¹¹ Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. ¹² In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. ¹³ But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. ¹⁵ He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. ¹⁶ Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

¹⁷ He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. ¹⁸ Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

¹⁹ So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. ²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²² Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:11-22

Dear God, the verse of the day from Bible Gateway was just verse 19, but I’m so glad I went back and picked up the context for it. As I slowly read through these 12 verses this morning, I kept thinking, “Oh, that’s great!” There is such good stuff in here. I think I just need to go verse by verse:

• Verse 11 – There was division among God’s creation. Gentiles were excluded from the blessing you gave to the Jewish people. How does that work? That’s an awful lot of people who lived and died without you. The vast majority, in fact. But it’s also interesting that Paul takes a little dig at the Jewish people saying their were Jewish and your people on the outside, but many were proud of that but did not submit their hearts to be conformed as their bodies were.
• Verse 12 – I think the key sentence in verse 12 is, “You lived in this world without God and without hope.” Hope in what? I’m sure if you had asked a Roman who was worshipping his or her idols they would have told you they were fine and had plenty of hope. I think part of the uniqueness of following you and your ways is that it’s how you taught us to live and experience your redemptive love for us that brings us a joy and peace we would never know otherwise. Forgiveness. Mercy. Love neighbor. Worship you, a God who loves me and wants me. I don’t know that any of the Roman or Greek idols were perceived to have wanted their worshippers. They needed them for their own egos, but I don’t think the other Gods wanted the people just because they loved them. So the hope I experience in you is wholly different than what an idol offers me. An idol is created to fulfill my desires and worshipped so that the god will agree to give me what I want. In this relationship with you, I am just yours and you are mine. And if I will live by Jesus’s instructions (see the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7), I will find great hope that is beyond what idol worshippers ever experience.
• Verse 13 – Jesus brought me near to you. Oh, Jesus, thank you for your blood. Thank you for your redemption. I know the Father has a list of the frustrations and pain I’ve caused him and others, including even myself. But he cannot see it through your blood. It’s gone. That’s amazing. He/you had no reason to do that for me except that you love me. Thank you.
• Verse 14 – We are one creation again. We are your human creation. No longer Jew or Gentile. Male or female. Slave or free. Jesus made us one with each other and you. He gave us that pathway. This whole passage is beautiful!
• Verse 15 – As I see this verse about “end[ing] the system of law with its commandments,” I can’t help but think about some of the American church who is convinced that children will be drawn to you and your Lordship by posting the 10 Commandments on classroom walls. I asked my wife recently what Bible passage she would put on a school wall if she could pick anything. Here answer was John 3:16. Yeah, I think that’s a better choice than the 10 Commandments too.
• Verse 16 – Our hostility towards other people is so ridiculous. I was at a college football game last night, and I sat next to two young women rooting for the other team. We had a nice time talking with them. It could have been hostile because we have constructed a division between us by getting behind our respective universities. But we kept is fun and gracious. But isn’t it interesting how much we, as your human creation, find ways to build our tribes so we feel like we can belong to it and get some of our self-worth out of that identification instead of simply getting that affirmation from your love? We are such fools.
• Verse 17 – Both groups needed your peace. Even though the Jewish people were nearer to knowledge of you, they still lacked the peace of forgiveness and mercy, both received and given. And the Gentiles had much to learn about you. But make no mistake, both groups needed your peace. As I think about the secular Israelis majority in Israel today, I wonder if this passage doesn’t describe both them and the Palestinians.
• Verse 18 – Jesus prayed for us to be one in John 17. He gave us the path through his redemption of our souls and he taught us what it would look like. Paul, Peter, and the other apostles tried to teach us too. If only we would follow your teaching.
• Verse 19 – Jesus brought me here to your feet this morning, Father. I am nothing if I wake up this Saturday morning with only my selfishness and need to fulfill my own desires over the next person’s. Help me to worship you and worship others like I should.
• Verse 20 – The foundation of your house for us (with many rooms?) is made up of the teaching and lives of the apostles and prophets. But Jesus is the cornerstone. You built the foundation for Jesus to build on, but he first standard setting stone sets the stage for the rest of our church.
• Verse 21 – And now we build from that cornerstone into your holy temple, both personally/individually and corporately. Oh, how we need to do better in both areas! How I need to do better in both areas! I need to be better about continually making you the cornerstone of my individual life, and I need to be better about building your church with you as the cornerstone.
• Verse 22 – And the temple isn’t just about having a place to perform. It’s a place about building an internal, personal culture as well as being part of building a dwelling where all of us can live under you and your authority.

Father, it was such a delight to spend this time thinking about these things this morning. Thank you. Thank you for all of this. I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

P.S. As I was closing, I got to thinking about John’s/Jesus’s letter to the church in Ephesus some years later. They did all the right things, but they lost their first love. And when they are just performing but they aren’t loving you as part of it, then the cornerstone is no longer setting the standard for the house. Help me to keep you as my cornerstone.