Text: Ephesians 2: 13-22
I am a Wisconsin synod Lutheran pastor. You are member of a Lutheran church in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod/Evangelical Lutheran Synod. As Lutherans we have certain convictions and beliefs. Because we do we keep a kind of distance from those Christians that preach some things we believe are false. So we don’t invite those other Christian preachers to our churches. We don’t do mission work with them. We don’t want to give the impression that the differences don’t matter. For God’s Word, God’s truth, does matter.
Yet here is where we need to be careful. Here is where we can get some wrong attitudes towards others. If a congregation is holding up Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If it is preaching the gospel of Christ crucified to save us and forgive us. That we are saved by grace through faith in him, then that is a Christian congregation where God’s people reside. And even though we may not be able worship with them on this side of heaven or take communion with them, we need to remember. In a very special way, we are one. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ, One Holy Christian church, the communion of saints.
That’s the remarkable thing that we hear about in this section of God’s Word:
In Christ, We Are One
I. Brought together as one
II. Built together as one.
The first Christians were Jews. The newborn Christians at Pentecost were Jews. But when those early believers were scattered by persecution they shared the gospel of Christ with Gentiles also. These were people who had been far away. They may have lived a short distance from Jerusalem up in Antioch but they were far away. Far away from God, his Word, his promises, and the hope that he gives in Christ.
But here Paul reminds these Gentile Christians. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. Those words speak to us as well. That’s how we came into this world. Far away. Without hope and without God. But we have been brought near through the blood that the Son of God shed for each of us.
But there’s something else here that these early Christians needed to know. Like I said, they were either Jew or Gentile Christians. Until now, they really didn’t think much of each other. There could be some real hostility. Here Paul speaks about a wall once divided Jew and Gentile, but should no longer. That wall was the Law of Moses. It regulated everything for the Jew. What they were to eat. How they were to live. How they were to practice their religion. God intended to show his people what holiness was. And what would they find as they looked at their life? I’m not holy. I need God’s forgiveness. Well there in that law, the commanded sacrifices pictured where that forgiveness would be found. In Christ.
That law was also meant to serve another purpose. To put a hedge around his people that set them apart from their pagan, idol worshipping neighbors. Just think about the dietary laws. It’s kind of hard to mix with people when you can’t eat what they would serve up..
But the Jews had turned God’s law into something else. Not a blessing that God provided but a reason to look down on the Gentiles, to despise them. It was common to refer to the Gentiles as dogs.
If you are familiar with the temple that was in Jerusalem, you know there was a court-yard for the Gentiles. There the Gentile could come and pray but could not enter the temple proper. Between those two places was a barrier with a sign that said this. No foreigner may enter…Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death.
And the Gentiles also had it in for the Jews as well. Who are they to think they are better than us. And besides they are such hypocrites. They hold up their law but they don’t even obey it themselves. How could you ever get such folks together?
And when you think about it, isn’t that our fallen nature? Find a reason to look down on others. At times it’s been about skin color or tribe or family. Sometimes it the rich and the not so rich. People who lived in city or the country. North or south east or west or somewhere in between. Something about this fallen nature of ours that wants to look down on people.
But in Christ, in his church, that cannot be. In Christ, the Gentile was brought near to God. No standing outside in the narthex. In Christ, that law of Moses that separated Jew and Gentile was gone. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
You see, the wall comes down in Christ as Jesus puts us all on an equal footing. For all of us are one in a terrible way. We are fallen sinners whose guilt put us at odds with God. But in Christ he has made us one in a wonderful way. By his death for us on that cross, we are reconciled to God. That’s how we meet today, as one, under his cross. So look to your left. Look to your right and see who God wants you to see. Fellow citizens with you of God’s kingdom; members of God’s family with you. For in Christ, we are one. Brought together as one.
This makes me think of my years at the Seminary. For two years I served an inner city church, Siloah on N 21st st. There I witness again and again how very profound is our oneness in Christ. That church was about 400 people. The majority were black, about 60%. When my daughter, Katie, went to Sunday School she was the only white child in her class. The little girls would stroke her hair because it was different from theirs. So many differences that could have separated us, as they do out there. Yet in Christ, we were one. We confessed our sins as one. We kneeled at the communion table as one. We ate and drank our Lord’s Supper as one. We gave praise to Christ as one. For in Christ, we are one, brought together as one.
If you came to the church building where I vicared, you would see a beautiful stone wall behind the altar going all the way up to the ceiling. When the church was built the farmers brought big stones from their fields to build that wall. In a pile outside, those stones did not look all that impressive. But when the stone mason got hold of them he brought them together into something quite wonderful.
Well God has built something quite wonderful. His Church. But not a church built from bricks and mortar or wood and nails. No, a church built out of many living stones, built together as one. One in Christ.
Paul has us start with the foundation. A good foundation is so important in the places I have lived. In New Orleans, your house could sink into the mud if the foundation wasn’t right. You could watch them drive piling into the ground to prevent that. Here in California we’re concerned about earthquakes. So it’s important to check out the foundation if you’re thinking of buying a place.
God’s Church has a solid foundation. How does Paul describe it? 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. The apostles and prophets. That’s the Word of the Old and New Testament. God’s church, we his people sit squarely on the truth of that Word. And like a building in ancient times, there is one main stone which the Church is built around. One main Living Stone. His name is Jesus. Promised by the prophets. Born of the Crucified for our sins and risen with life for each of us. Life with God. Life eternal. His name is Jesus ascended to the right hand of God and one day returning to redeem us from this messed up world.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. Again what Paul is describing is not some grand building designed and built by human hands. He’s describing what we confess in our Creeds. I believe in the Holy Christian church. Not a church found in one place or another. Not a church found in one Christian denomination or another. But a church found everywhere or anywhere that human hearts look to Christ in faith. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Realize how blessed we are. We may have joined this congregation, but we didn’t join his church. No God brought us to faith in Jesus and built us in. He built us into his church where he promises to live among us by his Spirit. He built us together as one.
You know years ago I was there to see a chapel built in New Mexico. It was a really nice design. But a few years old, the roof started to leak. If you sat in the wrong place, you’d get wet. Sometimes you could hear the water run into the bucket. I was so disappointed in the workmanship.
How different God’s church. His roof will never leak or fall down on your head. Instead in His Church you will find shelter from every one of life’s storms- even death–You will find shelter and real hope in Christ. Amen.