Ephesians
“Dividing Walls”
[Read Eph 2:1-18]
In describing what the church is now – its shape and colour – it is important to realise how it was formed.
This passage of Scripture in Ephesians paints the picture of the church in dark colours of our sin to begin with; and then introduces the vibrant and rich colours of Christ.
It is a work of art.
Ephesians 2 really draws our attention to how things were – and to how things are.
There is the dramatic verse (v 12) which speaks of how there was a time when we were without Christ; “without hope and without Christ in the world.”
One way to read the Bible, is to do so with barriers in mind.
That is – that from the very beginning of Genesis – to consider how after the sin in the Garden of Eden, how barriers have been there.
All sorts of barriers spring up in all sorts of places.
Between God and humanity.
Between nations; ethnic groups; families; people.
There is the contention between men and women (Gen 3); then by way of illustration – brother to brother (Cain & Abel – Gen 4); the Tower of Babel with the languages (Gen 11).
The first barrier is seen in Genesis 3 when God places an angel guarding the entrance to paradise so that humanity cannot access the Tree of Life.
It just carries on and we most certainly have not been spared.
It is death.
Eph 2 begins with the very clever play on words – they (and we) were once dead in our trespasses and sin, which we lived. (Eph 2:1)
The walking dead.
We were “children of wrath”.
But then verses 4-5!!!
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—" (Ephesians 2:4-5)
And from that – we discover that we are His workmanship. Created for works that He has planned from before the creation of the world (v 10).
Literally – we are a “work of art.”
Then this passage begins to focus on the power and ministry of Jesus.
It actually describes a beautiful rhythm actually.
It says He is our peace (v 14);
and that He makes peace (v 15)
and that He proclaimed peace (v 17)
…to those who are far off and those who are near (v 17).
Because He is creating in Himself – a new humanity.
Why?
Because these barriers spoken of earlier are becoming; had become very powerful and strong dividing walls.
He has broken down the dividing wall and hostility between Jew and Gentile.
You see from the beginning – in Gen 12 – God blessed a man.
Abraham.
And He said He would bless Abraham so that through Him, all the families of the earth would be blessed.
That the nation that Abraham would be the Father of, would be a Light to the Nations (Gen 12:1-3; Isa 42:1-6; 49:6).
The means by which people would find their way back to God.
But Israel lost sight of their mission.
They became an end in themselves.
They lost sight that they were to be a Light to the Nations.
So that’s why stories like Jonah are so important.
That is the classic example of how Israel as a nation had lost the sense that they were the messengers of God.
Jonah was very upset that he was being asked to take a message of salvation to a pagan city.
And why he was very upset that God actually spared that city.
So God has to point out to Jonah that he ends up caring more about a plant which he did not even nurture; and was there one day, gone the next; as opposed to 120,000 people.
But that’s the way it was.
The curious thing is though – how the genealogy of Jesus reads. There are these non-Israelite women scattered through it.
Like Rahab the prostitute from Jericho (Joshua 2) and Ruth the Moabite.
But as history unfolded – a dividing wall was built.
Between Jew and Gentile.
It was seen was keenly in the temple in Jerusalem.
It wasn’t simply that “Trespassers will be prosecuted”; but that “Trespassers will be executed.”
A sign read:
“No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure round the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.” (The Message of Ephesians (BST) John Stott (Leicester: IVP, 1979), 92).
The Biblical scholar William Barclay describes the depth of hostility between Jew and Gentile at that time The Message of Ephesians (BST) John Stott (Leicester: IVP, 1979), 91.):
The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. The Gentiles, said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. God, they said, loves only Israel of all the nations that he had made … It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in her hour of sorest need, for that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world. Until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews. The barrier between them was absolute. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl, or if a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy, a funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. Such contact with a Gentile was the equivalent of death.
In the same way, the Greeks would despise those who lived outside of their cities (Francis Foulkes Ephesians – Tyndale NT Commentaries London: IVP, 1989, pg 86).
In Acts especially – we see these walls being destroyed as the early church came to understand the difference Jesus made (Acts 10; Acts 15).
A Jesuit priest who watched his father being shot during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s creatively tells the story of Jesus like this:
The Jews came to Jesus in Jerusalem and said to Him “Why can you not destroy the Romans? Call down fire from heaven and wipe them off the face of the earth?”
Jesus remained silent.
Then the Romans came to Jesus and said “Why can’t you sort out these pesky Jews? They are such a problem for us! Can’t you do something?”
Again, Jesus remained silent.
Then He went to the walls of Jerusalem and began to pound them with His bare hands.
Gradually the effect of this began to be seen.
The walls began to sway, and cracks appeared and soon the entire walls of Jerusalem crashed down with tremendous force.
And when the dust literally settled – there facing one another were Jews and Gentiles.
Reconciled.
And beneath the rubble lay the body of Christ.
So – it seems good to still consider how in the light of Ephesians we might on the one hand celebrate the difference Jesus makes with the peace He brings; and yet still construct new walls.
Cemented and reinforced with hostility.
It seems that we – as disciples of Jesus – can nevertheless still be in the business of building walls.
That hostility can still be in our hearts.
Church to church.
Person to person.
We worship the Prince of Peace; we celebrate how He makes peace; we say “amen” to His proclamation of peace – we square it all away – and all the while keep building our life of faith…
…our church…
…our mission…
But something is wrong.
It really is little more than a dividing wall.
Because – as it comes out in Rev 2 – if we lose our first love; love for God and others – we will simply be building walls.
Out of our attitudes. Out of lack of love.
Recently a friend of mine was in Israel for study leave.
He emailed his experience over Easter and said this:
Skipping forward a week, to celebrate Easter at a sunrise service on the Mt of Olives was special… As we looked out over the hills of Moab on the other side of the Jordan Valley, we were reminded of the resurrection by a picture perfect sunrise. Then as I lowered my eyes I saw the checkpoints and walls that now separate Bethany from Jerusalem and families from each other. I was at first irritated by this scar on an otherwise beautiful panorama. Then it occurred to me that the scar of human sin in the face of the resurrection is precisely the point of Good Friday and Easter. Jesus did not come only to make nice sunrises; he came to redeem and, in words from the NZ Anglican Prayer Book, “to break down the walls that divide.” If we want to look at the resurrection we have to look at the walls that divide also.
He also referred to a concept in a book he read while in Israel – “we become like that which we hate…The challenge of peacemaking is always not to hate.”
Jesus, through the Cross, puts hostility to death.
In Him we find reconciliation.
In Him, as we consider His example and love, we will struggle to find justification for our walls of hostility and hatred.
Oh – we still might have our reasons – but we will look in vain for justification for such an attitude.
Eph 2 humbles all who read it.
Today we read it as those who were once living in the death of our trespasses; as those who were once far off and from God.
But He Who is peace; Who makes peace; and proclaims peace – comes and creates a new humanity in Himself.
He destroys dividing walls of hatred; racism; bigotry; greed; anger; injustice.
The church really should have no walls.
The New Testament is clear about learning from the history of Israel (1 Cor 10).
Why as the church – would we fail to be a light to the nations?
Fail, in having received blessing from God, to be a blessing for God to others.
Why would we not pass on the blessing and ministry of reconciliation?
2 Cor 5:17-21 is the restatement on Gen 12:1-3…
"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
Do we have walls which we are building?
Search our hearts O God!!!
Presented By: Rev G New