Word of Salvation – February 2010

 

JESUS, THE BUILDER AND DESTROYER, Peter Smit

Sermon 4 of a series on Ephesians (Series title – “Ephesians: Portraits of the living church”)

(Could also be used on Easter Sunday)

 

Text – Ephesians 2:11-22

 

After the Second World War, defeated Germany was divided up into 4 parts: an American, British, French and Soviet occupation zone. Berlin was also divided into 4 sectors. In 1948, the Soviet authorities tried to annex the whole city but failed. That same year, the Soviet part of Germany became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with East Berlin as its capital.

 

Until 1961, East Germans could move freely between the Western and Eastern parts of Berlin. On August 12, 1961 the East German authorities decided to close the border around the Western sectors of Berlin in order to prevent people from fleeing East Berlin. The next day, early morning August 13, West Berlin was surrounded by barbed wire. Traffic at the border was halted. Over time, the barbed wire was replaced by a 3.6m high wall. Along the Wall's east side ran a 'death zone', an area controlled by guards. A total of 293 watch towers and 57 bunkers were built along the 155km long border. The guards were given the order to shoot at escapees. As a result 192 people were killed in an attempt to cross the border.

 

In 1987 six people in Leipzig, Germany started a prayer group. They gathered at St. Nicholas Church each Monday night and prayed for peace. Afterwards, they would stand outside with a candle for one hour.

 

Each week, their numbers grew. They would sing, pray, march, and hold candles. The church could hold 2,000 people, but that was too small to hold all of East Germany's desire to be free from oppression. Monday 16 October 1989 saw 120,000 people in the streets of Leipzig; there was no violence. There were non-violent demonstrations all over East Germany.

 

Then on November 9, 1989, travel restrictions were lifted. And the wall was brought down.

 

The Berlin wall represented a division; a wall of hostility and separation.

East Germans were regarded as foreigners. Prisoners in the own land. Unable to access the prosperity of the west. One nation was divided.

 

The Berlin wall is a picture of the wall that separated us from God.

Before Christ’s cross and resurrection you and I were separated from God. But Easter Sunday is a reminder that…

 

1. Through his resurrection Jesus destroyed the wall that separated you from God.

Like people in East Germany you were cut off. Cut off from God. Cut off from being a citizen of heaven.

 

¹¹ Therefore, 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) — ¹² remember 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. Ephesians 2:11-12

 

You didn’t grow up in a Jewish home. That made you a Gentile. No Gentile could come near God. You were not allowed in the temple. Cut off from all God’s salvation.

As Jesus said to a non Jewish woman…

“for salvation is from the Jews”. John 4:22

At that time before Christ’s resurrection you were separate from Christ:

 

Separate from Christ – all of the great spiritual blessings we receive in Christ would not receive. Think of these blessings: In Ch 1 chosen, forgiven, sealed with the Spirit; in Ch 2 made alive, raised with him and seated in heaven. We were separated from all these blessings before the resurrection.

 

Excluded from citizenship – before Jesus’ cross and resurrection, Israel was the only nation that was led by God. God had dealings only with them. Like aliens we were excluded.

 

Foreigners to the covenants – like East Germans, we could only look at the blessings over the wall. All the promises of God were beyond our reach. None of them could be ours.

 

Without hope, Without God – what a tragic state. Without Christ we were hopeless, helpless and without God. Like hell on earth.

 

Remember the beginning of Chapter 2. We looked at who we were without Christ.

Dead, Enslaved and Condemned.

Then God intervened. He ca me to the rescue.

But God made us alive…

 

We see it again here in verse 13.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

 

You were far from God. You were lost. You were without hope and without God.

But now through Jesus’ shed blood, his death and his rising to new life, you’ve been brought near to God.

 

The spiritual Berlin Wall that separated you from God has been brought down.

Jesus did it by his death and resurrection.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier , the dividing wall of hostility,

 

This wall that Jesus has torn down is not just between us and God, Jesus has torn down the wall that divided J ew and Gentile. Jews hated the Gentiles. Wouldn’t eat with them, wouldn’t talk to them, simply hated them.

 

Jews hated Gentiles b ecause they didn’t keep all the OT ceremonial laws and regulations. Didn’t live the way they did. If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl they would have a funeral for the boy because he had died to them.

 

Jesus is a destroyer. By his death / resurrection he

has destroyed the barrier , the dividing wall of hostility.

 

Jesus by his death canceled out the ceremonial laws. He fulfilled them. They no longer apply. No need for sacrifices, or Jewish rituals. No longer Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, now we can all be one in Christ. Gal 3:28

 

God’s purpose was fulfilled through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

 

God’s purpose in Christ was to create one single new nation.

A new man. A people for himself. A nation of believers from every nation, tribe, language.

From every people group. A spiritual family who live in peace with God and each other because of Jesus. A church that doesn’t live in hostility. But a people who live and reflect God’s peace. The peace of Christ.

 

That’s what God wants for this church.

We live and express the peace of Christ. We love as he loved us. We serve as he served us. We give as he gave to us. We become peacemakers as he made peace for us through his death/ resurrection. We forgive as he has forgiven us.

 

Y ou see that love shown when Christians forgive – forgive enemies. Then the peace of Christ is seen on earth. Wall of hostility is torn down. Let’s think of some examples in our life time.

 

Graham Staines was burned alive with his sons in India and his widow extended forgiveness.

She said, “ It wasn't something I had thought about. But when I heard that the family was dead, I told Esther, my daughter: "We'll forgive those who killed them, won't we?" And she said: "Yes, Mummy, we will."

 

“How was I able to forgive? The truth is that I myself am a sinner. I needed Jesus Christ to forgive me. Because I have forgiveness in my own life, it is possible for me to forgive others.”

 

Or think of the Amish community in October 2006 who came out to mourn the quiet milkman who killed five of their young girls and wounded five more. The Amish Christian family extended forgiveness to the murderer and his family. A chaplain commented on the Amish community saying… “It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed.”

 

Philip Yancey told the story of a group of German Christians who sought the forgiveness of a group of Polish Christians . At first the Poles refused to meet with their German brothers. “The stones of Warsaw are soaked in polish blood, shed by Germans,” they said But as they met together and prayed “forgive us our sins”, they realised they couldn’t pray unless they forgave.

 

At the last Billy Graham evangelistic association conference a few years ago, the son of a man whose father was murdered by a member of an Indian tribe in Ecuador stood next to his father’s murderer, on the platform and introduced him to the conference as his brother in Christ. The Indian man said, “My heart was black and sick in sin, but then I heard that God has sent his son, His blood has washed my heart clean, and I see that God has washed your hearts clean as well.”

 

Jesus unites humanity through the cross. He brings down the wall of division. He makes one people for himself.

 

The cross and resurrection of Jesus made it possible.

Jesus destroyed the wall that separated you from God.

¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Now we can come right into God’s presence. Now God’s peace can be seen on earth.

 

2. Through his resurrection Jesus is building you into a dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

You were separated from Christ .

Excluded from him, foreigners, without hope and without God.

 

But now through the resurrection and ascension, the dividing wall is down and you are being built into a new building.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

 

Now you’re fellow citizens with all God’s people.

Your family - members of God’s household

That’s what we are in this church - family. God’s family. God’s household. His children.

 

Built on one foundation:

The teaching of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone.

 

We can only be the church when we rest on this foundation; when we practice the teaching of the prophets and apostles. These men spoke God’s truth to us. The Word of God is central to our lives. The Word of God lives in our lives.

 

A corner stone was used to plumb the line of building. It set the boundaries.

It was vital that it be true. Jesus is our cornerstone.

We plumb the line of our living off him. He is our ultimate foundation.

The cross, Jesus’ resurrection, his teaching, his word, he is our plumb line. Everything in the Christian life builds on him.

 

²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

 

We’re a living building. We are in the process of being built.

We are becoming a fit habitation for the Lord; a holy temple.

 

God is taking people, bringing them to faith and building them into this dwelling. Fitting these people like living stones together as his church, his building.

Church you are that building. God is taking you, shaping you, building you as individuals into a building where Christ can dwell by his Spirit.

 

God is doing the building, we must do the submitting. Be willing to be shaped by him, moulded. Be a living stone, supporting the others, linked to the others in fellowship, strengthened by the others. That’s what we mean by community, fellowship and service.

 

When we together prayerfully seek to live lives full of his Spirit, then as individuals and collectively as the church we will become a beautiful temple of the Holy Spirit.

God will use us to draw people to Christ.

 

The peace and unity that Jesus won by his death and resurrection, will be experienced in this place. Walls of hostility will be removed. Love of Christ and spiritual unity will overflow.

We will have access to all the grace and mercy and strength that we need from God’s throne. The power of the Holy Spirit will be felt, in every conversation, in every embrace, in every act of service.

 

All of this comes because of Christ – his cross, his death, his resurrection.

All of grace.

All of God.

All for you.

 

Response?

Don’t rebuild walls of hostility. Extend forgiveness. Love like Jesus.

This Easter is there someone you must forgive.

Draw near to God and use the access you have to him that Jesus won for you.

He has the peace you need. He has grace to give you to forgive and love.

Live as God’s holy temple. Be a living stone, connected to the church.

Gather for worship and prayer, reach out and support. Serve, love, be connected to the church. Pray that together we will become a temple fit for God’s Spirit.