06PM January 22 Ephesians 2 14_22
January 22, 2006—Evening Worship
“The Glorious Grace of God” Series – Part 6
God’s Dwelling Place
Building Blocks to Peace
Ephesians 2:14-22
Intro: Charles Hanson Towne wrote this poem:
Around the corner I have a friend, in this great city that has no end; yet days go by & weeks rush on, & before I know it, a year is gone, & I never see my old friend’s face. For life is a swift & terrible race. He knows I like him just as well as in the days when I rang his [door]bell & he rang mine. We were younger then, & now we are busy, tired men: Tired of playing a foolish game, Tired of trying to make a name. “Tomorrow,” I say, “I will call on Jim just to show that I am thinking of him.” But tomorrow comes—& tomorrow goes, & the distance between us grows & grows. Around the corner!—yet miles away … “Here’s a telegram, Sir,”… “Jim died today.” & that’s what we get & deserve in the end: Around the corner, a vanished friend.
In 1920, Dr. J. B. Gambrell, a leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, was traveling through Europe w/his colleague, Dr. E. Y. Mullins. They made great traveling companions. Dr. Mullins later wrote: “We discussed everything you can think of. We agreed on the great things. We did not always agree on other things. It was a good arrangement, b/c while we agreed enough to be congenial, we differed enough to make it interesting.
Even among good friends, there will always be times of disharmony. We are never truly at peace w/one another unless Christ is in the middle of the relationship. You are no doubt familiar w/the Bible verse that asks the question, “How can 2 walk together unless they be agreed?”
If you are paying any attention at all to the developments in the Middle East, you know that there is a “Roadmap to Peace” that is supposedly in place. That roadmap, however, was devised by men & unless they sought & received the Lord’s blessing—that roadmap will lead those countries nowhere close to peace.
As Christians, we are to be the ambassadors for peace to the world. Our Lord is called the Prince of Peace & our lives should lead others to the knowledge of peace in Jesus.
As the Apostle Paul wraps up the 2nd chapter of Ephesians, he gives us the building blocks to peace as he describes for us the dwelling place of God – the church of Jesus Christ. Let’s read our text, vv. 14-22 of chapter 2, & as we read, let’s ask the Lord to open our hearts & illuminate our minds w/His truth tonight.
Ephesians 2 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, & has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 & that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 & He came & preached peace to you who were afar off & to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers & foreigners, but fellow citizens w/the saints & members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
- The 1st building block to peace I want to draw to your attention tonight is…
1. Our Horizontal unity w/Man. (vv. 14-15)
- & notice w/me if you will…
A. The Foundation of our Separation. (vv. 14b-15a) “14b For He…has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15a having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances….”
- Paul uses an illustration for separation & then explains exactly what that separation is, just in case you missed the meaning of the illustration.
- He said that Christ, “…has broken down the middle wall of separation.”
- We need to ask ourselves, “What is separating & who is being separated?”
- This “middle wall of separation” is a picture of the temple wall that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple.
- This Gentile Court was really quite large; larger in fact, than the Court of Israel.
- It points out an interesting fact, in that Israel was to reach out to the Gentiles to give them the same knowledge of God that had been given them through the Scriptures.
- Israel was small in comparison w/the Gentile nations & was surrounded by them, just as it is today.
- The temple courts were a reflection of that truth, w/the Court of the Gentiles surrounding the temple & Court of Israel.
- No Gentile was allowed into the Court of Israel upon pain of death.
- & that which separated the Jews & Gentiles was, as Paul points out in v. 15, “the law of commandments contained in ordinances…” which Christ “abolished in His flesh….”
- That does not mean that Jesus abolished the 10 Commandments, or the Law, but that He abolished the ceremonies or rituals surrounding the commandments as ways to please God.
- The Jews hated the Gentiles b/c they didn’t have or follow these ceremonies & the Gentiles hated the Jews b/c they made themselves to be “Holier than thou” b/c they did have & follow these ceremonies.
- So there was “bad blood” between the 2 groups due to religious practices.
- But Christ did away w/the separation on the Cross. He abolished it; taking it away forever.
- So, through His death, there are now no Jews or Gentiles spiritually – only Christians.
- IOW there is no difference in God’s eyes between one born a Jew & one born a Gentile – so long as both have been born again as Christians.
- Therefore, our horizontal unity w/man was secured through the Cross as Jesus abolished the separation & provided…
B. The Fellowship of our Peace. (vv. 14a, 15b) “14a For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one… 15b ...so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.”
- IOW Jesus Christ Himself is our only hope for peace! There is no other source; no other supply; no other substitute; He is our peace!
- & through His sacrificial, substitionary death on the Cross, He has taken the 2 opposing groups, Jews & Gentiles, & made them one.
- The word translated ‘new’ in v. 15 does not mean new in the sense that this is a new one of the same kind.
- It means “brand new, never seen before, never possible before, never available before, unprecedented, uncommon & unheard of.”
- IOW those who come to Christ are made new creatures, old things having passed away & all things becoming new.
- It’s only through our union w/Christ that we are made one w/our fellow man.
- IOW Jesus made real peace possible between men.
- & not only that, but in the eyes of God there is no spiritual difference between Jews & Gentiles, men & women, slaves & free; all are on the same spiritual footing b/c of what Jesus did at the Cross.
1 John 1 7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship w/one another, & the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
- Our fellowship w/one another is accomplished only as we walk w/the Lord.
- But that’s just the beginning of the good news about the peace we enjoy as the dwelling place of God, b/c the 2nd building block that draws our attention is…
2. Our Vertical tranquility w/God. (vv. 16-18)
- Did you notice that v. 16 gives us…
A. The Reason for the Cross. (v. 16) “16 & that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
- Not only did Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross secure a peaceful relationship between men – it also secured a peaceful relationship between men & God!
- Jesus died not only to bring men together – but to bring them together to God.
- His death put to death the enmity. The word ‘enmity’ comes from a root word that means, “hatred, hostility, opposition, or bitter enemy.”
- This is not the same enmity that was between men, but the enmity that was between God & man; namely sin.
- Sin is the bitter enemy of a right relationship w/God. Sin keeps us from knowing God & following God.
- Sin separated us from God even more so than the temple wall had separated the Gentiles from the inner temple.
- But God’s plan, before the foundations of the world were ever laid, was to reconcile man to Himself.
- That word translated ‘reconcile’ means, “to reconcile completely, to bring back to a former state of harmony.”
- IOW God planned to restore man to the same intimate, close, personal fellowship that Adam enjoyed w/God in the Garden of Eden before his fall into sin.
- & in doing so, God would also restore relationships between men to what He intended them to be.
- So our salvation is demonstrated in 2 ways; 1, by our horizontal unity w/man; & 2, by our vertical tranquility w/God!
Romans 5 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God thru the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 & not only that, but we also rejoice in God thru our Lord Jesus Christ, thru whom we have now received the reconciliation.
- It’s been said before that we cannot be right w/God if we are not right w/man & that we cannot be right w/man if we are not right w/God!
- But God knew that & secured it for us in the death of Jesus Christ our Lord.
- & so vv. 17-18 tells us of…
B. Our Relationship to God. (vv. 17-18) “17 & He came & preached peace to you who were afar off & to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”
- Jesus came to proclaim peace w/God, our tranquility w/His deity, through the gospel.
- & He brought that message to everyone.
- Notice that He preached peace to those “who were afar off”, a reference to the Gentiles. They were afar off b/c they had not known the word of God or the promises of God. They were ignorant of the power & Person of God & therefore were afar off.
- That phrase ‘afar off’ was used by the Rabbi’s to refer to the Gentiles as being w/o God.
- But Jesus also came & preached “to those who were near.”
- That was a reference to the Jews who had the revealed word of God through the prophets of God & had experienced the power & presence of God in the past.
- Did you notice that just b/c the Jews were near to God that did not negate the fact that they needed to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ?
- Yes they had the word of God but needed to respond to it personally.
- They needed to stop trusting in their inheritance as Jews & start trusting in the only One who could truly save them – their Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.
- & since Jesus came & preached & men responded to the grace of God, both groups now have access to the Father by the same Spirit.
- God’s Holy Spirit takes us to the throne room of God & allows us access.
- We are able to come boldly to the throne of grace & there to find help in our time of need.
- All roads do not lead to God – but once anyone has come to God on His terms of repentance & faith, they have access to God through the Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Godhead.
- Paul is about to apply what he’s just said to his Gentile readers, (which includes us).
- He has told us how God through Jesus made right relationships possible between men, & how God through Jesus secured our peace w/God by the death of Christ on the Cross.
- Now Paul speaks about…
3. Our Structural integrity in Grace. (vv. 19-22)
- These last 4 verses of our text tell us that God is building His church & that the materials He is using to build His church are not bricks or stones or wood.
- In fact, the vv. tell us that we are the material God uses to build His church.
- The church of God is not a material building at all, it is a spiritual building in which we are…
A. Built on the Word of God. (vv. 19-20) “19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers & foreigners, but fellow citizens w/the saints & members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,”
- Did you notice that these vv. tell us we are fellow citizens & family members & that our foundation is common to all believers?
- Since Jesus saved us, we are no longer strangers & foreigners. Those words mean, “w/o the knowledge of or the rights of kingdom citizens.”
- Before Jesus saved us we were strangers to the knowledge of God; we were foreigners or aliens to the ways, will & word of God!
- But b/c of the marvelous grace of God, all believers have been made citizens of heaven w/all the others throughout all time who have believed or will come to believe.
- We are members of the family of God!
- We have been redeemed, adopted & securely placed in the loving family whose Head is the Lord God!
- But not only that, we are built on the foundation of God’s holy, inerrant, inspired, infallible word!
- When Paul says in v. 20 that we are “built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets,” he does not mean that we are built on mere mortal men.
- Jesus said, “I will build My church.” & it’s not built on men but on the Lord Jesus Christ!
- So what v. 20 is telling us is, that we are built on the word of God which those men preached & taught.
- & Paul is quick to point out that “Jesus Christ Himself [is] the chief cornerstone.”
- He also wrote in 1 Corinthians 3 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
- Jesus is the foundation, the chief cornerstone, which was the 1st stone placed at a corner of a new building. All the measurements for the rest of the building were taken from that stone. It was the standard, if you will, for all others measurements & stones placed in the foundation & the whole building.
- & so we are built on the written & living word of God; the Bible & Jesus the Son & Savior!
- That’s the foundation you enjoy as a child of God. That’s the accuracy w/which you have been built up on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. That’s what gives you your structural integrity. That’s what enables you to stand firm against the storms & trials of life.
- But not only are we built on the word of God, we are also…
B. Built for the Indwelling of God. (vv. 21-22) “21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
- These vv. do not, in this context, teach that individual believers are built for the indwelling of God – although that is true & that truth is taught in other passages.
- This passage teaches that we all, collectively, are being built into a temple, a dwelling place for God, a habitation for Him!
- That’s the idea behind what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- Christians are the body of Jesus Christ in that we are to reach out to the world; to go where Jesus would go; to do what He would do; to say what He would say & so on.
- But we are being built into the temple of the Lord or a spiritual house in which God Himself will dwell.
- Every Christian counts; every single one matters; every individual is important!
- But put us together & not only is the power of the ministry increased & enhanced, but we are then the living, moving, powerful & holy place where God is & where He may be enjoyed & experienced.
Conclusion: Think of the impact on the world! Think of the far reaching effects! Think of the souls that could be saved! Are you ready to stand for Him? Are you ready to be used for His glory? Are you at peace w/men & God & does you life exhibit the stability that only comes from a close personal fellowship & walk w/God?
Invitation: God has called us to be His dwelling place. That part of the meaning of the word church – the called out ones. Are we at peace w/each other & w/God? Are we really standing firm for Him?
Tonight, will you stand & join hands w/each other & in prayer, commit to be the dwelling place of God? Will you make every effort to be at peace w/others & by God’s grace, will you seek His forgiveness for any unrepentant sin? Let’s be children of God! Let’s have the impact on the world that He desires! Let’s be the church of Jesus Christ for the glory of God! – Are you w/me? Will you do it?
Hymn 325 Whiter than Snow