Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:11-13)

          Memory can be a powerful tool.

          When the military trains a soldier, or even when a regular person such as myself trains for a marathon, experience – the creation of memories, if you will – is critical. How can a solider endure physically rigorous conditions on the battlefield? By remembering his previous training in similarly demanding circumstances. How can a person endure a 26.2-mile race? By remembering that she already has run 20 miles at one time and thus can finish out the long journey.

          I don’t mean to suggest that your work and mine as the church is exactly like fighting in Iraq or running a race, although St. Paul utilizes both of those metaphors in his writings. Instead, our emphasis this morning falls on the “memory” aspect of taking on a difficult challenge for the Lord.

          Certainly it is difficult to do the work of the church, so much so that first impressions tend to leave you and me wondering how we can do such demanding work as evangelizing the impenitent and living joyously with other believers. After all, people are really hardened to the Gospel! And sometimes it’s awfully hard to deal graciously with that person in the church who just rubs me the wrong way, or has very little in common with me.

          So St. Paul offers you and me encouragement in our labors for the Lord as he calls on us to tap into our memories. You and I need to remember, the Apostle teaches, the power of Christ to bring hope to the hopeless and the power of Christ to bring reconciliation to those once at enmity.

          If you’ll remember that Jesus has done the impossible in bringing sinful Jews and Gentiles together before the Father, you’ll be compelled to trust his power as you carry his Name into the world.

          You and I must remember, first, the power of Christ to bring hope to hopeless sinners.

          As Paul makes clear, both Jews and Gentiles are hopeless sinners apart from the gracious work of God in Christ. He focuses his attention initially on the hopeless Gentiles, who not only were ignorant of Jesus, they also were ignorant of their need for Jesus.

          A person with cancer desperately needs treatment for that cancer. Certainly it is bad enough to face that awful disease. But imagine if you had cancer yet did not know it: you would be doubly burdened.

          So it is with Gentiles in the flesh, Paul says. They didn’t know their spiritual illness, and they surely didn’t know the Solution, Jesus. Gentiles in Paul’s day were spiritual outcasts from the covenant community of the living God, hopeless apart from Him.

          The Apostle encourages his Gentile audience, and even you and me, to remember our formerly hopeless estate (much as he encouraged us to remember our deadness to sin in verses 1-3). He speaks of the derisive nickname Jews had for Gentiles – “Uncircumcision” – because their lack of circumcision was a sign of their being aliens to Israel, God’s covenant community. Borrowing from Isaiah, Paul says we Gentiles were “far” from God, not only spiritually but also in terms of our basic knowledge of Him. We were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and as the religion of the one true God was tied in the Old Testament era to the physical state of Israel, Gentiles were left out of God’s community. We also were outsiders to His covenants of promise – such as the Covenant of Grace, which unfolds in God’s covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. From the moment He pronounced judgment on Adam, Eve, Satan and the earth, the Lord also spoke a word of hope in promising the Seed, who would crush the head of the serpent. That covenant, mediated by Jesus, developed as God preserved the earth for Jesus to come (the Noahic Covenant), promised to have a believing people to Himself (the Abrahamic Covenant), gave His law for Israel’s cleansing and guidance (the Mosaic Covenant) and promised to send an eternal King to His people (the Davidic Covenant). These covenants were God’s own promise and plan to save His faithful people, and generally speaking, most Gentiles (save, for example, Ruth) were not privileged to claim these promises of hope.

          Paul says we Gentiles lacked God – not that we lacked gods, for of course the human mind is an idol factory (as Calvin observed, reflecting on Paul’s teaching in Romans 1), but that we naturally lack knowledge of and love for the one, true God. And if you lack a right knowledge of God through His Word, you will lack His Son, Jesus. And if you lack His Son, you lack all hope.

          That’s why you and I need to remember the amazing power of Christ to bring us hope.

          Paul teaches that Jesus came and preached peace to those who were far and near. When he interacted with the Samaritan woman at the well and with the Gentile woman who, like a dog, desired “scraps” from Jesus’ spiritual table, Jesus was preaching of himself and of his redeeming work to Gentiles. And through his apostles in the early days of the church, and by his missionaries and pastors today, Jesus is preaching peace – both the reality of sin and the life that he brings through his shed blood, as we saw in 2:1-10 – to hopeless sinners. If you will consider your former ignorance and guilt, and then Christ’s power to bring you hope, you will be encouraged to serve him more faithfully – and to bring his message of hope to a hurting world.

          The Lord Jesus also is powerful to bring hope to hopeless Jews. At first glance, though, “hopeless” might seem a strong word for Israel. But consider St. Paul’s argument in Romans 2 and 9: the Jews enjoyed a plethora of spiritual advantages over the nations of the earth in Old Covenant times. To them belonged the oracles, or Word, of God. Theirs was the adoption and the covenant and the temple worship and the law of God. Israel as a nation enjoyed a special relationship with the God Who made Heaven and earth that every other nation did not have.

          Still, many of the Jews – although circumcised outwardly – didn’t have believing hearts before the Lord. They had the Word, but they tossed it aside. They had His covenants, but the Israelites broke covenant with God continuously. Spiritually, they were hopeless, hardened to the message of grace.

          Jesus, therefore, came and preached peace to those who were “near” God – those who had grown up hearing of Him in the temple. Jesus’ work to give them hearts of flesh for their hearts of stone and to cause his truth to sink into their hearts is no less miraculous than his work to cause you and me, ignorant Gentiles, to know and to believe the Gospel.

          Franklin Graham, the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, says he once hated to hear about God’s love for him. He grew up hearing the message of salvation in Jesus, but Franklin was hardened to the Gospel. It seemed Billy’s toughest evangelistic work was right at home, because his boy appeared hopeless.

          You and I need to trust Jesus to work as we carry his message of forgiveness far away and right here at home. You might not think Jesus could save a hardened, spiritually ignorant pagan in New York or a calloused “professing” Christian in your neighborhood.

          Remember: he has, and he can, and he will.

          Paul secondly encourages you to remember the power of Jesus to reconcile hostile parties.

          Jesus reconciles sinners to a holy God, whether Jew or Gentile, by his redeeming work at Calvary. Because of our sin, you and I were objects of God’s wrath (see verse 3); but Jesus made propitiation for our sin by offering himself to the Father’s wrath and having his blood shed for the remission of our sins. Jesus brings you and me near to the Father, and we both have access to His holy presence, by Christ’s blood.

          Jesus also abolished the law in his flesh, Paul teaches. This means Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the Mosaic sacrificial system and thus did away with the authority the ceremonial and civil law once held over the Israelites. And because the Jews (and Gentiles) universally failed to fulfill what God required, all of us were accursed under the law if we did not trust in His mercy. But when Jesus was slain in fulfillment of the law, he did away with the power of the law to condemn you and me and to separate us from the Father.

          Because he kept the law, and because his blood was shed for you and me, Jesus is our very Peace. He gives you and me wholeness, because he sets us right with the God Who made us and will judge us, and he gives us bold access by the Spirit to the Father – in prayer, in worship, at all times.

          Jesus not only reconciles you and me, regardless of our birth, to the Father, he also reconciles you and me to one another.

          Paul refers to Jesus’ destruction of the “middle wall of partition” that divided Jews and Gentiles for so long. Certainly this phrase could refer to the wall separating the outer Gentile court with the inner Jewish court at the temple in Jerusalem; more likely, though, it refers to the Mosaic ordinances, which separated Jews from Gentiles. You’ll recall the Jews scoffingly called the Gentiles “Uncircumcision,” because they bragged about their hand-made (rather than God-made, inward) circumcision. They boasted in the law and gloated over the fact they were not “as other men,” Gentiles by birth and therefore unclean. No doubt the Gentiles returned that spirit of animosity.

          But when Jesus came to fulfill Moses’ laws, he underscored the fact that all people have a common disease – sin – and that he was the only Solution. The issue was no longer whether you were an Israelite or a Hittite or a Leakesvillite; the issue was whether or not you were a member of the new body: the Body of Christ.

          You might not think God can forgive you for the things you’ve done (or failed to do) in life. You might not think He can forgive someone else who sinned in a particularly grievous manner.

          Jesus has, he can – and he will cleanse you thoroughly.

          You might not think Jesus can bring any type of unity to the church, or even in our church, or in your circle of Christian friends. You might not think you can “fit in” in a church where all the members seem to know their bibles up and down, or where you have purple hair or brown skin while they sport military cuts and European tones. You might not think you ever can get along with someone who hurt you in this church or in your Christian community of friends.

          He has, he can – and he will cause you and me to come together, and to unite around what really matters: his cross.

          And so you and I do the work of the church. We take the Gospel near and far, to hardened sinners and to ignorant pagans and to loved ones who honestly don’t know Jesus. We live with each other, and we love each other, despite our many differences and occasional difficulties.

          All this would be totally impossible if not for Jesus. That’s why, this morning, we remember Christ’s power to help the hopeless. He has; he can; and he will!