3. The Mystery of Broken Barriers

This is my fourth segment in my sermon entitled, "The Mystery of the Gospel".

3. The Mystery of Broken Barriers

(Eph 3:6) "This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

-This isn't much of a mystery to us unless we get into the Jewish mindset of the time. Israel was the chosen people, and the way she had gone wrong was by mixing with the other peoples. It was them, the outsiders, that had seduced Israel into their pagan idolatry and therefore if Israel was going to be saved it was going to be by rigorously separating herself from all that was unclean and impure. And what could be more unclean or impure than the Gentiles. The Pharisees even separated themselves from fellow Jews who weren't fully keeping the Torah. Of course, they wouldn't have anything to do with Gentiles. But then, mystery of mysteries, Jesus comes along and begins eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners, calling them to repentance and faith in him the same as anyone else. And then after Jesus dies and rises again, he tells his disciples to go into all the world and preach this gospel and baptize people from every nation, no restrictions! And then Pentecost comes along and the Spirit falls on them in tongues of fire, and they tell the mysteries of God in different languages, and Peter preaches and 3,000 come to faith. And then, just a few chapters later in Acts, Peter gets this mysterious dream of a sheet coming down from heaven with all sorts of unclean animals and God telling him to kill and eat, and that he shouldn't call unclean what God has made clean. And then Gentiles come with news that Cornelius has had this revelation about Peter coming and preaching the gospel to him, and Peter goes into his unclean house and preaches the gospel and the Spirit falls on them and they speak in tongues just like the Jewish disciples had. The answer to this mysterious string of events is pretty obvious. The Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. The old barriers, the old dividing wall of clean and unclean, Jew and Gentile, they have all been knocked down. The Jewish mindset of how salvation works is completely upturned.

-But really its not just a Jewish mindset, it's our own. Almost every culture or nation throughout history has thought that it was the best in the world, that it had the answer to the world's problems, we Americans are no exception, but this is really just self-righteousness based on race, heritage or culture. What are our barriers, what is your dividing wall? Perhaps you draw the line between good upstanding moral people, whom you'll converse with whether or not they're really Christian, and those untouchables, the rebels. Perhaps it's even between those who practice your particular brand of Christianity and everybody else. Just think about who you think is least likely to receive the gospel? And ask yourself why? Why is any person more or less likely to receive the gospel than any one else?

-You know our world is a broken and divided place. Our societies are fragmented in so many ways, race, gender, nationality, the haves and the have-nots, the rebels and the moralists, Democrats and Republicans, those who use apple computers and those who use macs, the son or daughter who's the goody two-shoes and the one who causes trouble. And you know most of the time, you and I just tend to blame everything that's wrong with the world on the other side of what we are. But you know, until we stop for a moment and look at ourselves, it's going to be hard to see this mystery. The only real answer to the dilemma of how to achieve peace and unity in our families, communities, peoples, among the nations is Christ, not our culture, not my way of life, not the UN, the answer to breaking down our barriers is the body of Christ.

-The gospel breaks down all barriers and dividing walls, it is the ultimate leveler and the only thing that really truly does level the playing field, not equal opportunity, or human rights, or better education. It's the Gospel mystery of Broken Barriers.