Walk Worthy: Partners in the Promise | Ephesians 2:11-15, 3:5-6

Sermon Manuscript

If you had a Time Machine, where would you go? I bet some of you would go witness the founding of our country. Perhaps some of us would want to talk with our favorite philosopher or author. JRR Tolkien or CS Lewis, maybe. There are many places I would go if I had a Time Machine, and one of those is first century Rome. It would be amazing to witness how the early church was developed. Yes we have records of how that went. We read one such record today.  How amazing would it be to talk with the apostles who knew Jesus in the flesh? How amazing would it be to talk with Mary the mother of Jesus and ask her what it was like raising Jesus? 

As for the passage we just read, I want to watch the Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus interact with each other as they learn to be something new: a Christian. Of course, I would be part of the Gentiles. I am not Jewish. I do not practice Jewish customs even though I am a Christian and I follow the Jewish Messiah. These days that's not surprising. People don't expect Christians to practice Jewish customs. But back then it must have felt like mixing oil and water. Of course, oil and water don't mix. You can shake it up and it will combine for a little while but it will always separate back into oil and water. I imagine it felt the same way. The Jews and the Gentiles had such different lives, cultures, and understandings of how the world worked. And yet now they are trying to follow Jesus together. The Jews were insisting that the Gentiles had to convert to Judaism in order to be truly Christian since Jesus is Jewish. He is the long awaited Jewish Messiah. So they figured that surely in order to be a Christian, you must be Jewish first. The Gentiles were less convinced. They wanted to follow Jesus without having to submit to the Jewish customs. In particular the men were not real thrilled when the Jews told them that in order to be Christian, they must become Jewish, which meant these adult men must become circumcised. Believe it or not, these Gentile men were not thrilled with this expectation. They did not think that was an important part of being a Christian. And so the different customs and expectations between Jews and Gentiles made for a challenging start to the church. The Gentile believers were seen as foreigners and strangers to the promise. For a time this was true, and the Jews of the day had trouble seeing that God had moved into the next phase of salvation where everyone was invited. 

Not surprisingly, this created hostility between the Jewish and Gentile believers. It makes me marvel at how quickly we move from God doing something incredible to human sinfulness getting in the way. In Genesis 1-2 we see God make everything perfect, and then in Genesis 3 humankind introduces sin to the world. Now in first century Rome we have Jesus' greatest work of all time where he came to Earth, died, was resurrected, and ascended to heaven where he sent us the Holy Spirit. And yet shortly after we have genuine, Spirit-filled believers with a deep hostility for one another because of their previous customs and their race. 

It's amazing how quickly sin creeps in even for believers. But, our propensity to sin is not an excuse to continue to sin. God wants us to choose Him instead of sin. He wants us to choose His ways of sinful ways. That is part of our calling and how we walk worthy. Last week we talked about how Paul said that each believer was chosen and called before the foundation of the world. We said that it was God's will for all to be saved but that we have the responsibility to respond in faith. God's grace is what saves us through the work of Jesus Christ, but we must respond in faith. Even our ability to respond in faith comes because God has given us the grace to do so. This is not a salvation of saving ourselves or universalism, but rather it is a salvation that God has given us the deep honor and responsibility of accepting what he has offered to us.  

And now having established that all believers are chosen by God, Paul moves on to talk about what that looks like together. The church was not meant to be divided into two groups: Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians. There is one body of Christ. And the one body of Christ needs to figure out how to get along with each other. It's interesting that we are talking about the image of the body of Christ and how at the beginning it was divided between these two groups. There was hostility within the one body of Christ. Think about a physical body. What happens when there's hostility within it? If you suffer from an autoimmune disease like I do then you know what it looks like. According to John Hopkins, "An autoimmune disease happens when the body’s natural defense system can’t tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells." Common autoimmune diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, Grave's disease, Hashimoto's disease, psoriasis, lupus, and type 1 diabetes. I won't ask, but I bet a show of hands would demonstrate that most of us know the pain of autoimmune diseases.  

Normally the immune system is good and helpful. It fights off infections to keep you healthy. But when that fight is turned on its own tissue, there is hostility within. When the body of the Christ turns the fight that should be for Jesus and against the force of Satan towards itself, there is hostility within.  

Many autoimmune diseases have no cure, just treatments. But Paul is seeking to cure this disease by teaching the people how to be one body of Christ. Paul is teaching the church that fighting their own body is creating hostility within. Paul seeks to destroy the hostility that truly Jesus had already destroyed. But once again, we have the responsibility of accepting the work of Jesus. That does not stop when we accept Jesus into our lives for the first time. Sanctification is the part of salvation where we continue to let God transform us. We continually choose through the grace of God to accept the transformative power of Jesus. 

So the church was not meant to be divided, but it was meant to be one body of Christ. I want to recognize that there is some irony of me preaching about being one body of Christ without hostility as a denominational preacher coming out of another denomination where they was certainly hostility between the two groups. As a new denomination which was birthed from hostility from another denomination there is certainly plenty we can learn from this text. We will get to that at the end. But I just wanted to acknowledge that yes I hear the irony of it. It just goes to show that we still have some learning to do about how to be one body of Christ. 

Paul uses several terms to describe the differences between the Jews and the Gentiles as they were seen during his time. The Gentiles are called uncircumcised while the Jews are called circumcised. The Jews are called citizens while the Gentiles are called foreigners to the covenant of promise. Notice the overlap here between that and an autoimmune disease. Seeing the members of the body as foreign causes disease and hostility. Continuing on, the Jews are said to be with God and with hope while the Gentiles are without God and without hope. But Paul says those differences are no more. He says that Jesus has brought those who were not citizens and those who were without God to be part of his body of Christ. There are no foreign bodies in the body of Christ. And when it comes to circumcision he almost waves his hand dismissively and says that's just done by human hands.  

But what exactly does that mean? The phrase "by human hands" is an interesting one in the Bible. It is a term that is used throughout scripture to describe something inferior as compared to the work of God. That is not to say working with your hands is bad. Jesus was a carpenter and Paul was a tentmaker. There's nothing wrong with working with your hands. The phrase is used as a figure of speech to compare between the work of people and the work of God. And notice that we do have a contrast between by human hands and a few verses later it says "in his flesh" referring to Jesus. So our true distinction isn't between Jews and Gentiles, but between what's done with human hands in the flesh and what Jesus did when he became flesh. What people did in the flesh "by human hands" cannot compare to what Jesus did in the flesh when he walked on this earth.  

So what did Jesus do in his flesh? Jesus in his flesh created something new. He brought together the Jews and the Gentiles and in doing so he brought peace. Jesus did not intend for there to be hostility within the church. In fact, we are Jesus's flesh as the body of Christ. Together we are all part of the body of Christ. We are all partners in the promise of Jesus Christ through the gospel. Paul describes the hostility brought forth by the work of human hands with terms like foreigner, stranger, and without hope. But he describes life in Jesus' flesh with these words: unified in the Spirit, hostility destroyed, access to the Father, brought near, given peace, and people are described as a member, the building, the citizen, saint, the temple, dwelling, partner, coheirs. 

Let's recap because this has been a lot. What we've said is that in the early church the Jews and the Gentiles had some serious hostility like an autoimmune disease in the body. We said that the Jews wanted the Gentiles to convert to Judaism to become true Christians and the Gentiles did not want to do that. We said that Paul is a Jew and he ministers to the Gentiles so he is seeking to destroy the hostility between the two groups. Jesus has already ultimately destroyed the hostility in his life, death, and resurrection. The hostility was never meant to be there. But sin caused problems such as hostility even among believers. But it was never meant to be there. We must choose to continually submit to God's will and let go of the hostility in the church. 

I want to recognize that hostility between believers has caused some serious church hurt and religious trauma. It has caused people to choose to not go to church because it reminds them too much of the hurt they experienced from other members of the church. If you are or you love someone who has experienced that kind of hurt, I hope you can be reminded that hostility and trauma has no place in the church. That was never God's intent. I know it's hard. I am so sorry for the hurt that you or your loved ones experienced at the hands of people who should have acted as true members of Jesus's body. 

Many folks who experience such hurt choose not to go to church anymore and I can certainly understand why. They figure that they can do this Christian thing on their own. But we were not meant to be individual Christians on our individual islands. We're the body of Christ, not the isles of Christ. Christianity is not an individual religion. It's not how God intended. If you are a Christian and you are not participating as part of the body of Christ, then you're lacking in some of what it means to be a Christian. I don't say that to shame anyone for their choices, but rather to recognize that there is God's goodness to experience as part of the body of Christ. The hostility and trauma should never have been there. We are meant to experience God's goodness and grace as the body of Christ. It may take some time to heal and get up the courage to try again. The best thing we can do for those with church hurt is be patient, be invitational, and pray that God would stir in them the courage and desire to come back to church. If they do come back, it does not mean that they automatically trust their fellow believers or even their pastor. But it means that they are taking one step of faith in trust towards God. And by the way, I'm happy to be a listening ear for anyone who has experienced church hurt. You won't offend me. I want to listen, and if you're willing, help guide you further in your relationships in the body of Christ. 

Those with church hurt can also serve as a reminder to the rest of us. They remind us that hostility within the church is not totally dead as it should be. They can serve as a reminder that we still have work to do to live as one body of Christ unified in the Spirit.  

There are other labels that divide us even today. I mentioned one already: denominations. We came from the United Methodist Church and we are now part of the Global Methodist Church. Schisms within the body of Christ are nothing new. It was certainly painful to participate in one of those schisms that will make their way into Methodist history textbooks. I don't think church schisms and hostility are inherently the same thing. We see in Scripture true apostles and believers having disagreements and going different ways. And even in their parting ways, God uses it for good. God uses the different directions they go to further his gospel message. So I do not think that schisms are inherently bad or that they inherently divide the church on a universal scale. Different branches of a denomination or different traditions entirely can all be part of the universal body of Christ. We are as much part of the body of Christ as Global Methodists as others are as Southern Baptists. Though we are part of a very different traditions, we can recognize that we are all part of the body of Christ and that our differences do not have to cause hostility. But the journey we just came through between the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church did create some hostility.  

I am glad to say that I still have many friends in the United Methodist Church. While they disagree with my reasons for moving to the Global Methodist Church, our love, respect, and friendship remains. Unfortunately, that's not true of all relationships. There have been plenty of relationships that have been destroyed by the hostility that was built up around this schism. Perhaps you have felt it yourself. If so, are you on the receiving end of that hostility or the sending end? Do you need to offer forgiveness in your heart to someone who has been hostile to you, or do you need to let go of the hostility that you are holding towards someone else? I want to be totally honest with you: I need to do both. I am actively forgiving some and letting go of hostility. Hostility still has no place within the body of Christ whether in the pulpit or the pew.  

Denominations are just one example of places where differences and divisions can cause hostility. Have you ever felt hostility towards a Christian who calls themselves either Democrat or Republican? Have you ever experienced or felt hostility between races in this country? Have you ever seen or experienced hostility between Americans and other nations? Perhaps you've seen hostility between Protestants and Catholics. Suddenly this passage becomes so real, doesn't it? The hostility that Jesus destroyed and that Paul was trying to teach the new believers to avoid was just as wrong then as it is now. 

I don't know if you know this but when we get to heaven there's not going to be different spreadsheets from the different denominations. There's not going to be a list of Methodists, Baptists, or Presbyterians. God's not going to look at some Santa Clause-like naughty and nice list and look at you and say "uh oh. You were the wrong denomination. You don't get to go to heaven." And believe it or not, God's not even going to look at someone and say, "Oh whoops you didn’t disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church" or "oh shoot you affiliated with the Global Methodist Church. Can't get it now. Wrong affiliation!" In fact, a denominational affiliation doesn't get you into heaven. Someone could be a member of a church and not have an authentic relationship with Jesus. Church membership is not inherently Kingdom citizenship. It's about your relationship with God. 

Praise God that when we get to heaven our denominations will not matter. We will finally know who was right about different theological differences. But honestly, I don't think we'll care. I don't think we'll see the Methodists pointing fingers at the Baptists going, "Ha! I was right!" I really don't think we'll care. All we will care about is that we now experience our savior fully. God does not let us into heaven from some naughty and nice list of denominations. We get into heaven because we have a relationship with God that begins now as part of the body of Christ. It's not about what denomination we participated in. It's about having an authentic relationship with God, accepting the person and work of Jesus, and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform you throughout your life. 

No matter the labels we slap on ourselves or others, it's all about the relationship we have with Jesus. Jesus still brings near those who were far, he still includes all to be part of the covenant of promise, and he still gives home and a relationship with God. Jesus still calls all people to be coheirs, members of His body, and partners in the promise through the gospel. It's not about our past, our culture, or our differences. It's just about our relationship with Jesus. 

But it's interesting that Jesus does not erase our distinctions. He doesn't say that the Jews need to stop acting like Jews or that the Gentiles need to stop acting like Gentiles. They each get to participate in this Christian faith with their differences. I bet the Jews and the Gentiles were able to learn from one another once they set aside the hostility between them. Jesus does not erase our differences, our differences become part of His body. I'm not talking about active patterns of sin here of course, but I am talking about our pasts, our cultures, our upbringings, and even our religious trauma. All of it can build up the body of Christ when we approach each other in love. Together, we all become partners of the promise. We can all participate as part of the body of Christ recognizing that together we build each other up as we build up Christ's church. 

What’s the “so what” here? How do you apply this to your life? Tear down the dividing walls of hostility wherever you find them in the church. Don’t tolerate them. Start with yourself. Seek out where you are viewing others as less than yourselves or with hostility. Offer forgiveness if necessary or pray for God to purge the hostility from your heart whether that be for believers in this church or in the universal church which includes other denominations. Seek out those who have been victims of hostility and have distanced themselves from the body of Christ. Be an agent of peace for them inviting them to prayerfully consider trying again while you assure them that hostility has no place in the body of Christ. Wherever you find walls of hostility, destroy it. It has no place in the church. We are a people of God who seek to encourage each other in Christ, even in light of our differences, as we share this gospel of peace with others.  

This series is called Walk Worthy. Last week we said that we are called and chosen by God. This week we learned that since we are all called and chosen, we walk worthy by tearing down hostility and joining together in the body of Christ in the unity of the Spirit. So walk worthy by being an agent of peace and unity and tearing down hostility wherever you find it.  

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, destroy the hostility in our hearts that we hold for others. Help us forgive those who hold hostility for us. Continue to destroy what Jesus destroyed in his death. Teach us to accept one another's differences and look for how you seek to bring us together for the good of the Gospel. Amen.