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If These Walls Could Talk
Ephesians 2:11-22
June 27, 2010
Ryan Heller
I. As a Christ follower I must be united with both God and others.
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called “the uncircumcised ones” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ. 14 For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.
Ephesians 2:11-14 (NLT)
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28 (NIV)
A. I must be brought near to God by the blood of Christ.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:13 (NIV)
B. Because I am close to God, I must make peace with other believers
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
Ephesians 2:14 (NIV)
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance.
Ephesians 2:14 (MSG)
My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others?
James 2:1 (NLT)
C. As I am brought near to other believers, I become a member of one body
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)