[I started the sermon at the altar rail that goes across the entire width of the front of the sanctuary.]
Imagine, for a moment, that when you walked into church this morning that you received a big surprise. Imagine that in the past week, a wall had been erected, right about where the altar rail is, all the way from the floor to the ceiling.
A wall had been erected to separate you from the communion table, denying you a place at the communion meal.
A wall had been erected to separate you from the Bible up on the altar, making sure that only properly educated scholars would be given access to God’s Word, but not you.
A wall had been erected to separate you from the cross at the front of the sanctuary, hiding from you the reminder that Christ died on the cross and then rose to new life again after three days, hiding the fact that Christ wants to share this new life with you.
A wall had been erected to separate you from the candles on the altar, our symbol of God’s light in our midst, leaving you on the outside of the wall in darkness.
A wall had been erected to separate you from the piano and the organ, silencing the music and leaving you without the powerful praise of God that music brings us.
A wall had been erected to separate you from the sermon, making sure you couldn’t hear the good news proclaimed – God continues to heal the sick, mend the broken, reconcile the strangers, save the lost, forgive the sinner, and bring new life into the midst of the death of this world.
A wall had been erected.
A wall much like the wall that was in Jerusalem during Jesus’ time. See, this wall was in the Jewish temple, separating the most important part of the temple – the Court of the Israelites – from the Court of the Gentiles. So everyone in the world who wasn’t Jewish, the Gentiles, were separated from the temple by a wall. And on this wall were signs in both Greek and Latin warning that Gentiles were to go no further into the temple, under penalty of death! The wall separated those with “rightful” access to God’s house of worship and those who were separated from worshipping God.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, I believe Paul may have had this very wall in mind when he writes: “Remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’ – a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands – remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
Here, Paul is talking about the same two groups – the Jews and the Gentiles – the circumcision and the uncircumcision. And Paul says, remember when you were strangers, remember when walls kept you separated, remember when those walls meant you were left on the outside, left without hope and without God in the world. The Greek word used here for ‘without God’ is atheos – where we get our word atheist from. People who lived without God in their world were essentially atheists.
But verse 13 goes on to proclaim, “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Christ has broken down the dividing wall, the hostility that separated Jews and Gentiles from one another and from God.
But we humans love building up walls, don’t we?
[Illustration about the Berlin Wall was used at this point in the sermon.]
But hear these words:
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (Ephesians 2:13-14)
We can build up all the dividing walls we want, but Christ breaks them down. And with the walls broken down, we can see the result that Christ brings – Christ creates one new humanity from two divided groups. Christ isn’t going to make all the Jews into Gentiles or all the Gentiles into Jews. Instead, Christ creates *in himself* a new people – the people of the church. So Christ gives to the church unity – not unity through uniformity by making us all exactly the same, because later in Ephesians we hear about the distinct gifts of the Holy Spirit that make us different from one another – but unity that comes because all Christians are centered on the one Christ: “for through Christ both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
This is the good news that Christ offers us! “Through Christ we all have access in one Spirit to the Father.”
But in spite of this good news, I’m still concerned. I’m still concerned about all those who do not know this good news this morning.
I’m still concerned about all those who still are without Christ.
I’m still concerned about all those who still are strangers to the promises of God’s covenant.
I’m still concerned about all those who still live without hope and without God in their world.
From a Christian standpoint, this is just about the definition of spiritual death – living without Christ, completely unfamiliar with God’s promises, living without hope, living without God in their world. People in this condition are living in a state of spiritual death.
And I know people like this. You know people like this, too. I invite you to take a few moments with me to consider someone like this who you know:
A family member... a friend... a coworker... a colleague... an acquaintance... a neighbor...
Someone who lives without an awareness of God’s presence in their life...
Someone who lives as a stranger to God’s promises for them...
Someone who lives not knowing how beautiful and how amazing God created them to be...
Someone who lives with no hope that tomorrow will be better than today...
Someone who lives without God in their world...
And now, consider the walls that divide that person from God.
Consider the walls that divide you from that person.
Consider the walls that divide this church from that person.
Consider all the barriers that prevent that person from hearing God’s good news for their life.
Consider the barriers that prevent this church from reaching them.
Now that you’ve taken a moment to think about it, turn to someone near you and share two or three barriers that came to your mind. Barriers that divide those who live without hope and without God in their world from the good news of God’s love that you and this church has to share with them.
[At this point in the sermon, the congregation spent a few moments sharing with people nearby. At the same time, I stepped to the altar at the middle of the sanctuary. Next to the altar was a plastic bin of wooden children’s blocks.]
Would anyone like to share? What are some of the barriers that separate those who live without hope and without God in their world from the good news that the church is called to share?
[A handful of suggestions were made, one at a time – fear (we’re afraid to share the good news), prejudice (we don’t share the good news with people different from us), laziness (we’re all set, so we don’t bother sharing with others), snobbery (we’ve got something special that others don’t, and we boast about it and think others don’t deserve the good news), lust of the flesh (our own fallen nature gets in the way of our effective witness), racism (we only are willing to share the good news with other people who look like us), our own comfort (it’s just easier not to go to the hard work of sharing and living the gospel), etc. As each person called out a barrier, I took a piece of white chalk and wrote the word on the wooden block. I then placed the wooden block on the altar, eventually forming a wall of blocks with a barrier word written on each one.]
I look at this wall, and it seems to me that it is our wall of confession. In our honesty, we confess all the barriers that we have placed around ourselves that divide us from those in need of the good news. This wall prevents us from sharing the gospel with those who live without hope and without God in their lives – the very people who need to hear Christ proclaimed the very most.
If this were the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, this would be very bad news. If the Scripture ended with walls of division between God’s love and those who live without hope and without God in their world, we would have nothing to celebrate this morning. If God allowed these dividing walls to remain, we would have no cause to worship and no reason to give thanks.
But you’ll notice that none of these barriers are God-made. Every single one of these barriers is our own making. God didn’t create any of these barriers – we did. And the good news is that the walls that we can build up, Christ can tear down.
The walls that we can build up, Christ can tear down.
The walls that we can build up, Christ can tear down!
The walls that we can build up, Christ... can... tear... down!!!
[With this last proclamation, I swept my arm across the altar, knocking all the wooden blocks to the floor with a loud clatter. I paused for several moments while the congregation and I focused on the wooden blocks that were now scattered across the floor. Then I started again slowly...]
And once Christ tears down the walls of division, look at what He builds in its place!
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)
[As I spoke each of the following phrases, I picked up a wooden block from the floor, took a chalkboard eraser, and wiped off the chalk words I had written on them. I then placed the blocks one at a time onto the altar, only this time instead of placing them in the form of a wall, I placed them on top of one another in the form of a cross.]
Citizens with the saints...
Members of the household of God...
*Built* upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets...
*Built* with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone...
*Built* to be joined together in Christ...
*Growing* into a holy temple in the Lord...
*Built* together spiritually into a dwelling place for God...
Once Christ has torn down the walls of division, a new people are built up in its place. A new people built upon Christ as the cornerstone, held together in Christ, as a holy temple and a dwelling place for God.
Wow, if Christ is allowed to tear down the walls of division and build up a holy temple and dwelling place for God here in Burlington, Illinois, we will have much reason to shout praise and thanksgiving to our mighty God!
The question is, will we let Him?
Amen.
[In our church, this sermon is being followed up with a visioning project to help us seek and discern God’s will in answering this question. I wouldn’t recommend a preacher use this type of a message to challenge a congregation if he or she is not prepared to follow it up with an intentional plan for how individual Christians and how the church will invite Christ to tear down the dividing walls. If Christ is prepared to build up a new people held together in Him with Him as the cornerstone, we need to prepare ourselves and our churches to receive His blessings as well!]
