that Jesus has done in each of us. We’re redeemed people, broken by sin, but made new in Christ, and he brought us back together.

ii. Another barrier we need to remove is the barrier of competition. All of us are in environments throughout the week where we’re constantly competing against one another. Competition itself isn’t bad, but they way we approach it is unhealthy and keeps us from being unified. What unhealthy competition does is it keeps us from being joyful with one another. We get so competitive, that when someone else succeeds, we can’t rejoice with them because we’re jealous. What Jesus calls us to do is walk with one another, to walk side by side, together for the glory of his Kingdom.

Jesus has brought us into this new community. It says in verse 17-18 that he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Even though the barriers have been destroyed, community is hard. Living as one body is hard. Numerous passages in the New Testament address this fact, and all of them point to one thing as the key: the triune God working in us. We have access to the Father by one Spirit, this is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in all of us who follow Jesus. It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that we’re able to live in unity with one another. It’s through the Spirit’s power that we’re able to make space for one another. It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that when we play football tomorrow, and a bad call is made, we’ll be patient and kind towards one another, even in the midst of competition. It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that we overcome the artificial barriers that we’ve created that keep us from being one church, one body, united in Christ. The Holy Spirit empowers us to seek out reconciliation in our lives. Maybe that’s with friends. Maybe it’s with people in youth group or in other churches. Or maybe it’s with family. I don’t know who you need to be reconciled with. Maybe it’s with God, and maybe it’s with someone else. But I know this: God loves his church. God loves all of his people. And God is glorified when all of us come together reconciled first to him and then to each other.

So how do we do this? If we’re in Christ, then we’re already reconciled to God and to others, but because of our sinful nature, reconciliation is this ongoing process. It’s something that we have to put into action, but not by our own strength, but by the Spirit of God working within us.

One of the barriers that we have is communication. And a huge part of communication is listening to one another and then responding. What I often do, because I’m bad at this, is I’ll half listen, and then I’ll react to half of what I heard and I’ll end up in a messy situation.

My dad loves Golf. When he was in his early 40’s, he started playing, and he terrible at it, but he loves it. A few years ago … Scotland trip.

What I did was I looked at half of his message, ignored everything else he had said, and I reacted to it and ended up at the wrong airport. What we sometimes do is we listen to half of what someone is saying, and we make an assumption and just go with it. Then we get into huge arguments and go around in circles and communication never actually happens. Part of reconciliation is hearing what someone is saying, hearing how either we’ve hurt them or hearing their forgiveness for how they’ve hurt us. We need to have open and honest communication with each other, with our families, and with the people in our life for us to live together in unity like we’re called to do. This also includes talking. We need to communicate how we’ve be hurt by one another. And this part is hard, at least for me. I like to keep things bottled up for as long as possible, but when we do that, resentment towards that person grows, and we’re creating again a barrier between us and them.

My dad loves Golf. When he was in his early 40’s, he started playing, and he terrible at it, but he loves it. A few years ago … Scotland trip.

Back to my dad. We had an argument a few years ago that started off really small. I used too much cellphone data, and he got charged an extra ten dollars that month. But this really small argument escalated into this 2 hour long shouting match, and all of the pain and anger I had built up over the years towards my dad just came out. I’d never dealt with it before that, and I never communicated any of it before that. And then, it took days for us to actually reconcile, to come back together. But we were able to because of the work that Jesus has done in each of us. We’re redeemed people, broken by sin, but made new in Christ, and he brought us back together.

What I did was I looked at half of his message, ignored everything else he had said, and I reacted to it and ended up at the wrong airport. What we sometimes do is we listen to half of what someone is saying, and we make an assumption and just go with it. Then we get into huge arguments and go around in circles and communication never actually happens. Part of reconciliation is hearing what someone is saying, hearing how either we’ve hurt them or hearing their forgiveness for how they’ve hurt us. We need to have open and honest communication with each other, with our families, and with the people in our life for us to live together in unity like we’re called to do. This also includes talking. We need to communicate how we’ve be hurt by one another. And this part is hard, at least for me. I like to keep things bottled up for as long as possible, but when we do that, resentment towards that person grows, and we’re creating again a barrier between us and them.

Back to my dad. We had an argument a few years ago that started off really small. I used too much cellphone data, and he got charged an extra ten dollars that month. But this really small argument escalated into this 2 hour long shouting match, and all of the pain and anger I had built up over the years towards my dad just came out. I’d never dealt with it before that, and I never communicated any of it before that. And then, it took days for us to actually reconcile, to come back together. But we were able to because of the work that Jesus has done in each of us. We’re redeemed people, broken by sin, but made new in Christ, and he brought us back together.

ii. Something else we can do is remove barriers.

ii. Another barrier we need to remove is the barrier of competition. All of us are in environments throughout the week where we’re constantly competing against one another. Competition itself isn’t bad, but they way we approach it is unhealthy and keeps us from being unified. What unhealthy competition does is it keeps us from being joyful with one another. We get so competitive, that when someone else succeeds, we can’t rejoice with them because we’re jealous. What Jesus calls us to do is walk with one another, to walk side by side, together for the glory of his Kingdom.

And what happens when we do this is wild. Look at and then I’ll close

Ephesians 2:19–22 NIV

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.

God makes us citizens of his kingdom. We’re in fellowship with him and with each other. We have fellowship across all racial and social and generational lines. And what I truly believe about this fellowship is our differences or our diversity remains with us. God created all of us with different cultures and backgrounds, and he loves that about his people. So, in his kingdom, in this community, we’re united in our differences, and in that, we become this place where the Spirit of God dwells. God lives among this community of believers. But this only happens when we’ve been reconciled to God and then to each other.

Untitled Sermon (16)

Intro

Main Idea

Scripture

Context

Exposition

Reconciled to God

Reconciled to each other

Why?

Application