Bringing Down Walls Ephesians 2:11-22

The notes below are from a sermon I preached on Ephesians 2:11-22. Some of them are incomplete, but I hope that they are a blessing nonetheless. I preached this about 8 months ago. 

Intro—Walls take all kinds of forms. They can be tall, they can be short, they can be wide, they can be narrow, they can even span miles. Just think of some famous walls: Berlin Wall (built in the 60s, came down later 1989-90), Great Wall of China (parts are over 2000 years old, 13,000 miles long), Wall of separation between church and state, border wall, the Wall of the Jewish Temple, etc.

What is the purpose of a wall? It could be many things: Protection, enclosure, imprisonment, keeping others out, etc. Robert Frost—“Mending Wall”—“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” “Good fences make good neighors.”

One purpose for a wall is separation—a completion of a barrier keeping two groups apart. Our passage today deals with walls, and even though part of the focus is on a spiritual kind of wall, physical walls play a role. Look at Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:11-22.

When the walls come down, God’s temple can go up.

Point 1 Walls Cause Division: The Wall of Hostility (2:11-16)

Paul starts by distinguishing between Jews and Gentiles. It was an age old prejudice. The people of God vs. the others. God’s chosen vs. the excluded. Clean vs. unclean. There is no secret that in Paul’s day Jews and gentiles didn’t get along. Note how Paul describes the Gentiles here (2:11-12): uncircumcised, outside of Messiah (and the messianic promises), excluded from Israel, strangers/aliens to the covenants and promises (i.e., outside of Jewish world), and without hope and without God in the world. This is at least how some of the Jewish people understood gentiles. 

Look at the Temple: Holy of Holies, Holy Place, Court of the Jews, and Court of the Gentiles (where Jesus chases out the moneychangers). On the wall between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the Jews was a sign warning anyone who was not a Jew that they could die (perhaps by God’s hand) if they entered the court unworthily. These walls created division, they separated people, perhaps they even caused prejudice.

What walls separate us today? Walls of race, economics/income, politics, personal issues. Sometimes we build walls in an effort to “protect” ourselves, but we often end up in isolation. Sometimes we build walls by our selfish endeavors, we have a kingdom to protect so we build walls to keep the undesirable or competitor out.

How do we build those walls? We build them by excluding anyone we consider the “other”, the “gentile”, the “unclean”. Disagreement on protocol, disagreement on decisions, even the willingness and desire to focus on the past (how we used to do it) instead of listening to God about our future.

Walls separate—walls that may be a result of some form of hostility.

We disagree, so we build walls. We don’t want to mix with “those kind of people”, so we build walls. We think we know better than others, so we build walls. Soon we find ourselves walled in like a monastery. We are no longer in community, but we find ourselves isolated. Walls can isolate, and that isolation can cause division and hostility.

Don Harbuck once said that all these walls are really just one wall. “The wall is everywhere. All of us know about it. No age or age group has gone unshaped by its pernicious power. Its menacing power moves the length and breadth of human existence. What wall is it? Paul calls it the dividing wall of hostility. It is the wall that separates and fragments and isolates. It is the wall that keeps people apart. It makes them suspicious and distrustful of each other. It kills fellowship and breeds prejudice and spreads gossip and sets loose the dogs of war. It takes many forms but it always remains the same wall wherever we encounter it.”

Remember, when the walls come down, God’s Temple can go up.

My favorite words in this passage are in verse 13: “But now in Messiah Jesus”—here we have God’s great wrecking ball by which he brings down the walls of hostility that divide us.  Those who are far away—the people who did not know God, who were not part of God’s people, the unclean. Those who are near—those who think of themselves as “clean” or “in”.

In verses 14-16, Paul reminds us that God uses the blood of Jesus to bring together both groups of people. Think of the sacrificial system of Israel—without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Consider the separation the wall of sin creates. The sacrificial system provided a temporary patch to deal with the separation of sin. Jesus’ “once for all” sacrifice deals with it permanently. The wall of hostility has come down because of Jesus’ death. But it wasn’t just the demolition of a wall that was God’s goal, he also intended to take two disparate and even warring groups and make one new person out of them. When the walls come down, God’s temple can go up!

Note the corporate nature of this event. God isn’t simply saving individual souls to make them “clean,” God is reconciling groups to make ONE NEW PERSON out of them all. As Paul will go on in chapters 3 and 4 to discuss, the goal here is the building up of the body of Christ. The body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the people of God is indeed composed of individuals, but it is supposed to be a company of “peace”. The body of Christ is a corporate thing, not an isolated individual thing. To bring about peace (i.e. "shalom") requires at least two people, it requires a community.

Shalom—a sense of wholeness—humans cannot have that in isolation, but only in community! Jesus becomes the means by which the walls come down, the person whose sacrifice produces reconciliation, and the one who brings peace. It is non-negotiable, there is no other way.  The reconciliation of verse 16 is brought about by the death of hostility. The walls MUST come down or God’s temple will not go up. God will not build on YOUR personal favorite foundation. He will only build on the foundation of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus' death on the cross is the means by which hostility is defeated, the walls are torn down, and God’s temple is built. You cannot have it any other way.

Tozer says: "God never negotiates with men. Jesus Christ's death on the Cross put an end to any kind of negotiations. It is now Christ or nothing. It is God's Word or its entirety or nothing."  

What walls do we need to tear down (or better, where does Jesus need to come and tear down our walls by his sacrificial life and death)? Where do we need hostility to cease? Where do we need to repent and turn to the wrecking ball and architect of God (remember, Jesus’ earthly adopted father Joseph was a builder, and Jesus’ heavenly Father is a Creator)?

Jesus brings the walls down, but he is also the cornerstone on which the new Temple is built. When walls come down, God’s Temple can go up!

Point 2 God’s Foundation brings Unity: The Temple of God (2:17-22)

Two “peoples” of God: One made up of human ancestry (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc.) the other created by the Holy Spirit. Both came into existence by God’s grace and promises. Circumcision of flesh vs circumcision of heart. One is a physical wall/demarcation, the other is spiritual. It is a matter of the heart.

There are two Temples in our passage: One made with human hands, one made by God; one that was stable, immovable, and had walls to separate people, one that is dynamic, active, and without walls—both commanded by God and by his promises. The Temple God desires is NOT a building or a specific group, it is a living, breathing, “going” entity/congregation that does not sit idle or look to the past. Look at Isaiah 66—where will God dwell? 

Paul tells us that God will dwell in a people who are built up on Jesus and without walls. You’ve heard of “Doctors without borders”, think of this as “God’s people without walls” or “The church without boundaries” or something similar.

2:17-18: Jesus proclaims shalom to ALL—those who are in and those who are not. There is no privileged position, since ALL need to hear the good news of Shalom from Jesus. Paul returns to “we” language in verse 18 and reminds us that WE ALL have access to God’s reconciliation, to God himself, as a result of what Jesus has accomplished. We can’t be the people we are called to be unless we come to the wall wrecker and temple builder—Jesus the Messiah. Outside of him there is no peace, no people, and no reconciliation. Paul reminds us that Jesus is the ONLY way to be a part of God’s temple. He tears down our walls and then builds us up. When the walls come down, God’s temple can go up!

2:19-20: When Jesus tears down our walls of hostility, he brings us into a family. We are not saved as lone ranger Christians to “go it” on our own. We are born into a community of people who allow Jesus to destroy their walls while relying on him to also build them up! Through Jesus, and him alone, we become God’s household built on God’s foundation and cornerstone. We cannot get there without help. Our walls hinder us, and we need Jesus to make us a “new creation”.

2:21-22: God’s Temple—built on Jesus, built for Jesus, full of God’s Spirit. You cannot claim to have God’s Spirit if you also build a wall between yourself and others.

Galatians 3:28: There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

When the walls come down, God’s Temple can go up.

God will not build his church with our walls, with our selfish plans, with our prejudices, with our hostilities. He will build it on selfless sacrifice. He will build it by tearing down walls of hostility and building on the death and resurrection of Jesus. If we do not have the right foundation, we will find our work failing.

When the walls come down, God’s temple can go up.

Conclusion:

So, how do we respond?

First—what walls of hostility do you have between you and God? Have you come to know his grace and mercy through Jesus? Are you angry at God for not doing things the way you want him to? Are you living in a past tense view of ministry and longing for the old ways when God has called you to move forward? His people, his body, his temple is not stationary, it is on the move! Ask Jesus to deal with your walls today. Repent of building your own temple and ask God to show you how to move forward. Call on him, he will respond.

Second—what walls of hostility do we have with others? We need to tear those down. We need to humble ourselves and serve others EVEN if they do NOT deserve it (as Jesus did in Phil 2). 

Third—a church cannot move forward if it is content to sit still and build its own little kingdoms and walls. Jesus said to seek God’s kingdom first, not our own isolated realms. What do we need to leave behind today to move forward with Jesus. What grudges are we holding, what walls are we building, where do we need to repent.

Finally—where do you need God’s Shalom? Where is reconciliation and a sense of well-being needed in your life today? Come to the wall wrecker and temple builder and let him deal with it. Ask him to destroy what is keeping you from reconciliation, and ask him to establish what will lead to Shalom.

Thank your for reading! 

Purpose or Pride? Some musings . . .

A few years ago I heard a sermon, but before the sermon the visiting preacher spent a good 10 or 15 minutes "selling" his book that was related to the topic of his sermon. As I listened to the preacher, I began to ask myself questions about the purpose of preaching and the church itself. I wrote the following notes in response to this moment of musing, and I thought I'd share them here. To be clear, I have not organized these. I simply wrote down some thoughts in a "stream of consciousness" style. I hope they are helpful.

Is our purpose the pronouncement of our accomplishments, or is it living for God's glory and fame? How does a Christian leader today straddle the fences of profound prophetic preaching and personal promotion? Should such a straddling exist? Whose kingdom really matters to us? 

I've been told that if you want to know what is important to a leader, listen to his conversation. He talks most about what matters most to him. Take a look at the book of Acts. What did the leaders of the early church talk about most? What seemed to be in the center of their attention?  

Here is some context on Acts: The leaders of the church experienced some persecution for preaching Jesus. The Sanhedrin (the Jewish Council) wanted to kill them (not for publishing or promoting a new book) for talking about and living for Jesus! The persecution that the church faced led to some phenomenal growth (both in numbers and in spirit).  

Do we want revival? Then we need to quit asking for more of God and start giving more of ourselves to him. Revival requires the quickening of the dead. In other words, something that is dead becomes alive. So, what is dead in us? Why don't we bring that to God, sacrifice it, give it to Jesus to resurrect. He alone can do it! What do we have that needs to be fanned back to life? Why not let the "Resurrection and the Life" do his work? 

The great need of the day is hearts fully devoted to God and his stuff. In Philippians 3, Paul lists a very impressive resume. Nonetheless he notes that it is less than "nothing" compared to Christ. He calls is a pile of manure, a bunch of crap. His publications, his promotions, his titles, his accomplishments, his highest points in life are counted as stuff to be flushed away! Think of it--our highest moments of achievement are just manure when compared to Jesus.  

What makes Jesus the Messiah so great? Go back to Philippians 2. Even though he was God, he humbled himself. He lowered himself, he became small to reach all, he emptied himself to fill others up, he became a servant even though he was really a king!  

Do we want revival? What has to be emptied? Where do we need to learn humility? Where do we need to learn to serve instead of striving to be "large and in charge"? If we want revival, we must first learn to humble ourselves and to serve others. Revival will not come via books, sermons, small groups, or tithes. Revival starts with humility. 

The story of Acts is the story of the church continuing the work of Jesus the Messiah to "destroy" the works of the devil. Jesus is out to bring an end to the work of our adversary the devil. Satan does not "counter-punch" as much as he flails blindly like a wounded beast who know his time is limited. He is undone, the cross has effectively destroyed his work. His flailing may in some sense have a strategy to it, but they are still the actions of a desperate and losing entity. He knows he can't win, so he tries to lie his way into stopping the work of God.  

Who do we want to be more like? That is the question. We can strut and bluff and pretend to be great, but then we are like the Great Pretender Satan. Or we can learn to walk humbly, to serve others, to lay down our lives in obedience to God, and in that way we can find ourselves more like Jesus. Do we want revival? Self-promotion won't get us there. Jesus understood that, the leaders of the early church understood it . . . will we? 

Thanks for reading!

Some Musings on Purpose

A couple of years ago I heard a sermon, but before the sermon the visiting preacher spent a good 10 or 15 minutes "selling" his book that was related to the topic of his sermon. As I listened to the preacher, I began to ask myself questions about the purpose of preaching and the church itself. I wrote the following notes in response to this moment of musing, and I thought I'd share them here. To be clear, I have not organized these. I simply wrote down some thoughts in a "stream of consciousness" style. I hope they are helpful.

Is our purpose the pronouncement of our accomplishments, or is it living for God's glory and fame? How does a Christian leader today straddle the fences of profound prophetic preaching and personal promotion? Should such a straddling exist? Whose kingdom really matters to us? 

I've been told that if you want to know what is important to a leader, listen to his conversation. He talks most about what matters most to him. Take a look at the book of Acts. What did the leaders of the early church talk about most? What seemed to be in the center of their attention?  

Here is some context on Acts: The leaders of the church experienced some persecution for preaching Jesus. The Sanhedrin (the Jewish Council) wanted to kill them (not for publishing or promoting a new book) for talking about and living for Jesus! The persecution that the church faced led to some phenomenal growth (both in numbers and in spirit).  

Do we want revival? Then we need to quit asking for more of God and start giving more of ourselves to him. Revival requires the quickening of the dead. In other words, something that is dead becomes alive. So, what is dead in us? Why don't we bring that to God, sacrifice it, give it to Jesus to resurrect. He alone can do it! What do we have that needs to be fanned back to life? Why not let the "Resurrection and the Life" do his work?  

The great need of the day is hearts fully devoted to God and his stuff. In Philippians 3, Paul lists a very impressive resume. Nonetheless he notes that it is less than "nothing" compared to Christ. He calls is a pile of manure, a bunch of crap. His publications, his promotions, his titles, his accomplishments, his highest points in life are counted as stuff to be flushed away! Think of it--our highest moments of achievement are just manure when compared to Jesus.  

What makes Jesus the Messiah so great? Go back to Philippians 2. Even though he was God, he humbled himself. He lowered himself, he became small to reach all, he emptied himself to fill others up, he became a servant even though he was really a king!  

Do we want revival? What has to be emptied? Where do we need to learn humility? Where do we need to learn to serve instead of striving to be "large and in charge"? If we want revival, we must first learn to humble ourselves and to serve others. Revival will not come via books, sermons, small groups, or tithes. Revival starts with humility. 

The story of Acts is the story of the church continuing the work of Jesus the Messiah to "destroy" the works of the devil. Jesus is out to bring an end to the work of our adversary the devil. Satan does not "counter-punch" as much as he flails blindly like a wounded beast who know his time is limited. He is undone, the cross has effectively destroyed his work. His flailing may in some sense have a strategy to it, but they are still the actions of a desperate and losing entity. He knows he can't win, so he tries to lie his way into stopping the work of God.  

Who do we want to be more like? That is the question. We can strut and bluff and pretend to be great, but then we are like the Great Pretender Satan. Or we can learn to walk humbly, to serve others, to lay down our lives in obedience to God, and in that way we can find ourselves more like Jesus. Do we want revival? Self-promotion won't get us there. Jesus understood that, the leaders of the early church understood it . . . will we? 

Thanks for reading!

The Great American Novel: A Song by Larry Norman

Tonight as I have been hanging out with my family, I have had a song running through my head.  The song is by Larry Norman, something of a pioneer in Christian music.  Norman wasn't afraid to take on controversial topics in his songs, and in many ways he was a bold man.  I dearly loved his music, and I own several of his albums on actual vinyl records.  In some ways Larry Norman (along with DeGarmo and Key, Petra, Keith Green, Randy Stonehill, Bob Bennett, Sweet Comfort Band, Chuck Girard, Rich Mullins, and others) wrote the background music to my Christian life as a young man.  Nonetheless, there was one song that sticks with me.  That song is entitled "The Great American Novel."  Here are the lyrics:

i was born and raised an orphan
in a land that once was free
in a land that poured its love out on the moon
and i grew up in the shadows
of your silos filled with grain
but you never helped to fill my empty spoon

and when i was ten you murdered law
with courtroom politics
and you learned to make a lie sound just like truth
but i know you better now
and i don't fall for all your tricks
and you've lost the one advantage of my youth

you kill a black man at midnight
just for talking to your daughter
then you make his wife your mistress
and you leave her without water
and the sheet you wear upon your face
is the sheet your children sleep on
at every meal you say a prayer
you don't believe but still you keep on

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it

you are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exaggerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote

well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped
from whispering through the fence
you know every move i make
or is that just coincidence
well you try to make my way of life
a little less like jail
if i promise to make tapes and slides
and send them through the mail

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it
you say all men are equal all men are brothers
then why are the rich more equal than others
don't ask me for the answer i've only got one
that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son

Although the issues he addresses in this song are predominantly issues of the 60s and 70s, the song still has a lot of relevance for today.  How often do we (as Christians, or even as Americans) think of our own needs first, putting our needs before the needs and suffering of others?  As Norman sings, our silos are full of grain, but we don't make a move to fill another person's empty spoon.  As Christians, we are called to feed the hungry, and yet so often we fail to do so (or we write a check or expect the government to do it because "we pay taxes").  Love for others should require us to consider the concerns of others as more important than our own (see Philippians 2).

And that is only ONE issue Norman addresses.  He addresses corrupt politics, racism, war, and a multitude of other issues, many of which still linger in our society.

I can almost see him, looking a bit prophetic in his long hair and faded jeans, singing his words of truth into my soul.  I remember seeing him in concert, and I remember wondering how he was able to read my heart and address my concerns so clearly.

I was young, I was idealistic.  And Larry Norman fed my soul things it needed to hear.  I needed to be reminded that the kingdom of God is more important than presidential elections.  I needed to be reminded that how I treat my neighbor says a lot more about my faith in God than how often I read my Bible.  I needed to be reminded that how I spend my money shows my real concerns and my true convictions.  I needed to be reminded that what I think of God often says more about me than it does about God.

I needed someone like Larry Norman to remind me--Christianity isn't necessarily a panacea for the world's problems.  It is a relationship with a living Lord who invades our lives with His amazing kindness and expects us to spread that love to others.  Christianity should be an ongoing journey into the Light, into the Truth, and a continuous connection and growing into the image of the One who made me and who laid down His life to save mine.

I needed to be reminded that Christianity isn't simply about creeds, belief systems, or doctrinal statements.  It is action.  God loved, and He acted.  How can we who follow Him expect to do anything less?  If we love as He loves, we will (indeed, we MUST) act.

Larry Norman wasn't perfect, but he was a good reminder for me at just the right time.  God used Norman to shore up my conscience, to remind me that in all my gaining of knowledge I needed to also gain wisdom to live life as God intended.  In some of his music, Norman shared that wisdom.

As he reminds us in the song above:  "you say all men are equal all men are brothers/then why are the rich more equal than others/don't ask me for the answer i've only got one/that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son."

How are we doing?  Are we walking out of darkness into God's great Light?  Are we moving in God's direction?  Where else can we go, Jesus alone holds the Words of Life . . .

Thanks, Larry Norman, for sticking in my head.  May your tribe increase!

Thanks for reading!

A Blast from the Past: Our Stories Matter (More than We Think)

Hello y'all:

I was reading some notes from my blog today, and I came across a short article entitled "Our Stories Matter."  I thought it was about something else, so I read it.  As I read the post, I couldn't help but think how appropriate it is even today (almost 10 years later). So I thought I'd share it again (with a bit of editing).  Enjoy!

Proverbs 20:6-7
6 Many a man proclaims his own loyalty,
But who can find a trustworthy man?
7 A righteous man who walks in his integrity —
How blessed are his sons after him.
NASU

Frederick Buechner describes the Word of God as a portrait of a Lover pursuing his beloved, of God’s pursuit of all of us in love, of our failures and his successes. I’m sure that he is right. Once I find myself (by God's grace) to be participating in the biblical story (i.e., when it becomes MY story), then I in some sense begin to live out in real life the written word of God so as to complete the mission that Jesus started (and finished) so many centuries ago.

Didn’t Jesus say to us that he will send us in the same way that the Father sent him? Didn’t he tell us that we would do greater works than he did? Why are we so unwilling to enter the story, to become willing participants in the great work and story of almighty God?

We 21st century, post-modern humans are sometimes such idiots. We analyze and scrutinize the structure of everything from newspapers to movies, we even do the same to the Bible, and yet we are constantly missing the point! We are so out of sync with God’s story as to be totally missing his “Once upon a time” and “happily ever after.” John Eldredge is (to a degree at least) correct to point out to us our loss of story, our loss of God’s great epic being told even today. Take the verses quoted above—in today’s post-modern culture, the idea is to win at all costs no matter who may get hurt.

But if we live without faithfulness or without integrity, we are genuinely hurting the generation after us. Politicians may fume and fuss about this or that “personal situation” or whatever, but when our leaders (and we ourselves) show a remarkable lack of integrity, it sets the bar lower for the next generation. Guess what? The next generation will live down to our expectations if we continue in this outrage. Why? I’ll tell you why, it is because they have seen a remarkable lack of loyalty and integrity in us.

In other words, we will really reap what we sow.  If we continue to sow a life of pure selfishness; if we continue to sow lies and call it "transparency"; if we continue to sow a lack of integrity and loyalty and call it "success"; then in the end we will reap a crop (or a crop failure) that will not be what we hoped.  I really cannot expect others to live a life of transparency, honesty, or integrity if I am willing to push the "Easy" button in my own life and be a hypocrite just to gain whatever "success" the world claims is out there.  My story matters if for no other reason than the reality that my story includes hundreds of others whose stories somehow become intertwined with mine.  As they do, my failure has a negative impact on their story. 

Do I want the generation behind me to be transparent, honest, and compassionate?  Then I can't live as a hypocrite who lies and doesn't love others.  They will be infected by the virus of my lack of integrity and will marvelously fail at living to the standard I expect.  In other words, if I don't live it, then I really can't reasonably expect that they will.  How I live the story that God is telling in my life sets a standard for others.  It’s true, and in our honest moments we know it! It is the story of life.  So, how are we doing?

 Well, there it is.  I only want to add one thing:  Jesus never asked us to do anything he wasn't willing to do himself.  Why do I think I should set any other standard in my own life?  If I want to lead, I must serve.  If I want to be like Jesus, I must learn humility and love.  I must serve others.  If I don't, then why do I expect my children to do better?

I am sometimes a magnificent failure--of that I am sure.  Nonetheless, I know that God has called me to a life not of mediocrity but of excellence in his grace.  His kindness, his mercy, his humility beckons to me to come and die--to lay down my life for others that they might live.  Certainly this idea is counter-intertuitive, but it is also biblical.  "Unless a grain of wheat . . . "

So, I'll ask again:  Do we want integrity?  If so, are we willing to walk in it?  Desiring it and actualizing it are not the same thing.  "Integrity" has as one of its meanings "the state of being complete and undivided."  James 1 reminds us to avoid double-mindedness, and this chapter describes righteousness as pursuing with complete and undivided attention the things God values.  What does God value?  He does NOT value dishonesty, hypocrisy, arrogance, or pride.  So, how am I doing?  Do I want to be "whole" in Christ, or do I want to continue in double-minded hypocrisy?   How I live the story God is telling makes a difference.  How you live your story matters too.

May God forgive our hypocrisy and lack of integrity, and may he grant us the focus of Paul in Philippians 2 to pursue Christ's humble mindset with single-minded passion!  May Jesus become our one true obsession!  I long for that day.

Won't you join me in praying for and pursuing it?

Thanks for reading, dear pilgrim!  Keep pressing on to know the One who tells Epic stories!