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­­­­LSB  Ephesians 2:11-22 Pt. 3

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One
            Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
            “I dwell on a high and holy place,
            And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
            In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
            And to revive the heart of the contrite.
      16 “For I will not contend forever,
            Nor will I always be angry;
            For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
            And the breath of those whom I have made.
      17 “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;    I hid My face and was angry,
            And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.
      18 “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
            I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
      19 Creating the praise of the lips.
            Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”
            Says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”
      20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
            For it cannot be quiet,
            And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
      21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

17 And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

We begin this morning slightly different than our usual method where we read the passage together that we will be studying in a bit more depth.  I wanted to read the Isaiah 57 passage to give context to our Ephesians passage.  Peace peace to him who is near, and to him who is far.

Paul is drawing from the old testament in his argument for a unity between jews, the old economy of God's reaching out to the world, and gentiles, who are now the new people God is populating His kingdom with.

And Pauls message is obvious.  Why do you jews have a problem with God calling non jews from all of the nations into His presence, when through Isaiah, and many other prophets, that's exactly what God said He would do.

The whole point of His Son dying in payment for the sins of anyone who believes on Him was for the floodgates to open to let the nations come to God.  That was His plan throughout all of His dealings with the jewish nation.  

He told them often.  There's nothing special about you that I chose you.  His compassion is not isolated.  Not selective.  He chose them so that through them the promise to offer peace to the whole world would have an avenue to flow eventually to every nation.  

It shouldn't be a problem.  It was the long game right from the start.  Why are you surprised that God has wrought what He stated He would do?  Peace to those who are near and peace to those who were far off.  On schedule.  According to His master plan.  It was never just about you, Israel.  He isn't your private God.  He owns the whole earth.  He is King over all of the nations.

Jesus alluded to this same truth, didn't he.  In John chapter 10 we read;

14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

One flock.  One shepherd.  But other sheep not of the fold of judaism that He is addressing.  He isn't talking about life on other planets people, he's talking about God's grand plan to call out a people for Himself from all of the nations.  God is calling sons from every ethnic group on earth to be His own.

And Paul was the tip of the spear on something brand new that God was doing.  Gentile believers in God who were quite independent from judaism.

Judaism had devolved.  Very similar to the devolution of christianity into a false religion of works that required the reformation in the 1500's, judaism had also devolved into a system of righteousness through law keeping.  It was the very essence of man made religion having had layers upon layers of centuries of man generated traditions.

You elevate yourself to be good enough for God through washings and cleansings and fastings and repetitious meaningless prayers and tithes and an observance of sabbath that became ludicrous.  Religiosity bathed in pride over your own self generated righteousness.  

It was abomination to a God who we just read in Isaiah was looking for those who were contrite over their sinfulness and lowly in their estimation of themselves against a glorious and Holy God.

When God set Israel aside, after they murdered His Son, it was a clean break, and Paul came to the gentiles requiring nothing more than the dependence of faith in the finished work of Christ as expiation for the offense of their sins against a holy God.

The whole book of Galatians is written as the record of the challenge of false doctrines and then conflict that the jews brought against Paul.  No circumcision, no jewishness, no following jewish ceremonial and civil laws required, no nothing of the old religion brought into the new covenant.

The good news, the message that we call the gospel, which means good news, is that all men are born into a fallen race that is at enmity with the Creator and judgement is imminent to every sinner, which we all are, but God has made a way of escape through the death, in our place, of His own Son.  Even death on a cross.  

The due and deserved punishment was absorbed by Jesus.  And God offers free reconciliation back to Himself for all who believe and want to come out of sin and live by faith.

This is a free salvation, a rescue, out of a rebellion against God.  From sinful rebellion into peace with God.  From being enemies to being friends.  The two are mutually exlusive.  You have to leave the sin behind in order to live in peace with God.  

The whole paragraph we're looking at is about peace.  

Eph. 2:17 And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;

Peace is the subject.  We're in a discussion about unity with other believers, but that unity is based on something we all hold in common.  Peace.  With God.  Jews with all their baggage and religiosity and jumping through religious hoops, and gentiles who don't have a clue about all of that stuff, both come to peace with God through exactly the same means.

Jesus is the door.  Jesus is the truth.  Jesus is the source of spiritual life.  Reconciliation with God, of former enemies, only happens one way.  Jesus takes the punishment for their sins.  And Jesus provides His righteousness to their account.  

Jesus is the common denominator to get from enmity with God, to peace with God.  Only one pathway to peace.  So let's talk about peace and also the problem that requires a peace, enmity.  We can't fully understand the solution unless we understand the problem.

For context, let's quickly back track over ground we've already covered, and look at this word enmity, so that we can have a full context for our word this morning, peace.

12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship 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 formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man, making peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in Himself put to death the enmity.

We are enemies of God, hostile to God because of sin.  We are born into a rebellion.  For the sake of human terms, let's say I'm born into clan McDonald in Scotland in the 1500's and a few miles away is clan Campbell.  Enemies for centuries.  And I'm an enemy of all in Clan Campbell simply because I was born to McDonalds.  My clan is at war with their clan.

On a bigger scale, I was born into Adam's race.  And on the day Adam rebelled against His Creator and God, he was locked into a condemnation and death that has traveled genetically to every person born in his family.  All of us.

Satan did that when he told Eve lies about God and convinced her, with her husband, to dis-obey God's command.  They were trapped.  God promised death for disobedience and spiritual death, removal from God.  Sin is a barrier, a block.  Punishment for a single sin is eternity away from God in torment.  And all of us are born into that mess and add to our debt daily.

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Beloved, that's really really good news.  Not that I escape the hell I deserve, that would be good enough in itself, but much more, that the enmity between myself and God is removed.  Sent to the cross and paid in full by the blood of Jesus.  This is real.  As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  Psa. 103:12

Not only do I escape hell, but I have a home in heaven.  I've been adopted into God's family.  He's made a place for me at His table.  I will enjoy Him . . . forever.  

Raise your hand if you're familiar with the first question and first answer in the Westminster catechism.  Anyone.  Here it is;

What is the chief end of man?  (IOW why are we here?  What's our purpose?)
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Q1: What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever. Q2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him? The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

It almost makes you think we should dust off the old catechism and re-discover it.  Right?  

We could take a logical step here and ask, what is the hindrance to man enjoying the end that God created him for?  Answer.  Sin.  Rebellion.

OK, we've painted the dark background for our contrast.  Peace.  Peace is when the war and condemnation and judgement that we were born into is removed by forgiveness.  Peace is first peace with God.  And then by natural extension.  Peace with our fellow man.

17 And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;

Who is the preacher in the Isaiah passage?  Yahweh.  The Lord.  Jesus is the Lord.  You say, how then has Jesus preached to people in Ephesus?  He sends us.  How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”  Isa. 52:7

We are the very mouthpiece of Yahweh when we bring the good news of salvation to people who are perishing.

I'm hoping to get finished with Ephesians 2 this morning but there's more to say about peace.  From Isaiah 57 where we began.  We haven't even gotten to Ephesians 2 really.  There's so much to consider just thinking about peace.

Look again with me at Isaiah 57 and look at the contrast of peace with no peace.  Enmity and peace.  Man to God and man to man.  

      19 Creating the praise of the lips.
            Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”
            Says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”
      20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
            For it cannot be quiet,
            And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
      21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

So many many big questions are answered right here.  Why is it that my youtube channel when I'm looking for something 15 minutes long to watch while I eat my lunch has titles like;  Nuclear War is Imminent in 2024. Is the Israel Hamas conflict in end times prophecy.  Trump will be murdered if necessary.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  on and on ad infinitum.

You can scare yourself to death, or you can say, God is sovereign over everything.  I'm just an armchair watcher of the conflict.  The root cause is enmity with God.  Man is an island unto himself without God.  Completely selfish and prideful.  Full of venomous evil.  Look around you.  War is the end result of enmity with God.  Separation from God.  It spills over in mans relationships with man.

Listen, we need to entrench ourselves in Jesus last words to the apostles.  Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you.  We may need to hunker down way deep into that peace.  In this world where tribulation is promised and seems to be looming threateningly.

Peace is impossible where sin rules.  20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,  For it cannot be quiet,  And its waters toss up refuse and mud.  21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Need proof that this is the very Word of God.  I would invite you to click on your TV or go look for something cheery on YouTube.

Peace is impossible man to man if there is no peace, man to God.  When the connection to God is broken, dead, sin and selfishness is the rule that we live by.  

Think very logically here for a moment.  If this formula for peace is true, and it is, what can a nation expect as the numbers who believe in a God of forgiveness plummet?  What is our prospect for peace, or perhaps we should ask, what is the prospect for the dwindling numbers of God fearers to live peaceably among those who are in turmoil, tossed about like mud in the waves of dis content.  The lack of peace is universal.  

And there is a ratio connection between imminent wrath and judgement to the numbers of God fearing people who dwell in a place.  Abraham kept asking God, would He withold judgement for the sake of the righteous if there were 50 righteous present?  Yes.  40? Yes. 10!?  Yes.  But there weren't 10.  And judgement came.

Our world laughs and mocks that story as an idiotic old legend that is the result of homophobic idiots.  There is no God who judges.  And yet, if you fly in to tall el hammam in Jordan there is an archeological site north of the dead sea where glass formations called trinitite occur that can only be caused by the heat of a nuclear blast.  Scientists standing around scratching their collective heads, saying, it must have been a meteor.  Sodom.

And yet, if you go to the description of the view that Abraham and Lot looked out over the Jordan river from the cliffs north of Jerusalem you will find the green area north of the dead sea on google earth, just as it would have appeared to those men thousands of years ago.  And lot chose the lush green over across the river by Sodom.

Some friends were asking me how close do you think we are to the end, and all I can say is mass wickedness brought the flood in Noah's day, and mass wickedness brought some kind of heat that caused trinitite glass formations in the area described by Abraham and Lot beyond the Jordan where Lot chose to go.  

My personal guess is that we're surpassing the wickedness of both previous judgements and the only reason God hasn't turned judgement loose is because He's counting down to the final person who comes in, in this age of grace.  

I have to believe that just as the doors to the ark were closed and sealed by God himself before the flood, the doors of grace will slam shut on the day that the final called out ones come in, and just as God sent angels to get Lot and his family out of Sodom before the fire rained down, so the rapture will remove all of God's chosen elect people, before the final judgement begins.

Forgive me for my little tangent as I thought out loud about the effect of man, disconnected from God, living in turmoil, in constant agitation like the waves of the sea, churning up muck and refuse continually.

Looking for peace where no peace can ever be found.  Peace is for all who find it inside first, God to man, and then outside, man to man once sin is paid for and God lives inside.  That's the only hope for peace we ever had.  

And just like salt effects and holds back natural decay, so the righteous like salt effect the decay of the sinful world they live in.  But when the salt falls to a percentage so minimal the decay is no longer throttled, no longer held back, then judgement is imminent.  

Well, that was our introduction.  But with the right background context, you can then almost just read through the passage you're studying and the words make sense.  You're just like, well of course, that makes sense, knowing what we know about peace being uniquely available to those who have their sins forgiven.  Of course the whole world is in turmoil.  What else could we expect?

But Paul is re-assuring a group of gentile christians that their claim to be part of God's elect family is on full equal ground with the jews who have all of the previous history with God choosing their nation to bring His revelation to the world.  

The jewish christians aren't somehow higher in status than gentile believers who were just saved out of this mess a week ago.  And he calls on Isaiah to re-affirm his case.  It was God's plan all along.  Peace to those far off, and peace to those who were near.  By God's design and plan.

18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Access.  Both groups come the same way.  Jesus is the door, the way.  And through Him we have a connection to the Father, and we have intimate fellowship.  The Holy Spirit dwells in us who believe.  And it's the same Holy Spirit for jewish christians as it is for gentile christians.  

The Spirit who called out the jewish church at Jerusalem, beginning at Pentecost with Peter preaching, is the same Spirit who calls out gentile believers, far far away from Jerusalem as Paul preaches.

2000 years later, it's still happening the same way.  The good news is preached and some within it's hearing will be called to belief.  Quickened from the dead by the same Holy Spirit who was at work at the beginning.  Access in one Spirit to the Father.

Just as a quick aside.  If you're looking for a verse that has the entire trinity together is a single statement, vs. 18 is usable for that.

18 for through Him (Christ) we both have our access in one Spirit (the Holy Spirit of God) to the Father.  

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all together.  Christ opened the way by death for sins, in our place.  The Spirit quickens us from death to life and dwells in us who believe, and our fellowship is with the Father.  The whole trinity is involved in my rescue and resultant life.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

Have you ever sat and read Hebrews chapter 11.  It's like the honor roll of people of faith, right.  We can't help but be in somewhat of awe as we read what God accomplished in ordinary people as He came along side and made them extraordinary.

These gentiles felt like third class citizens in the kingdom.  The jewish christians let them know that even if perhaps God let them in, they were sub standard to the jews who God chose first.  We're not sure you're in, but Paul insists you are, so maybe, but even if you are, us jews tower over you in rank.

You gentiles are only strangers and sojourners in our country.  You aren't citizens.  But Paul comes to their rescue.  19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,
 
We may have been far off, and late to the party, but according to Paul, we are co-equals in the kingdom.  Jesus says something interesting in Luke 13:

29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”

In Jesus, we all get an equal seat at that table.  There won't be any celebrity christians there.  MacArthur tells the story of asking one of his sons what it means when Jesus said the first will be last and the last will be first.  And his son thought about it, and said, well, if the first are last and the last are first, it means we'll all finish together in a dead heat.  Exactly.

We fuss and fume here over the E in DEI.  Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion.  But in heaven there will finally be perfect DEI.  We're all equal.  

Finally, to close this section, Paul uses 2 metaphors to paint 2 pictures of our relationship with every other redeemed and spirit filled christian, no matter what our status was or is in this world.  Slave or free, male or female, rich or poor,  jew or gentile, black or white or red or yellow.  And he begins in v19 that we've been considering.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

The first metaphor is a household.  And in that household he mentions strangers, those are people we don't trust, that we keep at arms length, not that anymore, and he mentions sojourners.  Sojourners were friends that we trusted and that could stay with us, but as guests without all the privileges of family.

But he says you're neither of those any more, now you are citizens.  Members of the family together with all other members of God's family.  We all hold the same privileges as members of God's household.  Neither strangers to keep at arms length or guests without privilege, we are equals as members of the same family now.  Jesus says in Hebrews 2, I'm not ashamed to call them brothers.  

Next metaphor.  Paul jumps from a household with equal members of a family to the house itself.  A building.  And he says we are being combined together into a common structure.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.  And that again is an old testament idea completed in Christ.  He is the cornerstone that the builders rejected.

The idea is from Psalm 118:22 and it is profound.  
22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is from the LORD, and it is marvelous in our eyes.…

The builders who rejected are the jews.  And God is building a new creation a new building, distinct and apart from those builders who rejected . . . Jesus.

The church is something entirely new, entirely separated from Israel and Judaism, although they are welcome to come into it like any other family member, through the blood of Christ.

So this new building God is creating, the new covenant in Christ's blood, has as it's cornerstone, the very Son of God who the builders rejected and murdered.  He is God's cornerston for the church.

And then God laid out the foundation, from His cornerstone, the apostles and prophets, and upon their doctrine, and we are the unique stones that are fitted together perfectly to form the structure.  

You realize that every single believer is unique.  No two stones are alike.  That's why that language is there about being built together, fit together to form a holy sanctuary, a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

I love thinking about DNA.  Every christian that has ever been called out of this world is unique.  God made each of us different from each other.  Our DNA forms a single word of characters which if put end to end would be long enough to wrap around the earth about 3 times, if I've remembered that quote right.  Your DNA is a single word unique and different from my DNA.

And God knows each of us by our unique name.  And He is fitting us perfectly together, no two building blocks in the building are alike, but God, the master builder is fitting the whole thing together in perfection.

Think about that truth a little bit and then tell me if you'd like to be in conflict with your other family members that God chose and made as equals.  It suddenly sounds rather insane.

Unity in the church is rather like some of the other truths that are both positional later, in the kingdom, and practically difficult in this old world with all of it's baggage.  Some day we will have perfect unity.  Each building block perfectly fitted together with each other building block to form a common house, for the Spirit of God.

And so we've come full circle back to where we began a few weeks ago talking about the worlds obsession with DEI.  Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and we have discovered that in God's design for us, DEI is a positional truth that we will inherit someday in heaven.  All of us perfectly interwoven together in perfect equality.

Why would we be surprised that in Satan's messed up world there is no real DEI to be attained.  And any ideological system that claims it can accomplish that, like marxism, is utter miserable failure.  

DEI is accomplished by God alone, and as close as we'll ever see it realized here, is when christians join together in groups and the Spirit makes unity happen.  Even here.  Even now.  Sweet christian fellowship is as close as we'll ever get to God's designed goal, in this world.  Embrace it.

There you go.  See, I told you I'd finish the section this morning.  But it's so rich and so important to the church, and so marvelous, we feel like we could never leave.  Just stay right here in the glow of this wealth forever.