Access to the Heart of God

Access to the Heart of God

Ephesians 2:13b

Well maybe we could all start at the same verse. It’s Ephesians 2:12 and we’ve touched upon it before, but I just thought we’d do it once now and complete it. Ephesians 2:12, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” And we dealt, you remember, with the first part of it, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ.” And Paul is talking obviously to not only the people at Ephesus who weren’t Jews but really talking to all the people who weren’t Jews in the first century. And he’s saying, “Remember that you were at one time separated from Christ.” And I think you probably can call to mind that we had reminded each other of that verse in Colossians 1:15 where it says Jesus was the express image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, and that in him all things were created. And then it says, “In him all things hold together;” and how we looked again at the fact that actually everybody has been made inside Jesus. And that’s what that verse in John 1:3 means, by him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made; and also the verse we’ve so often quoted Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

So all those verses make it very clear that, of course, in a sense, nobody is separated from Christ. In a sense, everybody that lives, lives by the power and the grace of Jesus who is the one that is giving us breath and keeping our blood going through our veins and keeping our hearts beating. So we are actually all in Jesus. And you remember, we went into the Greek and showed that it was, "They were separated from Christ but Christ was not separated from them." I know that it takes an effort for us all to really face that fact and accept it, because we’re so used to the idea of saying, “Oh no, Jesus has nothing to do with Hitler. Jesus has nothing to do with prostitutes. Jesus has nothing to do with people who don’t believe in him.” But in fact, he has everything to do with them. He has born them inside himself all these years. And that is God’s great mercy to us. He loves every one whom he has made in Jesus so much that he holds onto us even as we do our best to destroy him and to destroy the world that he has made, and to destroy others whom he has made. He still holds onto us.

And that’s why in a real sense though Jesus died once for all. Yet in a way that’s in time he died once for all, but that moment in time, around 29 AD we believe, that actually just expresses in our time space world the death that he died as the lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the world. And so we’ve talked often of that. And therefore we know that this verse is saying – Paul is saying, “You were separated at that time from Christ.” That is, even though you have always been in Jesus yet you separated yourself from him, and you separated yourself from the benefits of his life in you.

And then Paul goes on to make it clear that in a way you were strangely, in a worse position than the Jews. You remember, that’s interesting, because he has just said to them, “You were called the uncircumcision by these Jews who thought they were the circumcised." And you remember, he’s made the point very clearly. It was like – oh, we have a saying in Ireland, maybe we have it in the states -- it’s like the pot calling the kettle black. Isn’t that it? The pot calling the kettle black, they’re both black but one is looking and saying, “Oh, you’re black.” And of course he’s just as black. And that was really what Paul was saying, they called themselves the circumcised, but they themselves were circumcised only physically with hands. They weren’t circumcised in their hearts! So they were as uncircumcised as actually you were, but still you were called the uncircumcised by the circumcised.

So you’d think in a way he’s kind of making the point, well the Jews were really in a way the same as you. And yet he goes on in this verse to make the point, “No, the Jews are in a little bit of a different situation to you.” He was saying that the Jews, in a way, were in a better position than you.

And I think it’s that truth that God, I believe, wants to make clear to us all today, because Paul says, “You were separated from Christ.” And then you see the next clause, “You were separated from Christ,” and that’s Ephesians 2:12, “Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.” "Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel." Being Gentiles you did not experience some of the benefits that the Jewish people experienced. "You were alienated from the commonwealth." And they say that 'commonwealth' is kind of the “polity” or the theocracy, the method of government, the whole set of laws and philosophy that the Israelites had entered into. "You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel." You didn’t have the benefit that they had, because the whole world was in Jesus, but it didn’t know it was in Jesus. But God decided to give to certain people indications that in some way they were not totally separated from him. And that people was the Jews.

And God began to show, right from Abraham’s time, he began to show the Jews, “You think you have nothing to do with me, but I still care about you.” And so he came to Abraham and he said, “I’m going to make you the father of many nations and I’m going to give you a land to live in.” And so the Jews were not quite as isolated and desolate as other people, because they had this message coming through their prophets and their patriarchs that the Creator of the world actually knows us, and cares about us, and is actually saying to us that we are his special people. And so the Jews had that whole commonwealth or “polity”. They had the Sabbath. They were taught to observe the Sabbath. They were given directions about the temple and about the sacrifices. And behind all this was the indication that God was in some way merciful to them. And that’s why we read that piece in Romans, because obviously people like David could say in a psalm, “Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” And Isaiah could say, “Though your sins be scarlet they shall be as white as snow and though they be like crimson they should be as wool.”

So, the Jews had all along through their history in the commonwealth of Israel, they had a set of laws, of prophecies, of messages through men like Isaiah and Jeremiah that gave them the feeling, “This God who made the whole universe, he knows us, he cares about us, and he has promised that he will forgive us our sins.” So even though they didn’t know about Jesus himself, yet they had some witness in their hearts that they were in 'somebody good', because conscience tells you that. Conscience always tells you, "You have in some way – you have something better inside yourself than you yourself really are." And so they had that. But they had the confirmation of that from these messages that came through the prophets and from the temple worship, and the possibility that blood – through blood in some way, they could be reconciled to their Maker.

So Paul is saying, “You Gentiles were separated from Christ, but you were also alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. You had none; you had nothing to indicate to you that there was any possibility of a happy life, or a reconciled life.” And so he says again, he elaborates this in the next part of the verse, "You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and 'strangers to the covenants of promise'.” And that refers to all the promises that God made to the Israelites, right from Abraham’s time when he promised that he would make him the father of many nations, when he promised that he would give him a land, and that he would give that land to all his descendants, and then the covenants of promise; oh remarkable ones if you look at Isaiah, you get those wonderful passages.

Isaiah 35 is one of them. And these are part of the covenants of promise that God gave to the Israelites and gave them a sense that there is hope. It’s Isaiah 35:5, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall a lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty grounds springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

And so in the midst of nations and races who burned their children -- you remember, one of them used to pass their children through the fire -- the others who used prostitutes in their temples, the others who worshiped demons, in the midst of all that chaos and that cruelty, the Israelites had these promises that there would be a time when the Messiah would come, and the lion would lay down with the lamb, and all would peace, and men and women would live in purity.

And of course, the Gentiles had none of that. They lived in this harsh, violent world with no amelioration possible and no kind of respite from it. And so Paul is saying, “You were at one time separated from Christ but you were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and you were separated and strangers to the covenants of promise.”

And then you know, at the very end there, he says at the last part of the verse, “Separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Not having the hope of a Messiah, not having the hope of something better, not having the hope that something could be done in your life that could change you. And the word, "without God," is “atheos.” The “A” is none, and “theos,” god: atheism; "And without God in the world;" having no hope and without God in the world. And so Paul is saying, “That is your state.”

And such is the state of most of the people that we meet in the stores. Sure, some of them go to church, sure some of them might even be Christians, but when you think of the hardness that I think we’re all aware is in our society, when you think of the drive, drive, drive that means that in most families both the husband and wife have to work to make the thing work financially, and when you think of the children who come home to the empty houses, and then when you think of the children who attend schools now where probably there is a legitimate fear in the light of the ridiculous shooting tragedies that have taken place. And then when you think of the difficulty we have in seeing something just pleasant on television, or going out and seeing some nice movie, and how much of the four letter words and the bad language come over the television, come through the movies, and how many just ordinary people there are -- not pious people, not holy, holy people, not very respectable people but just ordinary people -- how many there are who are bewildered and repelled by the hardness and the harshness. And then you think of all the ones who aren’t making it financially, and who are either obviously poverty stricken, or just are living from week-to-week just on the edge of bankruptcy, and in the midst of worry and anxiety. And then you think, "And alienated from the commonwealth of Israel," that is, with no thought that there may be behind this universe a loving gentle heart, with no hope that perhaps there is someone other than the psychiatrist, or the social worker that could help us.

And when you think of the store owners who are facing all kinds of financial strain and stress, who have no idea in their heads that somebody is actually in charge of this whole life, and has a way of deliverance for them, and has watched over every step of their life, and knows exactly where it is, and has the whole thing under control. Then, I think, you begin to catch some kind of a real picture of the agony and the loneliness of what we call, "Sinners, sinners!"

It seems to me we’re meeting everyday dear hearts who are actually still part of Jesus. But of course they don’t know it. And so they actually are in the same place and the same state as these Gentiles that Paul is talking too. And I think we have said before to each other, "What keeps them from going insane?" And I wonder what keeps the wee souls from going insane?

So I think you can see that our task has nothing to do with, “Let’s explain the gospel to these poor sinners,” or, “Let’s see if I can convert one of them,” or, “Wouldn’t they really like to be with Jesus.” We have dear hearts who are in states that we would hate to be in. We would hate to be in that state. We would hate to have to face the realities of life without Jesus, without the feeling that he is watching us, and that our dear Father has works prepared beforehand for us to walk in, and we are not just little minions, little nothings. And I think that’s what God has for us.

I don’t think it’s always even talking about Jesus, but I do think it’s possible to speak to them as if they were Christians, that is, not with a whole other religious language, but remembering that they are in Jesus, and that there is a power that is working on their behalf. And you must admit, it’s remarkable how many of them say in their blind way, “Oh well, it wasn’t to be.” And sure, you’re not sure whether it’s that kind of fatalism or whether it’s belief in God’s providence, but still there is often enough of the witness of Jesus’ life in them that they will be able to catch on to some ideas.

I was explaining to someone about my heart thing, some medical person, and I forget who it was – and they had no Christianity in them at all. They said – yes, it was the little lady that did my ultrasonic, and she’s gabbling away and I’m convinced never – well, maybe goes to church but doesn’t have much belief. And so I explained to her when I was in Wake Medical hospital before. And she says, “Mr. O’Neill it was not your time.” And it seems to me, it’s always there. There’s something of the witness of Jesus even in the swearing type that you meet. And there’s something that can – you don’t need to work at it. If you work at it, it won’t come over right. All I’m saying to you is, it seems to me there’s nothing wrong with saying what comes naturally. And there’s nothing wrong when the finances are tight to say, “Well, there’s somebody that looks after the birds, and he probably has some interest in us, too.” But there are things that can be said on the basis of the truth that they are actually in Jesus.

And it seems to me that is part of the way faith is 'caught and not taught'. They catch from you an attitude that you yourself have. And they pick up a certain word here and there. And you’d be surprised how they quote it to their wife, or their husband, or their child, when they go home. But it seems to me those are the dear hearts that we visit. And those are the dear hearts that Jesus has sent us to. And they are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the promises: they have no idea of the covenants of promise. And many of them are without hope and without God in the world. And that’s why God has sent us to lost, and why your daily job is such a privilege.

Let us pray.

Dear Father, we can see some of their faces now, we can recall some of their words, we can remember some of their heartbreaking situations. And then we call to mind that you have them in your heart, and you are inside them. And all they need is faith, the ability to see what is real and true. And oh Lord, we pray that during this coming week you will give us the attitude, and the light, and the life, and the words, to move them forward a little in their perception, so that you can do the full work in their hearts.

And now the grace of our Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of us now and evermore. Amen.