The New Man - One Body

Well, let's take our Bibles and let's go back to Ephesians chapter 2. You know, sometimes I will get a text message from some of you that will say, "Pastor, where are we going this coming up week?" And you know, if it's not a message where I'm interrupting my series or our series, I'm just going to be in the next verses. And if you know me, I'm going to take about three or four, maybe five verses, and we're going to take our time with those verses. So if you read three or four verses ahead, really, you should be reading a chapter or two ahead. You can keep up with me. And that's just my style.

I want to take our time and try to get all that we can get. So this morning we're going to be just in a few verses. I desire to cover a few more, but I feel like we really need to spend some time here in verses 14 to 16. And I'm really not going to reference any more verses other than a couple that I have referenced the last couple of messages. Now I think most of you know that last week we started verses 11 to 22. That is the second half of the chapter, the second section of the chapter. Of course, we didn't cover all those verses. We covered a lot of ground only in verses 11 to 13.

And in 11 to 13, we studied what I called aliens brought near to God. Aliens brought near to God. Of course, we were not looking at illegal aliens or space aliens. We were looking at spiritual aliens. You know, some of you are good at some comical and snarky remarks. Last week I was expecting somebody to come up and say, "Well, Pastor, I thought you were going to talk about space aliens or something like that." No, it's right out of the scripture. We looked at aliens who were brought near to God. Now if you didn't get that message, you need to go back and get that because these all build together. They flow together.

And sometimes if we miss a message or two, we can be a little disconnected from the current message. Well, in verses 11 to 13 last week, we saw that Paul was writing to a particular group of people there in the Ephesian church who were at one time alienated. Another way we can say it is that they were separated from God. And Paul showed us that they were separated from God in many ways and on many, many levels. But ultimately they were completely and totally alienated from God because of their spiritual condition, because of their spiritual separation from God. And you know, I'm very thankful Paul did not stop there.

He did not stop with the bad news. He moved on to the good news. He showed us that these people, they were brought near to God by Christ, the atoning work of Christ on the cross. And of course, this group that he was addressing, they were the Gentiles or the non-Jewish peoples within the Ephesian church who had come to Christ. This is all part of God's master plan for the salvation of man in that he includes Jew and Gentile. Now we need to remember that Paul was calling them to remember. That's a kind of a mouthful. We need to remember that Paul was calling them to remember.

He was calling these Gentile believers to remember who they were before they were brought near to God in Christ. Look back at verse 11 and verse 12. Paul says, "Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision." And then verse 12, "Remember that you were at one time separated or alienated from Christ." We see that he was calling them to remember. But a question, why was Paul doing this? Why was he calling the Gentile believers to remember who and what they were? I talked about this a little bit last week.

It can seem that Paul was highlighting their old differences and even reminding them of their old divisions and hostilities. It can look like he was even creating division and strife by reminding them of their past. But what was he doing? Verse 11 to 13 with Galatians 3.28. Galatians 3.28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There is no male and female for you are all one in Christ." And then Colossians 3.11, verse 11 it says, "Here there is not Greek or Jew circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free. But Christ is all and in all." Well why was Paul calling them to remember?

He was reminding them of who they were before Christ. The fact that they were at one time far, far, far away from God. And he was reminding them that through the blood of Jesus Christ they had been brought near to God. They were separated from God who brought them near to God. And they needed to remember these things. I said this last week. This was meant to produce a work of humility in these Gentile Christians. Paul wanted to produce humility and thankfulness and ultimately to lead them to worship in their lives. I said this last week that humility is one of the keys to unity and oneness.

And unity and oneness is what Paul was wanting to build up in the lives of these Christians. And he wanted to squash any division that may be creeping into the church. But what about the Jews in the church? Paul seems to only be addressing the Gentiles. Look at how Paul only addressed Gentiles in verses 11 to 12. He used the personal pronoun "you", "you", "you". He was addressing the Gentiles. And it can seem that Paul was not addressing the differences, the divisions and even the centuries old hostilities from the Jewish side of things. It wasn't only that the Gentiles were guilty of these divisions and hostilities and hatreds, no.

And it can seem that he was not addressing the pride in the arrogance that the Jews had as they looked down on all of these Gentile peoples, even as they hated them. But that's not the case. Paul is not overlooking the Jews. He's not giving them some kind of preferential treatment. Starting in verse 14, Paul begins to show that through the blood of Christ, God has unified them both. That has been Paul's goal all along here. He wanted both the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians to see and experience the unity and the oneness that was brought about by God through Christ.

Starting in verse 14, Paul is explaining how this work of unity and oneness took place and what it actually meant for the church as God's redeemed people. So here, starting in verse 14, I want us to see that Paul shows us four things that God did as he made them one. Four things that God did as he made them one. He shows us four things that God did as he united them and made them as one through Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Now I'll give you the first two. When we get to our third major truth, I'll give you the second two. So you see there before you, Christ brought peace between them. It's out of verse 14.

And then in the first part of verse 15, we're going to look at the fact that Christ brought peace between them and God. Verse 14 and verse 15 is all about peace between them and between them and God. So let's get started in our message and what I mean by that is, let's look at our first major truth. Number one, Christ brought peace between them. Paul is showing them and reminding them. Paul is showing us that Christ Jesus brought peace between or to the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Now it is important to see that Jesus and Jesus alone has done this work. Notice the language here.

It says, "For he himself." Look at your copy of God's Word in verse 14. "For he himself." It is repetitive there, almost a little redundant. That's because this language is in the emphatic. And this shows us that Paul was emphasizing that it was Jesus himself who did the work. He personally did this work, not simply his message that he did proclaim, not simply all of the works that he did do. He personally did the work. And notice what he did here. First he brought peace. Look at the beginning of verse 14. "For he himself is our peace." Now we need to ask, what is this peace? Is it simply the absence of conflict?

If we think about it, when we think about this word, peace, we can usually think about or talk about conflict and war. We can think about it like this. Peace is the absence of conflict, the absence of war. Well that is a part of what we see here, but there is a lot more. This peace that Paul is referring to speaks of a union. It speaks of a joining together. The Jews and the Gentiles here were at one time separated from one another in so many ways. They had different religions and even different gods. They had different values and different morals. They had different cultures and different histories, even different countries.

They were different and separated in every way, but then they were united in that they were redeemed in Christ. They were unified so they were at peace. Now yes, there was the absence of conflict. The conflict that was between them. The hostility that was between them. They had all the same experience of being redeemed by Christ. Now they worship the same God and the Messiah. Now they believed in the same scriptures and after they were redeemed, they belonged to the same group and the same family. Not a Jewish group or family. Not a Gentile group or a Gentile family, but the church. The spiritual family of God.

I like how Albert Barnes says it. It's a good description of this and I'm quoting him. He says the best way to produce peace between alienated minds is to bring them to the same Savior. That's real simple, but true. The best way to produce peace between alienated minds is to bring them to the Savior and at its basic level, that is what took place. They truly had the same Savior. Therefore they were at peace. Now notice it wasn't just Christ's message that did this. Christ personally did this. Then second, he made them both one. Look back at verse 14. For he himself is our peace.

He's talking to the Jews and the Gentiles who has made us both one. Now I like how the new American standard says this. For he himself is our peace who made both groups into one. Now the English standard says who made both one. Now why does the new American state it that way? It's because they are emphasizing the work here. I bring that up to emphasize what Paul is saying and what Paul is trying to help us understand. Paul is saying that Christ made both groups, the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians into one. And this is a lot more than getting these two groups in the same room.

This is a lot more than getting these two groups to even sit down and eat a meal. This is even a lot more than even getting them to come together and to be nice to one another. No, this goes much, much deeper than that. This was a supernatural, spiritual, even mystical work. In certain ways this is a lot like what happens in a marriage. Think about that. It's a lot like what happens in a marriage. The two become one. The two become one. We cannot fully understand or explain what happens in a marriage nor what happens here, but simply this is it.

Because both groups have union with Christ and the work of Christ in them, the two separate groups are united to form one new group. I know I shared this last week, but it needs to be heard again. The Bible commentator William Macdonald describes this very well and I'm quoting, "Jesus not only brought them near, He also created a new society in which the ancient enmity between Jew and Gentile was forever abolished." I know this is where it gets good and I'm still quoting. Up to New Testament times, all the world was divided in the two classes, Jew and Gentile.

And our Savior has introduced a third or a third class, the church, the church of God. And remember, it was Christ that did this, not just His message. It wasn't because of the miracles, it was Christ. And then third, He broke down the dividing wall. He broke down the dividing wall. This comes the second part or the third part of verse 14. "For He Himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility." Here we see how the different translations deal with this passage. This is why it's good sometimes to read various translations. The New American Standard says barrier and dividing wall.

The King James kind of says it similar by saying middle wall, middle wall of partition. And in the original language, there are two words, two words, just like the New American Standard uses. When this word speaks, the first word speaks of a fence or a railing or a barrier. But the second word literally means a middle wall. Now chances are the Gentiles might not have known what Paul was saying here or what he was alluding to here, but oh, the Jews knew exactly what he was alluding to. Paul was alluding to the temple and the separation of the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple.

That was because the Gentiles only had access to part of the temple. And there was actually a wall that separated the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple. And on that wall for all to see was this huge sign that read, "No Gentile may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary in enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his insuring death." This was real. This was a real physical wall. And it illustrated the differences, the separation, the hostilities, even the hatred between the Jews and the Gentiles. But what about this wall?

Well, this spiritual wall, this spiritual wall was demolished in Christ on the cross. The idea here is that through Christ's work on the cross, these Gentiles can now have access to God that was what's reserved for the Jews. And interestingly, the physical wall in the temple, it was destroyed in 70 AD when Israel was judged for rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. The wall, the temple, and all of Jerusalem was destroyed. And look, that separating wall there, that physical wall that separated the Gentiles from the Jews in worship, it was no more. And remember, it was Christ who did this demolition work with the spiritual wall and the physical wall.

Christ did this demolition work. So in verse 14, Paul was making a big transition and he was revealing a very personal work, a work of Christ. It was Jesus who brought peace between the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers. It was Jesus that made the two parts one. He took the Gentile part and the Jewish part and he made them a new whole. And it was Jesus that broke down that dividing wall, that dividing wall that was between the two. Now, a question I want you to ponder over. Are there dividing walls between Christians today? Are there dividing walls between peoples today?

Are there dividing walls between people and the life of the church today? Are there dividing walls? I was reminded of something that I have kept in my office for years. It's a church bulletin. I think one of the strange things about pastors is that they will pick up things like church bulletins and look at them in a different way than you do. I usually collect those kind of things, maybe trying to borrow an idea. But I have a church bulletin from 1977. It's from my grandfather's hometown where my mother grew up. It's from Woodville Baptist Church.

Now I know people who go there and I'm sure there are some dear, fine Christians there, so I'm not disparaging them. In the timeframe which I'm going to reference, I'm sure there were some fine Christians there then. So I'm not disparaging them. I'm just pointing something out. But on the front of the bulletin from 1977, Woodville Baptist Church, on the front of the bulletin there's a history of the church. Their history goes back to the end of the 1700s. It's an interesting history.

But then at the bottom of the little historical paragraph there, they go on to talk about the fact that the Woodville Baptist Church sanctuary is the oldest church building in the state. But they say that the brick from the sanctuary were actually formed there on site and built with slave labor in 1809. And you know I've pondered that for years. You know above that little paragraph it says that all are welcome to come and worship, but not in 1809. Oh they might have been able to come, the slaves. Chances are they were able to sit maybe in the balcony. But I thought about that dividing wall, that dividing wall.

I wonder how many walked by that church and thought I can't go in there and worship. You see? Now that's an ugly part of our history. Sometimes they can get messy when we start talking about those things. But that was real. And I thought about all of the cultural and the racial, all of the dividing walls there in that day and that time. And that shouldn't have been. Those people should have been able to come and sit right down next to anybody and everybody, rich or poor, black or white, and worship all together. Why? Because there is no Gentile. In Christ all are one.

And there should be peace among all men, all brothers and sisters in Christ. So my question for us is this. Are there any dividing walls? And see the lesson for us is this. We can never have dividing walls within the life of our church. And oh brother, oh sister, church listen. There will be a day when something will come along and if we do not deal with it right, it will produce dividing walls, dividing walls, dividing walls. Remember what Galatians 3.28 says? There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ. And then the second thing or the second major truth.

We see that Christ brought peace between them and God. Now this is at the beginning of verse 15. Now we need to see that this is connected to what we've just seen. We need to see that this all comes together. Let me go back and read verse 14 and get into verse 15. And I'm going to ask a question in between and you'll see how they're connected. Verse 14, "For he himself is our peace. He has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility." Well how did he do that? By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances.

Here Paul is saying that Christ broke down the barrier, the dividing wall between the two and he brought peace between the two, making the two one. And he did this work by bringing peace between them and God by abolishing the law of commandments and the ordinances. Now seeing what the law of commandments and these ordinances are, that's important. But there are two things we need to do here first. First of all, we need to see that the law of God is good. We need to see that the law of God is good. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that God's law is right, God's law is just and God's law is good, but there's a problem.

Not with God's law, but with man's ability to keep God's law. You see the unredeemed man is unable to keep the demands of the law. A couple of verses for you to write down and study and read. Romans 3 starting in verse 19, "Those verses show us the goodness of the law of God." And then Romans 7 starting in verse 12, "Those verses show us that man can't keep God's law." But we must see that God's law is good. It's just that man can't keep that law. But then second, the moral law of God is not abolished, never abolished. The scriptures are clear that God's moral law was not abolished.

We know this because Jesus taught man's responsibility to keep his moral law. We see this in the Sermon on the Mount in other places. And God's moral law was summarized in the Ten Commandments, and then it is further explained all throughout New Testament teaching. And we must see that God's moral law is a reflection of God's holy nature and the perfect standard that man should live. So we must see that the moral law of God is not abolished. Well with those two possible mistakes out of the way, we can't make those mistakes, we have to ask what is Christ abolishing here?

Go back to the verse, "By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances." What is all that? Paul is saying that Christ Jesus abolished or made powerless the ceremonial laws which caused this very clear separation between the Jew and the Gentile. Under the ceremonial law, Jews could not socialize with Gentiles in any way, the food laws and the washing laws, and the possibility of ceremonial contamination made it impossible for a Jew to eat or to touch or to socialize with the Gentile in any way. Also under the ceremonial laws, Jews could not worship with the Gentile.

A Gentile could not enter into certain portions of the temple where the Jews could, so they could not worship together even when that Gentile was a convert to Judaism. And certainly a good Jew would not worship with a Gentile in their pagan temple, no. And those are just a few ways that the ceremonial laws separated the Jew and the Gentiles. But here Paul says that these ceremonial restrictions and distinctions and requirements were abolished, they were removed, they were made ineffective. By Christ suffering on the cross, He took away the power of the ceremonial law, making it powerless and ineffective. And what was the result?

The separation, the enmity between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians, it was gone. So in Christ, they could socialize together and would, because the food laws and the washing laws, those ceremonial, unclean things, that was all done away with. Also the risk of contamination was done away with because those laws were abolished as well. And more importantly, in Christ, they could worship together. They weren't confined to worship in the temple. That had all been done away with. All they had to do was worship in spirit and in truth. You see? And remember, this was personal. Christ did this. Not just His message, not the miracles.

Christ Himself did this. If you read those scriptures, you will see that it is Christ that did it. Now in application, I have a question for you. Are you in Christ? Have you been converted to Christ? And it doesn't matter if you were 9 or 19. You know, we don't deal with that. Were you converted to Christ? Have you come to faith in Christ? Was there a point in time when God showed you your sin and your need of Christ? And you had this understanding that you were a sinner and He was righteous and He died for you. And by faith, you committed your life to Christ. And you were changed from the inside out.

Maybe you didn't fully understand the change, but as you got into the scriptures, you understood more and more of what God did. Are you in Christ? Have you been made alive in Christ? Have you been born of the Spirit? Are you a new creation? See if you're not, you can't enter into God's presence. You can't. And somehow, someway, now look at this, you can't enter into God's presence with God's people. See, they're over there living for the Lord, talking about scripture, and you're on the outside looking in. You see, there's that dividing wall. There's that dividing wall. Remember the inscription on the dividing wall?

Remember now, as they all came to worship at the temple, there was the court of the Gentiles, they could only go so far, those Jews could go further in. There was this massive wall there, and on that wall, what did it say? No, Gentile may enter within the barricade, which surrounds the sanctuary, the enclosure. Anyone, any Gentile who is caught doing so, will have himself to blame for what? For death. They couldn't go in, and if they tried, they died. And what I'm trying to show you is this. You cannot go in. You can't. And you can't go in with God's people.

And oh, listen, listen my friend, if you die and stand before Christ in your condition, you will die. That spiritual death. We discussed that Wednesday night when we studied the parable of the dragnet. Well, let's continue. Let's continue. I want us to see our second major truth. I'm going to give you the second one, or excuse me, the third one and the fourth one. Let's look at our third major truth. Christ made them one new man. We see this in verse 15. Christ Jesus made the Jews and the Gentiles one new man. Let's go back to the verse. How did he do all that he said he did in verse 14?

By abolishing the law of the commandments, expressing the ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. Here we see that Jesus himself is still at work. He did all that we have been studying and seeing for one purpose. He did all of this marvelous work for one reason so that he may make or create one new man. See where he's going? Now, if we're not careful, we can miss what is happening here. And there are two mistakes that we can make, which will cause us to miss what's happening in this part of verse 15. Notice that there are two things that Jesus is not doing.

First Jesus was not bringing the Gentiles from down low up to a better place with the Jews. The Jews were not somehow in some better place and the Gentiles were not somehow in a worse place. It could be real easy for some of you to think like that. You see the Jew and the Gentile were both dead in their trespasses and their sins. Remember, we've learned that they were dead. Both were dead. And we see this fact taught in Romans 3 verse 9. There were some that were arguing that the Jews were somehow better off than the Gentiles. And what does Paul do? He rebukes it. He says, "What then? Are we Jews any better off?" No. Not at all.

He was on the safe floor. We have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are all under sin. Second Jesus was not bringing the Jews and the Gentiles together to somehow make a better man. He was not making a better man, but a new man. In 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Paul says that if any man, any man, Jew and Gentile, Paul says if any man is in Christ, he is a better creation. Does he say that? He says if any man be in Christ, he is a better version of what he once was. Did he say that? No. He says he is a new creation. Now, with those possible misconceptions out of the way, this will be rather short. Look what Jesus is doing here.

First, Christ Jesus creates one from two. He creates one from two. Now the idea here is to make or to create, to manufacture, to bring into existence. Christ is doing this. Second, Christ makes two into one new man. Simply, this is an entirely new humanity, not a better version of the old. One commentator said it like this, this isn't some kind of a hybrid. You know what a hybrid is? It's not some kind of a hybrid. No. This is a completely new creation. And look folks, understanding this enables us to see that these Christians in the Ephesian church were not Jewish and they were not Gentile anymore.

But oh, one step further, they were not Jewish Christians nor Gentile Christians anymore. No. They were a completely new person. They were Christian. All former differences and distinctions were gone. And to bring any differences, any distinctions into the church would be to deny what Jesus has created. He had completely created a completely new man. Remember our Galatians 3 passage? With all that we've studied so far, this could cause verse 28 in Galatians 3 to really resonate with you. What does Paul say? There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male or female for you are all one in Christ. One in Christ.

I love some further insights that I stumbled upon in some study. Really last night, I glanced back at what William McDonald said here and he's talking about the newness here. Remember this new man, this new creation, he says it is new that a Gentile should have equal rights and privileges with the Jew. Oh, they didn't have equal rights and privileges before. McDonald says it is new that both Jews and Gentiles should lose their national identities by becoming Christians. Listen, folks, it would be contradictory to the text here to say that they were Jewish, Christian and Gentile. Christian, no, they were Christian.

He goes on to say, it is new that the Jews and Gentiles should be fellow members of the body of Christ until then they had always been divided. And he says it is new that a Jew should no longer be under the law. Oh, that was really new for those Jews. You know, I thought about a way that we could illustrate this. This is rather simplistic. If I told you that I had a box full of gold, you'd love to have it, wouldn't you? Especially in today's economy. You know, we worry about them printing more and more paper money. Gold seems to hold its value or get more valuable.

But you know, if I told you that I could take a little bit of dirt here and a little bit of dirt there and put it together and you could get gold, you would jump on that proposition, wouldn't you? You know, I thought about it like this. The Gentiles, they were nothing but dirt. Dead. Sinners. Hostile to God. The Jews were nothing but dirt. They were the same way. There's no difference between Jew and Gentile. And God took a little dirt over here. The Gentiles and a little dirt over there, the Jews. And he made gold. No he didn't. He made something completely new. He made the church. He made a completely new race of people.

Now let me tell you something, folks. I believe churches rarely experience that and understand that. I believe differences in hostilities and you're like this and I'm like that. I believe that kind of thinking stays in the minds and the hearts of Christians and people in the life of the church for years. And it takes a supernatural work of God to get all of that out. His church should be comprised of one new man. So much so that a Jewish Christian would never even look at that Gentile Christian and think he's Gentile. Why? We're all one. And then number four, I want us to see that Christ made them one body. We see this in verse 16. Verse 16.

I'm going to go back and read all of our verses because they just all flow together. For he himself is our peace who made us both one and is broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. How did he do it? By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in the ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and sees continuing and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility. We see our fourth major truth, Christ made these formerly Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians one body. And here we still see Christ personally at work.

He did all of this marvelous work for one reason so that he may make and create one man. We've seen that but there's more. And just like we cannot overlook what happened in the previous verse, we can't miss what's happening here. Christ is doing two things. Two things. First he is reconciling them both to God. We see that at the beginning of verse 16. In all of the translations we use, we see this word reconcile. It's in the English standard, the New American and the King James. Now the meaning of this word carries the idea of restoring something. It carries the idea of bringing something or someone from one state to another.

It also carries with it the idea of moving something or someone from hostility to friendship. And here it applies to both the Jews and the Gentiles. As before they were alienated from God and hostile to God through the blood of Christ, they have been reconciled to God. So he is reconciling them both from alienation and hostility. Now notice how this happened. Look at the end of verse 16. This all happened because of the work of the cross. Jesus personally did this. So first he is reconciling them both to God. He is reconciling them both to one body. He is reconciling them both into one body. We see that in the verse.

Now this one body is not the crucified body of Christ and this is the glorified body of Christ. This is a reference to a completely new body. Simply this is a reference to the church. And notice something how this all fits together with verse 15. In verse 15 we see that they were created as one new man. A completely new man not a hybrid. Well in verse 16 we see that they were created as one new body. A completely new body not a hybrid or a blend of Jew and Gentile. A new spiritual man and a new spiritual body. Notice how verse 16 is a wonderful summation of all that is going on here. Through the cross God put to death all hostilities.

The Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians were reconciled to God and reconciled to each other. Reconciled to each other and reconciled to God. And through this work God formed one completely new body, one completely new man. One completely new man, one completely new body. See there should be no such thing as a black church. There should be no such thing as an African American church. There should be no such thing as a white church. There should be no such thing as an Indian church or a Filipino church or a Hispanic church because there is one body and one new man.

How do certain peoples gather together and worship together and is that always wrong? No. But what I'm trying to show you is this. There should be one body and one new man. One new body, one new man. You see? I'll go a little deeper. There shouldn't be a Calvinist church and a non-Calvinist church. There shouldn't be an Armenian church and a non-Armenian church. There really shouldn't be a Methodist church or a Baptist church or a Presbyterian church or a non-denominational church. Pastor, you're getting a little personal there.

You might say, "Pastor, you're getting very complicated there." You might say, "Pastor, how are you going to untangle all of that?" What does the text say? There should be one body, one man, one new man, one new body. Well, you might ask, "Pastor, what do we do with these differences?" Is it wrong for a church to be comprised of all black people? Is it wrong for a church to be comprised of all white people? Is it wrong for some of the theological persuasion to be over here and some that are a little different to be over there? Is it wrong to have a Baptist church or a Presbyterian church or a non-denominational church? Yes and no, no and yes.

You know how sometimes I'll preach lessons back into the verses? I think I'll just preach myself into a lesson back into these verses. We do need to ask ourselves why we have those differences and we need to compare those differences to what these verses say. Now as I begin to conclude, I want us to see that Paul had a two-fold purpose here with these Jewish Christians and these Gentile Christians. But wait a minute, I don't think I'm supposed to say that anymore. They are one body, one people, one new man, right? First I want us to see that Paul had the purpose of producing humility.

I've already pointed to this and I've said this several times, but Paul was reminding them of who they were and what they were before they came to Christ. Paul's purpose was that they would be humbled. Paul wanted them to have hearts of gratitude towards God and a renewed worship of God because he knew that if they were humble before God in a new and in a fresh way, they would be humbled towards one another, you see? And humility is one of the keys to rebuilding and maintaining and growing this oneness and this unity in Christ, this oneness and this unity that he saved them for.

And humility is one of the keys to dispelling any division, to get rid of any strife, to getting rid of any hostilities that may be creeping in. So humility. But the second purpose was this word privilege, this word privilege. See Paul was calling them and wanting them to see that they had this wonderful privilege that they had enjoyed. They had this wonderful privilege of being the people who were reconciled to God. He was calling them to see the great privilege that they had and that they enjoyed by being reconciled to one another. And listen, it was a glorious privilege to be a part of this one new man.

It was a wonderful honor to be a part of this one new body. See folks, they were recipients of what the Old Testament saints like Abraham never had. They were enjoying what the Old Testament saints only hoped for. They were enjoying a privilege that their Gentile forefathers never had and the privilege that their Jewish forefathers never saw coming, you see? So a couple of questions begin to close. Do we need a little dose of humility here? Do we need to remember who we were and what we were outside of Christ? Do we? I think we all do. And do we see the wonderful privilege that we have?

Not that we're somebody, but that Christ did this in us and for us. Christ did this, folks. Do we see the privilege that we have? And look, I'm going to speak straight to Christ's life folks here. And folks, we have a wonderful privilege of being what? One new man and one new people, the church. The greatest privilege in the world, the greatest honor and oh, the greatest responsibility. Now what's the title of the message? The new man, one body. The new man, one body. And I think you're beginning to see that Paul's number one goal in all of these verses is about oneness, unity, unity and oneness.

So let's pray and let's ask God to take what we've studied and apply it to our lives according to our need and also to apply it to our church according to our need.