Ephesians 2:14-22

(Audio: English)

SUMMARY: The speaker welcomes the audience and emphasizes the importance of remembering what life was like before knowing Christ. He emphasizes the importance of a relationship with Jesus rather than just knowledge of his teachings. He then goes on to discuss the idea of peace and reconciliation through Jesus Christ, explaining that before Christ, the world was divided and irreconcilable. However, through Christ's sacrifice on the cross, he released grace that potentially healed the cosmos and humanity, allowing for reconciliation and harmony among races and genders.

The message of this passage is that through Jesus Christ, we can have peace within ourselves and among different races and cultures. Jesus is the unifying element that can tear down the walls of hostility and division that exist between people. The author acknowledges the historical examples of wars and conflicts among Christian nations and societies, but argues that these were the result of a superficial application of the gospel and a violation of its teachings. When the ethical statements of the Bible are truly applied, there is no room for oppression, enslavement or any other form of discrimination. The author cites passages from Galatians and Colossians to emphasize that the moral implications of Christianity are clear and unambiguous.

The passage from Ephesians 2 speaks about how Jesus created a new man through his death and resurrection, and the ethical and moral implications of this new creation. We are called to live a life free of immorality and to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and to forgive one another as Christ forgave us. Our oneness in Christ should lead us to be people of reconciliation and love, and to embrace diversity in all its forms. We should strive to be a community of unity, harmony, and peace, and to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world.

It’s good to see each of you and welcome to our service and I know that the Lord is here and is ready to bless us as he has already done through the worship and through all the things that we are doing. His presence is here and we thank him for the fact that we can come on a Saturday night very intentionally because coming to a service on a Saturday night it requires a decision to come. On Sunday it’s a lot easier to do it, just out of shear inertia, but tonight we’re here because we want to be here and because we know that this is the place where God is going to meet us.

So I welcome you and I invite you to look in your Bibles in the Book of Ephesians, chapter 2 and at this point I don’t know whether Stephen has gone through some of these passages or not in my absence, but I know that I will bring a different perspective or Greg who preached, or Sam, whoever. But you know, it bears, if they have gone through that a different perspective and a different message perhaps, even. So, I’ll just continue.