Ephesians 2:11-21
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Sermon Transcript:
We’re going to be in chapter two,
and as you get there, just want to make an observation that ants make tunnels, birds make nests, humans make walls. This is a poor image of the Great Wall of China. Joke’s on you, the Great Wall of China actually is pixelated. Um, no, I just gave the wrong image. But, uh, the Great Wall of China took over 2, 000 years to complete, dating back to the 7th century B.
C. It is arguably the greatest man made feat in the history of the world. stretches over 5, 500 miles on its northern border. The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany. Although the wall covered just over a hundred miles, it became a worldwide symbol of the struggle and fight between communism and democracy for the whole world.
One of the most famous statements in the last hundred years came from Ronald Reagan when he said about this wall,
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Exactly. In the ancient and powerful city of Troy, there was this seemingly impenetrable wall. The Greeks tried for 10 years to take this Turkish city, but could not get through the wall. And history debates whether the Trojan horse was true or not, as far as them finally getting past the walls.
Walls are for one reason. They’re for protection. People groups will spend hundreds of years, tremendous amount of effort and capital to protect our people from those people. Walls are made to keep the invaders out. We come to this passage in the book of Ephesians and it’s An incredibly personal one to Paul.
He’s writing this letter to the Ephesians, and, uh, he is talking about an actual, historical, well known wall that was in the ancient Near East. A wall that had with it life and death, protection and consequence. It’s one of several walls that Jesus tears down. Humans make walls often for good reasons.
Jesus tears down walls. We need to learn to live and love one another in the rubble. Will you pray with me?
Lord, there are so many things that, uh, divide us. So many points of, uh, frustration we can have with one another. So many things and bits of dissension that the enemy of our souls wants to rise up and well up within us. Dearest God as Paul pleaded for the Ephesian church. So do we plead for hours and the churches around us?
May we be atmospheres of grace. May our children grow up in places where they know. The people of the church love each other, root for each other, have hope for each other, and care about other people around the world who claim the same name of Jesus. We give our time to you this morning, in Jesus name, Amen.
Okay. We’re going to go through the text. It is, uh, chapter two, starting in verse 11, starting very simply with the word, therefore, now you’ve probably heard this. Whenever you see the word, therefore you ask, what is it? Therefore, I actually can hear your boredom when you say that. Okay. Therefore. Right. So why is the word there for what’s the argument?
What’s the hinge? My shoelace is untied and that’s going to bother me. What’s the hinge on which this, therefore, is pulling on, like, is, is transitioning? Last week, Pastor Mark talked about this incredible passage in the beginning of Ephesians 2, For it is by grace you’ve been saved, it’s not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
In this gift of grace that we have in the vertical dimension, that we don’t, no longer have to live before Christ, but can live after Christ. After Christ transitioning from B. C. to A. D. and we have reconciled back to God. That is a big argument to hinge. That is a big argument to leverage. He says, because of this great grace you are given, therefore, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by which is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands.
This passage is specifically talking to Gentiles. Now the Ephesian church. Is made up of both jew and gentile the ephesian letter that paul sends is written to both jewish And gentile christian it would be distributed to churches around the asian community of churches that would include churches that are jewish and gentile some more majority jewish some more more majority gentile, but in this specific passage That we have in 2, starting in 11, Paul takes in a target specifically to the Gentile believers.
Verse 12, he says, Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ. Okay, here’s what I want to do. In Collingswood, you have to do this too, all right? So you over here, you’re going to be separated. Let me hear separated. Separated, good. Okay, that you can make that the Ralph section in Collingswood, okay?
You right here, you’re going to be alienated. Let me hear alienated. Alienated. I’ll show you where that is. Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and you guys right here, you’re strangers. Yeah, that fits. Okay. All right. I want to hear strangers. Strangers. Okay. And then goes on having no hope without God.
You guys are going to be without God. Let’s hear it. Without God. Yeah, you’re not awake yet. Okay, you need God. Um, but now in Christ Jesus you were once far off and have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. Okay, by the blood of Christ. Alright, so where are we again? You guys remember yours? Separated, you’re alienated, strangers and, Without God.
Good. Alright. So this is the diagnosis. This is the situation that the Gentile people found themselves in. And he goes on to verse 13, but says, Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh, for The dividing wall of hostility dividing wall of hostility.
Do we have that image to put back here? Okay, so dividing wall of hostility now, this is a this is an image of the temple This is a second temple built. This is the temple that was around in the time of jesus It was built by herod and it is a giant temple. See this right here That’s a football field.
This is 450 acres. This is a tremendously large temple. Now in the temple, you ever hear Solomon’s portico, it’s talked about an axe, that’s like these things, the hallway things, you can get out of the rain, out of the sun, it’s like Go underneath there. Then there’s the courtyard. This is where a lot of the sacrifices would take place both Jew and Gentile could offer sacrifices in the Courtyard there was however an inner place that was not allowed for the Gentiles There was a wall built about a five foot wall Stone wall the called the sore egg or the Gentile wall that would keep out You Anyone, any of the Jewish people trying to, or any of the Gentile people trying to get in, there was 13 different openings, but you could not enter past that place unless you were an Israelite.
And there’s other walls that you see within the walls. And some of them are for priests. Some of them are for high priests. Some of them are for different people groups. But all of the people within that section would have to be Jewish people. The walls were dividing who could do what. Who could enter and who could not.
Where verse 15 says this, by abolishing the law of the commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing, here’s our word again, the hostility, this wall of hostility.
At the entrance of each of the 13 spots going into that where Israel only was allowed to enter, there was an inscription. In 1871, we found one of these, and since we found another one of these, Josephus talks about these as well. Here is the inscription. If you would read that aloud with me. It says this, No foreigner is allowed to enter within the balustrade surrounding the sanctuary and the court.
Whoever is caught will be personally responsible for his ensuing death. If a Gentile walked in to this area, that Gentile was to be put to death. Now here’s the interesting thing. This letter was written by who? Paul. Do you know where Paul was when he wrote the letter? He’s in jail. Exactly. In Ephesians 4, 1 says, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus.
You know what he says? For the sake of you Gentiles. So what does that mean? He’s in prison when writing the letter to Ephesus because in Acts 21 while in Jerusalem this happens fellow Israelites This is the man who teaches talking about Paul who teaches everyone against our people in our law and place and besides He has brought Greeks who are Gentiles into the temple and defiled this holy place They had previously seen trophimus the Ephesian Okay, lots of points of connection.
In the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. So in Acts 21, what happens is Paul brought some Greeks, how dare he, some Gentiles to Jerusalem and was explained to them about Jesus and because they were simply with Paul and they knew Paul was buddies with them, they figured not only did he bring them, but he brought specifically Trophimus.
All the way in to where only Israel, so not only should Trophimus be put to death, but Paul himself is imprisoned, falsely, because there’s no evidence that he actually did that. But Paul is being accused of taking an Ephesian Gentile. Into this place and he’s writing to the Ephesian church Wally’s in jail looking back who knows how many days distance that was Writing this letter and saying listen, i’m here because I believe this I’m here because I brought Greeks to the city, and then they even accused me of more than what I did.
17 says, And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, talking about Jesus, and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father. Okay, this is cool. Access to the Father. Um, so, we know that there are more walls that Jesus broke down. Right? Access to the Father. What does that mean?
Where does that go? Right? The sense of we have access to the Holy of Holies. So this right here. Can you see when I point there, or am I just like, yeah, okay. One person in blue shirt, Ken, that was awesome. Okay. In the Holy of Holies, that’s where only the high priest could enter how often? Once a year. Okay.
So he gets once a year. Then the high priest can hang out out here with also in the court. This is the court of the priest. Now if you’re not a priest or Levite, you can’t hang out in the court. If you’re not a high priest, you can’t hang out in there. And even if you’re a high priest, you can only get there one time.
And what’s separated in here was called the most holy of holies. It’s separated by an 18 inch thick curtain, which when Christ died was rent in two. It was the wall that Jesus broke down. He broke down the holy of holies to the high, to the priests. But then there’s another wall, because we see in 1st Peter, where Jesus, where, where, um, Peter says to the church, he says, you are now a royal what?
Priesthood. He’s breaking down that wall. So not only could, is the wall to the priest eliminated, the wall to the holy, holy is eliminated. Now Paul is also saying the wall from Gentile to Jew was eliminated. That’s two things, super awesome and super hard to digest. You’re telling me Trophimus, that Greek from Ephesus, the one who was lucky to hang out here, gets to waltz right in, right past every wall.
That’s a lot for a Jewish believer to swallow. So Paul doubles down. He says this. You guys were, uh, you. Which one? Were you separated? Yeah. Okay. Alright, so he says you are no longer, wait, which one were you? See, I’m just testing you. You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens and saints, no longer separated but members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
In Him, you are being built together, okay, those of you, the tired people over here, without God people. Being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Jesus takes down the walls. Five questions that I want to take from the text this morning. The first question is, in order to apply this, we don’t have some of the, uh, we, we live in a different culture than when this letter was written.
Our walls of hostility look a little bit different, as they would in different times in history. So, so important where Paul is directly writing to, to these Gentile believers, with these Jewish people reading, He’s identifying that which creates hostility and speaking of Christ, bridging the gap. But to look at this text in our own life, in our own church context, we have to ask this question.
Who was on the other side of my wall? And what I’d like you to do, if you got a pen and you’re writing notes, please take out your pen. I’ll give you a second to do this because I, I don’t believe in preaching if it’s not going to, we’re not going to apply it, right? So if you got, if you’re like, I don’t have a pen, well get a note on your phone.
That’s fine. But we’d like you to get out, take a second to get something you can write down and like you’d identify who might be on the other side of your wall. Maybe it’s someone from your experience that you were hurt by a type of Christianity. And so you want to celebrate how you found freedom. And maybe throw shade on those people that, from which you felt bondage.
Maybe the people on the other side of their wall have to do with how they live out their faith. Faith, maybe you feel their faith is dry and stuck in their head, elite and ivory, towerish, arrogant maybe. Or maybe you feel like it’s the type of people who, who think experience, are all about experience and you feel they cheapen the depth of riches with their, uh, simple K love and bumper stickers.
Or Facebook posts that say, share if you love Jesus seven times and He’ll bless you. Like, you’re like, I can’t stand how cheap that is. Maybe the people on the other side of your wall are political. You just can’t seem to understand how a person who follows Jesus could possibly think that way. Could lean that far right.
Could lean that far left. Could lean that far not caring. Maybe it’s a secondary theological issues. You You agree with them about Jesus, that he is the way to God, but you have such a hard time with some of the other ways that they interpret the scriptures. Maybe you have people on the other side of your wall might be personal, might be part of your family you just don’t like, might be a person that you, you can’t stand them, and you really hate that they have Jesus too.
Because the association of that with me with Christ is painful for you. And maybe you are here and you’re like, I don’t know much about this Christian thing and I didn’t even know y’all fought ever. We do. We have a lot of judgements towards each other. Um, we have a lot of thoughts against each other at times.
We usually gather in groups that think similarly. And then often take the worst arguments from the other group to prove how smart that we are. We do do that. We often make really big things out of things that aren’t that big. We do. We’re sorry for that. If, if you’re from the, on the outside looking in, It is because we care a lot, and we really want to live well, but in the midst of that we can, uh, lose sight of the blood bought importance of unity.
It’s why a lot of Ephesians was written, actually, because since the history of forever, the church is getting a bunch of difference. To come together in the same Christ, but the closer that they get, the more they bump into each other. In chapter 3, which we’ll get to, which is the transition of practicality in this book, simply Paul will say this, transition into practicality, we’re still in theology, we’ll move to practicality.
In 3, he says this, for this reason, I Paul, prisoner, oh I’m sorry, chapter 4, I already read that one. Chapter 4, in the transition after the first three chapters of theology in Ephesians says, I therefore, prisoner of the Lord. Urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling i’ve been you have been called with all humility And gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain The unity of the spirit and the bond of peace yearning eager Looking to maintain that well in this hostility So first questions who is on the other side of the wall really would like you to write that down You Whether that’s a person, a group, a type of Christian.
Secondly, who brings the hostility, right? Where does the hostility come from? Okay, there’s a wall, but the wall is named Sarag. It wasn’t named hostile, right? Why is a wall, an inanimate object, hostile? Walls don’t have weapons, right? Where does the hostility come from? Well, first, it comes from the circumstance.
It comes from the circumstance that some are allowed in and some are not allowed in. Some are, some are allowed to walk right through without even thinking about it and some have to stop and say I never can go there. Immediately that creates an us and them, right? The circumstances of being different well up hostility.
Circumstances do. But secondly, we do. As soon as someone I know is different than me, my next question is, well, who’s better? Who’s more right? Oh, you think this, and this, I think this. How can I convince myself that I think better? Or join you, right? But it’s always, we, we have these valuations and ways of, of, uh, elevation.
And when we’re different, we don’t, we have a hard time just saying, okay, we’re different on that. We want to be able to say we’re better on that. We do. And the other answer is they do. Whoever they are, right? The, the nature of division is both groups on a different, on different size and issue are doing the same thing.
It both, both the we and the they. Um, remember the show Lost? This is probably Dating Me. Wow, that’s what old people say. That’s Dating Me. Okay, I’m in the Dating Me category. But, there’s a show called Lost and they like, somehow weirdly, mystically found themselves on an island and they’re like learning to survive.
These people didn’t know each other at all. But they were all on the same plane. That’s what they had in common. And then, There was another group of people that were on the island, and they didn’t know who they were, or what they were like. Immediately, because these strangers were on a plane, they found out that these people existed, and you know what they called them?
The Others, right? They’re not us! What’d you have in common? I don’t know, that guy was in 46B. Like, the, the com, thing in common was just that we were on a plane, but then there was this little bond, so, so that we could create an us. And then we found out that they existed, and we weren’t in us. That was enough difference to make them of them.
And much of the show is the rival between these groups. Why? Because one of them’s us, and one of them is them. Hostility comes from us, and it comes from them. My guess is whoever you wrote on that sheet, whatever group you write on that sheet, You know how they can make hostility. It’s a little tougher sometimes to know how we make it, but you can tell hostility comes.
Okay, who breaks down the walls? In the text, where the walls come down? The circumstances don’t break down the walls. There’s no circumstance that we see break down the walls of, um, this wall hostility that Paul’s talking about. Also, it’s not the Christians that would, would, um, or the Jewish Christians that would say, you know what, we welcome you in.
It’s not the Gentile Christians say, you know what, we’re going to waltz right in. And that’s going to somehow figure this out. Paul says this in his argument for unity for he himself is our peace. He who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances That he might create himself one new man in place of two so making peace and might reconcile us Stay with me here both to God in one body through the cross there by killing hostility So what happens?
It’s Jesus that walks through the wall. It’s Jesus that lays down and says, You want to kill somebody? Kill me. And it says, through one body, He put to death hostility. And I love this, I love this, what Paul says. It doesn’t say he gives us peace. He makes peace. He supplies peace. It says he himself, not was our peace, is our peace.
Peace is animate. Peace is alive. It’s a gift of a living being. That’s what bridges the hostility. Christians and Christian groups will only find peace together if he’s around, among us, around us. And, and, because you know what? Walls have a good reason. I’m not sitting here in judgment of China, like, how could you build that wall?
You were scared of those people because they wanted to kill you. Right? Troy, don’t build a wall. Let the Greeks take over your city. Well, no. Right? The reason we build walls is because there’s threat. The reason why Christians can love one another without fear is because we have a king who’s bigger than the threat.
And he can fight his own battles. In the Ephesian church, where this will be read, we’ll go on to talk about husbands, wives, kids, um, masters, servants. You know who it’s being read to? That master who’s sitting next to that servant, that servant, who’s really hoping it says overthrow that master. That’s hope really open saying, get in line.
That husband that’s really hoping to say, do this, that woman who wants this, this, this, this child who wants to hear this. They’re all together in one room trying to figure it out. They got all kinds of different opinions, all kinds of different perspectives. The only way forward is if He Himself is there and is our peace.
Fourth question, I think it’s four, somewhere like that. Um, why do we build back up? Why do we build back up walls? And we could say we don’t, but come on, this is human. We do this. And it’s not, this, Christians don’t have the corner on this, right? You like doctors and you’ll be like, the other doctors are so dumb because of this, this, and this.
I don’t know why I’m typing. But like, like, whatever group of people, they’re often throwing shade on the people like them. And you’re like, well, they’ve always thought this, but the real thing is this, right? People disagree when they care so much about stuff and we build up walls between each other.
Humans do that. Yeah. But why do we do that? That’s one of the things I was thinking this week. It’s like what, what, what mobilizes us? What, why do we, why do we like to fight so much? Someone, a neighbor, a non christian neighbor talked about, um, in our, in our colleagues with campus, they talked about if they were an alien species.
And I’m like, well, I don’t know if I believe in you, but no, I didn’t go there, but you’re the aliens, right? Wasn’t that right? Um, but talking about if they were an alien species and they come look at the earth, said, you take this really, really big picture. uh, intelligent species, this human species. And again, this is not they’re in the image of God.
It’s just an argument of like, wow, how smart people are. But then you say, but they fight all the time. Yeah. This, this, this part hates this part. This part loves this part, this part. And they, why, why, if we’re so smart, do we fight so much? What do we get out of it? Now, I do want to say that when we’re talking about the church throughout our history, We’ve had to take stands to define what is orthodox and what is not.
We have a doctrinal statement for our church to say, hey, if you want to be a part of our church, this is what we believe. In constructing that doctrinal statement, we’re, we’re saying there are load bearing walls. There are walls that help define what is true, what is orthodox. This has happened throughout the history of the church.
This is why the creeds and the councils has happened. There are, there are edges to what we believe and that are taught in this church. There are times in history, there’ll be times for this church, when those walls have been threatened and they need to be upheld. But after being in church leadership for 23 years, I can tell you that the vast amount of hostility that Christians have with other Christians are not about load bearing walls.
The problem is that we erect walls between ourselves and the house of God that are about smaller things. Convenient things. Cosmetic things. Partition walls. But why? I think first is it’s help us. It helps us to be less messy. When we are similar and agree with everybody in the room. I think the early church would have been less messy too.
If it’s like, okay, wow, Jewish Gentiles, your whole framework, your whole habits, your whole, like, viewpoints on a million things are different. Let’s create a Jewish church. Christian Church and a Gentile Christian Church. That’s not what happened. Or, you know what? There are some people who are higher on the socioeconomic, some people are on the lower socioeconomic, some people are a lot more intelligent, a lot of people can’t read.
Let’s just divide them up to like, have this group here and that group there, so that there’s not that messy. See, when Jesus breaks down walls, there’s rubble. It’s tough. All of a sudden, we’re seeing people who are different than us, or representing Jesus in a way that’s like, Oh, I don’t know. And it’s uncomfortable.
I remember when I moved back from, um, Chicago, and I was there for ten years, and I told my wife, Babe, I’m gonna take you to Wawa. And you know what she said? What is Wawa? And I’m like, It’s not Wawa. I’m gonna take you to Wawa. It’s my people, right? And I take her in, and don’t judge her too much, judge her a little.
She went in and said, Oh, it’s like a 7 Eleven. A 7 Eleven? That’s beef jerky to filet mignon, like you don’t say 7 Eleven, it’s like wah wah. It’s my people. It’s easier when people have similar backgrounds to you. People different than us. The first thing is they feel like threat. They scare us. And I think this is something true for me.
I really wanna seem smart. It’s important to me, and it feels good when I can really figure out in my mind that other people are wrong.
It feels good to be able to take maybe their worst argument and poke holes in it.
And then lastly, I think we react stronger to what we disagree with than what we agree with. Um, I didn’t experiment this. Last week, where I wrote, like, 20 incendiary extreme statements. And I had different staff members walk in and read the statements. I, I mean, I was talking about guns, social media, child raising, 2020 election, racism, COVID, vaccine, social media, like, anything that people fight over, I was, like, just putting it, it, lots of statements.
And I had people read it. Jared literally just like laughed through the list, like, Oh, ho, ho, ho, are you gonna read these? Ryan, like, had a little breakdown, like, Oh, why? No, no fighting. But different people, different reactions. But I asked the question to the staff, Do you react more to the statements you more agree with?
Or to the statements you more disagree with? Whatever side of whatever issue that I could think of that you were on. Not one person said, why I reacted more than what I agreed with. We react more strongly to what we disagree with, and that’s definitely true for me. Things that I disagree with bother me more than the things I agree with make me happy.
There’s just something in us, and some of that, right, is our natural wiring to look for safety. And that’s natural, and that’s what, I don’t think, I think that’s just part of being a human. But, but see, part of being a Christian is to say the threat of hostility was taken out on that body, leading to our last question of why should we leave these walls that are torn down.
Ephesians 4 that we just read, make every effort, make every effort.
You know what, look at the group on your phone or your page, over that I read, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Why should we leave the walls torn down? Because broken walls demonstrate the power of a Savior who can break them. Broken walls keep us needing the Savior to stay around because He Himself remains our peace and the only way we can do community well.
And lastly, broken walls testify to a unity, not a uniformity that we agree on everything, but that unity is possible. Because his love is greater than our fear and tribalism. We live in a pretty divided time and, and that’s historically in our country we’re pretty divided. And we’ve been divided through many, many points of history throughout the world.
But I wrote this statement and I want one to read it specifically. Our testimony to the world is not bringing them, the world, into narrow closets of theology. explaining why our particular version of Christianity is better than the other versions. It’s bringing them into seeing a Savior who loves and helps us live out unity in the rubble of broken down walls.
This world does not need more arguments and othering. This world needs to see people who are different from each other, disagree on some things, and still live together in love. Our unity, dear church. Is our testimony living in unity will always take Tremendous courage peacemaking is always bloody. You know, why because it’s walking into conflict all the time
Last question for you on your notes this morning. What is my plan for dismantling? This wall of hostility with jesus’s help again. We can’t just leave it in theory We’re about to go through an election season. Man, was that rough last time. Boy, does it look just as rough this time. No matter where you line up.
What is your plan for dismantling the walls of hostility that you will face? And I just, one thing as you think of a plan, I would like you to write it if you would. It should include relationship. Get to know someone who can give the best arguments for why they think the other thing is right. Put a face on it and things change.
The Amazon River has no bridges. It’s over 4, 000 miles long. They just recently built a bridge over one of the tributaries as it comes into the Amazon River. But in the Amazon River, um, which produces more water than any river in the world, there are zero bridges. The factors of the Amazon River make bridge building really hard.
During dry seasons, it’s just, there’s very narrow waterways comparatively. And during rain, rainy seasons, there can be miles and miles wide. Also, there’s something about the sediment that flows in the Amazon river that moves the ground around quite a bit. The ground is always shifting. So it’s difficult, um, environment to build bridges on.
Whoever builds the first bridge over a significant portion of the Amazon, it will be a remarkable testament to their engineering.
We live in a time where there is quite a bit of division. There’s a lot of division even within the church. It’s not an easy time to build bridges. There’s some factors that work against that. We can bemoan that. And we can also say, wow, what an incredible time for the Christian testimony of the unity of the church.
Our opinions are not our testimony. Our unity is. Lord, we thank you. Guys, thank you for Paul, sitting there in jail. And not grumpy, railing against the people who stuck him there for falsely accusing him. Not, not frustrated at what’s wrong with those Jews that they didn’t let people in. Not yelling at the Gentiles of how come you don’t do this.
Not even starting a free Trophimus campaign. Just saying, please, recognize the gift of Jesus, because in Him, peace and unity, though found in rubble, though often bloody, is possible, because our peace is alive. In that living peace, we pray. Amen.