Destroying Walls Series

Destroying Walls

Ephesians Series

CCCAG 2-13-22

Scripture- Ephesians 2:11-22

I’ve had a lot of good things happen lately.

Since I last spoke with many of you, I passed my state nursing board, called the NCLEX and have finally received a nursing license from the state.

I’ve completely my orientation and am now a full-fledged ER RN.

On Thursday, my daughter Haley passed her NCLEX and is also a licensed RN at Aurora Hospital in Kenosha. She is one of the few people in her class that actually passed her NCLEX on the first time, so we are very grateful for that.

I give all glory, praise and thanks to God for all of those. Going through nursing school has been a pipe dream of mine for years….something I thought would be really neat but never had the opportunity to do it.

As I was praising God for all of this, I thought of where I had come from in life.

Most of you know, I grew up largely in a medium to large city. My parents moved to Kenosha in 1974 from Hayward so my dad could pursue his career as a state patrol officer. That career didn’t last long, and neither did their marriage and they split up soon after.

Because of this, I lived for a few years in some very economically depressed areas. Some would call it “The hood”, or ghetto. I was always the kid in the special line at school- the one who got the free lunch. Often, I didn’t have the appropriate supplies for school or nice clothes and was teased for it.

I didn’t take school seriously at all and dropped out and lived relatively homeless for about a year before I entered the Army- crashing periodically on friends couches and such.

I started from the lowest of the low. I was used to being almost a 3rd class citizen-

Poor, Uneducated, White living among nonwhite people.

Coming back to today’s topic, I kind of understand how a gentile felt hanging around Jewish people in the early church.

Maybe you’ve had similar experiences today- being the odd person out. If so, listen carefully to todays message.

We are going to take Ephesians 2:11-22 in smaller sections today.

We are going to start today talking about divisions in the early church- the racism that existed under the radar but was real.

Let’s read about the overall condition first-The Apostle Paul speaking to those in the church at Ephesus

Eph 2:11-13

11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 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 through the blood of Christ.

Prayer

If you are not an avid bible reader you might be surprised to know that many of the same problems that plague us today also existed 2000 years ago, even among those who were converting to Christianity.

As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun, what was will be again”

The book of Acts says that soon after the incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, the Jewish people, who thought themselves to be the one and only chosen of God had to start intermixing with Gentiles who they saw as, well, just lesser people.

But it was not just a Jewish/Gentile thing. You also had the Roman Occupation- they were living under Roman rule, and if you were not a Roman citizen you were nothing.

You had no rights to anything. A Roman citizen could like your cloak and walk up and demand you give it to them, and you would have to comply.

Do you see the recipe for some racism and hard feelings among people groups?

Fast forward about 2000 years.

Growing up in the 80’s, and coming to adulthood in the 90’s with some military experience mixed in there, it’s my belief that racism was largely going away in America. Sure, you would see some problems and I’m not minimizing that at all, but for the most part people were no telling racist jokes anymore, or using the N word too refer to people of color.

That was a good thing.

Then a movement started in this nation about 10 years ago. It’s insidious and seeks to divide people. It’s using the media to spread it’s message of division and hatred, social media as it’s tool, and lies as it’s source and seeks to forcibly control what the message is, how you think, and who you depend on for truth.