Thoughts going in, Sunday July 22nd

Eph 2:11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (which is done in the body by human hands)-- 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in 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. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 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.

            This week we continue the sermon series "God's Blueprint for the Church," using St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians as our text.

            Our passage this week uses very strong "building/construction" imagery. It begins by discussing the specific building material...herein stating that at one time... simply BEING GENTILE... aka not being Jewish meant that one was not suitable building material. This is a very heavy "before & after" statement made by Paul. Once you were nothing, now you are something. So what changed? More specifically what change caused this change in their status? Vs 13 answers that question: But **NOW** in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (14) For he himself is our peace...

            Very often (if one reads them) we come upon the term the "Christ event" used by theologians. What they're trying to get at is the truth presented here by St. Paul, namely, that the birth/death/resurrection of Jesus Christ--the Christ event--is the epicenter of ALL of human history. Human history culminated THERE. Up until that time God was preparing for it; and since that time the Gospel has been spreading out into all lands.

            As is so often the case, the Bible presents a truth without going into great detail as to the mechanics of that truth. So for instance, a brief glance at human history is enough to instruct us as to the 'enmity' that existed between Jew and Gentile. The Jewish Scriptures not only encourage this separation/division.... they DEMAND it! And the entire oral tradition that grew up around these Scriptures supported the idea of separation/division.

            Nowhere was this separation/division more keenly evident than at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. There is more than a little irony here. On the one hand the Jews had a long tradition of seeing themselves as a "Light" sent to "illumine the Gentiles." They were supposed to be a beacon in a world of darkness, urging the Gentiles to forsake their false gods (and/or even the false belief in "no god") and embrace the one true God. Yet, upon coming to the Temple Mount... the focal point of God's PRESENCE on earth, a "dividing wall of partition" existed. More on this can be read online at:

http://biblicalgeographic.com/2011/09/27/soreg-middle-wall-of-partition-herods-temple-jerusalem-israel/

But suffice to say, this dividing wall meant business. The inscription upon it read:  "No intruder (aka foreigner, Gentile) is allowed in the courtyard and within the wall surrounding the Temple. Whoever enters will invite death for himself."  The above article goes on to say: "The wall was designed to partition access to the area for worship preserved for the Israelites, and separated access from the Gentiles. This was a literal interpretation of the intent of Numbers 1:51 (regarding the tabernacle... the pre-temple structure) "And when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death."

            **THIS**, then, is the context for our text. No little separation existed; this is no minor issue. But NOW everything has changed, St. Paul says: 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. Somehow, the death of the Jewish Messiah removed the covenantal distinction in God's eyes between Jew & Gentile. Again, Paul is short on the details of how. Yet, I suspect that it has to do with the idea of "fulfillment." Jesus said I came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it (Mt 5:17). Once fulfilled, however, ... once Messiah had come... and suffered... and died... and rose again for the sins of the world, the need for a distinct covenantal ethnicity to produce the Messiah had been fulfilled. The door of covenantal relationship could now be thrown wide open. There is also another way to look at it--and that is in terms of "guilt" for Messiah's death. Both groups are equally "represented." The Jewish leaders incited the crowd to "crucify him, crucify him," but it was a Gentile Roman governor who gave the order and Gentile soldiers who drove the nails into his flesh. Covenantal distinctions were erased at the death of God's Chosen One. And with His resurrection, covenantal distinctions remain erased.

            Did all of this take God by surprise? Not at all. It was the goal all along... with the ultimate idea being to BUILD SOMETHING NEW; a NEW HUMANITY that was neither Jewish nor Gentile, but believers in Jesus. Not only that, but this new building would be THE NEW TEMPLE. Check out the flow of Paul's logic: 15 His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple 22 to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

            In short, there's a new "Temple" in town. One without dividing walls; one without "ranks"... one without "divisions."

cheers,

TM