What Binds Us Together: The Basis of Unity in Christ | Ephesians 1-3

Well good morning.

It's a joy to be here and it's a joy to partner with you.

Thank you very much for your faithful partnership with Nets up in Vermont, the People's Republic.

And uh it is a thrill to be in this new facility.

Let me open up our time with a word of prayer.

Father, thank you for this day.

Thank you for your grace.

Thank you, Father, for your promise to sanctify us in the truth.

And that your word is that truth.

So we ask, Father, that you would use this service to build us up in our most holy faith.

You'd use this service to provoke those who are still outside of Christ to consider the free gift of eternal life.

Give all this to you.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, as Jim said, I'm from Vermont, but I love to drive down south, especially through Pennsylvania and Virginia, as we did last week, and see all the famous Civil War battlefields.

Gettysburg, Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, the Appomattox River, which of course leads to the Appomattox Courthouse, where Lee surrendered to Grant.

Just to name a few that I saw on my way down.

Now that was a time of great division in our country, wasn't it?

Division over slavery, division over states' rights, division over the status of new states, and division over the constitutionality of succession.

And I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the Civil War didn't end divisions in this country.

Divisions are alive and well.

The conservative South is at odds with the liberal North.

The divide between black and white seems wider than ever.

And the deepest division of all, Trump supporters versus Trump haters.

After 250 years and a civil war that produced rough estimates are one and a half million casualties, we're still divided.

And there's no end in sight.

But as deep as these dividing lines are in our country, they're barely indentations when compared to the deep, deep, multimillennial divide that exists and existed between Jew and Gentile.

I mean, the Jews were God's chosen people.

They were marked by God's holy law, and they were given his precious promises of salvation.

Where the Gentiles, they were utterly pagan, they were worshiping everything but the one true God and indulging the lusts of their minds and their bodies, and were by nature children of wrath.

You and I can hardly imagine a bigger difference, a deeper divide, a greater enmity, a less likely scenario to produce reconciliation.

And yet that's what happened.

That's what our great God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ did.

And this morning we want to examine just how he unified those totally alienated peoples from Ephesians chapters 1 through 3.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Grant said that I had about two hours this morning, so I'm going to do three chapters.

And then next week we'll do it again when we survey what that unity looked like from Ephesians 4 to 6.

But of course, I'm sure you can guess that this is no mere academic exercise, because the threat of disunity exists in all cultures, including the culture of the church.

And perhaps especially when two distinct, similar but distinct church cultures merge, as we have here at the King's Chapel.

So here's the question: What is the basis of unity in the Church of Jesus Christ?

What binds us together?

To be more pointed, what is the basis, the foundation that will allow two former churches, Christ Baptist and Capital Community, to continue to move forward in a way that preserves the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?

Our passage, Ephesians 1 to 3, will give us that basis and should stimulate us to worship our great God who conceived and executed this glorious reconciliation.

So I invite you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

I'm going to pick it up in verse 3 and read all the way to verse 14.

That is one long sentence in the original.

Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

I'll read verses 3 to 14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love he predestined us for adoption to himself, his sons, through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he blessed us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

And in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

Paul begins by blessing or praising God the Father for this reason, for blessing us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

But what are those blessings?

Well, first, Paul gives us the foundational blessing in verse 4: election, predestination.

And what is it?

It's God's determination before the foundation of the world to set his affection on a number of hell-deserving sinners that no man can count.

Remember, given that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were unable to move one inch toward God.

There's no one who seeks God.

And hence God had to initiate our salvation, which he did when he chose his sheep from before the foundation of the world.

Your faith is an outworking of that.

So election is the foundational blessing, but what blessings proceed from it?

Well, in this long sentence, there's at least three based on the structure of the passage with relative clauses that introduce those blessings first in verse 7, then verse 11, then verse 13, and all in Christ, in him.

First, there's the blessing of redemption from verses 7 to 10.

Believers have been redeemed, forgiven all their sins by the Son shed blood as a part of the plan to unite all things in Christ.

Second, the blessing of an inheritance from verses 11 and 12.

You see, according to God's predetermined plan, those who were first to hope in Christ, that's a reference to the Jewish believers, they've received an inheritance in Christ.

And finally, the blessing of a guarantee or pledge, a down payment from verses 13 and 14.

Through faith, believers receive the pledge of that promised inheritance, which is the Holy Spirit, who seals and safeguards us until the promised inheritance is acquired.

But I want you to notice something.

Did you see the change of pronouns in verse 13?

Now, up to verse 13, Paul was using only first person pronouns.

We and us.

But in verse 13, he switches to you, second person.

Did you see that?

Do you see it now?

So what's going on with that?

Well, it's simply this the we and us refer to Paul and his fellow Jewish believers.

Or as verse 12 says, those who were first to hope in Christ.

Whereas the you in verse 13 refers to the Gentile believers who were predominant in Ephesus and the other churches in Asia Minor.

Like their Jewish brethren, these Gentiles had received the guarantee of the inheritance in Christ based on the redemption that Christ wrought, all of which flowed from their election in Christ.

To say it another way, Jew and Gentile were elected by the same Father, and as a result, they were redeemed by the same blood of the Son and given an eternal inheritance which was guaranteed and sealed by the same Holy Spirit.

Jew and Gentile, formerly alienated, have a common and glorious salvation.

And this leads to Paul's first prayer, starting in verse 15.

Let me pick it up there, and I'm going to read all the way to chapter 2, verse 10.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in all my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing.

It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Paul begins with another long sentence, verses 15 to 23, praying that these Gentile converts would know God.

That they would know God by having their hearts enlightened.

And specifically, Paul wants them to know three things.

First, the hope of his calling, verse 18.

As we shall see, the Gentiles had no hope and were without God in the world.

So Paul wants them to know specifically the hope of his calling.

Second, the riches of his inheritance in the saints.

Again, verse 18.

Paul wants these Gentiles to know that they hold in common an inheritance, a rich inheritance with their Jewish brethren.

Finally, most importantly, Paul prays that these Gentile believers might know the greatness, the surpassing greatness, one translation says, of God's power.

And I think this is what occupies verse 19 all the way to the end of verse 10 in chapter 2.

It's a power which always attends the blessing of salvation through Christ.

We're going to talk a lot more about that next week.

When someone comes to Christ, there is a power within them that enables them to carry out what he asks them to do.

Not perfectly, but characteristically.

And it's a power that was evidenced when Christ was raised from the dead and seated at God's right hand in the heavenly places.

And evidenced again when these dead Gentile believers were spiritually raised from the dead and seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

Now, by the way, let me stop there and speak to those who may be here and yet outside of Christ.

Or you might be here this morning and not sure if you really know Jesus Christ.

This is a marvelous text to make clear to you the gospel.

Do you know that the Bible says that you're dead in your trespasses and sins?

Do you know what that means?

It means you are completely unable to respond to God.

You have a heart of stone, Ezekiel 36 says.

And when sin says jump, the only question you can ask is how high?

Because you're enslaved to that sin.

Oh, you may think, no, I'm actually free and I'm having a great time.

No, you're not.

You can fool yourself to think that you are.

But outside of Christ, you are dead in your trespasses and sins, and able only to indulge the passions, the lusts of the flesh and of the mind.

It's a very, very perilous and unhappy condition.

And yet, did you see the good news in this passage?

But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us.

Yes, he sent his only begotten son, and he offers the grace of forgiveness as a free gift.

It's like here it is.

Just take it.

There it is.

To be freed from sin and death and be assured that all is well with you, that it is well with your soul.

I want to appeal to you.

Consider Jesus Christ this morning.

Consider the free gift of life that he offers you, to awaken you from death to life, to live with him forever.

The Lord Jesus is a willing Savior.

He will answer your prayers if you come to him in faith.

Now, Paul wants these Gentile believers to know God.

He particularly wants them to know the power that is theirs through their salvation in Christ.

So at this point, he said the Gentiles have a common election, producing a common redemption and inheritance with their Jewish brethren, which has made them alive, raised them up, and seated them in the heavenly places with Christ, and clothed them with the very power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Now Paul wants to press home the implication of that common salvation, starting in chapter 2 and verse 11.

Let me pick it up there.

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 this flesh a 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.

Though formally excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, separated from Christ and having no hope and without God in the world, Paul wants these Gentiles to remember this.

Nevertheless, now they've been brought near by the blood of Christ.

By fulfilling the law and all of its punitive sanctions, Jesus Christ has removed that which separated Jew from Gentile.

Do you know what separated them?

The law.

That's what separated them.

And Jesus fulfilled it.

He fulfilled all of its punitive sanctions, all the penalties that it required.

So it's no longer an impediment for their unity.

In fact, it says Jesus has become our peace.

He's reconciled the two into one new man.

And Gentiles are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the Jewish saints, who together are being built up by God's Spirit into a new dwelling place for God, a new temple made without human hands.

Can you imagine that?

That former sinners, both Jew and Gentile, now are the holy abode for a holy God.

And this again, as it had in chapter 1, induces Paul to pray, but not before he digresses, both summarizing this new privilege status belonging to the Gentiles, according to the Old Testament mystery, which was revealed through the proclamation of the gospel, but also to console them amid his own imprisonment.

Let's pick it up in chapter three.

You didn't think we get through these three chapters, did you?

We're moving right along.

Pick it up in verse 1.

For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.

To me, though, I am the very least of all the saints.

This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

The Gentiles are fellow heirs, they're members of the same body, they're partakers of the same promises through the gospel Paul proclaimed.

This all accords.

This all accords with God's eternal purpose, which was realized through Christ.

That is, from eternity past, God planned to include Gentiles in this new entity called the church.

Now let me just stop right there because you're listening to me and you're saying, yeah, yeah, big deal.

If you were a Gentile at this time, it would have been a huge deal.

It would have been an unspeakably big deal because it was for Jews only.

And now the mystery is revealed, that Gentiles are included in this new entity called the church.

And thus, though they were prone to lament that Paul was in prison, he says, No, no, no, no.

I've been called so that I can announce this very mystery to you, which is your glory, it's your salvation.

And now, having anchored this proclamation of the glorious gospel with its unfolding of the mystery of Gentile inclusion, Paul issues forth his second prayer, starting in verse 14.

Again, one sentence.

Let me pick it up there.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Let me give you some noteworthy features of this prayer.

First, did you notice that Paul addresses God as the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named?

Why did he say that?

Why did he say that?

Well, it brings to mind what God said to Abraham in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

He's recognizing that God is a God of both Jew and Gentile.

There's no longer a separation.

And second, and pivoting off the prayer in chapter 1, Paul prays for power for these new Gentile converts.

Power to be strengthened through faith in the inner man, and power to be strengthened, as those rooted and grounded in love, to grasp along with their Jewish brethren the immensity of Christ's love.

The breadth, the length, the height, the depth of the love of Christ until they're filled to overflowing with God Himself, who is love.

As we'll see next week, love is the key ingredient to walking in unity.

And thus our ability to love one another flows from our comprehension of God's love for us in Christ.

We love one another, first John says, because he first loved us.

Paul concludes this first section with a most fitting benediction.

Verse 20.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

Isn't that a glorious benediction?

First, Paul acknowledges the one who's done this marvelous thing.

Do you see what he's done?

He's united Jew and Gentile in the church through the work of his son and spirit.

He's taken these two cultures which are completely alienated, which hated each other, and he's united them through his son and through his spirit.

We should ask, is anything too difficult for God?

No.

No.

Indeed, he is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think or imagine according to the power that now works within these Gentiles and within us.

And second, Paul calls for this God to be glorified in the church and to be glorified in his Son by all people throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

Of course, he calls for that.

Such an amazing salvation.

Such an amazing reconciliation calls for that kind of praise.

So this has been Paul's word to these Gentile believers.

He's rehearsed their common salvation with their Jewish brethren, and he's reminded them of its implication, namely that they are now fellow heirs and members of the church with the Jewish saints, a mystery from long ago which now has been revealed by the apostles and prophets through the preaching of the gospel.

And what about us here at King's Chapel this morning?

How should we respond to this word, this amazing work of the triune God in creating the new man, the church, made up of formerly bitter enemies?

Let me close with three ways of response.

First, it should fill us with praise.

You know, when I when I think about praise in churches, and I I preach in a lot of Southern Baptist churches.

I pastored one for 30 years.

When I think about my own praise, when I read the book of Psalms, it enjoins me to praise.

And I know some of this is cultural.

I get it.

But I'm not very impressed with myself.

When I read the book of Revelation, I don't see polite affections on display.

You know what I mean by polite affections?

I'm gonna really get in trouble now.

I am coming back next week, but I'm gonna really get in trouble, I can tell.

You know, everyone just stands nicely in their Sunday go-to meeting close.

Arms down to the side.

They sing the songs, but other than that, you might think they're asleep.

It's very subdued.

I'm unhappy with my own praise.

For a God who could make these two cultures these bitter enemies.

They had nothing but contempt for one another.

That he could take these two and make them into one new culture and make it so glorious, so beautiful, so holy, that it becomes the very dwelling place of God Himself.

In my heart, and I think in your heart, if you know Jesus Christ, this should provoke unbridled praise and adoration for such a peacemaking God.

And so I enjoin you, King's Chapel.

Let us fall on our faces, at least figuratively, continually offering up a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to the one who has brought us into the church, into his kingdom.

Oh, worship the King with all of our hearts.

So, first, it should fill us with praise.

Second, it should fill us with hope.

You know, if God can reconcile Jew and Gentile into this new entity called the church, then he obviously can reconcile Christ Baptist and Capital Community into this new entity called the King's Chapel.

Now don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong from what little I know, and I know very little.

This merger has gone swimmingly well.

At least that's what Grant says.

I trust him.

But as a pastor now for 35 years, and as the president of a church planting organization for over 25 years, and as we'll see from chapter 6 next week, the devil is ever, he is ever sowing seeds of discord among God's people.

That's his main occupation.

If he can bring the church down, he's one.

His plan is to cause disunity, and any cursory study of church history will certify the successfulness of that plan.

Nevertheless, you and I, you and I have the power of the resurrection, the power of the Spirit at work within us to resist the devil and to refuse to give him opportunity to work his discordant plan.

We have a God who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think, as evidenced by making Jew and Gentile into one new man.

And all this gives us hope.

You and I have the opportunity to show the world that Christ is our peace through his reconciling work on the cross, and that through the gospel he has preached to us that peace, so that we might be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, which enables us to preach that peace to a lost and dying world with full integrity, with real authenticity, with true moral authority to the eternal glory of God in the heavenly places.

And finally, it should not only fill us with praise, it should not only fill us with hope, it should fill us with energy to proclaim the message of reconciliation.

Well, listen, our country is clearly unreconciled.

The divide seems deeper than ever.

And I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but I don't see that ever changing.

That's what it's been for 250 years.

I don't see that it's going to change.

But we, as followers of Christ, we have the message of reconciliation, don't we?

As Christ's ambassadors.

In fact, we have a monopoly on reconciliation, do we not?

There's no other message of reconciliation out there.

There's nothing else that works.

God is in the business of reconciling former enemies first to himself, then to each other through the gospel of his son.

And it is our duty, indeed, our sacred privilege, to proclaim that message.

I think of a good friend of mine who was a mentor, veteran of World War II, part of the Okinawan invasion of Japan, and came from the war as an unbeliever hating the Japanese.

And in his fifties, God saved him.

And he started attending a church that had been started by a professor at the college named Edwin Yamauchi.

And God took his hatred and put in its place law.

And my friend George and Dr.

Y, as we called him, were the best of friends until George died.

See, that's the message that we have.

The message of reconciliation.

So let us rekindle our passion for seeing sinners brought to Christ by eagerly telling our friends and our neighbors, our work associates, our family members of our great God who longs to be gracious to them and to save them from the eternal wrath that they so richly deserve.

Yes, it's our duty, it's our sacred privilege to proclaim this message of reconciliation.

Oh dear King's Chapel, brothers and sisters, let us be filled with love for this peacemaking God who redeemed us through the precious blood of his own dear Son.

Let us be filled with the sure hope that we can resist successfully our strife-producing adversary through the heavenly power that works so mightily within us.

For if God is for us, who can be against us?

And may that hope fill us with energy to be Christ's ambassadors until the knowledge of our great God's glory fills the earth like the waters fill the sea.

Until we and all creation are filled up with God Himself.

Amen.

Let us pray.

Father, I thank you.

I thank you for your word.

I thank you for the power of the resurrection that not only raised our Savior to life, but has spiritually raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenly places.

Father, we ask that you would fill us with praise, with hope, with energy to carry out your will.

We thank you for these things.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.