Eph 2:11-18
Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsGod's work of reconciling both Jews and Greeks to himself to make one body not two.
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Intro
Intro
Early in this chapter- Paul outlines what all believers have in common in salvation
For the next few verses- he speaks to some issues that Gentiles alone had
The majority, not all, converts in Ephesus would have been Gentile- a non Jew
There was a great divide among Jews and Greeks that affected every area of life
As I was reading this week, I came across this quote by William Barclay
"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. The best of the serpents crush, they said, the best of the Gentiles kill. 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."
The Jews were meant to be tool of reaching the nations for Gods great name but instead Warren Weirsbe said “Israel kept their distance nationally and ritually but not morally.”
This sentiment was often reciprocated by the Greeks and especially the Romans as anyone other than a Roman were merely barbarians.
That mindset brings us to vs 11
Vs 11- Pauls reminds them of there separation from the Jews due to circumcision
-To be a Jew meant- you were circumcised
-It was a external mark that set the people apart from all other people
-these people were clearly not a Jew
Vs 12- Pauls goes through 5 things the Gentile Ephesians were without due to being a Gentile
A. Without Christ
-there was no Messianic hope fo Christ for them
-The Jews were looking for a Messiah but the Gentiles were not privy to this
B. Without citizenship (Jewish)
-God so called Jews to be his people when He called Abraham to be a light for the nations
-They were not apart of the nation
-Come came and became Judaizers- left their beliefs and followed Yahweh but they were never true Jews
C. Without the covenants
-God made specific promises to his people like Abraham and David that
-these covenants pointed toward a greater fulfillment in a Messiah to come
-The Ephesians had none of that
D. Without hope
-Jews, no matter, the struggle or oppression had a hope that a Messianic redeemer would come
-A Messiah would come and rescue them from their struggles
-Hopelessness was a product of Gentile life- hence the amount of gods and goddesses they invented
E. Without God
-to be a Gentile meant to be apart from God
-they many gods but not the one True God
-No matter how many they had, or fervent they were- they did not have God
This is essentially where every other religion falls
-They have a ‘god’ but not the God of Bible
-No matter how much they do, how fervent they are- they are godless
-So every man or woman sits today without a genuine relationship with Jesus
Fervent attenders, good hearted- give you the shirt off their back people but if their hope isnt grounded in genuine saving faith that is displayed in a genuine saved life- they are godless
The epitome of hopeless- just like the Ephesians were
Vs 13- Thank God for the joy that come from the “but God” or the “but… Christ” statements
-look here in verse 13-
-you were once far off but now you have been brought near by the blood of Jesus
-Even though by birth you were without Christ, Jewish family tree, the promises of God, hope all together because ultimately you were without God
But Jesus changed everything
For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
The good news of Jesus is that He did what no person, Jew or Gentile, could do- thats be obedient completely to Word of God
How did Christ’s blood reconciled both Jew and Gentile?
Vs14- “for he is our peace”- two words that are necessary in my mind are “our peace”
-Jesus brings the peace of God to us and because he made peace with God for us
All believers can now rest in the peace of God because of Christ substitutionary death on the cross making peace with God for us on our behalf
So now- the Jews or Gentile, slave or free, black or white has been united together with Christ into a new family
Some have called it the third race
Two races prior- Jew and Gentile
But now in Christ the enemies God have become the family of God
But also, every ethnic or racial barrier also sees is walls fall and peace reign in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Its no through social or political movement that racial reconciliation is made- but only through Jesus
Which is why every attempt to provide racial reconciliation by means of social constructs or political movements
Its through the Gospel that we can united to our brothers and sisters in Christ
That every barrier finds its death in Christ because in his flesh he tore the very dividing wall between God and man into as he took on the sins of his people so we could reconciled back to a faithful relationship with him
Many have debated over whether the dividing wall he is suggesting here is the court of the gentiles vs the court of Jews or the curtain in the temple which separated the HOH from the rest of the temple
I think the later best fits because our greatest issue is sin
Every other malady in this life stems from sin
What we see on the cross- is Christ conquering what enslaved us by satisfying the very wrath of God in our place
So the hostility that had to fall for us all was the hostility between God and man
That is what it means to be reconciled- to be brought back into a right relationship
In what specific ways did Christ reconcile us?
Vs 15 By keeping the law the Moral of God completely and fulfilling all the demands of the Mosiac Law
By Jesus complete obedience to the Law of God and dying the substitutionary death in our place- He rendered the Mosiac inoperative for all people
Jews or Gentiles, since the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus no longer have to keep the ceremonial laws it declares- Christ fulfilled those
He also kept the Moral law of God- the 10 commandments perfectly unlike the first Adam
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus keeps the law perfectly and
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
You or I no longer look to ourselves and our own ability to keep the law but to Jesus who did what we never could so
Benji sent me a video last week of Alistair Begg talking about the thief on the cross and Id like to show it to you if I can
Video - Praise be to God today that the man on the middle cross said you and I and anyone who believes can come upon one basis alone
That Christ perfect obedience and sacrificial death tore down the wall of hostilities between God and me and God and you
So for every believer Christ really is the end of law and look to him and say my hope is built nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness
But we also see in Verse 15- that he did so in order to for those who are saved by his grace- in Christ- he take the Jew and Gentile and makes them one- its called the church
No longer is there any boasting in ethnicity or melanin counts or lack there off
No longer is there any benefit of circumcision or other external works of the law because Christ dealt with fully and finally on the Cross
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
So now there is no benefit Jew or Greek as Romans declares because all sit in sin an the wages of sin is death
Which why BLM or CRT or intersectionality or any other social justice movement or theory is never sufficient in addressing mans problems
Because it seeks to move the problem from mans sinfulness to man position of power or lack their of
And in doing so creating more boundaries, divides and racism than was there to begin with
You see the answer to the Ephesians problem wasnt you need social activism to fix this Jew and Greek thing
The answer to the Ephesians problem was turning to Jesus and trusting in his death and resurrection to sufficient to handle all of my sin and all the injustice that has been done to me
Paul’s speak to this church- the one of which was the catalyst for the Gospel in all of Asia Minor and spoke to a Jew/Gentile issue that was still creating a problem amongst them
The answer to that problem is the Gospel
Vs 16- Both Jew and Gentile reconciled by the blood Jesus which ends our hostility with God and man
The once separated without hope and without God can be reconciled back to God by Jesus blood.
Today, we all sit here as Gentiles- even if you were a percentage of Jewish you would have been at best a Samaritan half breed outcaste
So here we are- sitting just as the Ephesians did with Gospel powerful enough to take the enemies of God and make them sons and daughters
But also powerful enough to take you and me and for us to say I will love you and we will walk this road together in the unique way that God has made us all
Jew or Gentile, slave or Free, black or white- All separated by sin but reconciled by Christ’s blood and obedience.
Vs 17- By way of Apostles and faithful followers Christ preached the Gospel to the Ephesians
Its still today how the Gospel goes forth- Jesus call others through our faithful sharing
Vs 18- For its because of Christ that Paul and the Ephesians have access to God and are united by the indwelling HS
Friend Im not sure who far away today but Christ can find you and reconcile you and make you new
Would you come to him?
Beloved, may you rest in the great work of Christ but also may you put an end to your preferences and selffish desires for Christ has put an end to our hostility- we have no right to pick that back up and use it against anyone else
May be like
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.