Good morning to all of you. Now we are heading into another week of lockdown, and again the church is not being able to gather physically to worship together. Now in case you’re wondering, I’m speaking to a near-empty hall. The only people in front of me is Elder Kian Ming, Zongxu, Kathryn, and Amos. But regardless, God’s Word must be preached despite of the circumstances and we must treat His Word with utmost respect and reverence and carefulness. Now, this morning’s text is taken from Ephesians 2:11-22. It is not an easy portion of passage to digest, but we will try. We will try to understand what God is teaching us in this portion of Scripture. I’ll read the whole text first, and then I’ll open in prayer, and after that, we will dive into the text.

Ephesians chapter 2, beginning with verse 11: “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from 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 both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”. Let’s pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You once again for another chance to look at this book of Ephesians. We ask for humbleness of heart to accept Your truth. We ask for clarity of mind to be able to see what You are trying to teach us. We pray, O Lord that indeed You would convict our hearts and through Your Word may our faith be increased and strengthened, all these we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Now let me start by setting the framework of this text so that you can get the big picture and understand the text much better. If you still remember, the book of Ephesians has six chapters and these six chapters can be divided into two. Chapters 1 to 3 is the doctrinal portion of this book, and chapters 4 to 6 is the applicational part of this book. We are still in the doctrinal portion of Ephesians, and we are currently looking at chapter 2. Now chapter 2 can also be divided into two parts or two portions. The first part is from verses 1 to 10, and we have gone through that in detail in the last two sermons of Ephesians. Verse 11 to 22 forms part two which is what we will consider today.

And I’ve been labouring to make clear to you now in the past two sermons that chapter 2 is a chapter of contrast. Chapter 2 is a chapter of contrast. This means Paul is trying to compare two things or persons or events which are strikingly different. There is a contrast because it is strikingly different. Now, what is Paul trying to contrast here in chapter 2 of Ephesians? Well, Paul is trying to show the contrast of a state of a person, his condition before and after he or she is a Christian. Before you were a Christian, you were in a different state. You walk in a certain way. You talk in a certain way. You have certain privileges.

Now you have certain things you wish you did not have. And after you became a Christian, you’re now a totally new person. You now talk a different way, you walk a different way, you have new privileges, new rights. And so Paul is trying to draw this contrast between someone who was not a Christian and who is now a Christian. Or in other words, you could also say that he is showing the difference between Christians and non-Christians. This is the thought here we have in chapter 2 of Ephesians. Now the pattern of thought in each half of chapter 2 (remember Ephesians chapter 2 can be divided into two halves)- the pattern of thought in both halves is also the same.

Now Paul starts in the first half by describing the original condition of man. And then he tells us the agent which caused the change. Thirdly, he tells us about the work of the agent. And finally, the result of this change. Do you get what I have just said here? So there was firstly the original condition. Secondly, who is the agent? Thirdly, the work of the agent. And finally, the result. I’m not going to preach through the first half of chapter 2 again, but here is just a brief summary. Now in verses 1 to 3, we see the original condition of man. Man was dead in his sins. He walked according to the cause of this world, according to the devil, according to the lust of his flesh, and were by nature under the wrath of God. That was man’s original condition.

Who is the agent of change? In verse 4: “but God”. But God. Not you, not man, not your pastor, but God. Because of His great mercy and His love, He caused a change in our lives. Now, what did the agent do? What did God do? Verse 5 and 6, He made us alive together with Christ. He raised us up and sit us together in the heavenly places in Christ. And what was the final result? Verse 10, now we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. So we are now alive. After this change, we are now alive and living for the glory of God. And how we live for the glory of God? We will see that in the further applicational part of Ephesians in chapters 4 to 6.

But the conclusion of this is that all this points to the grace of God in the work of salvation in our lives. Now I’ve said all that because it helps to structure our thoughts as we read the second half of Ephesians chapter 2. The train of thought is the same. There is the original condition, there is the agent who caused the change, there is the work of the agent, and fourthly there is the result of that change. And so I hope with this framework in mind, you will be able to follow as we go through verse 11 to 22 together. Firstly, the original condition. Let’s read verse 11: therefore (sorry, there remember. Oh, sorry there’s a typo here). “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh— who are called Uncircumcision by what is called Circumcision made in the flesh by hands”.

Now you see here the word ‘Gentiles’. Who are these Gentiles? Gentiles refer to people who are outside the circle of the chosen people of God. So here’s this circle, and God’s chosen people are all within this circle. And whoever is outside this circle are considered Gentiles. Now in the past, God has isolated unto Himself a certain group of people where they are the Jews. A circumcision is the symbol that shows now the Jews were part of God’s people. And not only that, God gave them the ceremonial laws which they are to abide on the system of worship and the way of life which they follow and sets them apart from all other people outside this circle. And so this sets them apart from all other nations.

It’s just like our Reformed Baptist Youth Camp alright. We are an isolated group of people within that campsite. The name tags that we have proved that we are part of this camp. Everyone who joined the camp, all the campers had to follow the camp rules and the camp program. Now everyone followed the camp commander’s instructions and participated in all the camp activities. And although there were people also at the camp (other people also at the campsite), now they were not part of this group (this RB Youth Camp group). They didn’t belong. They did not have a name tag. They did not have to participate in our activities. Now they were Gentiles in that sense. And here, Gentiles refer to people outside now the chosen people of God. Now, why did God set this up?

Now God had set this up as a preparation for the second coming of Christ. All these ceremonial laws which is also mentioned in verse 15 were meant to point to Christ and was merely a shadow of what is to come. But the Jews held all this up. They became arrogant and they in fact saw themselves as the holy ones or the privileged ones, and everyone else who were not Jews were considered defiled and dirty. Now they hated those outside this circle. They hated the Gentiles, now even referenced them as the “Gentile dogs” now because they were simply different than the Jews. The Gentiles were outside this boundary, but they did not keep the ceremonial law. They did not mingle with the Jews. They hated the Jews as much as the Jews hated them.

And so we see here in this text both Jews and Gentiles were strangers and aliens towards one another, and there was this middle war of separation between them as you see in verse 14. So this was the horizontal separation that existed between Gentile and Jew. Now not only was there a horizontal separation between Gentile and Jew, there was also a vertical separation between Gentile and God. We read on in verse 12: “that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”. Not only were the Gentiles separated from the Jews, they were also separated from God. The Jews were God’s chosen nation.

Now they had access to God, to His Word. Now they knew who God is, but the Gentiles were totally cut off. They were outside this circle, they had no access to God’s Word, they were ignorant of His presence. And above all, they were without Christ. And so there was horizontally they were separated from the Jews, and vertically they were separated from God. Now to be without Christ is truly an awful state to be in. In fact, it is the worst thing that can happen to anyone to be without Christ. I hope you can think with me now what it means to be without Christ. Do you remember the time where you once were without Christ? What does it mean now that we were once without Christ?

Being without Christ means we are without a saviour. Who is going to help you when judgement day comes and you stand before the throne of God, having to give an account of what you did throughout your life? Being without Christ means you are still dead in your sins. You still walk according to the evil systems of this world, the devil still has a powerful influence in your life, and you still live according to now the lust of your own flesh. Being without Christ means all your religious acts are vanity. What is the purpose of you coming to church? All your tithes, all your good works are useless. Without Christ, your religious acts are equivalent to nothing. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God.

But without Christ, all things do not work for your good. Without Christ, you have no peace, no rest, no safety, and ultimately no hope. Now, this is our original condition. This is what we once were before we became Christians. We were without Christ. Horizontally, we were separated from the Word of God and alien to His people. Now vertically, we were separated from God and Christ. Now secondly, we want to see in this text the agent who caused the change. In the first ten verses in chapter 2, Paul mentions the original condition of man, and then he proceeds to introduce the agent of change. In verse 4 we saw “but God”. But God. Salvation is not of man but God. We can’t save ourselves; only God can. Not only can we not save ourselves, we are also not the one who initiates this act of salvation.

God is the first cause of this change. God is the first cause of our salvation. Now similarly in the portion of text we are considering this morning, after reminding us of our original separation from God, now Paul now informs us of the first cause. See verse 13 of chapter 2: “but now in Christ Jesus”. The text did not say but now because of your prayers. The texts did not say but now because of man. The text says: “but now in Christ Jesus”. Now salvation cannot be found in any other name apart from Christ Jesus. Acts 4:12 says: “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”. It is none other than Christ who saves us. It is Christ who redeems us from the penalty of sins.

But what did Christ do? We look on from verse 13 to 18: “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 both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”.

Now there’s a lot to digest in this short period of time, but I hope I can summarise it well now without leaving out the main ideas. Now, what did Christ do? Firstly, Christ brought peace horizontally. Christ brought peace horizontally. His death brought peace among Jew and Gentiles. Now we see that in verses 14 and 15- He broke down the middle wall of separation. Now He abolished in His flesh the enmity between Jew and Gentile. Now Christ came to this earth as a sinless man, and He did something which no other man could have ever done. He fulfilled the law, He lived a perfectly righteous life, and that made Him the perfect sacrifice. And He was crucified on the cross for our sins. And when Christ died on the cross, He said it is finished.

Now the laws of commandments which is the ceremonial law, which serves as a preparation for the coming of Christ, had been fulfilled by the blood of Christ. All those previous types and shadows which pointed toward Christ were no longer required because the real substance was here. The ceremonial laws which were that invisible wall of separation that divided Jews and Gentiles were broken down. They could both see each other now on the same level. The Jews were no longer a special nation of God; The Gentiles no longer considered defiled by them anymore. The enmity between Jew and Gentile was no more. There was peace horizontally. Now secondly and more importantly, Christ brought peace vertically. Christ brought peace vertically in verse 16: “and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death enmity”.

The emphasis in verse 16 here is the idea of reconciliation. Although the idea of enmity wasn’t elaborated much in the text, now the word ‘reconciliation’ gives strong indication that there was enmity between God and man. If I were to ask my friend, Abel. Dear brother Abel, I would wish to help you out. I wish to grant to you my services of reconciliation with your wife. Now Abel might look at me and say: Oh brother Woei Shyong, thank you so much for your concern but I have no need. I do not require your services of reconciliation because I have a perfectly good relationship with my wife.

You see here, reconciliation is not required if there was no enmity. But if a teacher goes out to the schoolyard and he sees two school boys fighting, and then probably the teacher would have to go and break up the fight and help to reconcile those two fighting boys once again. So the word ‘reconcile’ here implies that there was enmity between two parties. There is enmity between God and us because we are sinful creatures. But God is holy, and holiness and sin cannot be mixed. Now God is angry with us. His wrath bore down upon us. He alienates Himself from us because we are sinful, and God cannot stand sin.

We too on the other hand would want to alienate ourselves from God because we are dead in our sin. We do not want anything to do with God. If God was far away, the better. We want to enjoy our sin here on this earth. We do not want Him to affect our lives. We do not want to follow His commandments. But Christ reconciled both God and us through the cross, through His death. He says here in verse 16: “through the cross”. How did He bring peace? Through the cross. His death was mentioned three times in this text. In verse 13, “by His blood”; in verse 15, “in His flesh”; and verse 16, “through the cross”. The only way Christ could bring peace was through His death. Through His death, the wrath of God was satisfied.

We have broken the law of God, and therefore judgement must be brought upon law breakers. God’s wrath is upon those who disobey Him. Either we have to pay the punishment for ourselves, or someone else have to pay the punishment for us. And Christ was the only suitable sacrifice. And when He was crucified on the cross, the punishment was paid and God’s wrath was a peace. And so the original condition, we were separated. The agent of change, Jesus Christ. What did the agent do? Now Jesus Christ brought peace both horizontally and vertically. And now we come to the final point, the result of that change.

The result of peace, we read from verses 19 to 22. Verse 19: “Now, therefore”. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”. The result of Christ bringing peace between God and man, Jew and Gentile firstly is that we are no longer strangers and foreigners.

I remember a few years ago I travelled to Turkey for business trip. And upon landing on that country, I felt like a foreigner and a stranger. I looked at the people around me. The language they spoke was different. The signboards I couldn’t read because a lot of them wasn’t in English. After staying there a few days, I realised the food was also different, now the way of life was different, the buildings, the architecture was also different. I was like a stranger in that land. Not only could I see that everyone around me were strangers, everyone around me could also see that I was a stranger because the skin colour was different, I looked different, and I dressed slightly differently.

So there was no sense of belonging there because I was a stranger, I missed home, and I wasn’t a citizen there. If I had to go to a hospital, I probably would have paid a higher price to get medical treatment. And if a war broke out between Turkey and Malaysia, I’ll probably be sent back immediately. So that is a sense of how is it to be a stranger and a foreigner in a foreign land. But our text says you are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are no longer strangers and foreigners as a result of Christ bringing peace. We are now fellow citizens with the saints. As citizens, we have the right to enter that country. As citizens, we can enter without a passport.

And as citizens with the saints, the text is saying we share the same citizens as the saints like Martin Luther or George Whitefield or even people like Moses and Abraham and Elijah and David and other big names you can think of in the Bible. Do you see what a privilege is this to be a citizen of God’s kingdom, to be able to call heaven your rightful country, to be able to share citizenship with the saints? Now but Paul goes one step further. Not only did he say that we are citizens with the saints, he said that we are also members of the household of God. Now you may be a citizen and you have the right to enter a country, but you may yet be lonely without a home or a family in that country.

But as a member or being a member of a household, you have a home. A home is where there is a sense of belonging. You see familiar people there, people whom you love. There is comfort from your family members. There is love, there is companionship, there is protection, there is family unity. And here members of the house of God refer to the church. The church is like our Christian home. There is belonging, there is love, there is family unity. We sing the same songs, we worship the same God, there’s protection. And we see here a beautiful picture of the church. That is the result of what Christ has done. His death has brought peace between us and God. And as a result of that, we are now reunited to Him and reunited to His people. We are now in our home.

Verse 20 to 22 is a beautiful picture of the church now which Christ is the cornerstone. “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord”. Now the cornerstone is the most important piece of the building. You take the cornerstone away, the whole superstructure collapses. And likewise, now the church is like this gigantic building, and Christ is the cornerstone of the church. If you take Christ away, the whole church collapses. We are the superstructure. We are like living blocks stacked on top of one another, being fitted together one by one that grows into the holy temple in the Lord.

And the foundation which we lie on, which the living blocks of stone (that is us) lie on refers to the foundation of the apostles and prophets that is the Word of God. The church must always be founded on the Word of God. How we conduct church, how we live our lives, how we treat other people must always be on the basis of the Word of God. And if you take away this foundation; if you take away the Word of God, then likewise the whole church will collapse.

Now this is a beautiful description of what the church is and it slightly deviates away from the original point I’m making that is we are being reunited, but we will definitely see more of what the church is in the coming chapters of Ephesians. Just to give you a sneak preview, chapter 4 is the church as the body of Christ, chapter 5 we will see the church as the bride of Christ, and chapter 6 we will see the church as the fighting army of Christ. And hopefully, in the coming months or maybe years, we will be able to go through all of that.

But for now, I hope you’re able to see the main points and lessons now as we draw to a close in our study of Ephesians chapter 2. Our original condition is that we are dead and we are separated from God. But there was a change. The agent of change, “but God” and “but in Christ Jesus”. God came and He intervened because of His great love and His great mercy. In Christ Jesus, because of His death, He brought peace between God and man. And as a result of that, we are now alive and we live for His glory. We are now reunited with God, with our church family.

And I want to ask you as we draw to a close: Are you part of this family? Are you part of the church of Christ? If you are not, what are you doing with your life? How will you stand before the judgement of God? The call is to come. The call is to put your trust in Christ, to have faith in Him that only He can and is willing to save you from your sins. Now I hope as you go back and you ponder upon this Scripture, you will be able to see what great love that God has shown upon us in salvation in this chapter. Let’s close in prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You for showing us what we were before. Indeed we were sinners deserving eternal punishment. But You came into our lives, You initiated a change in our lives, You saved us from our sin. You gave us new life. You reunited us with our family, the church. We pray O Lord that You would help us to see this clearer and clearer each day and that Your truth may have an impact in our lives.

Teach us to live daily as living sacrifice, to serve You, to acknowledge that You are God, to serve Your church, to edify one another, to spur one another onto good works. We pray for friends and family who are still outside Your kingdom. We ask, O Lord, that You would cause a change in their hearts and that You will reunite them to us as well. We pray O Lord for Your mercy, all these we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.