For the 7th Sunday after Pentecost the Series B readings are Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:11-22 and Mark 6:30-44. The text to be examined for a Sunday sermon is Ephesians 2:14, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us.”
For some the cross is an example to follow; for others it is a mistake by the Father and for others it is a terrible event during which a father kills his son. Coming to understand the essence of the cross goes a long way in knowing how to witness and what to say. The essential meaning of the cross is equivalent to the way in which God thinkis. That is the purpose of every sermon to get people to think like God and to have a standing ovation of the heart. This is accomplished by the Holy Spirit as He works through the Word properly preached with elements of new information through exegesis and comforting help through the distinctions of Law and Gospel.
The new information gleaned from this text goes contrary to the common understanding of the cross that Jesus died to take away our sins. That can be understood in a narrow sense but it certainly cannot mean that our sins are gone. Just look in a mirror. It is clear that prior to the cross there was a wall of division not only between Jew and Gentile but also between man and God. What did the cross do to eliminate that wall of division?
Verse 15 reveals that the enmity between man and God was abolished. That enmity is spoken of in Genesis 3:15 when God tells Satan in the form of a serpent that there will be enmity between his seed (plural) and the Seed (singular) of Eve. That is the first promise of the Gospel that a Savior Messiah would be coming as a human being to break down the obvious wall of enmity between God and man. But what exactly was the essence of that wall of enmity?
Verse 15 continues that it was the law of commandments contained in ordinances that needed to be put to death (verse 16). What does that mean? It is not that the commandments are not salutary and helpful. It’s just that whenever anyone uses the commandments to get right with God, he makes matters worse. For in giving God our good works, we are displacing the works of the cross and adding to them which means we subtract from the cross.
What Jesus did was to take that “law of commandments” which said that in the day we sin, death is the result, and put it to death! He took upon Himself that curse of the Law so that sin no longer is the obstacle for getting to heaven. There is a new paradigm in town, so to speak, and it is not obedience vs. disobedience but faith vs. unbelief. Those who trust the promises of the Gospel in regard to the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness have received the gift of those benefits by God’s mercy which does not give us what we deserve and by God’s grace which gives us what we do not deserve.
The essence of the cross is that God no longer holds us accountable for our sins since our Savior was held accountable for them. The words He said, “Why have You forsaken Me?” will never be a true question from the lips of a believer. The text goes on to reveal that additional benefits of the cross include access by one Spirit to the Father, fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, and being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. And all this not by meriting salvation but by inheriting the free gift by grace through faith on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Name:Tom Baker
Pastor Tom,
you wrote above: “….That can be understood in a narrow sense but it certainly cannot mean that our sins are gone. …”
Exactly!
It seems the longer I live on the earth serving my neighbors the stronger it is His Faith is that grows in me because of that very fact.
Now I don’t have to hide my head in the sand. Now, in His Hope, I can, by His Faith, serve my neighbors, even though my sins are not gone, but very much alive in my flesh!
It is only when I leave this flesh pot at my passing away from the earth, will it truly be said that I am indeed separated from my sins. Until then, by Faith and Patience, in this world, I enjoy the promises of God.
Now the Law, which is Holy, Righteous and Pure, does its work in me, setting forth for me to see the law of sin and death.
Now the Gospel, which is Holy, Righteous and Pure, does its work in me, setting forth for me the service that beckons me to serve my neighbors for Christ’s sake.
And so I point to these words of Jesus too, as you have pointed to them yourself when visiting and serving us here in my church going about making proper distinctions between the Law and Gospel:::>
Mat 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Mat 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
Mat 25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Mat 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
Mat 25:38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
Mat 25:39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
Mat 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
michael
eureka, ca.