This week we are focusing on Ephesians 2:11-22, the text that Pastor Rob will teach from on Sunday, November 7.

 ¹¹Therefore, 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)-- ¹²remember 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. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Massive, magnificent, multifaceted change--that's what Paul is communicating in these verses from his letter to the believers at Ephesus. Understanding the sheer scope of all that changed when those Gentile believers came to Christ can help us unpack the truth of these verses.

In some ways, the words Paul uses in this passage can feel a bit like a tsunami of theological concepts, phrases and images. However, it is an appropriate surge in light of the reality of all that transpires at the moment when the Good News of God's grace in Jesus Christ is received and believed.

As you read, underline or otherwise note the words God gave Paul that reinforce your own understanding of what it means--both personally and as part of the Church--to be in Christ. 

Father,

Thank you for loving me enough to send Your Son to make a way for me to come near to You, to be included in Your family, and in Your Church. Give me ears to hear Your Word and a heart that responds to Your leading. Let the awareness that You changed EVERYTHING shape the way I live today, and never let me forget the incomparable riches of Your grace that made all this possible.  

Today we'll look at verses 11-18 in the New Living Translation:

 ¹¹Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called "uncircumcised heathens" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. ¹²In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. ¹³But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. ¹⁵He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. ¹⁶Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

 ¹⁷He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

In Christ, Paul writes, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people; no longer two separate groups, but members together of God's household. In Christ, the hostilities between Jews and Gentiles are eradicated. Divisions are ended, hostility is destroyed, and peace and unity are established.

As you read these verses, imagine how radical they must have sounded to the Gentile believers who first read them, then consider how radical they are to believers today. Ask God to use Paul's words and phrases to grow in your heart and mind a full and practical understanding of the radical new way of living that is ours in Christ.

Can you see a picture begin to build for you as you read that walls have been broken down? That those far away have been brought near? The separated have been included? Barriers are destroyed? Hostility is put to death? That Christ came and preached peace? That foreigners and aliens become citizens? That outsiders become members of God's household and are built together as a holy temple in which God Himself resides?

It is God's plan that in Christ ethnic divisions would be wiped away--not that we would all look alike or lose our uniqueness, but that all would be united in taking on the characteristics of Christ who reconciled us to God through His death on the cross. 

Christ broke down the walls of hostility. The challenge to His followers? Never to allow new barriers between races, economic classes, denominations, or other differences or divisions to dilute the unity that Christ accomplished.

Father,

Help me to see others through Your eyes. Forgive my self-centered, self-interested ways that make me insensitive to people who are different from me. Point out the fences I allow or have helped to build. Give me opportunities today and in the days to come to demonstrate Your love and Your care to all the different people You bring into my life.

Read Ephesians 2:11-22. This is the text that Pastor Rob will teach from on Sunday, November 7.

 ¹¹Therefore, 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)-- ¹²remember 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. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

In these verses, an amazing picture emerges of the new society that exists in Christ. The unity. The peace. The two--Jews and Gentiles--reconciled to each other, and hostility put to death because Christ has broken down the walls that divide.

But look around today and you'll see that our world looks nothing like that grand vision. Not yet.

Yes, Christ has completed His work of reconciliation, but in this broken world, there is also a "not-yet" element to the story-a "not yet" that will only be fully experienced when, as Ephesians 1:10 explains, "the times have reached their fulfillment," when God will, "bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ," and Jesus Christ will reign as Lord of all.

While we wait for that day, it is the Church--those who are in Christ--that God calls to demonstrate the unity and peace Christ accomplished. It is only through the Church that the reality of the Gospel is revealed to a lost and hurting world. It is through the Church where people can discover the reality of Christ the Peacemaker, and can see brothers and sisters in Christ loving and caring for each other, serving together as their Father desires.

We are called to be the living demonstration of the "now and not-yet" reality of unity and peace in Christ. A new kind of people in whom division and hostility are dead, and peace and unity are established.

Father,

I want to be worthy of this high calling. I want to be that demonstration of Your peace and the unity and belonging that I can only experience because I am in Christ. Show me and embed in me the reality of what Your Church was created to be--a body, joined together in You.

Amen

This is the text that Pastor Rob will teach from on Sunday, November 7.

 ¹¹Therefore, 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)-- ¹²remember 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. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

One of the pictures Paul paints in the final words of Ephesians 2 is of a building, a temple, that joins together individuals--both Jews and Gentiles--in one united structure. As Paul lays out the blueprint for that construction, he identifies Christ Jesus Himself as the "chief cornerstone."

In Paul's day, a cornerstone was a large flat foundation stone--the largest, most solid, and most carefully shaped stone of the entire structure. On this stone the corner of the building was set, joining the two walls together and uniting them into one structure. In the same way, it is in Christ-and through His work on the cross--that "the whole building is joined together," and that two are made one. It is in Christ that barriers are broken down and hostility is put to death.

In this case, there would be no building at all without that cornerstone, because, as Paul writes in verse 23, it is in Him that the "whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord   . . . built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

It is in Christ, our cornerstone, that our unity originates, and it is in Him that it continues. We are reconciled to each other only as we are reconciled in Christ. It is an amazing double reconciliation that we have the opportunity to live out every day--a double reconciliation between man and God and between a divided humanity.

Father,

Thank You for opening the way--through Christ and the price He paid for my redemption--for me to come to You. I praise You for the "double reconciliation" that ended my separation from You and my separation from Your people. Help me to keep my heart fixed on You today, resting on You and not on any other foundation.

Please read Ephesians 2:11-22. This is the text that Pastor Rob will teach from on Sunday, November 7.

 ¹¹Therefore, 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)-- ¹²remember 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. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²²And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

For those who are in Christ, Paul tells us, everything is changed. There's no more name-calling--no more labeling as "uncircumcision" or "alien" or "outsider." No excluding on the basis of racial differences or ethnicity or class distinctions, no more barriers based on physical characteristics or religious traditions.

In Christ we are one. Unified. Built together.

At the cross, old social orders and rules about who can and can't belong based on race or class or dietary customs are abolished.

Now, we stand together, united in Christ. "Together we are his house," Paul tells us (v. 20, NLT), "carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord" (v. 21).

Father,

Lead me on a path of unity with all who are in Christ. Open my eyes to the ways I can put this truth into action. Change the way I speak and see and touch the people You bring into my life. Let me love people with Your love. Change me for Your glory.