Reconciliation: Breaking down dividing walls

chapter 2. We're going to read the whole chapter, but we're going to read it in two

sections. And so first of all, we're going to read verses 1 to 10

to hear the before and after of Christian experience. Paul is going to describe to

these believers what their life was like before knowing Jesus, and then the difference that God's

grace to them in the sending of Jesus has made. It's the same story that's true of everyone who's

a follower of Jesus. So let's hear God's Word in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you

followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now

at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the

cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature

deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with

Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us

up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming

ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God,

not by works, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus

to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. Amen. We'll pick up our reading there in a few

minutes, but before... One more thing to say. I have, for those of you who need to pick them up,

copies of instruments in the Redeemer's hands. So folks from the elders, women's pastoral team,

there's some there. I've also got some more coming. Let's turn in our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

from verse 11 to verse 22. And we'll keep our Bibles open here. If you don't have a copy of the Bible,

well, it's up on the screen, but there's also Bibles in both window shelves at the back.

And so let's hear the Word of God once more.

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. Amen. This is God's Word. So we're continuing

this week to think about the truth of reconciliation. As we continue to think about what the Bible

teaches us about the gospel, what is the good news of what God has done in and through Jesus,

and how should that change and shape how we live our lives as God's people today.

And we begin by recognizing the tragedy of dividing lines. As we see week after week the unfolding

sadness and destruction that's going on in Ukraine, the new reality after the Russians illegally

annexed some of those parts of Ukrainian land is that they have set up, as it were, a new iron curtain,

making it incredibly difficult for people to move around in their own nation. And one of the effects of

that is that families and communities have been divided. There were lots of stories of anxious and

distressed people wondering, will I be able to cross this barrier to be able to be reunited to my husband

or to see my children again. And sadly, this is the kind of reality that's all too familiar in our world.

societies polarized by politics, segregated by race, divided by the inequalities of wealth, the haves and the have-nots.

There are scars on every society based on divisions of different kinds. But we also sadly establish our own

personal, invisible walls. Perhaps because of anger, because of jealousy or pride. Perhaps a lack of

understanding, a lack of patience, a failure to forgive, a failure to extend a welcome. We too create division.

So there are scars on every human heart. Sadly, there are scars of division within God's church.

And the Bible says to us very clearly, this is far from the ideal. To understand what God's ideal is for

community, we go back to the Garden of Eden. We go back to the Garden and what we find is flourishing.

And we find healthy relationships between Adam and Eve and their God, and between Adam and Eve as husband

and wife. Before there was sin, relationships were good. But once sin came in, there was division.

Adam and Eve hiding from God. Adam and Eve turning on one another, pointing the finger of blame at each other.

And that extends to the next generation, where Cain, in jealousy and anger, killed his own brother.

And that story of division is one that we can trace through the story of the Bible,

and we trace it through the story of human history.

So as we recognize that reality, the question for us to consider is, is where is hope to be found?

When we understand that all is not well. And again, we look to the Bible for our hope,

and we look to God who promised one will come, who will bring blessing, who will bring peace,

who will reconcile. That one is the Lord Jesus. And what we see in Ephesians 2 is Paul reminding

Christians of what God has done in and through the Lord Jesus. Last week, if you were here,

we thought about reconciliation on the vertical level. How God has acted through the Lord Jesus

to deal with that sin barrier, that barrier that creates our natural hostility against God and means

a holy God is opposed to us because of sin. But God deals with that barrier by sending his own son Jesus

to be the Savior, one who would bear the sin of his people, one who would remove the guilt by taking it on

himself. Jesus, the one who establishes peace in his own body so that we can be reconciled to God.

Well, this week, we're still going to see that, but we're going to think too about reconciliation on

the horizontal level. How by God's design, he is establishing peace with one another within the church.

And one of the things that we always need to remind ourselves as Christians is that by God's design,

the Christian church has both a unique message and a unique power. Because we have the gospel,

because we have God's grace, because we have the Spirit dwelling within us, the church has the gospel,

and it is the gospel that brings deep and lasting healing and restoration. And so we need to remember

we have a message that the world both needs and one, though often they don't realize it's to the church

and to the gospel they need to come. So what we're going to see today is that because Jesus Christ

has reconciled us to God and reconciled us to one another within the church, reconciliation

should be the goal of God's church. So let's turn in our text to verses 11 to 13.

To think about the privilege of reconciliation. Look at verse 13.

Now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

So we have thought about 21st century lines of division in society. Well, there was those existing

in the first century, and one of the greatest divisions with the most hostility was that between

a Jew and a Gentile. A couple of examples from Jewish teaching in the first century,

they were instructing people, if you come across a Gentile woman at the point of giving birth,

do not offer any help, because we do not want another Gentile in the world.

If your son or daughter chooses to marry a Gentile, hold a funeral, because that child is dead to you.

That's the line of division that existed in that society. But here's the amazing truth,

before we even look at the details, who's Paul writing to? Paul is writing to Gentile Christians,

and they now share the same church with Jewish Christians. So God, by his saving grace, has

overcome some of the deepest and most fundamental barriers in society. And Paul wants to remind these

Gentiles of their privilege. And he wants to do that by, first of all, showing them their

disadvantages, showing them the barriers that stood against them. So let's look at those briefly.

First of all, in verse 11, let's begin. Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by

birth. So let's just stop there. So there's the first barrier, simply their birth. By being born a

Gentile, they stand on the wrong side of the tracks. It goes further. Remember that formerly you are Gentiles

by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision. What's this speaking

about? This is speaking about prejudice in society. This is speaking about insults being traded,

verbal grenades being thrown by Jew and by Gentile against one another. That's a barrier to entering

the church. Continues, verse 12. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ.

Because you were Gentiles, because you had no access to the Old Testament, you had no idea that God had

promised a Savior, the Christ. One who would bring healing and restoration and establish peace between

people and God. They didn't know that. He goes further. You were excluded, verse 12, excluded from

citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise. So they were on the outside of God's

kingdom. None of the rights and privileges of a citizen. They were foreigners to all of those wonderful

covenant promises that God had established with his people in the Old Testament.

By birth, by rights, they were not part of that.

And so as Paul will say to them at the end of verse 12, remember that you were without hope

and without God in the world. You had no living hope, living in fear and living in ignorance.

You had no true God. You were worshipping idols. All of these barriers.

And if that was the end of the story, that'd be total despair, wouldn't it? That would be

like hearing a desperate diagnosis without ever hearing of the cure. But that's not the gospel.

The gospel says, verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near.

You were far, but now you've been moved near. They have been taken past the iron curtain.

No longer in the gospel, outsiders. They are now insiders. To use the language of Miroslav Volf.

They've moved from exclusion to embrace. Now, how has that happened? Well, it's happened,

Paul says, because Jesus Christ destroys division. It's by the blood of Christ that they are brought near.

What does the blood of Christ speak to us of? It speaks of his sacrificial death.

It speaks of his giving his life to pay the price, to take the penalty for our sin and for our guilt.

So in that event in history, these Gentiles could be reconciled to God. And they're told that it's

now in Christ Jesus that they are brought near. They have been united to him by faith.

They have this personal experience of what God has done in Jesus' death and resurrection.

So this double separation, where they were separate from God and separate from the people of God,

has been ended by Christ, by his grace, by the grace of God. Now, to think about ourselves here today

in this room, some of us in this church have had wonderful privileges, brought up in Christian homes

by Christian parents, brought up reading God's Word, taught how to pray, brought to church.

We have had wonderful privileges as if we were those who were by nature near.

But there are others who have not had that privilege.

Speaking to a friend this week, 26 years of age before ever hearing about Jesus,

who he was, what he had come to do. Somebody put it this way, some of us, it's as if, you know,

English is our first language, so it's really easy and it's very natural. Other people don't have that

privilege and have to wrestle with trying to learn a second language later in life.

Some have had great privilege, some didn't have those privileges. But here's the wonderful thing,

is that Paul is saying that whether we think about ourselves and say, I was by nature near or I was

by nature far away from God, there is one truth for us all, that God has reconciled sinners through

Christ, that Jesus' blood shed on the cross pays the penalty for sin, breaks the power of sin in our

lives for whoever we are as we look to Jesus in faith. Martin Luther King once said, love is the only

power capable of turning an enemy into a friend. And what we see in the gospel is that God's love

in Christ does that twice over. God's love that comes to us through Jesus has the power to end our

war with God and it has the power to end the wars that we establish with one another too.

So as we think about the privilege of reconciliation that Paul brings to these Gentile Christians,

we need to recognize the privilege that there is in the gospel. But we also need to hear this

invitation as well. Because Paul would say to us, come to Jesus to be brought near to God.

come to the Lord Jesus as Savior to be brought near to be brought among the people of God. It is faith

in the Lord Jesus Christ that moves us from being far to being near. And it's also a reminder to us as

Christians to treasure what we've been given. As Christians, we should never lose sight of how hopeless we were

by nature. That Ephesians 2 is our spiritual biography. And so we should be profoundly grateful

for the mercy of God in sending Jesus to reconcile us. Well, if that's the privilege, the central section,

verses 14 to 18, wants to draw our attention to the power of reconciliation. Look at that first

phrase in verse 14. He himself, Christ Jesus himself is our peace. And in this section, we're introduced to

what Paul calls, in verse 14, the dividing wall of hostility.

You know, so picture what might a dividing wall of hostility look like. In my head, I think of the Berlin Wall.

But there are examples that we still see today. So during COVID times, in sort of poorer countries,

there were lots of stories of Christians being denied access to aid and support given to other citizens

simply because they were Christians, places like Myanmar. And that kind of inequality and that prejudice

still exists, dividing walls of hostility. Well, let's take in our minds a very quick tour to Herod the Great

Temple in first century Jerusalem. So the temple building, it was elevated. It was up on a high place.

And then there were two outer courts. There was the Court of the Jews, five steps down,

and then another 14 steps down, the Court of the Gentiles. Now doesn't that say something about how

the Jews regarded the Gentiles? This isn't God's design, but that's what they'd done. And between the

Court of the Gentiles and the Court of the Jews, there was a one and a half meter stone barricade.

And there were signs placed on that wall. In 1935, a team from a museum in Istanbul found

one of those, a Greek sign. And here's what it said. It said this,

No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure round the temple. Anyone caught doing so

will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. There's a dividing wall of hostility.

Trespassers will be executed.

There was a sinful prejudice in the first century world. There was a dividing wall of hostility.

But what does Paul say about the work of Jesus? Jesus Christ destroys division. Jesus, as it were,

in a spiritual sense, took a sledgehammer to that wall in his death, breaking down the barrier

so that Jew and Gentiles, so that anyone by faith might be part of God's kingdom.

The emphasis is on Jesus and his work. He himself is our peace. And there are four actions of Jesus

as we see him as the ultimate peacemaker that we're going to see in our text. First of all,

and we've already mentioned it, verse 14, Jesus has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of

hostility by setting aside in his flesh, the law with its commands and regulations. So the coming of

Jesus in the flesh has served to set aside the law with its commands and regulations.

So one of the great barriers between Jew and Gentiles was the ceremonial laws that had been

established. Food laws, laws about circumcision, since the coming of Jesus, what they pointed to had been

fulfilled, and so they no longer had any place in God's church. So that barrier, it was designed to be

taken away with the coming of Jesus. But Jesus has also, for his people, removed the condemnation

that was due to us in the moral law. He's also taken that away by Jesus taking our sin and taking the

penalty that we deserve to face. And he kindly and freely and graciously took that for us, thus securing

our peace. So Jesus has destroyed the barrier. And he's done that for a purpose. Look at verse 15.

Jesus has created a new human race.

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making

peace. Here's the wonderful way that Christians of any kind answer the question of our identity.

Not in terms of Jew and Gentile, not in terms of ethnicity or cultural background or gender.

I am a new creation in Christ. Those barriers that serve to divide do not define us, should not define

the church. Because Jesus has come to make peace. To make in himself one new humanity, one new creation.

What else has Jesus done in making peace? He has reconciled. Look at verse 16.

And in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.

So Jesus Christ's sacrifice in his one body has dealt with the sin, has dealt with the hostility of

his people towards God, has taken the hostility that a holy God has towards sinful people. Jesus has

taken that so that instead of condemnation and separation, we can enjoy peace.

We can enjoy peace with God and peace with one another. Because Jesus has reconciled.

And Jesus also, we're told, preached. He came and preached peace to you who are far away,

and peace to those who are near. For through him, we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Same message to those who are by nature far away, to those who are by nature near. It's the same good

news that Jesus is the Son of God and he has come to be the only Savior for sinners. And that in trusting

in Jesus and his work on the cross, that we have the same access to the one Father in heaven,

by the one Holy Spirit who gives us new life, who causes us to cry out in our hearts, Abba, Father.

That's true of every Christian. So the peace that Jesus creates is peace in the gospel that unites us

around himself. So that nothing that could divide us is ever going to be as strong as what unites us in

the gospel. Because what unites us is our strong Savior and the gospel that he has brought. So Paul

draws us deliberately to the person of Christ who is good news, who is our peace. Where do we find the

grace and the help to be reconciled by looking to Jesus? We fix our eyes on Jesus who is our peace.

One really profound example of this, Corrie ten Boom. Some of you will know Corrie ten Boom's story. She,

along with her family in Holland in the 1940s, were hiding Jews from the Nazis. And eventually,

she and her sister were discovered and sent to a concentration camp in Ravensbrück,

where her sister died, but Corrie survived. And in 1947, she went to Germany to preach and to share

her story, to talk about the good news of God's forgiveness. And one evening in Munich, as she was

concluding her meeting, as she saw someone approach, and she recognized that this was the most notorious

guard from that Ravensbrück concentration camp. He didn't recognize her. And he came to speak to her and he

said, I have come to discover that God in Jesus has forgiven me. Can you forgive me? And do you know her

response at that moment? She said, I can move my hand to extend a welcome. You must provide the feeling.

And as she considered in that moment, the gospel of God's forgiveness of her, she felt a genuine love

for that former prison guard, now a brother in Christ. And she forgave him and she embraced him.

The powerful grace of God in Christ is such that guilty rebel sinners are forgiven and embraced and welcomed by God.

So we are invited to turn from sin, turn to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, and to know reconciliation with

him. But we also know that the grace of God, as it's poured out into our hearts, gives us a heart full of love that comes

from God, that enables us by grace to embrace the role of being a peacemaker.

That we would be enabled to make peace with one another.

Because we know that the gospel ends barriers of division.

And we know that's God's design.

And let's think about that in our last section, verses 19 to 22.

Let's think about the portraits of reconciliation that we have here.

Look at verse 20.

That phrase with Christ Jesus himself

as the chief cornerstone.

Verse 19 begins,

Consequently.

There are consequences.

There are results that flow from the reality that Jesus has come to make peace.

What is the consequence?

What do we see in the kingdom of God?

What do we see in the church?

Well, Paul paints up three different portraits of this reconciliation that Jesus has come to establish.

Let's speak to us of unity in the church in the Lord Jesus.

The first of those portraits is that of being a new kingdom.

So look at verse 19 again.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,

but fellow citizens with God's people.

Those ethnic barriers are gone.

The people of God share the same citizenship.

No longer foreigners by grace brought near.

What does our passport say?

Our passport says we are citizens of heaven.

Christ makes us a new society under him as our king.

So we have a new kingdom.

But we are also, verse 19,

made members of his household.

In Christ we are also a new family.

And in this family,

we share the same father in heaven.

We share the same standing as brothers and sisters in Christ,

heirs to the kingdom.

By the grace of God,

we are adopted into God's family.

That God, by his grace, has reconciled us.

That's the heart of our father.

And so one of the family values then of the church

is that we pursue unity.

We value reconciliation.

So there's a new kingdom and there's a new family.

And also, in verses 20 to 22,

there is a new temple.

What a great hope.

The old temple, the physical temple,

that had that dividing wall of hostility,

that's not now where God dwells.

Where does God dwell now?

He dwells among his people, in the church.

And the church, we're told in verse 20,

has a shared foundation.

We're built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets

with Christ Jesus himself

as the chief cornerstone.

The church is built on the message

which is all about Christ.

Christ.

The church is built on Christ himself.

He is the chief cornerstone.

Just as the cornerstone was so important

to give strength and stability

and alignment to the foundation of the building,

Jesus is where our strength is found.

Jesus is the one that we need to line up with.

And we're told, in verse 21,

in him, in Christ,

the whole building is joined together.

Jesus isn't just the foundation,

he's also the cement.

That the gospel of God's grace

is what binds us together.

And it 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.

Who are we as the people of God?

We are a new home

where God dwells among his people.

What wonderful images

speaking of the reconciliation

and the unity

that God is creating

and that God desires.

Isn't that a beautiful portrait?

Doesn't that give us a longing

that we would see this?

Perhaps it gives us a longing

for our heavenly kingdom,

for our heavenly home,

where this is true

for the people of God

for all eternity.

But doesn't it also give us

a goal to pursue

here and now?

Paul is saying to us,

we must aim for this ideal.

If this is the masterpiece

that God is creating in Christ,

then if we are building up division

where Jesus is seeking peace,

it's like we're taking

a can of spray paint

and we're graffitiing

all over this wonderful masterpiece

that God is creating.

We must pursue unity

and reconciliation.

Imagine this ideal in the church

where the strongest of hatreds

and prejudice are being overcome,

where old wounds are being healed

as forgiveness is extended,

where local and foreign

from around the world

can be welcomed

and treated equally,

and only because we have Christ in common.

What incredible message

this would be to ourselves

and to the world.

Here is where you find peace

the world dreams of.

And so Paul is reminding us

that by the power of Christ,

we can and we must

both show and tell

the gospel

that a reconciled

and united church

is God's missionary plan

to show a divided world

the gospel is true,

that Jesus Christ

transforms hearts

and lives

because

Christ Jesus

has brought

his people near.

Because Christ Jesus

himself

is our peace.

Because Christ Jesus

is our cornerstone.

Let's pray.

Let's pray that we would

see these things

to be true.

Lord,

our God,

once again,

we are so thankful

for reconciliation,

we're so thankful

for your grace

that transforms

hearts and lives

and relationships.

And Lord,

we pray

that as we recognize

your ideal

of people being united

in Christ Jesus,

of barriers being broken down

through Christ Jesus,

of peace being established

because of Christ's work

on the cross,

and we pray

that you would

cause us to confess

where we have

caused division,

you would cause us

to trust in you

in order to seek

reconciliation.

Lord,

that we would be

a church

and we would be

a people of God

who show

and tell

the glory

of the gospel

to a world

that so desperately

needs healing

and unity.

we pray

in Jesus' name.

Amen.