Our Past - It Wasn't Pretty

Book of Ephesians  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Series on the Book of Ephesians

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Our Past - It Wasn’t Pretty

You have a past. I have a past. We’re living in the present. And most of us would want to know our future. Or at least we think we do.
You may think your past wasn’t all that bad. And by human moral standards, it may not have been.
But whether you realize it or not, we all have a bad past. And it’s important we remember that. Here, let me show you.
Ephesians 2:11–12 NKJV
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
While we may not share the exact experience these early church Gentiles had, we all share a similar past.
Today, we come to the beginning of the second half of Ephesians 2, where Paul shows our alienation from one another. In particular, Gentiles are described as “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel” (2:12).
It is hard for us to comprehend the deep hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s day. Commentator William Barclay helps us get a sense of the deep alienation between Jews and Gentiles, especially on the Jewish side. He writes:
The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. The Gentiles, said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. God, they said, loves only Israel of all the nations that he had made…. It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in her hour of sorest need, for that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world. Until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews. The barrier between them was absolute. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, or if a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death.
And unfortunately, we often continue that practice.
But our biggest problem is that we were once all alienated from God. And alienated from one another.
But Jesus took care of that when He died on the cross.
He destroyed these two hostilities and created a brand new society. One of reconciliation and peace. Oneness in the Body of Christ.
In his commentary on Ephesians, James Montgomery Boice tells a story about Harry Ironside.
When Ironside was in his prime, this well-known Bible teacher (later to become pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago) was on a train going to a preaching assignment in southern California.
As he sat on the train a gypsy came and sat beside him. “How do you do, sir,” she said. “You like to have your fortune told? Cross my palm with a silver quarter, and I will give you your past, present, and future.”
“Are you very sure you can do that?” Ironside asked. “You see, I am Scottish, and I wouldn’t want to part with silver without getting a full value for it.”
The gypsy replied very earnestly, “Oh, yes, sir. Please. I will tell you all.”
At that point Ironside reached into his pocket and brought out his New Testament. “It is not really necessary for me to have you tell my fortune,” he said, “because here I have a book that gives me my past, present, and future. Let me read it to you.”
He then turned to the second chapter of Ephesians and read the words we have been studying:
Ephesians 2:1–2 NKJV
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
“That is my past,” Ironside said.
The woman tried to get away. “That is plenty!” she said. “I do not care to hear more.”
“But wait,” Ironside remonstrated. “There is more. Here is my present:
Ephesians 2:3–5 NKJV
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
“No more!” she protested.
“Here is my future, too,” Ironside kept on:
Ephesians 2:7 NKJV
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
By this time, the gypsy was on her feet and on her way down the aisle, saying, “I took the wrong man!”
Ironside’s presentation was, of course, from Ephesians 2:1-11, which we have been studying for the past few weeks before the hurricanes. Interestingly, in Ephesians 2:11-22 Paul also spoke of a past, present, and future. In today’s lesson, we'll look at the past.
Ephesians 2:11-12 shows us that we were alienated from God and the people of God.
Here’s the outline I see in these two verses:
1. There Was Religious Alienation (2:11)
2. There Was Spiritual Alienation (2:12)
I. There Was Religious Alienation (2:11)
First, there was religious alienation.
It’s helpful to know that most of the Christians in the Ephesian church were Gentiles.
So, Paul said in verse 11,
Ephesians 2:11 NKJV
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—
Circumcision had been given by God to Abraham as a sign of the covenant between himself and his people. Circumcision was a sign of membership in the covenant people of God.
But the external physical rite of circumcision had come to assume an exaggerated importance. Jews and Gentiles regularly called each other derogatory names.
Paul highlighted this when he said that Gentiles were called “the uncircumcision” by what is called “the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.”
Paul was driving home the point that these labels now only promoted religious alienation. Further, in God’s economy, it was not the externals that were important but the reality of the heart. And it is this heart reality that was needed by both Jews and Gentiles alike.
Religious alienation is rampant today. It is even rampant among professing Christians.
We routinely plug people into religious categories, and then we feel smug and superior to them. Lord help us, this is exactly what the Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s day were doing to each other.
As bad as the religious alienation was, there was an even more serious alienation.
II. There Was Spiritual Alienation (2:12)
And second, there was spiritual alienation.
Paul went on to elaborate on the pre-Christian past of the converted Gentiles in the Ephesian Church. He noted five ways in which the Gentiles were spiritually alienated.
A. They Were Christless (2:12a)
Paul said in verse 12a, “…remember that you were at that time you were without Christ.” The Gentiles were without the Messiah. They were separated from the Messianic hope of the people of God.
Paul said of the Jews in Romans 9:4-5,
Romans 9:4–5 NKJV
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
Out of all the nations on earth, God had chosen the Jews to be his covenant people. So, all non-Jews, that is, all Gentiles, in their fallen and unconverted state were separated from Christ.
That was also true of every unconverted Jew too. But, unlike the Jews, the Gentiles did not have a chance to know about Christ. Their religion was completely pagan, and they had no reference to the Christ.
B. They Were Stateless (2:12b)
Paul said in verse 12b, “…being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel” or nation under God. They were a theocracy and a covenant people with whom God had made a solemn promise that they would be his people and he would be their God. God had bound himself to Israel and he ruled over them. No other nation or state enjoyed such a special, privileged relationship with God.
C. They Were Friendless (2:12c)
Paul said in verse 12c, “…and strangers from the covenant of promise.” Paul was thinking of God’s first covenant with Abraham, from which the other covenants came. In that first covenant, God said to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God did not make this covenant with Gentiles; it was made with Abraham, father of the Jews.
D. They Were Hopeless (2:12d)
Fourth, they were hopeless.
Paul said in verse 12d, “… having no hope.” The Gentiles were hopeless because, although God had planned and promised to include them one day into his salvation, they did not know it, and therefore had no hope to sustain them.
E. They Were Godless (2:12e)
Paul said in verse 12e, “…and without God in the world.” It is not that the Gentiles did not worship other gods.
When Paul was in Athens he saw the many gods that the Gentiles in Athens worshiped.
In fact, he started preaching to them in the Areopagus, and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:22-23). The problem with the Gentiles is that they did not know the true God.
And that is true of everyone today who has no personal relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
People may be very religious, worshiping Allah, or Buddha, or whatever. However, everyone who does not worship God through Jesus Christ is as Godless as were the Gentiles in Paul’s day.
Conclusion
As we look at the topic of alienation in Ephesians 2:11-12, let us remember where we came from.
Twice in verses 11 and 12 Paul used the word “remember,” once in verse 11, and again in verse 12.
Paul wanted the Gentile Christians to remember that they had once been alienated from one another, and that they had also once been alienated from God. Paul will go on in the next few verses and explain all that Christ had done to reconcile them to one another and to God.
We should also always remember that once we were alienated from God, and we were also alienated from one another.
And God wants us to not only be at peace with Him, but also to be at peace with each other in the Body of Christ.
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