The Church Is One Body, Part 1

let's turn to ephesians two and uh this is uh going to be an introduction obviously to a very important portion of scripture ephesians chapter 2 and i need to read it to you starting in verse 11. therefore remember that formerly you the gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands remember that you were at that time separate from christ excluded from the commonwealth of israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world but now in christ jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of christ for he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity or the hatred which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself he might make the two into one new man thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to god through the cross by it having put to death the enmity and he came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near for through him we both have our access in one spirit to the father so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are citizens with the saints and are of god's household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets christ jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of god in the spirit this is a powerful and critically important text of scripture the church the dwelling place of god paul is facing a very very large problem here in the church the new testament church and that is the problem of disunity between jews and gentiles now nobody is surprised to find disunity in the church that's pretty common always has been common and it is on full display today as all kinds of assaults on the unity of the church are taking place some of them under some righteous fabrication but all of them essentially are actually unrighteous anything that fractures and fragments and shreds the church is a dishonor to the lord himself who is the head of the church but paul faced that and we still face it today it isn't just because human beings have a hard time getting along even those who are saved and sanctified it is because in paul's case there were some deep seated hatred and the the two components of that hatred were the jews and the gentiles they hated each other and this found its way into the church and had to be addressed but in order to understand it i want you to go back to perhaps you would think an unlikely place but i want you to go back to the book of jonah the book of jonah we will be able better to understand what paul is facing if we understand the story of jonah now everybody knows the story of jonah but do they really understand the point of the story the book of jonah is the story of a disobedient prophet who like his nation israel hated the pagan gentiles now let's get that at the very outset israel hated the gentiles they hated them deeply they had cultivated hate generationally so it was in the fabric of their being here is the prophet who along with his nation also hates gentiles and he is called by god to go to a gentile city one of the great gentile cities in the ancient world one of the great pagan cities city of nineveh in assyria this is the calling that jonah receives from god he rejects the calling and he runs the other direction we all know the story and the rest of the story is a whale of a tale and after a monumental miracle of survival inside the great fish and being vomited back up on the land jonah finally goes to nineveh and he preaches calls the city to repentance and the whole city of nineveh repents when the whole city repents jonah is mad he is angry he is disgusted he is disappointed he is depressed why because jonah did not want gentiles to be delivered from judgment he wanted them to feel the full fury of god's wrath so just in case you wondered jonah is not the hero of the story by any means he is the anti-hero jonah is the villain jonah is the villain he is the very worst example of a missionary in all of scripture so there is a point don't be a missionary like jonah but that's really not the main point jonah is a bad-hearted missionary who even after an incredibly miraculous deliverance is angry at god he's angry at god because god was merciful because like his nation he hates gentiles now if you're saying who are the gentiles all non-jews all non-jews fall into that category so if jonah's not the hero of the story who is the hero there is a hero in the story but the hero in the story is god god is the hero of the story and god is very unlike jonah god loves and god sends a preacher god calls for the wicked to repent and then god shows them mercy and grace compassion and salvation even though they were extremely wicked now it is clear that god had chosen israel as his people yes they were chosen as his people to be the recipient of divine revelation the law and the rest of the old testament they were also a nation that received the priesthood who then could be intermediaries with god from the people they were the nation that received the prophets who would speak to the people on behalf of god israel was chosen as the stage for the great drama of redemption they were the people with whom god lived he dwelt with them but all of that was not an end in itself but only a means to an end all of that was so that they could be a witness nation to the rest of the world all the gentiles they were designed to be a missionary nation way back in the book of exodus and in chapter 19 this is laid out in unmistakable terms god speaks and he says to moses thus you shall say to the house of jacob and tell the sons of israel this is in chapter 19 verse 3 of exodus you yourselves have seen what i did to the egyptians how i bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself in other words god through miracles got them out of egypt to the promised land now verse 5 now then if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant then you shall be my own possession among all the nations for all the earth is mine i'm laying claim to the whole earth all the nations and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation in other words you are a priest nation what does a priest do bring people before god he's an intermediary israel had the responsibility to be a witness of the truth of the one true and living god they were to tell the nations there was only one god like the shaman deuteronomy 6 and that all were to love the lord their god with all their hearts all mine and strength that was their reason to be chosen to be the domain of god to receive the law of god the priesthood and the prophets but jonah reflects the fact that the nation israel had failed totally to accept that mission responsibility look at how jonah begins the word of the lord came to jonah chapter 1 verse 1 the son of amitai saying arise go to nineveh the great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me the word of the of yahweh literally the word of yahweh came to jonah revelation from god but more than that this is the word of yahweh and who is the word of yahweh the same one in john 1 who created everything the word who was with god who was god and by whom everything was made so the one who is the creator is also the one who who brings the call to jonah the one who by the word of his mouth made the heavens is the one who speaks to jonah this is a divine call jonah go and cry against that city this is because god is going to save gentiles if you go all the way to the end of the bible in the seventh chapter of revelation you'll see a list of all the nations at least some representative nations that god is saving people from throughout redemptive history and you see that list at the end of scripture god is using his people to reach the world israel was to be the national instrument to bring salvation to the nation so here is jonah and he is told to go and he is told to cry against them for their wickedness and call them to repentance now god had called many other prophets to speak a message to other nations abraham did that moses did that elijah did it elisha did it jeremiah did it ezekiel did it daniel did it and others but jonah is the first one to go all the other prophets spoke about other nations and two other nations from wherever they were located it didn't go anywhere but in the case of jonah he has to go into the despised realm of the gentiles he's called to go the whole drama is based on jonah's hatred for such a mission he hates that god is asking him to do this why because it's hard why because he thinks he might be persecuted no go over to chapter 3 verse 10. when god saw their deeds and they turned from their wicked way then god relented concerning the calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them and he didn't do it they repented they actually repented we see that back in verse three chapter three jonah rose went to nineveh exceedingly great city three days walk he cried out in verse four forty days in nineveh will be overthrown verse five the people of nineveh believed in god and they called a fast and put sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them all the way up to the king the whole city essentially repented and believed in god and how did jonah respond look at chapter 4. verse 1 it greatly displeased jonah and he became angry that is so bizarre isn't it he became angry and he prayed to the lord and said please lord was not this what i said while i was still in my own country i knew you would do this this is why i didn't want to go because i don't want any gentiles receiving your mercy they don't deserve it but i knew you are a gracious and compassionate god slow to anger and abundant and loving kindness and one who relents concerning calamity i knew you were like this i knew you'd save those people jonah is reflecting the attitude of the nation israel they had no desire for the gentiles to be converted the gentiles had been their enemies the gentiles had been blaspheming enemies of god and they had been faithful the jews and they thought they were protecting the character of god and the honor of god by hating the blasphemers they certainly had no desire for god to show them salvation now listen this is not about ethnic identity some people want to bring that into the discussion this is not about ethnic identity they hated all non-jews it wasn't ethnicity that was the issue it was religion because there was only one true religion and every other religion was a false religion and they thought it was noble of them to hate false religion to hate blasphemers and to be zealous for the protection of yahweh the jews thought we deserve we deserve salvation we've earned it we've earned it we're the children of abraham they said that to jesus and the gentiles did not and especially the assyrians wretched wicked pagans jonah goes to them maybe about 750 bc 30 years later or so the assyrians the next generation after the generation that believed god used as the instrument of judgment and took the entire nation israel the northern kingdom into captivity from which they never returned one generation after this revival the assyrians were back to paganism and god used them as an instrument of judgment on the jews in the captivity of 722 bc and never did israel return the northern kingdom again so this hostility that they had toward the nations they had fought them the the nations had not only blasphemed god but they had been enemies of israel and blood had been spilt almost continuously the hatred went very deep jonah hated them and he is simply such a bad prophet such a bad prophet that in spite of his incredible story the jews canceled him they just canceled him out of their history how do i know that because in john 7 52 the jews said to jesus who was from galilee search and see no prophet arises out of galilee they said to jesus you say you're a prophet and you're from galilee search and see no prophet arises out of galilee wait a minute jonah was from galilee but he had been cancelled out of their history he was such a disastrous prophet this animosity between jew and gentile went from generation to generation to generation to generation and it showed up in the new testament it showed up in the new testament still very strong it showed up in the early church to the degree that on the day of pentecost when the holy spirit came and the church was begun by the power of the holy spirit 3000 people were converted and they spoke in those foreign languages and there was the evidence of the presence of the spirit in fire that was for the jews and the jews the lord knew would not be able to accept the fact that that would ever be done for gentiles even the jews in the early church so when the samaritans came to faith in chapter 8 the lord had to repeat what happened on pentecost have some apostles there to see that they received the same spirit with the same attendant signs and wonders because nobody nobody would believe none of the jews would believe that the samaritans would be accepted into the church then in chapter 10 of the book of acts the gentiles are converted cornelius and the holy spirit doesn't come until the apostles show up there and they see the same exact phenomenon the holy spirit's coming that they saw in acts 2 because god was saying you have to accept the samaritan half breeds you have to accept the gentiles it's one church and again this is not about ethnic reconciliation this is about religious hostility the people in the early church were struggling with this that's why paul wrote the text i just read you you people have to understand jew and gentile need to get together in galatians there's neither jew nor greek in romans chapter 10 there's neither jew nor greek you've got to come together as one in fact the church has taken over the responsibility that israel failed to fulfill listen to the great commission in matthew 28 go therefore and make disciples of all the nations go this is the lord speaking to the disciples and launching them after that in acts 1 8 when the spirit comes upon you you'll be witnesses unto me in jerusalem judea samaria and the ends of the earth so there's a new commission of the church but even the church the early church struggled with that they struggled with letting the gentiles in they struggled so much that there was a major council in the city of jerusalem to figure out what they were going to do with gentiles because gentiles would be converted under the ministry of paul paul and his epistles addresses the fact that the church is one you've got to get over centuries and millennia of hatred in first corinthians 12 12 paul said this for as the body is one and half many members the physical body one body many parts they're still one body so is christ the church is like your body one body many parts in the next verse first corinthians 12 13 we read for by one spirit are we all immersed into one body whether we be jews or gentiles whether it would be bond or free we've all been made to drink into one spirit four times in those verses first corinthians 12 12 and 13 the word body appears you're all one we all are brought into the body by one spirit every biblical metaphor of the church basically focuses on its unity emphasizes its unity the church for example is one bride with one husband the church is one flock with one shepherd the church is one set of branches with one vine it is one kingdom with one king one family with one father one building with one foundation one body with one head there are no classes there are no ethnic distinctions there is no hierarchy there are no blue ribbon sheep we're all one that's why paul was so upset with the corinthians in 1st corinthians 3 he says i can't even write to you as you are so in the flesh i can't write to you as mature believers but as fleshly because you are so fractured i'm of paul i'm of apollos i'm of cephas i'm of christ this is nothing but carnality and i i just say in the broadest sense possible anything that assaults the unity of the church is the flesh i don't care what justification people think they might have god chose the jewish people not to be an end but to be the means to the end of world evangelization since the day god called abraham he made a distinction between jew and gentile but that's not a racial distinction that's a religious distinction those who were the people of god and had the revelation of god needed to reach the rest of the world but there was always going to be a potential problem because god built into israel's life certain restrictions that kept them from easy interface with gentiles they had they had their own land and the lord cleaned out much of the idolatry they had their own customs they had their own festivals they had their own feasts they had their own worship they had their own clothing they had their own dietary laws and god did this to protect them to isolate them for their own purity's sake to separate them but instead of that keeping them pure and then being motivated to preach the truth of the true god to the nations around them they fell into carnal pride and they kept the laws of god ceremonially and ritually but not morally and spiritually and joan is an illustration of how they felt or gentiles carnal pride had allowed them to think of themselves as god's favored nation and to think it was righteous to hate everybody else they had contempt the contempt is amazing here are some statements you find in jewish writings gentiles are created by god to be fuel for the fires of hell here's another one god loved only israel of all the nations he made here's another one it is not lawful to give help to a gentile mother in her hour of childbirth for that would be bringing another gentile into the world so even when the lord jesus comes that kind of contemptuous hostility is very strong and even in john 4 you remember the statement the jews have no dealings with the samaritans and they weren't even fully gentile they were half breeds but the barrier was fixed and it was firm if a jewish girl wanted to marry a gentile boy or vice versa the family had a funeral not a wedding because if to marry a gentile was the equivalent of death so the jews had that animosity toward the gentiles and by the way the gentiles returned it gentiles looked on jews as slave material persecuted them oppressed them killed them as you know they called the jews the enemies of the human race and that epithet lasted all the way into the era of adolf hitler but go back to the new testament you can hear the contempt in pilate's is a roman governor listen to the contempt in his voice when he says i surely am not a jew am i contemptuous even across the centuries we can hear the echo of the owners of the philippian slave girl denouncing troublemakers with these words speaking of paul and silas these men being jews to exceedingly trouble our city very deep-seated hatred and traces of that bitterness and traces of that disunity are still with us today in what's known as anti-semitism right been around a long time so if you want to tackle a big issue in the church of jesus christ as it gets started you've got to undo centuries of animosity between jew and gentile because god is going to save both and they will together constitute his church in acts chapter 15 when the jerusalem council met paul and silas had come back from a missionary journey and gentiles have been converted and the jews leaders in jerusalem say what are we going to do with them what are we going to do with gentile converts and they had a big discussion well do we make them into jews first do you have to be a jew do we need to judaize them do you have to become a proselyte to judaism before you can receive salvation the jerusalem council in james who speaks of that issue says absolutely not you have to accept them paul writes to the romans in chapter 15 and he says look you christians are going to have to understand this some people regard the sabbath and some people don't some people regard dietary laws and some people don't this is a conscience issue based upon their past but it can't be used to divide the church this was a huge issue even peter fell victim to it do you remember that galatians chapter 2 peter got caught up in hypocrisy feeling very comfortable to be with the gentiles until some jewish believers showed up then he scrambled back to act as if he was anti-gentile and peter had to be rebuked by paul so the very end of paul's ministry he was preaching unity unity unity in christ and that's his message and look i didn't get to the text but i do want to make a comment or two so turn to it just to set the stage for next time let me remind you in verse 11 where paul says formerly you the gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision who called the gentiles uncircumcision the jews uncircumcision uncircumcision that was in that was a pejorative thing and what did the jews give back then they would say of the gentiles uncircumcision uncircumcision and the gentiles would say circumcision circumcision what are you doing verse 13 in christ jesus you who formerly were far off namely the gentiles have been brought near by the blood of christ he is our peace made both groups into one broke down the barrier of the dividing wall abolishing in his flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in himself he might make the two into one new man thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to god through the cross by it having put to death the enemy and that beautiful words isn't it beautiful language and so we're all one we're all one and we have this incredibly important responsibility to protect that over in chapter 4 verse 13 4 13. the the objective paul identifies here is that we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of christ or verse 15 we're to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even christ from whom the whole body fitted together and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself here's the key in love unity is the result of what love love so in this text that we'll look at next week paul says i agree the gentiles were alienated separated from christ verse 12 excluded from the commonwealth of israel strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world but that's not true anymore because they have been brought near in christ we're all one paul was trying to resolve the most long lasting deep seated animosity in biblical history but he never gave up on it because he knew it was right any other lesser cause for unity has to be confronted in the same way with the same unrelenting call to unity that unity is obviously around doctrinal truth but it's still a fight still a fight because people can be divisive the lord prays for the unity of his church and that was an apostolic main objective and it is for us today as well father we're grateful that you have called us together into one body we thank you that there's neither june or greek there's neither male or female there's neither bond or free we're all one in you that oneness is celebrated in the perfect bond of unity which is the peace that comes from loving one another we pray lord that we might have that kind of stretching love that peter talked about where we reach as far as we can to embrace those who are in christ we let nothing divide us we see so much fleshly divisive hostile [Music] hateful experiences going on in churches lord protect us from that may we love you with all our hearts all mind and strength and love others as ourselves may we seek not our own things but the things of others and have the mind that you had that humbled you to the death on the cross for us greater love has no one than this than a man lay down his life for his friends may we have that kind of love may we be known for our love because that's the truest exemplary demonstration of salvation increase our love more and more protect us from any discord disunity may we love each other embrace each other in the truth with conviction at the same time leave room for conscience on those things that are not biblical issues and in all things may we show love so that we can put on display the power of the gospel which when it is truly proclaimed and lived defines the people by their unity and their love and that's our desire continue to lead us as we live in this world in a time of judgment give us wisdom give us joy give us opportunity to proclaim the glorious gospel of christ and we ask these things in his name amen you

Channel: Grace to You

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

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Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 02 2021