“Unity in Christ” Ephesians 2:11-22
- Youth & Outreach Director, Hunter Newton preached this sermon on February 5, 2023
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Audio Transcript
It’s between 30 to 33 AD or so. The Messiah, Savior of the world, walking the earth, God in the flesh. You know, I’m talking about Jesus by this point, the redeemer of mankind, the one that’s been promised since Adam and Eve first fell into sin. He’s speaking to his followers and he’s telling them that people will know that they follow him by the love that they have for one another. This is right out of John chapter 13.
And it probably doesn’t seem too surprising to us to see or understand. This is how people will know that we are marked as followers of Jesus.
Unfortunately, though, this is not how a lot of the world views Christians. We’re seen as the people who are more anti anything we’re known for, not for, than what we are for. We’re known for the ways we fight amongst one another, whether that’s on differences in music preference or pews versus chairs, or so on and so forth. And it seems like there’s so much infighting sometimes people say or view or understand between Christians that people are often, and including within the church, wondering, left to wonder, how on earth are we supposed to carry out or be on mission for the sake of the Gospel?
That’s a great question. I’m glad you asked it. That’s what we want to know. That’s what we’re going to be looking at today in Ephesians chapter two, looking at this idea, our main point, say the main point of the argument. That’s what it’s sermon really kind of is.
It’s trying to show you, convince you of some thing from God’s word. We’re looking at our unity in Christ, the case for this, how we’re supposed to reach the world, how we’re supposed to be united, what we’re supposed to do for the sake of Christ and His gospel. That’s our main point today, looking at our unity in Christ. We also have just three supporting points to that. So that’s our overarching idea theme.
We are brought near by his blood. We became one body, and we are built on Christ as cornerstone. And all of us, like I said, is going to work together to hopefully show you how we’re united in Christ and why that matters so much, how we are one body. And so if you’ve heard me, you can start making your way to Ephesians chapter 2, 11 through 22. That’s where we’re going to be camping out today.
If you’ve heard me preach before, you know I like to share fun facts and my one this morning is that if you think about, like, table salt, table pepper, like table pepper, far too spicy for me. I can’t do it. There’s flavors of ketchup that are too spicy. And so that’s my fun fact. And sometimes people will say you’re a picky heater.
That’s what I’ve heard. There’s nasty rumors going around about that. And to them I say, I can’t help that. A lot of food is just gross. So that’s where we’re going.
Yeah, if you don’t know who I am. Hi, my name’s Hunter, charge of students and outreach here at Lake Wisconsin. All right, let’s just get to our text this morning. Ephesians, chapter 2, 11 through 22.
In God’s Word we read so then. And remember that at one time you were gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcised, by those called the circumcised, which is done in the flesh by human hands. At that time, you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility in his flesh.
He made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulation, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body. Through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. He came, proclaimed the good news of peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit. So, like I said, we’ve got our three points today. Brought near by his blood, we became one body and built on Christ’s cornerstone.
You’ll notice on the slides and your bulletins just really, just dividing up the text from division statements. So brought nearby his blood. We’re camping out in verses 11 through 13. Let’s go ahead and read that again. So then remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh.
And we’ll just pause there. This is important to keep in mind as we’re reading these different letters throughout the New Testament. Like these are being written to a body of believers. This is being written to the church. Right.
Of course, we’ve talked about at Ephesus, but they wouldn’t have been a whole lot different in terms of their faith in you and I. They’re trying to figure out how to walk with Jesus. And this is incredibly personal. You were Gentiles in the flesh. They are called the uncircumcised by those called the circumcised, which is done in the flesh by human hands.
There was a literal, physical distinction between the two groups of people, between Jew and Gentile. At that time, you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, basically saying you’re. You were excluded from God’s chosen people and you were foreigners to the covenants of promise. Without hope and without God in the world, there’s no reason to hope. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Distant, far off, separated. Those are three words that could describe our condition before we were brought near by the blood of Jesus. Jesus. Distant, far off, separated, out there, not a part of the in group. Out there, not near what we so desperately needed.
Out there without hope. It’s not my words. It’s just right there in the text. Those three words described our condition before we were brought near by the blood of Christ. The text here says we’re without hope, and it’s absolutely right to describe us this way.
If we do not know Jesus, there is no real lasting, genuine hope. That’s the difference between we’ve talked about before hoping in Christ. It’s just a promise of not yet, but it’s coming versus a hope. A lot of times in the world is very, very circumstantial. Our hope is in a promised certain future.
Without Christ, there is none of that. Without the great light of the world, there is nothing but absolute darkness. And we do not have to look far or wide to see that there is darkness in the world or have a sense that things are not as they’re supposed to be. But praise God that He is the great light that casts out darkness.
Yet we also do not remain far off, distant, or separated. In Ephesians 17:12, we read in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time. He knew exactly what he was doing at the exact right time. He had a purpose.
And that’s to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him. In him we have also received an inheritance because we are predestined according to the plan of the One who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. Brothers and sisters, if you are in Christ, you know that we were redeemed by his blood, told the mystery of his will. And if we go Back to Ephesians 1:5, we find out that we are chosen to be adopted as sons and daughters of the Most High. That’s really good news.
Our gracious King did not leave us far away when this. In the church, it’s really easy for us to kind of be acquainted with these words. And to an outsider, maybe they don’t seem as familiar or sometimes they become too familiar. Regardless of circumstance, I think that the blood of Jesus can sometimes be that for us. Yes, we celebrate the blood, we sing about the blood, and really we kind of forget, like to the outside world, that seems really weird.
Like why? Yeah, I went to church and I ate and I ate his body and drank his blood this morning. Right. We’re evangelicals, so memorially speaking. But what does that mean?
What is so powerful about the blood of Jesus? Maybe you’re familiar with the greatest, I would say the greatest evangelist of the 21st century, Billy Graham. He tells a story. It’s a true story. He was invited to give a series of revival messages over.
It was either Oxford or Cambridge. You have to forgive me, I can’t remember. But the Harvard, really of Harvards, he’s invited to go over there. He’s so excited. And he’s crafts these beautiful messages, these elegant messages, including different philosophical points.
And the first two to three nights of the crusade, absolutely nothing happens. People aren’t coming to know the Lord as they do at pretty much all of his other crusades. People aren’t being stirred in affection for Jesus. I’m sure some are, but this is the way he tells the story, he says. But then he went that last night, looked at what he had written out and absolutely scrapped it.
And he said, I am going to teach and preach about the blood of Jesus. And so throughout that whole message, he spent time pointing to different parts of scripture. Basically his biblical theology of the bloodiest bloody blood cross he could possibly picture or find. And when he did that, thousands of people of the world’s smartest individuals came to know Christ. Friends, there is absolutely something so beautiful, so powerful in the blood of Jesus.
No other blood can cry out that it didn’t do anything wrong. No other blood can cry out that it didn’t deserve the punishment that it faced. No other blood can pay for sin but his. There is something in incredibly powerful in the blood of Jesus. And by it we are brought near.
Paul is setting the stage here in this paragraph for how he’s going to make his main points. He wants us to know that we are united in Christ, but first he wants us, he has to remind us of who we were, of who we are. Now, to borrow language from Ephesians 2, right? Because remember, they didn’t have chat and there wasn’t chapter Ephesians 2, verse 1. And Paul’s writing this.
So throughout this paragraph he’s making the case. Ephesians 2 tells us that we were dead in our sins. That’s who we were. We were not just simply swimming out at sea, in need of a life raft, brothers and sisters. We were at the bottom of the ocean with cement shoes, cement gloves, cement, whatever, completely dead.
But God, who is rich in mercy, reached into our lives and made us alive. And that is true of you, if you are in Christ. But God made us alive. We were not a part of the family of God, but God chose to bring us near. In Hebrews 9, 13, 14, we read, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkling those who were defiled and sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself though blemish to God, cleanse our consciousness from dead works so that we can serve the living God?
Friends, there is something in the blood. It does things that the blood of goats and bulls and rams cannot. The blood of the perfect atoning sacrifice. We don’t know the writer of Hebrews for sure. I think it’s Paul there.
My cards are on the table. We don’t know the writer of Hebrews for sure, but this is really similar language here, something about the blood.
Because of the blood of Jesus, we’ve been brought near to Christ. What was true of us before we were dead? We were far off, distant, separated. Now we are near and we’ve become a part of the body. We’ve been Made a part of the family as everyone else in Christ.
We are part of one body. Verses 14 through 17. For he is our peace who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility in his flesh. And so we’ll just stop there for a second. It’s pure speculation and a lot of commentators parts, but I think it makes some sense at least.
You have these two really distinct groups of people, Jews and Gentiles, and we’ll get more to that in a second. But if you’re familiar with the temple courts in the Old Testament, there’s each wall became more and more exclusive and the Gentiles had to be on the outer wall. They had to be in that most outer part. And so I can’t help but think if you’re a Gentile reading this and you’re familiar with Jewish custom to this point and you come to know Christ, this wall has come down. You are no longer far off.
Distant are separated. We’ve been brought near Christ. Sorry, I’ll keep reading. Verse 15. He made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed regulations, so he might create himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace, Jew and Gentile.
No, we’re now one. He did this so he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross. What did he do on the cross? He shared and he spilled his blood. He gave up his life for you and me, by which he put the hostility to death.
As part of the good news of the cross, he came, proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who are near. It’s good news to Jew and gentile, right? Romans 1:16. For I’m no longer ashamed of the Gospel. It’s good news of salvation for all who believe, both to the Jew and also to the Greek.
Christ brought both Jews and Gentiles to himself. We might look to this as both Republicans, Democrats, Russians, Ukrainians, any number of historical enemies and the story is the same. Jesus reconciles both groups to God equally in Christ, who became one body, the church. See if you ever hear somebody say the big C Church, capital C Church is talking about the universal body. Believers past, present, future, all over the globe, one body, the big C universal church by his blood.
We’re united with believers all over the world. This is regardless of race, financial status, whatever football team root for, whether you are okay with listening to Led Zeppelin or not. Led Zeppelin would never make its way into your house. Whether you like chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream. That’s kind of silly.
But whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever. If you know Jesus, we become, we are one. If you want to be associated with those people or not, if they know Christ, we don’t get an option.
And I mentioned before, well, we need to hit on this a little bit, you and I. It’s really easy to look with our 21st century Western eyes and we really have some maybe idea, maybe no idea at all of the hostility between Jews and Gentiles is not just, oh, man, I can’t wait to be a part of this. Like, no, they hate each other. Like, it’s just blunt, honest, and obviously not everybody. But it was a real divide.
There was real genuine animosity. There is distinct difference between Jew and Gentile. I’m speaking this to praise God for the work he’s done among the Gentiles, because unless you’re ethnically Jewish, you are a Gentile, it’s okay. I am too. Right?
Yeah. That checks out mom and dad. Yeah, but Jew and Gentile. Because I can’t help but think there had to have been some arrogance on the part of Israel. We have God, right?
We see in the text we are circumcised. We are physically marked different. And I can’t help but think that on the side of the Gentile, there was some looking down, looking up maybe or disdainly at the. Those people who think they’ve got it all figured out. There was real, genuine, probably hatred amongst them.
And so the cross, the hostility of it, it’s no longer there. The cross made a way for. For that hostility, the dividing wall to go away. We became one body. No longer Jew nor Gentile, male nor female.
We’re all one body. That’s. That’s Galatians 3. 28. Friends, I love you enough to tell you that if you claim to know Jesus, if you claim to be a Christian, if you are in Christ, you and I do not any longer have the option to dislike or hate someone for any reason.
Just not an option. No longer for us.
Because Jesus did not hate you and me when we were his enemy. We were not just not on his team friends. We were active enemies of the cross. We were just not. We were just not just playing a different team.
We were actively working against him. Romans 5. 8 says, But God proves his love, his own love for us. And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And brother or sister, if you believe you have to clean up or get your act together before you can come to Jesus.
That is just simply not true. It does not. The text does not Say, go ahead and read it for yourself sometime. The text does not say we can. Jesus died for us when we got our act together.
The text does not say Jesus died for us when we started becoming a little bit nice to him, hated him a little bit less when we started smelling better, when our finances got in order. No, the text says, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He’s always been doing this. Colossians 1:20 says through him to reconcile everything to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. I’m saying, and I think there’s two areas, especially where the American church not even just speaking directly to Lake Wisconsin, but the American church really probably could stand to grow in this area. And that’s probably in terms of racial unity and political unity. And before your ears perk up and a bead of sweat starts coming across your forehead, no, I’m not getting onto you or yelling at you, but I think it’s important that we have this discussion.
It’s not me yelling or talking at you. It’s a discussion the American church really could stand to grow in racial and political unity. And not by this means that we all need to become one of something, but just that we are united. We’re on the same team. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Probably you’ve heard the famous quote, we are most racially divided on Sunday morning. I’m not claiming to have answers to solve either of these areas of unity problems, but I am inviting us to ask the questions, what can I do? How can I listen? In what areas could I be growing? And again, I’m simply just pointing out this is, I think, part of a glaring need in the American church.
And if we’re in Christ, this means that we’re also united politically. And like I said, this doesn’t mean we all vote one way or vote a different way. Because Jesus was not a Democrat, he was not a Republican. You and I do not know how he would have voted. You and I do not know how Jesus would have voted because you might be quick to say he cares absolutely about pro life.
Yeah, he’s literally the most pro life person. He’s God and made life. He cares about it. He absolutely is pro life. But also he does care about the disenfranchised, those who are displaced, those who do not have not living their traditional home, refugees, immigrants.
He cares about things on both sides.
So should Christians be involved in politics 100%? Absolutely. However, what’s important to keep in mind is that you and I do not bow down to the donkey or the elephant. You and I, as followers of Christ, bow down to the Lamb and the Lamb alone. Our hope, our unification, does not depend on who’s in office and who’s not.
We have absolutely no reason to be divided along political lines. We have absolutely no reason to say I won’t fellowship with this person or that person. We have absolutely no reason to say I won’t be on mission for the sake of the Gospel because they voted for somebody who had a D or an R next to their name. That’s not an option. Not excusable, Unacceptable.
We have no reason to be divided along political or racial lines. We have every reason to be united in Christ. And we can celebrate this becoming one body, this unification, this becoming one. Because we are built on Christ’s cornerstone, verses 18 through 22. For through him we both have access in one spirit.
Talking about the Holy Spirit to God the Father. To the. To the Father it says so. So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, right? No longer far off, distant or separated, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household built on the foundation the apostles and prophets of Christ.
Jesus Himself is the cornerstone. We share the apostles and prophets teaching, right? We’re literally reading an apostles teaching this morning. Built on Christ in Him, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple. In the Lord talked about the body of Christ.
In him, you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit. With Christ as our cornerstone, we can celebrate becoming one body that was brought near by the blood of Christ. Friends, that’s really good news. He is how we grow. In verse 18 we read that we have access to God the Father through the Spirit of God.
We share one God. We share the teachings of the apostles and prophets. And we know our great cornerstone through his word, through his teaching to his people. Because of our union in Christ, we recognize that we are the people of God, united by the Son of God, who is aided by the Spirit of God to equip us through the Word of God.
This is good news. Maybe it’s helpful to think of it this way. A prayer I’ve been praying recently is a lot of times we say, lord, I’ve been praying, Lord, when I call you Lord, help me to mean it. Lord, when I call you Lord, help me to mean it. If you are not familiar with that word or you just need a refresher.
So when we talk about capital L, Lord, we’re talking about of course God. But when we call him Lord, we’re saying everything else is in submission to him. Maybe it’s helpful to think of it as God has the deed to the to your heart. He sits in the driver’s seat. He calls the shots.
Lord, when I call you Lord, help me to meet it. When I say that when God’s word is talking about calling him Lord, he is first, and there should not even be a distant second place. Jesus says, if you want to follow me, it should look almost like you don’t like your family. He doesn’t even say, just not like I was sugarcoating. He says it should look almost like you hate your family in comparison to because you want me so bad.
So he’s saying, when you call me Lord, I am first, and there is no second. When you call me Lord, everything else lines up under me. And so if all of a sudden we take Lord and he’s supposed to be first, and all of a sudden it’s finances or kids or social status or fill in anything up here, all of a sudden it’s not right, or you think of him. The word here uses cornerstone, of course, corners cornerstone. Really.
Usually it says the year on it and when it was made. And that’s what we think of when we think of cornerstone. But everything in a way comes out of and is built to and from that cornerstone. So you think of it as the cornerstone of the foundation. If the foundation of a house is not built right.
If I went and pulled the basement out of your house, it wouldn’t be much of a house anymore, right? Christ as cornerstone. We are brought near by the blood. We became one body because we’re built on one foundation, one cornerstone. This is not new.
Jesus himself says this in Luke 24:27. He says then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself and all the scriptures. He says, God’s word is about me. Friends. What does this mean for unity in him, though?
Why does that matter? Why is that? Why is that a big deal? Matters because we share him. We have a cornerstone.
Since our primary identity is in Christ, since He is the most important relationship we have and enjoy, that should bring us together. He’s our first priority, together, collectively as the body of Christ. John 15:5 is probably familiar to a lot of us, maybe not to all, and that’s totally fine. But in Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches, the one who remains in me, and I him produces much fruit because you can do nothing without me. And it’s important.
Yes, this is how we grow. No fruit can just squeeze itself and produce much fruit or grow that way. That’s important. We know that. But also what’s true is we’re all connected, right?
He’s our life source. We run through him. If you plug unplugged a refrigerator, it’s not going to do much anything. It’s just a big box. Same thing is said in John 15.
If the branch is not connected to the vine, it’s dead. It’s not going to grow. It’s not going to do what it’s supposed to do. But while it’s true that this is how we grow, it’s also important. We share one vine, we share one life source, we share one Christ.
Maybe it’s helpful to think about it this way. So how do you. How quickly you bond with somebody when you find out they have a shared interest? Whether it’s it’s knitting or it’s baseball or it’s a number of sorts of things. How quickly do you buy and.
Oh, you like that. So do I. You like this about it. So do I. You like this.
And the list goes on. And you have common ground with a person. I think about when I became friends with Tom Winter. We both were like, I like bow hunting, like a lot. You do too.
Oh, okay. And so it’s like before you know it, you got phones out showing different deer you killed. What kind of compound, Bodie, you pull back. Compound. Yeah.
Not crossbow. And then different carbon arrows that you shoot or different tree stands. And the best ways to eat Little Debbie’s and those strawberry shortcake rolls, you gotta smush them up and crunch them up because otherwise they just don’t taste the same. And if you know what I’m talking about, you know exactly what I’m talking about. But we quickly became friends because we had the common shared interest.
How much more than. How much more than. Should this bond be intensified with that shared cornerstone, with that shared foundation?
Infinitely. So I’m not saying we’re all going to probably hang out on every Friday night or that you’re going to be best friends with every Christian, but because we’re in Christ, that brings us together. We should look different to the world. A group of people that have no business being or liking one another, being together, liking one another, that should bring us together.
Because we’ve been brought near by the blood of Christ and we became one group who are built on Christ as a cornerstone. We can enjoy unity in him. It’s not really even a can, it’s a should. Because what would it look like if the body of believers here became more united? Who would hear the gospel?
How much service would we get done? How much invite. I’m just inviting you to dream. What would it look like what would it look like if the body believers became more united here? But then also think about in the greater Lodi area, Wisconsin, America, the globe.
Friends, brothers and sisters, let me just invite you to dream about with that. Dream about that with me as we wrap up our time together. Lord, you are so good. You are so patient. You are faithful to us even when we are not faithful.
We lift up Beth’s daughter Katie this morning for the whole process. Lord, would you give health and patience and wisdom to the doctors as things are happening right now that we have no control over? We pray for physical, for everything to go on physically, but also that you know that she is loved so deeply spiritually. We. We thank youk for the body of believers here.
We pray that yout’d grow us in unity because of. Of the work that yout did for us. You are so good to us, God, better than we deserve. We pray that yout’d have youe hand on us as we go from this place. It’s your name we pray.
Amen.