One in Christ.
Reading: Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11-22.
• “Peace in our time! Peace with honour!”
• Were the words of British Prime Minister, Sir Neville Chamberlain,
• When he returned from conferences in Germany in September 1938.
• He was sure that he had stopped Adolph Hitler.
• Yet one year later, Hitler invaded Poland, and on September 3, 1939,
• Great Britain declared war on Germany & Chamberlain’s great peace mission had failed.
One peace treaty that has lasted and that will continue to last:
• Is the one made by the eternal God,
• And it was sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
• It is Christ’s peace mission that Paul explains in this section of Ephesians,
• And three very important words summarize this great work:
(1). Separation: What The Gentiles Were (verses 11-12)
• In the first ten verses of Ephesians 2,
• Paul has talked about God’s plan to save sinful people,
Now he will teach the Ephesians by contrast:
• He will remind the Ephesians of what and how they were (verses 11-12).
• And then he will focus on what they have become! (verses 13-22).
Verse 12: Most of the Ephesian Christians were Gentiles (non-Jews),
• And they were called by Jews “the uuncircumsision”
• This name was a description of a Gentile but also a derogatory remark!
In the Old Testament God spoke to Abraham:
• He made a covenant (a sacred promise, an agreement) with him,
• That from his family would come a great nation.
• As a sign of the covenant all Jewish men (Abraham’s decedents) were to be circumcised.
• Even today all Jewish boys when they are eight days old are circumcised.
• i.e. They had a physical operation, minor surgery;
• When the foreskins on their penis is cut off,
• A Jewish male had no choice in the matter,
• It was not an optional extra;
• It was an essential qualification;
• If they wanted to be included in this covenant, agreement.
• Unfortunately, the Jews who were circumcised;
• Looked down on the Gentiles who were uncircumcised
• And sadly this happened not just in society;
• But also in the Church (i.e. Acts chapter 10).
The Ephesian Christians mostly Gentiles:
• Knew that salvation came from the Jews.
• They also new the superior attitude that Jews had towards Gentiles.
• Knew that even some converted Jews
• Still regarded non-Jews as a kind of second class believer,
Now in these verses Paul will show that God has not only
• Made man and God to be at one.
• But has made both Jew & Gentile one!
Paul reminds the Gentile believers at Ephesus 4 things:
(1). WITHOUT CHRIST.
• Before they had become Christians;
• Most of these Ephesians worshiped the goddess, Diana,
• They had no idea concerning the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
• Their conversion set them free from idolatry and gave them a living saviour.
We today live in an age of syncretism (syn-cret-ism):
• People say it does not matter which religion you believe;
• After all there is only one God.
Ill:
• Different religions are like the spokes in a wheel,
• They all go to the central hub i.e. God.
• That might be a politically correct thing to say (i.e. B.B.C. Thought for today etc)
• But the Bible refutes that idea again and again and again!
Quote John chapter 14 verse 6:
“I am the way, the truth and the life.
No-one comes to the Father except by me”.
Quote Acts chapter 4 verse 12:
“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”.
Quote William Visser’t Hoof:
• Was the first General Secretary of the World Council of Churches:
• He was once asked;
• What he thought would be the greatest peril facing churches in the near future.
• He replied;
“Syncretism. It is a far more dangerous challenge to the Christian church than atheism is ever likely to be”
In verse 12 Paul cites the Ephesians’ Christ-less state as a definite tragedy.
• And don’t forget that every unsaved person, Jew or Gentile, religious or atheist.
• Is “outside Christ” and lost and under condemnation.
• That’s why Paul had earlier categorised people in only one of two groups;
• Verse 1&5: dead or alive!
(2). WITHOUT CITIZENSHIP.
• Starting with Abraham God built the Jewish people into a nation.
• He gave them His laws and His blessings.
• Israel was God’s nation, they were unique;
• They were in a position, a relationship that was not true of any other Gentile nation.
• A Gentile could take on the Jewish faith by becoming a convert, a proselyte,
• But he was not born into that very special nation.
ill:
Under Herod’s design:
• The Jewish priests had the closest access to God.
• Their courtyard was built nearest the temple building.
• The Israelite men were in the courtyard beyond them.
• And Jewish women worshipped God in the courtyard beyond the men.
• Two walls and a number of steps down later,
• You reached the court of the Gentiles.
• The Gentiles could look up at the temple,
• But that was as close as they were allowed.
• Notices posted on the thick stone barrier between them read;
• “Trespassers will be executed”.
To say that the Gentiles were cut off is an enormous understatement!
(3). WITHOUT COVENANTS.
The Gentiles had not received any of the promises God had made to the Jews.
• Various promises or covenants are recorded in the Old Testament;
• We have the Abrahamic covenant (Geneses chapter 12.
• The Palestinian covenant (Deuteronomy chapter 28-30).
• The Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7 verse 8 & Psalm 89).
But God did not make any covenants with the Gentile nations.
• The Gentiles were “aliens” and “strangers”
• And the Jews never let them forget it.
ill:
• Many of the Pharisees would pray daily,
• “O God, I give thanks that I am a Jew, not a Gentile.”
These covenants reminded the Jews:
• Of their past;
• And promised them a future.
• The Gentiles did not receive these promises,
• So they could not claim either.
(4). WITHOUT HOPE.
Quote Warren Wiersbe:
“Historians tell us that a great cloud of hopelessness covered the ancient world.
Philosophies were empty; traditions were disappearing;
religions were powerless to help men face either life or death.
People longed to pierce the veil and get some message of hope from the other side,
but there was none”
ill:
• Evolution has produced the same reaction today.
• If we came from nothing (result of chance).
• And when we die we go to nothing (death is the end).
• Then the whole point of life, existence is nothing!
Ill:
• No where is that seen more clearly than at a funeral.
• Contrast with a believers funeral.
Quote:
“See in what peace a Christian dies”.
(5). WITHOUT GOD.
The heathen had plenty of gods.
• Ill: Paul discovered in Athens (Acts chapter 17 verses 16-23).
• Quote: Someone in that day said that it was easier to find a god than a man in Athens.
But the pagan:
• No matter how religious or moral he or she might have been,
• They did not know the true God.
ill:
The writer of Psalm 115 contrasted the true God with the idols of the heathen.
For our God is in the heavens,
and he does as he wishes.
4 Their idols are merely things of silver and gold,
shaped by human hands.
5 They cannot talk, though they have mouths,
or see, though they have eyes!
6 They cannot hear with their ears,
or smell with their noses,
7 or feel with their hands,
or walk with their feet,
or utter sounds with their throats!
8 And those who make them are just like them,
as are all who trust in them.
The story of mankind is not evolution but devolution!
• The first eleven chapters of Genesis give the story of the decline of the mankind.
• Moving from the one true God to the invention of many.
Quote:
“In the beginning God created man in his image;
since the fall, man has been remaking God in his image”.
(B). Reconciliation: What God Did For The Gentiles (Verses 13-18)
• Enjoy those two small words in verse 13 “But now”.
• Ill: Hinges on a door that opens up and lets the light flood into a dark room.
• Into the darkness that the Gentiles were in, comes the dazzling light of God,
• He graciously intervenes into this situation, he works on behalf of lost sinners.
There is a twofold enmity mentioned in these verses:
(1). He has brought the far-off near (vs 13).
• God has made it possible for Gentiles “the far-off” to be brought near!
Ill:
Only one thing separates us from God.
• Not age.
• Not Colour or race.
• Not money (rich or poor)
• Not intellect (wise & simple).
• Not distance!
• One thing and one thing only SIN!
Verse 13: Tells us how God has brought us near to himself:
• “By his blood”. - That was the cost of our salvation!
• Salvation maybe free but it was not cheap! It cost Christ everything!
Ill:
Barney and his boat.
(2). He brought peace to the divided (vs 14-16).
• Jesus Christ has not only brought peace between the creator and the creation,
• But also between Jew and Gentile.
Notice:
• He has not made Gentiles Jews,
• And he has not made Jews Gentiles.
• But he has made both NEW
• Verse 15: “In himself one new man out of the two”.
Quote Galatians chapter 3 verse 28 (NLT):
“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians—you are one in Christ Jesus.
All Christians stand before the cross on level ground:
• Young or old.
• Male or female.
• Rich or poor.
• Black or white.
• Jew or Gentile.
• We all need salvation from our sin
• And are therefore equal and have no cause for division.
Paul describes for us here the greatest peace mission in history:
• Jesus Christ not only reconciled Jews and Gentiles,
• But He reconciled both to Himself in the one body, the church.
The word ‘reconcile’ means “to bring together again.”
Ill:
• A distraught husband wants to be reconciled to his wife who has left him;
• A worried mother longs to be reconciled to a wayward daughter;
• And the lost sinner needs to be reconciled to God.
Sin is the great separator in this world.
• It has been dividing people since the very beginning of human history.
• When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God.
• And that separation has continued down through every generation.
• But like the Berlin wall, because of the cross, it is now destroyed!
(3). Unification: What Jews And Gentiles Are In Christ (vs 19-22)
• To emphasize the unifying work of Christ,
• Paul has repeated the word “one”:
• Verse 14: “Made both one”.
• Verse 15: “One new man”.
• Verse 16: “One body”
• Verse 18: “One Spirit”.
Paul teaches us here that all spiritual distance and division have been overcome by Christ.
Ill:
Bridge & river story page 70 cs
4 changes for Gods household.
(a). A COMMON ACCESS TO GOD (verse 18).
Don’t forget the situation that Paul was talking about here:
• The Jews could only access God through the High Priest.
• Who entered God’s presence once a year on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16).
• The Gentiles had no access at all to God.
ill:
• But one Friday afternoon, about three o’clock;
• All that changed.
• When Jesus cried out “It is finished, and he gave up his spirit”,
• Immediately in the temple, a curtain that had divided men and woman from God for centuries,
• Was torn apart, from the top to the bottom,
• And a new and living way was opened up to God.
You and I as believers:
• Can come freely to God in prayer;
• No more priests, no more sacrifices, no more dividing wall.
(b). A COMMON CITIZENSHIP (verse 19a):
The Gentiles were “foreigners and aliens”:
• A foreigner is a visitor to another country,
• An alien is one step more, someone who lives there but without rights.
• People without any rights Ill: Asylum seekers / economic migrants,
• Those who hold no rights of citizenship in their new country.
But through Christ, these Gentiles who have become Christians:
• Have been granted the same rights as Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah etc
• Not second class but first class, equal rights because of Jesus!
(c). A COMMON FAMILY (verse 19b).
When these Gentiles became Christians (same for us today):
• We are not joining a club or society or organisation.
• We are born into a family.
• God wants our family ties to be intimate;
• And our bonds tight
(a).
• That means we have a support system that is not optional but essential,
• Made up of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
• The Church should not be viewed as an optional extra for the Christian,
• Christ gave his life for it!
• If we are believers we should be committed to a local fellowship,
• And attend and get involved as much as possible!
(b).
• And we have a heavenly Father,
• Who is available to us day or not, he is only a prayer away.
Ill:
Prayer is like a telephone.
• Never engaged, never to busy,
• Waiting for us to call!
(D). A COMMON FAITH (verse 20-22).
• We have a common faith;
• Paul uses the picture of a temple to teach us some simple truths.
We are told that:
• Our foundations are the apostles and prophets.
• Their teaching is the New Testament scriptures.
• And Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone.
Quote Hoehner:
“In ancient building practices “the chief cornerstone” was carefully placed.
It was crucial because the entire building was lined up with it.
The Church’s foundation, that is the apostles and prophets, needed to be correctly aligned with Christ. All other believers are built on that foundation, measuring their lives with Christ”.
APPLICATION TODAY:
• If you are a Christian; then you are not an independent free spirit,
• But you are part of God’s family
• Whether you are Jew or Gentile, Male or Female, Young or Old,
• We are one in Christ.
• We might not see eye to eye with each other all the time,
• But we are required to accept and value and love one another.
• The way we find support and show our love to each other,
• Is when we fellowship and meet together as God’s people.
