Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, good morning, Grace Community. How we doing?
[00:00:04] As Max said, my name is Richard Carey and it is good to be with you this morning.
[00:00:11] A little bit about me. I am married to my wife Erin. She's out of town this weekend. It's kind of weird. Normally anytime I've preached before, she's always either been here, previous churches that we've served at or previous church we served at. She's always been here. She's not here today. She's out of town with some friends. And so after the first service, I go down to my seat, I look at my phone to see if she's texting me. And of course she has.
[00:00:33] She's like, good job, but you should smile more. So that's me smiling more. If I don't smile the rest of the service, just know it's not cause I'm mad. I just don't smile a lot.
[00:00:45] I'm a joyful guy. Just don't smile a lot. So here we go.
[00:00:50] So that's the text I got from her after that. But we have three kids, Isabel, who is 22 and in grad school. We have Roman and Rhett who are here with me this morning.
[00:01:01] In addition to all those things, I am on staff at a place called Living well and served there as the director of counseling.
[00:01:07] And as Max said, I am one of the elders here, one of the newer elders here, which makes me feel really old to have the word elder by my name, but that's what it is. And so in addition to those things, I spent nearly 18 years in vocational ministry.
[00:01:19] I got my start my sophomore year of college in Arkansas. I was 19 years old when this church in Arkansas hired me, which is just crazy to think about that a church would hire a 19 year old. But they took a risk on me and I served there as their youth pastor for years.
[00:01:36] Once I graduated from Washa Baptist University, I went on staff there full time at this church.
[00:01:43] And a year into me being on staff full time, I walked into my pastor's office on a Sunday morning before church started. I said, hey man, listen. For the guys from our ministry are playing in the state championship game this week in baseball. I'd love to make that trip. And so I need Thursday off if I can. And he denied my request, said, richard, you can't, you can't go. You can't be out of the office.
[00:02:06] So it's confusing. So I just was like, hey, what's the deal? Why can't I. Why can't I have the day off?
[00:02:11] And he Says Richard, you've lost the support of this church.
[00:02:17] My jaw dropped. Tears began to flood immediately.
[00:02:21] It was the first time I'd heard of any issues between me and the church.
[00:02:25] In my mind, things were going really well. Kids were getting saved. Kids were getting baptized because of numerical growth. We had just renovated a space just for them.
[00:02:35] And then as we talked, he listed a few people's names.
[00:02:38] And these were people that I was very, very close to. These were people whose families I invested on a lot of time in. Excuse me.
[00:02:46] And he said, richard, they're all on board with you being demoted and this being your last summer with us.
[00:02:52] So now I felt not just shocked, but betrayed.
[00:02:56] And so I went to each of these people that I was very close to and just said, hey, listen, can I just ask you some questions? Can I just. Can you just unpack for me? What did I do that caused this shift in your support?
[00:03:07] What changed?
[00:03:09] And each of them said something along these lines. I said, richard, I do support you.
[00:03:13] I do want you here.
[00:03:15] Pastor Clint came to me and said that he thought it was time for you to move on.
[00:03:21] My pastor had lied to me.
[00:03:24] He had conjured up support for his decision to let me go, blaming others instead of taking ownership for a decision he had made on his own.
[00:03:35] I was deeply hurt, devastated.
[00:03:39] And what I eventually found out was this, is that this pastor was very close to one couple in our church. And that couple disagreed with the decision that I made for the students.
[00:03:50] And because of that disagreement, they let that difference of opinion turn to hostility. So much so, they pressured the pastor into firing me.
[00:04:02] I'm sure most of us in this room have had similar experiences.
[00:04:08] Someone in your life dislikes you, sometimes for unknown reasons, and they treated you with hostility.
[00:04:17] Sometimes, unfortunately, that someone is in your own home, or someone in a body of believers like this, or someone that you work with or are close to.
[00:04:29] Sometimes it's a fellow believer.
[00:04:32] It feels unfair, it feels unjust, and it hurts.
[00:04:37] And the question is this. How do we handle hostility both when it's directed at us or when we feel hostile towards someone else? And Paul is addressing those questions and bringing correction to those situations in a Ephesians 2. Let's reread this passage together. Verse 11. Therefore, remember that 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.
[00:05:15] But now in Christ Jesus, you once were far off, but had been brought near by the blood of Christ. 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.
[00:05:41] And he came and preached peace to you who are far off and peace to those who were near.
[00:05:46] For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.
[00:05:50] 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. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
[00:06:12] Here's the first thing I want you to know this morning.
[00:06:16] Pain and differences trigger human hostility.
[00:06:21] Pain that we experience relationally. Differences that we have relationally trigger human hostility.
[00:06:28] Paul describes for us a historic tension between the Jews and the Gentiles.
[00:06:34] The Gentiles are being called the uncircumcision by the Jews, who refer to themselves as the circumcision. Essentially, what's happening is the Jews are bullying the the Gentiles about being uncircumcised, which I think is a really weird thing to bully someone about, but we'll leave that there. Okay, smile.
[00:06:51] Okay.
[00:06:53] Being called the uncircumcision was an expression of disdain from the Jews to the Gentiles, while being called the circumcision was an honor and privilege for those belonging to God's covenant.
[00:07:07] In two phrases, we see the Jews think of themselves as superior to the Gentiles because the Jews view themselves as God's chosen and view the Gentiles as the unchosen.
[00:07:19] And if you've ever been in a relationship where there's some sort of power dynamic or where you feel someone is superior to you or they are superior to you, you know that there can be pain there.
[00:07:31] Paul describes the Gentiles as strangers, aliens, and he mentions this word hostility multiple times. Why is he using that language and painting them as outsiders? Is because they were.
[00:07:43] Paul tells us there were four consequences of the Gentiles not being Jewish.
[00:07:48] The first one, he says they were without God. It's the only Time this phrase shows up in Scripture, it's highlighting the chasm between Jew and Gentile. Because the Gentiles didn't worship Yahweh, they had no hope centered on a national political Messiah, like the Jews did.
[00:08:08] Second, they were excluded from citizenship in Israel. They're excluded from being known as the chosen people of God. So while they could actually become members of the nation of Israel, they were excluded from becoming members of the chosen people of God.
[00:08:23] And because of that, they were separated from God's plan and promises for his people. Again, they were the unchosen.
[00:08:31] Third, they had no direct claim to the promises of God to Israel contained in the covenants of the Old Testament.
[00:08:38] So all the promises that God makes his people in the Old Testament, the Gentiles had no way of being grafted into those covenants. They are excluded from the promises that God made in the Old Testament. And lastly, they had no corporate future promised by God. Unlike their Jewish counterparts, there was no hope for the future.
[00:08:59] And the Jews, there's actually some harsher teachings they had about the Gentiles. In some extreme literature, the Jews claimed the Gentiles were created by God to be fuel for the fires of hell.
[00:09:14] More pain.
[00:09:17] So here's what happens. You put these two groups of people together and you're gonna get hostility, especially if they react out of their flesh.
[00:09:29] That's a natural reaction for us.
[00:09:31] Back in May, my wife and I, along with Zach Heron, were a part of a panel on this stage talking about anxiety. Because we all work in the mental health field.
[00:09:42] And the reality is this is that when we don't feel safe as people, right? When a real or perceived threat enters into our environment, our nervous system kicks in and says, how can we survive this? And it will go fight, flight, or freeze.
[00:09:57] And in this passage, it sure seems like fight is showing up because of this word hostility.
[00:10:04] How do we survive being around these people who have treated us differently and been painful in our lives?
[00:10:11] We fight.
[00:10:13] John Piper says it this way. He says, humanity is not harmonious. We are alienated, alienated from God and each other. So put alienated, selfish sinners together in a home or in a church, sharing possessions and the most intimate aspects of life, having different personalities and interests and a disparate distribution of power, abilities and opportunities, and you have a recipe for a sin mess.
[00:10:41] You have experienced sin messes.
[00:10:46] I've experienced sin messes.
[00:10:51] We've experienced pain at the hands of others and acted with hostility.
[00:10:56] You've also been the causer of pain and experienced hostility towards you, no matter which end of that you've been on or currently on or will be in the future, I want to remind you that pain and differences inevitably will trigger human hostility.
[00:11:13] I assume most of us in this room know who Corrie Ten Boom was. If not she was a Dutch Holocaust rescuer. She was a follower of Jesus who helped hide hundreds of Jewish people from the Nazis during World War II. Once caught, her family was sent to concentration camps.
[00:11:29] Corrie survived. Her family did not.
[00:11:33] And after she was freed, she spent most of the rest of her life traveling, sharing her story, but also sharing about her faith. And on one occasion in 1947, while speaking in a church in Munich, she noticed a balding man in a gray overcoat near the back of the room in the basement they were speaking in.
[00:11:52] And she was speaking that they on God's forgiveness.
[00:11:56] But her heart froze when she recognized the man.
[00:12:01] She could picture him as she'd seen him so many times before, in his blue Nazi uniform with his visored cap, the cruelest of the guards at the Ravensbruck camp, the very camp that her sister died at, or I should say, was killed at.
[00:12:18] At the end of her talk, he walked towards her, his hand held out.
[00:12:25] Thank you for your fine message, he said. How wonderful it is to know that all of our sins are at the bottom of the sea.
[00:12:33] See, Corrie had said that in her message, she had spoken easily of God's forgiveness. But now she was face to face with a man she despised.
[00:12:44] She was face to face with a man who had caused devastation in her life.
[00:12:50] She realized he didn't recognize her, one of the thousands that he tortured.
[00:12:56] She couldn't take his hand.
[00:12:59] She couldn't extend forgiveness to this Nazi oppressor.
[00:13:04] See, while Corey didn't express a verbal or show a physical hostility, what Corrie wrestled with is an internal hostility in her heart.
[00:13:15] She had experienced pain at the hands of this man.
[00:13:20] She felt an inner turmoil to be connected to him in any way at all, much less forgive him.
[00:13:28] And so I'm going to ask you some questions this morning now and at the end of this morning, but I want to ask you a couple questions.
[00:13:36] Who do you have that inner turmoil with in your life?
[00:13:41] Who do you feel hostile towards?
[00:13:45] Is it someone you're close to, someone in your home or someone you work with, or someone in your community group?
[00:13:54] Is someone you have political differences with, religious differences with? Or is it just based on personality?
[00:14:03] Pain and differences inevitably trigger human hostility. Here's a second thing for you to know this morning, apart from Christ, we remain hopelessly separated from God.
[00:14:13] Apart from Christ, we remain hopelessly separated from God.
[00:14:17] If the divide between Jew and Gentile seems vast, it is nothing compared to the distance sin creates between us and a holy God.
[00:14:28] Let's go back to the earlier Parts of Ephesians 2 to see what Paul tells us about our relationship with God. This is without Jesus. This is what Mike told us last week. He said that we were dead in our trespasses and sin.
[00:14:39] We were as dead as the deer that he mentioned hitting with his car last week. Right? We were dead. Dead as he said we were following the course of this world. We were following the prince of power of the air, the same spirit at work in the sons of disobedience. We were living in and carrying out the passions of our flesh and our mind. We were children of wrath. And in our passage today we hear phrases like we are separated from Christ, we are far from God, we have no hope, and we are without peace.
[00:15:06] And I don't know about you, but that sounds like a miserable position to be in.
[00:15:12] And Paul is making it clear that without Jesus we are completely alienated from God.
[00:15:20] Jesus makes a similar statement in Luke chapter 11.
[00:15:23] In Luke 11, Jesus encounters a mute man possessed by a demon.
[00:15:28] Jesus casts the demon out and the man begins to speak. And some people accuse Jesus of being connected to Satan and his demons. And that's. They're saying that's where Jesus is getting his power from, is from Satan. And Jesus answers by saying a divided house cannot stand that if Jesus is from Satan, that kingdom will fail because Jesus, Jesus whole ministry is an attack and a front on Jesus's kingdom. And it will divide that kingdom and it will fall.
[00:15:58] And he continues the analogy by saying that he, Jesus is like a strong man, fully armed, who, who overtakes the other man's palace, in this case the other man being Satan. And then he says this, Jesus says this, whoever's not with me is against me.
[00:16:12] Whoever does not gather with me scatters.
[00:16:15] So Jesus is saying, you're either in Satan's camp and kingdom, or you're in my camping kingdom.
[00:16:21] And this is the bad news of this morning is that if you are not a member of Jesus kingdom, you are still separated from him and you are stuck there.
[00:16:32] There's nothing you can do.
[00:16:35] See, as humans we experience interpersonal hostility and a complete separation from God. But here's the good news this morning, that in Christ we receive peace from God, in Christ we receive peace from God. Look at verse 13.
[00:16:50] 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 us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of the two, so making peace. And he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father.
[00:17:23] See Jesus, Jesus doesn't come just to die for our sins, right? And just to give us eternity in heaven, he comes to bring us peace and nearness to God.
[00:17:34] The word peace shows up 43 times in Paul's writing writings, eight of which are in this book of Ephesians.
[00:17:42] Paul is telling us that Jesus blood poured out reconnects us to God.
[00:17:48] So think about these Gentiles, right? The message for them this entire time has been that they are unchosen. They have no hope, they have no purpose, they have no direction. There's no, no real reason for living if you're in that state.
[00:17:59] But Jesus comes so that we, so that they might have access, unity, connection and reconciliation to the Father.
[00:18:09] The phrase that's important in this passage is that Paul uses the phrase dividing wall of hostility.
[00:18:16] Paul is referencing an actual wall called the Sarig Wall.
[00:18:21] It was a stone barrier in the temple in Jerusalem that separated the outer court of the Gentiles what they had access to from the inner courts of the of the Temple that was restricted just for ritually pure Jews.
[00:18:36] So again it separated Jew from Gentile, but it also prohibited the Gentiles from having access into the inner courtyards and worshiping in that place.
[00:18:47] Warning signs hung outside of that space saying that if Gentiles crossed that wall, they would be punished with death.
[00:18:57] And Paul tells us that Jesus rips that wall out.
[00:19:02] He demolishes that wall that has hindered the Gentiles worship.
[00:19:09] That is the good news for us this morning. He's broken down in himself the dividing wall of hostility, saying that now Gentiles have full access to worship me, that Jesus purity gives them access to the Father through the Spirit.
[00:19:27] When I was in middle school, my front yard was the meeting spot for all of my friends because we had a basketball goal.
[00:19:35] And one particular day my sister and I were outside playing with our friends.
[00:19:39] My dad was working shift work at the time, so he would do like, you know, 8:00am to like 4:00pm one week, and then, you know, 4:00pm to midnight one week, and then midnight to 8:00am the next week. And he was on that graveyard shift of midnight to 8am and so that meant the next day he slept all day.
[00:19:54] And so my sister and I are outside. My dad is in the back room sleeping. My mom is inside cleaning the house because she was a neat freak. And so it just so happens at this time, we had a deep freezer in our kitchen.
[00:20:07] That deep freezer belonged to my grandmother.
[00:20:10] And on that deep freezer were two things. One was a sheet because she didn't want it to get scratched, okay? And the second was a basket. That basket is where my dad placed his keys, his watch, his loose change.
[00:20:24] And for whatever reason that day, my dad had not placed his keys in the basket. And so if my mom is cleaning the house, she finds his keys. She goes to toss the keys into the basket. She misses because she's a bad shot.
[00:20:37] The keys slide off of the freezer into a space in that corner behind the freezer.
[00:20:43] So she goes to grab the keys, and as she does, the sheet begins to slide. So she begins to slide and she goes headfirst into that space behind the freezer, into the corner of the room.
[00:20:56] She is pinned in.
[00:20:58] Trapped.
[00:21:00] Stuck.
[00:21:01] There's no getting out.
[00:21:03] She's screaming for help, but my dad's sleeping like a rock in the back room.
[00:21:08] My sister and I are outside playing. There's nothing she can do as those deer last week were dead. Dead. She is stuck. Stuck.
[00:21:18] Eventually, I come inside to get something to drink. I hear her yelling. I find her head down, feet in the air, trapped in that corner. She's screaming for me to go get my dad.
[00:21:29] And so I did what any middle school boy would do. I ran back outside, got all my friends and said, come look at my mom.
[00:21:37] So all my friends come in, see her feet in the air. We're all laughing, having a good time, smile.
[00:21:46] Then she's like, for real, for real right now, she's like, go get your father. I'm like, alright, fun's over. Go get my dad. My dad comes in, he pulls the freezer and frees her from that position.
[00:22:00] And that story is a picture of what happens in this passage.
[00:22:04] Without Christ, we are stuck. We are trapped, head first, pinned in, powerless to change anything. We are stuck. Stuck without God, without peace.
[00:22:16] And then Jesus steps in on our behalf and changes all that for us.
[00:22:22] He doesn't leave us separated from him, but in his love, he comes after us, bringing us life instead of death, peace instead of hostility.
[00:22:30] He gives us freedom and access to the Father.
[00:22:34] See, apart from Christ, we were hopelessly separated from God. But in him we receive peace.
[00:22:39] But breaking down this dividing wall wasn't just about Gentiles and God.
[00:22:44] It was about Gentiles and Jewish believers. See, the last point this morning is that in Christ we. We extend peace to others.
[00:22:52] There's a double reconciliation happening here.
[00:22:55] We receive peace from God, and then we are now instruments of that peace to others in the world.
[00:23:04] Demolishing that dividing wall means that Jews and Gentiles now worship God together. Where the Gentiles previously could not be grafted into being the chosen people of God in Christ, they are right. So remember, in chapter one of Ephesians, they're called the elect.
[00:23:21] Paul is saying to them, for decades you've heard that you are unchosen. For decades you're told you don't matter. I'm telling you, you are the elect of God. You are the chosen people of God now.
[00:23:32] They now belong.
[00:23:35] See, in Christ, we are no longer Jew or Gentile.
[00:23:41] And listen very carefully.
[00:23:44] In this day and age, we are no longer Republican or Democrat.
[00:23:51] We are not our jobs, we are not our roles. We are not our responsibilities.
[00:23:56] We are in Christ.
[00:23:59] He is our cornerstone. And if you're putting your faith or your identity in anything that can be lost, taken, stolen, if the thing you're putting your faith or identity in can die or change, it's been put in the wrong place and it will fail you.
[00:24:16] It is on sinking, shifting sand.
[00:24:21] Our identity can only be in Christ alone. And when it is, the very things that cause so much tension and so much turmoil in this world will fade away.
[00:24:30] We can live at peace with one another, knowing our differences don't define us. He does.
[00:24:36] We all together belong to Him.
[00:24:40] See, listen, when you walked in today, there were no dividing walls in this auditorium.
[00:24:47] But some of you walked in today with a dividing wall right here.
[00:24:52] There is a wall of hostility in your heart that needs to be addressed by Jesus himself.
[00:25:00] You're carrying a wall around in God's temple.
[00:25:05] If your actions or your attitudes or your interactions with people are causing strife and hostility, it is a distraction to the Gospel.
[00:25:14] Your life should be marked by peace and forgiveness because that's what we received from Him.
[00:25:20] Forgiveness is the pathway to peace. And by forgiveness, I don't mean that you put yourself in a situation or relationship where you continually get hurt. Again, it's not what I'm Talking about when I say forgiveness, I mean you asking Jesus to help you release any sort of bitterness or. Or anger or hostility or unforgiveness that you have towards someone, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:25:47] This place where we are called to be unified, as Paul says in our passage, fellow citizens and members of the same household, you are called to be a peacemaker. And the extent to which you forgive and offer peace to others is to the extent that you understand God's peace and forgiveness towards you.
[00:26:07] I can think of no better human example than to finish Corrie Ten Boom's story from earlier.
[00:26:12] So the Nazi guard hand out. He says, you mentioned Ravensbruck.
[00:26:19] I was a guard there.
[00:26:21] I'm ashamed of it. But it's true.
[00:26:23] Since then, I've come to know Jesus as my Savior. It's been hard to me to forgive myself for all the cruel things I did, but I know that God has forgiven me.
[00:26:31] Please, if you would, I would like to hear from you your lips that God has forgiven me. And then Corey records her response in her book, and she says this. I stood there.
[00:26:43] I whose sins had again and again been forgiven, and I could not forgive.
[00:26:47] It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out. But to me, it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to do.
[00:26:57] Listen to this, she said, for I had to do it.
[00:27:01] I knew that it was as simple and as horrible as that. And I still stood there with a coldness clutching my heart, Right. That is that inner turmoil of that hostility in her heart.
[00:27:12] And so, she says, and so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one outstretched to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder. It raced down my arm and sprang into our joined hands.
[00:27:27] And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. I forgive you, brother. I cried with all my heart.
[00:27:35] And for a long moment, we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner.
[00:27:42] She says, I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.
[00:27:47] And then she, based on that experience, pinned these words. Forgiveness. And is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.
[00:28:04] See, her actions, her extension of peace is the gospel in motion.
[00:28:11] That when you forgive others, when you extend peace to others, that is the gospel in motion. So I want to close this morning with just a few questions, and I'm gonna start with the most important question.
[00:28:24] Have you experienced God's peace and forgiveness?
[00:28:29] If not, you are not in his kingdom, you're not in his camp. And I pray that today is that day. And so if that's you, I'd be happy to talk to you. I'll be down front somewhere after service. Or if you need to meet with someone outside those doors, there will be people wearing lanyards. They'll be able to help you, point you in the right direction or have a conversation with you about that.
[00:28:47] And here's the second question.
[00:28:50] If you go back to the beginning, that all of us experience pain and we all have differences relationally that create hostility, that means we've all experienced it.
[00:29:00] So the question is this.
[00:29:02] Who do you need to extend peace and forgiveness to today?
[00:29:07] Let's pray.
[00:29:10] God, thank you for this morning.
[00:29:13] Thank you for this passage.
[00:29:18] I'll confess I've always loved Ephesians 2, 1, 10, and probably to some degree neglected the beauty and the power of 11 through 22.
[00:29:29] So I'm thankful for this morning to be reminded of your peace and forgiveness of us, that our lives, our should be marked by those words because of what you've given us.
[00:29:42] So, God, I pray for my friends this morning that they would have a deeper understanding of your forgiveness and peace so that God, we can be the kind of people that are daily intentionally extending peace to others. God help us to do that, and to do that well.
