[0:01]The next reading is from Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 to 22, and it's on page 1174 of the church Bible.
[0:15]Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called 'uncircumcised' by those who call themselves 'the circumcision' (which is done in the body by human hands), 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 by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in 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 strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his 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.
[2:00]Wonderful words, wonderful truths. Let me read again verses 13 and 14. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Let's pray. Loving Father, these are indeed wonderful deep truths. And we pray. Open our minds to understand them, open our hearts to receive them. That we together, as your people here at Saint Ebb's, might live them out for your glory. Amen. The passage speaks about a barrier, a dividing wall of hostility. Let's have an illustration, please, on the screens. There's a wall and uh some of you may know what that wall is. Most of you, I guess, have no idea. But that is the Cutslow wall, when in the 1930s the Cutslow state was built in North Oxford. There was a concern by those who were already living there that those who were going to live in the council houses would walk through the smart areas of North Oxford. They didn't want that to happen at all. And so a nine-foot wall was built with spikes on top. And the result was, to get to their workplaces and their schools, those who lived in the castle state had to do a mile detour. Thank you very much. Just let it down. Walls have long been symbols of exclusion and that Canslo wall was a clear symbol of exclusion. You're not welcome here. And a division in that case in terms of class. And we think of the Berlin Wall. Very clear symbol of the division between the Eastern bloc and the Western bloc in Europe. I lived for a year in a part of South Africa. And I saw the security barriers around the Alexandria Township where according to the regulations of the Group Areas Act, black people lived there, whites only beyond the wall, a very clear division. Cutslow wall came down in 1959. Berlin Wall came down in 1989. The Group Areas Act and the Apartheid legislation abolished in 1991. We've had racial discrimination laws, we've had diversity policies. But even if there are fewer physical walls, there are barriers, are there not? We feel them, we see them, we've seen them this week in the news about cricket in this country. That's just a snapshot, just not just about a problem in cricket but a problem in every sphere of society. We sense them in terms of class. Class is the English disease. Very really seen in that kind of overt way a big wall down a street, but nonetheless, deeply felt. Christians, when we see these kind of divisions in the world, should not be surprised. You think of Genesis 3, there's the first sin and what happens in the next chapter, the first murder. And division flows from human rejection against God. That's the fundamental division, pushing God out of our lives and us coming under the condemnation of God. There's a separation there and that leads to separation with human beings. We're not surprised, but nor should we despair. Because we've seen in this book, Paul's letter to the Ephesians that God has a plan. He's had it in mind even before the creation of the world, before human rejection against God, which led to those divisions. A plan do you remember chapter 1 verse 10 to unite all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. And Paul's been praising God that he's already activated this plan to bring human beings together with God, united with him through Christ. That was the theme of the passage we looked at last week, verses 1-10. And the moment diverse human beings are brought to unity in Christ, that moment, whether we feel it or not, whether we live it out or not, the reality is we are one with one another in him. And that is a foretaste, a signpost of the glorious unity of all things under Christ at the end of time. That's our hope, it's a huge encouragement, it's also a big challenge. Are we living this out? Three paragraphs in our section, verses 11 to 13. In Christ, the excluded have been brought near. Verses 14 to 18, in Christ, the divided have been made one. So, verses 19 to 22, the consequence, all Christians belong together. So paragraph by paragraph, first verses 11 to 13. In Christ, the excluded have now been brought near. You were here last week. You'll know that we looked at an amazing passage where there's a very clear before and after. From death into life. All of us by nature, dead, under the condemnation of God because of our sin, separated from God. But in Christ made alive, at one with God. And that same stretch structure, the before and the after is found in this next section. Verse 11, he's reminding Gentiles, non-Jews. Remember verse 12, that at that time, previously before Christ, you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the world. Not flattering. He's not been on the UN diplomacy course, has he? He, you've got two people groups, fundamentally divided and the guidance for diplomacy would surely say recognize the good in both. Don't get in your high horse and imply you're better than the others. Just say, well, there's benefits in your way of looking at God and benefits in our way of looking at God, and you've got some cultural strengths and we've got others, and let's find some way of meeting in the middle. But Paul says you Gentiles, you were missing out big time. You didn't have the promises about Christ that we had, you didn't have that hope. But the covenants were made with us, the people of Israel. You missed out big time. As one commentator has put it, you were Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless, Godless. But just as last week, we saw there was an amazing butt. So here in verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. This is our story. This is our song, if we're Christians. And for some of you, you've lived all your life, we've lived all our life as insiders. Perhaps we've always felt we belonged culturally, the doors have always opened up for us. We've always been in church and we kind of think we live here. But Paul is saying the story of all Christians, certainly Gentile Christians, like I suspect almost all of us, is the ones we were far away. Now we've been brought near. Many of you will know the story of the young girl who left home, went off to the big city, and she lived a pretty wild life. Her mom was very, very worried what was going on with her. She didn't write, and mom lost touch, she was desperately concerned. So eventually she went to the big city, she took a photograph of the girl around with her, said, has anyone seen my daughter? And no one had seen her and eventually she had to go back home, but before she went, she took some photographs of herself and she put them little photographs in various pubs and clubs around the city. And on each one she'd written these words, wherever you are, whatever you've done, come home.
[11:39]It melted her heart and she went home. It wasn't long before she was in her mother's arms again. And the Christian gospel is the message of a God who loves us so much, and we have all gone away from home. We're like the prodigal son we heard of two or three weeks ago. And whether we've slammed the door and gone off in a huff with outward rebellion or whether we're like that older son, so close and yet away from home, actually not in the party. This is the story of all of us. And God came to earth in the person of his son that we might come home. And it's as if in blood, the blood of Christ who died for us, the message of the gospel is, wherever you are, whatever you've done, come home. And there'd be some here you've never come home. And this is the message to you, however far you've gone, whatever you've done, there's a welcome home to God because Jesus Christ took the penalty for you. And for the rest of us, this is our story. And some of you thinking, I can't believe you're doing this. Don't you realize the divisions in the world? Don't you realize the divisions in this church and how many people don't feel welcome here? How many people aren't here? And you're going on about the same old message that you always gone about that we know very well. In fact, we've heard you use that very illustration plenty of times before. Get on with it and start applying this to real people in this situation today that we might deal with the the great divisions and fractures that still exist in our world and still exist in our church. And I make no apology for doing it. Because Paul bangs on about this for three chapters. There are applications, very concrete applications, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six. But for three chapters, he's reminding, do you notice that word comes in verse 11? Remember, it comes again in verse 12, remember. You know all this, but don't forget it. He reminds them that they have every spiritual blessing in Christ. And then having reminded them, he prays and what he's praying is may these truths that you know sink into your heart. So that you're amazed by them. Because until you are, there's really no point in me going on about chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, and applying in detailed ways, how you can live out this glorious unity you have in Christ, because frankly, you won't want to. It's only as you realize that you were an outsider, that you have any kind of heart for outsiders. I think of a friend of mine, who was an insider by birth, by upbringing. But then he was converted, and he realized actually he was outside of God's grace and he'd been brought in, not because of anything to do with his cultural status or his achievements in life, but purely by grace, by the blood of Christ. And for the first time in his life, walking around the streets of Oxford, he noticed the homeless.
[15:15]One of the first things he did within days of his conversion was say, how can I help these people? Never noticed them before. I think of another friend of mine who again, within two or three weeks of his conversion, was already thinking about the lost in other parts of the world, who hadn't heard the gospel. It was so amazing to him, and he began to think there are some people in this world who've never heard of Christ. And he's now a missionary trying to reach people for Christ, who are far away, like he was. This is our story. This is our song. The excluded brought near.
[16:07]And the next paragraph, 14 to 18, the divided made one. That first paragraph, 11 to 13, it's all you, do you notice, you, you, you Gentiles. But now it's our, verse 14, for he himself is our peace, talking about Jews and Gentiles, previously divided, the great division of the ancient world, Jew and Gentile. But he is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its demands and regulations. The barrier was the law. The law of God as Paul makes it very clear, elsewhere, it's a wonderful gift of God. It speaks of God's standards, but the particular element of the law he's thinking about, I think, at this point, are those aspects of God's commands in the Old Testament that marked the Jews out as separate from the nations, the Gentiles, Gentiles means nations. And put a wall between them so that Jews just had kosher food. And that meant that they couldn't eat with the Gentiles, who ate unclean food, there's a great barrier there. The Jews strictly observing the Sabbath, the Gentiles not bothering with such things, there's a great barrier there. And these regulations magnified and and illustrated that division, expressed very powerfully in the geography of the temple in Jerusalem. The building that dominated the skyline of the city. On the top was the the building itself, on an elevated platform, and then just around the temple itself, the court of priests, only priests could go in there. And then the court of the Israelites, only Jewish men could go in there, then the court of the women, only Jewish women could go in there, and then a series of steps down, and then another big wall. And beyond that the court of the Gentiles. The very geography of the temple, making it very clear, there's a barrier. Don't get too close. And signs on that external wall saying if you are a gentle and you go beyond that wall, you'll be killed. There's the division. And Paul says Christ came to end that separation. Verse 15, his purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.
[18:53]Many of you have been to Blennum Palace. And to make ends meet, like so many of these large country homes, Blennum Palace, a number of years ago, opened to the public. And so what you've got now is effectively two different entrances. The family can go in one way, and there's certain rooms reserved for them, but the general public can go in another way, and they can go in the rest of the palace. And it seems some, when Gentiles started getting converted, seemed to think it was a little bit like that. The Jews sort of went in through a special door marked law. And then Gentiles went in through a different law, a different road, that that was kind of marked faith and cross. But of course, the two couldn't mingle because Jews were still observing kosher regulations and Gentiles weren't. And Paul says, no, no, no, no, no. There's only one way. Because actually even we Jews were far away. We were nearer than the Gentiles, but the law couldn't bring us in. There's only one way for all of us, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the one way for all of us is through the cross and simply by faith in Jesus Christ. And that's what he is saying, verse 16. He made one new humanity out of the two, making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross. For, verse 18, through him we both have access to the Father by the one spirit. There's only one way, through Jesus, and his death for us, and the Holy Spirit applying that into our lives in conversion. That's the only way. So there's no distinction anymore, Jew and Gentile. Of course, there's still two different ethnicities, there's a Jewish ethnicity, and there's lots of different nations out there. But as far as God's concerned, there's just one new creation. This is a radical new work of God, born again, one group, one humanity in Christ. It's what Paul says in that famous verse in Galatians 3, there's neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. You are all one in Christ Jesus, not suggesting that the distinctions no longer remain. Of course, there are differences, but they are irrelevant spiritually. One group. There's a lot of talk about group identity today. And there's something in all of that, we all belong to different groups in our identities. But there's a danger that some people only think in terms of groups, and depending on the box that we fit in and the intersections between those different boxes, we're either oppressors or oppressed. And there's something in all that. There is something in all that. There are oppressions. And there are systemic oppressions. But it's inadequate. There's something in white privilege. But the danger is, it's presented in an un-nuanced way and then you get an un-nuanced response back, and the result is greater divisions. And there's something in this group stuff. Of course there is. But the Bible sees us in terms of groups, yes, and individuals, too. We're not just stuck in a group as victim or oppressor, but we've got personal responsibility. And there's individual responsibility here for how we respond to being in a group of privilege, to being in a group with less privilege. What's the godly way to be that kind of individual in that group, which is not the only group that I belong to. We're individuals, and let's not forget the universals, too. All made in the image of God, every one.
[23:16]The danger is we're forever dividing, but as you look at a massive humanity, you're not seeing lots of different groups, but you're seeing one group fundamentally, made in the image of God and deeply loved by him. And you're looking at a group of people also, who every one of them have turned away from God. There's sin in each one, there's sin in every group. There's prejudice in every person. We need to try and identify, and yes, that includes unconscious biases that we all have. And then in Christ, there's one group. We just very quickly see the differences, don't we? And we have a kind of set of boxes in our minds, all of them, all of us have slightly different boxes, but we categorize people so quickly. We don't even notice that we're doing it. We hear the accent. We look at the clothes they wear. Just the way they carry themselves. There are signs going out, and we compute, again, we don't even know it, but so easily we relate to people according to those instinctive reactions, and the boxes that we've found we've put people into. Whether it's to do with class or ethnicity or politics or Christian tribe. But first and foremost, not Scottish or English, not Chinese or American, not middle class or working class, not independent school or state school, not labor voter or conservative voter, but in Christ, it's an amazing thing.
[25:08]Excluded, brought near, divided, made one. So first and foremost, Paul's message to us is not, come on, sort yourselves out. Get united. Paul's message is, you are united. Recognize the reality in chapter 4 onwards, live it out. Just a little bit of a precursor that now in verses 19 to 22, the excluded brought near, the divided made one. And so consequence, verses 19 to 22, so all Christians belong together. Verse 19, consequently, you're no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household. He says to the Gentiles, you're no longer outsiders. Fellow citizens of God's kingdom, fellow members of God's family. And I do hope you feel that. And that we at St Ebb's are able to make you feel that, it was so really helpful on Wednesday to have one of our different groups, discussing the whole issue of class. And Abby and Jake Martin Eaglover gave us some very helpful input on that, and we're around the tables we're discussing and around one table I was hearing a variety of different reflections. And some people feeling that they were, they felt more at home than others. Class was a big issue or a small issue, it was lovely to hear one brother saying, when I first came to St Ebb's, I just felt family. And I just looked at all these people and I thought they're my family. And I thought that's wonderful. That's what I want, what we should long for. But I know there'd been plenty of times when people haven't felt that. They felt what I felt one year when I was living overseas and a family invited me to Easter Day. And they had a family gathering and a great aunt came to me and said, what are you doing here? You're not part of the family. And there are those who've come to St Ebb's and I hope and trust no one's ever said, what are you doing here, you don't belong with the family, but have found that sense of, I don't quite belong here. And whether knowingly, I really hope not, or unknowingly, we build up barriers again and put up walls that Christ has torn down. So here's the challenge to be together. With those who belong to the same kingdom, belong to the same family, who've been built into the same temple. That lovely language in verses 20 to 22 that the temple in the world that's significant today is not the magnificent temple of Diana that dominated the skyline in Ephesus. Is not the temple in Jerusalem which still stood at that time. But it's the Church of Christ because the Holy Spirit lives in us, my brothers and sisters. And notice the emphasis on together. Verse 21, in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
