Breaking Down Walls Series

Breaking Down Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Rev. Brian Bill

February 3-4, 2024

My four sisters and I spent a lot of time outside when we were growing up, probably because my parents wanted us out of the house. We played hide-and-seek, kickball, dodgeball, Simon Says and Red Rover. We ran all over the neighborhood, cutting through back yards and tearing up front yards. The only restriction we had was that we were not allowed to step on our next-door neighbor’s lawn. We had to pretend there was a thick wall on the lot line between our houses. While there weren’t any “keep-out” signs posted, the man we nicknamed “Uncle Dudley” was known to use a pellet gun to shoot birds when they ate his strawberries, so we didn’t want to take any chances on becoming target practice.

There are a lot of dividing lines in our culture today as we put up walls about everything from personal preferences to politics, with the mudslinging between Republicans and Democrats ramping up as we get closer to November. We’re also prone to divide over race, ethnicity, and class, not to mention wars which take place between countries. On top of all this, many of us have experienced ruptures in our personal relationships. Conflict is like a brick wall, which grows one brick at a time, and sometimes the wall is so high and thick that it appears impenetrable.

In our passage today, we’ll see how Jesus breaks down division and brings peace in the midst of the hostility we harbor toward others.

Let’s give our undivided attention to Ephesians 2:11-22: “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated 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 once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have 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 members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

One of the major disputes in the early church wasn’t over the color of carpeting or music styles. The conflict was actually cultural because the gospel was exploding among different ethnic groups. Ethnically diverse congregations were causing Jewish Christ followers to have coronaries.

As a result, the church in Jerusalem decided to hold its first business meeting and voted not to make Gentiles become Jewish in order to follow Jesus. Everyone could maintain their own ethnicity and cultural distinctives and yet be enfolded into one racially diverse community called the church. When this decision was written down and circulated in a letter found in Acts 15:31, people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds “rejoiced over its encouragement.”

Later on, Peter, who had a Jewish background, enjoyed his newly found food freedom, and ate bacon-wrapped little smokies with some Greek guys at a Super Bowl party. He was having a good time even though the Packers weren’t playing, but when some Jewish-background Christians found out, Peter stuffed his bacon under the couch cushion and defaulted to the prejudice in his heart. In a similar way, we are often tempted to drift back to judgmental separatism.

Here’s our main idea: Because of our union with Christ, our differences are put to death so we can live in communion with one another.

1. Remember we were alienated in the past (11-12). We’re called to remember in verse 11: “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.” The word “therefore” links us back to Ephesians 2:1-10 which focuses on our personal reconciliation with God. Today we’ll see how Jesus brings corporate reconciliation horizontally as well. Because we’re reconciled with God, we must be reconciled with one another.