Removing Racial Barriers...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Ephesians. Yesterday, we saw a man named Paul explain to the Gentile members of the church at Ephesus that while there was a time when they were far from God, they had been reunited with God through Jesus Christ.

As a result of Jesus willingness to enter into humanity in order to live the life that they were created to live but refused to live and then allow Himself to be treated as though He lived their selfish and sinful lives by dying on the cross for their selfishness and rebellion, they had been reunited with God in relationship with God. Through Jesus Christ, as Gentiles, they were no longer far from God and were to be viewed as outsiders by the Jewish people. Instead, they were now brought into relationship with God and were to be viewed as insiders by the Jewish people.

And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to our identity as a follower of Jesus as we live in community with one another in that our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers.

The timeless reality is that there is no room for racism in the church, period. There is no room for a sense of ethnic and cultural superiority, period. And while there have been times in the history of the church that the church has done a horrific job when it comes to this issue, as followers of Jesus we are called to live our lives in community with one another without racial barriers. 

And in Ephesians 2:14-22, we see Paul reveal for us four reasons why our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers. We see the first reason revealed for us in Ephesians 2:14. Let’s look at it together:

 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Now when Paul uses the phrase, He Himself is our peace, he is revealing for us the reality that Jesus Christ is the one who establishes a state of well being between us as followers of Jesus and God through His life, death, and resurrection. But not only did Jesus establish a state of well being between followers of Jesus and God. Paul also states that Jesus Christ made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. But, this morning, what does that mean?

To fully understand what Paul is communicating here however, we first need to understand how the Temple of Jerusalem had been constructed. When Paul states that Jesus broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, he is revealing for us that reality that Jesus Christ destroyed the barrier of the dividing wall within the Temple that separated the court of the Gentiles from the court of the Jews.

Paul here is revealing for us the reality that our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers because Jesus removed the barrier of the Law. You see, Jesus removed the barrier of the Law that divided the races in their relationship toward one another and their worship of God. That is what Paul is referring to when he states that Jesus made both groups into one.

Now a natural question that arises here is, “well how did Jesus destroy that dividing wall?” Paul provides the answer to that question when he states in verse 15 that Jesus abolished in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances. Now if Paul was making this statement in the language we use in our culture today, this statement would sound something like this: “Jesus, through His life, death, and resurrection, made invalid the Old Covenant that was based on the Law and sacrificial system as a means of determining who became insiders as a part of the family of God, but created hostility amongst the races”.

Paul’s point here is that Jesus removed the barrier of the Law that divided how the races related to one another and worshipped God through His death. You see, Jesus death removed the need for the Jewish sacrificial system. Jesus was the one and only sacrifice that was necessary for our selfishness and rebellion.  Jesus changed how the races would relate to one another and worship with one another.

Paul unpacks this reality by explaining that Jesus removed the barrier of the Law that divided the races so that they could experience harmony with one another. Through God’s activity through Christ that results in our relationship with Christ, as followers of Jesus, we become a part of one body, the body of Christ. Not a body that is segregated by race, but a body that is marked by harmony and unity amongst all races.

Far too often as followers of Jesus we tend to confuse uniformity for unity. Jesus desires that His church be marked by unity in the midst of diversity ethnically, socially, culturally and economically. Then, in verse 16, we see Paul reveal for us the reality the Jesus removed the barrier of that Law that divided the races so as to reunite all races to Him. As followers of Jesus, we have been united with God through Jesus life, death, and resurrection.

In addition, we see that we have been reunited with God because Jesus eliminated the hostility that the Law created. Jesus created a new covenant relationship that reunites us as His followers not because of our ethnic heritage or our performance, which can often create hostility.  Instead we are reunited with God because of our confident trust in what Jesus has done, in spite of our performance and regardless of our ethnicity.

Paul then reveals for us two additional reasons why our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers, beginning in verse 17:

 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

In verse 17, the Apostle Paul quotes from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 57:19, the prophet Isaiah predicted and proclaimed that there would be a time in the future where God would pursue those who were considered both near and far from Him by proclaiming a message of how one could experience a state of harmony in relationship with Him. Paul quotes from this section to reveal the reality that Jesus was the fulfillment of that prediction and promise.

And it is here that we see that our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers because of Jesus message. Jesus proclaimed God’s message of rescue to self righteous religious Jewish people who considered themselves insiders when it came to God. And Jesus proclaimed God’s message of rescue to irreligious Gentile people who considered themselves outsiders when it came to God.

And followers of Jesus were proclaiming God’s message of rescue throughout the world to all races. You see, the message of the gospel does not take into account ethnicity or culture. The message of the gospel calls all cultures and ethnicities to experience the peace with God that comes as a result of experiencing the forgiveness of our sins and the relationship with God that we were created for by placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

Then, in verse 18, we see Paul reveal for us the reality that our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers because we all have access to God the same way. Paul explains that, regardless of ethnicity or culture, we have access to God the exact same way. You see, regardless of ethnicity and culture, it is our relationship with Jesus that enables us to have access to God the Father. And regardless of ethnicity or culture, we have access to God the Father in One Spirit.

Paul’s point here is that Jewish people did not access God the Father one way, while the Gentiles accessed God the Father a separate way. Instead, there was one way by which all people had access to the Father. And that way is through the Holy Spirit. And in the same way today, regardless of ethnicity of culture, we all have access to God that Father as a result of our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Friday, we will see Paul reveal for us a fourth reason why our identity as a follower of Jesus should remove racial barriers...