No wall needed

Sermon 19July 2009

Ephesians  2:11-22 (ESV)
(11)  Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-
(12)  remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
(13)  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (14)  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (15)  by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, (16)  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (17)  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. (18)  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
(19)  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, (20)  built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, (21)  in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(22)  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Prayer: Help us Lord to listen carefully to what you want to say to us this morning. As you speak to us through your word, take away any barriers in our hearts and minds the might get in the way of hearing you, and prevent us entering into the peace you want us to have with you and with each other. In Christ’s name, Amen.

In an amusing TV ad a father tells his son that the great wall of China was built to keep out the rabbits! Why was it really built? The conventional answer is: to protect China from the danger of the Mongolian hordes.  It also served as a cultural and sociological division: on one side there were ‘the  good civilized people,’ on the other side were ‘those terrible dangerous barbarians’.

In a world that is far from perfect, we do need to protect ourselves. Israel has built a large wall to try to restrict the movement of would be Palestinian terrorists. Many of you will remember the Berlin wall, built by the former communist East German regime to keep out the evils of the West… and to keep its own people in. 

But walls aren’t necessarily evil. There’s a saying: ‘Fences make good neighbours.’ How do fences help? They define the boundaries of a property, which can saves us from setting up our chicken coop on our neighbours property or letting our pumpkins take over their backyard. Fences keep our livestock where they belong. It might not be as impressive as the great wall of China, but our Australian rabbit fence does a vital job of protecting the productivity of our farms from those furry barbarians.

In verse 14, our text talks about a wall that is called a “dividing wall of hostility”. It’s not a physical wall, but a cultural and relational one that divided the Gentiles and the Jews.

There was also a spiritual division. The Jews were people that God had chosen to be a special nation. He wanted them to be different from the other nations. The nations of the world followed other gods and did their own thing, but God wanted Israel to know him, to worship him, to obey him, and to serve him. He revealed himself to them, through Moses and many other prophets, as a holy God, but also a God of steadfast love. A God who longs to forgive and to bring back people who go away from him. He gave them his presence, living with them, with the tabernacle and then the temple as the place where he made himself, and his forgiveness available to his people. The Jews were close to God, and had access to God in a way that the Gentiles did not. God gave his people particular laws and regulations to help them learn his standards, and ultimately to get them to see how desperately they needed Him as their Saviour.

Paul describes hostility between the Jews and those who were not Jews – the Gentiles. Did this hostility come from God? Was he really playing favourites? Were the Jews better and somehow more pleasing to God than the Gentiles? A lot of people probably thought this.
But at the very beginning of Israel’s history, when God chose Abraham, the great patriarch of the Jews, this was the blessing that God gave him:
Genesis 12:1-3
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” All nations, all families are already in view, in God’s plan. God always wanted his blessing to come to the whole world!

Jesus was a Jew, and he was the Messiah prophesied by Jewish prophets. But the prophecies didn’t restrict his mission to Israel: As Isaiah 49:6  says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
At the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus commanded his disciples to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to all people. To make disciples of all nations.

The first Christians were all Jews, and the emerging Church faced a major challenge when God started to bring non-Jews to faith in Jesus too. Some of those early Christians strongly believed that becoming Jewish was part of becoming a Christian. This involved circumcision, dietary laws and other rules that set the Jews apart from other cultures and nations. Acts 15 tells us how the first ‘general Church synod’ settled the matter: Gentiles did not have to become Jews, in order to be Christians. Even with the matter settled, it was challenging for many Christians of Jewish background to accept the newcomers, the Gentiles, and their different ways.

‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. ‘Newcomers’ and ‘original members’. ‘Visitors’ and ‘permanent residents.’ Like the early church with ‘Jews’ and ‘Gentiles,’ we tend to put people into different groups, in our congregation and community.  This in itself isn’t wrong. What is wrong, is if we look down on someone in the other group, and think that we have more right to God’s blessings because of our status.

What is wrong, is to maintain a wall of hostility and separation from them.

Paul shares the revelation that Christ gave him: as they become Christians, what people were, is not longer important, it no longer is an issue. The Church isn’t Jewish or non-Jewish, it’s something else: A new entity. A new community, with a new culture: a culture of acceptance and forgiveness, and equal access to God through Jesus Christ.

This is great news for us all: whether we are visitors or regulars, newcomers or long-standing members: neither of us is at a disadvantage. The blood of Jesus was shed for us all. Our sins have been forgiven. God has made peace with us.
This is a message we can use to encourage each other.

We can share this with those who might feel awkward because they haven’t come along to worship for a while. We can encourage those who feel that they are somehow inferior because they don’t have a Lutheran or Church background. God welcomes all people into his family. One’s background does not matter.

In Christ, no one need be a stranger. Rather, as God declares through Paul in verse 19 of our text, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
Amen.

The peace of God which is beyond all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.