Welcome back to VBVF Tuesdays…and welcome back to our place of worship here…we have missed you and it is a joy to see everyone who has been able to gather here tonight 

And we are so happy to join with our worship team, led by Charlie and Amy, as they lead us…

We so appreciate the ministry Charlie and Amy bring to the fellowship. It doesn’t take long reading God’s word to learn that He takes worship very seriously…as we hear from God through faithful study of His word, so we speak back to God through worship…it’s our opportunity to tell our living Lord that we love Him, that we seek Him, that we want to honor and obey Him…thank you, team, for leading us in that holy work 

Tonight we continue our journey through this book that blends the transcendent quality of the book of Colossians and the doctrinal depth of the book of Romans…Ephesians is a magnificent book that, more than any other, speaks to us of the truth of the nature, character, and responsibility of the Church…in it’s focus on the Church as the Body of Christ, we see a new aspect of ourselves that we had not seen before, and yet see our walk as the Church to be our high calling; for in order to be real, a faith has to be lived out…a faith not seen in a person’s walk and life, day by day, is no faith at all

To review for a moment, as we look back at the first chapter, we see Paul’s praise to God for the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the work of the salvation of humanity…then we see that praise turn to prayer as Paul then asks the Father to teach us what it means that we have been delivered from sin to Christ…that we might know the hope of our calling, our inheritance in the saints, and the greatness of His power, then describing Jesus as the Risen Christ, alive, ascended, and seated in His rightful place at the Father’s right hand

Then in chapter two, we saw last week that Paul then turns to us -- and the book turns very dark indeed…for we are dead in our trespasses and sins, spiritually without life, sight, hearing, or ability, hostile toward God, loving the darkness and hating the light…and worst of all, we were the objects of the very wrath of God, deserving of His judgment and condemnation

Then, in chapter two verse four, we read perhaps the best two words in the Bible: “But God…”

And the light dawns, the darkness flees away, and hope lives…for God, in his mercy and great love, takes those who were dead -- us -- and makes us alive, then raises us up with Christ Himself, and miraculously, the Father seats us with the Son, at His right hand, that we might be trophies of His grace and serve Him forevermore

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

That brings us to tonight’s passage: Ephesians 2.11-22

11 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— 12 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 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, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Pray 

Let’s jump into the text!

There are several ways to think about this passage -- here’s one way:

I. Who You Were                              2.11-13

11 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— 12 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

Might sound a lot like last week in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10, and that’s true…but the difference is that last week was spoken to individuals…this week, the focus shifts from individuals to groups as Paul turns to a comparison of the Jews and the Gentiles

He tells the Gentiles in that church -- those who came to Christ from the pagan societies in and around Ephesus, including the rest of the Roman Empire -- “remember.” Why do that? Shouldn’t we move on? Before you “move on” in life, let me recommend that you first learn all you need to learn where you are -- or you might find that the Father keeps bringing you back to re-learn some lessons. The Gentile believers had to realize how far they had come by the sovereign grace of God, and to do that, Paul had to remind them where they started

There is a five-fold separation that Paul uses to describe the place of the Gentiles before they came to Christ:

“Separated from Christ” 

They didn’t know anything about Jesus of Nazareth, they were as separated from Him as you could be -- they had no knowledge of Him, no connection to Him, no interest in Him

Alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel

“Alienated” of course comes from the word “alien” -- defined as one belonging to a foreign country or nation…the Gentiles simply were not part of the nation or Commonwealth of Israel; they had no part in the past, present, or future of God’s chosen people…the only exception to this would be the very few Gentiles who were sojourners in Israel, or perhaps the Gentiles known as “God-fearers” those who believed in the God of Israel, but were not complete converts to the faith; in almost every case, Gentiles both as a group and as individuals were foreigners to the covenant people of God; and completely rejected by national Israel 

Strangers to the covenant of promise

Gentiles as a people group were complete strangers to the religious life and identity of Israel…they knew nothing of God’s covenant relationship with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, or David, or the larger covenant with the people found in Exodus and Deuteronomy…they had no knowledge of God’s requirements of the nation, the nation’s pledge of faithful obedience, and the blessings or curses that followed either obedience or disobedience…what we read in the Old Testament record is, to a large extent, unknown to the Gentile peoples of the New Testament era, unless they had an interest in it, but this we know for certain -- while there were references to the Gentile peoples, often referred to as the “nations,” in terms of both relationship and blessing to the God of Israel, most notably in the book of the prophet Isaiah…but despite those references, the Gentiles of Jesus’s day were not a party to the covenant between God and His chosen people, Israel…they were excluded from the promise

Having no hope

As a result, they had no hope of that promise, or in fact any promise from or relationship to Israel’s God…they had no hope, in biblical terms defined as a certain expectation, of anything in this world…their existence was completely separate and apart from the life of Israel and the blessed hope enjoyed by the chosen people

Without God in the world

Maybe the most startling statement Paul saves for the last…the life of the Gentile peoples before God in Christ reaches out to them in grace and mercy was so separate from God that one could well say, they were simply without Him…their lives were lived, start to finish, apart from any relationship to or connection with God…they didn’t know Him or seek after Him, because they had no knowledge of His existence apart from a vague sense of some higher power that was then translated, if at all, into worship of idols and false deities…picture the Canaanite nations displaced and largely destroyed by the Israelites as they enter the land this unknown God, Yahweh, had given to them…

So if we look at this description -- here’s what we find:

They were separated, alienated, strangers, hopeless, and Godless.

Said another way, they were about as far removed and distant from God as anyone could be. 

But then Paul introduces another bombshell, just like 2.4…

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

God does the unthinkable -- at least the unthinkable to the Jews -- He reaches out in love, grace, and mercy to those who were the furthest away from Him

The word for “far off” -- makran -- is also used in Acts 2.39

39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 

In Romans 9.22-26, Paul reminds the church of the same truth: 

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

     and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

   there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

And the word for “brought near” illuminates the meaning even more: it’s two words, the first meaning “to bring into existence” the second “to embrace” -- when the Lord says the Gentiles have been “brought near,” it tells us He is creating a new thing -- the Gentiles joining the people of God -- and that He also embraces them in love…much as we see in the passage from I Peter quoting Hosea -- we are now part of the “beloved”

How did the Almighty God accomplish such a thing? By the blood of Christ Jesus. So now we see where this is going…the shed blood of Jesus reconciles and saves us as individuals before God, quickening us back to life, raising us with Christ Himself and seating us with Him in the heavenly places…but now that blessing that once was only for the covenant people, the Jews, has been given to, unbelievably, the Gentile nations! Now we are called by God “my people” -- “beloved” -- “sons of the living God”

To quote Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, “miracle of miracles”! 

Now that we’ve seen the state of the Gentiles, Paul introduces us to what God did to bring it about 

II. What He Did                              2.14-18

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 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, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 

There is grace -- then there is amazing grace…

He has taken the Jews and the Gentiles -- as separate as two people groups could be -- and He has made us both one. ONE. From two who could not be more different and hostile -- He made ONE. How is this possible? Let’s see!

By breaking down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility…His sacrifice on the cross, as He gave up His life and shed His blood for His people, was more than enough to reconcile us to God and to each other…but the picture is even more expressive than we might think at first

For the “dividing wall of hostility” isn’t just a metaphor or figure of speech, it was a literal wall…Herod’s Temple was surrounded by a wall that was four and a half feet thick and made of stone…it separated the Temple proper from the Court of the Gentiles, where traders had their stalls for commerce…that was as far as a Gentile could go…to attempt to go any further into the Temple itself would be at risk of death

To break down that wall was to expose the Temple to the presence of Gentiles…it would be to allow -- even welcome -- Gentiles into the inner Temple, only accessible to Jews…no one knew that better than the apostle Paul…yet he declares that what Jesus did on the cross, in His flesh, broke that wall down

As we read these words of the apostle Paul, it is as if we are transported in time back almost 2000 years, to the very beginning of the miraculous work of God in the gospel of Jesus…as the brand new church of that day saw an unprecedented reconciliation between two people groups -- Jews and everyone else -- who were as divided as two groups could be…the church of Ephesus, and others around the western Mediterranean basin, began to understand and experience that this gospel, this good news, changed and reconciled hearts so completely that one could only describe it as the breaking down of an ancient wall that could not be breached by human effort…the four and half foot thick wall that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts of the Temple, present for centuries, had been demolished, destroyed by the God that had called for that separation in the first place, but now was doing a new work among the people of the world, calling everyone -- men and women, all races and ethnic people groups, the poor and the wealthy, and powerful and the powerless, the old and the young, the unprivileged and the privileged, those of the original covenant and those apart from it, those who were near and those who were far away -- this God of love was now calling all people to Himself, in radical grace and mercy, to be part of His people -- you once were not a people, but now you are a part of the people of God

How did He do that? By “abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances”…here again, words matter. The word “abolish” renders ‘katargeo’ which means to render ineffective, inoperative, or powerless -- it doesn’t mean to eliminate the law of commandments expressed in ordinances as if it had never existed, but to “abolish” it as the means to be righteous before God…no longer would humanity turn to the Law, but instead to Christ, who both fulfilled the Law, in the sense of fully and completely keeping it, but at the right time abolishing it, rendering it powerless, ineffective as a way to stand before God

Matthew 5.17-18

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come you to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 

What was God’s purpose in such as radical act? That He might create “one new man” -- to speak of it in the groups that are the theme of this passage, you might say “one new people” -- as Paul says, “…thus making peace…” -- and note, he refers three times to the body or flesh of Christ

English is a great language…but sometimes we just don’t have the right word, you know? Like this simple word “new” -- it renders ‘kainos’ -- but there’s another word, ‘neos’, that is also translated into English as “new” -- so what’s the difference and why does it matter?

‘Kainos’ means qualitatively new -- new and not like that which came before it -- in ad copy, we might say “new and improved” or “new and different”

‘Neos’ means temporally new -- new as in “I bought a new box of cereal” -- why? “I finished the old one yesterday, so I bought a new one” -- the new box is ‘temporally’ new -- but not qualitatively new -- it’s the same box of Captain Crunch as the last one, but since I bought it today, I call it ‘new’

Here’s why this is important -- God says in verse 15 that He’s making “one new man” -- should be understood as ‘human race’ or ‘humanity’ -- the word is qualitatively new, kainos -- this creation is brand new, different, improved -- not the same at all as that which was made before -- this creation is not another of the first Adam -- it is like unto the last Adam, Christ Himself -- it’s the same word and the same meaning as what we find in Revelation 21.1 and 5 “a new heaven and a new earth” -- new in their qualities -- and it’s the word God uses in verse 5 when He says “Behold I make all things new”

What He’s doing as He creates this new humanity is different -- hallelujah!

In Christ we -- both believing Jews and the believing Gentile peoples -- are reconciled to God and thus both to the other through the power of the Cross, again, killing the ancient hostility that had separated them from each other…

He is going to reconcile us both to God…”reconcile” also comes in two forms -- both mean to bring about peace, but the milder version is just to do that, to bring about peace, but the more intense word -- the one used here -- means to bring about peace in a relationship that has been disturbed -- to bring about peace after conflict or strife. True -- both between us and God, and between the Jews and the Gentiles

John 10.14-16

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 

God was not content with multiple flocks, separated by earthly characteristics like religion, race, ethnic identity, or gender -- He had other sheep not in the believing Jewish fold, and He was going to bring these other sheep into the fold as they listen to His voice. What was His intent, that which He would achieve? One Flock -- One Shepherd.

This staggering truth -- that God in Christ has reconciled His own unto Himself and unto each other, breaking down walls and uniting them in solidarity with Himself -- is the basis for the theme we’ve chosen from the text -- Fitted Together: The Church as the Body of Christ

I Peter 2.9-10

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Paul tells us that Christ 

“…preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”

In other words, the message of the peace and reconciliation of God went out to all peoples -- the Gentile nations who were far off and the Jews who were near. 

So we find God in Christ, through the cross, achieving what He tells us in Revelation 5 would be the composition of the redeemed of the earth, the sum total of those whom the Father chose and predestined from before the foundation of the world, to refer back to Ephesians one:

9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

      and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

     from every tribe and language and people and nation,

10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

   and they shall reign on the earth.”

Verse 18 is also worth examining: “access” renders ‘prosagoge’ which is a word used to being escorted into the presence of a king…but one doesn’t simply walk into the throne room of a monarch, one must be escorted…look at who is our escort…God the Holy Spirit

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross bought a people for God -- He ransomed us from sin, death, and Hell, defeating every enemy, forming them into a singular Kingdom, commissioning us as priests before our God, and giving us the task of reigning with Him as our exalted Head. 

Hallelujah!!

III. Who We Are                              2.19-22

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Now Paul turns back to the believing Gentiles and tells them of the blessings that are now theirs…not just as individuals in Christ, but as a group…those who were far away, who were strangers and aliens, are now 

“fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” 

The Gentile nations have been welcomed in, given citizenship papers, as it were, for the Kingdom…instead of being unable to climb the wall or cross the border into the Kingdom of God, the Father Himself has torn down the wall that kept them -- us -- out, and even more than that, has met us with credentials appropriate to priests and government officials, to refer back to Revelation and I Peter. The acceptance and welcome could not be more genuine and authentic -- we are now fellow citizens with those who have been part of the covenant people since their beginning, and we are considered members of God’s own household, honored sons and daughters of the King. Were it not in God’s word, I could not believe it. 

Then, in true Pauline form, Paul mixes his metaphors right in the middle of a sentence…

Now he tells us we are

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

From a new people in Christ, to a building…the church of God is built on a sure foundation. Christ is the cornerstone, the first stone laid and the one from which all other stones are aligned…and the idea of the cornerstone comes with great truth from the Old Testament

Psalm 118.22-23

The stone that the builders rejected

      has become the cornerstone. 

23 This is the Lord's doing;

     it is marvelous in our eyes.

Jesus quotes this psalm in a dialogue with the Pharisees, warning them not to reject the cornerstone chosen by God Himself -- for to do so is to invite and assure your own destruction

Luke 20.17-18

17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected

   has become the cornerstone’? 

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Peter uses this same passage when he confronts the Pharisees after Jesus’s death and resurrection, declaring to them -- probably the same men -- the same truth spoken by Jesus

Acts 4.11-12

11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

The stone you didn’t find worthy to build upon -- the one you cast away as useless -- was indeed the chief cornerstone, the only One in whom there is salvation, the Only Name to which we can turn for redemption and deliverance…

And from that Stone -- the Son of God -- the holy Temple of the Lord is built. But with what materials?

Us. His people, from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” -- His new humanity, His new creation.

Peter tells us we’re the living stones who are connected to -- joined to -- the Cornerstone, Jesus.

I Peter 2.4-6

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

     a cornerstone chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

In Him we’re being built together…both in a universal sense, as believers from all over the world are added moment by moment to the Kingdom of God, but also in a local sense, as believers in every location and place around the globe join together with other believers to be the people of God in every place and time…all different stones, but all together for one purpose…as I reflected on this truth, I recalled two stories from the New Testament that illustrate the amazing work the Spirit does as He brings together this widely differing collection of living stones…frankly, as the Pharisees rejected Christ Himself, the perfect and Chief Cornerstone, think what the world would do with the church…who would pick all of us to be part of the Holy Temple of the Lord, a dwelling place for God?

The New Testament records a strange collection of believers as being in the church -- believing Jews, members of Caesar’s household as noted in Philippians 4, and city officials as noted in Romans 16, alongside servants and subjugated peoples from the farthest reaches of the Empire…in Colossae, Paul all but commands a slaveowner, Philemon, to receive back a runaway slave, Onesimus, not for punishment but to be reconciled and to regard each other as brothers in Christ…there were men and women, old and young, citizens and slaves, educated and uneducated, poor and rich…Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 1.23-31:

we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Never forget -- God looked for the foolish, the weak, the low and despised, literally the “nothings” of the world for Himself…and whom did He find? 

Us. We are the ones He chose. Why would He do that? So that no one could stand and boast in the presence of God. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” He did this to shame those in the world who believed themselves to be the wise, the strong, the high and mighty, the “somethings” of the world -- as James tells us, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Application

How are we to understand, and perhaps more importantly, act on this truth?

In the 2000 years since the apostle Paul wrote these words, humanity has struggled to live out the promise of this second chapter. We have allowed sin and hostility to overwhelm that simple message of grace and forgiveness in Jesus, and yes, even the church has fallen into the trap of building walls instead of tearing them down…we have allowed, and even initiated, division instead of reconciliation…we’ve allowed them to stand, and in some cases have reinforced them with new stones instead of seeing the truth that our efforts at building must be directed toward putting those new stones to work in building the church…

The Parable of the Prodigal Son reveals the truth to our own hearts…when the younger son, the one who was far off, “in the far country (KJV)”, separated from the Father, came home, the party started, Fiesta finally happened, and everyone rejoiced that this one who was lost was found, most of all the Father Himself…everyone rejoiced -- except the older son, the religious one, the one who felt that he had done everything right and was now being taken advantage of, that somehow the Father’s great grace and love shouldn’t be given to someone so unworthy…as...his…brother…but as the father speaks with the hard-hearted older son, he tells him of his love for him, but also for his younger son, too…”It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Sometimes it’s hard to hear and believe that the gospel could be for you, too…that God waits to welcome you home…but sometimes it’s hard to accept that those who have been far off should also be welcomed by the Father…it’s the work of the Father as He speaks to his older son to tell him of grace and mercy, and that it pleases the Father that the gospel go out to all the peoples of the world, that all might hear of the saving love and grace of Jesus…and that if there is a wall of hostility left that divides one family from another, one people from another, one brother or sister from another, that wall must fall.

I am increasingly convinced that the Lord gave this book to this church for this summer because of this truth…this is the moment, in our lifetimes, for which the church of Jesus Christ has been called to be a voice of hope in a dark and hateful world, conveying a faithful message that mankind, in all our fallenness and brokenness, in our hostility to God and to each other, in our failure and yes, in our sin -- we can be forgiven by our God, we can be reconciled to Him because of His mercy and the great love with which He loved us, and that same God who has reconciled us to Himself in the person of His Son, Jesus -- that same God and Father can also be the ground and hope of our reconciliation to each other

The same Spirit Who dwells and constantly works in the hearts of believers can be known and embraced by anyone…all people can -- and must -- be given the message of hope contained in the simple gospel -- this eternal gospel that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and by that revolutionary act of grace, He provides the means for us to be reconciled to each other…

If the dividing wall of hostility, present for more than a thousand years, between Jews and the rest of the world, could be broken down and utterly destroyed by the power of the gospel of Christ, then could not every dividing line, every human condition that separates one person from another to our harm -- economic division, social injustice, differences of race, gender, ethnicity…the differences that need not divide us, but which we have, at times, allowed to divide us…if the gospel of Jesus can break down the wall between Jew and Gentile, can that same gospel, that same Holy Spirit, break down the other walls in our world?

I believe we already know the answer -- it’s not a program, not another attempt at a legislative solution, not an economic package, not a social or governmental plan -- although there may be a time and a place for such things, they are not the answer…the answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ, for programs and laws do not change the hearts of people -- only one power in the universe does that -- the favor and grace and mercy of the living God Who reaches out in love to a lost and dying world and says come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest…when people are reconciled to God and by that miracle are reconciled to themselves and finally find peace in that relationship, then they can be reconciled to each other, not on the basis of righting past or present wrongs, though that might follow…but because in humility and grace we realize that the same God Who has forgiven me, has also forgiven you…and that when we know His grace, we can share His grace with others who desperately need to hear a word of reconciliation…but who shall speak that word? Those who know the message of redemption in Jesus, and care enough to share it with all those who need to hear it, who are literally dying to hear it…if not the church, if not us, then who?

As we close, I recall the Charles Dickens short story, “A Christmas Carol” -- as Ebenezer Scrooge is, at the last, taken to his own gravestone, left desolate -- he turns in desperation and repentance to the ghost of Christmas Future and asks the question:

“Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?”

As I look out on our world now -- in as much chaos and turmoil and hate and pain as I’ve ever seen it -- I wonder -- must it be this way? Or is there still hope for the world in Jesus? 

By the grace and mercy and love and kindness of God, I know that there is still hope -- the gospel of Jesus Christ still saves sinners, and the party still starts anew when even one comes to faith…may ours be the voice that says it’s not too late to run to Jesus…the Savior is waiting…and so is a community of people to welcome you in.

May it ever be so -- amen.