Tearing Down the Walls - Eph. 2:11-18
Steve Simala Grant, Aug. 26, 2001
Intro: (don’t read, but read/explain relevant parts – point of desire for removal of walls)
Robert Frost. 1875–
64. Mending Wall
SOMETHING there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
He is all pine and I am apple-orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down!" I could say "Elves" to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
link to Eph. 2:11-18; read.
1. The walls – background:
The first paragraph (vs. 11-13) deals with the same concepts which we saw in 2:1-10 – Paul once again contrasts the state of people outside of Christ with that of those inside. This paragraph looks at it from a larger perspective – 1-10 was a personal, individual consideration of the transformation that occurs when we become Christians, these 3 verses focus on the corporate aspect of salvation. 1-10 it was for me, here it is for us.
Verse 11 makes it clear that Paul is addressing Gentiles, which is simply a term meaning everyone who is not Jewish. We need to recognize a background here of an attitude of superiority of the Jewish people over the Gentiles – the Jewish people looked far down their noses at people outside of their ethnic faith community because of their stature as God’s special, chosen people. That is what the language there about circumcision communicates. This background is essential to understanding this entire passage. There was great division between Jews and Gentiles, which because of the history of persecution is somewhat understandable, but from which the end result was a strong hostility towards anything that was Gentile. Jews avoided them as much as possible, and in fact “hated” is not too strong a word to describe their feelings.
Some of this separation, of this wall that was built between Jews and Gentiles, is of a theological nature – the Jews were God’s chosen people – the ones with whom God entered into covenantal relationships. Of course it was always God’s intent, even in the OT covenants, that His blessings extend beyond Israel to the nations, but it is not until Jesus comes that we see this fully and finally. What we need to understand as background is that there was immense hostility towards Gentiles, and that the wall between them was high and strong.
Paul makes five statements that apply to Gentiles prior to Christ in vs. 12, all making the point that before Christ Gentiles were outside of God’s kingdom.
A. separate from Christ:
“Christ” is not a name, but rather a title – throughout the OT, the Jews were waiting for the “Messiah” to come and save them. “Christ” is simply our NT translation of this title for Messiah. So this phrase simply means that the gentiles did not share in the Jewish hope of a Messiah who would come and save them.
B. excluded from citizenship in Israel:
This idea of citizenship is important because of verse 19, where Paul begins to talk about the church.
C. foreigners to the covenants of the promise:
Once again, emphasizing the exclusion of the Gentiles from relationship with God.
D. without hope
E. without God.
That is a pretty hopeless picture, fairly bleak corporate outlook. And that is why the next verse, which starts with “but,” is so important. It says that even though that is the way it was, now it is different. Now, because of Jesus, all that is changed: we are no longer separate, excluded, foreigners, without hope and without God. It is a neat picture Paul uses to describe this – you who were “far” have now been brought “near.” It is language borrowed from Is. 57:19 – “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and those near, says the Lord, And I will heal them.”
That is us. We are the gentiles, who were formerly excluded but now, because of Jesus’ shed blood on the cross, are now “near” to God. I hope you find comfort in that truth – that God is not far off in space, He is near.
In reflecting on Handel’s Messiah, Joseph E. McCabe wrote:
“Never again are we to look at the stars, as we did when we were children,
and wonder how far it is to God. A being outside our world would be a
spectator, looking on but taking no part in this life, where we try to be
brave despite all the bafflement. A God who created, and withdrew, could be
mighty, but he could not be love. Who could love a God remote, when suffering
is our lot? Our God is closer than our problems, for they are out there, to
be faced; He is here, beside us, Emmanuel.”
2. Tearing down the walls: (vs. 14-18)
Verses 14-18 may originally have been part of a hymn sung in the early church. It has as its major theme the idea of peace. It begins with the statement that Jesus Himself is our peace, and elaborates on this idea and explains it somewhat. The verses that follow demonstrate that the key idea of peace here is not merely absence of conflict – a stopping of outward hostilities while inward attitudes of hatred continue – rather it is the idea of reconciliation – of restored relationships.
Vs. 14 claims that Jesus has destroyed the barrier – torn down the walls – eliminated the hostility. Let’s keep this in perspective, and try to put ourselves in the mind of the original hearers. We know about this great wall between Jews and Gentiles – we know that we (Gentiles) were without hope and without God. And now Paul makes this proclamation – Christ has broken down the walls. Don’t you love how thorough this is – it doesn’t say Jesus punched a hole through the wall – he destroyed it, the other word used there is abolished. That is pretty thorough! Pretty complete! Can you imagine the impact this would have on the original hearers? Can you place your self in their shoes and imagine how it would feel to know that Christ has now removed the barriers, and made it possible for us to be in right relationship with God and with each other?
The second half of vs. 15 and 16 describe why Jesus destroyed the barrier – what His purpose was. Note the two stages (overview):
A. create (in Himself) one new man: This is no adding of one to the other – no simply allowing Gentiles to have the same privileges as Jews. God’s desire is to make something new, something fresh, something living. Notice also that it says this new group is created “in Himself” – we are united in Christ.
So the simple point is that Christ came, tore down the walls, and united people in Himself. How do we apply this truth to today? What does God’s word say for us? Are there walls that still need to come down, people that need to be united? I believe there are.
1. the most complete parallel to today is the wall between Christians and non-Christians. In Paul’s day it was Jew and Gentile, but I believe a similar barrier exists today between God’s people and those outside of God’s kingdom. And I believe Christ wants to tear that down. Do you agree? Are there barriers that keep non-believers “out”?
PERSONAL WALLS:
In many ways, and often from good motive, we have tried to remove ourselves from the world around us. We have created a culture of our own with the main goal to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world, from being dragged into sin, from being influenced negatively. And that is a good motivation – an admirable goal. And there is a need for protection, a need to be sheltered – but that need is not for the mature and healthy, that need is for the young and the weak.
Just before His death, Jesus prayed for His disciples in Jn 17:15: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” Jesus Himself modeled this – He got in there, got His hands dirty, touched the lepers, ate at the tax collector’s house, so much so that He was accused of being a “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners.’” (Matt. 11:19). By His example, Jesus tore down the wall between the “spiritual” and the “heathen”. And by His instruction, He commanded us also to tear down the walls between Christian and non-Christians. There is a classic book on evangelism which picks up on the metaphor Jesus used to make this point – of us as “salt” in the world – the book is entitled “Out of the Salt-shaker” – which encapsulates the idea that as Christians we are called to live in the midst of a sinful world so that that sinful world might see the alternative and come to faith in Christ.
This is a tough wall to break down. It means going outside of our comfort zones and entering into genuine, authentic relationship with non-Christians. It means not having a list of memorized Scriptures to spout, a well-rehearsed testimony, a façade of perfection that makes it appear as though we have it all together. The truth is that we don’t; we have hurts and weaknesses and imperfections just like everyone else:: the gospel is that we have a savior. We have Christ who heals our hurts, works through our weaknesses, and who will bring us to wholeness. And that is what we have to share!
INSTITUTIONAL WALLS
There are also institutional walls. “Church” has its own language, its own culture, its own set of traditions and values. And while I am not opposed to those or to the value that they have to those of us within – they provide significance and comfort and an ability to understand – nonetheless we need to recognize that those can sometimes be barriers to non-Christians.
I believe that the first responsibility of the church is to worship God – that is our theological reason for existence. The idea is more than that, however – our worship is to be a witness to the world around us. And because of that, because of the great priority of those two things, we as a church have two different worship services. The reasons are two-fold: 1. to facilitate worship, and 2. to try to remove barriers. Let me be extremely clear here – both services are to do this. It is not that we have one service because the other doesn’t facilitate worship and erects barriers if that were the case our only decision would be to cancel that service. No – both services have to facilitate worship in those that attend and both have to remove barriers so that our worship can be a witness. So that means that Sat. night needs to facilitate worship for Christians who worship best with a full band, at a louder volume – and Sunday morning needs to facilitate worship for Christians who worship best in a setting that blends music and that focuses more on a response of reverence to God’s holiness, where the volume is lower and where there are both choruses which express feelings to God and hymns which express great truths about God. And secondly, both services must remove barriers to non-Christians: someone who needs to be impacted by a sense of reverence and the awesomeness of God might find a barrier in the Saturday night service and so would be best invited to a Sunday morning service; likewise someone who needs to be impacted by an expression of Christianity which is more confrontational, more expressed in music and language that is familiar to their culture needs to be invited to a Saturday night service. (recap?)
So there are some walls between Christians and non-Christians that need to come down. I believe the second modern example of walls that exist today that Jesus needs to destroy is 2. the wall between some Christians and other Christians. These can come in all shapes and sizes: “You’re music is yucky and mine is nice;” “We are more spiritual because we pray more, we are more spiritual because we study the Bible more, we are more spiritual because we do more good works for God, we are more spiritual for a whole bunch of other reasons;” “I’m a Baptist and you are a Pentecostal or a Lutheran or a Catholic;” (heaven joke??) sometimes the walls are built around past hurts that haven’t been dealt with and forgiven. The end result of ALL of these walls is the hostility that Christ came to destroy (vs. 14 and 16), and a disunity that makes God weep, the devil laugh, and leaves a world full of non-Christians looking in and saying “why would I want to be part of that?”
I’m not going to dwell on this point. But I will say this: if you look around and can see barriers between yourself and anyone else here, deal with them today. Of course, all of us will see the wall as the other person’s fault – that is only natural – but it is also irrelevant. If you see a division, deal with it. This reconciliation is so important to God that Jesus commanded us to make it more important even than worship – Matt. 5:23-24 “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.” Notice it says “your brother has something against you…”
As we embark on our fall program, with a number of changes, we need to move forward in unity – notice the title for the whole passage in Eph. 2:11-22 in the NIV – “one in Christ”. Verse 15b says that His purpose was to create… thus making peace. Unity is not the same as uniformity. Uniformity says we all have to do the same thing the same way. Unity, however, says we all have to do the same thing but in whatever way will be most effective. We are united in our commitment to be a witness for Christ in our world, but one of us might do that by taking a casserole to a neighbor or mowing their lawn, another might lead a small group for non-Christians interested in what the Bible says about the struggles they face, another might do it by inviting them to a church service. We need, more than anything, to approach our fall as a church in unity. We need to be saying to each other “we have to worship God and be a witness in our world; you do that on Saturday night one way and I’ll do that on Sunday morning a different way.” We have to be united in our goal of worship and witness, even though the form those take is different. If we are not, our worship will be tainted and our witness ineffective. And if we are, well then we’ll see what God can do in our lives and communities.
I don’t call us to unity in any effort to discourage questions, discussion, even alternative suggestions. Tonight we have a “town hall” meeting to discuss our fall programs, and I’m excited about the chance for us to ask questions, have some open discussion, and come to a point of all of us together being excited about following God’s leading. We meet like this because we believe that all of us have the gift of the Holy Spirit, that God speaks to all of us, and that we need to meet in order to get a more complete picture of the direction God wants to take us in.
back to the passage…
Having made the two one, and destroyed the dividing wall of hostility, Paul continues by describing what it is Christ plans to do with this united body – vs. 16. We’ll finish with this point:
B. reconcile both to God through the cross (vs. 16).
There are two parts to the reconciliation being presented here – first our reconciliation with each other, and then our reconciliation with God.
I find the order here challenging – I prefer to think of being reconciled with God first, and people around me second. But that is not what the text says – it says Christ makes the two one, and then “in this one body” reconciles us to God. And when I put that together with the passage I read from Matthew about leaving your worship at the altar and getting reconciled to each other first, I am impressed by the importance of this truth. I am motivated to elevate my priority scheme accordingly.
It is a beautiful picture – us united as one body being reconciled to God. It feels right, like everything is in its place. And all of this – the reconciliation with each other and with God, is accomplished through the cross – through Christ’s death and resurrection for us.
And that is where vs. 18 leaves us – through Christ, we have access to the Father by one Spirit. That is the hope of the gospel – through Christ, we can be reconciled with God by means of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion:
Is there anything in your life or that you see in our life as a church which needs reconciliation? Any walls that are keeping us from authentic relationships with each other and with those who do not yet know Christ? If so, I urge you to do something about them today. Don’t leave until those things are dealt with, or at least you are committed to a plan to deal with them as soon as possible. Christ came to tear down the walls, and eliminate the hostility. Let’s let Him.
