The Gospel Brings Family
Series: SummerCamp 24
Speaker: Ash Kwok
Date: 21st January 2024
Passage: Ephesians 2:8-22
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Good morning, church. It is so good. Summer camp is finally here. How wonderful. How wonderful.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:11 I want you to cast your minds back to a time when you were at a school that taught history.
00:00:12 --> 00:00:17 It might have been called HSIE or sociology. And I want you to imagine in your head,
00:00:17 --> 00:00:23 you hear the history teacher's voice, and they're obsessed. They're absolutely obsessed.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:27 So obsessed as if they should jump back into a time machine and go back to the past because
00:00:27 --> 00:00:35 they love it so much. That was always my experience of history lessons. I didn't get the point of it.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:40 I always struggled. I was confused. In fact, the teacher didn't make it interesting or relevant
00:00:40 --> 00:00:49 to my life at all. Sorry, history buffs. But what I have learned is that a good history teacher
00:00:49 --> 00:00:57 is one that helps you see the beauty and its relevance to today. And guess what? Paul,
00:00:57 --> 00:01:02 the writer of Ephesians that was just read out to us by Judd, he is a good history teacher.
00:01:03 --> 00:01:09 Paul has this style of writing where he constantly contrasts the past with the present. Because in
00:01:09 --> 00:01:17 this chapter, he loves giving this little quick glance back at the past. Why? Because his prayer
00:01:17 --> 00:01:23 and desire is for the Ephesian church to see who they used to be and remind them,
00:01:23 --> 00:01:32 you are not those people of the past. You are a new kind of people. So stop walking as those who are
00:01:32 --> 00:01:40 people in the past, but be people who live in the now, the present reality. So why don't we talk to
00:01:40 --> 00:01:46 God before we launch in? Gracious Father, you are a good and wonderful King. We ask that you might
00:01:46 --> 00:01:53 challenge us today, that you might really help our ears here and our hearts be slow and ready for your
00:01:53 --> 00:02:01 word today. Reveal yourself and your glory through your word. May you alone be glorified. Amen.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:08 All right. Our focus passage is Ephesians 2, 8 to 22. But I'll be remiss if I don't quickly mention
00:02:08 --> 00:02:14 what happens in verse 1 to 7, where Paul does this first little history lesson for the Ephesians. So
00:02:14 --> 00:02:22 come keep your Bibles open at verse 1 of Ephesians 2. It says, as for you, you were dead in your
00:02:22 --> 00:02:32 transgressions and sins. The history lesson is this, you were dead. That is the state of the Ephesian
00:02:32 --> 00:02:40 church. In fact, that is the state of all people. It's a shocking history lesson. You were dead.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:46 I wonder if you've ever thought about it that way. Have you ever realised before a Christian says,
00:02:46 --> 00:02:54 yes, Jesus is my Lord, there was a state in which you were dead. Now, the death that Paul is talking
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 about here is not the literal sense of death, not like the roadkill you often see driving through
00:03:00 --> 00:03:09 the highway, but more like this flower. This flower is no longer alive. You might think it looks pretty
00:03:09 --> 00:03:17 and pretty alive, but it's been cut from the source. It's been cut from the plant. It's got colour,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:26 it's got form, but eventually it will really be dead. Spiritual death is being cut off from the person
00:03:26 --> 00:03:33 who created you, who made you, God, the giver of life. That is the history lesson for the Ephesians.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:41 You were dead. But remember, Paul's a good history teacher. He's not just going to teach the history.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:51 He wants to remind you that now you are something else. Verse 4, but because of his great love for us,
00:03:52 --> 00:04:00 God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:10 But God made us alive. You once were dead. You were like the dead flower, but for those who put
00:04:10 --> 00:04:17 their trust in Jesus, you have been made alive. Telling them they were dead wasn't to get them all
00:04:17 --> 00:04:24 sad and mopey. The purpose of telling them they're dead is to amplify how you have been made alive.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:31 Alive. You are no longer a dead person. You are an alive person. You are a person made alive in Jesus.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:37 You are someone who was raised to life with Jesus. The only guy who has ever been raised to life.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:44 And you will receive the riches of his kindness. That is who you are, not a dead person.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:49 The history lesson is meant to compare and contrast the past to now.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:57 So you are this. Don't go live in the past. Live who you are, made to be now.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:03 And that's the pattern of this chapter. And here, as we start, Paul further describes what this death
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 is like. Have a look at verse 11.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:33 Here's some key definitions that you might not know of.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:41 Jews were God's chosen people from the Old Testament. And a Gentile was everyone else. A non-Jew.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:48 Paul is talking to the Gentiles here. They didn't have the special privilege of always knowing God.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:55 But he's talking to Christian Gentiles, those who have professed faith in Jesus as their king and
00:05:55 --> 00:06:00 saviour. That's who he's talking to. Okay? And in verse 12, he is saying,
00:06:00 --> 00:06:08 before you knew God, before you believed in Jesus, you were separate from Christ, excluded from
00:06:08 --> 00:06:13 citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenant of the promise. Let's go through each
00:06:13 --> 00:06:18 of one of them. Before someone knows God, they are physically distant from God. They are socially
00:06:18 --> 00:06:22 distant from God. And they're also culturally distant from Christ.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:30 You are mega distant. You are cut off. There is no coming back from this. And that is the history
00:06:30 --> 00:06:37 lesson. The history lesson for the Gentiles was, you once were alienated from God. Alienated.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:44 Think about the idea of an alien from outer space. The Gentiles were so far away from God. Why?
00:06:44 --> 00:06:52 Because of sin. It's not that God asks you for no good reason. Sin separates you from God.
00:06:54 --> 00:07:02 Sin is whenever we choose to say, I am king, not the creator of the world. Sin is choosing to live
00:07:02 --> 00:07:11 in opposition of God. And so sin is a heart problem. Remember hearing when you were younger about that
00:07:11 --> 00:07:19 little rumor about chlorine in the pool? If you were to pee in the pool, the chlorine around you would
00:07:19 --> 00:07:27 turn the surrounding area purple. And then you would see who did it and dealt it. Everyone would start
00:07:27 --> 00:07:32 swimming away from you. And as you swim closer to them, the purple would spread throughout the pool.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:41 Good news. Fake news. That's the image of sin and death. This death pool,
00:07:41 --> 00:07:48 is talking about, causes separation from God and death. Sin causes distance from God. You can't
00:07:48 --> 00:07:56 approach God. No matter what you do, you are tainted. You are, as verse 12 says, without hope
00:07:56 --> 00:08:01 and without God in the world. And you cannot save yourself. And that is what Paul says in verse 8.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:02 Follow along with me.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:23 It is by grace you have been saved. It is a gift of God. This means the way that you are saved is not
00:08:23 --> 00:08:30 from yourself. You cannot do anything to heal the broken relationship with God. If you're in that pool,
00:08:30 --> 00:08:37 all you do with the purple liquid is spread it around. You need that to be removed. All you do
00:08:37 --> 00:08:44 is spread it and people do not want to be near you. The same grace that brings you from death to life is
00:08:44 --> 00:08:54 the same grace that saves you. Last year, our speaker told us that grace is a gift, undeserved, free of
00:08:54 --> 00:09:03 forgiveness, fullness and life eternal. Paul reminds the Ephesians. He's reminding you that salvation is
00:09:03 --> 00:09:10 not from you. There are never enough good deeds that you can do. You know those kids who are in
00:09:10 --> 00:09:16 school photos who just give this, oh, look at me. I look good. I look cute. And I know, and I know it.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:22 And I know that I can get anyone to do anything for me. They give you that look. And I almost want to
00:09:22 --> 00:09:28 scream at them and be, you can't be proud of it. You didn't do anything. That's what Paul is saying.
00:09:29 --> 00:09:36 If you were not the cause or the means of your salvation, you can't boast. You didn't earn your
00:09:36 --> 00:09:45 salvation. So salvation doesn't come through us. How does it come by? Verse 13.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:54 That now in Christ Jesus, remember verse 4, but God, Paul does it again. This shift from the history
00:09:54 --> 00:10:00 of the past to the present is supposed to give us hope. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were
00:10:00 --> 00:10:10 far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. All this time when you were culturally
00:10:10 --> 00:10:19 separated, socially isolated, spiritually distant, you are far away, alien. But now you have been
00:10:19 --> 00:10:28 brought near by the blood of Christ. Have a listen to that phrase, being brought near. Notice that it
00:10:28 --> 00:10:36 isn't coming near, going closer to God. You are a passive participant in the action. You're doing
00:10:36 --> 00:10:45 nothing. Being brought close to God is an action done only by Jesus, by his blood shed on the cross.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:53 What Jesus accomplishes on the cross is not just the forgiveness of your sins, but the ability to
00:10:53 --> 00:11:00 freely come to God. That's why you can pray to God and say, Father, that's why you don't need to run
00:11:00 --> 00:11:08 away from God. Lock your room and be ashamed of yourself in front of God. You can boldly approach
00:11:08 --> 00:11:16 his throne with confidence that he hears you and he cares for you. See, the beauty and relevance of
00:11:16 --> 00:11:24 this lesson is that you once were alienated from God, but now you have peace with him.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:33 So live like you are at peace with him. Talk to him regularly. Hear from him regularly in the word.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:39 We keep talking about being in the Bible four or more times a week. When you see how far you were
00:11:39 --> 00:11:46 from God, you have a deeper and deeper appreciation of the depths of God's love, grace, and mercy.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:53 Even though you were as far as the planet Pluto from the sun, God through Christ has brought you near.
00:11:54 --> 00:12:02 But that's not all that Jesus accomplishes for us. There's even more that he does. Ready? Verse 14.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:10 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:17 the dividing wall of hostility. The two groups Paul was talking about are the Gentiles and the Jews,
00:12:17 --> 00:12:25 remember? Paul's final history lesson is this. You, Gentiles and Jews, were hostile to each other.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:32 In fact, it's not just a history lesson. It was a problem they still faced. Get this.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:42 If a Jewish boy married a Gentile girl or vice versa, the funeral of that Jewish boy or girl was carried out.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:51 In that verse, you see that dividing wall of hostility? Yes, it's a metaphor. But you know what?
00:12:52 --> 00:12:58 There was actually a physical wall that barred Gentiles, foreigners, from going into the inner section of the temple
00:12:58 --> 00:13:03 where the Jews would worship God. And on the wall, there was an inscription. It said,
00:13:03 --> 00:13:10 No foreigner may enter within the barrier and enclosure around the temple. Anyone who is caught doing so
00:13:10 --> 00:13:18 will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. You just have to look at that and your brain is
00:13:18 --> 00:13:29 screaming, get back! This is the unimaginable hostility and distance. Today, it breaks our hearts when we see
00:13:29 --> 00:13:38 awful hostility in war-torn countries. But this is the hostility and distance inside the church.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:49 But just like what we saw earlier, sin is a heart problem. Sin causes us to be alienated from God, far away from him.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:59 And this wall, too, is a heart problem. Therefore, again, a sin problem needs an external solution.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:07 It needs to be a power, a work outside of ourselves. We cannot solve our own issue of sin. And that is why
00:14:07 --> 00:14:14 in verse 14, it says that Jesus is our peace. It is by him that he would bring Jews and Gentiles together.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:25 And for what reason does Paul, does Jesus do this? Verse 15. His purpose was to create in himself one new
00:14:25 --> 00:14:32 humanity out of the two, thus making peace. He's bringing them together to create a whole new group
00:14:32 --> 00:14:40 all together. You are not Jews and the Gentiles. You are followers of Jesus. You are not Japanese
00:14:40 --> 00:14:46 Christians and Australian Christians. You are followers of Jesus. The geeks and nerds don't sit
00:14:46 --> 00:14:50 on one side of the room at youth group and then the sporty party animals sit on the other side.
00:14:50 --> 00:15:00 No, you are followers of Jesus. Christians. And in reconciling the two groups, not only has he created
00:15:00 --> 00:15:08 one new humanity, but he has put to death the hostility between the two groups. In fact, the church is so
00:15:08 --> 00:15:13 countercultural. It's not just this hodgepodge of all people in one room who are civil and fine to sit
00:15:13 --> 00:15:19 next to each other, not like an extended Christmas family dinner. But verse 19 paints the new reality
00:15:19 --> 00:15:30 in Jesus. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people
00:15:30 --> 00:15:38 and also members of his household. That's how transformative the gospel is. It literally,
00:15:38 --> 00:15:43 literally raises spiritual death to life, but transforms people who were once enemies into
00:15:43 --> 00:15:56 family. The gospel means that the church should feel like family. Each Sunday you walk into church,
00:15:56 --> 00:16:01 when you step into someone's house in community group, when it hits 6.40pm and it's youth time,
00:16:02 --> 00:16:09 my prayer is that it has and will feel like family. If you're new to St. Paul's, I hope you've been
00:16:09 --> 00:16:19 welcomed and embraced and been made to feel like family. But friends, let's be real. We aren't perfect.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:23 I'm not perfect. And there are ways we can demonstrate Jesus' warm and generous welcome,
00:16:23 --> 00:16:31 but sometimes we don't. And I wonder if the barrier between people in our church today is not obvious,
00:16:31 --> 00:16:38 it's not a blatant hostility, but of a different heart problem. We might not have walls, but we might
00:16:38 --> 00:16:45 have a little picket fence. I've just put three possible reasons down on the screen why sometimes
00:16:45 --> 00:16:50 we might not make church feel like family. I don't think it's usually ever one person's fault.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:57 We all have a heart issue that plays a part. And these come from my own personal sins and from ones
00:16:57 --> 00:17:03 that I've wrestled in part of being part of God's family. Number one, it might be because
00:17:03 --> 00:17:12 we might be prioritising preferences such as similarity in life stage, similar hobbies, culture,
00:17:12 --> 00:17:21 background, shared history, being at the same church together. Number two, maybe it's because
00:17:21 --> 00:17:27 of a struggle with discomfort. You know, I don't like awkward conversations. Sometimes I don't want
00:17:27 --> 00:17:31 to have those conversations because I know it's going to be awkward or I'm just happily content here
00:17:31 --> 00:17:37 rather than doing what I know God wants me to do, which is welcome someone. Perhaps you are worried
00:17:37 --> 00:17:42 about being vulnerable and you're fearing of being judged and you want to hide away.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:54 Friend, if that's you, I get that and I've been there. But don't forget, you are an alive person.
00:17:55 --> 00:18:03 You are a peace with God person. Jesus has brought life. Jesus has brought peace.
00:18:03 --> 00:18:12 Don't go back to the past. Don't act dead. Stop building walls. There is no more separation.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:19 There is no wall between Christians. Because what you need is not for me to tell you to get
00:18:19 --> 00:18:24 rid of your preferences, discomfort and vulnerability. There's no amount of icebreaker games and questions
00:18:24 --> 00:18:31 that will bring us together. It's knowing the lengths that Christ went to have you reconciled
00:18:31 --> 00:18:40 with him. Friend, know that Jesus is holding out a hand and pulling you into his grasp to be a part
00:18:40 --> 00:18:48 of his family. I can point to countless times when youth or kids have asked me, Ash, why do we keep
00:18:48 --> 00:18:53 talking about Jesus? Maybe you're in the room and you know you've asked that question to me.
00:18:54 --> 00:19:00 Like, are we ever going to move on from Jesus at Sunday, kids? Guess what, kids? Answer is no.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:06 No. No. In fact, you might be a youth kid who has kept hearing the stories of Jesus from Sunday
00:19:06 --> 00:19:11 kids from Cray. And you're here at youth, you're here at summer camp, and you've been hearing about
00:19:11 --> 00:19:16 Jesus, his promises, his kingship, his salvation story, and gone, I've heard it all before. Why am I
00:19:16 --> 00:19:21 hearing it again? We talk about him when we're in discussion groups, we talk about him over the table
00:19:21 --> 00:19:26 when we're doing craft. I even encourage parents to talk about Jesus over the dinner table.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:38 It's because Jesus is the only person who can bring you salvation and eternal life. It's only by Jesus
00:19:38 --> 00:19:46 that our heart problem of hostility, discomfort, preference, and vulnerability get broken down.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:57 The mark of a Christian is someone who is confidently at peace with God and peace with each other,
00:19:58 --> 00:20:03 which is why at St. Paul's we're on about treasuring Jesus and doing that together.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:12 Just as your salvation has been won by the grace of Jesus, so too is our connection with each other.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:18 When we don't feel like family, what brings Christian people together isn't anything but
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 the grace of Jesus.
00:20:23 --> 00:20:28 So if you're a summer camper who's going to go to Collaroy, and you know that you're a little
00:20:28 --> 00:20:32 afraid of the kids from the other youth group, or even from our church, or you know you were
00:20:32 --> 00:20:37 comfortable with just hanging out with your own mates, I just want you to be real with yourself.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:42 I want you to recognise that in you. Then what I want you to do is I want you to pray.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:50 I want you to pray that God might soften your heart and help you know how the gospel
00:20:50 --> 00:20:58 transforms your relationships with other Christians. Then go. Go out in faith and chat to someone you
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02 don't know well. Be okay with an awkward conversation. Can we be a church that's okay with an awkward
00:21:02 --> 00:21:10 conversation? Christian family and friendship has to start from somewhere. But know that Jesus
00:21:10 --> 00:21:21 goes with you and is forming that relationship. Let's pray. Our Father God, may we deeply know how
00:21:21 --> 00:21:31 hostile we once were to you. That in your great kindness and mercy, you gave us hope in Jesus.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:37 Jesus. Jesus paid the penalty of death that we deserved. Lord, we cannot change our own hearts,
00:21:38 --> 00:21:47 but we are confident that your Spirit can and does. Help us be a community, a church that feels like family.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 Amen.