The Community of Peace

INTRODUCTION

In the New Testament, the mission of God is described a few times as the reconciling of heaven and earth under one kingdom (references).

The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you will take into eternity.

Dallas Willard

Ephesians is all about how God takes people like you and me and writes heaven on our hearts

PAUL IN PRISION

Paul is writing this letter to the church, reminding people of their security and hope and this incomparable worth that comes from being in Jesus, while he is under house arrest in Rome. At the end of chapter 6, he asks the church to pray for him that he might speak boldly to the people in his circle about Jesus, and he calls himself “an ambassador in chains.” (Eph. 6:20). Now, I want to touch briefly on the reason why Paul is in chains, because it influences our conversation today.

Luke records what happens in Acts 21. Paul is heading to Jerusalem for the Pentecost feast, which also happens to coincide with the birth of the church. On the way, he’s been warned countless times by prophets and others moved by the Spirit about what’s going to happen to him when he gets there. But Paul’s response is always, “my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from Jesus to testify to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:25). When he gets there, the elders advise Paul to go the temple and follow these purification rituals to show the Jews that he still keeps Jewish laws and is respectful of his heritage. But the Jews see him and stir up the crowd and they grab him and start beating on him. Paul eventually stands trial before the religious leaders, and then before the governor of the region, and then eventually he appeals to stand before Caesar himself to plead his case. And his alleged crime? Paul is accused of bringing a Gentile man, an Ephesian actually (Trophimus) beyond the barriers into the Temple area where the Jews worshiped. That’s it. And to the Jews, this was a crime punishable by death. I’ll quote them for you. After Paul shares his side of the story, the crowd responds by shouting “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live” (Acts 22:22). The catalyst that brought Paul from Jerusalem to Rome and eventually to his death was the horrifying possibility that a man who was not circumcised, not culturally or ethnically Jewish, would dare to be brought into the inner circle of God’s family.

This is why Paul is in prison. And curiously enough, he has something to say in the matter. Right here. And what Paul want the Ephesians to hear—and what I believe we need to hear, 2000 years later—is that our God is not known by his division and exclusion, but by reconciliation and peace. And as his people, we are defined the same way.

PRAY

BEFORE CHRIST: WAR AND DIVISION

We are in Ephesians 2:11-22 today, and just like week, there this pivot point in the story of humanity that comes to a head in Jesus Christ. All of history pivots at Jesus. And that includes my own personal story, and yours as well, if you follow him and claim him as your king. Each one of us can point back to a moment where we were raised from death to life, and that point is where Jesus takes a hold. There is a “B.C.”—a Before Christ—and an A.C.—After Christ. So like last week, let’s start with the Before Christ moment:

Ephesians 2:11–12 CSB

So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands. At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

OUTSIDERS: “THE UNCIRCUMCISED”

Before Jesus, you were outsiders, Paul says. There’s was God’s family, and then there was everyone else, and you were on the outside looking in. And what was it that put you on the outside? You were “The Uncircumcised.”

If you’ve had a male child, you are familiar with this procedure. It’s still something we do today. It started out though, not as a medical offering, but as a Jewish ritual. Way back at the outset of Jewish history, God took a man named Abraham and made a promise to him. God promised that Abraham, this barren 99-year old man, would become a father to nations, and through his offspring, the whole world would come to know the goodness of God. In turn, God asked that Abraham and his family would promise to be faithful to him, to always serve YHWH as their God and devote themselves to him alone. God then told Abraham to mark his own flesh with that promise, an outward sign of an inward commitment and trust (Gen. 17:1-14). And from time on, the sons of Abraham would bear this mark. They became “The Circumcised.”

But here’s the problem. Over time this stopped being used as a mark of faithfulness, and it grew to become a mark of exclusion and division. Circumcision became a human boundary marker. If you were circumcised, you were in the good group. If you weren’t, too bad. And what made it worse was that many who were circumcised didn’t actually have a relationship with God, didn’t care about him, weren’t faithful to him, did not love him or honor him or see things the way he did. They served gods of money, and sex, and power, they were still held down by all those forces we talked about before. If you remember last week, Paul says “we also were carried about by our selfish desires and committed all sorts of injustices” (Eph. 2:3) and when he says we, he means the circumcised. He means Jews. Circumcision was supposed to be this outward mark to remind the Jews of the promise they had made to be faithful, and it was sort of meaningless. It did nothing to preserve the vertical relationship between man and their God.

What it did do was draw a line between who could be a Jew and who could not. It built up a man-made wall of ritual and tradition that kept others out the club. It was a human boundary marker that was not based on grace, like the one with Abraham, but on works. You get circumcised, you hold up Jewish laws and traditions, you’re in. If you don’t you’re out. Doesn’t matter if you love God, you can’t follow him if you wanted to. No Jew, no worshiping YHWH.

Paul is later going to call these human boundary markers “walls of hostility.” Paul’s getting at more than just circumcision here. He’s referencing a literal wall of hostility that kept Gentiles out from the temple, where God’s spiritual presence was housed. Here’s a picture of the temple grounds. The tall building here is the Holy of Holies, where God was said to dwell. Only the high priest could enter there, once a year. Outside of that was a courtyard where priests and purified men could go. Then there was a courtyard for women. And outside of all that, there’s this four and a half foot wall, called the soreg, that kept Gentiles out. The Jewish historian Josephus says that there were thirteen stone inscriptions erected at various points that warned Gentiles not to enter under penalty of death. We’ve actually found a couple of these stones; here’s one of them. The text of the inscription reads: "No foreigner is to enter within the forecourt and the balustrade around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his subsequent death.” It’s a wall of hostility. Paul is all too familiar with this wall.

And Paul says here that this, along with circumcision, along with all of these man-made barriers and lines drawn in the sand, they prevent people from experiencing the goodness of God. To be outcast means your are exempt from the benefits of being in the “in crowd”. if you were a Gentile, Paul says you were:

Excluded from citizenship: You can’t be a part of God’s people

Strangers to covenant promises: You can’t enjoy God’s protection and provision

Without hope: You can’t trust in God’s rescue

Without God: You can’t know him, or have a relationship with him.

You realize at this point that Paul talking about more than circumcision here. He’s talking about anything that we humans do to try and judge for ourselves who’s in and who’s out, who is deserving of God’s love and affection, of his kindness and provision, who is deserving of forgiveness and hope—and who is not.

APPLICATION

This got me thinking a bit this week about the boundary markers we put down today to divide and separate. What kind of human lines do we draw to prevent others from experiencing good things? Junior High students, High Schoolers: what are some of the things that create cliques and social groups in your schools? What are some of the criteria that determine who gets to be in your friend group and who’s an enemy? Clothing Styles? What’s about interests and hobbies like sports, or gaming, or 4H? I remember this time I once got excluded from a group of teenagers. because I was couldn’t keep up with them in a video game. I was 24 years old, by the way, and by most accounts, way cooler than than any of them. I played electric guitar in a rock band, but the looks I got from those kids because I was bad at Mario was devastating. Boundary markers separate “good” from “bad”, elevate some and push others down.

What about the rest of you? What are some things that divide and separate? Careers (white collar/blue collar), education, money? Socio-economic background? Religion? Culture? The color of your skin? Ever since the first pages of the Bible, when hostility divided Adam and Eve from each other and from God, humans have fractured themselves into groups of uniformity and familiarity for their own gain at the exclusion of others. Why do we do this? And I’ll say this, Christians are not excused here.

Example: small group that experiences great vulnerability and closeness that doesn’t want to “ruin the chemistry”

What I’ve found often is that the absence of people makes it easier to exclude them. I don’t have to consider their Imago Dei if I keep them at a distance. Really, it’s about what keeps us safe, what makes us feel important, what keeps us from having to share the wealth.

And we actually make them into walls of hostility. Think about that person that’s outside of your tribe. There must be something wrong with them at an internal level for them to be so different from you. They don’t have money because they must be lazy. They have too much money because they are greedy. They vote for that other party because they are possessed by Satan. I don’t know what the issue is, but we have this way of reducing the humanity of those around us who are different from us. And we withhold hospitality, we rescind grace, we hoard hope, and we keep God housed inside the safe spaces where he can’t be defiled.

And let me tell you what: God wants no part in your walls. And so he sends his son to smash them down.

AFTER CHRIST: RECONCILIATION AND PEACE

Ephesians 2:13–18 CSB

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Before Jesus, humans divide and fracture. But after Jesus, there is reconciliation and peace.

Jesus brings near those who were far away.

He makes a fractured people into one by uniting the outsiders and the insiders together. Paul says that Jesus is our peace. This is an interesting word. We often think of peace as the absence of hostility, of war, and that’s true. But it’s more than just the absence of something bad. It’s the idea of wholeness, unity. When your thoughts are split in all different directions and you know what to do, that’s chaos, that’s a war within your mind. But when everything settles down and your life falls into focus, that’s peace of mind. Jesus came to bring peace, not war. When you come to Jesus, you are not marked by your preferences or your skills or your background or whatever it is you think ought to make you “holy” or special. You are are not marked by anything made by human hands. You are marked by the grace and forgiveness of God.

Paul says that Jesus, when he walked this earth, tore down the soreg, the dividing wall of hostility, that excluded others from hope and made enemies and strangers out of those who were different. Jesus doesn’t literally go up to the temple and tear down the wall. (He does at one point say that the temple will be torn down and rebuilt though) What he does is welcomes strangers and enemies to dine with him. He lets children sit with him. He lets women learn at his feet. He visits with Samaritans, he blesses and heals Gentile men and women. Jesus doesn’t make a huge dramatic scene; he simply loves those who were not being loved and extends life to those who were cast out into the margins. And when he does so, he renders the man-made rules and traditions powerless to divide humans from God.

Now, why does Jesus do this? So that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross. He did it so that that humans and God might finally be one, just like they were always meant to be. This reconciling of God and man was ultimately found at the cross. Jesus did not die for the Jews. He did not die for the Gentiles. The mission of Jesus was never to save a particular people who deserved it, but a whole world who didn’t (2:18)

APPLICATION

The message of peace was meant for all (2:17-18)

Those who are “near” need peace; those who are “far” need peace (2:17)

THE RESULT: A NEW SOCIETY EMERGES

Ephesians 2:19–22 CSB

So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

This result of Jesus’ peace? He brings about a new society, where all are drawn into his arms regardless of heritage or ritual. Jesus redefines what it means to be “set apart” and it has nothing to do with the wall we build. He makes it simple. Jesus loves you and died for you. Will you love him and serve him in return? If so, welcome to the family.

Fellow Citizens (2:19)

Members of God’s Dwelling Place (the Temple) (2:19-22)

APPLICATION