WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.679 Good morning, church. It is so good. Summer camp is finally here. How wonderful. How wonderful. 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:11.919 I want you to cast your minds back to a time when you were at a school that taught history. 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:17.280 It might have been called HSIE or sociology. And I want you to imagine in your head, 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:23.280 you hear the history teacher's voice, and they're obsessed. They're absolutely obsessed. 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:27.859 So obsessed as if they should jump back into a time machine and go back to the past because 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:35.460 they love it so much. That was always my experience of history lessons. I didn't get the point of it. 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:40.859 I always struggled. I was confused. In fact, the teacher didn't make it interesting or relevant 00:00:40.859 --> 00:00:49.100 to my life at all. Sorry, history buffs. But what I have learned is that a good history teacher 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:57.320 is one that helps you see the beauty and its relevance to today. And guess what? Paul, 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:02.980 the writer of Ephesians that was just read out to us by Judd, he is a good history teacher. 00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:09.719 Paul has this style of writing where he constantly contrasts the past with the present. Because in 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:17.480 this chapter, he loves giving this little quick glance back at the past. Why? Because his prayer 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:23.920 and desire is for the Ephesian church to see who they used to be and remind them, 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:32.540 you are not those people of the past. You are a new kind of people. So stop walking as those who are 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:40.079 people in the past, but be people who live in the now, the present reality. So why don't we talk to 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:46.780 God before we launch in? Gracious Father, you are a good and wonderful King. We ask that you might 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:53.420 challenge us today, that you might really help our ears here and our hearts be slow and ready for your 00:01:53.420 --> 00:02:01.000 word today. Reveal yourself and your glory through your word. May you alone be glorified. Amen. 00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:08.620 All right. Our focus passage is Ephesians 2, 8 to 22. But I'll be remiss if I don't quickly mention 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:14.020 what happens in verse 1 to 7, where Paul does this first little history lesson for the Ephesians. So 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:22.980 come keep your Bibles open at verse 1 of Ephesians 2. It says, as for you, you were dead in your 00:02:22.980 --> 00:02:32.260 transgressions and sins. The history lesson is this, you were dead. That is the state of the Ephesian 00:02:32.260 --> 00:02:40.180 church. In fact, that is the state of all people. It's a shocking history lesson. You were dead. 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:46.360 I wonder if you've ever thought about it that way. Have you ever realised before a Christian says, 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:54.580 yes, Jesus is my Lord, there was a state in which you were dead. Now, the death that Paul is talking 00:02:54.580 --> 00:03:00.020 about here is not the literal sense of death, not like the roadkill you often see driving through 00:03:00.020 --> 00:03:09.300 the highway, but more like this flower. This flower is no longer alive. You might think it looks pretty 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:17.060 and pretty alive, but it's been cut from the source. It's been cut from the plant. It's got colour, 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:26.280 it's got form, but eventually it will really be dead. Spiritual death is being cut off from the person 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:33.980 who created you, who made you, God, the giver of life. That is the history lesson for the Ephesians. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:41.459 You were dead. But remember, Paul's a good history teacher. He's not just going to teach the history. 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:51.459 He wants to remind you that now you are something else. Verse 4, but because of his great love for us, 00:03:52.019 --> 00:04:00.280 God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:10.460 But God made us alive. You once were dead. You were like the dead flower, but for those who put 00:04:10.460 --> 00:04:17.100 their trust in Jesus, you have been made alive. Telling them they were dead wasn't to get them all 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:24.259 sad and mopey. The purpose of telling them they're dead is to amplify how you have been made alive. 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:31.980 Alive. You are no longer a dead person. You are an alive person. You are a person made alive in Jesus. 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:37.480 You are someone who was raised to life with Jesus. The only guy who has ever been raised to life. 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:44.019 And you will receive the riches of his kindness. That is who you are, not a dead person. 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:49.659 The history lesson is meant to compare and contrast the past to now. 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:57.180 So you are this. Don't go live in the past. Live who you are, made to be now. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:03.900 And that's the pattern of this chapter. And here, as we start, Paul further describes what this death 00:05:03.900 --> 00:05:05.700 is like. Have a look at verse 11. 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:33.740 Here's some key definitions that you might not know of. 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:41.480 Jews were God's chosen people from the Old Testament. And a Gentile was everyone else. A non-Jew. 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:48.639 Paul is talking to the Gentiles here. They didn't have the special privilege of always knowing God. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:55.579 But he's talking to Christian Gentiles, those who have professed faith in Jesus as their king and 00:05:55.579 --> 00:06:00.199 saviour. That's who he's talking to. Okay? And in verse 12, he is saying, 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:08.279 before you knew God, before you believed in Jesus, you were separate from Christ, excluded from 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:13.459 citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenant of the promise. Let's go through each 00:06:13.459 --> 00:06:18.419 of one of them. Before someone knows God, they are physically distant from God. They are socially 00:06:18.419 --> 00:06:22.599 distant from God. And they're also culturally distant from Christ. 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:30.060 You are mega distant. You are cut off. There is no coming back from this. And that is the history 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:37.379 lesson. The history lesson for the Gentiles was, you once were alienated from God. Alienated. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:44.540 Think about the idea of an alien from outer space. The Gentiles were so far away from God. Why? 00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:52.500 Because of sin. It's not that God asks you for no good reason. Sin separates you from God. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:02.280 Sin is whenever we choose to say, I am king, not the creator of the world. Sin is choosing to live 00:07:02.280 --> 00:07:11.620 in opposition of God. And so sin is a heart problem. Remember hearing when you were younger about that 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:19.060 little rumor about chlorine in the pool? If you were to pee in the pool, the chlorine around you would 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:27.220 turn the surrounding area purple. And then you would see who did it and dealt it. Everyone would start 00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:32.660 swimming away from you. And as you swim closer to them, the purple would spread throughout the pool. 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:41.600 Good news. Fake news. That's the image of sin and death. This death pool, 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:48.280 is talking about, causes separation from God and death. Sin causes distance from God. You can't 00:07:48.280 --> 00:07:56.560 approach God. No matter what you do, you are tainted. You are, as verse 12 says, without hope 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:01.840 and without God in the world. And you cannot save yourself. And that is what Paul says in verse 8. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:02.720 Follow along with me. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:23.540 It is by grace you have been saved. It is a gift of God. This means the way that you are saved is not 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:30.420 from yourself. You cannot do anything to heal the broken relationship with God. If you're in that pool, 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:37.539 all you do with the purple liquid is spread it around. You need that to be removed. All you do 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:44.360 is spread it and people do not want to be near you. The same grace that brings you from death to life is 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:54.560 the same grace that saves you. Last year, our speaker told us that grace is a gift, undeserved, free of 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:03.719 forgiveness, fullness and life eternal. Paul reminds the Ephesians. He's reminding you that salvation is 00:09:03.719 --> 00:09:10.779 not from you. There are never enough good deeds that you can do. You know those kids who are in 00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:16.500 school photos who just give this, oh, look at me. I look good. I look cute. And I know, and I know it. 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:22.399 And I know that I can get anyone to do anything for me. They give you that look. And I almost want to 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:28.340 scream at them and be, you can't be proud of it. You didn't do anything. That's what Paul is saying. 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:36.519 If you were not the cause or the means of your salvation, you can't boast. You didn't earn your 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:45.059 salvation. So salvation doesn't come through us. How does it come by? Verse 13. 00:09:45.059 --> 00:09:54.219 That now in Christ Jesus, remember verse 4, but God, Paul does it again. This shift from the history 00:09:54.219 --> 00:10:00.639 of the past to the present is supposed to give us hope. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:10.199 far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. All this time when you were culturally 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:19.640 separated, socially isolated, spiritually distant, you are far away, alien. But now you have been 00:10:19.640 --> 00:10:28.900 brought near by the blood of Christ. Have a listen to that phrase, being brought near. Notice that it 00:10:28.900 --> 00:10:36.879 isn't coming near, going closer to God. You are a passive participant in the action. You're doing 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:45.220 nothing. Being brought close to God is an action done only by Jesus, by his blood shed on the cross. 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:53.080 What Jesus accomplishes on the cross is not just the forgiveness of your sins, but the ability to 00:10:53.080 --> 00:11:00.879 freely come to God. That's why you can pray to God and say, Father, that's why you don't need to run 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:08.000 away from God. Lock your room and be ashamed of yourself in front of God. You can boldly approach 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:16.620 his throne with confidence that he hears you and he cares for you. See, the beauty and relevance of 00:11:16.620 --> 00:11:24.740 this lesson is that you once were alienated from God, but now you have peace with him. 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:33.700 So live like you are at peace with him. Talk to him regularly. Hear from him regularly in the word. 00:11:33.740 --> 00:11:39.299 We keep talking about being in the Bible four or more times a week. When you see how far you were 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:46.399 from God, you have a deeper and deeper appreciation of the depths of God's love, grace, and mercy. 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:53.919 Even though you were as far as the planet Pluto from the sun, God through Christ has brought you near. 00:11:54.740 --> 00:12:02.539 But that's not all that Jesus accomplishes for us. There's even more that he does. Ready? Verse 14. 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:10.820 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:17.560 the dividing wall of hostility. The two groups Paul was talking about are the Gentiles and the Jews, 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:25.719 remember? Paul's final history lesson is this. You, Gentiles and Jews, were hostile to each other. 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:32.739 In fact, it's not just a history lesson. It was a problem they still faced. Get this. 00:12:34.119 --> 00:12:42.179 If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl or vice versa, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. 00:12:42.179 --> 00:12:51.479 In that verse, you see that dividing wall of hostility? Yes, it's a metaphor. But you know what? 00:12:52.199 --> 00:12:58.919 There was actually a physical wall that barred Gentiles, foreigners, from going into the inner section of the temple 00:12:58.919 --> 00:13:03.000 where the Jews would worship God. And on the wall, there was an inscription. It said, 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:10.679 No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure around the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:18.340 will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. You just have to look at that and your brain is 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:29.320 screaming, get back! This is the unimaginable hostility and distance. Today, it breaks our hearts when we see 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:38.540 awful hostility in war-torn countries. But this is the hostility and distance inside the church. 00:13:40.220 --> 00:13:49.180 But just like what we saw earlier, sin is a heart problem. Sin causes us to be alienated from God, far away from him. 00:13:49.179 --> 00:13:59.439 And this wall, too, is a heart problem. Therefore, again, a sin problem needs an external solution. 00:13:59.939 --> 00:14:07.839 It needs to be a power, a work outside of ourselves. We cannot solve our own issue of sin. And that is why 00:14:07.839 --> 00:14:14.740 in verse 14, it says that Jesus is our peace. It is by him that he would bring Jews and Gentiles together. 00:14:14.740 --> 00:14:25.340 And for what reason does Paul, does Jesus do this? Verse 15. His purpose was to create in himself one new 00:14:25.340 --> 00:14:32.440 humanity out of the two, thus making peace. He's bringing them together to create a whole new group 00:14:32.440 --> 00:14:40.259 all together. You are not Jews and the Gentiles. You are followers of Jesus. You are not Japanese 00:14:40.259 --> 00:14:46.539 Christians and Australian Christians. You are followers of Jesus. The geeks and nerds don't sit 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:50.240 on one side of the room at youth group and then the sporty party animals sit on the other side. 00:14:50.620 --> 00:15:00.460 No, you are followers of Jesus. Christians. And in reconciling the two groups, not only has he created 00:15:00.460 --> 00:15:08.279 one new humanity, but he has put to death the hostility between the two groups. In fact, the church is so 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:13.439 countercultural. It's not just this hodgepodge of all people in one room who are civil and fine to sit 00:15:13.439 --> 00:15:19.879 next to each other, not like an extended Christmas family dinner. But verse 19 paints the new reality 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:30.980 in Jesus. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:38.060 and also members of his household. That's how transformative the gospel is. It literally, 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:43.720 literally raises spiritual death to life, but transforms people who were once enemies into 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:56.300 family. The gospel means that the church should feel like family. Each Sunday you walk into church, 00:15:56.299 --> 00:16:01.699 when you step into someone's house in community group, when it hits 6.40pm and it's youth time, 00:16:02.059 --> 00:16:09.699 my prayer is that it has and will feel like family. If you're new to St. Paul's, I hope you've been 00:16:09.699 --> 00:16:19.279 welcomed and embraced and been made to feel like family. But friends, let's be real. We aren't perfect. 00:16:19.379 --> 00:16:23.899 I'm not perfect. And there are ways we can demonstrate Jesus' warm and generous welcome, 00:16:23.899 --> 00:16:31.659 but sometimes we don't. And I wonder if the barrier between people in our church today is not obvious, 00:16:31.819 --> 00:16:38.379 it's not a blatant hostility, but of a different heart problem. We might not have walls, but we might 00:16:38.379 --> 00:16:45.019 have a little picket fence. I've just put three possible reasons down on the screen why sometimes 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:50.240 we might not make church feel like family. I don't think it's usually ever one person's fault. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:57.340 We all have a heart issue that plays a part. And these come from my own personal sins and from ones 00:16:57.340 --> 00:17:03.480 that I've wrestled in part of being part of God's family. Number one, it might be because 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:12.480 we might be prioritising preferences such as similarity in life stage, similar hobbies, culture, 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:21.099 background, shared history, being at the same church together. Number two, maybe it's because 00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:27.779 of a struggle with discomfort. You know, I don't like awkward conversations. Sometimes I don't want 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:31.819 to have those conversations because I know it's going to be awkward or I'm just happily content here 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:37.799 rather than doing what I know God wants me to do, which is welcome someone. Perhaps you are worried 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:42.799 about being vulnerable and you're fearing of being judged and you want to hide away. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:54.200 Friend, if that's you, I get that and I've been there. But don't forget, you are an alive person. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:03.539 You are a peace with God person. Jesus has brought life. Jesus has brought peace. 00:18:03.539 --> 00:18:12.379 Don't go back to the past. Don't act dead. Stop building walls. There is no more separation. 00:18:12.899 --> 00:18:19.579 There is no wall between Christians. Because what you need is not for me to tell you to get 00:18:19.579 --> 00:18:24.680 rid of your preferences, discomfort and vulnerability. There's no amount of icebreaker games and questions 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:31.519 that will bring us together. It's knowing the lengths that Christ went to have you reconciled 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:40.400 with him. Friend, know that Jesus is holding out a hand and pulling you into his grasp to be a part 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:48.960 of his family. I can point to countless times when youth or kids have asked me, Ash, why do we keep 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:53.019 talking about Jesus? Maybe you're in the room and you know you've asked that question to me. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:00.519 Like, are we ever going to move on from Jesus at Sunday, kids? Guess what, kids? Answer is no. 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:06.220 No. No. In fact, you might be a youth kid who has kept hearing the stories of Jesus from Sunday 00:19:06.220 --> 00:19:11.059 kids from Cray. And you're here at youth, you're here at summer camp, and you've been hearing about 00:19:11.059 --> 00:19:16.839 Jesus, his promises, his kingship, his salvation story, and gone, I've heard it all before. Why am I 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:21.660 hearing it again? We talk about him when we're in discussion groups, we talk about him over the table 00:19:21.660 --> 00:19:26.139 when we're doing craft. I even encourage parents to talk about Jesus over the dinner table. 00:19:26.140 --> 00:19:38.060 It's because Jesus is the only person who can bring you salvation and eternal life. It's only by Jesus 00:19:38.060 --> 00:19:46.620 that our heart problem of hostility, discomfort, preference, and vulnerability get broken down. 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:57.639 The mark of a Christian is someone who is confidently at peace with God and peace with each other, 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:03.059 which is why at St. Paul's we're on about treasuring Jesus and doing that together. 00:20:04.399 --> 00:20:12.159 Just as your salvation has been won by the grace of Jesus, so too is our connection with each other. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:18.980 When we don't feel like family, what brings Christian people together isn't anything but 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:21.040 the grace of Jesus. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:28.060 So if you're a summer camper who's going to go to Collaroy, and you know that you're a little 00:20:28.060 --> 00:20:32.840 afraid of the kids from the other youth group, or even from our church, or you know you were 00:20:32.840 --> 00:20:37.840 comfortable with just hanging out with your own mates, I just want you to be real with yourself. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:42.339 I want you to recognise that in you. Then what I want you to do is I want you to pray. 00:20:43.259 --> 00:20:50.740 I want you to pray that God might soften your heart and help you know how the gospel 00:20:50.740 --> 00:20:58.519 transforms your relationships with other Christians. Then go. Go out in faith and chat to someone you 00:20:58.519 --> 00:21:02.980 don't know well. Be okay with an awkward conversation. Can we be a church that's okay with an awkward 00:21:02.980 --> 00:21:10.880 conversation? Christian family and friendship has to start from somewhere. But know that Jesus 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:21.460 goes with you and is forming that relationship. Let's pray. Our Father God, may we deeply know how 00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:31.279 hostile we once were to you. That in your great kindness and mercy, you gave us hope in Jesus. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:37.859 Jesus. Jesus paid the penalty of death that we deserved. Lord, we cannot change our own hearts, 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:47.299 but we are confident that your Spirit can and does. Help us be a community, a church that feels like family. 00:21:47.299 --> 00:21:49.259 Amen.