“WALLS”
Why do we build walls? Walls in a home provide a barrier to keep out the elements, to ensure privacy, and to hang pictures. Why do we build walls? Fear! For protection. As a defense against hostile forces.
The Great Wall of China was built to keep out the invading hordes of Genghis Khan and other powerful enemies. This amazing defensive palisade stretches for 6700 kilometers over the Chinese frontier. It has stood for over 2000 years and is a symbol of a peoples’ desire to be safe.
Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain was built for a similar reason: to keep the wild tribes of the north from threatening civilized Roman settlements in the south. It was built in the second century and ran 73 miles long through the English countryside.
In more recent history we will recall the infamous Berlin Wall and its notorious purpose of keeping people in. Those who had visited the wall before its destruction in 1989 said that they could feel the built-in suspicion and mutual distrust, the hatred and hostility, and the outright defiance represented by that wall. East German guards would watch with keen eyes both sides of the wall making certain that no one came in or out. Many people were killed trying to escape East Germany. And where their bodies fell, West Germans would erect crosses as a reminder and open defiance of the East German guards.
Do you remember how the world rejoiced when the Berlin Wall was dismantled by exultant Germans in 1989? What a time that was. West Germans were reunited with East Germans to become one Germany after 45 years of painful division. But when the wall came down, I believe the Germans discovered an invisible wall that was even more difficult to tear down.
There were two cultures at odds: one of an oppressed people, the other free-thinking and prosperous. East Germans may have felt like 2nd class citizens, charity cases for the West, while the West may have felt resentment at having to support their poor brothers. It was a new kind of hostility still experienced today.
Why do we build walls? All of us have invisible walls that are difficult to deconstruct. If we are honest about who we are we have to admit that we do not allow others to see our true selves. For some people we build higher walls, such as belligerent family members, while for others we keep a waist high fence. We are afraid people will see too much of us and thus have nothing to do with us. Or, we are afraid we will lose something if we allow others to influence us or change us. So we throw up a wall. We have many walls.
Jesus came to destroy walls. His mission was to remove the barriers that keep us from knowing God, knowing each other, and ultimately living in true relationship. In this part of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul describes how Christ breaks down walls and brings people together.
1. Walls That Separate Us
A great wall separated the early church into two categories: Jew and Gentile. Apparently for Ephesus this division was the reality. There were in fact two types of division, social and spiritual.
a) Social Division. We read in v. 11 that Gentiles were called a derogatory name by the Jews, the “uncircumcised.” For Jews, circumcision was a badge of honor, a mark of distinction: “We are God’s people and you are not.” There are two kinds of people to Jews: those who are Jews and those who are not. The Jews of Jesus day would often pray two things: “Thank you Lord that I am not a Gentile” and “Thank you Lord that I was not born a woman.”(There’s a wall for ya)
Jewish literature from that time indicated that Jews believed God created Gentiles for the sole purpose of fueling the fires of hell. It was unlawful for a Jew to help a Gentile woman give birth for that is simply helping another Gentile into the world.
Can you imagine the hostility that would ensue when you bring these two groups together in one church? There’s a lot of deep-seated animosity to get over. It may also explain, though in no way justify, why there is so much anti-Semitism in the world.
Let’s not kid ourselves – this is true of every ethnic group. There is always suspicion of other groups and a fear that outsiders will take away what we hold dear. Mennonites historically have had walls built to prevent outside influence. We have even been scared of other Mennonites (ie. MBs).
b) Spiritual Division. An even deeper division existed between Jews and Gentiles before the Gospel came. This was a spiritual division based on genuine ignorance:
i. Gentiles were separate from Christ. That is, they had no hope of a Messiah. There was no savior to look forward to and so whatever deliverance they longed for was only a pipe dream.
ii. Gentiles were excluded from citizenship in Israel. Only Israel could be claim to be God’s nation and only Jews could be called God’s people. Even Gentiles who converted to Judaism were no more than 2nd class adherents. The Kingdom of God and all its benefits was beyond Gentile reality.
iii. Gentiles were foreigners to the covenants of the promise. It goes without saying that Gentiles had no clue that God had promised anything to them. There were promises that applied to the whole world but the Jews failed to preach them.
iv. Gentiles were without hope. No promises, no hope. Common Gentile thinking at that time was that when you die, you die. You cease to exist. If they did believe in an afterlife, there were no guarantees.
v. Gentiles were without God in the world. They had no knowledge of God on a personal level.
Just like the newly liberated East Germans, Gentiles felt like outcasts in the church. They weren’t Jews and they were fairly unaware of what Scripture said. You know how it is when a person who knows something you don’t makes it obvious how dumb you are? Then you understand the division of the early church.
c) Other walls. There are many other walls that exist in the Church today. There are ethnic walls: Mennonites and non-Mennonites. Academic walls: Bible College or University educated people versus high school dropouts. Male vs. female. There are walls between husbands and wives; children and parents; old friends who haven’t talked for years because of old wounds. There is a wall that separates Churched from unchurched people – the us and them mentality. There are so many walls, it is unbelievable how divided the Church really is. These walls do not belong in the Church…
2. Peace That Destroys Walls
When do walls become obsolete and unnecessary? When there is peace. What is peace? It is not when armies lay down their weapons. In the last 4000 years there has only been 268 years of peace. There were 8000 treaties signed…and broken. Is it peace when a husband and wife stay together for the sake of the children? Is it peace when friends agree to disagree and then not talk anymore? The walls are still up. Hostility still persists.
Paul outlines how Jesus defines peace with a dramatic “But now…” in v. 13. “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.”
What is real peace? Peace is oneness and harmony. Peace is a person, according to Paul. Jesus is our peace. Interestingly, Paul does not say Christ’s death has brought us near to each other, but our reconciliation is made possible through his blood. The violence of his death makes our peace possible. And it is only when we are at peace with Jesus and what he did for us that we can begin to solve the conflict around us. There is no other starting point for peace that will satisfy.
His peace through his own shed blood is what destroys the walls that divide. Paul uses the imagery of the temple to illustrate. In the Jewish Temple stood the Holy of Holies, the place where God was said to dwell. Only the priests could go in to this area. Outside of this was the court of men – Jewish men only. Beyond this was the court of women. Finally, furthest from the presence of God was the court of the Gentiles. No one was allowed to go beyond these sacred walls…in 1871, archaeologists, digging around the temple site in Jerusalem, actually uncovered the very stone marked with this warning. These were the actual words, translated from both the Hebrew and the Greek: "No man of another race is to proceed within the partition and enclosing wall about the sanctuary. Any one arrested there will have himself to blame for the penalty of death which will be imposed as a consequence."
When Jesus died the veil in the temple was torn in two exposing the Holy of Holies. The physical walls remained but the more impervious invisible wall was shattered. Shattered too were the false divisions, as Paul said “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). This was his purpose, to bring before God a new people without distinctions. You are not known by your gender, or by your race, not by your education, not by anything except that you are a child of God.
Nothing can keep you from coming near to God now.
The walls that kept us from God are gone, but what about the walls that keep us apart from each other? These walls are created by hostility and hatred and distrust. How can we dismantle the walls of hostility? Paul said that Jesus abolished in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations…and through the cross he put to death their hostility. What that means is actually quite profound. You see, the strength of any hostility is demand. What creates hostility? A self-righteous demand upon someone. When we demand apologies without any admission of guilt on our part, or take a holier-than-thou position, we create hostility.
The Jews hated the Gentiles because they thought they were better than the Gentiles. They had the Law and therefore they thought they had God in their back pocket. It was this feeling of superiority that created the divide and the hurt. The Gentiles could see through this self-righteous hypocrisy and in turn hated the Jews and their law. Jesus’ solution then, was to take away the law and show them both how much they needed the grace of God.
This is the solution to the hostilities in our own world. We can break down the walls that divide us from our spouse, or our children, or our parents or friends…by stop being so self-righteous. Stop demanding that someone change for you without admitting that you need to change too. When we do that we end the hostility. But if we pretend that everyone else is wrong, that we don’t need to change, hostility and resentment remain. Remove the demands and hostility ends.
“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” The truth of this statement is that no matter how close we think we are to God we all have walls of hostility that need to be broken down. We are one in Christ but we have these walls hiding some part of us, a weakness that frightens us, causes us to hide or lash out, or a pride that insists we are right or beyond reproach. Can you imagine if we all came clean about the real hurts inside? The addict would not be afraid to share her pain because she would know that everyone is dealing with something. We would become a church without walls that accepts anyone who comes to Christ without prejudice. It might get messy but there’s no surgery without a little blood.
3. Walls That Unite Us
Now that we have dismantled your walls, let’s build some new ones. These are walls that unite us into one building, as Paul now tells us.
a) A New Society. Everything we read now in vv. 19-22 is a reverse of what we read in the beginning. “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…” Paul does a really nice job of including the Gentiles into the church with these words. Christ has created a new society where we are no longer outcasts. The Church is for us and for everyone who believes in Christ.
We are no longer foreigners or strangers. You know how you feel when you are on vacation and someone asks you where the drug store is…and you haven’t a clue where anything is. You are a tourist for Pete’s sake. But no longer, you know about God and you know his promises. You are a citizen of God’s Kingdom.
Better than that, you are a member of God’s household. Not a stranger, not a guest, not a visitor…you are a member of the family and you can stay as long as you want. You know the walls that are their when you visit a friend’s family. You don’t feel like you belong. Now you belong.
b) One Spiritual Foundation. When we have dealt with the hostilities that divide us, only then can we be a part of what God is doing in this world. We are “…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” You have heard of the imagery of Jesus as the chief cornerstone, no doubt. You know that a cornerstone was a perfect cube of rock by which other stones lined up and created a straight wall. When we line up with Jesus and live according to his plan for peace in our relationships we become building material that he can use.
The Apostle Peter wrote, “…you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). Acceptable sacrifices are a humble heart that does not demand others to change but seeks to serve others and break down walls.
c) We are the New Temple. This is what the new walls are for…the new Temple. We are being joined together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Can a temple dedicated to our loving and gracious God have walls of division within? That doesn’t fit the new plan. Let me put it more plainly…Can we afford to have outstanding grievances against each other that shut each other out? Will people want to worship in a temple where they are categorized or pigeonholed as a certain type?
This temple is a living temple. We are the temple. We are a witness, a testimony of the transforming power of God in the world through Christ his Son. Are we transformed? Are all the walls broken down? Is there peace here?
Final Thoughts
Rules are made to be broken, the saying goes. Walls are made to be broken, too. The Great Wall of China was breached not by force but by bribery. Hadrian’s Wall was overwhelmed by Celtic hordes. The Berlin Wall was dismantled by ideas of freedom and liberty.
Your walls cannot be broken by bribery or force or mere ideas. Your walls can only be broken by the person of Jesus Christ. The hostility that rages in your soul and the hurt that keeps you from finding peace with your adversary festers because you want justice…you demand justice. You want things to be set right your way and in your time. And it’s not happening that way is it?
God can seem far away too, when we demand that he make things happen the way we want him to. Peace with God seems to be hidden behind a wall of hostility.
There is only one solution: Surrender. Give up your right to be right. Relinquish your feeling of hurt. Admit that you are weak, like we talked about last Sunday, and release yourself to the grace of Jesus. I struggled with something last week and finally I prayed to God “I am weak. I can’t fight this on my own.” And as simply as that I knew his peace.
Christ is your peace. Let him break your walls down.
AMEN
