I. Paul starts the next section that he writes with the word" therefore" that means that he is referring to what he has already written.
A. He’s going back to the first verses in a chapter two, where he says that we were dead in transgressions and sins, and he says that all of us once lived in a sinful nature satisfying the cravings of our own desires and thoughts.
B. But because of God’s great love for us and his rich mercy He made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions and we are saved by grace .
C. And we have been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly realms and this happened by Grace not by our own doing.
D. And now Paul is going to tell us something else that’s important, something else that Jesus came to die for, something else that his death made possible, something that’s important to God’s plan something God wants us to be a part of.
(Eph 2:11 - 22 NIV) Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)--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 through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 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. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s 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.
E. Paul reminds the Gentile readers again that one time they were separated from Christ and separated from God there was no connection between them and God.
1. They were excluded from citizenship in Israel, they were foreigners they had no place in the promises of God that were made to Israel.
2. But now they who were once far away had been brought near to God through the blood of Christ He was their peace when before they had, had no peace. There was no hope for the future.
3. In the Greek culture that most of these gentile people were in there was no hope for future, there was only that which can be seen in the world.
4. Their lives were based on philosophies, and what they could accomplish, all that they could see hope in, was what was in front of them.
5. But through the blood of Christ, they who had once been far away from the promises of God were now brought close to God, through the sacrifice that He made by willingly shedding his blood on the cross.
F. There are none of us that live today that can even begin to imagine the barrier, the racial barrier that there was between Jews and Gentiles.
1. The racial differences that we have today in no way compare to racial differences between the Jews and the Gentiles.
2. Gentiles were despised by Jews, God had told them that they were to in no way associate with Gentiles.
3. God told them not to marry Gentiles, God had told them that Gentiles would corrupt their society, taint their worship, and make them unclean and unfit to even be in the temple to worship.
G. When Paul said that Jesus had destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, he was speaking of a literal wall not just a figurative one.
1. The wall that Paul was speaking of was very real.
2. There was a spiritual wall that divided them and there was also very real wall that divided them.
3. In the temple between the court of the Gentiles there was a solid rock wall and on that wall there was an inscription in Greek and Latin which plainly stated that any foreigner was forbidden to go any further and if they did they would lose their life.
4. In Acts chapter 21we get to see what even the thought of a Gentile going into the temple area would cause.
(Acts 21:29 NIV) (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
5. For centuries the Gentiles, those of another race, were separated from the place where the presence of God was by stone wall, and the threat of death.
H. And here’s the rub, one of the things that Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished, was that it was to destroy all racial barriers, even the greatest racial barrier known to the world at that time, that between Jew and Gentile.
1. Paul says that Jesus abolished the law with its commandments and regulations, in his flesh.
2. That does not mean that the laws of right and wrong that God establish don’t apply any more.
3. That doesn’t mean that were free to ignore what God says is ok and what God says isn’t OK.
4. Because in that respect Jesus fulfill the law, and took the law to a higher level of understanding than it had ever been before. Because Jesus said that just obeying the law was not enough he said that even our attitudes, and our thoughts, had to be in order .
5. He said love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.
6. Fortunately he also provided the grace that allows us to be forgiven, so salvation is not based on keeping the law.
7. However, Jesus did abolish the ceremonial laws of the Jews that said Gentiles could not be a part of God’s kingdom and they could not be a part of God family.
I. Part of what was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross, was that the racial barriers the between all mankind were torn down.
1. Gentiles were no longer foreigners and no longer aliens they were fellow citizens. They were God’s people. They had access to God by the same spirit that the Jews did.
2. All people of all races were now a member of God’s household, and that means that all people of all races are all part of the same family through the one spirit that connects us all to God by his grace.
3. Because, God’s grace has no barriers whether they be geographical financial, social, or even racial.
4. We are all God’s children. We are all part of God’s household, and we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and God wants unity in his family.
J. When John says in (John 13:35 NIV) By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." He is talking about white, black, Hispanic, Asian, native American, orange, green, or Purple.
1. I like what Jesse Duplantis says about it, he says that we were all made of dirt, that there’s white dirt, red dirt, yellow dirt, brown dirt, and black dirt, so we all came from the same place, we’re dirt.
2. We would think that it crazy if we saw one clump of dirt telling another clump of dirt"I’m better than you are. "
3. That is exactly what we do, when we tell someone who’s not the same color that we are, I’m better than you, or I’m so different than you that we can’t associated with each other.
4. We’re all just dirt and no matter what color dirt we are, we’re still just dirt.
K. Some people don’t like hearing that, but it’s the truth, and is not what Kent said, it’s what God said.
1. And its also something that Jesus died to achieve. So when we let our racial tensions destroy the unity that Jesus has died to achieve, we are in effect through our actions making part of what Jesus did of no effect.
2. That doesn’t just apply to white people or black people, or Asian people, or Hispanic people, or native Americans, it applies to all people.
3. And, don’t get met me for saying it, if you want to protest, you’ll have to go to God with that one, because it’s God’s plan.
L. Before you start complaining though, you better realize how much you benefit from that plan.
1. Because it is all of us who are gentile who benefit the most from a plan that ignores race.
2. Because one time the color of your skin was not the determining racial factor.
3. It was whether or not you were in Jew or you were gentile and it is because of God’s plan to tear down that dividing wall that we all have access to our father by the same spirit.
4. It is by that plan that we are no longer foreigners and aliens, but we are fellow citizens with God’s people. We’re now members of God’s household, we’re now built into the building whose foundation is Jesus Christ himself.
M. The unity of God’s body is important to God, important enough to God that he was willing to send his son to die for that as well as for our salvation.
1. It is not just the unity in a local body that God’s concerned with. It is the unity of all of God’s children regardless of who they are and if it’s that important to God, it should be that important to us.
2. I know that there are a lot of things that happened that have caused people of all races to have problems with people of other races, but the real fact is God wants unity, and as his children, and those who have benefitted the most from God tearing down the racial barriers that existed, we should more than anyone, want to be the ones who make it different.
3. Because regardless of who we are or what color we are our main concern should be people seeing the love of God bring unity where nothing else can.
4. And as we talked about last week, we’re not supposed to show favoritism, whether it be between rich and poor, affluent or non affluent, or black, or white, or yellow, or red, or brown, or anything else.
N. It’s interesting that in what Paul has been saying, he brings out the point in verse fourteen that Christ is our peace, and tearing down these racial barriers is without a doubt a part of what he came to do.
1. Its for sure, that our world is not a world that shows much peace and maybe, one of the reasons for that is we’re not living up to our part of the plan to bring unity..
2. It’s definitely something that think about!
