Good morning. Thank you for giving me the microphone. I can project my voice generally, and last couple of times I found myself forgetting the microphone, but thank you for giving it to me. Yeah, today we are gonna find ourselves in Ephesians chapter two, and we are going to talk about the household of God as we have just sung in worship. The second half of Ephesians chapter two. As you're making your way there, let me ask you, what do these words mean to you? Unity, peace, reconciliation. Are these concepts or notions that are part of your daily lives? I believe most of us, if not all of us, desire peace and harmony. In our personal lives, among our family and friends, in our communities, I believe we rarely desire hostility and strife. But we find an abundance of hostility and strife in the world around us. And we must ask why. Here are a few examples. You will find a form of shallow hostility, also known as banter, if you support teams in sports and games. I have been guilty of this hostility myself, engaging in vile banter with anyone who does not support Manchester United, an English football club, even though I'm not from England, but you can see this idolatry in me, which I need to repent of. You may have experienced this if you support hockey, baseball, any of that, but the force of hostility increases as things get more serious, and it gets into the realm of politics, nations, culture, ideology. We are all exposed to news about political leaders and decisions that they make, their choices, and fairly sure throughout history this has impact on all people, but specifically on us in the past few years, I'm sure you have observed ideological positions causing major divisions in families, in communities, in society at large, and sadly, even within the church. Here's the bad news. Hostility between people supporting opposing ideas is the norm. In fact, there is no ideological proposition that will truly unite us or have a unifying effect on us, no matter what we do, no matter how much we try. And the irony is that one of the commentators recently said, the fan base of Manchester United is like Manchester divided. So I just use that irony as an example of this unity that people strive for in different places, but is not found. Now here's the good news, as we will read. The apostle Paul will give us that true unity, reconciliation, and peace are freely available. Where, you might ask. This is the order that the Apostle Paul is illustrating in Ephesians chapter two, verses 11 through 22, in the members of the household of God. So the proposition, as we read this passage, is that true unity, true peace, true reconciliation is found only in the household of God and only through Christ. Let us then read Ephesians chapter two, verses 11 onwards. You will find most of your Bibles will say one in Christ as the short subtitle of this. Here the apostle Paul writes, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ. alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man, in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Let's briefly ask God to bless his word. God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the one spirit that gives us the ability to cry out to you, calling Father, Abba. We thank you, Lord, that the blood of Jesus Christ and the cross of Jesus Christ has made one people and given us adoption into your household. We pray, Lord, that you would use your word mightily now. Give us a spirit, help us to understand and see your word and see Christ more fully, that we may conform to his image and that those that know not Christ will be saved and be transformed by his grace. It is in Christ's name I pray, amen. So what is the Apostle Paul saying to the Ephesians in this passage? What does the Apostle Paul say about the state of the Ephesian church? As I mentioned, the proposition is that members of the household of God have eternal peace, reconciliation, and unity in Christ Jesus. This is my summary. If I were to summarize this entire passage that I read to you in one proposition, this is one way of stating it. Members of the household of God have eternal peace, reconciliation, and unity in Christ Jesus. Now, the way in which we are going to understand this proposition is by four categories, or four points. First, we look at who the Apostle Paul is writing to. What is the Apostle Paul trying to say to the Ephesian church in their context? Their past predicament, which we find in the beginning of this passage, the first couple of verses. Their reconciliation through the cross, which is the center, and to borrow Pastor Josh's analogy, this is the jelly in the donut. And then, their eternal state is the last part, verses 19 onwards to the end of the chapter, where we see this new state for the Christians. So first, the Ephesian church. This is a little bit of contextual understanding. If you search for the word Ephesus in the Bible, you'll find a few places where this word is found. It was an important city, and historically it was built by the Greeks, and it was part of the Roman Empire. This location geographically today is in present-day Turkey. The city was really famous in its day because it had one of the seven wonders of the world of the ancient times. The temple of Artemis, which was constructed around 550 BC, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. When Augustus became emperor in 27 BC, the most important change was that he made Ephesus the capital of the Asian pro-consul. He moved it from Pergamum to Ephesus. And Ephesus therefore then entered this era of prosperity, becoming both the seat of the governor and a major center of commerce. According to Strabo, an ancient Greek geographer, it was second in importance and size only to Rome. So we are looking at a place which is prosperous in the land and a people who have certain influences which we will find in Acts 19. So while I'm describing this, you can turn to Acts 19. We will look at Acts 19 briefly. at a few points. Now, there's a little bit of interpretive challenge, if you will, posed by some academics, and I want to deal with that just in case there are some scholarly in this congregation. There are three ancient manuscripts where the phrase Ephesus is, or in Ephesus, which is verse one of Ephesians, does not exist. And people tend to take that to question the Pauline authorship, that is, the Apostle Paul wrote this letter, and to question that whether this letter was addressed to the Ephesian church. Now, there is no conclusive evidence of that. I'm happy to discuss more details of theological nitpicks with you after the service, but I will say that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that the Apostle Paul did not write this letter, or that the letter was not written to the Ephesian church. So I'll just leave it at that. Now Acts chapter 19, Acts chapter 18 is the first place in the Bible where we find a mention of the word Ephesus. It's in the Apostle Paul's travel. So in 19, as we read in the beginning, it says, and it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples, and he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 men in all. So we notice that there are people in Ephesus who were disciples, as is written in verse one, but they were baptized by John the Baptist, And the apostle Paul here baptizes them because Jesus Christ has already come. Then we find in verse eight that he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. So this actually tells us that the population of Ephesus had both Jews and Greeks, Jews and Gentiles. This tells us that there were some disciples there who were baptized by John. Also tells us that the Apostle Paul went into the synagogue to reason with the Jews and proclaim the gospel and some were stubborn and continued in unbelief. So then we can see something of a church plant in the Hall of Tyrannus. And obviously there were other churches. We see that the gospel is going forth because it continues for two years and all the residents of Asia, which is the surrounding locations, heard the word of the Lord, both in Jews and Greeks. So you can first see the people groups that the Apostle Paul is writing to. Now that's not enough. We need to continue in Acts 19 to see what was the background of these people. Because Jews and Greeks is just somewhat reductive. I mean, the fact that there's a synagogue, there's a lot more as we read it, because as I already mentioned, the Bible, obviously concurs with the historian because there is the temple of Artemis in this very chapter. But before we go there we find a group of Jews who also existed perhaps as a third group if you were to look at this. So as we read the sons of Sceva, this next section verse 11 onwards, so what was happening is the Apostle Paul now is doing mighty miracles. So verse 12, even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin, that is the Apostle Paul, were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them. So as we know, this was again a parallel of the ministry of Christ Jesus, the therapeutic ministry as it's called, where there is miracles to affirm that this is a work of God. This is to authenticate that God has sent, and Christ in this case has sent the apostle Paul. as the apostle designate to the Gentiles, which is what the apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians later. Now we find something interesting. Verse 13, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this, but the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, Paul I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom was all the evil spirit leaped on them and mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who are now believers came confessing and divulging their practices and a number of those who had practiced magic arts before brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. So now you notice there is this almost animistic group of people and it's generally applied here that these people had practices in the past of magic of divination and other things who are coming and confessing by way of seeing these miracles, beholding the power of God in work and saying, we used to live this life. And this is important because we are talking about the gospel breaking forth in a pagan nation. Now the final part is if you look down in verse 23, you will find a religious group, and this is again, every time there's a religion, as Brother Jonathan was talking about in Sunday school, there's an elaborate economic system also around it, which was also the case in the temple when Jesus was cleansing the temple. But you see verse 23, about that time, there arose no little disturbance concerning the way. Now the way, is the reference here, this phrase, referring to Christians. Because also in verse 9, the stubborn, unbelieving people in the synagogue were speaking evil of the way. This is the way of the followers of Jesus Christ. So the disturbance concerning the way in verse 24 is for a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together with the workmen in similar trades and said, men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is a danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be disposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship. So you notice this is pretelling this passage of what world religions look like. And in this we find our existence, and we can perhaps relate to this, that there are various idols. And one of them I expose as the idolatry of my heart, if you will, in sports, in various ideologies that we live in this world today. And you don't have to go further. You can go to downtown Toronto and you will find all of these practices, or maybe even Hamilton, wherever, go to a downtown city center and you'll find people trying to predict your future and giving you all sorts of things. And there are, obviously, in our own day, the Temple of Artemis doesn't exist as an Ephesus, but there are people who would raise up the altars of Baal, whether it's climate, whether it's a bunch of other things. But you notice, like, this is the context of the people that the Apostle Paul is writing to. And this letter is written like a sermon. And that's all I will say about the context and now we can try and understand the three sections of these verses. The letter to the Ephesian church is written very much like a sermon and if you notice, Ephesians chapter 1, 2, and 3 form one section, and 4, 5, and 6 form another. And the dividing part is, if you notice that in Ephesians chapter 3, at the end there's a doxology and the Apostle Paul is praying. And when you read this book completely, you would notice that the first three chapters, the Apostle Paul is laying the propositions about our common salvation in Christ Jesus, and then he goes into application. And so this is the context in which the Apostle Paul writes to the strangers and aliens, hopeless, without peace, which is the second pointer the state of the Ephesian church, their past predicament, as strangers and aliens. So notice with me the first couple of verses in our passage today, 11 and 12, it says, therefore, remember, the Apostle Paul is reminding the Ephesians here, and he uses the word remember twice. Again, in the beginning of verse 12, remember. What is the Apostle Paul reminding these people? That they were Gentiles in the flesh. They were called the uncircumcision by the Jewish people by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands. So what is the implication of that? Remember that you were, and this is really the main point, you were at that time separated from Christ. These people were separated from Christ in the past and Symptoms of that separation was found in alienation from the Commonwealth of Israel, which means the hostility between these two people groups. And they were also strangers to the covenant, to the promise. But again, those are symptoms. The fact that they were separated from Christ actually resulted in the second half of verse 12, having no hope and without God in the world. So we're used to a pagan lifestyle, even though you live in relative prosperity, hopeless, without God, strangers and aliens from the covenant community of God. Most of us hopefully can relate to this. Most of us, as far as I know, I certainly am, a Gentile in this world. And in the past, before Christ gave me new life, I was certainly without hope. I was certainly searching, as all who were before Christ, searching for hope in other things. And we were hopeless without God. And so we come to the context and the predicament. Now the Apostle Paul is giving the solution, and this is the most powerful conjunction in the Bible is the word but. But God, or but now in Jesus Christ. So you see verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus. We have this verse giving the most glorious phrase to give hope to the hopeless. But now in Christ Jesus. You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So notice the passive verb here. It's not like the Ephesian church, it's not like the people of Ephesus. Though they came and brought their books and confessed their past wickedness and burned their books around magic and other things, they were not the ones who came to Christ. Christ is the one that came to them. Because you see, you have been brought near. They were brought near by the blood of Christ. So this passage now, this section between verses 13 to verse 18, there are three words that I want you to pay attention to or notice. The first is peace. Notice the repetition of the word peace in verses 14, 15, and 17. Notice the use of the word one, verses 14, 15, 16, and 18. Notice also the opposite of the word peace, which is in hostility. And notice how, because the Apostle Paul, in this few verses, gives us a very, very clear picture of how this comes about. So he says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both, that is the Jews and Gentiles, one, and has broken down How, in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man, or humanity you could say, in place of two, so making peace. And might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father." Now notice what the Apostle Paul is doing in these verses. Even though he's primarily addressing the Gentiles, he's also by extension talking to the Jews. And he's saying in no uncertain terms that there is only one way to the Father. There is only one way to unity. There is only one way to eternal peace. There is only one way to life. And that one way is by the blood of Jesus Christ. That one way is broken down in the flesh of Jesus Christ. That one way is through the cross of Jesus Christ. So if you look at a group of people, even though we are not aware of any dissension or faction or any such thing in the Ephesian church directly by way of this, there's certainly a threat of the traditions that they have followed in their lives of pagan practices. And we find that in First Timothy chapter one in verse three, the Apostle Paul says, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, speaking to Timothy, remain in Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculation rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith." Now what is the Apostle Paul saying here? He's saying that the Jews, even though they had the covenant promise of God, their lifestyle, as we read in Acts, for certain people groups, were not in accordance with the covenant promises that they received. Which is what we read in Jeremiah, that the covenant you have broken, so I will make a new covenant with you, says Yahweh. And this covenant is all it encompassing. So when Christ comes and inaugurates the kingdom of God, He brings together, as the apostle Paul would say in chapter three, the mystery of the gospel to truly fulfill what he has told Abraham when he called him that all the families of the earth will be blessed through this covenant. And this covenant is in the blood of Christ Jesus. It is by his broken body, his flesh, which is broken down the dividing wall of hostility. Now I want to say something about this verse 15. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man. Now, this phrase, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances, what is, what is Jesus, what has Jesus abolished? Has he abolished the law, the Torah? No. The phrase here is nomon entolon and Dogmasin. So basically, you can translate roughly, the dogma of the rituals and the traditions which were pointing forward to Jesus, either from the Old Testament as shadows and types, or the dogmas and the rituals of the elders which were not based in the Old Covenant anyways. This is what is abolished. It's fulfilled, the old covenant is fulfilled in Christ Jesus. This is as clear as it possibly can be that he has broken down. He has not abolished the old covenant. He has actually fulfilled it. What he has abolished is all of the traditions that were being practiced by way of remembering Because he's already here. He's already come and he's already inaugurated the kingdom. And in Paul's case, Paul has met with the resurrected Christ. So Paul knows by experience, he has experienced and he has proven, he's willing to die for this, that in prison as he is writing to the Ephesian church, he's saying that He's a prisoner of the Lord who is urging the Ephesian church to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. So the implication of this is that Christ Jesus is making all new humanity one, united, reconciled us both to God in one body through the cross. Now, you may ask, is this like a New Testament idea? Please turn to Isaiah chapter 57. The amount of times the Apostle Paul uses the word one and the word peace, they're surely for someone like the Apostle Paul, who is specifically providentially educated in all of the scriptures, Surely he is bringing it from the Old Testament. So Isaiah chapter 57 verse 14 to 19. Isaiah chapter 57 verse 14. Reads, and it shall be said, build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people's way. For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is a contrite and lowly spirit. to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite, for I will not content forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breadth of life that I made, because of the iniquity of the unjust gain, I was angry, I struck him, I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him. I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to the far and to the near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. Do you notice that this is where this peace and reconciliation can come from? This is exactly the peace where Christ is our peace. This is the one who has brought us near. And this is what leads to the last peace. point, which is the eternal state. Verse 19, the Apostle Paul, after laying it all out, says to the same people who had this past life, but has been transformed by the grace of our God, by the blood of Jesus Christ, through the cross, the Apostle Paul says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens. You did not have the passport to the nation of Israel, you did not have the commandment, you could not go into the synagogue, you could not go into the place of worship, you could not go into the temple, you were Gentiles, no. You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens of Israel, no. Fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. So this is where we see the function, the form and the function of Israel as a people of God. It was always meant to be this way, that it is a household of God, a people of God. Now the Lord, as he promised in Jeremiah in the new covenant, as we see here, he's fulfilling that promise, and this is what the Apostle Paul is revealing. And he says, verse 20, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So it's not about the books that you burned, it is not about the life that you lived, it is not about a place, but it is about the household of God that is found in Christ alone. It is founded on the cornerstone that is Jesus Christ, and the whole structure is being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. As we're studying the Psalms of Ascent in our prayer meetings, we read through Psalm 127 a couple of weeks back, and it begins, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. But here we find that the Lord is building the house on the cornerstone that is Jesus Christ, in whom the whole structure is being joined together, grows into the holy temple. So it's not just a household, it is a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also. So now he goes from a corporate to personal. In him, you also are being built together, plural, into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Do you see, Christian, that this is what the Apostle Peter is writing, that each one of us founded on the cornerstone, living stones joined together to build this temple of God. So each one of us are being built together as a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. By the way, in the Ephesian epistle, the letter, We get all the three symbols that is used, all of the three ideas that the Apostle Paul uses for the church and its relationship with Christ. We see the bride in marriage with the bridegroom, we see the body whose head is Christ, and we see also the household or the building, if you will, for the lack of another term. So in Christ we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Which basically takes this group of people who were strangers and aliens without hope. brings them into fellowship and unity together. This is the unity that I would never find even if I were to sit in the hallowed ground where Manchester United plays. That's like a tight example. I wonder why I keep repeating that. The idea is that you are never going to find unity Even if we were to say, and this is perhaps a little edgy, but even if we were to say Canada, unite under the flag, that's not gonna be enough. I mean, we find people south of the border, they are quite patriotic and they would do awkward things. But none of this unity will unite us the way the Bible says Christ will. So there's only one way to be reconciled. There's only one way to be, found in harmony, in unity, as one people, it is by the blood of Jesus Christ, through the cross, by the breaking of his body that has taken place, because right now, he reigns at the right hand of God. And so what do we do with this? Notice how I didn't talk about the differences between the circumcision and the uncircumcision. They started with the issues of the baptism. It takes the focus away from Christ. The point is Christ Jesus is the source of it all. It doesn't matter where we came from. So individuals, so what do we do with this? This is what we do. If you are not part of this household of God, if you are not experiencing this peace and harmony and you are living with burdens, this is what the Apostle Paul writes in the passage before. Because notice our passage, our text started with a therefore. So the Apostle Paul has already laid out the argument for each individuals. And he's saying now therefore remember, So why, we may ask, what do we do with this? Because the chapter two begins and says, and you, and I like you once, and all of us who are in Christ Jesus as well, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world. This is the Ephesian church. This is me in my past walking according to all sorts of weird, foolish, ungodly ideologies, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. like the rest of mankind. Folks, this is brothers and sisters where we were and some of us probably are. So if you're visiting here and you do not know Christ Jesus, this is what the apostle Paul says in verse four, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So if you are feeling something like this, you feel like you are under debris of a collapsed building and you cannot see any light and you see a faint voice saying, Christ Jesus can redeem you and give you new life. This is what the Apostle Paul is saying. We were dead, we couldn't do anything. We were dead in our trespasses and God, as if it were plunged into the depths of the debris, lifted us out and gave us new life. Because he is rich in mercy because of the great love that he has with which he loved us. And he's made us alive together with Christ. So friend, if you are, sensing a tug, a pull in your conscience, I would say, look to Jesus Christ. He is the founder and perfecter of our faith. He is the first witness, the firstborn from the dead, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. Come to him in surrender. He has more mercy than we have sins. As we sing, his mercy is more. And for the saints of Trinity Baptist Church, the Apostle Paul, gives us very clear directives. As we wrap it up, Ephesians 4 verses 1 through 6. This is what the Apostle Paul says. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope, the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. I must confess that this is a hard saying. Because you hear words like humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another. And I would confess that for sure, as someone saved at a later point of time in my life, I've had all of the opposites of those words. And I can in that way relate with the Ephesians. But in Christ, and through Christ, we receive the will and the strength to obey. And that's what we plead for. Amen.