Ephesians 2:11-3:21 - One Big Family
Belonging to God’s Family (Part 4)
One Big Family
Ephesians 2:11-3:21
Jeff Garrett
What we were by birth – (2:11-12)
Double alienation
• Alienated from God (Eph 2:1-3)
• Alienated from Israel (Eph 2:11-12)
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men). “Remember” means to recollect, to rehearse, to be mindful of it. There are a lot of things that are good to forget but this is not one of them. Remember what you were – “Gentile by birth”. Remember you were called “uncircumcised” … it is as if Paul is declaring the unimportance of the names and labels, in comparison with the reality behind them (e.g. the circumcision of the heart) which was available to Jews and Gentiles alike.
In v.12 he drops the business of what Jews and Gentiles called each other and explains the serious reality of Gentile alienation. 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Five Gentile Disabilities (Eph 2:12)
Christless – “separate from Christ”
Stateless – “excluded from citizenship in Israel”
Friendless – “foreigners to the covenants of the promise”
Hopeless – “without hope”
Godless – “without God in the world”
Nine Jewish Privileges (Rom 3:1 & 9:4-5)
They were entrusted with the word of God
Theirs is the adoption as sons
Theirs the divine glory
The covenants
They received of the law
The temple worship
The promises
The patriarchs
From them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen
Paul sums up his list of Gentile disabilities with two words – “far away” (2:13). As Gentiles we didn’t have peace with God or Israel. It was a double alienation – First, we were alienated from God (Eph 2:1-3 dead in transgressions and sins and objects of wrath) and second we were alienated from Israel (Eph 2:12 Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless and Godless). Remember that. Don’t forget it. If you forget it you will begin to take it for granted and you will not appreciate what Christ has achieved. And that’s the second point.
What Jesus did for us (2:13-18)
Double reconciliation
· Peace between us and God
· Peace between Jews and Gentile
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, … We’ve been brought near by the “blood of Christ” – He made peace by the blood he shed on the cross. The “he himself” is strongly emphatic i.e. Jesus doesn’t give us peace, he is our peace. Jesus is our peacemaker. Jesus achieved a double reconciliation (a double union) – between us and God and between Jew and Gentile.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ... “destroy” means “to tear down” – “to dissolve” - “to melt”. The word “barrier” means “middle wall” or wall in the middle between Jew and Gentile. It means “fence” or “partition” that separate Jew from Gentile. At the time Paul was writing the wall was still in place at Herod’s temple. There was a sign on that wall which said “Trespassers will be executed (not prosecuted).
Example of Temple worship and the barrier - Jeff a Gentile – Jon is a priest. Janet and Bruce are Jews.
Paul was very familiar with that wall because while he was in Jerusalem he had been falsely accused of taking Trophimus (interestingly Luke tells us in Acts 21:28-29 Trophimus was a Gentile from Ephesus) in the temple and they tried to kill Paul.
Acts 21:27b … some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place." 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Paul was arrested. Acts 21:37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?" “Do you speak Greek?" he replied. 38 "Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" 39 Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people." 40 Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic (or Hebrew) and they listened to him tell the story of his conversion but when he said in Acts 22:21"Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!" 23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and questioned in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?" 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman citizen." 27 The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes, I am," he answered. 28 Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship." "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied. 29 Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
It had become a dividing wall of hostility and Paul had been caught in the middle of that hostility. Jews hated Gentiles and Gentiles hated Jews. But Paul Jesus made the two one.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. Jesus did not destroy the law or the prophets, he fulfilled it (Matt 5:17-20). But Jesus did destroy, in his body, the ceremonial law and the condemnation of moral law. Both were divisive because it separated men from God and Jew from Gentile. Both were put aside at the cross to accomplish his purpose which is explained in v.15-16. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. And after he achieved reconciliation between God and men and between Jew and Gentile he announced it. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. And look at what we have become.
What we have become (2:19-22)
God’s Kingdom - 2:19a Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people … We no longer live on a passport, but … we really have our birth certificates … we really belong.
God’s Family - 2:19b … and members of God's household,… “household” refers to “family – relative – brothers-sisters in Christ.
God’s Temple 20 built on the foundation of the apostles 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 God lives by his Spirit. In the past Gentiles were excluded from the temple, but now both Jews and Gentiles are God’s temple (cf. 1 Peter 2:5 … “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood”).
So Jesus destroyed the God-man barriers and the Jew-Gentile barriers to create one big family. Multicultural, international, universal church.
The cross breaks down walls of hostility
Race
Ethnicity
Families
Churches
Read history – Black balconies, black water fountains, Black-White Church.
Racism still alive
White privilege – culturally encapsulated
If we reduced the world population to a village of 100, with all existing ratios still the same
59 people would be Asian
12 people would be Europeans
5 people would be American/Canadian
8 people would be Latin American
14 people would be African
1 person would be from the South Pacific
52 females and 48 males
30 children and 70 adults
82 non-white and 18 whites
80 people would live in substandard housing
24 people would not have any electricity
67 people would be unable to read
Only 1 person would have a college education
50 people would be malnourished
1 person would be dying of starvation
That’s the mystery God revealed - Eph 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. The mystery is that through the gospel both Jews and Gentiles are fellow-heirs of the same blessing, fellow-members of the same body and fellow-partakers of the same promise.
Paul made it known not only to Gentiles (3:8) but to everyone (3:9), even the cosmic powers (3:10).
3:10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
Paul’s prayer - 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Paul prayed for three things. 1) Strengthened with power, 2) Rooted in love, 3) Full of God.
Video
Prayer Time
Benediction
3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
One Big Family
Ephesians 2:11-3:21
Jeff Garrett
What we were by birth – (2:11-12)
Double alienation
• Alienated from God (Eph 2:1-3)
• Alienated from Israel (Eph 2:11-12)
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men). “Remember” means to recollect, to rehearse, to be mindful of it. There are a lot of things that are good to forget but this is not one of them. Remember what you were – “Gentile by birth”. Remember you were called “uncircumcised” … it is as if Paul is declaring the unimportance of the names and labels, in comparison with the reality behind them (e.g. the circumcision of the heart) which was available to Jews and Gentiles alike.
In v.12 he drops the business of what Jews and Gentiles called each other and explains the serious reality of Gentile alienation. 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Five Gentile Disabilities (Eph 2:12)
Christless – “separate from Christ”
Stateless – “excluded from citizenship in Israel”
Friendless – “foreigners to the covenants of the promise”
Hopeless – “without hope”
Godless – “without God in the world”
Nine Jewish Privileges (Rom 3:1 & 9:4-5)
They were entrusted with the word of God
Theirs is the adoption as sons
Theirs the divine glory
The covenants
They received of the law
The temple worship
The promises
The patriarchs
From them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen
Paul sums up his list of Gentile disabilities with two words – “far away” (2:13). As Gentiles we didn’t have peace with God or Israel. It was a double alienation – First, we were alienated from God (Eph 2:1-3 dead in transgressions and sins and objects of wrath) and second we were alienated from Israel (Eph 2:12 Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless and Godless). Remember that. Don’t forget it. If you forget it you will begin to take it for granted and you will not appreciate what Christ has achieved. And that’s the second point.
What Jesus did for us (2:13-18)
Double reconciliation
· Peace between us and God
· Peace between Jews and Gentile
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, … We’ve been brought near by the “blood of Christ” – He made peace by the blood he shed on the cross. The “he himself” is strongly emphatic i.e. Jesus doesn’t give us peace, he is our peace. Jesus is our peacemaker. Jesus achieved a double reconciliation (a double union) – between us and God and between Jew and Gentile.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ... “destroy” means “to tear down” – “to dissolve” - “to melt”. The word “barrier” means “middle wall” or wall in the middle between Jew and Gentile. It means “fence” or “partition” that separate Jew from Gentile. At the time Paul was writing the wall was still in place at Herod’s temple. There was a sign on that wall which said “Trespassers will be executed (not prosecuted).
Example of Temple worship and the barrier - Jeff a Gentile – Jon is a priest. Janet and Bruce are Jews.
Paul was very familiar with that wall because while he was in Jerusalem he had been falsely accused of taking Trophimus (interestingly Luke tells us in Acts 21:28-29 Trophimus was a Gentile from Ephesus) in the temple and they tried to kill Paul.
Acts 21:27b … some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place." 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Paul was arrested. Acts 21:37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?" “Do you speak Greek?" he replied. 38 "Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?" 39 Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people." 40 Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic (or Hebrew) and they listened to him tell the story of his conversion but when he said in Acts 22:21"Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!" 23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and questioned in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?" 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman citizen." 27 The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes, I am," he answered. 28 Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship." "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied. 29 Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
It had become a dividing wall of hostility and Paul had been caught in the middle of that hostility. Jews hated Gentiles and Gentiles hated Jews. But Paul Jesus made the two one.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. Jesus did not destroy the law or the prophets, he fulfilled it (Matt 5:17-20). But Jesus did destroy, in his body, the ceremonial law and the condemnation of moral law. Both were divisive because it separated men from God and Jew from Gentile. Both were put aside at the cross to accomplish his purpose which is explained in v.15-16. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. And after he achieved reconciliation between God and men and between Jew and Gentile he announced it. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. And look at what we have become.
What we have become (2:19-22)
God’s Kingdom - 2:19a Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people … We no longer live on a passport, but … we really have our birth certificates … we really belong.
God’s Family - 2:19b … and members of God's household,… “household” refers to “family – relative – brothers-sisters in Christ.
God’s Temple 20 built on the foundation of the apostles 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 God lives by his Spirit. In the past Gentiles were excluded from the temple, but now both Jews and Gentiles are God’s temple (cf. 1 Peter 2:5 … “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood”).
So Jesus destroyed the God-man barriers and the Jew-Gentile barriers to create one big family. Multicultural, international, universal church.
The cross breaks down walls of hostility
Race
Ethnicity
Families
Churches
Read history – Black balconies, black water fountains, Black-White Church.
Racism still alive
White privilege – culturally encapsulated
If we reduced the world population to a village of 100, with all existing ratios still the same
59 people would be Asian
12 people would be Europeans
5 people would be American/Canadian
8 people would be Latin American
14 people would be African
1 person would be from the South Pacific
52 females and 48 males
30 children and 70 adults
82 non-white and 18 whites
80 people would live in substandard housing
24 people would not have any electricity
67 people would be unable to read
Only 1 person would have a college education
50 people would be malnourished
1 person would be dying of starvation
That’s the mystery God revealed - Eph 3:6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. The mystery is that through the gospel both Jews and Gentiles are fellow-heirs of the same blessing, fellow-members of the same body and fellow-partakers of the same promise.
Paul made it known not only to Gentiles (3:8) but to everyone (3:9), even the cosmic powers (3:10).
3:10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
Paul’s prayer - 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Paul prayed for three things. 1) Strengthened with power, 2) Rooted in love, 3) Full of God.
Video
Prayer Time
Benediction
3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
posted by Jeff Garrett at 1:42 AM
1 Comments:
When you bring up "the uncircumcision" you risk leading people to believe that circumcision is ok.
95% of the world's Christians do not circumcise. Circumcision is NOT part of Christianity:
Romans 2:29, Romans 3:30, Acts 15:10, I Corinthians 7:18, I Corinthians, 12: 18, Galatians 5:6, Galatians 5:2, Galatians 6:15, Philippians 3:2, Colossians 2:12, Matthew 9:12
HIS body HIS decision
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