EPHESIANS 2:11-22 So remember that once you were Gentiles by physical descent, who were called uncircumcised by Jews

who are physically circumcised. At that time you were without Christ. You were aliens rather than citizens of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of Gods promise. In this world you had no hope and no God. But now, thanks to Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God. When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with Gods people, and you belong to Gods household. As Gods household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit.!

Walls Come Tumbling Down!

January 26, 2014!

pg. "1 of 6 "

Two neighbors meet in the woods on cool spring morning. They walk through the woods between their homes, and slowly gather large stones and restack them onto the wall that marks the property line. This is the scene told in Robert Frosts poem, Mending Wall. In this poem, Frosts neighbor echoes the famous line, Good fences make good neighbors. His neighbor sees a benet to having this wall, this clear line of mine and his. Frost however questions why they need this wall. Each year more stones fall from it and gaps are formed. He says, Something there is that does not love a wall, that wants it down. Frost wonders if nature/creation itself is actively working to tear down this articial wall. Each year they must come back and mend the wall, where simply the elements of heat and cold have caused it to falter. And trying to keep those heavy stones on top of one another is so tricky he says they have to say a spell to each one just to keep it in place. Frost wonders, why they need this wall, but his neighbor does not share his sentiment, so Frost keeps it to himself.! ! If there is one thing we as humans are good at, its building walls.There is a comfort in being walled in. We like the feeling of security, knowing that we are inside the walls. We like to be accepted, to be in, to be a part of something. But not all of our walls are built with stones. Some walls are built on race, religion politics, body type, hair color, net worth. Think of all the things that dene us, that we claim as who we are. Republican or democrat. U.S. Citizen or alien. Male or female. On the mountain or off the mountain. Southern or Yankee. Old or young. Conservative or liberal. Most importantly: Bulldog, Crimson Tide, or Volunteer. We live in a world that constantly tells us to pick a side. Us or them, friend or foe. And between each of these sides is a wall. We dont do business with them. We cant trust them. We dont want them in our church, unless they are willing to change, to come over to our side. They are different so they must be treated different. ! ! At the time when Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians the most obvious example of these walls could be found in the Temple. In the very center of the
Walls Come Tumbling Down! January 26, 2014! pg. "2 of 6 "

temple was the Ark of the Covenant, the altar, this place was called the Holy of Holies, and only the High priest could enter that area. And only one day a year. A large curtain served as its wall. Beyond that was an area walled in where only priests could enter. Beyond that wall was another which allowed men to enter but not women. And beyond that wall was the furthest wall that designated how close the Gentiles could go into the temple, and only Jews could approach closer. This distinction between Jews and Gentiles was not an explicitly hostile one, but it was important. The Jews had been called out, God had commanded them to be Holy, something separate. They were to not follow gentile customs. Jews were people of the covenant and the gentiles were not. If the covenant mattered then that distinction, that wall, should matter too.! ! Paul references this when say to the gentiles of Ephesus you who were once far off. Far from God, both physically and spiritually. These people were the outsiders. They did not know gods ways, follow Gods laws. They did not follow Gods commands so it would have been disrespectful for them to try to approach the inner courts of the temple. But Paul says You who were once far off have been brought near by Christs blood. Paul says he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided the two groups. Christ broke down the dividing wall.! ! This is big. Both sides wanted that division. The Jews kept gentiles at a distance and the gentiles did not want to become Jews; they kept themselves at a distance. At this point most Christians, most believers of Jesus, were Jews. And they did not stop being Jews, because they felt that Jesus was the messiah that their Jewish faith had been promising. Jesus was the fulllment of their covenant. If other people wanted in on this covenant, they would have to become Jews and then accept the Jewish messiah. That meant keeping Kosher, keeping the Sabbath, getting circumcised. The gentiles, not surprisingly, did not want to do that. There was this small little circle of Jewish Christians, and there was a wall around them. They said if you want inside our wall, you have to be just like us. Outside the wall were gentiles and they did not want to be inside that wall,
Walls Come Tumbling Down! January 26, 2014! pg. "3 of 6 "

they did not want to becomes Jews and follow their rules and customs. Insiders and outsiders, and both groups were actually ok looking over the wall and knowing which ever side they were on, was actually the right side. Good fences make good neighbors. you could almost hear them say it. But what Christ did, was tear down that wall. He got rid of any of that hostility between the groups. Paul says he is our peace, Christ reconciled the two groups, and made a new group called the body of Christ. ! ! Jesus offered good news to those who were near and far. Both groups now had access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit.Those walls in the Temple that kept people from the Holy of Holies, Christ tore those walls down. Those walls that separated one group from another. Jews and Gentiles males and females, Christ tore down those walls. In his letter to the Galatians he said its no longer possible to be Jew or gentile, slave or free, male and female for we are all one in Christ Jesus.1 Jesus didnt come just to tear down the barrier
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between the Jews and the gentiles. He came to tear down all the barriers. Any wall that keeps us from God he came to tear down. Any wall that divides us as Gods children he came to tear down. That is what Paul calls reconciliation. ! ! Roberts Frost poem begins with the line Something there is that does not love a wall. And he describes how the wall keeps falling down. Something must not want it there. That something is God. God does not believe in walls. But we cry out, Good fences make good neighbors. We need our groups, our walls, our fences. They tell us that we belong to something, They give us order, security, and safety. But if good fences make good neighbors, than why is it the good Samaritan that Jesus calls a neighbor.2 The Samaritans were not Jews; there
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was a wall between them, but the Samaritan did not care. Jesus came offering peace to people on both sides of the wall. On both sides of every wall. So that we might be unhindered in our access to God the Father. In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul said God reconciled himself to us through Christ and then passed on to us the ministry of reconciliation.3 Jesus came and knocked down
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Walls Come Tumbling Down!

January 26, 2014!

pg. "4 of 6 "

the walls the barriers between us and God. And so it is now our task to keep knocking down walls. ! ! But too often in the church we spend time mending walls. The barriers that we have known provide a sense of identity for us and so we take comfort in them. We dont want them to be gone. They tell us that we are the insiders, that the others are the outsiders. We are favored they are not. To knock down all these walls would be frightening. Who are we if these things dont matter: our gender, our nationality, our zip code, our sexuality, our race? Thats how we tell what type of person someone is. Thats how we know what type of person we are. Are we good enough, without the barriers these markers, could we ever know? If we dont have these walls, then who are we? ! ! If you have a Bible, look at verse 15, in the NIV it reads: His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, His purpose was to create a new humanity. We see ourselves as walled off. I am a man, I am straight, I am a middle-class American. Thats what kind of human I am. But what if there was a type of human that was not dened by those walls, those markers? What if in Christ we are a new creation, the old markers no longer apply because like we said last week, God has adopted us to be his children? If God has chosen me to be his child, and God has chosen you to be Gods Child, then does anything else matter? Doesnt that count the most? Isnt the only thing that should dene our relationship be that we are brothers, both equally loved by God? Black, white, Gay or strait, republican, democrat. American, Ukranian. If we claim to be Gods children, then those walls come tumbling down. Christ has broken those walls, washed us clean of those labels, and made us into something new. And together, together, God is building us into a place where God lives. Dont you want that? But if we keep mending the walls of division and segregation then we cant be joined together as Gods temple, we remain isolated, divided, and alone. We see the world as us and them. We see others as enemies or competitors. That is not Gods will for us. Gods desire is
Walls Come Tumbling Down! January 26, 2014! pg. "5 of 6 "

that all would be saved, that one day all nations would go to mountain of the Lord, that they would live in peace, as one family.4 That is what God is calling us
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towards. To stop seeing each other as anything but family. The people who are out golng on Sunday mornings or eating brunch at a cafe, they are our family. The African-Americans who live off 38th street and the Hispanics who live near S Willow Street are our brothers and sisters. The inmates at Walker County Correctional are our family. All people, in all nations, all across the world are our brothers and sisters. This is Gods will. That is what the Spirit moves us towards. Let the walls come tumbling down. Let them fall, let them fade, so Christ can give us peace. So Christ can build us together into one family, one temple, in which God can reside. Let the walls come tumbling down. In the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.! ! !
" 1 " 2 " 3 " 4

Galatians 3:28 Luke 10:25-37 II Corinathians 5:18 Isaiah 2:2-4

Walls Come Tumbling Down!

January 26, 2014!

pg. "6 of 6 "