WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.620 Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:12.280 --> 00:00:17.480 If I could add to what Will said about our session retreat this weekend, 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:23.780 in my marriage to Annalise, we have good days, we have bad days, 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:29.199 and at the end of every day, it's good for us to know that each loves the other. 00:00:30.140 --> 00:00:32.500 Maybe some of you all are in difficult spots. 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:39.179 You are discouraged about where we might be as a church right now, discouraged about the future. 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:42.500 Let me tell you, you have officers who love you. 00:00:43.179 --> 00:00:44.420 They love you deeply. 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:49.739 They want you to know that they've been praying for you. 00:00:49.820 --> 00:00:51.480 They're continuing to pray for you. 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:55.359 It was truly an honor to watch that occur this weekend, 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.439 and Will and I have the opportunity to get to tell you that from the pulpit 00:00:58.439 --> 00:01:01.420 on behalf of our session and our deacons. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.700 You are loved and cherished, so please know that. 00:01:05.180 --> 00:01:09.180 If you will turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2, 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:13.379 Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 through 22. 00:01:13.379 --> 00:01:19.239 We're going to finish the chapter 2 in Ephesians this week. 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:24.280 So far in chapter 2, Paul's been talking a lot about our state and our sin, 00:01:24.699 --> 00:01:30.000 how we were dead in our sin, and we have now been made alive in Christ. 00:01:30.119 --> 00:01:33.699 We were dead in our trespasses, but God's love intervened. 00:01:33.919 --> 00:01:39.039 It entered into our broken situation, and while we were yet sinners, Paul tells us, 00:01:39.459 --> 00:01:40.959 God saved us. 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:44.859 So, Paul's going to continue in that same vein. 00:01:44.859 --> 00:01:50.019 He's going to continue to talk about this position, this standing that we have before God, 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:55.159 before we knew Him and the standing that we have with Him now that we are in a relationship 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:56.459 with Him through Christ. 00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:03.140 He's going to conclude this chapter with an explanation not only of sin and its indictment, 00:02:03.299 --> 00:02:07.200 but particularly the history that the Ephesians have as Gentiles. 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:13.199 The Ephesians were Gentile people who were not connected to the historical people of God, 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.839 that is the Jewish people. 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:20.280 Paul's going to talk about what the implications are and what the glorious news of the gospel 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:21.339 is in the midst of it. 00:02:21.419 --> 00:02:26.659 So, look with me at Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 through 22. 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:34.120 Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:38.919 by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:42.560 Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:48.979 Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, 00:02:49.640 --> 00:02:52.280 having no hope and without God in the world. 00:02:53.240 --> 00:03:00.580 But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood 00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:01.300 of Christ. 00:03:01.900 --> 00:03:08.539 For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the 00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:13.620 dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:20.319 that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:28.060 And it might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:33.539 And He came and He preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.719 For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:46.020 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:54.020 Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 00:03:54.020 --> 00:04:00.000 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:07.280 In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:08.439 Let's pray. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:16.079 Father, no wisdom, truth, or power comes from us. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:23.339 No wisdom, truth, or power is going to come from the emotions, the feelings of our heart. 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:29.199 No wisdom, truth, or power is going to come from the thoughts of our mind. 00:04:29.599 --> 00:04:34.000 Wisdom, truth, power are only contained in Your Word. 00:04:34.779 --> 00:04:39.019 So would You give us a right posture now as we consider Your Word? 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.479 Would You help to open up our minds, open up our hearts, 00:04:43.480 --> 00:04:49.259 help us to see the bad and the good news of the gospel as we consider Your Word this morning? 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:54.040 Father, would You allow me to get out of the way to proclaim nothing but Your truth, 00:04:54.640 --> 00:04:57.900 Your glory, Your peace, and Your gospel from this pulpit 00:04:57.900 --> 00:05:00.720 for these things in Your heavenly and righteous Son's name. 00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:01.460 Amen. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:10.480 Brotherhood is one of the most special, most lasting relationships that God gives us. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:15.480 I have a younger brother whose name is Andrew, and we could sit all day, 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:20.060 and I could tell you all kinds of great stories of things that Andrew and I did, 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:22.140 the memories that we had as brothers. 00:05:22.900 --> 00:05:24.939 We played lots of baseball together. 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:26.660 We played lots of basketball together. 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:28.900 We played matchbox cars when we were little. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:30.819 We wrestled when we got bigger. 00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:31.660 We laughed together. 00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:34.259 We ate lots of food together. 00:05:34.819 --> 00:05:36.939 We watched TV shows and movies together. 00:05:37.060 --> 00:05:38.620 We had a very special bond. 00:05:38.620 --> 00:05:43.500 I can tell you lots of great memories, but there's also certain memories in my relationship 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:45.519 with my brother that I'm not as quickly to tell you. 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:54.780 It's memories where my sinful state came out, when I would lord my size and my power over 00:05:54.780 --> 00:05:55.759 my little brother. 00:05:56.300 --> 00:06:02.160 We would play a game every now and then where the object of the game was to hit the other 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.319 person as lightly as you could. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:10.219 I always met my brother go first, and he would take his fist and very lightly tap my shoulder, 00:06:10.459 --> 00:06:13.920 and I would rear back and hit his shoulder as hard as I could and walk away and say, 00:06:14.019 --> 00:06:15.139 oh, guess I lost that game. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:16.240 It was awful. 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:19.100 The way that I would lord power over him. 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:21.819 I wanted to dominate him as much as I could. 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:27.819 Aside from the games that we would play that involved physical pain, 00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:32.939 I remember a particular isolated event at a local arcade. 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:36.120 I was probably 10 or 11 years old. 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:41.439 My brother was 6 or 7 years old, and I had spent all of the money that I brought to the 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:41.800 arcade. 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:46.980 I remember after spending my money looking at my brother, and in his hand was a fistful 00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:47.459 of quarters. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:52.779 Knowing full well what I was doing, I was able to convince my brother that what you really 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:53.639 want are the tickets. 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:58.039 The tickets are what gets you the prizes from back behind that desk, and you know who could 00:06:58.039 --> 00:06:59.139 really get you the tickets well? 00:06:59.240 --> 00:06:59.639 I could. 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:01.219 Those games are kind of boring. 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:02.000 You don't know how to play them. 00:07:02.219 --> 00:07:03.779 Why don't you let me play for you? 00:07:03.939 --> 00:07:07.579 And he handed over probably $5 worth of quarters to his brother. 00:07:07.800 --> 00:07:08.360 It was awful. 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:09.379 It was terrible. 00:07:09.860 --> 00:07:15.360 I had an idea of what I had done to him in that moment, but I didn't truly realize, 00:07:15.899 --> 00:07:20.120 I didn't understand what had happened until I looked over and I saw my dad on the other 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:21.180 side of the arcade room. 00:07:21.180 --> 00:07:26.740 He had been watching the whole thing, and he walked over and he gave me a new context 00:07:26.740 --> 00:07:27.600 for what had happened. 00:07:28.280 --> 00:07:32.980 He helped me understand in that moment what the definition of taking advantage of someone 00:07:32.980 --> 00:07:33.420 was. 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:36.939 I had taken advantage of my brother's weakness, his age. 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:40.019 I had convinced him of this ridiculous idea, right? 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:46.639 I needed my dad to help me understand the implications of what had transpired. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:53.819 I needed his perspective to know just how sinful my heart truly was, that I was capable 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:59.899 of doing something that awful, that I was that separated from the father in my actions. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.740 I needed the perspective that my father could give. 00:08:05.419 --> 00:08:07.219 The same is true for the Ephesians. 00:08:08.039 --> 00:08:11.779 Paul is going to be like my father was in that scenario, and he's going to speak to them 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:17.519 and tell them, you don't naturally on your own have the ability to truly understand who 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:18.059 you were. 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:23.039 You don't have the ability to naturally understand what the implications of your history was as 00:08:23.039 --> 00:08:25.699 Gentile people, but I'm going to give you a perspective. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:30.359 He's going to give them a perspective they wouldn't otherwise have. 00:08:30.419 --> 00:08:37.019 He's going to tell them about this far-reaching, chasm-creating differences that are cast between 00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:39.980 us and the father because of our sin. 00:08:40.840 --> 00:08:48.779 The Ephesian people quite often forgot, just as we forget what life was like before we knew 00:08:48.779 --> 00:08:53.000 the father, just how helpless and hopeless we were. 00:08:54.100 --> 00:09:00.059 Just prior in chapter 2, Paul has explained the indictment that we faced as sinners before 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:04.740 God, and now Paul is going to explain what our history, what our background says about 00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:10.980 who we are before the father. Paul knows that the Ephesians' ability to recount and understand 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:16.000 history is short-sighted. In the same way, when we consider our own personal history, 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:21.899 what our life was like before God intervened into our situations, our tendency is to also be 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:28.899 short-sighted. We want to soften the details of our sinful state. We want to curtail the story 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:35.179 and tame the implications just a little bit, but Paul's not going to let us be comfortable. 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:40.699 He's going to unsettle us with the gospel and give us a perspective of what it meant to be 00:09:40.699 --> 00:09:49.399 Gentile people. We have Paul ready to explain what it's like being spiritual nomads, what it means to 00:09:49.399 --> 00:09:55.639 be a people who don't have a home, who don't have a people, who don't have promises in the world. 00:09:55.639 --> 00:10:03.639 So, as we look to understand more of our history, Paul first starts by explaining to us the separation 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:08.899 that we have from God's company. He starts by telling us the separation that we have from God's 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:14.559 company. His calling is for us to remember our roots, to remember where we came from. This is not 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:21.600 a fun task. This is not easy to do. It's a grim history that Paul's about to recount. He first starts 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:28.080 by explaining to us how, in our separation from God, we were denied the social and the political 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:36.080 affiliation with God's people. The Ephesians are first referred to as uncircumcision. This was a social, 00:10:36.300 --> 00:10:43.000 political, and racially charged and sensitive term. It's one that clearly delineated the Gentiles 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:50.220 from the Israelites. Paul is sharply reminding the Ephesian people that they're a foreign group, that their 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:55.440 political system, their social status, their geographical history do not compare at all to 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:00.860 that of Israel. This reference to the promise of circumcision was also a reminder to the Ephesians 00:11:00.860 --> 00:11:07.759 that they were wholly unclean, that they stood before the Father not clean, but wholly unclean, 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:14.300 that they were denied this social, this political affiliation that being a part of Israel allowed. 00:11:15.420 --> 00:11:19.460 Consider what Paul is saying here in the context of what he's already explained to us, that 00:11:19.460 --> 00:11:24.940 you Ephesians, Paul's already told us, have been raised up and seated with Jesus in heaven. But 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:30.800 now he's coming back and saying, don't forget, you were actually separated from Christ. You're in Christ 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:34.519 now. You're joined with Christ now. But don't forget, there was a time where you were completely 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:43.580 denied the affiliation with God's people. Brian Chappell explains how God gave his theocratic state, 00:11:43.580 --> 00:11:49.920 he gave his people group instructions for justice, for worship and mercy, so that the grace of his 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:56.220 character would be concrete expressions in the law and the life of Israel. What that means is that if 00:11:56.220 --> 00:12:02.139 you were a part of this group, then you just naturally understood in a unique way through the laws, 00:12:02.280 --> 00:12:08.000 through justice, and through the daily life of Israel what it meant to understand God's character. 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:16.139 His character was displayed in this political, social group. There was once a time where you were 00:12:16.139 --> 00:12:21.539 denied this relationship, Ephesians, a time when you had no hope, when you had no affiliation with the 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:28.120 people of God. There was a time when you all, Southwood, like the Gentile Ephesians, were not 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:35.039 privileged to the benefits of an affiliation with the people of God. So Paul tells us that we are denied 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:40.240 that social political affiliation. He also tells us that we were removed from the intimate community, 00:12:40.939 --> 00:12:45.480 the intimate community that is unique to the people of God. Paul says you were not a part of that. 00:12:46.719 --> 00:12:50.939 We're described in this passage as being alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:57.539 strangers to the covenants of promise. One of the greatest things that someone misses out on when 00:12:57.539 --> 00:13:02.919 they're not a part of God's people is the intimate community that it provides, a community that's 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:10.019 coded in God's mercy and His grace. Relationships in the covenant community are marked by a love that's 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:15.819 born out of God's example of grace. They're marked by truth. They're marked by selflessness. They're 00:13:15.819 --> 00:13:21.179 marked by commitment, and they're marked by intentionality. Intimate relationships in the 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:27.240 covenant community of God are ones where we display His grace, and we work all the time to know other 00:13:27.240 --> 00:13:33.399 people and to be known. That's intimacy. And Paul's telling you, you were removed from that. You are not 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:42.379 always a part of that. The intimacy that the covenant community provides is one where the glory of God is 00:13:42.379 --> 00:13:48.620 the chief goal. No other group can offer that. Paul references the historical relationships and 00:13:48.620 --> 00:13:55.080 agreements that God entered into with His people with one singular promise of grace that started in the 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:59.980 Old Testament and that carries now into the New Testament. He's referencing the covenants that 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:07.200 included those with Adam, with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with Joshua, with Ezra, with Nehemiah. 00:14:07.660 --> 00:14:14.139 The spirit of these covenants was the one in which land was secured. It's the one by which a man and a 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:20.500 woman entered into marriage. It's the same spirit of these covenants that a mother and a father were 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:27.740 called to covenantally bless and care for their children. God's covenants of promise were the glue 00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:35.299 of loving and unified neighborhoods. They were the glue of loving and unified family units and communities. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:42.759 It's through these covenants that God promised to send a Redeemer. Do you see how unique it is? How 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:48.340 special this covenant community is? The intimacy that God had with His people and that God's people had 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:57.040 with each other. As I entered into my freshman year of college, I decided to go the potluck method 00:14:57.040 --> 00:15:03.280 with a roommate. And I'm sure that you're familiar with that. It's basically your name is put into a 00:15:03.280 --> 00:15:08.460 big pool of names. And at Samford, where I went to school, they actually try to be thoughtful and 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:13.680 intentional and pair people together. So I met my roommate the first day that I showed up my freshman 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:19.959 year of school. My roommate's name was Andrew Kurek, and he and I quickly developed a great 00:15:19.959 --> 00:15:25.719 relationship. We shared tons of great memories. We shared our personal stories, our journeys, our 00:15:25.719 --> 00:15:32.519 struggles through the first year of college. We decided not to be roommates after that, but we stayed 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:39.379 really great friends. He was in my wedding. I was in his wedding. We continued to have a great 00:15:39.379 --> 00:15:45.659 relationship. Later on in my time at Samford, my junior year, there was a series of events that had 00:15:45.659 --> 00:15:50.000 occurred in my life, and I knew that personally I was going to have to make a difficult decision. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:55.639 I knew a difficult decision was coming my way, and making this decision was going to mean making some 00:15:55.639 --> 00:16:01.340 enemies. It was going to mean facing trials and struggles that I had not anticipated. I might 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:09.299 potentially lose friends. And as I faced the situation, I felt very alone. I felt lost in this struggle. 00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:18.659 And I remember late one night standing on the Beeson Woods Bridge on Samford's campus and explaining my 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:25.720 situation to my dear friend, Andrew. I remember him listening very carefully. I remember him asking 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:30.179 thoughtful questions. I remember him agreeing that I was making the right decision. 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:39.299 I also remember Andrew sensing my feelings of aloneness, my feelings of uncertainty. 00:16:40.259 --> 00:16:47.599 And at the end of our conversation, my friend who had walked with me through so much, who had been a 00:16:47.599 --> 00:16:55.219 faithful friend, a loving friend, one who I knew, one who knew me, looked at me and he said, 00:16:55.220 --> 00:17:04.579 Chad, you need to know that I am so proud of you. In that moment, I understood what it looked like to 00:17:04.579 --> 00:17:10.980 live in a community marked by God's covenantal love. In that moment, I understood what it meant to 00:17:10.980 --> 00:17:17.579 be known, to be loved with grace and with affirmation. I understood what it meant for someone 00:17:17.579 --> 00:17:23.460 to faithfully come alongside me. I understood what it meant to dwell in intimate friendship. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.919 I understood what it meant to do this when it wasn't convenient and it wasn't easy. 00:17:28.859 --> 00:17:34.279 In that moment, I understood the beauty of God's grace, the beauty of his covenantal love. 00:17:36.220 --> 00:17:42.679 Allow me to take an aside then, Southwood, and ask you, do you feel that sense of community here 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:47.720 at Southwood? Is this a place where you feel that you can be open with your heart's struggles 00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:54.740 and your doubts, where you feel that you can be truly loved and cared for? Do you experience and 00:17:54.740 --> 00:18:01.620 then also express the intimacy that a covenantal community allows? Do you see God's character, 00:18:01.620 --> 00:18:09.120 his love being displayed as you dwell with this group of people? As the people of God, our community 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:15.259 should and must be ones that are marked by genuine transparency, that are marked by this kind of 00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:21.519 intimacy. And they're actually only going to be shown here because we sit in gospel freedom. 00:18:22.199 --> 00:18:29.259 It's okay to not be okay in these pews, and it's our desire that that would grow in this place. 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:36.099 Fostering that kind of community doesn't just take place from what I say or Will says from this pulpit. 00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:44.299 It starts in the pew. It grows organically. It's contagious. Are you displaying it well to others? 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:52.199 My friend Andrew was and is a regular reminder of God's love to me. I was able to spend the evening 00:18:52.199 --> 00:18:57.480 with him last Monday. It was the first time that he and I had sat down face to face in over seven years. 00:18:58.059 --> 00:19:04.079 And I can't tell you the sweetness of the connection that we immediately had. These covenantal bonds of 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:09.740 striving for the same things, understanding and experiencing God's love in unique ways. 00:19:10.179 --> 00:19:16.220 We sat and we shared life together. Our wives got to know each other better during the evening on 00:19:16.220 --> 00:19:22.799 Monday. I felt the sweetness of what Paul is describing here, a community, a place that's unique, 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:31.099 that's marked by God's love. We're told that before you knew the Father, you were removed from that 00:19:31.099 --> 00:19:37.359 kind of community, that you were separated from it. But now you get to experience it. So Paul tells us 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:42.179 that we were denied that affiliation. We were removed from this community. And then he also tells us that 00:19:42.179 --> 00:19:47.980 we were distanced from the living God. The living God who could offer us life, who offered us hope, 00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:55.500 we were distanced from Him. This is the greatest, most crucial part of Paul's description, that we were 00:19:55.500 --> 00:20:01.400 separated from God Himself. This was not a partially severed relationship. This wasn't a weak relationship. 00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:08.180 This was a relationship where the two parties didn't know each other. We were separated, removed from God. 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:14.579 Last week, J. Scalar described for us the mode of the psalmist as he faced his struggles, that 00:20:14.579 --> 00:20:21.940 he's trying to recall God's covenant love, His steadfast love, and His care. There's a practice of that as 00:20:21.940 --> 00:20:28.380 God's covenant people. The Gentiles were not able to do that. They couldn't remember a time when God was 00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:34.660 their God. They had been removed from Him, separated from the living God. Paul tells us that this separation 00:20:34.660 --> 00:20:42.240 leaves us without hope. It leaves us without hope in the world, completely desperate. No dreams, no ambitions, 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:50.500 no longings, no fulfillment, no contentment, no peace. And so we're left at the end of these verses 00:20:50.500 --> 00:20:59.039 gasping for spiritual air, gasping to be a part of that community, to know that affiliation, to be 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:06.559 connected with God again, to have hope. We ought to be waiting on Paul's good news. Like, is it coming 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:16.660 soon, Paul? And here it is. Just as he did previously in chapter 2, he said, but God, and delivered the good 00:21:16.660 --> 00:21:23.900 news of the gospel to us, he tells us now, but now. The time orientation, the historical orientation has 00:21:23.900 --> 00:21:33.700 changed. That's in the past. You used to be that. Now you are this. But now. But now you are God's people 00:21:33.700 --> 00:21:41.300 because of what Christ did for you. He's explaining that your history, that God's association with you 00:21:41.299 --> 00:21:46.559 used to be this way, but now it's something totally different. His relationship with you is now 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:53.139 restored. You now have hope again. You get to experience the restoration that Christ's ministry 00:21:53.139 --> 00:22:01.700 and that his blood brings. With clear imagery, we're told that God has taken these people who were far off, 00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:07.779 that were separated from him, alienated from him, that were denied access to the covenant. God has now 00:22:07.779 --> 00:22:13.980 brought them close. They were far, and now he's brought them near. We start to take a deep breath, 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:21.619 a big spiritual deep breath of, okay, the story doesn't stop there. This work of Christ restoring 00:22:21.619 --> 00:22:28.660 our relationship with God happens in two parts. The first is our restoration in Christ. Paul wants to 00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:32.779 make sure before he goes to the cross and talks about the implications of the cross that we first 00:22:32.779 --> 00:22:37.379 understand that it was Christ who enabled this relationship, and we are connected to him. 00:22:37.779 --> 00:22:43.079 His death was our death. His resurrection was our resurrection. You are restored in Christ. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:50.079 You are united to him. Christ joins us to himself as he bore the penalty of death. 00:22:51.139 --> 00:22:57.839 The salvation side of the equation is given by and enabled by Christ. We are in Christ, meaning that we 00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:03.680 are Christ's benefactors. We're placed in and under the benefits that Christ's blood achieved. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:13.400 They were accomplished by him, but credited to us. We are in Christ. This clause of Paul's signifies for 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:22.180 us the personal, intimate union that we have with Christ. So, we are restored in Christ, but we're also 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:29.120 restored through Christ, through Christ's work. Just as we're told that we are united to him, that we're 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:34.819 in Christ. Paul explains the way in which we are united to him, and that is through his blood, 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:41.699 through his sacrifice, through his cross. It's the blood of Christ and his sacrificial death which 00:23:41.699 --> 00:23:47.979 bridges this eternal gap that existed between us and the Father. It's the blood of Christ which 00:23:47.979 --> 00:23:54.779 eternally pardons our sin and thereby reconciles us to God and to others. And what was that experience 00:23:54.779 --> 00:24:02.139 like for Jesus on the cross? What was that experience like as he shed his blood for you, his people? 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:10.759 It was painful, right? He endured great suffering, great pain, great persecution, mockery, torment. 00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:19.460 And do you remember those words of Jesus on the cross? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:24:19.460 --> 00:24:27.400 He puts into words the anguish of his heart, the bloods being shed, and his cry is, my God, my God, 00:24:27.460 --> 00:24:34.600 why have you forsaken me? He was taking on your sin in that moment. He was going to face punishment for 00:24:34.600 --> 00:24:43.559 you. He descended into hell, and he was separated from God. So, you know what that means? He could have 00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:51.859 actually said Paul's words. My God, my God, I am separated from you. I am alienated from the common 00:24:51.859 --> 00:24:58.220 wealth of my relationship with you. I feel as though I am a stranger to the covenants of promise. 00:24:59.179 --> 00:25:09.039 My God, my God, I have no hope, and I am in the world without you. Do you understand what Jesus did? 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:17.019 With his final breath, with his final words, Jesus took on the sin of the world, descended into hell, 00:25:17.379 --> 00:25:25.319 absorbed that punishment, and he cried out in separation. He experienced what we were as Gentiles, 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:32.460 separated from God so that we might be brought near. Christ was sent far off so that we could be 00:25:32.460 --> 00:25:39.980 drawn near by the Father. Christ's nearness to God is union with the Father. His fullness of life and 00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:48.340 holiness is what we are joined in, and we are given through the cross. Jesus enabled God to take what 00:25:48.340 --> 00:25:54.440 was far and to bring it close again, to take his people who he had a perfect relationship with in Eden, 00:25:55.079 --> 00:26:01.620 who he was separated from, and now bring them close again. Verse 14 tells us that Jesus himself is our 00:26:01.619 --> 00:26:08.439 peace, that Jesus earned that peace, and that peace is offered to us in the gospel. We're told that he did 00:26:08.439 --> 00:26:14.359 this by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances. When you read that, maybe that struck you. I hope it 00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:20.199 did. Why would Jesus abolish the law? That doesn't make sense, right? We would understand that he needs to 00:26:20.199 --> 00:26:27.239 fulfill the law, be what we could never be. He had a perfect obedience, an active obedience is what we would 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:32.400 call it. So why would Paul say that? Well, there's a particular reference that Paul is making, and that 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:39.359 is to the ceremonial law. The ceremonial laws were those things that governed things like material 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:47.339 sacrifices, dietary regulations, and it governed rituals that determined who was clean and unclean. 00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:56.339 Sound familiar? Clean and unclean, circumcision and uncircumcision. So what Jesus was doing was, 00:26:56.339 --> 00:27:02.619 through his blood, through his shed blood, he was abolishing those ordinances. He was breaking down 00:27:02.619 --> 00:27:08.819 the wall that existed. Now all are clean because of their relationship to Jesus, not their affiliation 00:27:08.819 --> 00:27:14.879 with a people group. You are made right again, not because of anything you do, but because you've been 00:27:14.879 --> 00:27:24.500 made clean by Jesus. Do you see what Paul is saying? There is no longer now any distinction between Jew 00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:31.180 and Gentile, the circumcised and the uncircumcised. The condition of being separated and distanced from 00:27:31.180 --> 00:27:38.460 God. You don't have to worry about that anymore. You Gentiles receive all the benefits that God's 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:46.220 people previously received. The same year that I met and developed that great friendship with my 00:27:46.220 --> 00:27:52.859 roommates was the same year that I was exposed to a, let's say, a very special, bless their heart kind 00:27:52.859 --> 00:27:59.679 of people in our society. It's people who have a lot of money, who are spoiled, they're entitled. 00:28:00.219 --> 00:28:05.579 We call them trust fund babies. Kids who are just, they know that for the rest of their lives, 00:28:05.679 --> 00:28:10.599 they're set. They get to sit on mom and dad's wealth, the inheritance that they've given them. 00:28:11.179 --> 00:28:15.139 There was one guy in my freshman class who lived in my dorm. He was a trust fund kid. 00:28:15.140 --> 00:28:21.200 And it seemed as though he was suspended from normal human responsibilities. Like, 00:28:21.300 --> 00:28:27.060 he went to college with us, but we never saw him in class. We never saw him studying. We never saw 00:28:27.060 --> 00:28:32.560 him in his room because he was driving around in his luxury vehicle or hopping on a jet and going to 00:28:32.560 --> 00:28:37.780 see his parents on the weekend in some tropical location. This guy lived an amazing life. 00:28:37.779 --> 00:28:48.960 my friends realized that it would benefit them to get to know Richard. Richard was his name, 00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:54.099 and they selfishly decided that they were, whenever they could find Richard, they wanted to talk to him, 00:28:54.460 --> 00:29:00.039 see if they could get in on Richard's world. And so two of them succeeded. I don't think he realized 00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:04.720 what was happening, but these guys wanted a part of the wealth. And so sure enough, he would drive 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:10.319 them around in his fancy car. He would take them on trips. He would buy them meals. He would buy 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:16.960 expensive gifts for them. It was wild. We hated that that was happening, but we were jealous too, 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:22.039 weren't we? Like, you know we wanted in on that relationship. We would have loved to have had all 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:26.519 of that wealth. We would have loved to have been friends with Richard and received things that we 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:33.200 didn't work for. We wanted all the joys, the pleasures, the highs of life without pain and sacrifice. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:43.279 The life of a trust fund child. It's difficult for us, right? We want someone to earn it. Well, guess 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:53.360 what? The gospel makes you a trust fund baby. The gospel makes you a trust fund baby. The unequivocally 00:29:53.360 --> 00:30:01.600 free grace of Christ given to us makes us benefactors to Jesus. Our relationship with God came at the cost of 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:09.859 Jesus's life, but it doesn't cost us anything. We sit under the trust of the gospel. You are trust fund 00:30:09.859 --> 00:30:18.240 babies spiritually. The whole world was earned for you. God's righteousness was earned for you, and it was 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:27.779 given as a gift. We all now receive the glorious riches of God's mercy and God's grace because of what 00:30:27.779 --> 00:30:35.599 Jesus did for us. Jesus lets us ride in the car with him. We get to take trips. We get to enjoy newfound and 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:43.859 unearned freedom, life, intimacy, and joy with the Father once again. So my question is, how freely then do 00:30:43.859 --> 00:30:50.240 you live? Do you live as a trust fund kid, enjoying the riches of God's grace and mercy every day, 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:58.440 or do you live enslaved? Enslaved to a father that feels, that you feel is watching your every move, 00:30:59.140 --> 00:31:06.079 a father whose affections may change for you any day? Do you feel like a stranger, or do you feel like 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:13.359 a child of our heavenly Father? Have you experienced God's grace in that way? Has it sunk in that you are a 00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:20.659 child of the trust fund? We see then thus far in this passage how our history has been changed, 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:27.819 how our name, how our status has been transferred to Christ, and Christ has given us his righteousness. 00:31:28.179 --> 00:31:33.719 We've received all of his good works. They've been transferred to us. What should our response be then? 00:31:34.699 --> 00:31:40.539 Our final point is a very brief one, and it's simply to remind us of how this passage in this chapter 00:31:40.539 --> 00:31:47.720 concludes. Look with me at verses 20 through 22 at the end of our passage. It says that you, 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:53.000 you Gentile Ephesians, you were built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:59.659 Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into 00:31:59.659 --> 00:32:07.440 a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:15.559 Spirit. The means, the Spirit, and the purpose of our unity is Christ himself. Christ brought down the 00:32:15.559 --> 00:32:21.400 wall of hostility. He breaks down the barriers that exist between us and God so that we might be 00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:29.240 forever united to this one Spirit, to the one and only Savior of sinful people. 00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:39.839 This is a very striking picture compared to how Paul started. Our state, Paul said, was spiritual nomads. 00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:45.539 We wandered without a people, without a home, without rights, privileges, structure, support, 00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:52.759 community, or hope. And now God has brought us into his people group. He's welcomed us into the banquet 00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:58.019 table of grace, but he's also done something else. He's done something that no one would expect. 00:32:58.019 --> 00:33:04.960 He says, I'm going to take these nomadic people, these orphaned people who had no God, no hope, 00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:10.299 and guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to build my church with them. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't 00:33:10.299 --> 00:33:16.220 add up. Why would God use us? You know why? Because he's concerned about his son getting glory. 00:33:17.220 --> 00:33:23.500 It's not about us. It's not about our righteousness or our works. He's concerned that his son receives 00:33:23.500 --> 00:33:31.980 glory, that we are unified together in that. This history lesson for Paul has now come full circle. 00:33:33.119 --> 00:33:40.200 The benefactors of grace are now called to be conduits of it. We're called to be God's people 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:48.319 in the world now. I have a new people. It's anybody who receives me by faith. Now go, build yourselves up 00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:55.059 in Christ Jesus. He is the cornerstone, the one that holds all of it together. Go and be built up. 00:33:56.099 --> 00:34:01.359 Do you see then our call to unity as a church? This is a recurring theme for Paul in the book of 00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:07.899 Ephesians. Do you see what we have to celebrate and be united by? This good news of the gospel, 00:34:08.579 --> 00:34:14.639 that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. God has extended his love to Jew and to Gentile. 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:21.879 The barriers are gone, and there is only one means by which we are saved, and that is Jesus Christ. 00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:29.559 Not your affiliation, not your works or your righteousness, but Christ alone. We all celebrate 00:34:29.559 --> 00:34:36.039 under this big tent of the gospel, and we are together a dwelling place for God to display himself 00:34:36.039 --> 00:34:43.500 to the world. Do you long to create a community that's unified by God's grace? Is it your desire that 00:34:43.500 --> 00:34:49.519 we would be unified people at Southwood? Do you long to create a place where our next visitor, 00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:58.559 our next hurting individual or family, our next broken-hearted, brow-beaten legalist, our next 00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:04.920 senior pastor enters this place and cannot deny that we are a people who have been changed by the 00:35:04.920 --> 00:35:10.539 good news of God's restoration through Jesus? Is that your desire? Do you want to be that? 00:35:10.539 --> 00:35:18.239 The good news is here. The walls of hostility have been broken down. You now are united to the Father. 00:35:19.179 --> 00:35:25.279 Paul tells us that we can do nothing less, that we are called to be a united people, built up in Christ 00:35:25.279 --> 00:35:34.300 Jesus, built up in a place where God himself dwells. He is our peace. He is our unity. Let's live lives of 00:35:34.300 --> 00:35:39.440 joy and purpose because of it. Would you pray with me? Father, 00:35:39.440 --> 00:35:39.500 Father, 00:35:40.500 --> 00:35:44.300 this story doesn't make sense. 00:35:45.980 --> 00:35:49.000 Why would you decide to love us 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:51.420 unlovely, broken, 00:35:52.420 --> 00:35:54.240 dirty, sin-stained people? 00:35:54.239 --> 00:36:00.379 We don't know, other than the fact that you've decided to bring glory out of all of this, 00:36:00.959 --> 00:36:07.500 that you might shine brighter and greater and more powerful amongst your people in the whole world, 00:36:07.959 --> 00:36:14.679 but particularly, Father, your people here at Southwood. May you shine big and bright and beautiful. 00:36:15.439 --> 00:36:21.379 May the people who enter our doors understand the beauty of a covenantal community. May they 00:36:21.380 --> 00:36:26.760 understand the love and the grace that you first displayed in our lives that we might give it away. 00:36:27.579 --> 00:36:33.960 Father, bring great unity out of this place, out of these people. May we make great strides and 00:36:33.960 --> 00:36:40.840 impacts for your gospel, for your glory, Father. Thank you for saving us, for being a God of great love. 00:36:41.400 --> 00:36:43.300 Pray all these things in your heavenly son's name. Amen. 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:51.260 For more information, visit us online at southwood.org. 00:36:51.380 --> 00:36:52.380 Thank you.