Starting in verse 11, we read,
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 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
this 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 the 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 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.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Annalise, thank you so much for reading.
If you are new to Watermark and you don't know me,
my name is Kevin, one of the leaders here.
Great to have you.
Why don't we pray together as we come to this passage
and ask God to speak to us.
So, Father God, once again,
we come to your word this morning.
As we do weekly, God,
we come because we want to hear you speaking.
Lord, I pray by your Spirit,
won't you come and speak to our hearts,
Lord, won't you help me to make this passage clear.
Lord, we haven't come just to find out interesting ideas
or new ideas.
We've come to hear the living God speak to us,
to encounter you in your word.
And Lord, I pray,
won't you both challenge us but also encourage us.
Won't you flood our hearts with the good news of Jesus.
Lord, we pray this in your wonderful and your gracious name.
Amen.
Well, 28th of August, 1963,
very famous day,
a man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr.
delivered one of the most famous speeches of the last century,
his famous I Have a Dream speech.
And at the speech in Washington,
he declares his desire for unity across the United States,
across the races.
And he famously says at the end of his speech,
I have a dream that one day,
my four children will be able to sit together
at the table of humanity,
little black girls and little black boys,
little white boys and little white girls,
sitting together at the table of humanity.
It was a very famous speech
that caused a whole uproar.
And 50 years later, 60 years later,
he's still reverberating around the world.
But Martin Luther King Jr.,
where did he get that conviction from?
Well, if you know his story,
he was a Christian.
He was a flawed man.
He wasn't a perfect man at all.
But he was a Christian that was committed to the gospel,
and it was his gospel conviction
that drove his desire
and drove his conviction for unity
across a very broken nation.
Well, that's the same thing that Paul wants to say to us this morning
in Ephesians chapter 2.
Paul is going to tell us
that the gospel has the power to destroy division
and to unite diverse people together
for God's glory.
Over the last couple of weeks,
we've been working through Ephesians,
and we've seen how the gospel is not just individualistic,
me and Jesus.
It's cosmic.
God has this amazing plan
to unite all things together under Christ.
And it's been wonderful.
And the implications of that are amazing.
The implications are all eternity,
we are seated with Christ,
safe and secure.
Nobody can take that from us.
For all eternity,
we are co-heirs with Christ.
Amazing.
But what does that actually mean
for our day-to-day lives?
What does that mean for a city like Hong Kong?
What does that mean for a church like Watermark?
You know, one of the things I love about Watermark
is the diversity of people here.
I mean, I would be fascinated to know
how many countries we've got represented in this church.
People from all over the world.
Well, what does that gospel message mean
for a diversity of people
with different backgrounds and cultures
and styles and lifestyles?
How does the gospel actually speak to that?
Or what implications does it have?
Well, one of the things we're going to continue to see
throughout Ephesians
is that Paul is going to spell out in very clear terms,
but today he lays the foundation
for the fact that the gospel has the power
to destroy division
and to unite diverse people together
for God's glory.
And we're going to see three things
in our passage today.
Firstly, what you were.
Secondly, what Christ has done.
And thirdly, what God is doing in the world.
What you were, what Christ has done,
what God is doing actually in the church.
So firstly, what you were.
Let's dive in.
So the world is a very broken and hostile place,
full of division, right?
Sometimes I wonder
whether the world could possibly become
any more diverse or conflicted
than it is at the moment.
I mean, we've got geopolitical conflict
and national conflict.
We've got political divisions in every country
on a more micro level.
We've got family division and conflict.
There's ethnic division and conflict.
There's conflict between races and genders
and all sorts of conflict.
And sometimes I look at the world
and I think,
could things ever be more conflicted
than they were at the moment?
Well, we may think that the world
has never been this divided,
but actually in the ancient world,
things weren't that different.
Thousands of years ago,
you had the Babylonians and the Persians
that were at each other.
The Egyptians wore all the time.
At the time of Jesus,
you had the Greeks and the Romans
and they didn't quite see eye to eye.
But one of the greatest conflicts
in the time of the Bible
is between the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Jews are God's people.
The Gentiles are non-Jews.
And these two just could not see eye to eye.
The Jews looked down at the Gentiles
as these defiled, unclean people.
They saw them as a threat
for everything they believed in,
everything they stood for.
And the Gentiles considered the Jews
as these stack-up, elitist kind of people, right?
And we see that in our passage today.
Look at verse 11.
He says,
You Gentiles,
and then he breaks off,
says,
You who are called those dirty and circumcised
by those who consider themselves the circumcised.
Now, circumcision isn't a very big deal in our day.
But in those days,
for the Jews,
that was the sign
that you were part of the people of God.
It was like those that were committed and faithful
were the circumcised
and everyone else was unclean,
dirty,
rejected,
outsiders.
The insiders,
and the outsiders.
Jews would talk about non-Jews
as those uncircumcised pagans,
those filthy Gentiles.
In fact,
they would even call them those dogs.
And the Gentiles felt much the same
towards the Jews.
William Barclay,
a biblical scholar,
says,
The Jews had immense contempt for the Gentiles.
The Jews said that the Gentiles,
their only job in the world
was to be fuel for the fires of hell
that awaited them.
In fact,
some people said
it was morally and ethically
unacceptable
to help a Gentile lady in labor
because all you're doing
is bringing another Gentile into the world.
And in fact,
in some cultures,
some villages,
if your child married a Gentile,
if you were a Jew
and married a Gentile,
rather than throwing you a wedding,
they'd throw a funeral
because to them,
you were dead to them.
That is the end of the relationship.
Such is the hostility,
the immensity of the hostility
between these two groups of people.
Now,
on the one hand,
there actually was a legitimate distinction
between the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Jews really were God's chosen people.
I mean,
look at verse 12.
Paul writes it here.
He says,
Remember,
you Gentiles,
he's writing to Gentiles,
were separated at that time from Christ,
alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers to the covenant of promise,
having no hope
and without God in the world.
So the Jews knew
that they are God's chosen people.
God has got something special for them.
He's got a plan for them.
There is something distinct for them.
His blessing rests upon them.
But the Gentiles,
they had none of it.
Okay?
They had none of it.
And the reason why God did this
was He chose this group of people
called the Jews
to be like a billboard of His grace,
to be an invitation to the nations around them
to say,
Look at this group of people.
Look at what it looks like
when my favor is on a group of people.
When I blessed them.
Look at what it looks like
to walk with God,
Yahweh,
the one true God.
So the Jews,
in some way,
were an invitation
to the nations around them
to say,
If you come and serve
the one true God,
look at all the blessings
that are poured out on us.
Okay?
There we go.
Israel was a billboard,
an invitation,
to come and experience
the favor and the blessing of God.
You could think of it like this way.
Imagine the Hong Kong government
has this plan.
We want everyone
to switch to electric vehicles.
Okay?
No more fossil fuels.
Everyone,
we want to switch to electric vehicles.
Now,
one way they could do it
is just say,
Next year,
all fossil vehicles
are outlawed.
Okay?
They could do it that way.
Or they could come up
with an innovative plan.
They could say,
We're going to give
100,000 people
the top of the range
electric vehicles.
And we're going to give them
free charging.
And we're going to give them
free parking.
And there's going to be
all sorts of perks
that they are going
to be given.
And everyone
at Hong Kong
is going to see
how amazing it is
to do that
and they're going to make
the switch themselves.
Okay?
And so,
they set aside
this group of people
almost as an invitation,
a billboard,
to say,
Come and see
what it looks like.
Enjoy the benefits
of making the switch.
Well,
in some way,
that's what God
was doing with Israel.
He chose them.
He loved them.
He lavished them
with His favor
so that they would be
a billboard of His grace,
an invitation
to come and follow
this God,
the one true God.
Leave your gods.
Leave your idols.
Leave Baal aside
and come and worship Yahweh.
Well,
the problem,
of course,
is this,
that rather than
being an invitation
to come be part
of God's plan,
it led to
self-righteousness,
to a sense of superiority,
a sense of division.
You see,
Israel had forgotten
what we spoke about
last week,
that they were saved
by grace,
through faith.
This is not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God,
not by your own works
so that no one can boast.
They forgot about that
and they thought,
yeah,
we're pretty good.
Actually,
we are,
we may be better
than everybody else.
It wasn't that
they were more special
or holy
in and of themselves.
They were pretty rotten.
Israel needed God's grace
just as much
as anyone else.
They were still sinners
in need of forgiveness.
But God's grace to them
should have humbled them.
It should have brought them
to their knees.
But rather,
it led to
self-righteousness
and superiority.
You know,
in Jerusalem,
at the time of the Bible,
the way the temple
was structured,
it was up on a hill.
It was called
the Temple Mount.
And you had the sanctuary
where worship
was taking place.
And outside the sanctuary,
you had the court
of the priests
where the priests
would do their worship
and altars
and that kind of stuff.
Outside of that,
you had the court
of Israel
where only men could go.
Outside of that,
you had the court
of the women
where Jewish women
could go.
But then beyond that,
there was a stone wall,
1.5 meters high,
a stone wall
around the temple.
And beyond that
was the limits
to which the Gentiles
could go.
So Gentiles
could come to the area,
but they couldn't
go beyond the stone wall
anywhere near the temple.
They could look up the hill
and see the worship.
They could see
the community life.
They could see
the sense of community there.
But they could not go
beyond the stone wall
into anywhere near the temple.
Gentiles were
outsiders excluded.
In fact,
there was a stone,
there were signs
all along the stone wall.
I think we got a picture
of one that said,
no foreigner
is allowed
beyond the wall
surrounding the temple.
Whoever enters
invites death
upon himself.
Enter beyond
this stone wall
at your own risk.
You will die.
And so Paul says,
these Gentiles
and believers
in Ephesus,
remember what you were.
Last week he says,
remember you were
dead in your sins.
This week he says
the same thing.
Remember you were
outsiders,
excluded,
foreigners.
Verse 12,
remember you were
at that time
separated from Christ,
alienated from
the commonwealth
of Israel,
strangers to the
covenants of God's promise,
without God
and without hope
in the world.
Excluded from God's grace,
excluded from his blessings,
his word,
excluded from his
covenant people.
What you were,
you were outsiders.
But then,
something happened.
Something changed.
Look at verse 13.
He says,
now,
but now,
in Christ Jesus,
you Gentiles
who were once
far off,
alienated,
have been brought near.
Last week we saw,
you were once dead,
but now you've been
made alive in Christ.
He says,
now you once
were far off,
but now you've been
brought near.
At that time,
you were far off,
you've been brought in,
you were once alienated,
you've been brought home.
Once you were outsiders,
now you're insiders.
verse 14,
once there was a dividing wall
of hostility that kept you out,
but now that wall has been broken down,
there is peace.
Paul's saying,
something's happened.
What's happened?
Reconciliation has happened.
Now,
here's the question I've been wrestling with all week.
You're going to look at your Bibles with me.
Is Paul talking here,
when he talks about this reconciliation,
reconciliation,
this once alienation,
and now there's a reconciliation.
Is Paul talking vertically
between humanity and God,
or is he talking horizontally
between Jews and Gentiles?
Because sometimes it looks like
he's talking vertically,
verse 12,
right,
he says,
you were excluded without God,
without hope in the world,
you were cut off from God's promises,
but in verse 11,
it looks like he's talking about horizontally
between Jews and Gentiles.
He says,
there's this division that took place.
So,
so which one is he talking about?
When Paul says,
God has brought peace,
is he saying peace with God,
or peace with one another?
And the answer is,
both.
Both.
The answer is,
part of the complexity of this passage,
is that these two relationships
are so interconnected,
it's like a,
it's like a piece of twine,
or rope,
that's been interconnected.
It's like DNA,
right?
The vertical relationship,
and the horizontal relationship,
the divine,
and the human,
are so interconnected,
that the one,
affects the other.
In the gospel,
God is taking this group of people,
called Jews,
who are lost,
and sinners,
and need grace,
and he's taking another group of people,
called Gentiles,
who are lost,
and sinners,
and need God's grace,
and he's bringing them together,
reconciling them to God,
but also to one another.
And as he brings them together,
he makes a new humanity,
one new people,
under Christ,
which both bridges the gap between us and God,
but also bridges the gap between one another.
Look at how he says it in verse 14.
For Christ himself is our peace,
who has made us both,
Jews and Gentiles,
one,
breaking down this wall of division between us.
Verse 15.
He created himself one new man,
in place of the two,
thus making peace.
Verse 16.
He has reconciled us both to God,
in one new body,
thereby killing the hostility.
You following the logic here?
Paul is saying that as God in the gospel reconciles people to him,
he's reconciling us one to another.
And that actually makes complete sense,
doesn't it, right?
If you've got two people that are bashing heads,
they're kind of at odds with one another,
but suddenly they find a common goal,
a common interest,
a common purpose,
rather than clashing heads,
they can stand shoulder to shoulder and pursue that goal.
We actually see a funny example of this in the gospels.
I don't know if you remember this.
When Jesus is on trial to be crucified,
it says,
Herod and Pontius Pilate became friends that day,
where previously they had been enemies.
Here are two people,
they don't like each other,
they're power hungry,
they both want each other's territory and the throne,
but suddenly they've got a common opponent,
Jesus.
And so they've become friends that day,
in their pursuit of persecuting Jesus.
But the same thing happens in a positive sense.
Here are Jew and Gentile,
who previously had nothing in common.
Outsiders,
outcasts,
you dogs,
you uptight elitists.
And suddenly,
in Christ,
a common love,
that brings them together.
Friends,
what Paul is saying is,
Jesus isn't just establishing equality,
he's establishing unity.
And that's a very important difference.
You're going to have Jews who say,
Okay, fine,
I recognize that you're equal.
You're my equal,
but I still don't like you.
Right?
You do your equality over there,
and I'm going to do my equality over here.
But Paul says,
actually,
he's bringing these two,
and not only making them equal,
he's making them one.
There's a unity.
And how does,
how does Jesus do this?
I mean,
does Jesus say,
Okay,
let's just,
you know,
let's bring peace on earth,
or let's flick a switch,
and suddenly people that have been enemies,
will like each other.
Or maybe,
maybe he,
he sends a prophet,
to come and say,
Okay,
listen,
it didn't work in the Old Testament,
let's try something new.
Or maybe a re-education program,
the problem in the world is education,
so let's establish re-education.
How is Jesus going to bring unity,
between these two groups of people,
that haven't got along at all?
Well,
look at what he says in verse 13.
It says,
Now in Christ Jesus,
you who are once far off,
have been brought near.
How?
By the blood of Christ.
Verse 14.
He himself is our peace,
having broken down the wall of hostility,
in his flesh.
That means,
when he died on the cross.
Verse 16.
He has reconciled us to God,
through the cross.
Friends,
you see what Paul is saying here?
The answer to the division,
and the animosity,
in our world,
and the bitterness,
and the brokenness in our world,
is not just greater education.
And it's not just political action.
And it's not just social justice,
and becoming woke.
And it's not just Gentiles' lives matter,
even though Gentiles' lives do matter.
That's not the answer.
The answer is what he says,
the cross of Christ.
In his death on the cross,
Jesus did something,
accomplished something,
which dismantled and broke down
the barriers that separated people.
The answer is in the power of the cross.
The answer is the power of Jesus' death,
and Christ crucified.
The answer is that old rugged cross,
that we sang about this morning.
Look at verse 14 and 15.
He himself is at peace,
making us both one,
and broken down in his flesh,
this dividing wall of hostility.
Verse 15.
I know that sounds very wordy.
Okay?
So let's try and understand
what he's saying there.
So here's the question.
How does Jesus' death on the cross
accomplish this unity?
I mean, what does that actually do
to bring enemies together?
How does he bring Jew and Gentiles together?
Well, he tells us.
He says,
by abolishing the law and the commandments.
So think about this.
Israel has, in the Old Testament,
the first five books of the Bible,
has like 600 laws, okay?
Rules that Israelites, good Jews,
need to obey.
600 rules that for you to obey,
for you to be an insider,
for you to be accepted,
for you to be clean,
and welcomed,
and able to worship, right?
And the problem, of course,
is that this law,
these rules,
became a measuring stick
by which to compare one with another.
And so the Jews were pretty good
at keeping the rules,
but the Gentiles didn't know the rules,
and so they didn't keep any of the rules,
and so they were considered outsiders.
And so if this physical 1.5 meter stone wall
around the temple wasn't enough of a barrier,
here are 600 rules that are in an invisible wall,
a barrier separating insiders and outsiders.
And so let's say you want to come worship God.
You've heard,
you've seen the billboard,
you've heard that God,
Yahweh is the one true God,
you've heard of His amazing grace,
and you say,
here I am,
I want to come worship Him,
I want to know Him.
And so someone says,
oh, okay, well, that's great.
Oh, you're not circumcised.
I'm so sorry, you're out.
Oh, your dad wasn't an Israelite?
Oh, I'm so sorry,
you can't worship here.
Oh, you cut your beard this week?
Sorry, you're out.
Oh, you ate pork for dinner last night?
Sorry, you can't worship with us.
Oh, you're a foreigner?
You weren't born here?
Oh, I'm sorry,
you can't worship with us.
And so he has this long list of rules,
600 ways to be excluded from the people of God
in the covenant of grace.
But what happens if those rules were torn in two?
What happens if someone destroyed the rules?
What happens if somebody took those rules
and laid it aside?
And so those rules don't apply anymore.
You see, the whole legal system
was a temporary arrangement
meant to help Israel
until such time as the Messiah came.
And then the Messiah did come
and He perfectly obeyed all the rules.
The one person that obeyed them all.
And He said that anybody who trusts me
or follows me,
I will credit to them
my perfect track record.
So it's as if you've kept all the rules.
And so now the question is not
have you kept the rules,
is are you in Jesus?
That's the one equation.
Are you in Christ?
Because if you're in Christ,
then His perfect track record
is your perfect track record.
And so the only thing that is,
is are you in Jesus,
saved by grace,
through faith,
not by works.
Are you putting all your hope
in Jesus' finished work on the cross?
And so friends,
are you a Jew today?
Well, that doesn't matter.
The question is,
are you in Christ?
Are you a Gentile?
Well, that doesn't matter.
Are you in Christ?
Friends,
are you a billionaire here today?
Well, that doesn't matter.
The question is,
are you in Christ?
Friends,
are you a street sweeper today?
That doesn't matter.
Are you in Christ?
Friends,
have you grown up in the church
and know all the answers
and know how to say
all the right Christian things?
That doesn't matter.
Are you in Jesus?
Friends,
maybe it's your first time
you've ever stepped inside a church
and you don't know what's going on.
And who's this crazy guy talking
and I don't know what he's saying.
That doesn't matter.
The question is,
are you in Jesus?
Friends,
are you a mainlander
or Hong Konger?
Are you from Ethiopia
or Canada?
It doesn't matter.
The question is,
are you in Christ?
The ground is level
at the foot of the cross.
And because the gospel is true,
what is also true
is that all people,
both the preacher in the front
and the person that works
in the red light district
at the back,
the billionaire
and the foreign domestic worker,
all of us are equally
sinners in need of God's grace,
men and women
for whom Jesus Christ
died on the cross
saying,
it is finished.
The ground at the foot of the cross
is level.
And so look at verse 17.
It says,
Jesus came and preached peace
to you who are far away
and peace to those who are near.
Well, the question is this,
how did Jesus go and preach
to the Ephesians?
I mean, Jesus never left Israel
other than when he was a baby
and they fled to Egypt.
Jesus never stepped outside
of Israel in his ministry.
Ephesus is thousands of miles away.
So how did Jesus go and preach
this good news of acceptance
to the Ephesians?
Jesus never went there, right?
And the answer is this,
as the gospel message
rang out through those first Christians,
as it penetrated their hearts
and changed them,
as they were born again and saved,
they were given peace with God,
but also peace with one another.
It wasn't that Paul was saying,
come on, you Christians now,
act better,
pull your socks up,
be nicer people.
The word Christian
hadn't even been invented.
As the gospel message went out,
it penetrated their hearts
and it brought peace.
Friends, the question is this,
who might you,
who might we as a church
want to treat as outsiders?
Who might we be tempted
to look at and secretly think,
do they really belong here?
I think I've told you
this story before,
quick story.
One of my very best friends
in Cape Town,
he was a heroin addict,
he became a Christian
and he comes to church with us.
He'd been a Christian
about 10 days,
brand new Christian,
didn't know a single thing,
right?
He couldn't put four words
together without swearing.
He comes to church
and he says to me,
he pulls me aside,
he says,
yo, Kevin,
there's some people here
that I knew,
I didn't think I'd ever see
them inside a church.
And I said,
hey, Gordy,
I think they might be thinking
the same thing about you.
All right?
Friends,
who might we think
that they don't belong here?
No, no,
the ground is level
at the foot of the cross.
And so,
Paul writes,
Christ himself is our peace,
who has broken down
in his flesh
the dividing wall
of hostility
by abolishing the law
and his commandments
expressed in the ordinances
that he might create
in himself
one new man
in place of the two,
thus making peace
and might reconcile
both of us to God
in one body
through the cross,
thereby destroying
the humility.
What has Christ done?
He's created
a new humanity,
a new people of God.
Well, very quickly,
let's go to the third thing.
What is God doing?
Verse 11 said,
at one time
you were strangers
and aliens.
Verse 13,
but now Christ
has created
a new humanity.
We'll look at verse 19.
So then,
so then,
brothers and sisters,
you are no longer
strangers and aliens,
but you are fellow citizens
with the saints
and members
of the household of God.
The word household there
could also mean
the family.
I mean,
that is astounding,
right?
Just think about this.
Jews and Gentiles,
these two people
who previously
hated each other,
they wouldn't have
a meal together,
right?
Your son marries
a Gentile,
you have a funeral
for them
because they're dead to you.
He says,
now you are combined
family members
in the household of God.
I mean,
that's incredible.
Think Ukrainian soldier,
Russian soldier,
you now are brothers
and sisters
in the family of God.
Remember that old
Christmas carol?
The slave is no longer,
how's it going?
Neil,
I'm going to need
your help here.
Something about
the slave
has now become
your brother.
Man,
that's amazing.
But then,
verse 20 says,
built on the foundation
of the apostles
and the prophets
with Christ Jesus himself
as 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 his spirit.
It's a bit confusing here
because Paul is mixing
his metaphors,
right?
Somebody should have taught him
not to do this
in high school.
But anyway,
he's talking about
you're citizens of a country,
you're also family members
of a new household.
But the one metaphor
he really wants us to get
is this,
you are members
or stones
of a temple.
What is God doing now?
He's building
a new temple.
Well,
what was the temple?
The temple was the place
where God's glory dwelt.
It was the holy of holies.
It was the centerpiece
amongst the people of God.
It was the place
where people brought
their worship
and encountered God
and his grace.
It was the closest thing
to heaven on earth.
It was the display
of God's glory.
But look what Paul says.
God is building
a new kind of temple,
not made of bricks
and gold
and silver
and wood.
It's made of a new
kind of material.
What kind of material?
It's made up of sinners
who have been reconciled
to God
and reconciled
to one another.
God is making
a new temple
and in that temple
he's going to put
his glory
and he's going to put
his Holy Spirit
and it's going to be
a display
of his majesty.
It's going to be
the place where people
encounter God
and can worship God.
It's going to be
the place where
people encounter
God's grace.
But it's going to
consist of people,
reconciled sinners,
of every nationality
and ethnicity
and people group.
It's not going to be
located in one place
in Jerusalem
or Israel
or the Holy Land.
It's going to be found
in some tree
in the Sahara Desert
in Africa.
It's going to be found
in some school hall
in Poc Paloma
in Hong Kong.
It's going to be found
in some majestic
cathedral in Europe.
It's going to be found
wherever God's people
gather together.
There I will put
my spirit
and I'll build
a new temple.
What once,
and amazingly,
the Gentiles
are going to be included.
Once there was a sign
saying stay out
on the threat of death.
Now these very people
that were once outsiders
are going to be
the materials,
the building blocks
of this new temple.
Amazing.
What once was rejected
and regarded as outcasts
are now the very stones
that God is going to use
to build His temple.
The place where God
causes His glory to dwell.
Friends,
as Paul's writing
this letter
to the Ephesians,
right outside
the city of Ephesus
is another temple.
It's called
the temple of Artemis.
It is one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world.
It is this majestic,
beautiful temple.
Well friends,
today that temple
lies in ruins
and all that stands
is one single
solitary column
as a testimony
to its futility
and the fact
that it couldn't stand.
And as Paul writes
this letter,
there in Jerusalem
is this majestic temple
full of gold
and lavish materials.
Friends,
today the temple
is nothing.
But 2,000 years later
all across the world
this temple
that God is still building
is growing
and expanding.
One by one,
one life at a time
as people like you
and I,
broken sinners
that encounter
God's grace
are being included
into God's plan
to display
His glory
in our world.
And what is the basis
of this temple?
He says,
the foundation
of the apostles
and the prophets.
What did the apostles
and prophets do?
They told us the gospel.
And he says,
the foundation,
the chief cornerstone
is Jesus,
Christ Himself.
And so,
Watermark,
if we are to become
the kind of church
that Paul envisages
here in Ephesians,
a church which exists
to the praise
of His glory,
a church which displays
His majesty,
a church which pursues
peace and reconciliation,
we must be a church
which is built
on the gospel
and centered
on Jesus Christ.
Because as John Stott
says,
the unity
and the strength
of the church
go hand in hand
and both of them
are based on Jesus.
Friends,
this passage
is greatly challenging
but also encouraging.
It challenges us
because it says,
who might we want
to consider outsiders?
Let's bring them in.
But it also encourages us
because it says,
once we were outsiders,
but Jesus went to the cross
for people like you,
people like me,
to bring us in.
This is what God
is doing with this church.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus Christ,
we praise you
for your amazing,
amazing grace.
God,
as we sang this morning,
how majestic is your name.
God,
we want to just fall
on our knees
and say,
unbelievable,
astounding,
that God,
you would reconcile
sinners like me.
God,
broken people like us
and bring us
into your family
and not just
wipe away our debt
and say,
it's done,
you've forgiven,
but include us
in your plans.
Use people like us
as your stones
to build a new temple.
God,
thank you for what you've done.
God,
I pray for us
as a church,
Lord,
may what we read
in Ephesians
be true of us.
God,
may we be a church
that pursues
reconciliation
and unity.
May we be,
God,
a billboard of grace
to our city.
May we declare
to our city,
this is what God
is doing
and is able to do.
May we,
God,
be a picture
of heaven on earth
as people
from every tribe
and ethnicity
and language
and culture
and background
come together,
unified and united
as we worship you,
Christ our King.
Jesus,
thank you for your grace.
Thank you for your mercy.
Come and work in us,
God.
In our church,
we pray.
Amen.