I WILL LIVE CONNECTED Ephesians 2:11-22

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1 Dr. JD Harless Tri-County Christian Church October 2, 2016 Resources: Commentaries I WILL LIVE CONNECTED Ephesians 2:11-22 Just a few weeks ago I turned my computer on at IWU and pulled up the internet so I could connect to the grade book. And I got a message that I absolutely despise it said You are not connected. Now I know why I was not connected. I was not connected because the server is a private server and you have to have a password to be included. I do not like to be excluded how about you? EPHESIANS 2:11-22 our passage for today talks about being excluded and how we can move from the outside to the inside let s take a look 1 YOU WERE DISCONNECTED READ VERSES In the first 10 VERSES of this chapter the Apostle Paul has talked about salvation for sinners in general. Now he is turning to the Gentiles in particular. The Gentiles down through history were disconnected from the Family of God. They were outsiders separated divided from God s people. They were on the outside looking in. The sign for this inclusion or exclusion in the family for all males was circumcision. GENESIS 17:10-11 says This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. That is Paul s point when he says in VERSE 11 of our passage Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised Some of you have experienced this type of exclusion some time in your life haven t you? You wanted to be in the in-crowd but were not cool enough You wanted to be included in the exclusive club but were not allowed You wanted to play on the athletic team but you were not good enough JAMES HARLESS 1

2 It is a horrible feeling isn t it. It is not fun to be excluded! You can almost hear the Jews making fun of the Gentiles with deep disdain because they were outsiders they were excluded. And having been excluded they had to do without a lot of things. And Paul lists some of those for us here in these verses. You were without Christ The Ephesians did not know anything about Christ before the Gospel was shared with them. Their god or goddess of choice was Diana. It was her that they worshipped. Diana was the goddess of the woodlands, of wild animals, and of hunting. She also acted as a fertility goddess, who helped women conceive and give birth to children. She was part of Roman mythology. It is key to note that Paul is citing this as a tragedy to be separated from Christ! We understand that without Christ there is no hope but there is a subtle message here as well. You can be as passionate as you want in worship but if your worship is anything other than Christ you are outside of the family of God and your destiny is Hell. You were without citizenship Even though you could join the Jewish faith you could never be a true Jew. You were what they called a proselyte. You might be allowed to enjoy the family activities including their worship but you were never a part of the family per sae. You did not belong. You were without covenants GENESIS 12:2-3 lists for us the covenant that God made with Abraham and his descendants the Jews 2 I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God never made a covenant with the Gentile nations throughout all of the Old Testament. They were never included in any covenants until after the death of Christ. They were considered aliens or strangers. You could hear Pharisees JAMES HARLESS 2

3 on almost any day praying O God, I give thanks that I am a Jew and not a Gentile. You were without hope Piazza tells a story that goes like this Hopelessness can be fatal. In Russia a railway employee accidentally locked himself in a refrigerator car. Unable to escape or attract attention, he resigned himself to his fate. As he felt his body becoming numb he took a pencil out of his pocket and recorded the story of his approaching death. He scribbled on the walls of the car: "I am becoming colder... still colder. Slowly freezing... half asleep. These may be my last words..." When the car was opened the man was found dead, but the temperature of the car was only about 56 degrees. The freezing mechanism was out of order, and there was plenty of available air. Although there was no physical reason for his death the man was a victim of his own hopelessness. He believed himself to death. As tragic as that might seem there is another death that is even more hopeless a death without Christ. Before the death, burial and resurrection of Christ the Gentiles had no hope. You were without God The heathens which would include the Gentiles had plenty of gods! They just did not have THE God! Listen friends you can be as religious and anyone else! You can be as passionate about your worship as anyone else. BUT if God Jehovah is not the object of that worship you are lost just like every other heathen. There is no purpose to life without God. The Gentiles were obviously in a very precarious position! They were without Christ They were without citizenship They were without covenants They were without hope They were without God They were without everything that really mattered. And guess what we were once those people. We were once excluded we were outsiders we had to do without. Paul is not just talking about Gentiles of old he is talking about anyone JAMES HARLESS 3

4 and everyone that is not a Christ follower. IF we are not committed to Christ then we are among those who Paul is talking about in these 2 verses! But Paul does not stop there because that is not where the story stops. We do not have to be left in that state of exclusion! 2 YOU HAVE BEEN RECONNECTED Let s READ VERSES The first two words in VERSE 13 reminds me of a phrase that I have said I would guess 100 times Now I pronounce you husband and wife. Before I say that it is simply two people who are in love. After I say that the relationship has completely changed they are no longer two but one! They are brought together. The last part of VERSE 15 reinforces that point His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace. What was once Jew versus Gentile is now Jew and Gentile. They are no longer those who are in automatically excluded from the family they are all now welcome in the family. Paul puts it this way in GALATIANS 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham s seed, and heirs according to the promise. The word reconciliation means to bring together again. We all know of people who are in deep need of reconciliation A distraught wife wants to reconcile with her husband who has left her A upset parent wants to reconcile with a child who has run away A sinner wants to reconcile his or her life with God This whole reconciliation thing including the Gentiles into the family of God was something completely new and foreign to them! It went against everything they believed. In fact there was a wall in the Temple that separated the Gentiles from the Jews that read No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for this ensuing death. The cross broke down that barrier now everyone is welcome in the presence of God. That is what VERSE 14 is referring to. For he himself is our peace, JAMES HARLESS 4

5 who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, There is a peace that has been created between the Jew and the Gentile. They both have the same access to the same God Yahweh! When you were baptized into Christ GALTIANS 3:26-27 says 26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Because of what Christ did for you on the cross and because you clothed yourself with him in baptism you have been reconciled to him. You are included in the family of God! You were once without Christ you are not in Christ You were once without citizenship you are now a citizen of the kingdom God You were once without a covenant you are now in a covenant with Yahweh You were once without hope you now have hope in Jesus Christ You were once without God you now have God as your Father. 3 YOU ARE CONNECTED Paul continues to emphasize the oneness of the Jew and Gentile by illustrating it in three different ways. You are one nation READ VERSE 19a Probably the best illustration of this is the United States. We are 50 different states but we all united into one nation hence the United States. I love that verse in REVELATION 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. We are unified as one nation the Kingdom of God no matter what our background might be. JAMES HARLESS 5

6 You are one family READ VERSE 19b Not only are we one nation but we are one family! I love the message of that old Bill Gaither song From the door of an orphanage to the house of the King, No longer an outcast, a new song I sing; From rags unto riches, from the weak to the strong, I'm not worthy to be here, but praise God I belong! I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God, I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His Blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod, For I'm part of the family, The Family of God We are one nation we are one family and You are one temple READ VERSES There was a Temple in Jerusalem mostly for the Jews and there was the Temple of Diana in Ephesus mostly for the Gentiles. They would both be destroyed and replaced by the Temple made up of the followers of Jesus Christ. It is a human temple it is the Church! And if you are a Christian you are a part of that Temple. And God dwells in that Temple as the Holy Spirit. And in the same way that a brick in a brick house is interconnected with all the other bricks that make up that house you are connected or unified to all the other Christians that make up the Church. Because of the sacrifice of Christ we are unified! We are one nation we are one family and we are one Temple! We belong. We are no longer outsiders looking in! Christ has invited us into his Kingdom! CONCLUSION I hate it when I turn on my computer and I get that you are not connected sign on my screen! I hate to be disconnected. And I am sure you do too! Here is the good news you never have to be disconnected again! I am not talking about from the internet I am talking about from the family of God! When you accept Christ s invitation he reconciles you connecting you to him and his church. Are you JAMES HARLESS 6

7 disconnected this morning? Are you on the outside looking in? Why not join the family as we sing our song of invitation? JAMES HARLESS 7