Abe and the Gospel Ship

Deb and I are on our first cruise.  Our ship is the Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world.  It holds 5,400 guests and 2,100 crew members.  

More than half these people are from countries other than the U.S.  This is literally a floating U.N.  And it is a beautiful parallel of God’s gracious saving act in Jesus.  

Just as He promises through Abraham to bless all nations the world, this massive ship safely carries people from just about every ethnic group on our journey.

While we ride as passengers on this huge cruise ship, God’s saints set sail on His amazing Gospel ship.

Paul tells the Galatians that they are saved through their faith in God just as Abe was.  No good works required.  No rule keeping needed.  The false teachers are wrong.  Very wrong.  

Once again, the apostle flips his Bible open to Genesis to explain the doctrine of justification by faith.  “We’re children of faith thanks to Abraham” (Gal 3:7).

He describes how the writers of Scripture looked into the future and saw how “God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (v8).  Paul uses the Greek word εθνος/ethnos to describe the Gentiles.  It’s where we get our English word “ethnic.”  

The Lord reveal to the prophetic authors how one day He would bless, save, and justify people from every ethnic group through the faith of Abraham.  He would actually do this through Abe’s descendant Jesus.

Paul uses a very interesting phrase when he writes how “the Scripture…preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham” (v8).  “Preached the Gospel”?  

In the OT?  Huh?  It’s another fabulous example that the Bible is really one story, not two.  And Jesus is THE Hero of that story.  The OT saints were saved the same way God saves believers in the NT.  By faith and trust in Him alone.

The apostle says that the Gospel that Abraham heard preached was God’s personal promise to him, “In you shall all the nations be blessed” (v8).  This is a quote from Genesis 16:3 that’s later repeated again in Genesis 18:18 and yet again in Genesis 22:18.

Here Paul equates the very words of Yahweh to Scripture.  This reminds us how the inspired words of the Bible are equal to hearing directly from the lips of the Lord.  It is indeed God’s holy Word.

God’s promise of future blessing qualifies as the Gospel because that future blessing of all the people groups of the world will happen through Abe’s eventual descendant, Jesus Christ, the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth. 

It is through Jesus that we receive that blessing.  What is that blessing?  Ultimately it is God Himself.  He is my portion(Ps 73:26; Lam 3:24).

The beauty of God’s Gospel ship as opposed to our cruise ship is that He is still accepting passengers, just as He has been for thousands of years.  He is welcoming aboard people from every country, race, language, and religious background.  

They don’t need a ticket.  They don’t need a passport.  If they’ve placed their trust in Jesus, He lovingly welcomes them aboard.

©2012 

Jay Jennings

Blowing Your Mind

to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8) 

Paul reminds his Ephesian friends that God has called him to blow their minds.  Christ selected the man from Tarsus for an assignment so crazy, so wild, that you can't begin to wrap your brain around it.  The apostle's job is "to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (v8).  Jesus handpicked this former Pharisee and rising superstar among the Jews to invite non-Jews to the party.

Gospel preached.  Minds blown.

That's the entire reason he's writing this letter from a Roman jail.  Just down the road in Colossae, a group of spiritual hucksters have spread a counterfeit gospel that's done great damage to the church there.  These snake oil salesmen have duped Jesus' followers into believing that Christ didn't really get the job done.  In order for us to REALLY be saved, we've gotta follow a long and complicated list of religious rules.  Specifically, in order to follow Jesus you have to be a Jew first.  This is devastating news to these new churches that are made up mostly of Gentiles.  Paul fires off a letter to the Colossians telling them to drop that stupid idea like it's hot.  And before he puts down his pen, he writes this important epistle to the folks in Ephesus, just 100 miles down the road from Colossae.

His purpose is just as urgent for us today as it was for the Ephesians 2000 years ago.  We desperately need to know EXACTLY who Jesus is.  We desperately need to know EXACTLY what He's done.  We desperately need to know EXACTLY who we are in Him.  We place our trust in His perfect life, not our own imperfect ones.  We place our trust in His death for sin, so that we don't have to.  He did it for us.  In many ways, there's no clearer or succinct announcement of the Good News that what a dying Jesus screamed from the cross.  "It is FINISHED!!!" (Jn 19:30).  It's over.  There's nothing more that needs to be done.  He's completed the work.  He's done for us what we could never do for ourselves.  That includes stuff like trying to follow Jewish religious rules, diet and holidays.

Christ then sent Paul on the mind-blowing mission of letting non-Jews know the doors of salvation are open to everyone.  A big stop on one of his world tours was Ephesus.  The apostle stayed there three years.  Three CRAZY years.  Three WILD years.  Exactly what happened?  Dr. Luke wrote all about it in Acts 19.  It's what happens when people try to wrap their brains around God's incredible goodness.

Jesus will blow your mind.  Always has.  Always will.

The apostle writes that he's telling the Gospel of Jesus to "Gentiles" (v8).  Actually the Greek term here is ethnos.  It's where we get our word ethnic.  It describes an ethnicity, a people group, a socio-political community or a cultural tribe.  Paul repeatedly uses the term in a plural form to describe non-Jews throughout the world.  For centuries, the Jews thought that they were the sole recipients of God's goodness as His chosen people.  But Jesus blasted down the walls of race, ethnicity, religion, class and gender (Eph 2:14; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11).  Messiah Jesus has made a way for everyone to have access to God.  For folks living in the Roman empire, this was crazy talk.  They couldn't wrap their brains around it.

Jesus will blow your mind.  Always has.  Always will.

When Paul searches for a word to describe God's gracious goodness, he comes up with "unsearchable" (v8).  It's the Greek adjective anexichniastos.  Looks like a mouthful, doesn't it?  It's beyond a mouthful.  It's beyond a mindful.  It means that which cannot be searched or comprehended.  Impossible for the mind to understand.  Beyond human discovery.  Fathomless.  Infinite.  Beyond your ability to imagine.  In other words, the incredibly Good News of Jesus is SO good that it will make your head hurt.  You want the truth about Jesus?  Well, you can't handle the truth...IN A GOOD WAY!!!  His goodness is SO good, His grace is SO gracious, that it's off the charts.  Off the scale.  Off the hook.  

Jesus will blow your mind.  Always has.  Always will.

How Did He Get There?

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles (Eph 3:1).

There's a reason we are where we are.  Maybe you're on a trip that you planned carefully.  Maybe you drove to work just like you do every day.  Maybe you're at a friend's house because he invited you over.  There's a reason we are where we are.  Well, our good friend Paul lets us know the reason he is where he is.  "For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles" (v1).  Where is he?  He's in the joint.  He's in the slammer.  Why is he there?  Because of the Gentiles.  Because of he's gone around the world telling non-Jews that Jesus has invited them to the party as well.

"For this reason" (v1).  Paul connects what he has just written with where he is now.  These three words point back to what he has just said.  And what was that?  Take a quick run through Eph 2:11-22.  Once and for all, Jesus has knocked down the walls of hostility that separated Jews and Gentiles.  For centuries, non-Jews have been on the outside looking in.  Way back when, God handpicked Abe and his family to be His chosen people.  They were the insiders.  Instead of shining a light of God's love and grace to a lost and dying world (Is 49:6), Jews hated Gentiles with a white-hot burning passion.  

Gentiles returned the favor.  It's hard for us to wrap around this racial and religious hatred and tension 2,000 years later.  Jews shut out Gentiles.  Gave them the Heisman.  They were outsiders.  Aliens.  Strangers.  Without God.  But Jesus has now included them in His God's kingdom.  As a matter of fact, the radical Rabbi from Nazareth didn't just bring two different races and bring them together.  He's created an entirely new people in Himself.  Jesus came with Good News for both insiders and outsiders: access to God through Him.  The Carpenter is constructing an incredible new building.  He's not just the Builder, He's the Cornerstone.  And He's crafting a custom home for His Spirit out of His followers.  That's what Paul's been telling the world.  That's the reason he's where he is today.

Before we go any further, let's take a moment to think about your racial and religious background.  How did you get here?  If you're Jewish, you can trace your heritage back to God's handpicked people.  But most of us who are Jesus' followers are Gentiles.  Outsiders without Jesus.  Aliens without Jesus.  God didn't have to do what He did and include us in His kingdom.  But He did.  And you can thank Jesus for that.  And you can thank Paul for dedicating his life to spreading the word.

As he writes to his friends in Ephesus, the apostle sits in a Roman prison cell.  How did he get here?  If you would've known Paul just a few years ago, you would've never seen it coming.  In the days following Jesus crucifixion, Paul was known as Saul.  He was no evangelist.  He was a terrorist.  A terrorist dedicated to wiping the Way off the face of the earth.  Saul may have grown up in Tarsus, but he was a rising superstar among the Jews.  Mentored by the great rabbi Gamaliel.  A member of the Pharisees, the Jewish major leagues.  Once the Sanhedrin had that crazy Carpenter out of the way, Saul volunteered to take care of the pesky "Jesus problem."  He worked coat check at the stoning of Stephen.  He dedicated his life to hunting down and killing Christ's followers wherever they were.  Sorry, Mike Tyson.  Saul was easily the Baddest Man on the Planet.

But something happened during a certain black ops mission to Damascus.  Or should I say Someone happened.  Saul and his covert team were on their way to take out another cell of Jesus' disciples.  Until Jesus Himself showed up.  The resurrected Christ jumps Saul out of nowhere and knocks him off his horse.  Jesus has new marching orders for His enemy.  Saul will be His "chosen instrument" to take His Gospel to the Gentiles.  Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor.  He selects the Jew of Jews to be His handpicked spokesman to Gentiles.  Let that madness sink in for just a moment.

Later Jesus changes Saul's name to Paul and sends His newest apostle on a series of expeditions across the Roman empire telling folks the Good News. Christ is throwing the doors open to both insiders and outsiders.  One of the key places Paul visits is Ephesus, a critical center of commerce and trade on the western coast of modern day Turkey.  He stays there for three years spreading the Word.  But as you might imagine, Jewish leaders aren't all that keen on opening their synagogue doors to unclean Gentiles.  So they give Paul the boot.  As a result, the gracious Gospel spreads like wildfire throughout the entire region.  

So just how did Paul become "a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles" (v1)?  How did he get here?  Dr. Luke wrote all about it in Acts, the sequel to his Gospel.  Word gets back to the Jewish home office in Jerusalem that the apostle is reaching out to filthy non-Jews.  Before you know it, Paul's under arrest and headed to Rome.  This is the first of two prison bids.  He waits for his appellate hearing before Caesar, certain he'll get out once the emperor hears the trumped up charges against him.  A few years later, he'll be back in the joint one last time.  And once again, it's because of his obedience to Jesus' call on his life as His agent to non-Jews.

And THAT'S how he got there.

Illegal Aliens

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Eph 2:19).

There's an immigration problem.  People everywhere who have no apparent legal right to be here.  Illegal aliens.  And there are plenty of folks who are upset that they're around.  No, I'm not talking about the United States in the 21st century.  Paul's talking about the church in the first century.  What began as a strictly Jewish sect is being overrun by Gentiles.  The church in Ephesus is a perfect case study.  But the apostle says something has happened.  Legals statuses have been changed.  "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (v19).  Outsiders are now insiders.  Illegal aliens are now legal citizens.  How in the world did this happen?

Call it naturalization through Jesus.

This is a HUGE first century deal that we have trouble wrapping our brains around 2,000 years later.  Jews and Gentiles did not get along.  There was hatred, prejudice and discrimination.  And it went both ways.  But something crazy happened.  Or should I say, Someone crazy happened.  Jesus hit the scene.  He came as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah.  But He also came as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29).  Christ came to knock down all the walls that separated not just Jews and non-Jews but every barrier between races, religions, cultures, nations and socio-economic status (Eph 2:13-16; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11).  He's not there just to bless the Jewish insiders.  He's come to transform outsiders into insiders.  To grant the blessings of kingdom citizenship

to illegal aliens.  

Naturalization through Jesus.

A massive controversy raged throughout the early church about the whole "Gentile issue."  That's a big part of the story throughout Acts and most of Paul's letters to the churches.  This firestorm led to a critical meeting of leaders at the home office in Jerusalem (Acts 15).  They eventually decided that if God was bringing non-Jews to the party, who were they to get in His way.  But there were plenty of folks who couldn't get this through their skulls.  It happened in Ephesus.  Paul saw it firsthand (Acts 19:9).  Just down the road in the churches of Galatia, Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea, Jews did everything to convince Jesus' followers that the only way to insure a place in God's kingdom was by becoming Jewish first.  Follow all the religious rules.  These false teachers spread a counterfeit gospel that told Gentiles they were illegal aliens unless they followed a VERY specific naturalization process.  

From a cold, dark cellblock in a Roman slammer, Paul furiously writes to his friends in Ephesus to let them know who Jesus is, what He's done for them and who they are in Him.  He knows that once they understand that, they won't fall for any spiritual snake oil salesman peddling the not-so-good news.  They're citizens.  Christ has seen to it personally.

Naturalization through Jesus.

Paul reminds his non-Jewish buddies of their illegal status before the resurrected Rabbi got involved on their behalf.  They were "strangers" (v19).  This is the Greek word xenos, which means foreigner, stranger, alien, citizen of a foreign land, refugee or someone excluded.  It's where we get our term xenophobia, the fear of foreigners.  It describes someone who does not belong to a particular socio-political group.  Something or someone on the outside looking in.  That's the core meaning of the word throughout the Bible.  Jesus told His crew that there are times when they loved on Him when they didn't recognize Him.  "I was a stranger (Gr. xenos) and you welcomed Me" (Mt 25:35).  Jewish leaders used the bribe Judas rejected to buy "a burial place for strangers (Gr. xenos)" or foreigners (Mt 27:7).

Before Jesus threw open the doors of His kingdom, that's exactly where Gentiles were.  On the outside looking in.  Paul used the same word earlier just a few verses ago when he first talked about this same idea.  "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers (Gr. xenos) to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (Eph 2:12).  Even insiders, folks who knew they part of God's chosen people, saw themselves as outsiders.  The people listed in Hebrews Faith Hall of Fame "acknowledged that they were strangers (Gr. xenos) and exiles on the earth" (Heb 11:13).  One day, we'll all be home.  At home with Jesus.

Naturalization through Jesus.

The apostle goes on to remind Gentiles of where we were before Christ jumped in.  We were "aliens" (v19) or  paroikos.  This describes a stranger, exile, foreigner or sojourner.  It literally means "near the house."  These outsiders are pretty close to being on the inside but not quite.  Close but no cigar.  On the outside looking in.  The word paints a picture of someone who lives for a period of time in a foreign place.  Someone on the move who can't settle down.  Someone always on the move.  A man without a country.  A high plains drifter.  It's how God described how His chosen people would wander around as strangers before He brought them into the promised homeland (Acts 7:6).  But because of what Jesus has done for us, we have a home.  

Naturalization through Jesus.

If folks think the citizenship process in the United States is difficult, it doesn't hold a candle to getting into God's kingdom.  That takes perfection.  Complete obedience.  Let's face it.  With those rules, NOBODY gets in!  But that's where Jesus comes in.  He lived the perfect life that we failed to live.  He died the brutal death for sin that we should have died.  He rose to the glorious new life that we don't deserve.  He did for us what we could never do for ourselves in a million years.  We would never make it through His citizenship process without Him.  We're on the other side of the river.  We're on the far side of the fence.  

But in Christ, we're "fellow citizens" (v19).  Paul uses the compound word sumpolites, which describes one who possesses the same citizenship of others.  In Jesus, we have full citizenship.  In Jesus, we have the rights of every other citizen.  In Jesus, we're no longer outsiders.  In Jesus, we're now insiders.  In Jesus, we can never be deported.

Jesus solves our immigration problem.  Naturalization through Jesus.

Jesus the Wall Buster

For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility (Eph 2:14).

Knocking down walls is a big part of any renovation project.  Open things up.  Make rooms bigger.  Whether it's with a sledgehammer or a wrecking ball, walls are coming down.  

Paul lets us know that Jesus is busting down the walls of race, culture and religion in our lives.  "For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility" (v14).  

In order for Christ to bring enemies together, He has to knock down the walls that separate us first.  The fall of the Berlin Wall is nothing compared to the wrecking ball Jesus uses on our prejudice and discrimination.

The walls are coming down.

From a Roman prison, Paul writes to a church in Ephesus that's predominantly made up of Gentiles.  On his first visit to the big port city, the apostle first reached out to Jews at the synagogue with the Good News of Messiah Jesus but was soon given the boot (Acts 19:9-10).  He moved to a local convention center called the Hall of Tyrannus and expanded his outreach to non-Jews (Acts 19:11).  

Ephesus was a crossroads of cultures, races and religions.  The new church there was a perfect reflection of it.  Call it a melting pot.  Call it a mutt.  And it would be the birth of arguably the most important church in the entire New Testament.  Paul started it.  Timothy pastored it.  John taught it.  Jesus wrote to it.

Paul reminds his Ephesian friends how the radical and risen Rabbi has brought together one-time enemies in a brand new way.  "For He Himself is our peace" (v14).  Only Jesus could pull this off.  He brings the end of fighting with each other and fighting with God.  

But the writers of the Bible mean so much more than the lack of war when they talk of peace.  This is the equivalent to Hebrew word "shalom."  Sure, it means peace.  But it's SO much more.  It's a picture of perfect order.  God's intended rhythm for life that we destroyed with sin at the fall.  Jesus is bringing shalom back.

There's no doubt that He's the God-Man for the job.  Isaiah called Him "Prince of Peace" (Is 9:6) about 700 years before Jesus was born.  Right before His crucifixion, He made sure to let His posse know that His peace was like no other.  "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you" (Jn 14:27).  

Christ made it clear that those who act as agents of God's shalom have a special place in His kingdom.  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Mt 5:9).  He is the source of the peace so deep, so rich, that we can't wrap our brains around it (Phil 4:6).  Jesus is our peace.  The bumper stickers are right.  Know Jesus, know peace.  No Jesus, no peace.

Jesus is the ultimate Unifier.  He's the One "who has made us both one" (v14).  The "both" he's talking about are Jews and Gentiles.  Christ transforms two longtime enemies into one family.  He's transforms two opponents into teammates.  He's transforms two completely different groups into one new entity.  

We see this all throughout the New Testament.  It's His specialty.  He's the Reconciler (2Cor 5:16-20).  Like the divine Botanist, He's grafting us together into one organism (Rom 11:11-24). 

Jesus is the ultimate Wall Buster.  He "has broken down in HIs flesh the dividing wall of hostility" (v14).  This "dividing wall" is the Greek noun mesotoichon, which describes a barrier that separates, fence, obstacle or partition.  

There's another word in the original text that doesn't show up in the ESV: phragmos.  A hedge, fence, something that blocks up or enclosure.  It's where we get our word fragment.  These walls of prejudice had fragmented mankind.

These walls are coming down.

Back in first century Palestine, landowners put up fences or walls to protect their property.  This is the hedge that separates the Master's vineyard (Mt 21:33).  In Jesus' story of the big party, folks were to beat the bushes along the highway to invite people (Lk 14:23).  

Here Paul is talking about an obstacle to interpersonal relationships.  Specifically, Jews and Gentiles.  At the temple in Jerusalem, there was a wall that separated an area call the Court of the Gentiles.  Non-Jews were restricted from the rest of the temple complex.  In many ways, it symbolized the racial, religious, social and cultural divide between Hebrews and everyone else.

These walls are coming down.

The level of tension between Jews and Gentiles at that time is hard to fathom.  Paul uses the Greek word echthra.  It describes an active hostility between people.  Racial hatred was expressed openly and actively.  

God originally handpicked Abe's descendants as a source of blessing to the entire world (Gen 12:3-4; 18:18).  One day, He would use them to bring forth His long promised Messiah (Gen 22:18; Is 49:6).  

But there was one big problem.  His chosen people had grown arrogant.  They hated the filthy and disgusting non-Jews.  And Gentiles returned the favor.  Racial discrimination.  Prejudice.  Hatred.

These walls are coming down.

Dr. King's dream is Jesus' reality.  He's knocking down the walls of racial discrimination and creating one new race.  Something brand new, something radically different is happening.  Only Christ could take one of the proudest and most arrogant Jews on the planet and transform him into His "chosen instrument" to non-Jews (Acts 9:15).  

This same Paul wrote to folks over in Colossae that Jesus is creating an entirely new people.  "Here here is not Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Schythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all" (Col 3:11).  

And just so you know that wasn't a slip of Paul's pen during a weak moment, he told the Galatians the same thing.  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:27).  

These walls are coming down.

So where are these walls in my life?  In your life?  Is there a group of people you have "issues" with?  Who are the folks that you simply don't like?  It doesn't matter if it's another race, a different culture, folks on the other side of tracks, people who work in another department, your competition in business.  

You may want to step back.  Jesus is the ultimate Wall Buster.  These walls are coming down.