EPHESIANS 2 MY NEW IDENTITY INCLUDES ME IN A COMMUNITY2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 2 My New Identity Includes Me In A Community

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Ephesians chapter 2, we're going to be finishing off the chapter looking at verses 11 through 22.

And we looked at the first half of the chapter last week, an incredible passage, and I don't think I did it justice, but the Lord, I pray, ministered anyways. And here we are again as we continue on in the book of Ephesians, and there's some really incredible truths for us to consider as we continue to look at this subject, the foundations for Christian living.

We went through the book of Galatians and studied the grace of God and learned all about how that impacts us and changes our life. And now as we're working our way through Ephesians, we're talking about identity, talking about my identity in Jesus and who I am. And it's an important subject because, well, who I am,

according to God, is different than who I am according to my own self many times. And it's definitely different than who I am according to how I feel. And it's different than who I am according to what Jeff says about me. And it's different than who I am according to, you know, what society says about me. And there's all of this pressure to

accept a false identity when we need to look to the Word of God and understand who He has declared us to be, that we might then walk accordingly and live accordingly. And we'll see that developed a little bit this evening here in Ephesians chapter 2. So we're going to begin in verses 11 through 22, reading through that together, and then we'll jump into what the Lord has for us in speaking about our identity in Christ. Verse 11 here of Ephesians chapter 2 says,

Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you are made in the flesh,

Verse 1.

And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Verse 17. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Here as we finish off Ephesians chapter 2, Paul the Apostle is addressing specifically Gentiles. Now in the first half of Ephesians chapter 2, he was speaking generally about the salvation process.

And where we were before Christ and that dark, bleak picture that he painted of the great need that we had for a savior. And then God, who is rich in mercy, he intervened and he went through the process of what God did and that great transformation, that new identity that we have in Christ. And Paul's going to be covering some similar subjects this evening here as we finish off the chapter. But

But he's really targeting and dealing with the differences and the issues surrounding the idea of the Jews and the Gentiles.

And as he talks about the Jews and the Gentiles, there's some parts of it culturally that we don't super connect with because we weren't living in that culture, but there's also some very understandable and relatable things for us to consider as we work our way through these things. I've titled the message this evening, My New Identity Includes Me in a Community.

This new identity that I have in Christ automatically enrolls me. I am a member of a new community as a believer in Jesus Christ. You know how it is. It's very easy for us to feel all alone.

You know, the prophet Elijah felt that way, right? When he was like in a cave, you know, kind of pouting and he was like, man, I'm the only one who's faithful to God. I'm the only one who's walking with God, right? It is possible for us to feel all alone many times in our workplaces, in our homes, maybe even at church. We feel like we're the only ones, but something for us to reflect on and consider this evening is that as a believer in Jesus Christ and having received this new identity, you're automatically enrolled in

in a community that has been established by God. You have a membership in what we often refer to as the body of Christ, and Paul will deal with that a little bit as we get to the end of the passage this evening. The commentator Daryl Bach says, believers do not have a private faith. They have a corporate relationship and responsibility to each other.

And this is an important aspect of our relationship with God and of our faith in Jesus Christ that we must make sure that we don't miss.

in our culture, in our society, it is pretty easy to get focused on just that personal relationship aspect of our walk with God. And there is that aspect, and we all need to have a personal relationship. You need to hear from God. You need to call out to God. You need to spend time with God in his word. You need to learn how to hear from God out of his word. You need the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And you need that personal interaction and connection

to the Lord. That is something that every believer needs. But we also need one another. And there is this community that God has established for us as believers. He includes us in it, not as like a, you know, it's just kind of like a little tiny perk about, you know, our faith in Christ. You know, it's just like a little extra bonus. But it's an integral part of the work that God wants to do in our lives. And as a

Darrell Bock says here, there's this corporate relationship and responsibility to one another. And there's this benefit that we have to one another as we seek the Lord together and interact with each other with the things that the Lord is ministering to us and the ways that God is growing us. And so this idea of a community is important for us to consider.

And for the Gentiles, this was important because, well, they never knew this kind of community. Of course, they had communities as in like neighborhoods and cities and societies, but Paul's making the point here, they were far from God and they weren't part of God's community. But now in Christ, he's going to explain that they are part of this community.

And so that brings us to point number one as we look at verses 11 through 13. Point number one is my new identity unites me with God's special people. Here's what you need to know about your new identity in Christ. You believe in Jesus Christ. You're born again. You're a new creation. You have a new identity. And there's a unity that comes with that.

A unity with God's chosen special people. Looking again at verse 11, it says, "...and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."

Paul begins in verse 11 with the word, therefore, and it's always appropriate and important when you see the word, therefore, to stop and reflect, what is it there for? Because it's connecting thoughts. And sometimes we, you know, using verses and chapter breaks, we kind of distance portions of scripture from each other. But Paul is in the same line of thought as where we ended last week.

I'm going to back up just a few verses just to kind of remind us and refresh us of what Paul is talking about. In verse 8, Paul says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore, Paul says, remember that you used to be in this condition and that now you're in this new condition that he's going to explain. So this idea of, for by grace you've been saved, is connected to this therefore. Remember. Remember.

As we think about God's special people, he's going to be referring to the Jewish people. And they truly are God's chosen people. Since Abraham, God chose Abraham and gave him those promises and incredible promises were given to Abraham and fulfilled and his descendants are the Jewish people. They have a special place in God's plan for all of humanity.

Through them, the Lord delivered the scriptures. Through them, the Lord brought forth the Savior, Jesus. And through them, God had this special, unique place and purpose for them. It was accompanied by this sign that,

This covenant of circumcision. And so this was something that God instituted with Abraham way back in the book of Genesis. And it was always a part of their Jewish heritage and culture as a result. But the Jews, well, they kept themselves separate from the Gentiles. They made a distinction and they, well, there was...

Not always good relationships between the Jews and the Gentiles. There was some distance. There was some separation. It's not fully what God intended when he called them to be separate, that they would then be against others. They were intended to be an invitation for others to draw near to God.

Because they were God's special people. They were God's instrument to demonstrate his nature, his character, his love to the world.

They had this special role. They had this special connection to God. They had the tabernacle, right? The presence of God later on the temple, the presence of God dwelling in their midst. They had the revelation of God. They had this special, unique place in God's plan and God's agenda. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, God made a difference between Jews and Gentiles. God set them apart that he might use them to be a channel of his revelation and goodness to the heathen nations.

That was their intended purpose for the laws that God gave them, the way that he called them to be separate and to, you know, follow the things, the ordinances and commands that he had given, as well as the rituals and the feasts and the sacrifices. All of this was designed by God to make them an instrument, not only as those who walked with him, but also

to be an invitation, to be a light and a demonstration to the world around them. And so they were God's chosen people, God's special people that had this special place in God's plan and special connection to God. Now, as we consider these things for ourselves this evening,

Things have changed, right? With the coming of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us upon the cross, we'll see that division, that separation is not what it used to be. And yet at the same time as we look at these things, I would encourage you to start to think through these things from a perspective, from a lens that is looking at things as a result of where we are today. So I would say that sometimes we as believers think,

make a similar mistake like Israel made. That we are God's chosen people as believers in Jesus. We have this special unity with the Lord and we have this special place in God's plan. And God has called us to be a light and a channel, right, of his revelation to the world around us. But sometimes we can take the approach of the Jews and say,

you know, be separated from in a opposition type way, you know, to be harbored against and fortified against and to not let our light shine and to have some separation and division that really hinders the actual purpose for which God has called us to come apart from them and be separate, right? We are called to be holy, to be in the world, but not of the world. And there is that distinction, but

Oh man, it's important to remember as we reflect on these things that in the same way that God had this special place for the Jewish people, God has a special place for us. To walk with him, to be with him, to have his presence, but also to be a light to the world around us. But that's not where we started. And that's really what Paul is getting down here, down to here in verses 11 through 13. He says like, you didn't used to be in this special place. You were Gentiles in the flesh. Now a Gentile is,

is anybody who is not a descendant from Abraham. And then a Jew is anybody who is a descendant from Abraham. And so there was these divisions between peoples, between families, between communities. There was these divisions between Jews and

and Gentiles, and they were stark, and, you know, great contrast, and it was noted, you know, that, hey, I'm a Gentile, I'm separate, I'm not part of the Jewish community, and so the circumcision, that is the Jewish people, referred to the Gentiles as the uncircumcision, and it was, you know, not in a, just a categorizing type of way, but

But there was, you know, some animosity between them. There was some like, oh, you're lower, you're not as good as us type of attitude. And that's not what God had called them to have towards the Gentiles. But the Gentiles, here they are, regardless of however the attitude of the Jewish people were, they weren't part of that group.

They were separate. They were separated. They weren't able to walk with them and to have fellowship with them. They were different. They were distinct. Individual Gentiles could convert to Judaism and then participate. But as a whole, the Gentiles, well, he goes on in verse 12 to kind of paint that dark backdrop like we saw at the beginning of chapter 2 as well. He says in verse 12, you were without Christ.

So here's how you were before. You were without Christ. You didn't have a savior. You didn't have a Messiah. He says in verse 12 also, you were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Here's Israel, God's special people, and you were aliens from them. You were foreigners. You didn't fit in. You didn't belong. You didn't have any part in the nation of Israel and in their heritage. He also says in verse 12, you were strangers from the covenants of promise.

God had made some great covenants and given some great promises, but as Gentiles, you had nothing to do with that. None of those promises were for you. You didn't get to hope in them or receive from them. There was no joy, you know, of believing in them. You were separated from those promises.

And he finishes up in verse 12 saying, having no hope and without God in the world. So here's a dark backdrop, right? This is the bleak condition you are in. Without Christ, separate from Israel, strangers to all the covenants of promise, having no hope and you are without God. But now, verse 13, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. You once were far off,

But now, you once were in this desperate, hopeless condition, but now in Christ Jesus, things have changed. And you have a new identity. I have a new identity in Christ that unites me with God's special people. He says, you once were far off. You were separate from Israel. You were distant from Israel. You were separate from God's chosen people. But now you've been brought near by the blood of Christ.

And we can look at this idea of being brought near and think of it in terms of being brought near to God. And of course, yes, we have been brought near to God as a result of faith in Jesus Christ and we have access to God and we'll see that a little bit more as well. But the main point that Paul is making here is that you've been brought near to Israel. You've been brought near to God's chosen people. You've been united with Israel in a way that you never could have been before.

And so you're among that group. You're with the cool kids now. You're with those who know the Lord, who walk with the Lord, who have great promises from God. Now in Christ Jesus, you've been brought near by the blood of Christ. You have a unity. You have a communion, a fellowship with God's special people. This is your identity in Christ. It comes with that membership. You're God's chosen people.

You're special to him. Now, we don't always feel that way. And this is why it's important to work our way through the scriptures and be reminded of these things. Because I don't always feel like I'm part of God's special people.

I would believe that there are those special people and maybe Russell and Roman and those guys, they're part of that. They're really good. They are special to the Lord and look how God works in their lives. And man, he just seems to bless them and they never have any troubles or they don't have aches and pains even when they work out real hard or anything. It's just their lives are great and wonderful.

And then we could think, ah, I'm not special in that way. You know what I mean? I don't have that kind of connection to God. Sometimes maybe you kind of hear someone pray and you're like, oh, wow. Like, wow, that's amazing how they can pray. And they like know the Lord and there's this like special relationship. There's this like special connection. And you think like they're in a different class of Christians than I am.

I mean, I'm saved, you know, I thank God for that. But yeah, I'm not part of God's special people, right? I'm not part of that inner circle. But the reality is, here's what the Lord says. Now in Christ Jesus, you've been brought near by the blood of Christ.

And maybe all the cool kids used to gather and you'd always be on the outskirts. But now, listen, you're in with the best of them. And there's nobody who has a better opportunity to know God and walk with God than you do. You're amongst the best of the best in a relationship with God. You have fellowship with, you have a unity with believers everywhere.

whatever status they might be or seem to have or whatever you might think of them, there's not a higher class than what you have in Christ. My new identity unites me with God's special people. I'm one of them, part of that crowd, because I've believed in Jesus by the blood of Jesus Christ, forgiven, cleansed, and right with God. Moving on to verses 14 through 16, now we get point number two.

And that is, my new identity eliminates all my reasons for hostility. My new identity, what I have in Christ and who I am in Christ, when I know that, when I recognize that, when I understand that and believe it, it eliminates every reason that I have for enmity, hostility, for animosity between me and others around me. Check out what Paul says again in verse 14. He says, "...for he himself is our peace."

Here Paul is describing Jesus

the hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles. There was this enmity. Now again, as I mentioned earlier, God had established a separation for his people. He had called them to be separate, to be holy, to live differently. And it's built into the law that he gave to Moses. It's, you know, governed their practices. They were to be different and to be separate, but

There was a problem that the people, the Jewish people, generally speaking, not always in every case, but generally speaking, the Jewish people interpreted it incorrectly and essentially used it as an excuse for hostility. And so instead of just being different, they were against hostility.

And it was a common prayer. I'm sure you've heard it shared many times that the typical Jewish man would wake up in the morning and pray to God and say, thank you, God, that I'm not a woman, I'm not a dog, and I'm not a Gentile. That's what the Jewish man would pray. That was what they thought about Gentiles. They lumped them into the category of dogs. And it was their opinion that they thought Gentiles existed just to fuel the fires of hell.

And so there was that understanding or that thought, that mindset as well.

That's not what God had called them to. And God, from the beginning, as you work your way through the Old Testament, you can see God loved the Gentiles and desired to save the Gentiles from the very beginning. It wasn't that way. But again, they misunderstood. They misinterpreted the separation that God had called them to and allowed that to then be an excuse for there to be this hatred. Right?

For there to be this animosity, for there to be this rivalry between them. Now, it was mutual as well. And there was many occasions where Gentiles would be against the Jews. And there would be this, you know, especially in communities, you know, where there was this separation. And there would be this battle, this enmity. There was this rivalry that would go on. But here Paul begins in verse 14 saying, he himself is our peace.

So there was this rivalry, there was this difference, there was this friction, but Jesus himself is our peace. And Jesus has come between the Jewish people and the Gentiles, and he says he has made them both one and broken down the middle wall of separation.

So there's this unity. Again, it's flowing from the verses we were just reading. He's made them both one and he's broken down the separation, the wall that existed between them. Now on the temple grounds, they had various places where different groups of people could go.

and only the high priest could go into the holiest of all, right? Only normal priests could go into the holy place and minister there. Outside of that, outside of the actual temple, then the Jewish men could be, but then they also had a court of the women, and then they had a court of the Gentiles. And so there was these segmented, depending on who you were, where you came from, you can only be here, you can only be there, you can only be there. And on this...

wall that was separating the court of the Gentiles, they had a sign that read something like this. No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. So there was this warning. Gentile, you cross this border, you cross this boundary, we'll kill you.

There is this strong, stark, clear separation. It was right there as an illustration before them. So when Paul talks about breaking down the middle wall of separation, they could understand. They could picture what Paul was talking about because there was this clear wall of separation. In fact, Paul is writing this letter, the book of Ephesians, from prison. Do you remember why he was in prison? It goes back to Acts chapter 21.

In Acts chapter 21, while Paul's in Jerusalem, he brings in some of the brethren to the temple as they're participating in a vow and a ceremony. And some Jews from around the world see him and they begin to cause a riot and they are starting to shout. And it tells us in Acts chapter 21, verse 28, that they cried out saying, men of Israel help me.

This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law in this place. And furthermore, he has also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. This guy, Paul, he snuck people in past the wall, right? He got them in and to where they're not supposed to be. Now, it was not true. They saw people with Paul and they assumed that they were Gentiles, but Paul didn't bring Gentiles into there. But

It really wouldn't have mattered as far as God was concerned if they had. But here's the point. The Jews had this stark opposition too. And so they tried to kill Paul right then and there. And he was only alive because the Roman soldiers came in and rescued him. But now he's in prison still from that event back in Acts chapter 21. So there was a strong separation, this strong division between the Jews and the Gentiles.

But Jesus Christ has come in and made them one. In verse 15, having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances. So the source of this enmity goes back to the law of commandments contained

Now, some of that was God's commands, but God never commanded them or instructed them or wanted them to hate Gentiles or to behave that way. But on top of God's law, they had also piled on a bunch of their own traditions that they counted as laws. And so there was all this history, all of this cultural bias against Gentiles until Jesus Christ came in.

And having abolished in his flesh the enmity, he tore down that wall of separation. In verse 15, he goes on to say, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. And so what Christ did was not come in and say, all right, I'm here. Now Gentiles, you have to become Jews and then you'll be saved. He didn't come in to usher people into that. No, instead he said,

created in himself one new man from the two. That is, there's Jews, there's Gentiles. Jesus came in and he said, I'm going to do something different so that there will be a unity because it's not Gentiles becoming Jews and it's not Jews becoming Gentiles. Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way. Jews do not become Gentiles, nor do Gentiles become Jews. Rather, God has created a whole new entity, the church.

And God deals with both believing Jews and believing Gentiles now equally as Christians. All of the reasons for animosity before, all of the cultural differences, all of the law differences, the dietary practices, all of those things, Christ abolished. He wiped out when he came and sacrificed himself for our sin. And he didn't come to get all Gentiles to become Jews.

There were many Jews who thought that and taught and went around Paul wherever he went to try to teach that. And remember back in Galatians, that's what they were doing, right? They were going back to the law, trying to become Jews in order to be saved. But that's not what Christ came to do. He came to eliminate all of those obstacles and things and to do something brand new. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, right?

This new creation is not just the renewed spirit that we have, you know, the new thing that we are in Christ, but there is something new as a whole that Christ did as far as the means of salvation, as far as the group of people that he is relating to and dealing with. The apostle Paul put it this way in Galatians chapter 3 verse 28, "'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.'"

He's eliminated. He's abolished. He's wiped out all of these distinctions that we might have. These separations. And there was separations between Jews and Greeks. There was divisions socially, culturally between slave and free, male and female. And Paul is saying, in Christ, those things are wiped out.

So that there is not enmity between these groups of people any longer for those who are in Christ. In verse 16, he goes on to say that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. The work of Jesus Christ was to reconcile both Jews and Gentiles to God in one body. Not through Jewishness, not through Gentileness, but through Christianity, through the church itself.

So Jews are called out of that to the church and Gentiles are called out of that to the church. And we are Christians. We have a new identity. There's this new group that God has established through Christ. And we become members of that group by faith in Christ. And everybody who is a part of Christ is a member of that group. And so those walls have been torn down. Those divisions have been torn down. Now for you and I today, this is a little bit kind of strange for us.

You know, we live in the United States of America, primarily populated with Gentiles, right? It's not a surprise to us. You mean Gentiles can be saved? I'm shocked. You know, that's not a surprise. We're familiar with that. In fact, most of us are recipients of that, right? That's the way that is. That's normal life for us. But it was different for them and for the Jewish people. Think about this.

For the Jewish people, you know, you're born and raised, you know all about Abraham, you know, you're immersed in that culture, you're immersed with these attitudes and these ideas, and then trying to accept the reality of Jesus Christ for yourself. That's one thing. That was a big challenge for a lot of people. But then to allow the work of Christ to bring them beyond not just their own personal salvation, but

But then all of those people that they spent their whole life despising and being disgusted with and hating, oh, God wants to reach them as well. And even to, well, be instrumental, like Paul, right? He was Saul of Tarsus. He was the most zealous of all the Jews. And yet God used him to reach out to the Gentiles and to bring the gospel to those that he once hated and despised. It's a radical transformation of their own faith.

biases, and prejudices. This is the radical work of Jesus Christ for us. When we recognize who we are and what God has done, my new identity eliminates all my reasons for hostility.

As we, you know, consider these things, there is, of course, not the division between Jew and Gentile, but there is lots of divisions in our society. There is lots of divisions for us culturally. There's divisions nationally. There's divisions, you know, in all kinds of ways and within the church as well. There's divisions and there's prejudices and there's these attitudes that are similar to what the Jews and Gentiles had for each other, but different.

But those don't exist in Christ. They don't belong in us as believers in Christ. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. If the lordship of Jesus Christ is not greater than any difference that you have with others, be it political, racial, economic, language, geography, or whatever, then you have not fully understood what it means to be under the lordship of Jesus. If there's any difference that we have

That causes us to look down upon, to despise, to be disgusted with, to hate, to be against whatever group of people, whatever class of people, whatever kind of people, however we might describe that. That hostility, that animosity, that is not something that belongs in us as believers in Jesus. Sometimes it does. Hey, Christians fight all the time actually, right?

But it's not because of what God has established. It's in spite of that. It's because we don't know who we are. We don't understand the cross. We don't understand the realities of what Christ has done for us. And we identify, we hold to a greater value

how I feel, what I think, my culture, then I should, instead of holding fast to what we have in Christ and this new community, this new creation that we are in Christ, it eliminates every reason that we have for hostility. For us as believers in Jesus, there does not need to be these kinds of divisions, these kinds of separations.

And when we do have those, Paul was writing to the Corinthians, and he said, look, there's fighting among you. There's quarrels among you. It's because you're carnal. It's because you're living in the flesh. You're being governed by your own sinful nature, and you're not being the person that God has created you to be. You don't know your identity. You're immature. You're fleshly. That's when we fight. That's when we have these battles and divisions.

Later on, Paul is going to explain in Ephesians 6, verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. That's not who our battle is with. But against principalities and powers, there's a spiritual battle, and that's a very real battle. But so often, we get caught up in the wrestling against flesh and blood. And we're battling for no reason, except for the fact that we're fleshly and immature. We're battling, we're hostile, we're against. But when I understand my new identity...

Who I am in Christ and what Christ has done for us, it wipes out those walls of separation, those walls of segregation, that hostility that does not belong within the body of Christ. Well, moving on to verses 17 through 19, we get point number three, and that is, my new identity gives me full access to God.

In verse 17, it says, Jesus came and preached peace. There was this division. There was this animosity. There was this enmity. And Jesus came to preach peace. Peace with God. Yes, that is a part of the salvation that Christ offers to us, right? But it's also peace with one another, right?

Because we have peace with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And notice that he came and preached peace to those who were afar off and to those who were near. So here he's saying again, making the point, Jesus called the Jews to believe in him for salvation. And he called the Gentiles to believe in him for salvation. He is our peace for both.

Again, Gentiles are not expected to become Jews, and Jews are not supposed to give up their Jewishness and become Gentiles. No, we come to faith in Jesus Christ. We come to peace with God and peace with one another because we believe in Jesus. Even though the Jews were God's chosen people, they didn't have peace. They had the opportunity to walk with God, and some of them did, but they didn't have peace.

They didn't have the peace that was provided only by Jesus Christ, only by his finished work upon the cross. And so the Jews and the Gentiles, he's called us to peace with each other by coming to him by faith. Those who are far off and those who are near.

There was a battle in the early church over whether or not Gentiles could be saved. You know, again, it's the Jewish people, right? And they're just like, it's hard for them to grasp these things. But in Acts chapter 15, we have that famous council of the church where they wrestled over these things and came to the conclusion, yeah, God was intending to reach the Gentiles this whole time. Can't believe we didn't see it. Can't believe we had these, you know, bad attitudes and hard hearts towards the Gentiles this whole time.

Peter, in that meeting, stands up in Acts chapter 15, verse 11, and he says, we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they. So there's not a different way of salvation for somebody else, for Jews or Gentiles. There's not a different class of people. It's the same manner. It's by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are saved by believing in Jesus Christ and receiving his work upon the cross on our behalf.

Going on into verse 18, Paul says, for through him, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. So Jesus came, he calls us out of, you know, our backgrounds, our cultures, our biases. He calls us out of those things to him. There's peace in him. And through him, we both have access to the Father. There's not a group of people that have a

better access to the Father or a different access to the Father, right? Jesus said, if anybody comes to the Father, it's going to be through me. That's the only way to have a relationship with the Father, to know the Father, to spend eternity with the Father. It's going to be through Jesus Christ. And through Jesus Christ, we both have access by one Spirit. We're united together. And that's why...

This idea, this understanding of separations and wars between us doesn't make any sense because we're one. We're united together. We both have access to God by one spirit. There is this peace. Anything different, it's not from the Lord. It's from somewhere else. We have access together.

to the Father by one Spirit. Now, this idea of access, we could think about, right, the temple being torn in two and the entrance into the most holy place. We can think about Hebrews chapter 10 and that invitation into the holiest of all that we have. And those are good pictures and valid things for us to consider. There was another perspective on this word access that I thought was interesting.

It's by a commentator, Francis Foulkes. He said, access is probably the best translation of this Greek word, though it could be introduction. In Oriental courts, there was this Greek word, who brought a person into the presence of the king. I think you can picture that, right? There's this royal scene, there's the throne room, and

And people don't just walk up all by themselves into the presence of the king. No, they're brought in, they're introduced. And this is related to this word access, right? That role, that person who comes in and does the introductions, that's Jesus, right?

He takes us by the hand and he leads us into the presence of the Father or the Spirit takes us by the hand and leads us into the presence of the Father because of what Christ has done for us. And there is this access. We're being ushered into the presence of God along with, well, those that maybe in a previous life we would have had differences with and animosity against and battles with. And there might have, but now, no, no, there's peace. And now I have full access to God.

I'm able to be ushered in along with everyone else who believes in Jesus. It's the only way to have that access to the Father, to be ushered into the presence of the Father by believing in Jesus. It's by one spirit that we are ushered in. And so he says in verse 19, Now therefore, because this is true, because this is the doctrine,

What Christ has done for us has abolished those walls of separation. There's no longer hindered access to God. Now you are ushered in by the Holy Spirit into the presence of God. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners. You used to be far off. You used to be strangers. You didn't have connection to God. You didn't have connection with God's people. You were distant. You were separate. But now you are fellow citizens with the saints.

Going back to Ephesians chapter 1, we talked about that. Every one of us, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you're a saint. And you may not classify yourself that way, but that's how God sees you. Righteous, set apart, perfect, finished, complete, perfect.

You're no longer strangers and foreigners. You're not some distant cousin, you know, that God's not excited about, you know, you being in eternity with him. And, you know, he wished he could have made the rules a little bit more strict. So, you know, maybe you wouldn't have got in, you know, like, like there's not that you're not the second class citizen. You're a fellow citizen with the saints, equal class, equal position, equal standing. You have the same access to the presence of God, members of the household of God.

You're a child of God. You're a member of the household of God. There's nobody who has better access to God than you do. And I know I bring this up a lot, but it's because it just continues to boggle my mind. It just is so crazy the way that God works. Think about that. There is nobody that has better access to God than you do. Like that is really radical. You think about great men and women of God who've gone before us. None of them had any better access to God than you have right now.

None of them had better opportunity to know God, to walk with God, to hear from God, to love God, to serve God, to be used by God. None of them. We all have different roles in the work of God for sure. We're not all called to do the same exact thing. But our access to God, it's identical. It's the same. We have full access to God by faith in Jesus Christ.

My new identity, who I am, you know, I have this new name, I have this new family, this new heritage. It gives me full access. I can go right into the presence of God with my petitions, with my cares, with my concerns, with my praise, with my worship, with my complaints, whatever it is. I have full access to God. It's part of my new identity. And my community are those who are there in there with me, in the throne room with me, that we have access to God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Well, let's finish it up in verses 20 through 22 with point number four, and that is, my new identity makes me a unique part of God's temple. I'm a unique part.

I have a specific purpose. In verse 20, he's continuing the thought here. He says, So he says we are this new thing. We're this new man in Christ.

United together, no longer strangers. We're fellow citizens. We're members of the household of God that are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the chief cornerstone. And so we go back to the gospels and we see what Jesus taught, what Jesus said. That's the chief cornerstone. That's the most important part of the foundation. But Jesus also appointed his apostles to

to establish the doctrine, right? And so we have the rest of the New Testament. We have this foundation of Jesus Christ and his apostles, what he established, what he declared of who he is, the means of salvation, and all the other things that we encounter here in the scriptures. But it's not just that we're built upon, where our foundation is the scriptures, but he says, in whom the whole building is

being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place. So you have Jesus, you have the apostles, you have the prophets. No surprise that they're part of that foundation, right? But Paul is going on to say, and then the rest of the temple that God is building, you're part of that.

The rest of the work that God is doing, you're part of that as a believer. You have a place. Just like all the building materials have their place and every brick has its place in the temple, in the building of God. Paul is explaining here that that's who you are. You're a unique part of God's temple. We're being built together, being established together together.

To be a dwelling place of God in the spirit, he says in verse 22. Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 2. He says, Jesus is that living stone rejected,

But it turns out he's the chief cornerstone, right? The chief member of the work of God, the building of God, the plan of God. But then he says, you also as living stones. Just like Jesus had a part to play in the plan of the Father, and just like Jesus is the head, well, we are the body. He's the cornerstone. We're the rest of the materials. And we make up the body of Christ. We make up the temple of the Lord so much so that he calls us a holy priesthood.

Did you know that you are a holy priesthood? You're a unique part of God's temple. You have that anointing of God, that calling of God, and you're tasked with making spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now, with that thought in mind, jump back a few verses to verse 10, where Paul said, "'For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.'"

There Paul is talking about the same thing. You are created, you're God's special work of art, the special piece of the puzzle that fits just in the right spot in the temple that he is building. You're created in Christ Jesus for good works that he's already prepared before you so that you should walk in them. You have this opportunity as part of the holy priesthood, as part of the building of God to be part of the work of God.

And there's elements of that that God has created. Now, I don't know about you, but, you know, hey, I'm sure you've had a lot of experience with a wrench trying to, you know, move a bolt. And you know what it's like when you have the wrong size wrench. I remember working on my very first car. And, you know, just out of sheer laziness, a lot of times it's like, well, this one kind of works. It's got some wiggle room, but I can kind of make it work. And boy, I sure did strip a lot of bolts, right? It was not the right tool for the job.

But when you get the right tool for the job, it's the right size, you know, for the bolt that's there or the right size for the screw that's there, whatever, you get the point. When it's the right size, the right tool for the job, it's a perfect fit. Well, then you're able to do the work without causing damage. And in a similar way, when he says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, this is what Paul is describing. Look, you're custom made. You're the exact right size for the work that God has set before you.

You have the exact makeup. Now, sometimes as believers, we kind of wrestle with this. We face situations that we don't feel equipped for. We don't feel like we're up to the challenge. How can I, you know, parent under these circumstances? How can I pastor under these circumstances? How can I lead worship when I've got this voice and these hands? You know, I'm deficient. I don't measure up. I'm inadequate. I'm not good enough. And I can't face those things. And I can't be a witness here. And we feel this about ourselves sometimes.

but we're failing to see our new identity in which we are his workmanship. I'm a unique part of God's temple. And my part may not be to, you know, have a gold record of worship songs, right? That's not going to be my part in God's temple. But my part in God's temple is my part. And I'm uniquely designed and created. I'm his workmanship, his masterpiece, perfectly fit for the things that he has called me to. I do have what it takes, right?

to live the life that God has called me to live, to be part of the temple that God is building, the body of Christ that God is growing and establishing. Collectively, together, we are the temple of God, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. We each have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, but as we are gathered together, and in eternity, I think we'll be able to look back and see there was probably more reality to these words than we really understood. Of

We are the body of Christ. We are the temple of God. And we have a piece of that individually, but we're part of that together as a community. My new identity in Christ includes me. It brings me in. It makes me a part of this fellowship of believers who are members of the body of Christ, believers who are part of God's temple, and I have a unique place among them.

God has united me with his special people. Now, I want to just finish up as we look at these things, just to kind of give a little bit of direction, perhaps, if you need some practical application along with this. So my new identity unites me with God's special people. This is the reality. Now, let's learn it. Let's live it. Let's believe it. And let's build relationships.

We're part of the inner circle. We have access to and fellowship with God's special people.

So let's hang out with them. Let's spend some time together. And it's something that God calls us to and it's a benefit of our life in crisis that we have these opportunities to have relationship with one another. My new identity eliminates all my reasons for hostility. Listen, lay down your arms. If there's fighting, if there's quarreling, if there's hatred, if there's bitterness, if there's animosity, lay it down.

Remember, they're not the enemy. People are not the enemy. And that's talking about believers or unbelievers. Especially believers, we're united in Christ in a special way. But even unbelievers, they're not the enemy. And we can get all worked up on, you know, social issues, political issues. We can get all worked up, but we need to lay down the arms against the people around us.

When I understand my new identity, it eliminates all my reasons for hostility. Don't let those excuses get you riled up in anger and called to battle. My new identity gives me full access to God. And as I continue to encourage and share, that means that, well, we need to draw near to God.

Even when we feel we haven't been successful or victorious or great or amazing or wonderful, it doesn't matter. Draw near to God. Seek him out. Let the Holy Spirit usher you into the presence of the Father and you spend time with him, calling upon him, relying upon him, and inviting him to work in your life. And then my new identity makes me a unique part of God's temple.

And so we're his workmanship. We're created for good works that God's prepared. So let's do them. Let's go fulfill our role and look for those opportunities that God gives us and seek to be those instruments, those tools in the hand of God that we might make an impact for his glory. My new identity accomplishes these things in my life. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us. Lord, I pray that you would help us to recognize and believe that

this new identity that you've given to us. And Lord, our upbringing says differently, our culture says differently, our society says differently, but we are who you declare us to be. Help us, Lord, to really believe that. And Lord, may it impact our lives and change us. May we get to experience the fullness of all that it means.

to be part of your family, to be part of your temple, to be gathered together as one, seeking you, knowing you, walking with you. And I pray that you would do that amongst us. In Jesus' name, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.