Remember

Ephesians 2:11–12 ESV

¹¹ 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— ¹² 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.

Paul wants us to remember life before Christ – and it wasn’t pretty. In these first two verses were reminded of a time when we got a long with very few people and were without God. Before being joined to Christ you belonged to one of two groups – Gentile or Jew. and being part of one generally meant that you hated the other. Calling each other the circumcision or uncircumcision wasn’t just descriptive, it was meant to be insulting. When Jews called Gentile uncircumcised they meant they were unclean – outsiders – fit only for the fires of hell. God had chosen Abraham’s offspring as his own and left the rest to doom, gloom, and despair.

As stated in verse 13, at one time we all were:

Christless
Stateless
Hopeless
Godless

We had no Christ to save us from our sins. We had no place of belonging or promise to be saved.We had no hope of overcoming death. God was a god of the Jews apparently – not anybody else.

And any attempt to reconcile the the two types of men was met with a stiff-arm at best or even a sword. We only need to read through the book of Acts to remember how big a deal Gentiles being included in the church was.

Peter saw the Holy Spirit descend on Cornelius and his household – all Gentiles – and still withdrew from them in Galatians
The Jews in Antioch loved hearing Paul preach Jesus, until he came to the part about Gentiles being included in the kingdom
Paul is nearly lynched by a mob because the Jews thought he might have brought a Greek into the temple

The Jews had fiercely resisted pagan and Gentile influences for hundreds of years, even died to keep their religion pure, and had no qualms about killing to keep it pure.

And we Gentiles were no better ourselves. The Jewish/Gentile division is one of many more. Give any person or group something distinctive that puts them apart form the rest of the world and they’ll make it their god. We see people take pride in their race, nationality, politics, family heritage, homeland, professions, even sports teams. And just like the Jews with their religion, people get vicious in defending their own.

Remember that before Christ we belonged to a fractured people, finding unity in the meaningless, and without any hope of anything better.

But Now

But that’s not how God wants to leave us. His ultimate plan, going back to chapter 1, is…

Ephesians 1:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ … to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

So Jesus has been working on bringing all of us back together.

Ephesians 2:13 ESV

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Paul is using language that brings up pictures of the Jewish temple. It was the house of God where his presence was manifested. But only a select few could ever come near God in his temple.

The High Priest could enter into the holiest space only once a year
Regular priests could only enter the holy place
Common Israelites could only come into the courtyard when they brought an offering.

But for all the non-Jews? We would have had to stand at a distance – far off. We couldn’t come near God without dying, we couldn’t bring sacrifice to atone for our sins.

But now in Christ, all of that has changed. Notice that we’re not brought near because we become Jews. Jesus has become the point of unity. He’s the sacrifice that we can bring to God and through his blood, stand in his presence. We were a far ways off, but now, as Hebrews puts it:

Hebrews 4:16 NKJV

¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The Gentiles – us! – who were fit only for the fires of Hell, now stand in the very presence of God and without fear.

Jesus Reconciled Mankind

Ephesians 2:14–15 ESV

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ 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,

Notice that Jesus isn’t just bringing a bunch of individuals to God. The blood of Jesus performs two operations. He unites mankind with itself, and then presents this third race, which is neither Jew nor Gentile, to God. He’s bringing a single united group. A group so closely knit together that it’s more fitting to say that Jesus is bringing one person to God.

The new man has been created by Jesus doing two things:

He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility
By abolishing the law of commandments

It is common to read Jesus’ abolition of the law as something that would reconcile us to God, but notice the purpose of this abolition:

He made us one
and has broken the hostile wall
by abolishing the law
so that he might create one new man in place of two

Abolishing the law is what brings people together.

The law was how the Jews excluded everyone else. To be in their group you had to follow things like:

Circumcision
Feasts and holidays like the sabbath
Keep kosher laws and avoid anything unclean

And by uniting around the law they excluded everybody else.

Earlier I mentioned that the Jews in the days of Paul and Jesus would defend their religious purity with the sword if necessary – anything to keep the Gentiles far from God. One of the ways that hostility was expressed was in a sign that was posted around the temple. Far out from the temple itself was a short wall with this inscription:

“No man of another race is to enter within the fence and enclosure around the Temple. Whoever is caught will have only himself to thank for the death which follows”

We couldn’t have unity with the Jews because we could never be Jewish! We couldn’t exchange our lineage for that of theirs. I can’t substitute Abraham for my own ancestor. and so that wall and that law kept us all out of their unity.

So Jesus became our peace – our new point of unity that unites people of all different races and brings them together.

Two Points Common Center Illustration

That’s how he becomes our peace. He doesn’t insist on separation like we hear about with safe-spaces or minority exclusive zones. He doesn’t make peace like the Romans did by threat of violence.

So That He Could Reconcile Us With God

Now that he has united people together into his church, his body, he now reconciles us to God.

Ephesians 2:16–18 ESV

¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

We all need that. Back up to verse 12 – we were without God. And even the Jew in verse 11, Paul says that they were circumcised in the flesh by hands, as opposed to the work of God.

So now, because Jesus died on the cross, because he removed the things that divided us and has presented us to God – we all have equal access to God.

Move to Relevance | Connect

Do we realize how important unity is to God? I really do think its one of those sins that we’ve grown comfortable with over the years.

Take for example this list of sins in Galatians 5:19-21

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Imagine somebody coming forward on Sunday morning to confess their sins of drunken orgies.

Do we see the same scandal in divisiveness?

I preached in a town of 60,000 people and 4 churches of Christ. There are so many churches because about 30 odd years ago there was a division in this church and a division in that church. And to this day some of those churches don’t talk to each other, won’t support meetings, and will even announce from the pulpit “Don’t go to that church over there.”
When I got there, I thought that was crazy. So I, in my youthful exuberance, tried to get people talking with each other and see if we couldn’t reconcile – because the issues that divided had passed so long ago or were misunderstanding or of no substance. But nobody was interested. They wanted to keep the walls up, keep calling this group or that group a bunch of heretics, and do everything to promote their church at the expense of all others.
Is Jesus cool with four churches, all within 10 minutes of each other, being in competition? Hurling labels at each other like heretic or unsound?

Is Jesus cool with the smaller divisions that happen within a church?

When we have our clique that nobody else is welcome to be a part of?
When we gossip and complain about our brothers or sisters?
When we think somebody else is getting too influential and we need to knock them down a peg?

Are we reflecting the spiritual reality of what we are? One united man, standing in the presence of God?

So Then

Paul gives us another picture to help us conceptualize our unity:

Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV

¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

First, we were strangers but are now citizens.

Amazed at North Korean Tourists going there at all. But then you have some who go around breaking all the rules – pictures, talking to officials they shouldn’t, etc. Because NK will put you in jail. As a foreigner you have no rights or privileges over there that can’t be taken away and are at their mercy.

We were once aliens to God’s nation – having no rights or privileges. But now we belong – with full rights.

Second, there was a time when people like us, Gentiles, were excluded from the temple. Now, Paul says we are the temple.

We have access to God through his revealed word
The whole structure built on Jesus

We used to be far from God, but now God’s presence is in us

Not just you individually
Just like a brick is not a temple – but part of it
It’s why meeting together is so important (critique personal relationship is good enough)
any one brick that is weak will jeopardize the entire structure

Application

I’m going to reassess my loyalties

Even the silly ones have so much potential to divide

I’m going to remember that Jesus wants to reconcile

Not separate
Not conquer
But unite through sacrificial service
Even my enemies

Maintain God’s temple

Jesus and his teachings are the basis of our unity
Forgiveness
Mercy

Grace

The easiest way to do that is around the dinner table
It means we belong together
It means we share together