everybody welcome - ephesians 2

8/7/2019 Everybody Welcome - Ephesians 2

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Ephesians is one of Pauls letters in which he talks a lot about the church

and read alongside other of his letters like Colossians it gives us a rather

different perspective on Paul from the one many of us have grown up with.

Paul is far less individualistic and far more community focussed than we

have maybe allowed for as, being good Protestants, we have tended to readPaul through the eyes of Martin Luther whose favourite books were

Romans and Galatians.

Three paragraphs form 2.11-22. Lets work through them.


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I. Gods PLAN vv.11,12

11: Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called"uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in thebody by the hands of men) - 12:remember that at that time you were separate from

Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of thepromise, without hope and without God in the world.

The first part of Ephesians, as with most of Pauls letters, concerns

peoples thinking. Get that right and the proper behaviour will follow!

Paul has been bombarding the Christians at Ephesus with truth concerning

the blessings that were theirs through faith in Jesus Christ (c.f. 1.1-13; 2.1-

10). In 2.11-22 the bombardment continues, though now from a newangle, that of the enormous privilege that it is for non-Jews, Gentiles, to

belong to Gods people. Remember that the first Christians were Jewish,

but as the message spread to places such as Ephesus many non-Jews came

to believe.

Quite why Paul introduces this subject at this particular point I am not

sure. Maybe the Gentile Christians were forgetting about the roots of their

faith or maybe they were simply in need of some encouragement? Afterall, the church at this stage was very small, the forces opposed to it were

very big and it had no obvious resources to draw upon.

Paul, then, highlights several ways in which the non-Jews amongst the

readers of his letter had been at a spiritual disadvantage before coming to

faith in Christ

o

they were separate from Christo they were excluded from citizenship

o they were foreigners to the covenant of promise

o they were without hope

o they were without God (a theists in the sense of not knowing the true

God)


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What Paul is saying, in a nutshell, is that non-Jews who have come to faith

have been given a mighty privilege, that is, they have become a part of

something much bigger and much older and much more significant than

they perhaps imagined. The church, in a sense, began with Gods call to

Abram many thousand years ago and has been growing ever since.

c.f. the tributary of a river

Several observations are worth making at this point

o Firstly, God has a plan

c.f. Gillette and Hicks = big hats and no cattle (Mark Lawrenson)

o Secondly, Gods people have a history

Which means that if you are not a Christian you should maybe factor into

your thinking about the church not just what you see when you pass by an

old building that has been turned into a carpet warehouse or a set of flats

that is a dying institution but what has come before, what is going on all

around and what is yet going to be.

It seems to me that people today are searching for a sense of something

solid, of rootedness in a particular community, of dare I say it a social

network and that, in way, is what the church is. Though it is, of course, a

community with God in the centre.

It also means that if you are a Christian then we should stop apologising

the way we so often do about the church. Yes, of course we need to be

constantly seeking to improve the way we do church so as to continue to

be relevant etc. But, at the same time, we must not think that just because

we have a tatty building or the members are all elderly or we havent got

the latest gizmos we are somehow failing or any less important in Gods

eyes. It might be an awful lot nicer or cooler in Starbucks, but they

havent been in business 2000 + years.

MX5 illustration - pedigree


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II. Gods PURPOSE vv.13-18

13:But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought nearthrough the blood of Christ. 14:For he himself is our peace, who has made the twoone and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15:by abolishing in

his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to createin himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16:and in this one body toreconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their

hostility. 17:He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace tothose who were near. 18:For through him we both have access to the Father by oneSpirit.

Christians, then, take their place within a much larger story. But how do

we enter the story? We enter it, says Paul, through faith in Jesus Christ.

That is the point made in this second paragraph.

In particular, we enter it through the blood of Christ (v.13). What does

that mean? It means that central to our relationship with God remember

that the story is ultimately about Him and not us - is the death of Jesus, for

it is only through the death of Jesus that the problem of sin all that stands

between us and God has been done away. In other words, it cost Christ

His life to bring us back to God and to inaugurate what we call the new

covenant or testament by which all people can relate to God in a way notpossible under the old covenant important as that was. It is because Jesus

is so central in bringing about this change that Paul can speak of Him as

himself being .our peace (v.14) Notice, by the way, that this

new way of relating to God is for all people, both non-Jews and Jews(v.16)


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There is more to the peace that Paul describes, however, than that peace

between God and human beings, important as that is. Besides the vertical

axis there is also the horizontal. Christs death, says Paul, has destroyed

the barrier or dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. What was that

wall? The way of life described in the Old Testament. This was good initself, after all Paul has just spoken of the privilege of being a member of

Gods people, Israel. However, the Old Testament era was only a

temporary stage in Gods dealings with humanity, a resting place and not

the final destination. As Paul says in v.16, Gods ultimate intention and

as Paul will argue elsewhere, this intention can be traced right back to

Abram was to bring all people together, that is create one new man


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If you are still with me, several things worth noting at this point

o Firstly, we are all living in a decisive new era

That is why the church practices not circumcision, but baptism

The important thing about the new era the New Testament is that it is

one in which God is seeking to bring all people together. And not just Jew

and Gentile as highlighted by this passage, but slave and free, black and

white, male and female as Paul expands upon elsewhere (Colossians 3?,

Galatians 3)

That is why it is some important that we ensure that EVERYBODY iswelcome

o Secondly, we are all placed on an even footing

We all have to come the same way, by the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.

It is the cross that underscores the radical nature of the church.

You see it is easy to talk about unity, the brotherhood of man, but far lesseasy in practice to achieve it. However, those who have been to the cross,

aware of their own need of Gods forgiveness and conscious of His love

for others, will find it far easier to love the difficult and the despised and

the downtrodden.

It is so easy to say, Why should I bother with them or to think Theyre

not as good as me etc. The cross puts quickly puts and end to such talk.

This applies as much to visitors and it does fellow Christians.

o Thirdly, we are all invited and not compelled

Christ preached peace This is a song and not an order


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III. Gods PEOPLE vv.19,21

19:Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens withGod's people and members of God's household, 20:built on the foundation of theapostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21:In him

the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.22:And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which Godlives by his Spirit.

These closing verses compliment the opening ones as Paul again returns to

the theme of the church and what it means to belong to it.

In vv.11,12, Paul had essentially been looking back and had highlighted

some of the privileges that were now enjoyed by non-Jews who, throughfaith in Christ, had been written into the story of Gods people. Now, in

vv.19-21, he brings his treatment up to date by emphasising some of the

privileges of the new era in so doing, he gives us a wonderful description

of what the church is.

o Gods kingdom Jesus is Lord

o Gods household God is our Father

o Gods foundation the foundation is Christo Gods building we are connected to one another

o Gods temple we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit


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Some points to think about in conclusion

o Firstly, history

As per previously

And theres another country, Ive heard of long agoMost dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;

Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

o Secondly, unity

Christ as foundation

c.f. Ephesians 4.3f

o Thirdly, experience

Everybody welcome

What really matters about church is

Knowledge of God as Father

Presence of the Holy Spirit as Gods intimate presence e.g. healing service

everybody welcome - ephesians 2

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