Ephesians 2:11-21 United in Christ

Ephesians 2:11-21

“Dead man walking”. That’s apparently what they cry out as a prisoner in death row in the US goes walking from his cell to the execution chamber. Dead man walking. Oh, he’s alive – but he’s dead. This is the final walk. His death is a certainty.

Without Christ that is what we are like. Dead men walking. Our friends, our neighbours, our town – dead men (and women) walking. The appearance of life – but the certainty of death. Eternal death. Eternal separation from God’s favour.

That’s what we saw in last week’s passage. We are DEAD because of (or “in”) our disobedience and sins.

But, just like in movies with the innocent death row prisoner, the music swells as he manfully walks to a death that he doesn’t deserve, while the hero or heroine of the movie frantically rushes in with the final piece of evidence that clears his name – and as the prisoner is being strapped down, about to be executed, the phone call comes in: stop. Set him free!

Wow! Imagine how you would feel if you’re that guy! Facing certain death – now free! Finally, justice is done, and the innocent goes free.

But that’s not actually what we saw last week was it? For we are not innocent. We are dead in OUR sins it says in verse 2. And so, v3, God is angry. By our very nature we provoke God’s anger. He is hostile toward us, he will, he must, destroy us. It is his nature to be holy. It is ours to be unholy.

BUT! V4 But God is so rich in mercy. We are the dead man walking, walking to our rightful death – we have rejected God, chosen spiritual death. But the phone call comes – stop the execution. Someone else has taken his place. Christ has died instead. He swapped places with us. And we are no longer dead, but alive. Alive with HIS life. More than that! Raised from position deserving death to be seated in him in the heavenly realms. Now we are a showcase, on display, for God’s kindness.

So live like it! V8-10 we are saved, create anew, to do good works. Those works are prepared by God for us to do, to show his rich mercy – NOT to display to the world how great we are, how kind or how religious – but instead to show how great God is.

We were dead. Now we are alive. Praise God!

There is the same progression in today’s passage.
We were outside.
Christ has reconciled us.
We are inside.
And we are saved, not just to be saved, but saved for a purpose – saved to be the very Temple of God! The church united: we are all like bricks in this holy building of praise to God. We are the Sistine Chapel, St Pauls, St Peters, any great cathedral or inspiring building you can think of – together we are the Temple of praise to God.

1. Out! V11-13

2. But now, reconciled in Christ v13-18

3. In! 19-22

1. Out

We probably all know the pain of being excluded. Being on the outside looking in. Maybe you weren’t invited to that party. Maybe you were picked last for the sport teams. Maybe your home was broken, filled with conflict – and you sat in your friend’s house, with a mom and a dad who loved them, and wished to be part of that. Oh, to have a home that was a home. Oh to be loved! Maybe you have been in desperate circumstances. You ran from your home country to save your life, and now you are a stranger in a foreign country. Perhaps in a refugee camp, looking out at the happy people, secure in their home country. Perhaps you feel like that here, jealous of the Norwegians happy in Norway – where you feel like an outsider, a misfit, strange culture, strange language, strange food, strange everything!

So were we with God.

11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

Circumcision was the mark of belonging to God’s people. The Jews had it. We did not. They belonged to God. We did not. They were in. We were not.
It’s like finally getting to play for first team sports – when you put that uniform on…you belong. You wear the symbol of belonging to that team. That’s what the Jews had. We Gentiles did not.

12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

We were apart, excluded, without God, without hope. We had no part in the people of God, and no way to get in. The doors to the kingdom were shut. We were outside the palace gates, the unwashed mob shouting to be let in. But the doors are closed, the gates barred, the walls high and impassable. We are outside. Glory is within, happiness, light, life, all joy and peace and goodness. A feast of delights, indeed, all spiritual blessings. That lies within.

But the door is shut, and we cannot open it.

And rightly so! That the kingdom of God should be dirtied by such as us! Like a beggar touching a gleaming crown with his dirty hands! No.

What right do we think we have? We fill our minds with nonsense. I’m special like a sunbeam. Because I’m worth it. I deserve the best things in life. I am the captain of my destiny. Lies, all of it. We are not citizens of the nation of God. We are not part of his family. All our lives will amount to nothing, a pointless blowing in the wind, nothing more than grass that withers and dies.

God does not love us – he is at war with us. His anger burns against us. He is hostile toward us. Remember Amos? “The people of… have sinned again and again”. What does God do? He goes to war against them – destroys their fortresses and lays waste to their cities. Why do we think we’re any different? Are we really that much better than those people? Are we? Do we really think that? Are we so arrogant? No, in our moments of clarity we understand that something is wrong with the world – with us. We understand that we are cut off from God. We understand that we are unholy and that he is holy, and there is no way in. The door is shut. The way is closed.

We are OUT. And we cannot get in – BUT he who is within can open the door! He can search us out – we who are far away, lost in the world – he can find us and bring us near to God by his blood. We are out! BUT NOW

13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. Praise God.

2. But now, reconciled in Christ.

16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

This is the Good News of peace: that you, whoever you are, can be reconciled to God.

The Ancient world was divided into two groups: the people of God (the Jews), and everyone else. The Jews were set apart, holy, having the Law and Commandments, the prophets, the Temple, the sacrifices, and the sign of circumcision. There was no way to get access to God except by becoming a Jew.

Unfortunately, the Jews forgot that they had received all these things by grace, not because they deserved them! And they forgot the Giver of the gifts, and focussed on the gifts – like a kid who grabs the present and runs off with it and never says thank you. Or, even worse, just chucks it on the floor and then stands on it, totally ungrateful – but when his friends come around – oh, he’ll boast about all the presents he’s got.

That is the Jew unreconciled to God. The Jew, v11 proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

Being religious without God is a terrible thing. It leads either to despair (because you can’t do it) or to pride and arrogance (because you can). It is inherently destructive to relationships – like being part of a mean club. Church becomes about performance, maintaining a façade of holiness. It is not about sinners seeking refuge together at the cross. No, now it’s about showing off how religious I am and how much better than you I can be to make you feel bad and me good. I’m closer to God because of my performance. And you – yes you who get drunk on the weekend, you who are divorced, you who are out clubbing, you who are a “råner” with your cars – you are OUT and we are IN. You don’t meet our rules, and so we are hostile to you.

That was the situation then, and, unfortunately, it’s the situation today in many, many churches across our beautiful country. Self-righteous religious people stinking up the church with their walls of hostility, their rules of behaviour and their lack of grace and love.

And the solution today is the same solution back then. Religious people need Christ. We need Christ. You need Christ. I need Christ. Only Christ can unite Jews (the religious) and Gentiles (outsiders) into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.

I want to spend a little more time on this, so we really get it. There is no division in the church. There is no-one better or no-one worse. The Jews had the system of law from GOD HIMSELF – and that did not make them better than anyone else – so nothing we can come up with can make us better. We’ll see a bit later in Ephesians that even spiritual gifts do not make us better than anyone else. We are now united in Christ. We are one new man. A new family, a new nation, a new people. Together.

This could be a particular difficulty in this church, where we come from so many different cultures, and therefore it’s so easy for us to feel the way WE do things is superior, or to offend each other without even knowing. To do something which someone else’s culture finds offensive! Or be offended or irritated by something someone else does. Oops. What do we do then? Do we allow our culture to erect walls of hostility between us? No. Christ is our peace, and we forgive each other, and love each other, maintaining the bond of peace we have been given.

And we do these things. I know my life and I know yours. How often are we ungrateful, complaining about things – people who make life difficult. A particular temptation for us from different cultures is to moan about the new culture we’ve got to life in – moan about Norway and Norwegians. And as Norwegians easy to moan about others from different cultures doing things the “wrong” way. And if we as a church are doing this – how will we reach each other with the gospel if we’re complaining about each other. The Jews and the Gentiles did this. The Christians must not. 2:15 [Jesus] made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

One final thing on Christ’s reconciling work, before we look at God’s purpose for us. I just want to point out that v16 in the Greek does not say “our hostility toward each other was put to death” but simply “the hostility was put to death”. See, Christ reconciled us both horizontally with each other – putting our hostility to death – and then us together reconciled vertically to God – putting HIS hostility to death. Christ is our peace, his blood covering our sin, his perfect life fulfilling the Law and commandments – doing what we could not do. It is the Good News of peace to us Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were “near”.

In Christ we are reconciled to God. Wow! Praise God!

But wait, there’s more! We have not just been joined together as one new man for nothing – we have a purpose. And our purpose is to be the very dwelling place of God – as it says in v22 we are the place where God’s Spirit dwells (lives). We are not just rescued from the pit of death – but lifted up to the heavenlies.

Like our dear president Nelson Mandela – he was not just released from prison. But he was exalted to the highest office in the land, leader of the nation. In Christ, we are like Madiba, lifted from prison to the heavenlies. And there we are to reflect to glory of our King and Saviour.

3. IN!

18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. 19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

In Christ we who were out are now in. We are no longer strangers and foreigners but now citizens. It’s like when we first hold our red Norwegian passport. No longer a stranger – but a citizen. But not just of some earthly fallen sinful imperfect country – but citizens of heaven, citizens along with all of God’s HOLY people. In Christ we are in an exclusive club: perfectly holy people. Not just “holy” on the outside, like the religious person. But a new creation, made new from the inside, his Spirit within us.

And we are members of God’s own family! He is our Father. The Spirit lives within us. I don’t know what kind of family or father you had growing up – maybe it was good, maybe it was terrible. But whatever your background, in Christ you now have access to the perfect Father. He loves you and treasures you. You are his child. He gave everything to cover your sin and lift you up in Christ to heaven itself. And this brings him great pleasure and glory to save such as us! Thank you Father God!

So we are IN. Foreigners – now citizens. Orphans – now adopted into his family. Unholy – now holy. All in Christ.

But wait – there’s more!

20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

We are the house of God, the Temple of God. The Temple was the great symbol of God living with his people. The Temple was where the sacrifice for sins was paid, forgiveness received, where you could relate to God. It was the meeting-place between God and Man.

Now we know that Jesus is the Temple – he paid the ultimate sacrifice to forgive our sins, and bring us into relationship with God, to God’s praise and glory. He is the true meeting place between man and God. But in Him WE become the Temple. Not just individually, with the Holy Spirit living in each of us as our guarantee of our inheritance – but together as the church of God. At Pentecost the Spirit came upon the church with mighty power. And He fulfilled the prophecy in Joel 2:29 that all people can now be given the Spirit (in Christ) – and so the Church was born.

Christ’s goal is one new Man, a glorious Temple, a holy building to God’s praise. When the first Temple was built – oh it was all glory and pomp and ceremony, with King Solomon in all his riches and wisdom praising God and falling to his knees in wonder… and the Bible says this is us, only better! In our weakness, small as we are, we are part of the magnificent Temple of God, higher and greater than even that great first Temple. We are throughout all eternity the display case of God’s rich grace and wisdom.

We are here to show the world the greatness of God. When we come to church. God is great. When we turn away from adultery. God is great. When we don’t gossip, but instead turn the conversation to thankfulness. God is great. When we turn off the computer instead of looking at porn. God is great. When we share the gospel with our friends or work mates. God is great. When we give generously. God is great. When we bite our tongue and say nothing instead of something nasty. God is great. When we thank God. God is great. When we delight in him. God is great. When we say sorry to God, confessing our sins. God is great.
In the great or small, everything we do should proclaim God is great. Even washing up! The wife of the famous evangelist Billy Graham had a sign over her kitchen sink: “Services to God performed 4 times daily.” She knew this. We are God’s Temple. WE live to display his glory in everything we do.

Easy? No. It’s impossible! And that’s the point. If you try to live as a Christian without Christ you will fail. You cannot get IN by your own efforts. Only through Christ can you life begin to be a praise song to God.

We were OUT.

BUT now, through Christ we are RECONICLED TO GOD (seated in heaven. God no longer angry (v3 we were children of wrath); RECONCILED TO EACH OTHER. (united in Christ)

We are now IN! A TEMPLE created anew to do good works planned in advance to the praise and glory of God. We are the advert to the world of God’s grace, God’s good pleasure, God’s love, and God’s holiness. By his grace, let us live like it!