Ephesians 2:11-22 * Sept. 28, 2003 * Home Mission Festival * Pastor Kimbrough

Sermon Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

“Mission Work Begins: When The Walls Come Tumbling Down”

1) Some walls seem too solid. Vss. 13, 19

2) Jesus has destroyed all of the walls. Vss. 14-17

3) All Christians are now one people. Vss. 18-22

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

Imagine, walking into church on this Mission Festival Sunday and receiving a big surprise. As you walked into the sanctuary, imagine that you were greeted by several large dividing walls built from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

A wall had been erected to separate you from the communion table and the baptismal font. Walls had been erected to separate you from the cross at the front of the sanctuary, from the candles on the altar, from the piano and the organ, from the sermon. Imagine, being a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and not being able to hear the evangel, much less share it with others. That’s hard to imagine, isn’t it.

And yet such a wall did exist in Jerusalem during Jesus’ time in the Jewish temple. This wall separated the most important part of the temple – the Court of the Israelites – from the Court of the Gentiles. Everyone in the world who wasn’t Jewish was separated from the temple by a wall. And on this wall were signs in both Greek and Latin warning that Gentiles were to go no further into the temple, under penalty of death!

In Acts 21:29, the apostle Paul was accused of taking a Gentile past that checkpoint in the temple. A riot broke out and the Jews wanted to kill Paul. That’s how strong and solid this dividing wall of hostility really was.

Typical Jewish attitude at that time could be expressed in this way, “Our forefathers were God’s chosen people. God gave them the Law on Mt. Sinai, and we have been observing it to this day.” In other words, because I am a Jew, God loves me. I am loyal to the tradition and religion of my fathers. I’m just a cut above the rest of the world.

Typical Gentile attitude at that time could be expressed with a tremendous distaste for the Jewish Law. It meant nothing to them.

In their worship life as well as in society in general, there was a wall between Jew and Gentile. A dividing wall that was caused by sin and erected by the Law.

Perhaps Paul had this very wall in mind in our text when he writes:

Vss. 11-12, “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ (a derogatory term)…Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

Remember your former condition when you were behind that wall, that dividing wall of hostility. Don’t forget!!!

Why is it so important to remember? Without remembering where we came from, we can’t fully appreciate where we are today. This is true not only of those Gentiles in the church at Ephesus in Jesus’ day. It is also true of you and I. Dividing walls were not exclusive of 1^st century ad Jew/Gentile relationships. Such walls have existed since the beginning of time. Such walls have existed and still exist right here in our country. Walls dividing people. They even exist within the church.

Can you imagine what mission festivals were really like for at least the first 100 years of our synod? When missionaries proclaimed the great commission from the pulpit, with few exceptions, “Go and make disciples of all nations” simply referred to “people like us” – same culture, same language, same ethnicity. Walls, walls, walls, dividing walls.

But then something remarkable happened. More and more, those dividing walls began to topple. In 1952, for example, the missionary societies of the Wisconsin and Missouri synods got together and decided to make disciples of those minority nations within the central city. Two Bible Information classes were started in an old broom factory on 5^th and Meinecke, the heart of the central city. By 1955, those 2 Bible Information classes had blossomed into what is today known officially as St. Philip’s Lutheran Church. A congregation which, in spite of 4 location changes and 10 pastoral changes in less than 50 years, today has about 265 members with a school of close to 100 students. On any given Sunday at St. Philip’s, 140-200 people praise God. Though each of them has their own cultural perspective, they all have one all important thing in common. And what is that? It’s the same thing that led the Wisconsin and Missouri synod mission societies to found St. Philip’s in the first place. It’s called the “Gospel.” The only tool that can tear down walls which seem so solid. Walls of hostility and division.

Think again, if you will, to the relationship between the Jews and Gentiles in Jesus’ day. The only way that they could change their relationship was to change their vision. Instead of horizontal vision, they needed vertical vision. Instead of focusing on the wall that separated them from each other, they needed to focus on the curtain in the temple that separated them from God. Remember that curtain, that separated the Jews and the Gentiles from the Most Holy Place? They couldn’t come into God’s presence because of sin. They could not be near God. Once a year, the high priest would enter this room to sprinkle the blood of an unblemished lamb on the ark of the covenant. This blood symbolized the blood which would be shed by the Messiah who would die for the sins of the whole world. At his death (Luke 23:45) we are told that the curtain in the temple was torn in two. Now there is no longer a separation between God and man because of sin.

¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away hve been brought near through the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.

Jesus has destroyed the barrier wall of sin. That means two things. Because of the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ, you never have to worry about coming to church and seeing walls separating you from God’s Word and Sacraments. We have access to God through our worship life as well as through our personal prayer life through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

But that’s not all. The fact that Jesus has destroyed the barrier wall of sin also means that there is no longer a need for division among people. Galations 3:23, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” “In Christ Jesus,” all Christians are now one people.

¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Instead of building walls, our mission mandate is to build the Church. But what exactly does that mean?

Does it have anything to do with maintaining and protecting what we have? You have beautiful facilities here at St. John’s and having a plan to maintain them certainly helps to build the church.

For 150 years, as a synod we have been proclaiming the law and gospel in its truth and purity. We certainly want to protect our orthodoxy. As evangelical Lutherans, we exist on the foundation of the “evangel,” the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That builds the Church.

But what about the teeming masses of unbelievers out there in our world…a family member…a friend…a coworker…a neighbor...people who live without an awareness of God’s presence in their lives…who live as strangers to God’s promises for them.

Consider the walls that divide those people from God.

Consider the walls that divide you from those people.

Consider the walls that divide this church from those people.

Consider all the barriers that prevent those people from hearing God’s good news of the Gospel.

Are our traditions, our comfort levels, our social status ever barriers to people hearing the Gospel?

One day, a man went to visit a church. He got there early, parked his car, and got out. Another car pulled up nearby and the driver got out and said, “I always park there! You took my place!” The visitor went inside for Bible class, found an empty seat and sat down. A young lady from the church approached him and stated, “That’s my seat! You took my place!” The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Bible class, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down. Another member walked up to him and said, “That’s where I always sit! You took my place!” The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still said nothing. Later as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change. Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out, “What happened to you?” The visitor replied, as his hat became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye, “I took your place.” (Author Unknown)

Remember who we were by nature. We were sinners bound for hell. Remember what Christ has made us into. We are redeemed saints, washed in his blood.

Mission work begins when we realize that Christ has indeed taken our place. That’s when the walls come tumbling down. Amen!!!