Last week, we started a new sermon series on the letter of Ephesians. As a reminder, Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus. Paul is currently imprisoned as he is writing this letter. He could have felt defeated and down, feeling sorry for himself. Instead, he cranks out letter after letter to these fledgling churches who are trying to figure out how to live out their faith. And the churches in Ephesus are no different. 

     Pastor Kathy started us out with the opening chapter of the letter by emphasizing Paul’s claim that the church has been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing! We were created for the praise of God’s glory! When we really let that sink in, we discover that our primary identity is a gift from God who calls us His beloved. It is easy for us to live in a performance-based society where we constantly feel like we are not good enough, or we don’t measure up to the world’s standards of wealth, power, popularity, or looks. But in God, it is not about trying hard to earn his love and acceptance. We are already the beloved!

     Then we move into chapter 2. Paul builds into his theme that we are all a part of the temple of God. We will get more into that in a moment, but first, Paul reminds us that prior to Jesus getting involved, we were dead in our sins, following after the ways of the world and deserving of wrath. But then Jesus came on the scene, and He alone changed our status with God. Why did God do this? Paul states that it was because of His great love for us and because He was rich in mercy towards us. We have been saved by Him through His grace and kindness! I know, for me, growing up, it was easy to always feel like I was disappointing God and not measuring up to what he expected of me. Sometimes, even still, I have to rebuke those voices in my head that try to bring me down. 

     So, there is a lot here to help us understand our identity and standing with God. Then Paul launches into an explanation of our purpose. He states in Ephesians 2:8-10 – 

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We see here that as a direct result of all that God has done for us, we are now people ready to do good works. Not in a way that tries to earn God’s favor. But we do good works as an expression of praise back to God for all that he did for us! To get us to this point, though, we need to feel the weight of who we were before Christ, and then understand all that Jesus did for us to fix our relationship with God. It’s like going from hopelessness to super-charged hope. Going from hate and division to overflowing love and acceptance. 

     I know for me, I have been born, bred, and raised in the American suburbs. Ohio’s burbs, to be more precise. And I have grown up in the church where the expectation is that we are all good people trying hard to do the right thing. When you live in that kind of context, it is easy to start believing that people are basically intrinsically good. Just last week, I had the opportunity to travel with UC college students, leaders from the Wesley Foundation, and even some Epiphany people to Montgomery, Alabama. This was considered a social justice trip to help educate ourselves about some of the injustices committed by Americans in their early history, leading up to the present day. We visited the Rosa Parks Museum, the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, the Legacy Museum, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. These are parks and museums that Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative created to shine a light on what has been done to black and brown people through murder, slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration. It was heavy to take in. Now, some of you may not know who Bryan Stevenson is. He is a lawyer who wrote the book Just Mercy, which was adapted into a movie starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie Larson. It is a phenomenal movie (and book) that will inspire you! Trust me! Bryan is doing all he can with his Equal Justice Initiative to educate us about our history and inspire a brighter future for all people. I walked away from this trip with two words: lament and hope. Lament specifically for how the church was divided over such critical issues as slavery, equal rights, Jim Crow laws, lynching, and the explicit division between races. Hope came through the emphasis on all that is being done to help inspire the next generations towards hope, equity, and justice for all. 

     I know that many of you have already watched the new Ken Burns documentary about the American Revolution. I have only seen the first episode, but what already caught my attention was the extreme divisiveness among so many groups. There were divisions among the settlers between those who were pro-British and those who were anti-British. There was animosity for indigenous people, as well as black people, who were kidnapped from Africa and forced into slavery. In fact, I just saw the musical Hamilton here in Cincinnati, and we all know how the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr turned out. And even today, I could spend even more time describing how we continue to separate and divide ourselves from one another, based on prejudice, hate, fear, and anger. 

     But even though we are still living in a time where the forces of darkness and evil continue to wage war against humanity, God has redeemed us and called us his handiwork! Imagine that! In fact, the word translated as “handiwork” is also the Greek word from which we get our English word “poem.” We are God’s poem! We are his love letter to the world. We are to be the answer to the ills of this world. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works! This gives us our purpose!

     Then Paul addresses the division that seems to be on the mind of his readers: the one between Jews and Gentiles. How do non-Jewish people fit into this thing called the church? Paul addresses the Gentiles first. He states:

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The Gentiles, which would include all of us, are now brought near to God through the blood of Christ. The work of Jesus helps bring down the walls of division that humanity erects against one another. We continue to live in a time of extreme divisiveness. It is simply the way of the world. But here is the question we must wrestle with: How are we, as a church, doing our part to unite rather than divide? 

     Paul continues to explain how the divisions are being corrected. He states:

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Notice in this paragraph that the word PEACE is mentioned several times. Jesus has done all the work needed to be done to destroy the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Jesus is about establishing a new humanity out of those who have been divided. He came and preached peace to his Jewish audience as well as those who were non-Jewish. And this peace brings us all together as one people, united to God. Unfortunately, the church has not always acted in unity throughout its history. But this is the calling that we must live into. Building bridges of peace instead of erecting walls of hostility. We are to be examples of one new humanity. 

     Paul concludes this chapter by saying:

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

     Now this is where we get into temple theology. In the Garden of Eden, heaven and earth were together, and God dwelt among his people. All of creation was seen as God’s temple, and humanity was a part of that. But then sin entered into the creation and separated a holy God from his sinful creation, heaven from earth. But now, if you remember your Old Testament, I want you to recall how God began to meet with his people, the people of Israel. It started with a tabernacle as they were on their way to the Promised Land. This was considered a space where heaven and earth met, and where God would meet with his people. What was a tabernacle then became a temple in Israel through the work of King Solomon. Once again, this is where heaven and earth came together, and God would interact with his people. There was also a strict hierarchy to who had access. Everyone could enter the common area; then only Jews could enter the next area; then only Jewish men could enter the next area. Priests, the next. And then, only once a year, the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies. 

     We then zoom forward in history to where Jesus shows up on the scene. 

John 1:14 tells us that: 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The words translated as “dwelling among us” can be literally interpreted as “he set up a tabernacle among us”. Jesus himself became a sort of tabernacle, representing the coming together of heaven and earth. Now, did he set himself up as only being available to the Jewish high priest once a year? Absolutely not! He literally went to all types of people groups: men and women, poor and rich, children and adults, Jewish and non-Jewish, righteous and sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. He tabernacled among us! He brought heaven and earth together in his person and invited all people to participate in this kingdom work. What was once highly exclusive is now available to all. 

     And Paul points out that there is no such thing as foreigners and strangers among us. Now we are fellow citizens of God’s people. Instead of the Spirit of God coming into the temple in Old Testament stories, we now have that very same spirit within us as representatives of heaven and earth coming together. We are God’s workmanship! A work that is in progress. A building project that started with Jesus as the chief cornerstone, with the apostles, prophets, and Christians who have come before us built into this structure. And in the present, we are being built into this holy temple, this continuing project of bringing heaven and earth together. And this is what the church is supposed to be! We put an end to the divisions that separate others in the world, and we live together as a representation of kingdom people being built into a holy temple! You are “heaven and earth coming together” people! 

     Our identity is a gift given to us by Jesus. And we are indwelled with his spirit to go out and do kingdom building work by bringing peace and hope to others. In fact, N. T. Wright, in his book “The Vision of Ephesians”, states that “the point of the church is not just to observe moral codes but to do things which demonstrate to the world that the creator is a God of love and grace and kindness and justice and mercy. Ordinary Christians are called to produce the extraordinary deeds which display the fresh order that God is bringing to his disordered world.”

     So, as the pastor who oversees missions, I want to encourage all of you to find ways to do good works as a gift back to God for all that he has done for us. I can promise you there is no shortage of opportunities available to you here at Epiphany. We are connected to so many great missions, and there is so much need in our community and around the world. We have 3 missions every month that you can interact with, serving those in need at the Loveland Care Center, the Mountaintop ministry in Goshen, and the Prince of Peace mission in OTR. When you actually engage people in need and provide for them, not only does it help them, but it changes you as you begin to realize you are doing kingdom work. 

     We also have one featured mission per month that is more family-friendly. Each of these missions is an opportunity to discover what is happening in our communities and how you might get more involved. This month, we are going to the New Life Furniture Bank on Saturday, January 31, and next month, we are going to Matthew 25 Ministries on Saturday, February 7. And on top of that, we are always collecting for needs every month between the Loveland LIFE food pantry and the Milford Miami Ministry. We have a group of tremendous mission leaders who are ready to get you involved in the work of missions here in our communities, downtown Cincinnati, across the country, and around the world! As we gear up for a new year, please do not settle for being just a church attender; become a willful and active participant in missions. You can serve others, work with your hands, or bring items to the church to donate to our pantries. Either way, I challenge you to stretch yourself spiritually, get engaged in mission work, and allow yourself, as God’s workmanship, as his poem, to be a blessing to others as you find ways to bring heaven and earth together. What is a poem that is never heard or read by others? It is just words on a page. But when it is shared with others, it becomes a work of art. May you be that to others. 

         Now, keep in mind that we don’t serve to get a pat on the back and a thank you from others. We don’t necessarily do it to get appreciation from others, although it is nice when that happens. We do it as a gift back to God. When we serve others, we might get mixed reactions. People might be confused, angry, or upset. You might get some gratitude and a thank you from others. Either way, our reason for doing good works is to say thank you back to God for all He has done for us. We are to recognize the humanity and dignity in all people as we go out and serve others, destroying the walls of hostility, and creating one new humanity!

         In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., I end with this quote: “Everybody can be great … because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”  Amen.