Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: There is something in those who are religious by nature, religious in background, and those who are not yet identified with Christianity or Christ, they both have the same need. There is something deep in us that the apostle has already said in this chapter is the case and that is, we are by nature children of wrath. That we are separated from God by that which takes us another direction than what God has described in His word. And that's true of absolutely everyone apart from the work of Christ.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. In today's episode, Pastor Bryan shares a lesson from Ephesians 2. When from generation to generation there is a pervading need and longing for peace, Dr. Chapell points to the writing of Paul, who provides the answer. It is Christ.

You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for Pastor Bryan's commentary on the book of Ephesians, which he wrote for the Reformed Expository Commentary series. Dr. Chapell reveals how when we lift our eyes beyond ourselves to share Paul's expansive vision, then we too will join his doxology for God's amazing grace that transforms the world. Let's hear now from Dr. Bryan Chapell as he shares the lesson, When Walls Come Tumbling Down.

Bryan Chapell: Even if it's not your generation, many of you will know the words. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.

The words of John Lennon, putting to melody the perspective of many in our culture. That so much of the violence and the hurt and the pain in our world is caused by people of religion. The problem at the root of so much violence and war and suffering is religion.

And of course you don't just have to turn to songs to find that. The so-called four horsemen of the new atheism, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, have made plain their understanding that the great problems in the world that we are facing are religious in origin. And since 9/11 there have been lots of people who have rallied to their side to say they must be right.

After all, look at all the problems in the world that are caused by religion. And you could point to radical Islam and radical Hinduism and radical Christianity in Northern Ireland. And I must say that what these intellectuals say seems to make a lot of sense. Isn't religion the cause of so many of the problems? If we could just end religion, we would end the war and have peace.

Now, despite kind of the intellectual horsepower behind that argument, I would have to tell you, it's not the common perception that an end of religion is actually what's going to bring peace among us. The more common perspective is that the blend of religions is what's going to bring peace. If people just recognize it's all the same God, if they would just stop fighting among each other about whose God has priority and recognize it's just basically all the same God.

That viewpoint articulated in what is now the notorious seventh grade social studies book known as Across the Centuries, a widely used textbook distributed by Houghton Mifflin, that simply says this: The God that Muhammad believed in, Allah, is the same God of other monotheistic religions like Judaism and Christianity.

The view common in our culture expressed not just by educators and academics, but by artists and often our political leaders, is that we just have to put aside the differences. It's all the same God. Not recognizing, of course, if you ever say that, that all the distinctions of the religions that people have held by the millions for centuries aren't really important. That supposed tolerance is actually one of the most intolerant things you can say, as though people's distinctives and what they believe in just are irrelevant. They just don't know better than us smart, intelligent people.

But even if you struggle over the arguments, what is the answer of a Christian to either of those who say that real peace will come either by the end of religion or by the blend of religions? The apostle Paul is actually answering that question in this portion of scripture, in which he is saying that real peace comes not by the end of religion, not by the blend of religions, but by the blood of Christ. That the peace required in all of our hearts, between us and God and between us and one another in this world, is actually a consequence of what Christ will do when he reigns in us.

After all, if you look at verse 17, it says what Christ's purpose was. He came, verse 17 says, and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Christ came to preach peace to those who were far off. We already know from the chapter that that's from the Gentiles, the people who were other nations than the covenant people. And he came to preach peace to those who were near, to the covenant people, to the chosen, the elect, the Jews.

Paul is saying Christ came for them all, Jew and Gentile. Now, what that is saying is first establishing that there's no difference in their need. And what we're being made to see is, as hard as it is to face, the beast in us all and the peace for us all. If Christ had to come for those who were far and those who were near, then they both have the need of Christ.

There is something in those who are religious by nature, religious in background, and those who are not yet identified with Christianity or Christ, they both have the same need. There is something deep in us that the apostle has already said in this chapter is the case and that is, we are by nature children of wrath. That we are separated from God by that which takes us another direction than what God has described in His word. And that's true of absolutely everyone apart from the work of Christ.

And it's recognition of that beast within that actually is the beginning of peace for all. The beast within was described some years ago in the book Vanishing Grace by Philip Yancey, in which he talked about the experience of a soldier who at the end of World War II was involved in the liberation of Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp.

That soldier describes his experience of being taken to a boxcar and finding bodies stacked neatly like pieces of wood, some alive and some dead, and under orders then to take them and put them in proper places that were designated. But as he and some others were taking the bodies out of the boxcar, which he described as indescribably light, one of the soldiers was told by the captain, "I want you to escort these 12 SS troops who were responsible for this camp to an interrogation center."

And that soldier who was urged to take the 12 troops of the SS over to the interrogation center agreed to do it. But soon after he had left the boxcar, the soldiers who were still unloading the bodies heard machine gun fire. And just a few seconds later, Chuck coming back by with a grin on his face, saying, "They all tried to run away."

What was described next was the harder thing to say. The soldier who was still unloading bodies said, "I had a nauseating fear that then gripped me. The fear was that my captain might call on me next to escort the next body of SS guards to the interrogation center. I had a dread fear that what Chuck had done, I would now do. The beast that was in those guards was now apparent in me."

And he said it was the recognition of the beast within his own heart that led that day to his resolve to become a pastor. Because he said, "Until that day I had never seen absolute evil, not just in others, but in me. And when I saw that absolute evil in me as well as in others, I knew I had to be a part of something that would fight that evil." Which meant he needed the Lord Jesus and to be the champion of his cause in the world. He needed to be the champion of peace against that evil that he even saw within himself.

Now, why did I say seeing the beast within is actually essential to the peace that we would have with one another as well as with our Lord? Because it's the recognition that there but for the grace of God go I that unites us with people who sometimes seem very different from us. That we are willing to work with people, to love people, to embrace people who might seem to be very foreign to us in their understanding of the gospel, their lifestyle, their walk away from God.

Because we recognize that prejudice and pride and haughtiness have no place in those who say, "Whatever beast is in you, I recognize was in me too, apart from the work of Christ. I do not stand apart. I do not stand above. There but for the grace of God go I. I'm just like you."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Bryan Chapell. The Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians to declare God's plan that the gospel of Jesus Christ would reach the world through weak and sinful people like you and me. He writes that God has redeemed us to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

When we lift our eyes beyond ourselves to share Paul's expansive vision, then we too will join his doxology for God's amazing grace that saves individuals, empowers the church, and transforms the world. Yes, such grace really is possible, and Pastor Bryan's commentary on the book of Ephesians clearly teaches the details of this amazing truth.

As a thank you for your support of our ministry here at Unlimited Grace, we would like to send you a copy of Dr. Chapell's commentary, which he wrote for the Reformed Expository Commentary series. You can request your copy of the commentary on Ephesians when you donate online at unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-414-7223. And now, more from Bryan Chapell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: It's the recognition that there but for the grace of God go I that unites us with people who sometimes seem very different from us. That we are willing to work with people, to love people, to embrace people who might seem to be very foreign to us in their understanding of the gospel, their lifestyle, their walk away from God.

Because we recognize that prejudice and pride and haughtiness have no place in those who say, "Whatever beast is in you, I recognize was in me too, apart from the work of Christ. I do not stand apart. I do not stand above. There but for the grace of God go I. I'm just like you."

It's that ability to somehow see with the eyes of the gospel who I am as well as who others are that gives me the ability to begin to relate to people eye to eye and not looking down the nose. But beyond that, remember Christ came to preach peace. Which means he's preaching to me despite the beast in my heart.

And if I recognize that, that this Christ has come to proclaim peace to my heart despite the fact that there's a beast within me, then I begin to love him. And if I love him for his peace toward me, then I will love those that he loves. Something begins to change in us when we recognize I'm not better than other people, but have simply been loved by a savior through no goodness in myself. That now I want others to know that goodness. It changes us in ways that are hard to express.

I think of Kathy and me living on the seminary campus that Johann mentioned earlier for 25 years or so. And in that Christian bubble where we lived on a Christian campus among Christian students studying for the ministry and I taught them, day after day, I'm relating primarily only to Christians, highly committed Christians. And then in my last years at the seminary being Chancellor and having the opportunity to move to where my children were in the inner city of St. Louis.

And to live to people next door who'd been imprisoned, who are different ethnicities from us, to shop among those who were of different sexual orientation. And I don't exactly know how to express to you what happened to Kathy and me, how we talked at times how we felt like we could breathe again. Like there was the opportunity for the gospel to be expressed from us, how we actually took joy in having the opportunity to say, "I can now express the gospel in new and fresh ways," to actually rejoice in the opportunities that God was providing.

Not to rejoice in the sin around us, but to rejoice that we could now truly, really love lost people, not just feel it was our duty to take the gospel to them. But if we profoundly and really believe that we were no different than they, that Christ had come to rescue us and he could rescue them too, that in ways we could not quite express, we began to feel, as I said again, like we could breathe again, the true realities of the gospel beyond the confines of our Christian bubble.

Is that God's calling for us? Does he really expect us to express his peace to those who are far off according to the words of the gospel? We begin to see it as Paul not only describes that Christ came to preach peace to those near and far, but he says in verse 18, "For through him we both have access through the spirit to the father." We both have access, those far and those near, both have access in the spirit to the father.

We won't understand what that verse is all about until we first understand what access means and then who's supposed to get it. The word "access" in the scriptures here is actually a word for permission to enter a throne room. We both, those far and near, have access to the father.

And so already the apostle has said in verse 6 of this chapter what that means, that we already are seated with Christ in heavenly places. That we have access because of our union with Christ, faith in him, to heaven itself. And as God has already seated Christ in a position of affection and favor and privilege, so those who are united to Christ have access to the throne room of God. That's why we can pray boldly, "God help," because I have access to the father.

But there's more going on. As the language unfolds, the apostle is reminding us we have access because the walls of hostility have been broken down. If you were here last week, you may remember I talked a little bit about what those walls of hostility were about. Do you remember?

There were the outer courts in the ancient temple for the Gentiles, and there were the inner courts where the Jews could go. A sign between the outer court and the inner court. What was the sign saying? "You cross here and you die." There was this wall of hostility, and that has been broken down. And now when the apostle says we have access in the spirit to the father, it's more than just palace language. We're beginning to understand temple language is here as well.

But it's through Christ in the spirit that we have access to the father. Do you hear the Trinitarian reference? In Christ, in the spirit, to the father. There's only one place that the temple would fully exhibit that Trinitarian presence of God. That was not in the outer court or the inner court. Where was it? In the Holy of Holies.

If we both, Jew and Gentile, would actually have access to the Holy of Holies, which of course happened when Christ died and the barrier was broken down between God and man and in that miraculous event, the veil between the inner court and the Holy of Holies was rent from top to bottom and the fire on the altar went out and suddenly what happened was we had access to the Holy of Holies. So much so that in Romans 5, the apostle says we now have access to the grace in which we now stand.

Even in the Old Testament, when the great high priest went into the Holy of Holies, he crawled in. Can't get before the glory and the holiness of God even standing on my own feet. But now through Christ, who has taken away the hostility between us and God, we now enter into the holiness of God in the grace in which we now stand.

It's the place of privilege, it's the place of honor. And the amazing thing the apostle is saying here in verse 18 is, "And we both have access." Gentile and Jew, different nations, different languages, different peoples, different ethnicities, we all have access by the work of Christ to the beauty and the glory of God. For the Jews, that was practically incomprehensible, that a Gentile could be with a Jew in the presence of God. But God is here declaring, "It is my purpose to deal with the both of you, Jew and Gentile."

How does that make you feel? I got just a sense of it when I was a child. Five boys in my family growing up, and soccer was not yet the popular sport that it is now, which means for us as a family, it was all baseball. All summer long, into the fall, even early spring, it was all baseball.

Now with five boys, of course, you're often going to your brothers' games, which means what? You are bored to tears, right? And so always, you're going to so many games through the summer, you're finding means of distraction. I can remember a particular summer night when I was with a friend and we were watching one of my brothers' games, but in distraction, we began to find that that dirt that is on ballfields across the South had just been pulverized by so many games that it was the finest, softest powder.

And some of you know what you can do against the night sky when the stadium lights are shining. You take a Dixie cup and you fill it up with the dirt and you crimp it at the top but leave one little hole. And then you take that Dixie cup and you throw it across the sky. It looks like a rocket going across the sky with the dirt falling out of it. And we were probably doing that for 15 or 20 minutes until I saw my friend just get so excited, he threw it in a direction and as soon as he had thrown it, I said, "Oh no!"

Because not only had he thrown it in a different direction, the wind had changed. Which meant as the dirt was falling out of the cup, it was being blown onto the stands where my father sat. And as he wiped the dirt off of him, he looked at us. I could see wrath. And he pointed in my direction and he did one of these.

So I gathered up all the courage in me, I started walking toward my father, but my father shook his head, no. He pointed to my friend too. He said, "I am going to deal with the two of you together." We got to the stands and my father said, "I want you to stop that. Now here's some money for a Coke. Go get one."

We were amazed. Now, this is an imperfect example because there's no justice being applied, I know that. Except for all the wrath that my father's now experiencing, the crowd now looking at him with absolute frown and rage that we're not in trouble. But what's happening to my friend and to me? We are high-fiving and hugging one another and going, "This is great. We have been shown mercy together."

One of the church fathers of the ancient church says, when the apostle Paul says those both far and near are being given access to the father, it is like an object of clay and an object of rust being put together and coming out as an object of gold. It's dirt out of the ground and corroded rust. The dirt as in the pagan religions, the rust as in the rusty Jews no longer corroded, corrupted by their own faith rather than by the faith of God himself. And God putting them together and saying, "As I deal with you together, you're gold."

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Bryan Chapell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If this message has been an encouragement to you, you can find a collection of more valuable resources at unlimitedgrace.com.

When you visit, you will find today's message and many others from Pastor Bryan. Also, be sure to request a copy of Dr. Chapell's commentary on Ephesians. We'll send you this book right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support. Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace Media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.