Ephesians 2:11-22

A couple of weeks ago my buddy Dave Hughes asked me to share at Campus Ventures in Scottsbluff. So I decided to sketch out my thoughts here before I presented this stuff to CV. (Levi and Stacy, remember the House 122 Bible Study? That was awesome stuff). Well, over the last semester Ephesians 2:11-22 has been resounding in my head. I had never really noticed this theme in Scripture before and so it's just now starting to make an impact in my life.

What does it mean to be to a part of God's people? How do we know who's a member of His covenant family and who's not? Well, this was an important question to the New Testament church. In the past God had always primarily worked with the children of Israel. They were His covenant people, His family. They had a great godly heritage that was filled with a rich tradition of hearing from God Himself. They were God's people.

And so when Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah, the Jews naturally thought that He was their Messiah. If Gentiles wanted to enjoy the blessings of this Jewish Messiah, they had become a part of the Jewish people. This, of course, meant getting circumcision and following the Torah. To the Jews, these were the marks of covenant membership. If you're circumcised, you have your official "I'm a part of God's people" badge. However, if you're not circumcised, then that's a sign that you're on the outside. You're not a part of the club.

Paul addresses this issue in his letter to the Ephesians. Look at 2:11-12.

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)--— 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 (NIV).

Paul asks the Ephesian Gentiles to remember their former plight. There was a time when they were cut off from God's people. Before Jesus came along, there was a deep divide between the circumcised and the uncircumcised. The Jews would look at the Gentiles and say, "I'm sorry, but you're not circumcised. So you're going to have stay on the outside. You can't be a part of God's people." A physical mark on someone's body became the determining factor of whether you're a part of God's family.

Not that not along I watched the movie Glory Road with a bunch of high-school guys. I'm a sucker for sports movies. Well, it tells the story of the 1965 Texas Western basketball team led by Don Haskins to the National Championship against the Kentucky Wildcats. The movie is set in the midst of the segration between blacks and whites. Don Haskins ends up fielding an all-black team against an all-white Kentucky team. Although Texas Western was a big underdog they upset the heavy-favored Wildcats. That game completely changed basketball. It opened up the door for bigger schools to start recruiting black players.

That's the same sort of deal that was happening here. We have two completely different ethnic groups that wouldn't have anything to do with each other. That's when Jesus steps into the picture. Paul writes,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by 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, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

You see contrary to some's expections, Jesus isn't just a Jewish Messiah. He's also the Savior of the World. Therefore, those who in the past were far away from God's family (i.e the Gentiles) have been brought near to God. In other words, Jesus' death and resurrection didn't just set us right with God (2:1-10). It also set us right with each other (2:11-22). Not only did the Father send Jesus to fix the relationship between God and man, but He also sent Jesus to fix the relationship between disconnected and isolated human beings. After all, God wanted to create a diverse community of believers, a family filled with every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Well, how did He do this? By removing the barrier between Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were using God's Law, the Torah, as a boundary line between Jews and Gentiles. A "us versus them" mentality. Thus, when Jesus died on the cross, he fulfilled God's Law. He obeyed it completely and his death was the sacrifice that put an end to all further sacrifice. His death completely satisfied the demands of the Torah. So observing the Torah could no longer be used as an ethnic barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Thus, Jesus' death and resurrection initiated the New Covenant between God and man. As Paul says in Romans 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

So by His death and resurrection, Jesus creates a new community of God. This community has no ethnic boundaries. No longer can somebody look at you say, "You don't have the right marks on your body, so you can't come in." The mark of being in the family of God is the indwelling Spirit of God. This is the badge of New Covenant membership. Look at v. 19-22.

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