Ephesians 2:11-22 (2)

Pastor Jonathan Hansen

Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

Ephesians 2:11–22

0 ratings

· 1 view

Notes

Transcript

Premise:

The former separation between Jews and gentiles has been reconciled in Christ; who formed the two into one true Israel, the Eternal, Holy, catholic (Universal) Church.

Opening:

Introduction of the Text:

Reading of the Text:

Ephesians 2:11-22.

Therefore, remember that formerly you—the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace,16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity.17 And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord,22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

Behold, the Word of God. Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Transition:

Therefore. (review)

Jews and Gentiles. (setting of the stage.)

Remember.

2:11 “remember that formerly you—the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—”

He again exhorts the Ephesians to remember what their character had been before they were called. This consideration was fitted to convince them that they had no reason to be proud. -John Calvin

Formerly...

Gentiles in the Flesh, Uncircumcision.

(Paul is talking about the fleshly division. Clearly there were some who were circumcised that were not truly saved, just as some gentiles were saved. Paul is speaking in generalities. There was a true and real division. But this was not always the case in every individual. In a real way, Israel was saved and the gentiles were lost. Now, not every Jews was saved and there were some gentiles who had come into the covenant people. But God was working with the Jews.)

Without Christ.

2:12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world

Excluded from Israel.

Strangers to the Covenants of Promise.

Having No Hope, Without God.

But Now In Christ...

2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Brought Near.

By the Blood of Christ.

Christ...

2:14-16 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace,16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity.

Is Our Peace.

Made Jews and Gentiles One.

Broke Down the Barrier of the Dividing Wall.

Abolished in His Flesh the Enmity.

The Law and Commandments Contained in Ordinances...

Argumentation:

Abolition of What Exactly?

Is murder no loner a sin? What about adultery? If the law is gone, then nothing is sinful anymore.

The Ceremonial Law Has Been Done Away With.

1 Corinthians 7:18-19 Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? He is not to be circumcised.19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.

Paul says not to obey the commands about circumcision, but to obey the commands of God. Which commands do we obey and which do we not concern ourselves with? Do we just pick and choose? Scripture makes a clear distinction between the moral Law of God and the ceremonial Law of God. The ceremonial Law of God was fulfilled and set aside in Christ. The moral Law endures forever.

The ceremonial law was a shadow of Christ. Now that we have the full and real thing this image represented, we do away with the image. This is why we no longer sacrifice sheep and oxen to God for forgiveness. Those were shadows and images of Christ. Christ is now here and He is the once for all sacrifice. To sacrifice bulls and goats now would be an act of sin for Christ has finished the work.

With circumcision, we no longer look to that as a sacrament. It is no longer the identifiable marker of God’s people. God laid aside that image and gave us the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the marker of the true church. Beyond this, God gave us baptism and the Lord’s supper. We are baptized into Christ. Our baptism is the public marker of our being in Christ and submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

So, Paul is not saying Jesus abolished the Law of God, but that Jesus abolished the ceremonial law that was the dividing wall. The ceremonial law was literally a dividing wall between Jews and gentiles.

The temple divisions, the court of the gentiles.

We are not antinomians.

R.C. Sproul “Now I give that background for this reason: Jesus’ work of abolishing the law with its commandments and regulations could otherwise be open to serious misunderstanding. There is, in every generation, a constant threat to the church from a heresy called Antinomianism. The Antinomian heresy is the view that the law of God revealed in the Old Testament has nothing to do with the New Testament church; that the New Testament church is a church without law, a church that lives and breathes exclusively on the basis of grace (see on 2:9 above).

In Ephesians, Paul’s emphasis is on the fact that salvation is by grace and not by the law. But the great danger that has always occurred when the doctrine of justification by faith alone has been preached, is the danger of thinking, ‘All I have to do is believe in Christ and rely on the grace of God. I can then live any way I want, without any respect to the moral law of God.’

But the New Testament is far from abolishing God’s moral law. Jesus calls his disciples to obedience. He says, ‘If you love me, you will obey what I command’ (John 14:15). So what does Paul mean when he talks about Jesus abolishing or fulfilling the law along with its commandments and regulations?”

Let me answer R.C.’s question.

We embrace the moral law of God as eternal and universal. We embrace the legal law of God as the standard of righteous laws among men. We embrace the ceremonial law as pointing to Christ and having past away now that Christ is here in fulness. We do not reject the law. We do not abolish the law. We rejoice that the dividing wall of hostility contained in the law is gone.

Let me close this section with this other quote. “It wasn’t as if the sacrifice of Christ contradicted the Old Testament regulations in connection with sin offerings and that they were abolished in the sense of the earlier rules being wrong. Jesus never corrects the Old Testament law, he fulfils it. There is a serious difference here between correcting and fulfilling.” R.C. Sproul.

Transition:

Made the Two Into One Man.

Thus Establishing Peace.

Reconcile Both Into One Body to God Through the Cross.

By Putting to Death the Enmity.

Came And Preached Peace to You Who Were Far Away and Near.

2:17 And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;

Quote from Isaiah 57:19 Creating the praise of the lips.

Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”

Says Yahweh, “and I will heal him.”

For Through Christ We Both Have Access In One Spirit to the Father.

2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Through Christ

We Both

Have Access

In One Spirit

To the Father.

Argumentation:

There is one salvation.

Jews and gentiles are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is one way of salvation. One people of God.

Calvin, “Put all these things together, and you will frame the following syllogism: If the Jews wish to enjoy peace with God, they must have Christ as their Mediator. But Christ will not be their peace in any other way than by making them one body with the Gentiles, Therefore, unless the Jews admit the Gentiles to fellowship with them, they have no friendship with God.”

No Longer Strangers and Sojourners.

2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

But Fellow Citizens.

With the Saints

And Are of God’s Household.

Having Been Built

2:20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,

Past tense.

On the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets

Christ is the Cornerstone.

1 Cor 3:11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

In Christ the Whole Building is growing Into a Temple In Christ.

2:21-22 in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

In Christ We are Being Built into a Dwelling Place of God in the Spirit.

1 Peter 2:5-8 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6 For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone,

And he who believes upon Him will not be put to shame.”

7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“The stone which the builders rejected,

This became the very corner stone,”

8 and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this stumbling they were also appointed.

1 Cor 3:16 Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Argumentation:

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, had an amazing sermon on the final verse of our text. His opening focused on the idea of the church being the temple of God. His point in this opening was that places are not holy.

Places are not holy.

“Can holiness dwell in bricks and mortar? Cam there be such a thing as a sanctified steeple? Can it possibly happen that there can be such a thing in the world as a moral window or godly door post?” C.H. Spurgeon

“Depend upon it, one place is as much consecrated as another, and wherever we meet with true hearts reverently to worship God, that place becomes for the time being God’s house.” C.H. Spurgeon.

Sacredness of association.

“I do not think, albeit that there can be no sanctity of superstition connected with them, there is at the same time, a kind of sacredness of association. In any place where God has blessed my soul, I feel that it is none other than the house of God, and the very gate of heaven. It is not because the stones are hallowed, but because there I have met with God, and the recollections that I have of the place consecrate it to me.” C.H. Spurgeon.

There is a holy, sober, joy that envelops true worship and seeps into the pours of the very location we meet with God in. But these buildings are not the church. We are the church. We the church must be and do things.

We the Church.

We the church ought to be a holy and pure sanctuary to the Lord.

We the church ought to take our purpose of being a temple of God seriously.

We the church must recognize this is a corporate calling, and we are not individually little temples, but individual bricks in God’s temple.

We the church ought to take worship seriously.

We the church should recognize that the purpose of a temple is worship and therefore as a temple for God, ought to prioritize the corporate worship of God.

We the church ought to live like we are the church.

We the church are not our own, but belong to God and therefore, He gets to tell us what we are and what we ought and ought not to do.

Closing Argumentation:

The Jews and the Gentiles.

One True Israel.

In former times, God worked primarily with one ethnic group.

Not all ethnic Jews were saved, but they were the people God worked with.

Those trusting in God for salvation were the True Israel contained within ethnic Israel.

One True Church.

God is now working with all peoples, Jews and Gentiles.

Salvation is the same, by grace alone through faith alone.

They looked ahead to Christ, we look back to Christ.

The Church is the True Israel.

God works in the church.

Not every church member is saved.

There is still a True Church within the Visible Church.

Calvin, “Now, it is Christ who opens the door to us, yea, who is himself the door. (John 10:9.) As this is a double door thrown open for the admission both of Jews and Gentiles, we are led to view God as exhibiting to both his fatherly kindness.”

Application:

God has made one True, Holy, and Universal Church. We ought to highly reverence, protect, and preserve this Church.

Enmity between early Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.

The Circumcision Party.

Reverence the Church.

Protect the Church.

Condemnation for Division in Scripture is always aimed at those bringing in heresy or false teaching, not at the orthodox.

Paul publicly calls Peter out for association with the Circumcision Party.

Preserve the Church.

We must never needlessly divide the church.

Be accurate. Disagreement does not equal heresy.

Heresy must be condemned, mistakes must be corrected, disagreements must be debated, wherever possible, fellowship must be maintained.

“Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” -Martin Luther.