WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:01.600 Hello, friends. 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:02.879 This is Pastor Creighton. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:06.080 Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast. 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.359 At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:18.800 You can learn more about us and find contact info at newsongportperry.ca. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:26.640 The second lesson is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, beginning at verse 11 through verse 22. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:54.079 Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:01:01.840 But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:29.200 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:35.840 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:41.439 For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:02:05.280 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:13.439 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:15.360 The word of the Lord. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:17.120 Thanks be to God. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:27.680 He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:29.360 Let's pray. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:39.680 Lord, it's only by your generous grace, your abundant mercy that we're called to gather. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:47.280 That we can delight ourselves in your name, that we can receive good news. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:06.639 So, Lord, by the work of your Holy Spirit, would you tie us that much more tighter together as friends, as sisters, as brothers, those who share in the reality of what you've accomplished through your cross. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:11.120 We pray this all in your precious name, Lord Jesus. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:12.080 Amen. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:14.319 Let's be seated. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:25.759 So we've been journeying through this theme of spiritual friendship for the last number of weeks. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.800 Last week we ended up in Romans chapter 5. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:35.919 What we saw in Romans chapter 5 is that God, by grace, makes friends out of enemies. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:44.960 It's only by his generous and profound mercy and grace towards us that we have peace with God in Christ. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:46.159 That's God's mission. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:53.120 That's what God's up to: making friends with us, who apart from grace are counted as enemies. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:58.000 But here we are, gathered by grace, his well-loved people. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.199 Friendship with God is only by grace. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:11.520 And it's this reality that we see in Romans chapter 5 that we also see in our passage in Ephesians chapter 2, or I should say within the context of Ephesians 2. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:18.959 Ephesians chapter 2, 1 to 10, which are the 10 verses that precede our text this morning, are just some of my absolute favorite verses in the Bible. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.519 I could probably preach on them for a whole year. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.439 But I won't do that. 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:38.319 But they're a beautiful, profound summary of the gospel that in many ways tracks, I think, almost point for point, with what Paul writes to the Romans church, Roman church in Romans chapter 5. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.240 It is only by grace that we've been saved. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:54.079 It is only by God's sheer generosity and goodwill towards us, which is something we did not earn, something we did not achieve, but is simply his heart towards us in Christ. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:05:00.720 It is only by his grace that we've been saved and invited into this life-giving friendship with him. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:02.720 That's what Paul wants the Romans to see. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:05.120 That's what Paul wants the Ephesians to see. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:10.000 It is by grace that we've been saved, and not by works, so that no one can boast. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:15.279 It is only for God's generous mercy and grace that we're invited into this. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.519 God's grace is a reality within the life of the church. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:22.319 That's what Paul wants the Ephesians to catch. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:26.319 That's why Paul grounds God's grace. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:32.959 This grace that God shows us in Christ, by the blood of Christ. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:38.240 This is through God's action towards us that his grace is seen. 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:45.360 And it's this grace that God shows us that has an implication. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:52.959 If God can make friends with his enemies, surely Christians can make friends with their enemies. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:06:01.600 That's what Paul wants the Ephesians church to see in Ephesians 2, 11 to 22, the passage that follows, in our passage for this morning. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:07.040 If you've got your bullet and if you've got your Bible, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2, if you will. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:17.519 If God makes friends out of enemies by grace, then by this same grace, Christians make friends of enemies. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:25.279 And if we were to ask how, how that's accomplished, Paul would answer, Well, it's only by grace that you've been saved. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:30.079 It's only by grace that walls of hostility can be broken down. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:37.199 So how does God's grace enable Christians to make friends out of enemies? 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.959 I think there's three things Paul wants the Ephesian church to see. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.680 I think there's three things for us to see. 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:55.600 God's grace brings strangers near, God's grace breaks down hostility, and God's grace builds a community. 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:00.240 So it brings near, it breaks down, and it builds up. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:05.920 It's only by God's grace that Christians can make friends out of enemies. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:17.439 The remarkable thing is that Paul is not just talking in theory, nor is he talking to a crowd that talking as if the church is immune from some kind of hostility and conflict. 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.680 He's talking to a divided Ephesian church. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.800 Churches are not immune from conflict, are they? 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.399 I mean, if we've hung around the church for five minutes, surely we know that. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:42.319 But because we are a community created by grace, cultivated by grace, preserved by grace, we can be a community in which friends are made out of enemies. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:44.959 That's the call of the gospel, I think. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.399 That's what a gospel-centered church, I think, looks like. 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:51.600 And that's what Paul wants this Ephesian church to catch. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:57.920 That the gospel is incarnated by a community that lives out its unity in Christ. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:01.199 Friends, new song gets to be a part of that. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.000 You and I get to be a part of that. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:12.560 Christians make friends out of enemies, because God's grace brings strangers near. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:15.680 Let's look at verses 11 to 12 together. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:22.240 Paul's writing this Ephesian church, having reminded them of the reality of the gospel by God's grace alone. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:24.879 Then he says this: here's the implication. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:36.960 Therefore, remember that at one time you, Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made by in the flesh by hands. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:49.759 Remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:00.960 So Paul is addressing a very present division in this Ephesian church, and it might sound strange to us because I suspect we don't divide along these lines, at least not in the same way. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:12.159 Paul is talking about a very present conflict, hostility, barrier within this church, and it's the division between Jews and Gentiles or non-Jewish folks. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:17.279 Within the community of the church, well, let me say this. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:23.120 The story of Scripture is the story of God calling a people to himself. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:32.000 That is, electing a people to salvation, and he calls the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, to himself, but he does it with a purpose in mind. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:36.480 He doesn't call Israel as though he's disregarding the rest of the world. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.320 He calls Israel for the sake of the world, to be a light for the nations. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:46.480 God wants to work his saving activity through this nation of Israel. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:51.039 He wants to call Israel for the sake of the Gentiles. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.679 But something happens along the way. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:10:06.080 Whereas Israel is called to be, is called for the sake of the Gentiles, they are given the covenants of promise that Paul talks about for the sake of those who are Gentiles. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:11.039 By the way, the circumcision, uncircumcision thing, we don't have to get into that too much. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.399 Maybe, you know, folks are happy about that, but anyway. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:18.559 But the idea here is this is what signifies who's in the covenant and who's not. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:22.799 This is an obvious sign of who belongs to God's people and who doesn't. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:29.360 Israel is called for the sake of Gentiles for the nations, but they forget their vocation. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:35.279 Rather than being for the world, they see themselves as called above the world. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:46.799 As though the rest of the nations, as though the rest of the people are something to be despised, something to be looked down upon, something to be rejected, something that God disregards. 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:54.159 Spiritual pride sets in when we start to feel like we are the chosen ones, not you. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:06.080 So here's one scholar, uh William Barclay, who writes about the kind of hostility that Jews and Gentiles are experiencing, even in the city of Ephesus. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:10.399 He says this that the Jew had immense contempt for the Gentile. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:17.279 The Gentiles, said the Jews, were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:18.240 Whoa. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:24.720 God, they said, loves only Israel of all the nations that he has made. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:33.600 It was not even lawful to render help to a Gentile mother in her hour of sorest need, for that would simply be to bring another Gentile into the world. 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:38.320 Until Christ came, the Gentiles were an object of contempt to the Jews. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.639 The barrier between them was absolute. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:49.360 If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl or a Jewish girl married a Gentile boy, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:50.480 Wow. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:57.360 Such contact between Gentile with a Gentile was the equivalent of death. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:03.039 So I don't mean to single any of us out or any particular group of people out. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:08.639 It's to say when spiritual pride sets in, well, none of us are immune from spiritual pride, are we? 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:21.519 And when it sets in death and hostility and separation, and our attitudes seem to set in as well and calcify in resentment and hatred and anger. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:29.600 Jews and Gentiles are strangers with one another in the strongest sense. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.679 And here they are trying to get together on a Sunday morning with these attitudes. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:35.600 Imagine that. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:43.279 We might not divide along these lines today, but do you think there are strangers in the church today? 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:46.559 Do you think there are those we regard? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:51.840 Maybe we wouldn't say they're fuel for the fires of hell, but boy, they're fuel for the fires of our anger. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.440 Those people are the problem. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.320 Do you think the church has strangers divided along political lines? 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:08.480 Divided amongst denominations, those who've got it right and those who don't? 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.679 Dare I say, do you think the church is divided over its vaccination status? 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:18.480 Okay, I'm not saying which side you should be on. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:21.360 Do you think the church is divided here? 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:32.000 Do we regard the other side as the problem worthy of contempt, worthy of our resentment and hostility? 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:34.799 We become estranged. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:43.120 We become like two separate churches trying to get together under one roof when we are set against one another. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:50.879 In fact, more than anything else, I think the church has experienced this kind of real division in the last two years, like nothing else. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.399 We have strangers in the church today. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:58.320 We are not immune from this attitude setting in. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:05.840 And what I want to suggest is it's an attitude of spiritual pride to say, you are the problem, not me. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.840 I'm the chosen one, you know, not you. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:19.679 It takes pride, and that pride sets a barrier between us and another person God intends to share his grace with. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:24.879 We have strangers in the church, but God is doing something about that. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:35.759 Paul wants to remind the Ephesians, now in Christ Jesus, verse 13, you who are once far off, that is the Gentiles, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.080 See, God works his grace to bring strangers together. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:47.600 It's like grace permeates the church so profoundly that it reaches all of the nooks and crannies. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.600 It floods over every barrier that we can put up. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:58.000 And we have to recognize that one way or the other, we are all of us recipients of grace. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:14:59.600 The same grace. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:05.679 And because we're recipients of grace, we have a common ground together at the foot of the cross. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:09.360 No, I'm not saying we have to agree on everything. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:11.840 I'm not saying that there's never going to be conflict. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:16.159 My goodness, if there's never conflict, I don't know what uh what that would look like. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:27.120 But it does mean that we're not content to stay resentful, to hold our spiritual pride so dearly that we push others far away. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:30.879 God's grace works to bring those who are far away nearer. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.000 And that's what he works in our own hearts as well. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:41.120 I think the uh story of the good Samaritan is a great example of this. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:46.399 You know, so here's a Samaritan traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, right? 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:47.519 Do I have that right? 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:56.000 And um, you know, and Samaritans, gosh, you know, first century Palestinian Jews didn't have a high regard of Gentiles, obviously. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.720 You could make the argument they thought even less of Samaritans. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:04.480 So here he goes walking down the road, and he gets mugged, and he gets left for dead. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:18.159 And a priest and a Levite, two of the two who belong to the religious elite, should we say, those who ought to be most morally praiseworthy, moral examples to the rest of the community. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.519 They're the ones who go to the other side of the street and keep walking. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:23.679 Because they're not going to bother with a Samaritan. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:24.799 No, pardon me. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.799 It's a it's not a Samaritan, is it? 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:27.840 The good Samaritan comes. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:29.279 Who is it that gets mugged? 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:31.440 Just a man, thank you. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.559 Okay, we're getting there. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:40.000 So a man gets mugged, and it's the Samaritan, isn't it, who comes and sees this Jewish man. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:41.679 And who is it that shows mercy? 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:43.360 Well, we know it's that Samaritan. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:49.440 It's that Samaritan who's willing to sacrifice any kind of spiritual pride that he may have been brought up with. 00:16:49.679 --> 00:17:01.039 Any of those attitudes that set in and set us against one another, he's the one who's willing to bring near the one who's far away, to draw near to the stranger, to show mercy. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:08.799 And Jesus is telling this parable to someone who's challenging him, and when he asks him, who is the real neighbor here, this fellow can't even bring himself to say the Samaritan. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.039 He has to say, well, the one who showed mercy. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:12.960 That's pretty wild. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:25.119 See, it's sacrificing our spiritual pride that brings strangers near because we recognize God's grace is at work in a way that's shared. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:41.039 So probably if that's true, if God's grace is at work bringing near those who would otherwise be estranged from one another, then probably we should expect our church family to look to be full of people who think differently than us. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.400 To be full of people that sometimes we bup up against. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:55.680 Sometimes I think if a church is, gosh, only thinks one thing on one subject, that's more of a sign of ill health and good health. 00:17:55.920 --> 00:18:06.799 And I'm not saying we don't agree on the essential things of the gospel, but if we let non-essentials become the thing that we rally around, boy, we've put up some kind of barrier, haven't we? 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:17.359 Gospel churches are those that bring strangers near, because that's what grace does for us. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:23.279 Christians make friends out of enemies because God's grace brings strangers near. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:29.599 God's grace does this, and it brings and God's grace breaks down hostility. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:32.240 Okay, so God's grace brings strangers near. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.400 Here we are, we're gathered on a Sunday morning. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:35.680 That's terrific. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:53.359 Isn't it true that we can still gather and hang around those, you know, and let our walls of hostility still be up, still let resentment be set in and kind of just be content with a sort of don't bother me and I won't bother you kind of status quo. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:19:08.559 Okay, anyone who's had a fight with their sibling when they were young and then were called to the dinner table, like I suspect you know what it's like to be drawn near, but have that wall of hostility still very much be impermeable, right? 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:17.200 And that's maybe a small example, but I think we can, if we're not careful, we can content ourselves to operate from that place. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:25.680 I'm content to just keep that wall between me and between you, and we're not gonna worry about crossing that at all. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.079 Let's look at verse 14. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:42.319 Christ himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:48.240 God is at work by grace in Christ, and he's at work breaking down these walls of hostility. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:48.960 How so? 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:52.720 Well, Paul says Christ himself is our peace. 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:58.720 That peace is not just the absence of conflict, as if we we're just not going to acknowledge that we don't get along. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:19.279 This peace is a reine, it's a it's a form of shalom, it's a harmony, it's a reconciliation, it's a restoration of the fabric of creation as God's intended it to be, the fabric of our relationships as God intends them to be, orienting them towards the good, not just content with staying in our separate corners. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:28.160 Christ Himself is our peace, he has brought us together in harmony with one another, he has made us one, is what Paul says. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.759 And that's pretty wild. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.200 There's an essential unity Paul wants the Ephesian Church to know that underlies the church. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:47.680 God doesn't have many churches, he doesn't have many brides, he doesn't have many peoples, he is one church, he is one people, he has one bride. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:21:00.880 And sure, that bride may have doctrinal differences, and that bride may have different denominations, but there is one people of God, and God is at work in the unity. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:19.200 So God's work is in the church, is breaking down these walls of hostility, these ways we're content with just staying in our corners and keeping ourselves at a distance. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:25.359 God's work is grace is at work dissolving these walls that we might otherwise put up. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:46.960 And if we ask how, I think Paul has an answer for us in verse 15 by abolishing the law of commandments, expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:50.880 Oh my goodness, there's so much in there that's like six sermons. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:59.759 So all I can say is this you know, how is God's grace at work dissolving, breaking down these walls? 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.960 Of hostility. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:07.440 What God has done in Christ is to inaugurate a new covenant, a new binding promise. 00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:17.119 God has promised us, binded himself to his own word in this way that we can depend on it for salvation, and that word is in Christ. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:21.920 And this new covenant inaugurates a new humanity. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:29.599 Where we might look at a church, or the Ephesians look at this church, and they say two peoples. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:35.119 God looks at this church and he sees one, because this church has been made one in Christ. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:44.319 A whole new way to be human, brought about by this essential unity we share by God's grace, is being brought out here. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:52.400 God is at work inaugurating a new covenant, a new humanity, and affecting peace through the cross. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:23:05.119 See, it's God's love and profound grace that defines this community, that grabs this community and brings them together, breaking down anything they might try and put between themselves. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:09.599 His love breaks down these walls of hostility. 00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:15.759 And if God can do that for the Ephesians, surely he can do that in our moment, can't he? 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:20.720 The hostility and the walls that we seem to put up. 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:24.079 Surely God is at work drawing us together. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:26.160 That's what love does. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.640 That's what grace does. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:32.880 There was a pastor who's sharing a story. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:35.359 I was reading this earlier this week. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:37.119 I thought I would share it. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.880 This pastor writes, I was visiting with a friend, a minister in a huge Midwestern church. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.079 Entering his home, we walked through the garage. 00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.759 His son's go-kart was there, and I commented on it. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:54.720 This triggered him to share the story of his reconciliation with his father. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.920 He says, His father and mother and father, after 30 years of marriage, had divorced. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:13.440 The father had been unfaithful to his mother, trampled on her feelings, spurned her forgiveness and love, returning over and over again to his kept women, even after renewing his commitment and pledging fidelity. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:17.680 This caused my friend great pain and anguish. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:23.200 Though he loved his father, he became bitter, even hateful towards him. 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.079 Start to hear how strangers are made, don't we? 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:33.839 Unable to accept him and the suffering inflicted upon his mother, my friend and his father became estranged. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:40.799 The father, embarrassed by his own actions, eaten up with shame and guilt, was unable to face his son. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:52.480 About four years after this, the father came to a convention in the city where his father was or his son was a minister, and a series of circumstances made it right for him to visit his son. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:25:00.400 They walked through the garage as we were doing that day, my friend leading the way, his father walking behind. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:08.000 The tension was extreme, and my friend was in that it was in the house before he realized that his father was not with him. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:15.279 Looking back, he saw that his father was staring at the go-kart, tears flowing down his face. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:29.359 The memory of his son's childhood, of the days when the bond of love was so solid that the thought of his now grown son making go-karts for his own son, as he had done for him, overwhelmed him. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:44.720 Barriers were dropped, masks were taken off, emotions, including repentance, were expressed, love and forgiveness began to flow as honest sharing brought father and son together again. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:46.400 Imagine this scene. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:57.039 Father and son staring together at this object of the go-kart that represents the love that they shared, the love that brings them together. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:03.920 It breaks down years of hostility, breaks down the estrangement that they feel. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:06.960 You better believe they've still got a lot to work through, don't they? 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:14.319 But it brings them to that place where they're at least capable of reconciliation, aren't they? 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:15.920 The door is open. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:25.759 I think for Christians on two sides of a wall of hostility, we don't look at a go-kart, but I wonder if we look at the cross and we see the same thing. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:35.279 From both of our points of view, we should look at one cross and we should see that love and that grace that God has so abundantly poured out for us. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:44.480 That love and that grace that brings us together, that permeates us, defines us, and breaks down those barriers that we otherwise put up. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:49.119 The cross opens up the door to our reconciliation with one another. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:52.000 So we always keep it in view, don't we? 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:58.960 So the question becomes do I hold hostility in my heart against anyone? 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:09.839 Do I hold resentment toward a calcified anger that's just maybe it's been there for so long I don't even realize I operate from that place anymore? 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:26.160 There might be a lot of ways to work through that, but I wonder for us who are claimed by God's grace, the very first step means looking at the cross and seeing that person share that common ground with you at its foot. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:33.839 We pray the cross into these broken relationships, into these walls of resentment. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:42.079 Christians make friends out of enemies because God's grace brings strangers near, but it breaks down hostility. 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:43.839 That's the cross. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:46.160 Here's where we want to land. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:49.839 God's grace doesn't just bring near and break down, it builds up. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.599 It builds up a community. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.960 Let's look at verses 18 to 22 quickly here. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:01.440 Paul says, For through Christ we both have access in one spirit to the Father. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:22.880 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:30.559 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place by God, for God, by the Spirit. 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.759 We're getting tied together in Christ by grace. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:42.240 And Paul uses three images in rapid succession to kind of give a witness to how we're being tied together and built up into a community. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:49.359 He describes us as citizens, citizens as if of a kingdom with rights and privileges, with an identity, with a belonging. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:52.400 We have the same allegiance to Jesus our King. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:54.559 He uses the image of a household. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:55.519 It's a family. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:01.759 We're adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God, brothers and sisters together. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:04.160 We share the same Father. 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:12.960 And we are being built up into one holy temple, a dwelling place for God where heaven is purposed to meet earth. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:22.000 We share the same access to the Father by the same Holy Spirit, same King, same Father, same Spirit. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:30.640 And it's these three images that tell us we are being tied together and made to be a community by grace that we otherwise could not be. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:33.119 We need one another. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:40.000 And it's these images that can't, I just can't help but be reminded of Aylred's definition of friendship. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:41.359 Do you remember our friend Aylred? 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:45.279 It's his definition of friendship that I love so much. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:30:02.880 He says that friendship is that virtue by which spirits are bound by ties of love, bound together like citizens, like family, like a holy temple, bound together by ties of love and sweetness, and out of many are made one. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.119 That's true. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:06.880 Enemies, too. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:22.160 See, we cannot live as new citizens, as members of a new household, as living stones of a new temple, and hold on to hostility and resentment towards one another. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:33.440 Christians, we're called to make friends out of enemies, to see God's grace permeate our lives and dissolve these barriers. 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:42.000 One of the things I know is true about New Song is we are a church that strives to be a gospel-centered church. 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.799 And that is a noble goal. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:51.759 But sometimes I wonder if we think of the gospel in terms of pure intellect. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:31:00.960 We can check the right doctrinal boxes and we can have impeccable dogma, but we can live with unstated hostility and resentments. 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:03.680 We can live in our own retreated corners. 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:04.640 But it's all good. 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:06.720 We've got the same doctrinal statement. 00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:31.519 Friends, I wonder if Paul wants the Ephesian church, and I wonder if Paul wants New Song to know that to be a gospel-centered church is to be a church where friends are made out of enemies, where walls of hostility are broken down, where we see each other as common recipients of grace, and where we come together for the glory of God. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:37.279 We're going to talk more next week about what it looks like to work through conflict and work through some of this resentment. 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:41.279 But maybe where we need to settle right now is at the foot of the cross. 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:46.400 Maybe there's some healing that needs to take place in our own relationships. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:52.640 Maybe we just need to take a minute and invite God to work that grace into our hearts. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:31:54.799 Amen. 00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:00.240 Thank you for listening today. 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:05.839 We worship a generous God who calls us to follow Him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:12.559 Newsong Church's mission and ministry is 100% funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us. 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:20.319 If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportperry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that. 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:23.599 May God bless you and keep you today and every day.