A Unified Different
Ephesians 2:11-21
October 20, 2019
A couple of weeks ago at the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers football game a controversy was started. It literally had nothing to do with the game itself. The officials didn’t blow a call, nobody said anything too bizarre. The controversy had to do with who was sitting next to whom. That’s right, it’s really pretty bizarre, but as I thought about it, it’s exactly what this passage that we’re going to talk about today is referring to.
You see sitting in the suite of the Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, and sitting next to each other were - -
President George Bush and Ellen DeGeneres. They were sitting next to each other, talking to one another and laughing together. This created a firestorm.
Why were people freaking out about this? I want to share with you what Ellen DeGeneres said on her show about sitting next to President Bush. She said - -
"People were upset, they thought, why is a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president? A lot of people were mad. And they did what people do when they're mad . . . they tweet."
She showed a tweet which stated, "Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again."
She continued by saying, "Exactly. Here's the thing. I'm friends with George Bush. In fact, I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs that I have."
She concluded by saying, "Just because I don't agree with someone on everything doesn't mean that I'm not going to be friends with them. When I say, 'be kind to one another,' I don't only mean the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone."
Now, we can learn from Ellen . . . and she really does have a point. Can we really be kind to one another and kind to those who are different in what ever way than we are? Can we do more than put up with people, instead, can we love people who are different than we are? In the end, isn’t that what the church is supposed to be about? We’ll hear more about that next week.
So, with that in mind, let’s look at what Paul was telling the folks in Ephesians 2. We’ve been looking at a lot of great news that Paul has given us over the past few weeks, but today, Paul is doing some pushing to the early church.
Remember this about Paul, he’s in a Roman prison and he’s the pastor to the gentiles. Very simply, the gentiles were the ones who were not Jewish. According to Jewish people, a gentile is anyone who isn’t Jewish. That’s pretty simple. And the word GOY, is a slang term for someone who is a non-Jew.
We’re going to be looking at Ephesians 2:11-21 this morning. In verse 11, Paul tells the gentile Christians 11 –
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 —
If we stop here for a second, the sign of a Jewish man according to Genesis 17 was the fact that he was circumcised. That started with Abraham. Now, the Gentiles were not. So, Paul is reminding the Gentiles, who are unaffectionately called the UNCIRCUMCISION by the Jews about their past heritage. And - - in order to be part of the circumcision group, to be Jewish, you had to be circumcised, which is done by people. So, Paul goes on to say in verse 12 -- 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ,
Now, Paul is moving towards his main point, and this is really intense in these verses. He starts out pretty basic, reminding the Gentile Christians that at one time they were separated from Christ.
It’s true about anyone who doesn’t claim Jesus as Lord and Savior. They’re separated from Christ. They don’t have a relationship with Him, they don’t have a relationship with the church, and they have no benefits in the kingdom of God. Paul goes on and says they were not only separated from Christ, but they were -
alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
These Gentiles were in trouble. Not only were they separated from Christ, they were without God and had no hope since they didn’t have God. To make matters worse, Paul tells them they were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenant of promise.
The fact that they were alienated and strangers to Israel, had dramatic consequences. In those days, if you were a stranger or an alien, you had no rights. They had no rights to protection from the government, they were foreigners with no rights and no privileges for anything.
Imagine walking into another country and someone asks you where you’re from and you say from Alexandria, Indiana; and they look at you smile, and walk away. You ask them for help. And they tell you, you have no rights in their land. That’s what these Gentiles had in terms of their faith status. They had absolutely nothing. They were on their own.
That’s the bad news! And it’s really bad! But, and remember, Paul likes to use that word - - so in verse 13 - 16, he wrote these amazing, shocking words. And to the Jew, they were scandalous --
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Let me give you a quick recap and then really spell this out for you. On the surface, it seems pretty clear, but it goes way deeper than we realize. And that’s often true when two different groups are brought together.
Paul is letting them know it’s not circumcision that saves them. It’s not becoming a Jew, which is what the Jewish Christians were thinking. But, those who were far off, the gentiles, now have the opportunity to come near to Jesus. It’s the blood of Jesus, which was shed for us, that’s what redeems each and every person. It’s when we say yes to Jesus that we gain salvation. So, the Gentiles are now able to experience the power and presence of God. Paul then adds - -
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
Jesus is the one who offers us PEACE. It’s not so much the peace we gain when we experience the power of Christ, but it’s the peace we experience with God and the peace we experience with one another.
Notice that Paul says, God has made us BOTH one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. That’s an important statement from Paul. So, how does Christ make us both one? He breaks down the dividing walls.
There was a very real picture of what that meant in the early church. It’s believed that Paul was talking about the wall that was in the temple. You see, in the ancient temple in Jerusalem, there were 4 courts separated by walls.
The outermost court was the Court of Gentiles, and moving inward, there was the Court of Women, and the Court of Israel, and finally the Court of the Priests.
The Court of Gentiles was the only place Gentiles could worship. It was a more public area, a social area, and that’s where the markets were as well. It was stated that any Gentile who entered into a further court could be punished by death.
This is what Paul means when he says, "You who once were far off …" They were segregated from their Jewish brothers and sisters in the worship of God. But thanks be to God, Paul says that when Christ died He dismantled that wall. And now Jew and Gentile can come together as one people and worship together.
So, how did Jesus destroy the wall? Paul tells us --
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.
Now, this is what gets really cool and really difficult at the same time. I want you to understand what Paul’s saying. In verse 15, when he said, that Christ might create in Himself ONE NEW MAN in place of the two . . . there’s a really cool meaning to this statement.
Now, we’re going to get technical for about 1 minute. And this is the cool thing about Greek compared to English. In Greek there are 2 basic words for new. We only have 1 word for new, and that’s new!
In Greek the two words are - - NEAOS ???? and KAHEENOS ?a????. Just bear with me as I explain this - - because it’s good!
Neos speaks of something that is new as it relates to time. If we used this word, we would be talking about the newest I-phone 11, or the newest version of the Play Station game. It’s the latest upgrade to the 747, or newest upgrade to the flat screen TV.
If Paul used the word NEOS, it would mean we become more of an upgraded model, or the newest kind of an upgraded person.
BUT, Paul doesn’t use that word. Paul uses the word KAHEENOS.
KAHEENOS speaks of something new as it relates to quality and innovation, like a new invention. So while neaos may be the latest upgrade of a Ford Expedition, kaheenos is the Model-T Ford, the first car ever invented. While neaos may be the latest 747 to come off the assembly line, kaheenos is the Wright Brothers' plane, the first plane ever invented.
When Paul says Christ died to create one new man, this coming together of Jew and Gentile, is the idea of kaheenos, the idea of invention. So, Christ died to create something the world had never seen. Jew and Gentile, people who hate each other, coming together, doing life with one another, sharing meals together, sharing their possessions, giving their offerings and worshiping together. There was no paradigm for that. This was super radical in that day, and still today!
Now, I want to give you a couple of practical examples of what this would have looked like.
Understand that the Gentiles had no understanding of Jewish laws. They never read the book of Leviticus. They were totally clueless about all the rules, laws and regulations. They thought the Jews were bizarre because they followed strange rules and laws. They didn’t. With that in mind, imagine there was going to be a Pot Luck at the church. Everyone’s excited and they’re going to do it up big time.
The Jewish people are going to bring beef, chicken, lamb and fish, along with some desserts. The Gentiles are going to bring BBQ pulled pork, BBQ ribs, crab legs, lobster, shrimp, and they’re going to wash down their meal with a tall glass of ice cold milk, and bring Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for dessert.
On the surface, it sounds like a great pot luck. But the Jews walk in, and remember, they’re still holding to Jewish dietary laws; and they’re aghast. Wait! They’re more than aghast. They’re furious!! How could these rotten no good Gentiles bring pork and shellfish and milk and ice cream to the pot luck?
That’s so disrespectful. Don’t they understand that we don’t eat that food? It’s not kosher! Leviticus details Jewish dietary laws, and you can’t eat pork or shellfish, among other things; and you can’t drink milk with meat! Which means no Ben and Jerry’s for dessert.
But the Gentiles don’t get it, because they’ve never followed the Jewish dietary laws. They’ve never known you couldn’t eat shellfish or pork. They didn’t know you couldn’t drink milk with your burger. They were totally clueless. They were just doing what came naturally. Nobody told them all these rules.
Can you see the conflicts that could erupt?! And remember the Jews held themselves as the chosen people, the Gentiles were outsiders. This is just a mild example of what could have happened and the danger involved. This is what can happen when you bring 2 very different groups together.
Now, I want to give you another example of bringing two people together. It’s one that I experienced and it was really dangerous. After becoming a Christian, I began to volunteer on a weekly basis doing gang ministry in Chicago. I was never accused of being overly intelligent.
While doing this ministry, we had what we called UN Meetings on a monthly basis. That meant we would pick up gang members, usually leaders of various gangs and bring them back to someone’s home, have a meeting, take them all out to dinner, then drive them back home.
What was unique about this was the fact that if these gang members were out on the street and saw one another, they would have tried to kill each other. Without getting into the dynamics of it all, depending on what side of Damen Avenue in Chicago you lived on, you were either affiliated with FOLK NATION or PEOPLE NATION. It’s kind of like the National League and American League.
Then you were part of your own gang, which is where your real allegiance ran. So, we brought FOLK and PEOPLE together in one room. If you crossed the street or folded your arms in a certain way, and I’m serious . . . if my R arm was over my left, that meant I identified with FOLK. If my L arm was over my right, I identified with PEOPLE. It mattered which way your cap was tilted. Those were signals, but also grounds to literally kill each other.
But we brought these guys together and met with them, no guns or knives were allowed. Even though I know they brought them. We preached Christ to them, and helped them to know what was going on with other gang members who were in prison.
These were like bringing the Jews and Gentiles together. There was hatred. There were feelings of superiority. There was animosity. There was distrust.
Yet, the goal of the work of Christ - - the goal of the UN meetings was what Paul was trying to do with these new believers. The goal was to bring these people together so they could become ONE NEW PERSON. A different person. It’s the image Paul gives us that when we come to Jesus, the old person dies and a new person, with a new heart and new Spirit rises up out of the ash heap and we become a new creation in Christ. That’s what Paul is getting at here.
When we become the church, we become this BRAND NEW, never before seen creation in Christ. That’s the beauty and the power of the local church. It’s what the church can offer all people, if we are willing. If we are willing to look at one another and in spite of our differences, love one another. We don’t condone sin, but we recognize we all come here as sinners in need of the grace of God, reconciliation and hope from our Creator!
So, Paul goes on to tell the Ephesians --
17 And Christ 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.
Do you hear these words from Paul? Jesus came and preached to those who were near, the Jews, and to those who were far off, the Gentiles. And through Jesus, and through Jesus alone, BOTH have access in one Spirit to the Father. They have the same Spirit, the Holy Spirit, sent by God to each believer.
Paul reminds the Gentile believers again, they are no longer strangers and aliens. Now, they are fellow citizens with all of the saints, Jews and Gentiles, coming together to worship and be members of the household of Jesus Christ.
Jesus died to tear down the dividing wall of hostility, to create one new person.
I love when John is giving us his vision of heaven and in Revelation 7:9, John paints this great picture - -
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands - Revelation 7:9
John didn’t see a homogeneous vision of heaven in which there was only one type of person. John saw Jews, Gentiles, Muslims, Atheists - - all who were transformed and professed faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. He saw blacks with whites with Asians with Latinos and all others. It was a multi-ethnic community being shaped and formed.
I really believe we will speak whatever our language is, and people from other nations and tribes will understand us. We will speak English and they will speak Swahili and we will understand them and we will all praise and worship God together. There will no longer be a segregated church.
The church will be one. So, what can we do?! We can look at our brothers and sisters, whoever they are, and we can embrace one another with the most powerful gift there is . . . the love of God, through Jesus Christ. Don’t pass judgment, but pass on love. Extend grace and mercy. Live like Jesus! Jesus gave us the most powerful weapon . . . LOVE! Pass it on!!
