Sermon 22nd September 2013

Today, our Honorary Assistant Minister, Gill Tayleur, continues our study of Paul's letter to Ephesus.  Her sermon is based upon the reading from Ephesians 2:11-22

Shalom

Shalom – the Biblical word translated into English as peace. But as you probably know, the word shalom means much more than just calmness or the absence of war or hatred. It’s much more encompassing than that. It means wholeness, completeness, wellbeing, a flourishing, safety and harmony, as well as tranquillity or restfulness.

Do those words describe you and your life?! But it’s what we all long for, isn’t it?!

In the Bible shalom is used to refer to the state of individuals and the state of relationships, as we do with the word peace in English. We say we’re at peace within ourselves, or at peace with someone after resolving a conflict.

In our Bible reading this morning, Paul talks about shalom, this peace, about peace with God and peace with one another. And both of them contribute to the sense of peace in ourselves, peace about who we are, and what our life is all about. So let’s look at what Paul says to the Christians in Ephesus about peace, with God and with one another.

First peace with God. In order to grasp what Paul means by peace with God, first we need to grasp how not-at-peace we are with God naturally, how separated and alienated we are from him. We need to hear the bad news in order to appreciate the good.

Let’s look at what Paul says about people who are living without God in their lives.

In verses 11 and 12, Paul describes the state of Gentiles before they came to faith in Christ Jesus. Gentiles were and are everyone who’s not a Jew. As such, Paul says, they were separate from Christ, excluded from the covenant relationship God had with his chosen people the Jews throughout the Old Testament. And so they were without God and without hope. That pretty much describes the spiritual state of everyone before they come to faith in Christ Jesus. Separate from God, alienated from him, distant.

Do we sometimes feel like that, distant from God, even in church?

There’s a good reason why we’re distant from the God who made us and loves us:

Put simply, it’s because of our sin. It’s our sin, our self centredness, all the rotten and bad stuff that screws us up and that we screw up, that causes the distance and separation from the all loving, all good, all holy, all powerful Creator God.

We’re all in the same boat. Oh we like to create a hierarchy of sin, to point the finger at someone else and say they do much worse things than we do, but the reality is both the person on the top of Mount Everest and the person in the deepest mine in the world, are equally unable to touch the moon.

Yes the bad news is that we’re all sinners, all in the same hopeless situation, hopeless because we can’t bridge the gap between us and God by trying harder, or by keeping all the OT laws and regulations, we’re so far off God’s goodness and purity. And if we’re honest, we know that, deep down. All of us have things we’ve said or done things that we’re ashamed of, ways we’ve messed things or relationships up, haven’t we?... And that leads to a sense of ill at ease, of not-peace, of being detached or distant from our deepest selves and from God...

BUT! BUT once we’ve acknowledged that, then there’s good news! The very best news!

Verse 13 says “You who used to be far away have been brought near by the death of Christ.” God has made a way for us to be brought near to him! It’s the cross. The death of Christ Jesus on the cross.

On the cross Christ Jesus died for us, for sinners like you and me. He died in our place, taking the consequence of all the sin and shame and bad stuff, in the world, and in each of us. So that we might be forgiven and come back to God. To bring us near, to bridge the gap.

And so he made peace with God possible. Shalom peace, reconciliation, relationship, nearness, a sense of safety and security, acceptance, forgiveness, mercy, grace and love. The cross of Christ achieved all those things. It really was the pivotal moment of all history.

And in order to experience all those benefits of the cross, we simply need to come to God, to own up to our need of Christ’s death for us because of our sin and self centredness, repent, that is say sorry and turn away from it. And as we do so we can have peace with God – no more guilt and shame! We can draw near, in prayer and worship, to love and be loved by him. We can have a better sense of who we are: forgiven, beloved sons and daughters of God.

That’s shalom peace with God, now and for all eternity.

A peace that’s not dependent on the storms of life battering all around us.

.............................................................................

Second then, peace with one another. Now we need to understand a bit more about Jews and Gentiles. As I said, Gentiles were - and are - everyone who’s not a Jew. Jews were circumcised as a sign of their Jewishness, as required by the OT law, to show that they were a people chosen and set apart for Yahweh, the one true living God. Although this chosen people were intended to show ALL the peoples of the world what God is like, and how to follow him, in practice the OT law created a division between Jew and non-Jew, or Gentile. Jews looked down on and despised Gentiles for not having or following the law, and then Gentiles despised the Jews back for despising them. And so there was real hatred between them.

It’s this hatred, enmity or hostility that Paul is addressing in these verses. Verses 14 to 16:

“Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of his cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.”

On the cross, Christ paid the price for everyone’s sin, the Jews’ and the Gentiles’. In God’s sight, there’s no hierarchy! And so we can no longer look down on others, we are all the same, there’s nothing to separate us. The Jewish Christians could no longer feel superior to the Gentile Christians; they were equal.

What about us? In the same way that something God intended for good, the OT law, became the thing that caused Jews to look down on Gentiles, so too, we sometimes twist the gifts or abilities that God has bestowed on us into a means of looking down on those who don’t have those same gifts.

Oh it’s not acceptable in our society to look down on someone, or disdain them, on the grounds of race – but what about intelligence? Or taste, or political viewpoint, when they’re different from ours? Or the way they bring up their children? Or what about refugees and asylum seekers? They’re really looked down on in our society at the moment, as if they haven’t had enough pain and suffering in their lives already.

Do we secretly look down on certain people we feel are different from us? Or keep them at a distance? The cross of Christ has broken down all barriers between us, and that’s the reality we must live in, especially in the church.

And that brings us to the last few verses of today’s reading. Paul says that together, as one people united by faith in Christ Jesus, together we are able to come into the presence of God. Together we are being built into God’s people, and the place where God lives through his Spirit.

Together. The New York pastor Tim Keller says:

"If I threw a thousand threads onto the table, they wouldn't be a fabric. They'd just be threads lying on top of each other. Threads become a fabric when each one has been woven over, under, around, and through every other one. The more interdependent they are, the more beautiful they are. The more interwoven they are, the stronger and warmer they are. God made the world with billions of entities, but he didn't make them to be a mixed up jumble. Rather, he made them to be in a beautiful, harmonious, knitted, webbed, interdependent relationship with one another."

Does that describe us in St Paul’s & St Saviour’s Churches, a fabric like that?

This is who we are, and what we have to share: A people united in peace with God and peace with one another.

I want to finish by asking you 4 very personal questions, for you to think about, now -silently – you needn’t talk to anyone! But please try to respond as honestly as you can. There are 4 possible responses to the questions: never, rarely, often, or consistently.

We’ll have a few moments of quiet to consider each one: Never, rarely, often, or consistently?

Are you at peace with God? Would you describe your relationship with him as near, as personal, as peaceful, secure, knowing yourself to be deeply forgiven and dearly loved? Never? rarely? often? or consistently? What could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

Do you have peace of mind and heart? Or is your mind filled with a jumble of unforgiven memories, unresolved plans, and frustrating disappointments? Are you free from smouldering anger, nagging fears, doubts, and envy? Do you have peace of mind and heart? Never? Rarely? Often? Or consistently? What could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

What about your relationships with others in the church – are they also characterised not only by peace but by closeness and brotherly love, shalom? Never, rarely, often, or consistently? What could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

And finally, how shall we take this wonderful reality of shalom, of peace with God and with others to a peace-starved world? Globally, we pray for it, and will again in a few minutes. There are other ways we can support and contribute to peace on the international scale. But locally, in our parish? The Milkwood Working Party is going through the Discovery process to see how best we can live and take God’s shalom and love to those who haven’t yet experienced it. Our [St Paul’s] building project is creating a building better equipped for that purpose, to live and spread God’s shalom and love in our parish.

So do you play your part in sharing God’s shalom with others? In our parish? At home? At work? Never? Rarely? Often? Or consistently? And what could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

If you want to talk or pray about any of this, you know where to find me or Cameron.

But now, let’s draw together all our responses and offer them to God in prayer:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wonderful peace you offer thanks to Christ’s death on the cross for us. May we each experience peace with you, with others, and pray our part, in being built together into a beautiful woven fabric, for the benefit of the world, and for the praise of your glory. Amen.

Shalom – the Biblical word translated into English as peace. But as you probably know, the word shalom means much more than just calmness or the absence of war or hatred. It’s much more encompassing than that. It means wholeness, completeness, wellbeing, a flourishing, safety and harmony, as well as tranquillity or restfulness.

Do those words describe you and your life?! But it’s what we all long for, isn’t it?!

In the Bible shalom is used to refer to the state of individuals and the state of relationships, as we do with the word peace in English. We say we’re at peace within ourselves, or at peace with someone after resolving a conflict.

In our Bible reading this morning, Paul talks about shalom, this peace, about peace with God and peace with one another. And both of them contribute to the sense of peace in ourselves, peace about who we are, and what our life is all about. So let’s look at what Paul says to the Christians in Ephesus about peace, with God and with one another.

First peace with God. In order to grasp what Paul means by peace with God, first we need to grasp how not-at-peace we are with God naturally, how separated and alienated we are from him. We need to hear the bad news in order to appreciate the good.

Let’s look at what Paul says about people who are living without God in their lives.

In verses 11 and 12, Paul describes the state of Gentiles before they came to faith in Christ Jesus. Gentiles were and are everyone who’s not a Jew. As such, Paul says, they were separate from Christ, excluded from the covenant relationship God had with his chosen people the Jews throughout the Old Testament. And so they were without God and without hope. That pretty much describes the spiritual state of everyone before they come to faith in Christ Jesus. Separate from God, alienated from him, distant.

Do we sometimes feel like that, distant from God, even in church?

There’s a good reason why we’re distant from the God who made us and loves us:

Put simply, it’s because of our sin. It’s our sin, our self centredness, all the rotten and bad stuff that screws us up and that we screw up, that causes the distance and separation from the all loving, all good, all holy, all powerful Creator God.

We’re all in the same boat. Oh we like to create a hierarchy of sin, to point the finger at someone else and say they do much worse things than we do, but the reality is both the person on the top of Mount Everest and the person in the deepest mine in the world, are equally unable to touch the moon.

Yes the bad news is that we’re all sinners, all in the same hopeless situation, hopeless because we can’t bridge the gap between us and God by trying harder, or by keeping all the OT laws and regulations, we’re so far off God’s goodness and purity. And if we’re honest, we know that, deep down. All of us have things we’ve said or done things that we’re ashamed of, ways we’ve messed things or relationships up, haven’t we?... And that leads to a sense of ill at ease, of not-peace, of being detached or distant from our deepest selves and from God...

BUT! BUT once we’ve acknowledged that, then there’s good news! The very best news!

Verse 13 says “You who used to be far away have been brought near by the death of Christ.” God has made a way for us to be brought near to him! It’s the cross. The death of Christ Jesus on the cross.

On the cross Christ Jesus died for us, for sinners like you and me. He died in our place, taking the consequence of all the sin and shame and bad stuff, in the world, and in each of us. So that we might be forgiven and come back to God. To bring us near, to bridge the gap.

And so he made peace with God possible. Shalom peace, reconciliation, relationship, nearness, a sense of safety and security, acceptance, forgiveness, mercy, grace and love. The cross of Christ achieved all those things. It really was the pivotal moment of all history.

And in order to experience all those benefits of the cross, we simply need to come to God, to own up to our need of Christ’s death for us because of our sin and self centredness, repent, that is say sorry and turn away from it. And as we do so we can have peace with God – no more guilt and shame! We can draw near, in prayer and worship, to love and be loved by him. We can have a better sense of who we are: forgiven, beloved sons and daughters of God.

That’s shalom peace with God, now and for all eternity.

A peace that’s not dependent on the storms of life battering all around us.

.............................................................................

Second then, peace with one another. Now we need to understand a bit more about Jews and Gentiles. As I said, Gentiles were - and are - everyone who’s not a Jew. Jews were circumcised as a sign of their Jewishness, as required by the OT law, to show that they were a people chosen and set apart for Yahweh, the one true living God. Although this chosen people were intended to show ALL the peoples of the world what God is like, and how to follow him, in practice the OT law created a division between Jew and non-Jew, or Gentile. Jews looked down on and despised Gentiles for not having or following the law, and then Gentiles despised the Jews back for despising them. And so there was real hatred between them.

It’s this hatred, enmity or hostility that Paul is addressing in these verses. Verses 14 to 16:

“Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of his cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.”

On the cross, Christ paid the price for everyone’s sin, the Jews’ and the Gentiles’. In God’s sight, there’s no hierarchy! And so we can no longer look down on others, we are all the same, there’s nothing to separate us. The Jewish Christians could no longer feel superior to the Gentile Christians; they were equal.

What about us? In the same way that something God intended for good, the OT law, became the thing that caused Jews to look down on Gentiles, so too, we sometimes twist the gifts or abilities that God has bestowed on us into a means of looking down on those who don’t have those same gifts.

Oh it’s not acceptable in our society to look down on someone, or disdain them, on the grounds of race – but what about intelligence? Or taste, or political viewpoint, when they’re different from ours? Or the way they bring up their children? Or what about refugees and asylum seekers? They’re really looked down on in our society at the moment, as if they haven’t had enough pain and suffering in their lives already.

Do we secretly look down on certain people we feel are different from us? Or keep them at a distance? The cross of Christ has broken down all barriers between us, and that’s the reality we must live in, especially in the church.

And that brings us to the last few verses of today’s reading. Paul says that together, as one people united by faith in Christ Jesus, together we are able to come into the presence of God. Together we are being built into God’s people, and the place where God lives through his Spirit.

Together. The New York pastor Tim Keller says:

"If I threw a thousand threads onto the table, they wouldn't be a fabric. They'd just be threads lying on top of each other. Threads become a fabric when each one has been woven over, under, around, and through every other one. The more interdependent they are, the more beautiful they are. The more interwoven they are, the stronger and warmer they are. God made the world with billions of entities, but he didn't make them to be a mixed up jumble. Rather, he made them to be in a beautiful, harmonious, knitted, webbed, interdependent relationship with one another."

Does that describe us in St Paul’s & St Saviour’s Churches, a fabric like that?

This is who we are, and what we have to share: A people united in peace with God and peace with one another.

I want to finish by asking you 4 very personal questions, for you to think about, now -silently – you needn’t talk to anyone! But please try to respond as honestly as you can. There are 4 possible responses to the questions: never, rarely, often, or consistently.

We’ll have a few moments of quiet to consider each one: Never, rarely, often, or consistently?

Are you at peace with God? Would you describe your relationship with him as near, as personal, as peaceful, secure, knowing yourself to be deeply forgiven and dearly loved? Never? rarely? often? or consistently? What could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

Do you have peace of mind and heart? Or is your mind filled with a jumble of unforgiven memories, unresolved plans, and frustrating disappointments? Are you free from smouldering anger, nagging fears, doubts, and envy? Do you have peace of mind and heart? Never? Rarely? Often? Or consistently? What could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

What about your relationships with others in the church – are they also characterised not only by peace but by closeness and brotherly love, shalom? Never, rarely, often, or consistently? What could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

And finally, how shall we take this wonderful reality of shalom, of peace with God and with others to a peace-starved world? Globally, we pray for it, and will again in a few minutes. There are other ways we can support and contribute to peace on the international scale. But locally, in our parish? The Milkwood Working Party is going through the Discovery process to see how best we can live and take God’s shalom and love to those who haven’t yet experienced it. Our [St Paul’s] building project is creating a building better equipped for that purpose, to live and spread God’s shalom and love in our parish.

So do you play your part in sharing God’s shalom with others? In our parish? At home? At work? Never? Rarely? Often? Or consistently? And what could you do to improve on that, with God’s help?

If you want to talk or pray about any of this, you know where to find me or Cameron.

But now, let’s draw together all our responses and offer them to God in prayer:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the wonderful peace you offer thanks to Christ’s death on the cross for us. May we each experience peace with you, with others, and pray our part, in being built together into a beautiful woven fabric, for the benefit of the world, and for the praise of your glory. Amen.