One New Humanity (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Notes

Opener

Not long before she died in 1988, in a moment of surprising candor in television, Marghanita Laski, one of our best-known secular humanists and novelists, said, “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me.”

John Stott in The Contemporary Christian

Point 1 | No Christ = No Hope

Ephesians 2:11–22 NASB95

11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And 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 our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

If you are not familiar with the term “Gentile” it means not a Jew. I went to set the historical backdrop for the words spoken in this passage. Because I want you to feel what is being said not just hear it.

Historical Background

This is from Dr. William Barclay:

The Jews had an immense contempt for the Gentiles. They said that the Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell, and that God loved only Israel of all the nations that he had made. ‘The best of the serpents crush,’ they said, ‘the best of the Gentiles kill.’ It was not even lawful to give help to a Gentile woman in childbirth, for that would be to bring another Gentile into the world. The barrier between Jews and Gentiles was absolute. If a Jew married a Gentile, the funeral of that Jew was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death; even going into the house of a Gentile made a Jew unclean. Before Christ, the barriers were up; after Christ, the barriers were down.

William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians

In verse 11 he has those who are called “un-circumcision” and those who the so called “circumcision”. Some of this was God’s design. He had made Israel a chosen people. He had called them to be different and separate. He instituted things that would have culturally separated them from the surrounding nations. Circumcision was one of those things.

But the animosity had grown beyond even that. It had turned into at times prejudice and racism.

Nevertheless notice in verse 12 that not only where gentiles cut off from God they were cut off from Israel. They didn’t have God and they were not His people.

From John Stott:

“Of this double Gentile alienation—from God and from God’s people Israel—the so-called ‘middle wall of partition’ (verse 14, av) or ‘dividing wall of hostility’ (rsv) was the standing symbol. It was a notable feature of the magnificent temple built in Jerusalem by Herod the Great. The temple building itself was constructed on an elevated platform. Round it was the Court of the Priests. East of this was the Court of Israel, and further east the Court of the Women. These three courts—for the priests, the lay men and the lay women of Israel respectively—were all on the same elevation as the temple itself. From this level one descended five steps to a walled platform, and then on the other side of the wall fourteen more steps to another wall, beyond which was the outer court or Court of the Gentiles. This was a spacious court running right round the temple and its inner courts. From any part of it the Gentiles could look up and view the temple, but were not allowed to approach it. They were cut off from it by the surrounding wall, which was a one-and-a-half metre stone barricade, on which were displayed at intervals warning notices in Greek and Latin.”

Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (pp. 91–92). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

The sign read:

‘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.’

We have actually discovered through excavations two of the warning signs!

Show Picture

With that in mind let me read these two verses again:

Ephesians 2:11–12 NASB95

11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Without Christ No Hope

Notice that being “separate from Christ” equalled being “excluded” and having “no hope” and being “without God in the world”.

And this is the summary point. Without Christ there is no hope. Without Christ you are a creature without relationship with the Creator. Let me say that again without Christ you are a creature without relationship with the Creator!

Let me put this another way. There are so many people in the world today that think they have God. There are 1.9 Billion Muslims, there are 1.2 Billion Hindus, there are .5 Billion Buddhist. All with varying ideas of even who “God” is. But because they do not have Christ… this is really simple they do not have hope and they do not have God. They are as it says in Ephesians “without God in the world.”

This is every single one of our stories. Paul wants the Ephesians to “remember” that. And it will do you well to remember your life without Jesus. We asked a great question during home group last week which was “what would your life look like today if you were not a Christian?” Think about that.

Friends the Bible says we were made through Christ, for Christ, and redeemed by Him. Ephesians 1 told us the purpose of all things through all time was to sum up everything in Christ. We only find our purpose and destiny as human beings when we find Christ. Without Him we are hopeless.

Living for yourself, the best life you can possible imagine, but apart from Christ ends with disappoint, regret, failure and complete and total LOSS.

Matthew 10:38–39 NASB95

38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

You see you may be sitting there today and go I don’t need Christ. My life is good. I am happy the way it is. You have found your life. What could Christ possibly offer you? The answer is nothing. You see you are full. I can’t sell someone who stomach is full a meal can I? But this is the very thing Jesus is warning of! If you find satisfaction in this life you will lose your life in the final end!

“He who has found his life will lose it!” He says.

Matthew 16:24–26 NASB95

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

If you do not think you have a need for Jesus I would appeal to you by the mercies of God to examine the things you are living for. Is it worth it? Is it worth the cost of your soul?

If you have found satisfaction in this present world and not in Christ, those things you are living for are short sited. You cannot just add Jesus in. He isn’t an add on.

He isn’t some after market thing you add on to your car. He is the engine that makes it go.

That is why He says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself....” If you are living for this present world… If you are living for money… for success… the approval of your pears… your own desires… you will have to deny yourself and turn to Jesus.

The Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of self denial. Not only can you not save yourself (Ephesians 2:1-10) but there is nothing within yourself or upon this earth that is worthy of your worship. That is worthy of calling every last peace of your being to come and follow. But the Creator who stepped down into humanity to save you… He is worthy. And friends it is so good and it is right.

Point 2 | The Two Become One

Ephesians 2:13–18 NASB95

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And 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 our access in one Spirit to the Father.

What becomes one?

Well actually two things do. The first is Jew and Gentiles become “One” in Christ. It says verse 14 “Who made both groups into one”! That dividing wall that kept the gentiles out. Its been abolished. It not only has reconciled us to God it has reconciled humanity to one another, namely Jew and Gentile.

Fill the earth with the glory of God

In Genesis God tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Essential God is saying fill the earth with his glory through little image bearers that by the hearts, minds, souls and strength give glory to God. That love God and love neighbor. But man failed. Sin and death entered the world. After God whipped out the whole human race, minus 8 people, he tells them what? He tells them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Again fill the earth with little image bearers and bring glory to God. Well it ain’t 3 chapters later and guess what is happening. They are not filling the earth. They are staying in one place trying to be like God building a tower up to the heavens. God of course confuses their language and puts a stop to their evil.

When Jesus comes, God in the flesh, He dies for our sins, He is buried, He rises on the third day and before ascending to the righthand of the Father He gives a commission, to go into all the earth and make disciples of Jesus of all nations. In other words so the earth will be filled with image bears to bring glory to God. That is why the job is not done until He has aquired for Himself a people from every tribe, tongue and nation!

This is part of the great significance of what it means to be one. Its that their is a unity in purpose for mankind.

Relationship

Now not only is their unity in purpose their is unity in relationship. Redemption reconciles you to God and it reconciles you to the family of God, the people of God.

This is why the Bible says things like:

1 John 5:1 NASB95

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

AND

John 13:35 NASB95

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

You are not an only child. You have brothers and sisters. And we were made that by the power of God. Not by human hands. But by the Power of God. Namely, by the BLOOD OF CHRIST (Ephesians 2:13).

Racism

In our day and age there is a lot of talk about inequality. There is a lot of talk about racism. There is a lot of talk about injustice. There is a solution to that. A solution the world will never accept. Because the solution is based on GRACE. And the solution is for a people that is undeserving across the board. We are equal in grace, because we were equal in sin.

Let me put it another way:

Every natural ability you have is a product of the grace of God. Now that is God not government. God is the ultimate creator. You may say but didn’t Michael Jordan work really hard to become Michael Jordan? Yes but God gave him legs. God gave him large hands. We could go on and on. We are all image bearers and recipients of grace in this regard.

We are all sinners. We have all squandered the gifts given to us. Not all sin is the same but all have sinned and been separated from God. None of lived to the glory of God like we are called to do.

All who are saved have been saved by grace. There is no room for boasting.

And here is the thing. If you are a gentile, not a JEW, you were particularly far off. and if we will “remember” that as this verse says it will produce in us such a gratitude to have something we don’t deserve. No one does. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places Ephesians told us. No one deserves that.

Humility and gratitude | Brothers and Sisters

I just want to say this HUMILITY and GRATITUDE are recipes in CHRIST for UNITY because we have been saved by grace. I am not better than you. You are not better than me. You are not my competition. You are my brother. You are my sister. Your success is my success. Your joy is my joy. Your sorrow is my sorrow. We are one in Christ. Members of the same family.

HOW DO WE GET BROUGHT NEAR?

The passage is crystal clear on this point:

Ephesians 2:13 NASB95

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

The BLOOD OF CHRIST is what brings us near. If you are part of the family of God then you only got there one way. The Blood of Christ.

Remember the analogy of the outer wall that kept the gentiles out. He doesn’t just take us into the inner courts. He takes us, Jew and Gentile (in Christ), into the holy of holies. The purpose of a temple is it was a place for God to dwell. That is the picture here.

Brought near! Brought near to who? Brought near to God. You see we are only one when we are near God.

The LAW

Ephesians 2:15–16 NASB95

15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

There is an interesting statement in this passage. Paul says “by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances.” This is interesting because Jesus says, “I did not come to abolish the law....” It seems contradictory. But they are actually saying the same thing. The exact same thing.

The Law separates us from man and God because sin separates.

Do not lies destroy friendships? Does not adultery destroy marriages? Does not murder destroy societies? But more than that all sin destroys our relationship with God.

But what stood in the way of you being reconciled? Sin needed to be removed. You needed a purging but more than that you needed a justifying. The LAW needed a just reason to allow reconciliation. The LAW stood in the way.

And do you know what Jesus does? He destroys the case against us.

Colossians 2:14 “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us....”

He pays the price in full so we can not just go free but be reconciled to God! So does Jesus abolish the LAW? In a few ways but the main way is He abolishes its case against us. Does He fulfill the LAW in a few ways, but the main way here is that He satisfies God’s wrath against our sin.

Atonement

The term atonement means “at one ment”. William Tyndale, the first person to translate the Bible into English from the original language, translated 2 Corinthians 5:18 where Paul talks about the “ministry of reconciliation” this way: “the office to preach the atonement.” The blood of Jesus reconciles us back to God.

The blood of Jesus is not only the answer to our separation from God. IT IS THE ANSWER TO OUR SEPARATION FROM ONE ANOTHER!!!

Friends forgiveness is hard. Admitting your wrong is hard. Telling someone “I was wrong is hard.” But it is also SOOOOO right. It is healing.

Ephesians is going to go on and command that Christians forgive one another because God in Christ forgave you!

When John Wesley was serving as a missionary in Georgia, he was much opposed by General James E. Oglethorpe (founder of the colony of Georgia), who had a reputation for pride and stubbornness. “I never forgive,” he once said, to which Wesley responded, “Then I hope, Sir, you never sin.”

Stott, J. (2018). The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott. (M. Meynell, Ed.). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

We can have true repentance, true forgiveness, and true wholeness in our relationships because of the blood of Jesus as we draw near to GOD in Him.

Point 3 | A Kingdom, A Household, A Temple

What do these three things have in common?

John Stott says this:

“He pictures the new Jew-Gentile community as God’s kingdom, God’s family and God’s temple.”

Three illustrations of what the church, the people of God, are:

Ephesians 2:19–22 NASB95

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

A Kingdom: He calls us Citizens. You are card carrying members of the Kingdom of God. A Jew knew what it meant to be a Jew. It was special. A Roman knew what it meant to be a Roman. It was special. I know some of you here from places all around the world and I know some of you are very proud to be where you are from. That is fine. Just remember this there is nothing like being a citizen of heaven.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NASB95

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

That’s your KING. You are citizen’s of that Kingdom.

A Household. But you see being a citizen is nice. But you can’t walk into the white house can you? You would get arrested and thrown out. Being a Roman in the Roman Empire had its advantages but you were not walking into Ceasar’s palace. God brings us nearer. We are members of His household. You sit at His table.

1 John 3:1 NASB95

1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

I absolutely LOVE verse 18. Notice all three members of the trinity:

Ephesians 2:18 NASB95

18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Through Jesus, One Spirit, To the Father! In Christ you are His child. And we are His children.

A Temple: Then Paul switches to his final analogy and goes into some detail:

Ephesians 2:20–22 NASB95

20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Remember I said the purpose of a temple is that it is a place where God’s Spirit dwells. This temple has three things:

A foundation. foundation of the apostles and prophets. This ultimately goes back to the 12 apostles whom Jesus designated as such to authoritatively cary the message of the Gospel forward. The role of apostle and prophet was foundational to the establishment of new churches. New congregations. We see this in the book of Acts. But notice it Jesus who is the chief cornerstone. And it is in Him that not only the foundation but the whole building resides. So an apostle and prophet can only lay a foundation in as much as they preach Christ.

Fitted together. You are a part of the temple. The physical building means nothing. The people mean everything in the New Testament blood bought church. As each one of us plays are part we are “growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” This means real relationships and genuine worship as we gather together. This means each of us dresses to serve and build up the body of Christ.

It is a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Do you know that not only is your body is a temple but that we collectively are a place the Spirit dwells. The local church is by God’s design His temple. There are many ways this is true. But one very practical one is us physically gathering together. Congregations (which is what the word “church” means) congregate. Congregations congregate. When we gather together as the Saints of God under the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit shows up in a special way. The church was gathered on the day of pentecost when the Spirit came. The church was gathered again in Acts 4 when the Spirit fell on the same people again. The Church devoted itself to gathering because they were the blood bought, Spirit filled family of God. But this makes sense because as 1 Corinthians 12:13 says,

1 Corinthians 12:13–14 NASB95

13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.

NOTE:

We are not having home groups this week. So do the book on your own. See everyone at the family meeting on Wednesday at 7 PM.