How the Gospel Destroys Hostility

Starting in verse 11, we read,

Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh,

called the uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision,

which is made in the flesh by hands.

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ,

alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,

and strangers to the covenants of promise,

having no hope and without God in the world.

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

this dividing wall of hostility

by abolishing the law of 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 the hostility.

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off,

and peace to those who were near.

For through him we both have access in one,

spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,

but you are fellow citizens with the saints

and members of the household of God,

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,

in whom the whole structure, being joined together,

grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you also are being built together

into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Annalise, thank you so much for reading.

If you are new to Watermark and you don't know me,

my name is Kevin, one of the leaders here.

Great to have you.

Why don't we pray together as we come to this passage

and ask God to speak to us.

So, Father God, once again,

we come to your word this morning.

As we do weekly, God,

we come because we want to hear you speaking.

Lord, I pray by your Spirit,

won't you come and speak to our hearts,

Lord, won't you help me to make this passage clear.

Lord, we haven't come just to find out interesting ideas

or new ideas.

We've come to hear the living God speak to us,

to encounter you in your word.

And Lord, I pray,

won't you both challenge us but also encourage us.

Won't you flood our hearts with the good news of Jesus.

Lord, we pray this in your wonderful and your gracious name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, 28th of August, 1963,

very famous day,

a man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr.

delivered one of the most famous speeches of the last century,

his famous I Have a Dream speech.

And at the speech in Washington,

he declares his desire for unity across the United States,

across the races.

And he famously says at the end of his speech,

I have a dream that one day,

my four children will be able to sit together

at the table of humanity,

little black girls and little black boys,

little white boys and little white girls,

sitting together at the table of humanity.

It was a very famous speech

that caused a whole uproar.

And 50 years later, 60 years later,

he's still reverberating around the world.

But Martin Luther King Jr.,

where did he get that conviction from?

Well, if you know his story,

he was a Christian.

He was a flawed man.

He wasn't a perfect man at all.

But he was a Christian that was committed to the gospel,

and it was his gospel conviction

that drove his desire

and drove his conviction for unity

across a very broken nation.

Well, that's the same thing that Paul wants to say to us this morning

in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Paul is going to tell us

that the gospel has the power to destroy division

and to unite diverse people together

for God's glory.

Over the last couple of weeks,

we've been working through Ephesians,

and we've seen how the gospel is not just individualistic,

me and Jesus.

It's cosmic.

God has this amazing plan

to unite all things together under Christ.

And it's been wonderful.

And the implications of that are amazing.

The implications are all eternity,

we are seated with Christ,

safe and secure.

Nobody can take that from us.

For all eternity,

we are co-heirs with Christ.

Amazing.

Amazing.

But what does that actually mean

for our day-to-day lives?

What does that mean for a city like Hong Kong?

What does that mean for a church like Watermark?

You know, one of the things I love about Watermark

is the diversity of people here.

I mean, I would be fascinated to know

how many countries we've got represented in this church.

People from all over the world.

Well, what does that gospel message mean

for a diversity of people

with different backgrounds and cultures

and styles and lifestyles?

How does the gospel actually speak to that?

Or what implications does it have?

Well, one of the things we're going to continue to see

throughout Ephesians

is that Paul is going to spell out in very clear terms,

but today he lays the foundation

for the fact that the gospel has the power

to destroy division

and to unite diverse people together

for God's glory.

And we're going to see three things

in our passage today.

Firstly, what you were.

Secondly, what Christ has done.

And thirdly, what God is doing in the world.

What you were, what Christ has done,

what God is doing actually in the church.

So firstly, what you were.

Let's dive in.

So the world is a very broken and hostile place,

full of division, right?

Sometimes I wonder

whether the world could possibly become

any more diverse or conflicted

than it is at the moment.

I mean, we've got geopolitical conflict

and national conflict.

We've got political divisions in every country

on a more micro level.

We've got family division and conflict.

There's ethnic division and conflict.

There's conflict between races and genders

and all sorts of conflict.

And sometimes I look at the world

and I think,

could things ever be more conflicted

than they were at the moment?

Well, we may think that the world

has never been this divided,

but actually in the ancient world,

things weren't that different.

Thousands of years ago,

you had the Babylonians and the Persians

that were at each other.

The Egyptians wore all the time.

At the time of Jesus,

you had the Greeks and the Romans

and they didn't quite see eye to eye.

But one of the greatest conflicts

in the time of the Bible

is between the Jews and the Gentiles.

The Jews are God's people.

The Gentiles are non-Jews.

And these two just could not see eye to eye.

The Jews looked down at the Gentiles

as these defiled, unclean people.

They saw them as a threat

for everything they believed in,

everything they stood for.

And the Gentiles considered the Jews

as these stack-up, elitist kind of people, right?

And we see that in our passage today.

Look at verse 11.

He says,

You Gentiles,

and then he breaks off,

says,

You who are called those dirty and circumcised

by those who consider themselves the circumcised.

Now, circumcision isn't a very big deal in our day.

But in those days,

for the Jews,

that was the sign

that you were part of the people of God.

It was like those that were committed and faithful

were the circumcised

and everyone else was unclean,

dirty,

rejected,

outsiders.

The insiders,

and the outsiders.

Jews would talk about non-Jews

as those uncircumcised pagans,

those filthy Gentiles.

In fact,

they would even call them those dogs.

And the Gentiles felt much the same

towards the Jews.

William Barclay,

a biblical scholar,

says,

The Jews had immense contempt for the Gentiles.

The Jews said that the Gentiles,

their only job in the world

was to be fuel for the fires of hell

that awaited them.

In fact,

some people said

it was morally and ethically

unacceptable

to help a Gentile lady in labor

because all you're doing

is bringing another Gentile into the world.

And in fact,

in some cultures,

some villages,

if your child married a Gentile,

if you were a Jew

and married a Gentile,

rather than throwing you a wedding,

they'd throw a funeral

because to them,

you were dead to them.

That is the end of the relationship.

Such is the hostility,

the immensity of the hostility

between these two groups of people.

Now,

on the one hand,

there actually was a legitimate distinction

between the Jews and the Gentiles.

The Jews really were God's chosen people.

I mean,

look at verse 12.

Paul writes it here.

He says,

Remember,

you Gentiles,

he's writing to Gentiles,

were separated at that time from Christ,

alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,

strangers to the covenant of promise,

having no hope

and without God in the world.

So the Jews knew

that they are God's chosen people.

God has got something special for them.

He's got a plan for them.

There is something distinct for them.

His blessing rests upon them.

But the Gentiles,

they had none of it.

Okay?

They had none of it.

And the reason why God did this

was He chose this group of people

called the Jews

to be like a billboard of His grace,

to be an invitation to the nations around them

to say,

Look at this group of people.

Look at what it looks like

when my favor is on a group of people.

When I blessed them.

Look at what it looks like

to walk with God,

Yahweh,

the one true God.

So the Jews,

in some way,

were an invitation

to the nations around them

to say,

If you come and serve

the one true God,

look at all the blessings

that are poured out on us.

Okay?

There we go.

Israel was a billboard,

an invitation,

to come and experience

the favor and the blessing of God.

You could think of it like this way.

Imagine the Hong Kong government

has this plan.

We want everyone

to switch to electric vehicles.

Okay?

No more fossil fuels.

Everyone,

we want to switch to electric vehicles.

Now,

one way they could do it

is just say,

Next year,

all fossil vehicles

are outlawed.

Okay?

They could do it that way.

Or they could come up

with an innovative plan.

They could say,

We're going to give

100,000 people

the top of the range

electric vehicles.

And we're going to give them

free charging.

And we're going to give them

free parking.

And there's going to be

all sorts of perks

that they are going

to be given.

And everyone

at Hong Kong

is going to see

how amazing it is

to do that

and they're going to make

the switch themselves.

Okay?

And so,

they set aside

this group of people

almost as an invitation,

a billboard,

to say,

Come and see

what it looks like.

Enjoy the benefits

of making the switch.

Well,

in some way,

that's what God

was doing with Israel.

He chose them.

He loved them.

He lavished them

with His favor

so that they would be

a billboard of His grace,

an invitation

to come and follow

this God,

the one true God.

Leave your gods.

Leave your idols.

Leave Baal aside

and come and worship Yahweh.

Well,

the problem,

of course,

is this,

that rather than

being an invitation

to come be part

of God's plan,

it led to

self-righteousness,

to a sense of superiority,

a sense of division.

You see,

Israel had forgotten

what we spoke about

last week,

that they were saved

by grace,

through faith.

This is not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God,

not by your own works

so that no one can boast.

They forgot about that

and they thought,

yeah,

we're pretty good.

Actually,

we are,

we may be better

than everybody else.

It wasn't that

they were more special

or holy

in and of themselves.

They were pretty rotten.

Israel needed God's grace

just as much

as anyone else.

They were still sinners

in need of forgiveness.

But God's grace to them

should have humbled them.

It should have brought them

to their knees.

But rather,

it led to

self-righteousness

and superiority.

You know,

in Jerusalem,

at the time of the Bible,

the way the temple

was structured,

it was up on a hill.

It was called

the Temple Mount.

And you had the sanctuary

where worship

was taking place.

And outside the sanctuary,

you had the court

of the priests

where the priests

would do their worship

and altars

and that kind of stuff.

Outside of that,

you had the court

of Israel

where only men could go.

Outside of that,

you had the court

of the women

where Jewish women

could go.

But then beyond that,

there was a stone wall,

1.5 meters high,

a stone wall

around the temple.

And beyond that

was the limits

to which the Gentiles

could go.

So Gentiles

could come to the area,

but they couldn't

go beyond the stone wall

anywhere near the temple.

They could look up the hill

and see the worship.

They could see

the community life.

They could see

the sense of community there.

But they could not go

beyond the stone wall

into anywhere near the temple.

Gentiles were

outsiders excluded.

In fact,

there was a stone,

there were signs

all along the stone wall.

I think we got a picture

of one that said,

no foreigner

is allowed

beyond the wall

surrounding the temple.

Whoever enters

invites death

upon himself.

Enter beyond

this stone wall

at your own risk.

You will die.

And so Paul says,

these Gentiles

and believers

in Ephesus,

remember what you were.

Last week he says,

remember you were

dead in your sins.

This week he says

the same thing.

Remember you were

outsiders,

excluded,

foreigners.

Verse 12,

remember you were

at that time

separated from Christ,

alienated from

the commonwealth

of Israel,

strangers to the

covenants of God's promise,

without God

and without hope

in the world.

Excluded from God's grace,

excluded from his blessings,

his word,

excluded from his

covenant people.

What you were,

you were outsiders.

But then,

something happened.

Something changed.

Look at verse 13.

He says,

now,

but now,

in Christ Jesus,

you Gentiles

who were once

far off,

alienated,

have been brought near.

Last week we saw,

you were once dead,

but now you've been

made alive in Christ.

He says,

now you once

were far off,

but now you've been

brought near.

At that time,

you were far off,

you've been brought in,

you were once alienated,

you've been brought home.

Once you were outsiders,

now you're insiders.

verse 14,

once there was a dividing wall

of hostility that kept you out,

but now that wall has been broken down,

there is peace.

Paul's saying,

something's happened.

What's happened?

Reconciliation has happened.

Now,

here's the question I've been wrestling with all week.

You're going to look at your Bibles with me.

Is Paul talking here,

when he talks about this reconciliation,

reconciliation,

this once alienation,

and now there's a reconciliation.

Is Paul talking vertically

between humanity and God,

or is he talking horizontally

between Jews and Gentiles?

Because sometimes it looks like

he's talking vertically,

verse 12,

right,

he says,

you were excluded without God,

without hope in the world,

you were cut off from God's promises,

but in verse 11,

it looks like he's talking about horizontally

between Jews and Gentiles.

He says,

there's this division that took place.

So,

so which one is he talking about?

When Paul says,

God has brought peace,

is he saying peace with God,

or peace with one another?

And the answer is,

both.

Both.

The answer is,

part of the complexity of this passage,

is that these two relationships

are so interconnected,

it's like a,

it's like a piece of twine,

or rope,

that's been interconnected.

It's like DNA,

right?

The vertical relationship,

and the horizontal relationship,

the divine,

and the human,

are so interconnected,

that the one,

affects the other.

In the gospel,

God is taking this group of people,

called Jews,

who are lost,

and sinners,

and need grace,

and he's taking another group of people,

called Gentiles,

who are lost,

and sinners,

and need God's grace,

and he's bringing them together,

reconciling them to God,

but also to one another.

And as he brings them together,

he makes a new humanity,

one new people,

under Christ,

which both bridges the gap between us and God,

but also bridges the gap between one another.

Look at how he says it in verse 14.

For Christ himself is our peace,

who has made us both,

Jews and Gentiles,

one,

breaking down this wall of division between us.

Verse 15.

He created himself one new man,

in place of the two,

thus making peace.

Verse 16.

He has reconciled us both to God,

in one new body,

thereby killing the hostility.

You following the logic here?

Paul is saying that as God in the gospel reconciles people to him,

he's reconciling us one to another.

And that actually makes complete sense,

doesn't it, right?

If you've got two people that are bashing heads,

they're kind of at odds with one another,

but suddenly they find a common goal,

a common interest,

a common purpose,

rather than clashing heads,

they can stand shoulder to shoulder and pursue that goal.

We actually see a funny example of this in the gospels.

I don't know if you remember this.

When Jesus is on trial to be crucified,

it says,

Herod and Pontius Pilate became friends that day,

where previously they had been enemies.

Here are two people,

they don't like each other,

they're power hungry,

they both want each other's territory and the throne,

but suddenly they've got a common opponent,

Jesus.

And so they've become friends that day,

in their pursuit of persecuting Jesus.

But the same thing happens in a positive sense.

Here are Jew and Gentile,

who previously had nothing in common.

Outsiders,

outcasts,

you dogs,

you uptight elitists.

And suddenly,

in Christ,

a common love,

that brings them together.

Friends,

what Paul is saying is,

Jesus isn't just establishing equality,

he's establishing unity.

And that's a very important difference.

You're going to have Jews who say,

Okay, fine,

I recognize that you're equal.

You're my equal,

but I still don't like you.

Right?

You do your equality over there,

and I'm going to do my equality over here.

But Paul says,

actually,

he's bringing these two,

and not only making them equal,

he's making them one.

There's a unity.

And how does,

how does Jesus do this?

I mean,

does Jesus say,

Okay,

let's just,

you know,

let's bring peace on earth,

or let's flick a switch,

and suddenly people that have been enemies,

will like each other.

Or maybe,

maybe he,

he sends a prophet,

to come and say,

Okay,

listen,

it didn't work in the Old Testament,

let's try something new.

Or maybe a re-education program,

the problem in the world is education,

so let's establish re-education.

How is Jesus going to bring unity,

between these two groups of people,

that haven't got along at all?

Well,

look at what he says in verse 13.

It says,

Now in Christ Jesus,

you who are once far off,

have been brought near.

How?

By the blood of Christ.

Verse 14.

He himself is our peace,

having broken down the wall of hostility,

in his flesh.

That means,

when he died on the cross.

Verse 16.

He has reconciled us to God,

through the cross.

Friends,

you see what Paul is saying here?

The answer to the division,

and the animosity,

in our world,

and the bitterness,

and the brokenness in our world,

is not just greater education.

And it's not just political action.

And it's not just social justice,

and becoming woke.

And it's not just Gentiles' lives matter,

even though Gentiles' lives do matter.

That's not the answer.

The answer is what he says,

the cross of Christ.

In his death on the cross,

Jesus did something,

accomplished something,

which dismantled and broke down

the barriers that separated people.

The answer is in the power of the cross.

The answer is the power of Jesus' death,

and Christ crucified.

The answer is that old rugged cross,

that we sang about this morning.

Look at verse 14 and 15.

He himself is at peace,

making us both one,

and broken down in his flesh,

this dividing wall of hostility.

Verse 15.

I know that sounds very wordy.

Okay?

So let's try and understand

what he's saying there.

So here's the question.

How does Jesus' death on the cross

accomplish this unity?

I mean, what does that actually do

to bring enemies together?

How does he bring Jew and Gentiles together?

Well, he tells us.

He says,

by abolishing the law and the commandments.

So think about this.

Israel has, in the Old Testament,

the first five books of the Bible,

has like 600 laws, okay?

Rules that Israelites, good Jews,

need to obey.

600 rules that for you to obey,

for you to be an insider,

for you to be accepted,

for you to be clean,

and welcomed,

and able to worship, right?

And the problem, of course,

is that this law,

these rules,

became a measuring stick

by which to compare one with another.

And so the Jews were pretty good

at keeping the rules,

but the Gentiles didn't know the rules,

and so they didn't keep any of the rules,

and so they were considered outsiders.

And so if this physical 1.5 meter stone wall

around the temple wasn't enough of a barrier,

here are 600 rules that are in an invisible wall,

a barrier separating insiders and outsiders.

And so let's say you want to come worship God.

You've heard,

you've seen the billboard,

you've heard that God,

Yahweh is the one true God,

you've heard of His amazing grace,

and you say,

here I am,

I want to come worship Him,

I want to know Him.

And so someone says,

oh, okay, well, that's great.

Oh, you're not circumcised.

I'm so sorry, you're out.

Oh, your dad wasn't an Israelite?

Oh, I'm so sorry,

you can't worship here.

Oh, you cut your beard this week?

Sorry, you're out.

Oh, you ate pork for dinner last night?

Sorry, you can't worship with us.

Oh, you're a foreigner?

You weren't born here?

Oh, I'm sorry,

you can't worship with us.

And so he has this long list of rules,

600 ways to be excluded from the people of God

in the covenant of grace.

But what happens if those rules were torn in two?

What happens if someone destroyed the rules?

What happens if somebody took those rules

and laid it aside?

And so those rules don't apply anymore.

You see, the whole legal system

was a temporary arrangement

meant to help Israel

until such time as the Messiah came.

And then the Messiah did come

and He perfectly obeyed all the rules.

The one person that obeyed them all.

And He said that anybody who trusts me

or follows me,

I will credit to them

my perfect track record.

So it's as if you've kept all the rules.

And so now the question is not

have you kept the rules,

is are you in Jesus?

That's the one equation.

Are you in Christ?

Because if you're in Christ,

then His perfect track record

is your perfect track record.

And so the only thing that is,

is are you in Jesus,

saved by grace,

through faith,

not by works.

Are you putting all your hope

in Jesus' finished work on the cross?

And so friends,

are you a Jew today?

Well, that doesn't matter.

The question is,

are you in Christ?

Are you a Gentile?

Well, that doesn't matter.

Are you in Christ?

Friends,

are you a billionaire here today?

Well, that doesn't matter.

The question is,

are you in Christ?

Friends,

are you a street sweeper today?

That doesn't matter.

Are you in Christ?

Friends,

have you grown up in the church

and know all the answers

and know how to say

all the right Christian things?

That doesn't matter.

Are you in Jesus?

Friends,

maybe it's your first time

you've ever stepped inside a church

and you don't know what's going on.

And who's this crazy guy talking

and I don't know what he's saying.

That doesn't matter.

The question is,

are you in Jesus?

Friends,

are you a mainlander

or Hong Konger?

Are you from Ethiopia

or Canada?

It doesn't matter.

The question is,

are you in Christ?

The ground is level

at the foot of the cross.

And because the gospel is true,

what is also true

is that all people,

both the preacher in the front

and the person that works

in the red light district

at the back,

the billionaire

and the foreign domestic worker,

all of us are equally

sinners in need of God's grace,

men and women

for whom Jesus Christ

died on the cross

saying,

it is finished.

The ground at the foot of the cross

is level.

And so look at verse 17.

It says,

Jesus came and preached peace

to you who are far away

and peace to those who are near.

Well, the question is this,

how did Jesus go and preach

to the Ephesians?

I mean, Jesus never left Israel

other than when he was a baby

and they fled to Egypt.

Jesus never stepped outside

of Israel in his ministry.

Ephesus is thousands of miles away.

So how did Jesus go and preach

this good news of acceptance

to the Ephesians?

Jesus never went there, right?

And the answer is this,

as the gospel message

rang out through those first Christians,

as it penetrated their hearts

and changed them,

as they were born again and saved,

they were given peace with God,

but also peace with one another.

It wasn't that Paul was saying,

come on, you Christians now,

act better,

pull your socks up,

be nicer people.

The word Christian

hadn't even been invented.

As the gospel message went out,

it penetrated their hearts

and it brought peace.

Friends, the question is this,

who might you,

who might we as a church

want to treat as outsiders?

Who might we be tempted

to look at and secretly think,

do they really belong here?

I think I've told you

this story before,

quick story.

One of my very best friends

in Cape Town,

he was a heroin addict,

he became a Christian

and he comes to church with us.

He'd been a Christian

about 10 days,

brand new Christian,

didn't know a single thing,

right?

He couldn't put four words

together without swearing.

He comes to church

and he says to me,

he pulls me aside,

he says,

yo, Kevin,

there's some people here

that I knew,

I didn't think I'd ever see

them inside a church.

And I said,

hey, Gordy,

I think they might be thinking

the same thing about you.

All right?

Friends,

who might we think

that they don't belong here?

No, no,

the ground is level

at the foot of the cross.

And so,

Paul writes,

Christ himself is our peace,

who has broken down

in his flesh

the dividing wall

of hostility

by abolishing the law

and his commandments

expressed in the ordinances

that he might create

in himself

one new man

in place of the two,

thus making peace

and might reconcile

both of us to God

in one body

through the cross,

thereby destroying

the humility.

What has Christ done?

He's created

a new humanity,

a new people of God.

Well, very quickly,

let's go to the third thing.

What is God doing?

Verse 11 said,

at one time

you were strangers

and aliens.

Verse 13,

but now Christ

has created

a new humanity.

We'll look at verse 19.

So then,

so then,

brothers and sisters,

you are no longer

strangers and aliens,

but you are fellow citizens

with the saints

and members

of the household of God.

The word household there

could also mean

the family.

I mean,

that is astounding,

right?

Just think about this.

Jews and Gentiles,

these two people

who previously

hated each other,

they wouldn't have

a meal together,

right?

Your son marries

a Gentile,

you have a funeral

for them

because they're dead to you.

He says,

now you are combined

family members

in the household of God.

I mean,

that's incredible.

Think Ukrainian soldier,

Russian soldier,

you now are brothers

and sisters

in the family of God.

Remember that old

Christmas carol?

The slave is no longer,

how's it going?

Neil,

I'm going to need

your help here.

Something about

the slave

has now become

your brother.

Man,

that's amazing.

But then,

verse 20 says,

built on the foundation

of the apostles

and the prophets

with Christ Jesus himself

as being the cornerstone

in whom the whole structure

being joined together

grows into a holy temple

in the Lord.

In him,

you also are being

built together

into a dwelling place

for God

by his spirit.

It's a bit confusing here

because Paul is mixing

his metaphors,

right?

Somebody should have taught him

not to do this

in high school.

But anyway,

he's talking about

you're citizens of a country,

you're also family members

of a new household.

But the one metaphor

he really wants us to get

is this,

you are members

or stones

of a temple.

What is God doing now?

He's building

a new temple.

Well,

what was the temple?

The temple was the place

where God's glory dwelt.

It was the holy of holies.

It was the centerpiece

amongst the people of God.

It was the place

where people brought

their worship

and encountered God

and his grace.

It was the closest thing

to heaven on earth.

It was the display

of God's glory.

But look what Paul says.

God is building

a new kind of temple,

not made of bricks

and gold

and silver

and wood.

It's made of a new

kind of material.

What kind of material?

It's made up of sinners

who have been reconciled

to God

and reconciled

to one another.

God is making

a new temple

and in that temple

he's going to put

his glory

and he's going to put

his Holy Spirit

and it's going to be

a display

of his majesty.

It's going to be

the place where people

encounter God

and can worship God.

It's going to be

the place where

people encounter

God's grace.

But it's going to

consist of people,

reconciled sinners,

of every nationality

and ethnicity

and people group.

It's not going to be

located in one place

in Jerusalem

or Israel

or the Holy Land.

It's going to be found

in some tree

in the Sahara Desert

in Africa.

It's going to be found

in some school hall

in Poc Paloma

in Hong Kong.

It's going to be found

in some majestic

cathedral in Europe.

It's going to be found

wherever God's people

gather together.

There I will put

my spirit

and I'll build

a new temple.

What once,

and amazingly,

the Gentiles

are going to be included.

Once there was a sign

saying stay out

on the threat of death.

Now these very people

that were once outsiders

are going to be

the materials,

the building blocks

of this new temple.

Amazing.

What once was rejected

and regarded as outcasts

are now the very stones

that God is going to use

to build His temple.

The place where God

causes His glory to dwell.

Friends,

as Paul's writing

this letter

to the Ephesians,

right outside

the city of Ephesus

is another temple.

It's called

the temple of Artemis.

It is one of the seven wonders

of the ancient world.

It is this majestic,

beautiful temple.

Well friends,

today that temple

lies in ruins

and all that stands

is one single

solitary column

as a testimony

to its futility

and the fact

that it couldn't stand.

And as Paul writes

this letter,

there in Jerusalem

is this majestic temple

full of gold

and lavish materials.

Friends,

today the temple

is nothing.

But 2,000 years later

all across the world

this temple

that God is still building

is growing

and expanding.

One by one,

one life at a time

as people like you

and I,

broken sinners

that encounter

God's grace

are being included

into God's plan

to display

His glory

in our world.

And what is the basis

of this temple?

He says,

the foundation

of the apostles

and the prophets.

What did the apostles

and prophets do?

They told us the gospel.

And he says,

the foundation,

the chief cornerstone

is Jesus,

Christ Himself.

And so,

Watermark,

if we are to become

the kind of church

that Paul envisages

here in Ephesians,

a church which exists

to the praise

of His glory,

a church which displays

His majesty,

a church which pursues

peace and reconciliation,

we must be a church

which is built

on the gospel

and centered

on Jesus Christ.

Because as John Stott

says,

the unity

and the strength

of the church

go hand in hand

and both of them

are based on Jesus.

Friends,

this passage

is greatly challenging

but also encouraging.

It challenges us

because it says,

who might we want

to consider outsiders?

Let's bring them in.

But it also encourages us

because it says,

once we were outsiders,

but Jesus went to the cross

for people like you,

people like me,

to bring us in.

This is what God

is doing with this church.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus Christ,

we praise you

for your amazing,

amazing grace.

God,

as we sang this morning,

how majestic is your name.

God,

we want to just fall

on our knees

and say,

unbelievable,

astounding,

that God,

you would reconcile

sinners like me.

God,

broken people like us

and bring us

into your family

and not just

wipe away our debt

and say,

it's done,

you've forgiven,

but include us

in your plans.

Use people like us

as your stones

to build a new temple.

God,

thank you for what you've done.

God,

I pray for us

as a church,

Lord,

may what we read

in Ephesians

be true of us.

God,

may we be a church

that pursues

reconciliation

and unity.

May we be,

God,

a billboard of grace

to our city.

May we declare

to our city,

this is what God

is doing

and is able to do.

May we,

God,

be a picture

of heaven on earth

as people

from every tribe

and ethnicity

and language

and culture

and background

come together,

unified and united

as we worship you,

Christ our King.

Jesus,

thank you for your grace.

Thank you for your mercy.

Come and work in us,

God.

In our church,

we pray.

Amen.