Today we are going to look at some crazy math. Unfathomable. But this is how it is with God.
[vv 11-12] Therefore. What is the therefore there for? Well, after line upon line of glorious, life-changing unfathomable truths - every spiritual blessing in Christ/surpassing greatness of His power towards us in Christ/rescuing us by His grace through faith in Christ - Paul now gives us his first command. The first thing he is telling us to do in light of all the unfathomable truth he has just presented. Let’s take a look…
Remember. Remember. Therefore, be remembering, he says. Present tense, a continuous ongoing action. Constantly be keeping something in mind. Be remembering what? Let’s take a look…
Our passage today is structured very similarly to the passage we looked at last week. Last week Paul talked about the way we were, and then what God did about it (BUT God), and then he talked about the new us. The way we all were - sons of unbelief, children of wrath; BUT God - He sent His Son to save us, we are rescued from wrath by faith and not by works; and the new us - we are new creations, RE-created not BY good works but FOR good works, to be living in them. Well he does the same thing again in this section. The way we were, But God - what He did about it, and the new us. Only this week, he addresses us not as individuals but as a group, an ethnic group known as Gentiles (to which these Ephesian believers belonged). He says, be remembering the way you Gentiles used to be - separate, excluded (alienated), strangers, no hope, godless. Remember the way you were. Our history gives us perspective. Gives us hope, motivation.
But we need to wind the clock back about 2000 years, when Paul wrote this. As it pertained to God, there were two groups. Only two groups of people. One group was the nation, Israel - God’s people, the "chosen" people. Membership was obtained by birth and by circumcision. And then there were the "nations". The Gentiles. Anytime you see that word Gentiles, it is really the word, nations ("ethne" in the Greek). But this referred to anyone from any other nation besides Israel. And to THE nation, God’s chosen nation, the “nations” (aka everyone else) were dirty. Spiritually filthy. They were NOT circumcised. They were ignorant - of God’s commands and ordinances and promises. They were NOT chosen, not special, far from it. They were sorely deprived - of the Law, of citizenship in God’s polites —> they were deprived of God. God-less. Heathen. And by extension they were deprived of hope. They had been excluded from the covenant God made with Israel, and that’s exactly how Israel saw them. Excluded. Jews in general wanted nothing whatsoever to do with the filthy Gentiles. The nations. Even that word, nations - in Hebrew it had become a derogatory term. Goyim.
Not originally. 2000 years before that, God said to Abraham, I will make you into a goy, and I will bless you, and through your seed all the (rest of the) goyim will be blessed. It was very much a neutral concept. And almighty God had a plan for all the goyim, all nations, a beautiful unfathomable plan for blessing and glory.
Genesis 12:1-2, 22.18 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing…(and) in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed…”
Here we get our first equation of unfathomability: 7000-1xS=∞ All the other nations (~7000 or so), minus the one (Israel), acted upon by the "Seed" results in immeasurable eternal blessing.
But the word "goy" began to take on negative connotations as Israel began to live into their existence as God’s chosen people. They were by no means perfect, far from it, often no more faithful to God than the sad ignorant filthy Gentiles, but descendants of Abraham had the covenant of circumcision, which God gave their forefathers in part to distinguish this nation from all the others, AND they had the Law. The commands of God. Literally hundreds of them. Through centuries of walking in this identity of God’s chosen people, they came to see themselves as being so much better and cleaner than the other nations. Even as they strayed far from God in their hearts. They grew to despise and shun the goyim - especially as God began to allow other nations, goyim, to conquer and subjugate Israel (His increasingly wayward people), trying to get their attention. Come back!
Next equation of unfathomability: 7000-1=2
Two groups - us and them. You got the one group - us - and then all the rest of the groups, a second category, UNaffectionately known as "them". The history of the world is that of racial hostility. Think about it. Our innate inability to get along with strangers, with those who are different from us, from me. Often times even my own neighbor can be difficult. But these others - “them” - we’re somehow "better" than them, we are more deserving somehow, looking down our various ethnic noses at them, misunderstanding them, disrespecting them. [see image of some funny shaped noses we look down] And we plow on forward like so many bulls in a china shop - we laugh at and make fun of strangers/those who are different, we hurl slurs and disparaging words, and we attack. We take, and take over, subjugating and even enslaving and exterminating those who are not like us. Not one of “us”.
Think about it. It wasn’t always like this. Let’s go back to a time not too long before Abraham, to a place called Shinar.
Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth…”
Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”
And that's what people did. Finally, in [Gen 11.1-9] - the whole earth, filled as it was, used the same language. We were one people. And we were working together to build a great city. There was synergy. Unity. The oneness was powerful. Intoxicating. It was a heady time - building this great city with a tower that was going to reach all the way up to heaven. Some say that was metaphor, a sign of our great aspirations. But we grew proud and overconfident - nothing was impossible for us. Or so we thought. Let’s make a name for ourselves, we said. Let’s make our name great. Cuz that’s how we see ourselves. And then we can just stay here. Enough of this filling the earth nonsense. We were unified not only in our purpose but in our determined disobedience. Falling prey to worshipping ourselves. Putting us first, our tribe, our plans, our wants. And so the God Who alone is worthy of worship, the One Who spoke and created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, in His sovereignty He spoke and said, “Let’s confuse their language…” (Side bar: As proof of how we-first we are, I bet most of us assume that when God said, “Let’s confuse their language”, He was speaking English. It’s in our DNA) But so, out of one family, out of one people —> many.
Next equation: 1÷7000=7000. God created the nations. It certainly put a halt to that rebellious movement there on the plains of Shinar, in the place which came to be called Babel. In the ancient Hebrew language “babel” sounds very much like the word for confuse. Confusion. God certainly confused the language at that time. Trying to learn even just one new language can be extremely confusing! But God had a plan…!
Fast forward to the day, a future day when people from every nation and language will gather around the throne of God, in all the glorious diversity which our Heavenly Artist has spoken and breathed into all He has created. The same wondrous beauty we see in all the varieties of flowers and birds and fish and butterflies and on and on and on - He has woven the same beauty into the many cultures of the world. Latins and Africans and Asians and Europeans - so much in common and yet so so different. We can see it in the church already - different styles of music and worship and feeling and response. One day…
Revelation 7:9-10 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Suffice it to say, they’re not all going to be speaking English. There will be 1000s of tongues, singing our great Redeemers praise. 1000s of unique expressions of worship. Unfathomable!
Don’t miss this timeline then: One family/nation —> many (Babel). Out of many —> one (Israel). Out of the Seed of the one, the many brought back together as one. And finally, with one voice but many languages the many-made-one will worship forever in glory the Seed Who made them one. Unfathomable! [1÷7000-1xS=1=∞]
Meanwhile - back on planet earth - what do we have? We have pride. Nationalistic pride. Ethnocentricity. We have prejudice. Racism (folks think it’s bad in the US but go to almost any other country and it is way worse). So ugly. Unimaginable. There is bigotry. Hatred. Distrust and disrespect. Enslavement. Border conflicts. Genocide. I’ll tell you what we see - we see a spiritual enemy hard at work and fallen man cooperating with him, trying to uglify what God created as a thing of beauty, something to be appreciated and taken care of. Full of possibilities for blessing! But perhaps the most ugly racism of all was what developed between the Jews and the Gentiles. And it cut both ways. It has for thousands of years. What God meant as a global blessing was turned into some of the most ugly and violent and horrific conflict the world has ever seen. Even in its most mild form, the Jews merely shunned the Gentiles. Standards of ethical treatment did not always even apply towards goyim. Contrary to the edict to bless the nations, most Jews came to believe they were not actually supposed to have any dealings with goyim - never go to their homes, never eat with them, walk around their region if you can, and never associate with them. And Gentiles returned the favor of mistrust and mistreatment with regularity.
This is one practical reason why Jesus was ultimately rejected by the Jews as Messiah - the Jews wanted a zionist messiah who would deliver them from subservience to the dirty rotten goyim, one who would defeat the gentiles and kick them out of the promised land God had only given to His chosen people. They wanted Jesus to clean out their country, clean out the Gentile riff raff, not clean out their temple. They would never embrace a messiah who would make peace with the goyim, much less let himself be killed by them or bring them wholesale into the fold. Even as they were missing Messiah and the true life of God themselves - they were shutting out the nations too! And it even continued unabated in the early church, among those first Jewish believers. God literally had to force them to include the Gentiles.
Because that’s what He did. But God… What does Paul say here? But now… [vv 13-18]
[Grover near and far - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9IuXEwpU7U]
We were far off, but God brought us (Gentiles) near. There was this enmity, Paul says. Last week we saw there was this vertical enmity. Enemy hatred. Hostility between individuals and God. We were children of wrath, sons of unbelief. But here’s this horizontal enmity between peoples, enemy status, particularly between Jews and Gentiles. But God, being rich in mercy… He abolished the enmity, He put it to death.
And yes, so into this racially-charged divide plunged Almighty God, the consummate Peace-maker forging an unlikely peace between two parties who had come to hate each other going back hundreds of years. God sent an emissary, an Ambassador of peace, the Prince of peace in fact - His only Son, to blow up the barrier and create peace where there was hatred and hostility. He removed the barrier separating the two. He took down the wall (long before Gorbachev). That’s what Jesus does - He removes walls of separation. Walls of personality, of economic disparity, of racial diversity, of familial disharmony. But God’s peace is not simply absence of war or conflict. There will be reconciliation, forgiveness. This is the idea of shalom. Overall well-being and harmony, completeness. Peace on earth - announced by angels at His birth, that is why He came in the first place. World peace, peace and harmony - the elusive Shangri-La. Many seek it, some promise it [the old Coke jingle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2406n8_rUw], but only Jesus actually delivers. In Christ, in the Prince of peace Himself, both groups, all the peoples of the earth will be finally brought together in real and deep abiding shalom towards one another as well as towards their Creator. Next equation: 1+1=1
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
God broke down the dividing wall. That which divided Jews and Gentiles, Paul says, was the Law. God abolished the enmity, which was the Law of commandments and ordinances, by actually fulfilling the requirements of the Law by the blood of Christ. The Law highlighted our sin. And the blood of Christ fulfilled the Law by covering our sin. And established peace. Paving the way for reconciliation. Peace to those who were near AND peace to those who were far away. Peace to those who were “IN”, and peace to those who were excluded. And peace between both groups, between all people. Through the cross. Through the blood of Christ. The only path to world peace is up the hill called Calvary.
One new man, Paul says. One body. Both in one Spirit. [1+1=1] This is the new us (God’s masterpiece) [19-22]
In Christ, we (Gentiles) are no longer dirty rotten Gentiles. Filthy foreigners. We’re fellow citizens! We’re family - we’re part of God’s family. Not far but near - AND dear! Members of His household. We have a new clan. We are citizens of heaven - and it supersedes all other loyalties.
And Paul closes with this idea of a house, a building. A very special building, this. In fact it is a temple. A place of worship. Worship of the God of heaven. And this is no brick and mortar edifice. We’re talking heart and soul and real flesh - and real blood which was poured out in order to begin building this house. Christ is the cornerstone. And the apostles and prophets have laid the foundation - not only by giving us God’s Word but by laying down their lives for the sake of those who would come after them.
And so all of us, all we diverse peoples, we are all being fitted and joined together as this holy temple, the locus for worship of the one true God. The global called-and-gathered body of Christ - it is the engineering project of the ages. Temple 3.0. Far more glorious than Solomon’s temple (or Herod's). It’s the glorious green room of eternity, where all nations as one will gather round the throne. But we can’t miss this - Paul specifically says that these believers in Ephesus - God was also building them together into His dwelling place. You also. The Spirit of God was gathering together an assembly of Christ-centered worshippers there in that place, a spiritual family who would be loving one another and would be celebrating and spreading the knowledge of God’s goodness, blessing their neighbors and the nations. More on this in Chapter 4, but for now we need to understand the significance of the both-and. There is both a personal AND a corporate aspect to God’s unfathomable plan here. Yes we are each one of us saved by grace through faith not by works but FOR good works. For glory. AND as part of that we are fitted into spiritual body, God’s eternal family, a global enterprise of peace and there are local chapters everywhere. In every nation. Peacemakers. Outposts of shalom. Places where the Spirit of God shows up and shows off the unfathomable everlasting love of God. At least that’s the plan. That’s the mission. Which we fulfill together. One Spirit. One body. Hold onto that thought for when we get into ch 4. But this is the mission. So that all people will know that you are My disciples. All nations will be blessed...
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands — 12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment