Good morning,
Welcome to the Arcata (Bayside) Presbyterian Church and thank you for coming this morning.
The title of today message is “Unity” and it is based on Ephesians 2:11-22
China has been in the news a lot recently, Secretary Yellen traveled to China a few weeks ago, in hopes of diffusing escalating tensions on the world scene.
This brought back memories of my trip to China several years ago with a group of flower farmers to explore the Chinese flower industry.
It was a fascinating experience; I have never seen so many building cranes in my life. Everywhere we looked they were building skyscrapers, roads, bridges, you name it.
We visited the wholesale flower market in Beijing.
We also went to the growing region around Kunming in Southwest China. As the plane descended, we flew over vast acreage of greenhouses as far as the eye could see. The magnitude of the flower industry in China is truly remarkable.
In the middle of the night we visited the Flower Market where 1000’s of small Chinese farmers and buyers were trading flowers.
The next day we went to see flower farms, hours away from the city, in the back country of China, in the rural, agrarian portion of the country.
Another memorable part of the trip was the visit to Shanghai. What started as a fishing village thousands of years ago, has developed into this huge metropolis, the trading center of China, possibly all of Asia.
The website “City Mayors.com” ranks Shanghai as the largest city in the World, with population of 24 million people.
We had dinner in an area called “The Bund”, a notable spot overlooking a bend in the “Huangpu River” with a spectacular view of the city.
The change in the city from 1990, with no skyscrapers, to today, epitomizes the incredible growth in 3 decades.
The extreme wealth in Shanghai is very evident. We walked through downtown and saw a Westgate mall, with identical upscale retailers as one would find in Manhattan, Chicago or Los Angeles.
Driving into Shanghai we saw countless BMW’s Mercedes, and Lamborghini’s, and we even spotted a Bentley dealership.
In other words, Shanghai is an amazingly wealthy city in a country that still has a very low standard of living.
You may wonder: what does the wealth inequality in China have to do with the message today?
In the days of the Apostle Paul in 52 AD there was a similar setting. The country of Asia Minor, present-day Turkey was largely rural and agrarian at the time, with a very low living standard,
And then there was a city, called Ephesus, a prominent capital of the Roman Empire in Asia.
Just like Shanghai, Ephesus was very prosperous, because it was a seaport city with its river leading inland facilitating trading routes and commerce.
Similar to Shanghai, the city of Ephesus was built along a bend in a river, the “Cayster River”. Historians describe this ancient city as the bustling supreme metropolis of Asia, like Shanghai today.
Paul visited Ephesus two times, first a short visit at the end of his second missionary journey. But during Paul’s third journey, he stayed and evangelized in Ephesus for three years, with great success.
The leaders of the church at that time, were Aquila and Priscilla along with Apollos. Ephesus was an important city for Paul, because it was strategically located.
The Gospel spread via the many trade routes of commerce that passed through and beyond Ephesus.
Here “a great door” was opened for Paul, and the church was established and strengthened.
But eventually, Paul moved on to Macedonia and later to Greece. And in 62 AD Paul finds himself in Rome, awaiting trial. For 2 years he is under house arrest and this is where he writes a letter to these believers in Ephesus, and that brings us to today’s reading in Ephesians 2:11-22 on page………..
Ephesians 2:11-22
11So then, remember, that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision” —a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— 12remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus, you, who once were far off, have been brought near, by the blood of Christ. 14For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. 15He has abolished the law, with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself, one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,
16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. 17So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near; 18for through him, both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, 20built upon the foundation of the apostles, and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
Please let’s bow our heads. Guide us, O God, by your Word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in your truth find wisdom, and in your will, discover your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The word “Unity” is mentioned only 3 times in the bible. Once in Psalm 133 when David wrote: How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live together in “Unity”
In Ephesians “Unity” is mentioned twice. In his letter Paul has this deep-rooted urge, to articulate to these believers, the remarkable transformation that came upon the world through Jesus Christ.
The theme of “Unity” is the keynote of this letter. It is shown by the use of certain words and phrases:
Such as, made alive together, “raised up together”, “sitting together”, and “built together”.
The letter signifies unity: “one new man” ,” one body”, “one Spirit” “one Lord”, “one God and Father of all”.
Earlier Paul had written to the Galatians 3:28: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you, are one in Christ.’”
Paul was under house arrest by the Roman authorities in 62AD, locked up in a house, not much to do, no Netflix in those days, but lots of time to think and ponder and to write letters. During this time, he wrote letters to Philemon, the Colossians, Philippians, and to the Ephesians.
But the question is: Why did Paul feel a need to write this letter to the Ephesians. He had already spent three years with these folks, longer than any other place he visited.
But there was still doubt among these believers in Ephesus.
In this letter Paul tries to bring clarity to a fundamental question that has captivated believers and non-believers alike for thousands of years, and is still a hot topic today, and that is the question of salvation. What do we need to do, to be saved?
The question centered on the premise, that salvation belonged to the Israelites, the descendants of the 12 tribes of Jacob.
It is not surprising that there was doubt and uncertainty.
In order to get a better understanding, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of the folks at the time.
For 2000 years since God’s covenant with Abraham, salvation belonged to the people of the house of Israel.
This covenant is one of the vital pillars of Judaism, and the basis for the belief that the Jews are the chosen people.
God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 17:11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between you and me.
And in Genesis 22: 17, God told Abraham: I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as the sand on the seashore.
Nearly 1000 years later, the Lord spoke to Ethan in a vision in Psalm 89:
20I have found my servant David; with my holy oil I have anointed him;
26He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!’
29I will establish his line forever.
God has blessed the Israelites throughout history, many times after evil, wicked rulers had subjugated or persecuted the Jewish people. Here are a few examples:
God led the Israelites out of Egypt in 1500 BC, killing the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea.
He brought the Israelites out of 70 years the Babylonian captivity in 537 BC.
After the Romans ransacked Jerusalem in 70AD and destroyed the Temple, millions scattered across the Middle East, North Africa Asia, and Europe, and this is where most of the Jews lived for 1900 years.
Then after the Holocaust and the Second World War the “State of Israel” (population 800,000) was founded in May 1948.
Several years ago my wife and I visited “Yad Vashem” the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and at the entrance is a huge inscription of Ezekiel 37:14 is edged in stone:
I WILL PUT MY BREATH INTO YOU AND YOU SHALL LIVE AGAIN. AND I WILL SET YOU UPON YOUR OWN SOIL.
Today, 75 years later, the population of this tiny country has grown to more than 9 million people. Israel is in the forefront of technology. It has one of the highest R+D investment ratios in the world.
Israel has almost twice as many scientists and researchers per capita compared to the USA.
Throughout history God has blessed the Jewish people with incredible wisdom and acumen, in law, medicine, finance, and science.
In America, Jewish roots can be traced back to the top technology companies, including
Dell, Google, Facebook, Oracle and many more.
In other words, there is no doubt that God continues to bless the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel with incredible wisdom and business sense. But what about the salvation question?
Let’s see what Jesus had to say about this.
In John 14:6 Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He said in John 3:36: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.
Clearly Paul’s letter articulates that through God’s grace, Jew and Gentile are now one in Christ.
Let me illustrate this with an example:
Life in Christ is analogous to this tulip here this morning. The bulb and the roots convey the Jewish heritage, it is the foundation, the bulb by itself, is not very appealing to the eye.
But the flower couldn’t be grown, if it wasn’t for the bulb, they are one.
When we bought the Willow Creek farm, over two decades ago, there was a 40-year-old patch of grapes on the property.
Grapes are grafted on a certain root stock. This root stock is specific for the climate zone and location the grape vines are planted.
Paul uses the grafting analogy of an olive tree in his letter to the Romans. The gentiles are the branch of a wild olive tree that is grafted on the cultivated olive tree that depicts the Jewish people, the people of God.
The grafted branch draws its water and nutrients through the roots and the trunk of that cultivated tree and it get its strength from that tree, the tree of God.
With the resurrection of Jesus Christ everything changed, God’s covenant with the Jewish people is the root and the trunk, but life in Christ is the fruit of the tree.
It doesn’t matter where we are: New York, Jerusalem, Rome, Shanghai, or Arcata California, we are one in Christ.
In Christ there is no East or West, in him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love, throughout the whole wide earth.
Paul’s message to the gentiles in Ephesus is that through Jesus Christ, we are united, we are one.
There is unity through the cross
There is unity through the blood of Jesus
There is unity through the resurrection
The watershed moment came in In Acts 10:44, when “The Holy Spirit” poured out over the gentiles. That right there sealed the deal so to say.
It was this gift, this awesome gift of salvation that has been made available to anyone willing to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Make your decision before it is too late.
Pray to our Father who is in heaven to forgive us from our sins.
But then repent from our sins, and ask Jesus to come into our hearts, and accept him as Lord and Savior.
And no matter where we come from, no matter what we have done in the past, the Lord will bring us into his Kingdom.
He will lead you through that narrow gate onto the pathway to eternal life.
Thank you
God Bless you,
Amen