Ephesians: Finding our Identity in Christ
Ephesians 2:11-22
Pastor Jeferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
March 15, 2026
Rivalries
When I moved to North Carolina, one of the questions people asked was, “North Carolina or Duke?” When I answered, “Well, I’m a Michael Jordan fan so North Carolina but I think Coach K is an amazing leader so I like Duke as well.”
This…was….unacceptable! Their heads would nearly explode. You either were a TarHeel or a Blue Devil. You couldn’t like both. It was a matter of life and death.
[AllState Commercial - Duke vs. NC - You Tube]
Rivalries are everywhere. Yankees vs Red Socks. Coke vs. Pepsi. Lakers vs. Celtics. Apple vs. Microsoft. Bears vs. Packers. Hatfields vs. McCoys. Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr.
We have sibling rivalries. There are political rivalries. Rap has its rivalries - Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar.
And in the church at Ephesus, there was a deep, complex, hostile rivalry between the Gentiles and the Jewish believers.
It was based on religion - Gentiles didn’t know the true God.
It was based on culture - Jewish people had rituals, feasts, and ceremonies.
It was based on race - The Jewish believers, who had the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob running through their veins looked down on the Gentiles.
There was a Jewish saying, “God created Gentiles to fuel the fires of hell.”
A daily prayer of a strict Jewish male was to thank God that he was neither a woman, a Samaritan, nor a Gentile.
If a Jewish person married a Gentile, the family would have a funeral for their Jewish relative and they would be considered dead.
There was so much hostility that the Gospel wasn’t preached to Gentiles until ten years after Jesus died and rose again.
Kent Hughes writes,
“The collision of Gentile/Jewish exclusiveness was monumental.”
In the context of this hatred and bitterness, God is up to something absolutely amazing!
Please turn with me to Ephesians 2.
Prayer.
Alienation
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 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. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (V. 11-12)
When you see a “therefore” in the Scriptures, we need to ask “what is it there for?”
In the first eleven verses of chapter two, Paul paints a glorious picture of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. We were dead in our sins and God made us alive in Christ.
In the second portion of chapter two, Paul will show how that grace plays out horizontally between two very different groups in the church at Ephesus.
We see the first command in the book of Ephesians - remember, which means “too recall, to mark, to set aside.”
It’s not just recalling something, but it is designed to affect our behavior.
The majority of people in the church of Ephesus by this time were Gentiles. Paul calls these Gentile believers to remember what life was like before Jesus.
They were called the “uncircumcised” by Jewish people. This was a derogatory term, (literally - “foreskin”) used by Jewish people who believed they were right with God because of circumcision.
To the Jewish people, circumcision was more than a physical distinction: it was a mark of covenantal privilege, social standing, and spiritual purity.
But Paul makes clear in Romans:
“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly [done in the body by human hands], nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.” (Romans 2:28-29)
Paul writes of these people in his letter to the Christians in Galatia:
“Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.” (Galatians 6:12-15)
Paul wants them to remember five very important aspects of their life before Jesus:
Separated from Christ
The Gentiles had no Messianic hope. They were Christ-less. It was promised that God would bless all nations, but that promise was made to Israel.
Excluded from citizenship in Israel
The Gentiles had no real home. They were homeless.
Foreigners to the covenants of the promise
They didn’t know the protection, provision, and faithfulness of God.
The Gentiles had no share in the covenant and the promises made to Noah (Genesis 9:1-3), Abraham (Genesis 12:3), Isaac (Genesis 17:21, and Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22), Moses (Exodus 20), and David (2 Samuel 7:12-14; 2 Samuel 22:5; Isaiah 55:1-3; Luke 1:31-33)
Thy didn’t know that Jeremiah talked of a new covenant:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)
Richard Coekin write:
“In this new covenant, announced by Jesus at the Last Supper, God promised that his people would love obeying Him, be enable to serve Him, and personally know Him, because their sins would be forgiven in Christ.”
* Without hope and without God in the world
Historians tell us that a dark cloud of hopelessness had settled over the pagan world in Paul’s day. Some of the philosophers wrote that it would have been better not to have been born at all.
Hughes writes:
“The first century was an age of suicide. Tacitus tells of a man who killed himself in indignation that he had been born.”
The masses had grown skeptical of the Greek and Roman gods that seemed so self-centered, capricious, and cruel.
John MacArthur writes,
“…history had no purpose, no plan, and no destiny—except the ultimate judgment of God, of which they were unaware. The popular Stoic philosophers taught that history repeated itself in three–thousand–year cycles. At the end of each cycle the universe is burned up and then reborn to repeat the same futile pattern.”
Paul wants them to remember that before Jesus, they were in that hopeless state and had no God to trust in the world.
They were considered “atheists,” although they believed in many so-called gods. ?
Only “in Christ” do we have the blessings of Ephesians 1:3-14. Only in Christ, do we have the rescue from death in Ephesians 2:1-10.
Paul implores them and us to “remember” what it was like before Jesus.
I can remember this well. I was basically homeless, addicted to pornography, dealt with severe depression, and dark, hopeless intrusion thoughts.
One of the songs that spoke to me so powerfully during that time was by Michael W. Smith. My brother had been born again and knew that he could use music to share the Gospel with me.
The song Rockettown described my life perfectly:
A Friday night affair / Out in the city heat
Always a party there / Along the sordid street
And it was guaranteed / The place to be was Rocketown
The drinks were two for one / Inside the crowded bars
The girls would make their run / Out on the boulevard
It was the idol place / We lived the ways of Rocketown
Hang around by the street light / In the heart of the night life
I lived in Rocketown and I knew how empty and hopeless that life was.
Are they bad memories? Some. But when I remember them, I am also reminded of what God did to rescue me from that life and from myself. And for that, I am eternally grateful!
Bryan Chapel paraphrases Paul’s reminder this way:
“Remember you were regarded as pagans by birth and belittled by the religious elite. Remember that you were regarded as foreigners and deprived of hope. Remember what it meant for your sin to make you despicable in your eyes and God’s. Remember, for in those memories are the images that will make not only your salvation precious, but also will make those around you - including those one very different from you - seem very much like you and precious to you.”
“Remember” is in the present tense which means to continually remember how bad it was before Jesus.
Hold on. I thought Paul told the Philippians:
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
So, which is it? Forget or remember?
In Philippians, Paul is talking about his past tripping him up as he tries to go forward serving Jesus.
Do you know someone who is stuck in the past? I remember listening to a friend who was complaining about something and I asked, “what year are we talking about?” They answered, “1991.”
I said, “That was 30 years ago! Let it go!”
In Ephesians, Paul is not wanting them to focus on the sins of their past except to magnify the grace and love of Jesus and leads to worship.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits.” (Psalm 103:2)
Like this prisoner. [Youtube Reel]
Without Jesus, the Gentiles, us, were far from God and His promises.
Reconciliation
Last week, we learned that we were dead in our sins
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:5)
Here is another beautiful “but” in the Bible!
We Gentiles were Christ-less, homeless, and hopeless.
We were far off from hope, from the promises.
I just finished listening to Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky audio book, “Just add Water.” She’s the most decorated American swimmer in history. At her first Olympics, her parents had nosebleed seats for her final race.
An official approached them and asked them to follow him. They ended up sitting on the first row poolside!
They were far off but, and they did nothing to earn this, they were brought near.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
But now!
If a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, he would go to a Rabbi and the Rabbi would say these words, “We will bring you near.”
Isaiah prophesied this:
“Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the Lord. “And I will heal them.” (Isaiah 57:19)
In Psalm 148, the Israelites are called the “people close to God’s heart.”
Paul writes to the Roman Christians:
“Theirs [the Jewish people] is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” (Romans 9:4-5)
How has that happened? By the blood of Christ. By the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.
William Cowpers wrote in his famous hymn:
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”
"For the promise (of salvation and forgiveness in Christ) is for you and your children (referring to Jews), and for all who are far off (Gentiles who are called), as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." (Acts 2:39)
It’s as if, when Jesus was hanging on the cross, He looked over the crowd and whispered, “You Gentiles think you are far away. I’m making a way right now back to the Father.”
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.
Paul doesn’t say Jesus will bring them peace, although He can and does. Paul writes emphatically, “Jesus, He, Himself is our peace!”
Peace is not a program or a plan. Peace is a Person.
How can Jesus be our peace? One commentator writes:
"This is how: When a Jew believes on the Lord Jesus, he loses his national identity; from then on he is “in Christ.” Likewise, when a Gentile receives the Savior, he is no longer a Gentile; henceforth he is “in Christ.” In other words, believing Jew and believing Gentile, once divided by enmity, are now both one in Christ. Their union with Christ necessarily unites them with one another. Therefore a Man is the peace, just as Micah predicted.” (Micah. 5:5).
At Christmas, we read these verses from Isaiah:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Jesus talked about this peace with His disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
One of the mysteries veiled throughout the Old Testament but made clear in the New is that the Gentiles would be included in salvation!
Paul writes in the next chapter:
“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:6)
Through His death on the cross, Jesus made the Jewish and Gentile believers one, creating a whole new thing called the church.
In 1987, Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany and famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
That’s what Jesus did. He destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility between Jewish believers and Gentile believers.
The Temple Mount covered about 35 acres. There were dividing walls - first the court of the Gentiles (nosebleed seats), the court of the women, the court of men, then the Temple itself, the holy place, and the holy of holies, where only the high priest could go once a year.
Dividing off the court of the Gentiles was a wall about three feet high. All around the Temple, there were signs in Greek and Latin saying, “No foreigner is to enter. If you do, you will have forfeited your right to live.”
Jesus set aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations.
“So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:4-5)
As Wayne Barber writes:
“…what He did was put religion to death. No longer could the Jew say, "Oh, I sacrifice. I go to the Temple. I worship on the Sabbath. I do this. I do that. God loves me more than He loves you." Oh, no. He took all the external stuff and threw it out. He says, "Now there is only one way to God, and that’s through Me. You can’t work your way up the ladder.”
The Gentiles used to have become Jewish to have access to the true and living God.
The moral instruction of the Law continues, what is abolished is the law as a set of regulations that exclude Gentiles or forces them to become Jewish. One of Paul’s main points in Ephesians is that Gentiles are accepted by God in Christ on equal footing with Jewish believers.
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for ‘Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved’ ” (Ro 10:12-13).
There is no Jew or Gentile in Christ. They have become a brand new entity. The hostility between people and God has been broken down. Because of that, the hostility between the Jew and Gentile is taken care of by the cross.
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28-29)
Paul then gives the main reason why Jesus did this reconciling work:
His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
If you take tin and mix it with copper, you get a totally new metal called bronze.
That’s what Jesus did. He created something completely new. There were no longer mainly Gentile churches or mainly Jewish churches. There were no longer Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians. They were now simply Christians! Brothers and sisters in Christ. One body. One family. One church. In Christ.
“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon people temporarily to enable them to do what God wanted them to do.
Now, through Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit.
Paul says in Romans:
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” (Romans 5:1-2)
All those in Christ have access to the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.
Identification
"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Paul is now going to remind them of their identity in Christ.
Once the Gentiles were separated from Christ.
Now they are in Christ.
They were homeless - excluded from citizenship in Israel.
Citizenship in that day was highly prized, particularly Roman citizenship.
Now they are fellow citizens with God’s people.
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 3:20)
Once they didn’t have the promises of the covenants. They were without hope and without God in the world.
Now, they are members of God’s household - chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
The entire Old Testament contains the mystery that the Gentiles would be included in salvation. And the foundation of the apostles and prophets is the Gospel that Paul has been expounding on the past two chapters.
Jesus Himself is the chief cornerstone of this house.
Paul is reminding them of Isaiah’s words that he quotes in the letter to the Roman Christians:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” (Isaiah 28:16)
In Christ, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
Remember, that Ephesus was known for all their temples, especially the huge temple of Artemis.
?But it is not the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus or the Temple in Jerusalem that brings the two groups together.
The building has become the temple and the dwelling place in which Gentiles and Jewish Christians worship God as one Body - the Church!
Paul says the Holy Spirit dwells within individual believers:
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” (I Corinthians 6:19)
Paul also tells us the Holy Spirit dwells within the church:
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16)
Applications:
God only sees two types of people.
The world will work hard to squeeze us into its mold. The world system divides the world into all kinds of categories - male / female, poor / rich, black / white, Republican / Democrat, those who understand the genius of Barry Manilow and those who are wrong.
When we do this, we are being conformed to this world. Paul calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. That means that we see the world the way God sees it.
God only sees two types of humans - lost and found. It doesn’t matter what color, sex, or nationality a person is. They are either lost or found.
When we see the world the way God does, we stop seeing categories and we see people as either our spiritual siblings or as those who need to hear the Good News of Jesus.
I’m thankful for John Piper’s encouragement to pastors. He said that preaching against racism isn’t being woke and it isn’t virtue signaling. It’s what we are called to do and we should never be afraid to call out sin.
My grandmother said she loved Jesus but she also believed that there was a white heaven and a black heaven because “those people wouldn’t want to worship with us. They worship differently.”
There was something broken about her faith.
I went to prom with a girl of Korean descent. She was adopted and spoke in a deep southern accent.
When my dad sent my grandmother the prom picture, she refused to put it up on the wall. When my dad, knowing why, said, “She’s not black.” My grandmother cocked her head and said, “Well, she ain’t white.”
I was raised in Memphis, Tennessee, a city defined by racism, past and present. When I was in my twenties, sometimes I would make a remark and Maxine would say, “Your Memphis is showing.” She was right.
I spent time on my knees and in the Scripture asking God to help me see people the way He sees them. And thankfully, He answered that prayer.
Christians are now part of one body, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or background.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
As my friend Brian Bill says, “The gospel of grace trumps race.”
Jesus Christ has restored and reconciled the races. There are no longer two or ten or twenty or 20,000…there is now one. Before Jesus, there were two ethnic groups on earth: Jew and Gentile.
After His resurrection and ascension, a new ethnic group was formed, made up of Jews and Gentiles, called “one new man” or the church.
One author says it like this: “Racial harmony is a blood issue, not just a social issue. The bloodline of Jesus Christ is deeper than bloodlines of race.”
Revelation 5 paints an amazing picture,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9)
The majority of Christians in the world do not look like us, do not talk like us, do not dress like us. But they are our brothers and sisters. And worship down here is just practice for worship up there.
Dr. John Perkins died this week at 95. For over 70 years, Dr. Perkins worked to help people see each other the way God sees them, not as black or white but lost or siblings. And he did this in deep rural Mississippi. I had the privilege of seeing him preach multiple times and he always challenged us to see people the way God sees them.
Point to Ponder: Is there racism in your heart? It’s time to pull it out by its roots.
2. Jesus brings peace between those who have hostility toward each other.
Rev. Henry Gerecke was 50 years and from St. Louis. He spoke German and was assigned to the Protestant Nazi prisoners awaiting trial at Nuremberg.
When he received the assignment, he was overwhelmed. How was he supposed to minister to these monsters that had been disciples of Hitler and had a hand in the killing of millions?
What he discovered was that many of them had grown up in church and that they were not monsters. Yes, they had done monstrous things but they were not beyond redemption. They were not his enemies. They were lost and needed to be found.
He spent time with each prisoner assigned to him. Prayed with them. Shared the hope of the Gospel with them. Assured them that they hadn’t gone too far for God to forgive them.
Toward the end of his time at Nuremberg, his wife wrote a letter asking that he be sent home.
One of the prisoners, Hans Fritzsche (Minister of Propaganda), wrote a letter to his wife explaining how much they needed him. It was translated into English by another prisoner, Baldur von Schirach (former head of the Nazi Youth Movement, then promoted to head of administration in Vienna and responsible for exporting 65,000 Viennese Jews to concentration camps). A partial segment of the letter reads:
“Please consider that we cannot miss your husband now. During the past months he has shown us uncompromising friendliness of such a kind that we cannot be without him in these surroundings in which – but for him – we only find prejudice, cold disdain, and hatred…We simply have come to love him. In this stage of the trial, it is impossible for any other man than him to break through the walls that have been built up around us; in a spiritual sense even stronger than in a material one.”
To Chaplain Gerecke’s surprise, the letter was signed by all twenty-one prisoners, including the Catholic prisoners.
He accompanied each of them to their execution. Several of them were no longer enemy prisoners but his brother in Christ.
3. The local Church is the Hope of the World.
When the church healthy and operating the way its supposed to be, the world sees people from all different backgrounds treating each other with grace and love and reaching out to others with the grace that they have received in Christ.
The best definition of evangelism I’ve ever heard is, “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
