Tear Down The Walls
Ephesians 2:11 – 22
Introduction:
I would like to begin this morning's message with a little bit of history lesson. Now, who among you have heard of something called the “Berlin Wall”? For those who lived through the time known as the Cold War era, a time when the world was at the brink of war, when we were just waiting for who will make the first shot against the other, whether the Americans or the Russians, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the separation of the East from the West. The Berlin Wall was constructed by the East Germans in 1961 in order to keep their citizens from defecting to the West. You see, East Germany was under the control of the Russians and they viewed the West as their enemy, thus they did not want their people to be influenced by the freedom and democracy that the West was experiencing. Many people attempted to cross over to the West even with the wall set up, but around 200 people died attempting it. However, in the late 1980s, Russia began to soften up its stance because it knew communism was a failed experiment such that when then US president Ronald Reagan challenged then Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 by saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down These Walls!”, he readily gave in. In November 9, 1989, East Germany lifted restrictions on her citizens traveling to the West. At around the same time, people began to chip away at the wall using sledge hammers. By October 3, 1990, the East Germany and West Germany were reunified into a single country and the wall that divided the two countries was completely torn down.
Now, why do people set up walls anyway? In the example I used about the Berlin Wall, the Communist government of East Germany set up that wall to prevent their citizens from defecting to the West. So, we sometimes set up a wall to keep people inside and to prevent escaping, just like the walls of a prison. We also set up walls for purpose of security, such as the Great Wall of China which was built in order to keep invaders away, or our own homes which have high walls and gates in order to keep thieves and robbers away.
Today's passage talks of a wall. It is a wall that is figurative and yet, also a physical wall that has kept people away from God and from each other. However, this wall has been torn down by God himself through the finished work of Christ on the cross. What exactly is this wall? Let's spend time to examine our passage, Ephesians 2:11 – 22, to learn what that wall is, and how it has been broken down and what are its implications for us today.
Context:
If you still remember last month when we looked at Ephesians 2:1 – 10, we were looking at the subject of salvation, in particular, how an individual is saved by the grace of God. This morning's passage is, quite obviously, the continuation of Paul's train of thought. He is still talking about God's saving grace, but now his focus is not on how an individual is saved, but he now talks about how a group of people, namely, the Gentiles were saved. This passage is obviously relevant to us because we are Gentiles. The passage is all about us!
As I mentioned a moment ago, there was both a figurative wall as well as a physical wall. What wall are we talking about in this passage? While it is true that there is the wall of sin which hinders us from God, another wall that existed was the wall that separated the Jews from the Gentiles. You see, the Jews viewed themselves as being a superior race because of their being the chosen people of God; thus, all other people are inferior to them. The Jews of Paul's time practiced racism against people of other races simply because they thought they were the people of God and others weren't. This reflected especially in the temple in Jerusalem, the place where the Jews worshiped God. In fact, let me read to you something inscribed in the walls of the Jewish temple during the time of Jesus - “No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will himself to blame for his ensuing death.” The Gentiles were excluded from worshiping God in the temple. They could come to Jerusalem to worship God but they worshiped him from afar, in the courts of the Gentiles, which was one section farther from the court of the women. There was a physical wall that separated them from worshiping together with the Jews in the temple. Furthermore, their distance to the Holy of Holies symbolized how far they were from God.
But then, there is also a figurative wall that separated the Gentiles from the Jews. I would like for us to examine this figurative wall more carefully and see how Christ has destroyed this wall in order to bring peace to the two groups of people.
The Wall That Separates
The physical wall in the temple is nothing compared to the figurative wall that has kept us separated from the Jews. Verses 11 & 12 listed down how the Jews viewed the Gentiles. First, Jews called the Gentiles as “uncircumcised”, meaning, they did not possess the physical mark of the covenant. Most of us are aware that Jewish infants who were 8 days old were circumcised to symbolize that they are under the blessing of God's covenant with Israel. Now, the absence of the mark of circumcision meant that the Gentiles were not God's people, and therefore they were not blessed by God. You see, circumcision for the Jews was a badge of honor, a mark of distinction. Also, the use of the word “uncircumcised” to describe the Gentiles was meant to be an insult, pointing out that the Gentiles were unclean, therefore, they will be cast aside by God.
Second, the Gentiles were described as being separate from Christ. The idea here is that the Gentiles did not have any expectations whatsoever that there would be a savior, a Messiah, who would come to save them. The Jews early on were already awaiting the coming of the Messiah as described throughout the Old Testament. The Jews had hope for a better future. The Gentiles had no such hope at all as they were worshipers of idols.
Third, the Gentiles were excluded from citizenship in Israel. Because they did not have a single drop of Jewish blood, because they could not trace their ancestry back to any of the sons of Jacob, they were considered as not being part of the nation of Israel. This meant that the Gentiles were foreigners to the covenant of promise, meaning, they were excluded from the benefits of being a citizen of Israel. Even if a Gentile decided to believe in the God of Israel, forsaking his idols, he would still be deemed as a second-class citizen by the purebred Jews because he is not a Jew by blood and lineage.
What made matters worse was that the Jews were hostile towards the Gentiles and vice versa. There was a long history of fighting between Israel and the Gentile nations, and this made both sides view each other with disdain. The Jews believed that the Gentiles were made by God for the sole purpose of fueling the fires of hell. It was even unlawful for a Jew to help a Gentile woman give birth because she would simply be helping bring another Gentile into the world. The Gentiles, on the other hand, have been thinking of ways to exterminate the Jews such as during the reign of King Xerxes of Persia, and during the reign of King Antiochus IV from 175 to 164BC. If the Jews viewed the Gentiles as being inferior to them, the Gentiles, in particular the Greeks, viewed the Jews as being Barbarians because they didn't speak the Greek language and adopted Greek culture.
The One Who Broke The Wall
The situation for the Gentiles was terrible. They had no hope or knowledge whatsoever about God. Furthermore, they were enemies with the Jews. The Gentiles were at a serious disadvantage compared to the Jews who could claim to have knowledge of God and possession of the Law as well as being called the chosen people of God. However, the terrible situation of the Gentiles changed when Jesus went to the cross. In verses 13 to 18, Paul argues that because the Gentiles have believed in the message of the Gospel, the following has happened. First, they were no longer separated from God. Prior to the coming of Christ, the Jews viewed the Gentiles as being lost people, as being very far from God; however, because of what Christ has done and because the Gentiles responded in faith to Jesus Christ, they are no longer lost or far away from God. They are now brought near to Christ, just as every Jew who believes in Jesus Christ is near to God.
Second, the barrier that separates Gentiles and Jews have been broken. Through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the problem of sin was solved, thus removing the barrier that existed between God and man. Now, both Jews and Gentiles can approach God with confidence through Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles are now on equal footing when it comes to approaching God. Both are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ, not by the law which the Jews alone possessed and boasted about. Both receive the same Holy Spirit. Now, the symbol of the separation between Jews and Gentiles was the temple with the barriers that excluded the Gentiles from going near to God's presence. God removed that symbol when he destroyed the temple in 70AD.
Third, God created a new man out of the two. In God's sight, there is now no difference between Jew or Gentile. Both are sinners in need of salvation, and both are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ. He made all those who believe in Jesus Christ his new creation where race, gender, status in life are all secondary compared to what God deems us to be. I will talk about that a bit more in a while when we get to our third point. However, when God created a new man out of the two, what he put into effect was that there would be peace between both Jews and Gentiles, there would be reconciliation, and that there would no longer be any hostility. It is because we now believe in the same Lord, we worship the same God, we have the same Holy Spirit in us. We all share in the same salvation. There is now no point in being hostile towards one another, instead, God reconciled the Jews and the Gentiles because of the commonality that exists through Christ.
Brought Together At Last
When Christ saved both Jews and Gentiles, what he did was to make a new creation, as I've mentioned a moment ago. In verses 19 to 22, we find three descriptions of who the believing Jews and the Gentiles are together as one. First, both groups of people became citizens of God's kingdom. When a person comes to faith in Christ, he is changing his citizenship, from that of the world and of the devil, to becoming citizens of heaven, of the kingdom of light. They both owe their allegiance to the same king. They both have the same privileges of being citizens of the kingdom. They both have the same responsibilities of fulfilling the Great Commission and obeying the Great Commandment.
Second, both groups became members of God's household. In other words, both believing Jews and Gentiles are members of the same family. God is their father, Jesus is like their eldest brother, and they are fellow brothers and sisters. Since, both groups are now related to each other because of Christ, there should be love for one another instead of animosity. There should be acceptance instead of rejection. Members of the same family should care for one another and love one another.
Finally, both groups are the building blocks of the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Simply put, the Jews and the Gentiles are joined together so that they will manifest the power of the Holy Spirit in their midst. They will become a people characterized as having the Holy Spirit and living by the guidance of the Spirit.
Implications for Us Today:
You may be wondering, what does today's passage have to do with me? As I've mentioned quite early in my message, it actually has a lot to do with us because we are Gentiles. In the past, we were separated from God, we had no expectations of a Savior, we were viewed as second-class citizens and as enemies by the Jews, but God has changed our situation greatly. In fact, we stand before God on equal footing with the Jews who believe in Jesus. No one is greater than the other. No one is inferior to the other. Whether Jew or Gentile, we are all one in Christ.
Now, if you still don't get the relevance of this passage simply because it seems like a distant concept, then let me bring it closer to home. Let's face it, almost all of us here are of Chinese descent. Admittedly, we are a proud race. We look very highly at our culture and language. The bad thing is that we tend to look down on people of other races simply because they're not Chinese. Even Chinese Christians have the tendency of looking down on our Filipino brothers. We let our culture and race be more dominant than our oneness in Christ. It is as if the non-Chinese are beneath us when it comes to the issue of race. If we are prejudiced against those belonging to other races, aren't we behaving like the Jews during Paul's time? Aren't we declaring ourselves to be more superior than others?
Consider also how we look down on others who are not as financially blessed and capable as we are, or those who don't have as much education as we have. It is as if these people are not worthy to be in your presence. Again, Christians can be guilty of this. Remember that James, the brother of Jesus, wrote against those in the church who play favorites toward the rich. He warned that we are not to fall into the trap of favoritism. How about those who are not in the same standing as we are - We as masters and those who serve us as our servants, as our employees? I am sure some of us here have maids and drivers who are believers of Jesus Christ. How do you treat them? Do you treat them with respect, remembering that they are your brothers and sisters in the Lord?
We also behave like the Jews when we have this attitude of superiority and dominance over those who don't know Jesus yet, instead of being humble and loving enough to reach out to them and tell them about the Good News. We behave like the Jews when we boast of our supposed goodness and we make other people feel like they are the worse of sinners. The Jews were supposed to show the Gentiles the way to God, but they ended up hindering them from coming near to God. We can end up becoming just like them when we put up barriers that prevent people from coming to the Lord Jesus.
In the sight of the Lord, all who belong to Him, regardless of race, wealth, gender, and standing, are equal in his sight. We are all his children. We are all fellow citizens of God's kingdom. We are all building blocks of God's temple. We are all saved by the same way – by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. We all possess the same Holy Spirit. Therefore, let us learn to accept and love one another because what we hold in common is more important than the differences that are apparent. Let us also behave in such a way as to bring more people into God's kingdom, not turn them away from God.
Conclusion:
We are all one in Christ, regardless of race and color, financial and educational standing, position in secular society, in the workplace. Therefore, let us learn to love and accept one another. Let us never look down on our fellow believers nor view ourselves as being superior to others. Let us also never allow our standing in Christ to become a hindrance for non-believers to come to know Jesus Christ. Let us work together to build up God's kingdom, not tear others down.
Tear down the walls of prejudice and favoritism. Tear down the walls of self-perceived superiority. Jesus has already done his part in tearing down the walls that separated us from God as well as between us and the Jews; are we doing our part of tearing down the walls the separate us from our brothers and sisters, as well as from those who are still far away from the Lord Jesus?
