We Belong Together

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

Focus: Belonging together

Function: To see how God crossed racial boundaries to include us, we should do it as well.

¹¹So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— ¹²remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us, ¹⁵abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. ¹⁷So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, ¹⁸for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, ²⁰built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; ²¹in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Good Morning!

I am delighted that you gave Carol and I the opportunity to attend the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. I found the Spirit of Christ alive and well there and have come home with a lot of hope for the future of this congregation and the future of the Church as an whole.

One of the things happening in the denomination and our district specifically is an initiative to stand with People of Color.

I haven’t said a lot about it because of the makeup of Darke County demographics.

However, I believe that it is naive to think that we do not come into contact with people of color.

I don’t know about you, but I was raised, in the Church, to be afraid of black people.

Anyway, our District brought a query to Annual Conference a few years ago and the result of it was a class I took in how to talk to congregations and people about what it is like to be raised in our culture as a person of color.

Remember, God has called us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

Understanding the differences between the races and the motivations and hope of the different cultures will help us to become the peacemakers that Jesus calls us to be.

So, let us consider our text for today:

The text focuses on the importance of breaking down racial barriers.

I believe, or I hope that this passage is Paul explaining the epiphany he has about racism.

If we know the history of Paul, he was a very strict Jew. And Jews were not allowed any fellowship or partnership with us Gentiles.

Paul, while he was still called Saul, believed that the only way to salvation was to follow the rules set forth in the OT and codified in the Talmud. It ended up to be about 13,000 rules.

And he was strict and taught it and even had people who didn’t believe like him put to death. And on a journey to lock up more of us Christians, Jesus appears to him in a vision that blinds him and reveals to him that he was actually fighting against God.

He was passionate about his faith and it is important to understand that one of the principle tenants of that faith is this feeling of ethnic exceptionalism as if they are better than anyone else because of God’s revelation to them specifically. DON’T MIX THE RACES! That was the rule. If you do, then God will allow them to lead you away from God into idolatry.

The only way to keep the religion pure is to keep it racially pure.

Paul mentions this racial pride in the way that the Jewish people referred to others as “the uncircumcised.” it was demeaning language. Demeaning language used to enable the feelings of prejudice that come from meeting people who look different than us.

The sinful words like: the N word, Illegals, and during Vietnam, Gook, and other words are used so that we don’t see the humanity of the other and see them as valuable in the eyes of God.

But as Christians, we know that God created everything and is in everything and that means that God, the image of God, is in every single human that we meet. Even in those who might feel like an enemy.

In this passage, Paul rejoices at what it means to be in the family of God.

And I had to rewrite this after David’s text this morning about belonging to a family in a Church setting. We belong together.

Now, the theology behind it expressed in this passage is pretty cool.

It says that Christ, through his sacrifice, became our peace and broke down those dividing walls that were so important to him in his racial pride..

And the purpose was to make out of all humanity one people who are no longer divided and tribal, but loving and caring toward the world entire.

And, in that theology, he says that Christ through the sacrifice did away with all those rules that were guiding Paul in the past and have set him free to be able to love and care for others regardless of his race or their race.

There is something to be emphasized here. The law is gone.

The law, especially the OT law, seems to me to be a law of retribution. In the New Testament, the new law, the royal law, according to James is the law of love and it focuses on restoration.

Jesus came to restore the world to God.

Paul, in this passage, is rejoicing about the extent of that restoration. It goes beyond the narrow confines of one group who has an exceptional history to the world entire.

When I read this passage, I almost feel like Paul is greatly relieved to be a part of something much bigger than the politics of one particular nation.

Paul is now called by God to be part of restoring the world entire to God.

That is also part of our mission as we are called to represent Christ and be Christ’s peacemakers.

I am trying to learn to give up dualistic thinking, this “us and them” mentality and realize that we all must strive together for the good of humanity.

Of course, it affects the way I vote. Instead of voting for what is best for me personally regardless of how it affects others or the environment, I try to vote for what is good for all of us instead of just me.

But most importantly, it affects the way I treat the other person.

I am trying to see the humanity and sincerity of those on the other side. I pray that I can help them overcome their fears and vote the love of God for all.

And his conclusion to the revelation that God gives him is praise to God and his repeated mention of the power of the Holy Spirit.

He says the proof of this unity is the way the Holy Spirit fills everyone regardless of race.

It happened in the Book of Acts the 10^th chapter when the Spirit feel on the Roman Centurion’s household while Peter was preaching to them about Jesus.

It was proof of this new way of loving and dealing with others.

And the Spirit leads us to this place where we belong. Where we are accepted and are now part of the fellowship of the family of God that transcends the world,

We are indeed a global family and are called to bring the peace of Christ to this global community.