September 11, 2022

Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called to serve 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. But now in Christ Jesus, You who were once 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 abolishing the law of commandments and 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. And he came and preached peace to you who are far off in peace to those who were near. For through him, we both have access in the spirit to the Father. So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but your 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.

So, as we begin in verse 11, here, I want to take just a few moments, and I want to just sort of lay out some of the beautiful parallels and the symmetry of the passage, because if you just read through this, you might miss this. And it's really laid out very, very well for us. So just to kind of notice here, the symmetry, we could go all the way back to the beginning of chapter one. And we would notice how all of this is fitting together perfectly, but we won't go back that far. But if we just go back to the beginning of chapter two, in chapter two, if you look down at your Bibles, you'll see probably in your Bible, you'll see a subheading, halfway through the chapter between verse 10 And verse 11. And that's a good subheading, because it's a good division of thought, right there. And so that breaks Chapter Two into two blocks of thought for us. The first block of thought is Paul's speaking to us of how God deals with the loss sinner in order to bring the lost sinner into relationship with Himself. And Paul is speaking of how he does that on the individual basis. The second block of thought is how God deals with the same lost sinner to bring the same lost sinner into relationship with Himself in the context of the church, or God's people or the corporate aspect of God's people. So these two blocks of thought, parallel one another and mirror one another. The first one speaking to God's activity, God's directed activity towards the individual, the second speaking to God's directed activity towards the church. And so, beyond that, notice further some more parallels, you'll notice that Paul begins in verses one, two, and three, speaking of the incredible depravity of the individual, we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we want to walk we were lockstep with the ruler of this world, we were in accord with the culture around us. We were sons of disobedience, we were children of wrath. That parallels of course, what Paul says in verse 11, and verse 12, speaking here, of those last people who will become the church, he says that they were called the uncircumcision that was made by the flesh that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, without God in the world. So Paul says, this is parallel to the individual who walks in their sins and in their trespasses, then we see this radical shift in focus this turn on a dime that comes in verse four, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Him, and has raised us up with Him and seeded us, with Christ in the heavenly places. So, this dramatic radical change this intervention, this intersection that Paul makes into the life of the individual last person is paralleled in verse 13, with the same dramatic shift verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you who are who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ or he himself is our peace, and on it goes from there. So we see the same radical shift. And then after that Paul spends verses 567 and eight, speaking of the blessings of this relationship of grace, the state of grace that we're now in, and as an individual sinner who was dead to God now being made alive to God, and redeemed in our hearts and our souls, we now enjoy this relationship of grace, this relationship of acceptance and love from verse six, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive, He raised us up, he seated us with Christ in the heavenly places that parallels all of the grace, the state of grace that we see spoken about the church from verse 19. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you’re fellow citizens with the saints, members of the household who God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Himself being the cornerstone, and who and whom this whole structure is being built together. So you see there, the clear parallels, the incredible depravity of the individual, the depravity of the church prior to conversion, the radical change by God in verse four, the radical change by God in verse 13, the state of grace in verse 567, and eight, the state of grace and verse 19, 20, 21, and 22. So we're parallel here, together individuals and in the church. And then in the first section, verses one, two, and three, we are united together in our sin, as well as verse 11, 12, 13. We are united together in our sin, verses 567 and eight were united together and Grace verses 19, 20, 21, 22 were united together in grace, you can't miss all those parallels. Once you kind of see that it becomes obvious―this cannot be coincidence. This is Paul's train of thought. He wants us to see these two trains on these two parallel tracks, so to speak. One track is the track of the individual in their radical depravity. God interjects himself into their life, and then they're in the state of grace. Parallel to that is the train of the church who is also traveling along and their radical depravity, interjection by God, and then state of grace that is to follow. So those two parallels are how Paul's working this out in his thoughts, that's where he's leading us to. He's still in this section in which we're talking about the blessings and the privileges and the graces that are ours in Christ Jesus, he began all of that back in chapter one, verse four, when he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And he's still talking about every spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ. Only now he's come to this spiritual blessing, which he will now dwell upon for the remainder of the book, because Paul has now reached the topic of the book. So everything up until this point we could rightly think of as introduction material, and you say, wait a minute, that was, that was one crazy introduction, because in chapter one, and then through the first half of chapter two, Paul has shared with us some of the most profound truths about our position in Christ about the salvation that God has purchased for us. He has told us about the work of the Father and choosing us prior to the foundation of the world and adopting us to work with the son, as he redeemed us and purchased our forgiveness on the cross the work of the Spirit, as the Spirit convicts us and seals us seals us for that blessed inheritance and illumines our minds to the truth so that we grow in our sanctification. So, he's told us about all those glorious truths plus, plus, he's told us about this glorious truth of how it is that God interacts with the individual lost sinner to make a person who is dead to God, to be alive to God. And you say, Oh, that was introduction. Yes, that was all introduction. This is some of the most profound truths about the Person of Christ and the work of Christ, and the work of God and our salvation. Yet, all of this was building up to the point of the letter and the point of Ephesians, the purpose of Ephesians, the topic of Ephesians is the Church. That's what the Letter to the Ephesians is written about and written for. It's written for the church, and it's about the church. Now, in a real sense, we could say, Well, every book in our New Testaments is about the church. And in a connected sort of way we could say every book in our Bible is about the church. And that's true. However, there is no other book in our Bibles that is about the church like Ephesians is about the church. Nothing else in our Scripture is going to speak as loftily as profoundly about the nature of the church, than Paul's letter to the Ephesians. So if you want to understand the nature of the church, then Ephesians is where we go to see that. And this is the point that Paul has now built himself up to begin speaking to us about this, what I think of as the most beautiful thing on planet earth, and that is the bride of Christ, that Christ Himself has given birth to and is here, awaiting his return. So from this point, we now just sort of have a little bit of an idea he, of how Paul got us to hear how his mind is tracking the ways thoughts are tracking. And we're now ready to begin in verse 11. And again, at points is going to seem like we're skipping over some things that would be wonderful to dig into a little bit more. But we do have 11 verses to go to cover. So let's begin with verse 11. Therefore, so we made it one whole word. Therefore, we need to pause there and just understand therefore always tells us that what is to follow is an extension of what was just said. What is to be said, what will follow that word is an expansion of, building upon what was just said, What is what Paul is about to say, is based on what he just said, and is expanding upon what he just said. So therefore, what did Paul just say? So he just spent the last two verses of the previous section, emphasizing for us two points. Number one, your salvation is by grace and grace alone, For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God. All of this is the gift of God, the faith and the grace to salvation to being made alive to God, all of that is God's gift. Therefore, it's not the result of your works, nothing that you have done, therefore, no one may boast in it. So those are his two points right there that he finishes up the previous section, he wants to really hammer home, this is all of grace, this is God's saving you. Therefore, because this is a gift that you have received, this is not something that you may boast in doing, you are not better than another because of this, you cannot look down on others, you cannot think more highly of yourself than others because God has given this gift to you. Therefore, now he's gonna say what he's gonna say. And you will see how that will play into this this mindset of because what we have from God is a gift. Therefore, there is the elimination of all boasting. So keep that in mind as we work forward. So therefore, the next word is remember. So let's talk for just a moment about that word, remember, because remember, here is anybody know, it's an imperative. You know, difference between imperatives and indicative is right? Indicative indicate something, they make statements. Imperatives are…commands, imperatives tell you to do something. Our scriptures are filled with imperatives, with commands. Don't fear, a fear not or Thou shalt not murder. Our scriptures are filled with commands. Paul's letters are filled with commands to the church, chapter four, five, and six will be filled with commands. However, we've not seen one yet. This is the first imperative that we've seen in the Letter to the Ephesians. So Paul has now reached nearly the end of two chapters, without a single imperative. And furthermore, we're not going to see another one until chapter four. So three chapters of some of the densest, most profound teaching in the New Testament, with one imperative. You may say, well, he says, ‘remember’ there twice, verse 12, he says, remember, again, actually, that second remember, is supplied. So Paul didn't say―if you’ve got an italicize King James, you'll see that that remember is italicize. Paul says, remember one time, our editors, the editors of our Bible, add that second one to help us follow Paul's train of thought, because sometimes, let's admit it, Paul's train of thought is a little bit hard to follow. So they add that second, remember there to help us stay focused on what Paul is telling us to do. But Paul says one time, one command one imperative in three chapters, and it's this, remember, now he's going to tell us in just a minute, what we are to remember, or specifically what these Ephesians are to remember. But before we get there, let's spend a few moments just on the idea of remember, how is it that we as believers, how are we to think of this idea of remember, or to put it another way, memories, memories from the past things that have happened to us memories that we have, we all have these? And sometimes they can be delightful? Sometimes they can be comforting, sometimes they can be wonderful. Sometimes they can be torturous. You'll know what I'm talking about. How does the Christian deal with the past? That's difficult to think about? That's difficult to remember. How does the Christian deal with that? Are we supposed to remember that? Or are we just supposed to put it behind us and only look forward and keep on going? Well, the Scriptures tell us actually, both. Paul says here, of course, we just said that, here's the imperative, remember, and he's going to tell the Ephesians here's what I want you to remember. And what they're going to remember is something that's going to be less than pleasant. Actually, it's gonna be quite unpleasant for them to remember this. So Paul is saying to them, remember this and what you what I want you to remember is not necessarily something that's going to warm your heart. But we also see other places where the Scriptures also tell us that the Christian lives a life of memory of, of dwelling, at times upon the past and things that have happened in the past, for example, even the Supper, when we come together for the Supper, Jesus tells us when you do this to do this, remembering Me, remembering that this is me, this is about Me and for Me, or we see other places like Paul will say to the Corinthians, he will say to them, after listing this list of heinous sins, he'll say, ”Such for some of you.” Remember that such worse some of you don't forget, some of you were these types of sinners.

Or he'll say to Timothy, First Timothy, chapter one, verse 12, he'll say, “I was the worst persecutor of the church, I imprisoned the people of God, I murdered the people of God.” And Paul never got over that. He never got over the fact that he was the greatest persecutor of the church. And God had grace upon Him, to not only save him, but to call him as an apostle, even though he was the greatest persecutor of the church. Paul never forgot that, you get the sense that Paul never stopped talking about it. Six times, the book of Acts will tell us a Paul's conversion. And I think that's because Paul was always talking about it. He was always talking about how God who is this incredible God of grace, that though he was a persecutor of the church, God had grace upon him. So Paul never forgot that. And he remembered it, he dwelt upon it. So, we see instances in which we're told to remember these things from the past. And they're not necessarily heartwarming memories. But then I think of places like for example, Philippians, chapter three, when Paul is speaking here, and in Philippians, chapter three, and he's recounting this time in his life, in which he was succeeding, in certain ways, succeeding at being a Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and he has this bright future ahead of him, and how he took glory in that, and that he was finding in his achievements, and in his progress in Pharisaism, he was finding acceptance in Go―or so he though―he was justifying himself before God by his achievements. And Paul says, I think back to that, and it says in verse 13, one thing I do one, one thing I do, here's the one thing I do, says, Paul, I forget that. I leave that behind. I'm done with that. I don't think about that anymore. I'm past it. So here we have Paul saying, Remember, and here we have Paul saying, that's put behind me, I don't think about that anymore. What's the difference? And how do we apply that to our life, so that we know well how it is that we deal with our past memories? Well, both of these things that Paul has to say, remember and forget, both of them have the same goal. And the goal is to help you run your race well. So he says to the Ephesians, remember this. And the point of remembering it is so that they can run their race well. He says to the Philippians, I forgot that stuff. And the point of me forgetting it is so I can run my race well, because here's the difference. The things that Paul says he forgot; his excelling in the law, his excelling is as a rabbi, his excelling and Pharisaism, all of those things, were things that Paul could look back upon with fondness. And that's the difference. When you can look back upon your past times of sinfulness and your past sinful activities, and be tempted to think fondly of them―that's what the Christian is to forget. That's what the Christian is to put behind them. Those are not the memories, we dwell upon those memories when we think and you know what I'm talking, boy that remember that time. Remember what we were like back in college, remember, we do that? Boy, those were some good times. If those were sinful times, that's what Paul's saying. No, you don't look back upon those things that God has delivered you from with fondness with attraction. But to look back on those things in which you say, I'm so glad God delivered me from that. I'm so glad I'm not trapped in that anymore. That's what Paul says. You never get beyond that. You use both of them to aid you in your race. It's kind of like what Jesus says, Remember Jesus a couple of different times he'll say, basically the same thing, when he'll say, the one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he’s not worthy of the kingdom of God. And that's what Jesus means. He means the one who commits themselves to follow Jesus but then looks back on a prior life with fondness with attraction. Jesus, that's not how you can follow me. Once you follow me, you don't look back upon sinful lives and sinful habits that you've left behind with appreciation and with sort of this reminiscing kind of attachment to them. But instead when we look back on things that God has delivered us from and we say, Oh, God, isn't God wonderful to deliver me from that? That's the things that we never want to get beyond. I think this can all be summarized in Jesus's words about Lot's wife. Remember, Jesus said, “Remember Lot's wife.” And so we all Remember Lot's wife. Remember, remember how the angel had such a hard time to get a lot in his wife and his family to leave Saodom before the destruction came. And then as they're leaving, Lot's wife looks back. And we can only we can only conclude from that passage that she looks back with some fondness in her heart with some regret in our heart for leaving Sodom. And of course, then there's judgment. And Jesus says, remember that, because that is an example to you, when you look back upon your past, what God has delivered you from and you have that part of your heart that says, It would be nice to kind of go back and do that one more time or remember those good old days when we do this, and we do that. Those are the things to be careful to guard our memories about.